By Richard Thomas Rating: B- Treaty Oak of Texas is following a very well-traveled path of mixing in-house products with sourced brands, as it builds its stock of aged spirits and its reputation. This is such a staple of small distilling in America that I find myself scoffing at the croakers who continue to gripe about it, especially when a ...

Updated November 12, 2019 By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Although there is a lot of enthusiasm for Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, I’m sometimes surprised to discover that some folks tend to think each batch is basically the same. However, like Booker’s, the expression was never made to a consistent flavor profile, like a purist’s ideal of a cask strength Elijah ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Seattle’s Westland Distillery has staked itself out as a leader in the rising category of American Single Malts, placing a major emphasis on adapting the model to their home in the Pacific Northwest. That includes harvesting local peat for use in making their peated malts, and for five years now they put the spotlight on ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ In the hullabaloo surrounding the launch of the Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS) line of super premium whiskeys, it might be forgivable to overlook that their normal, well-established lines of spirits continue. The main case in point is the most recent Barrell Bourbon, now in its seventeenth batch. Barrell Bourbon Batch 017 is billed as a ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ With nearly everything closed on Monday and Tuesday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I was stuck with some strolling in a local nature park (which is always open from dawn to dusk), writing and catching up on Vikings to occupy myself between family engagements. And what better to pair with Ivar the Boneless’s psychopathy than ...