By Richard Thomas Rating: B- When people think “corn whiskey,” they are usually thinking of a cheap, two-grain unaged and overwhelmingly corn whiskey. That is the sort of thing that gave corn whiskey a bad name, and thankfully the craft whiskey boom and its accompanying white whiskey trend are overturning it. Now there are several eminently drinkable examples of corn ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ It says it right there on the bottle: “Kentucky’s 1st Distiller” and “Since 1783.” Although some legendary figures in bourbon history predate Evan Williams, the Welsh immigrant was the first to set up a commercial distillery, and in what was then the American frontier before Kentucky was a state or the debate on the U.S. ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C- My interest in Jim Beam Black 8 Year Old was rooted in a simple curiosity. That classic of small batch bourbons, Knob Creek, also comes from Jim Beam and is a nine year old (albeit a much stronger one). So, I wondered, would an eight year old version of Jim Beam, bottled at a slightly ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: D+ I’ve always thought one of the odder trends in the burgeoning sector of flavored whiskeys and liqueurs is the emergence of the maple whiskey. Honey whiskey liqueurs have been around for decades, and most of the others follow one of the many ways people used to put some flavor into their corn whiskey and/or moonshine. ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B- In the world of mass market bourbons, Wild Turkey has stood apart for at least modern memory, if not before. The most obvious reason is right there on the current version of label. Whereas most mass market products are bottled at 80 proof, and a few are a notch stronger at 90 proof, the classic ...