By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Back when “deceptive whiskey” was a feverish thing for whiskey bloggers and nerds, I would sometimes point out that the same sort of practices were pretty normal over in the UK, which would produce a lot of ignorant sputtering in turn. Port Askaig is a case in point: it’s whisky sourced from an unnamed distillery ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Ever since Jim Beam took Knob Creek from its classic 9 year old to an NAS bourbon in 2016 (a move they are slated to reverse next year), I’ve thought of Baker’s as the great sleeper of Beam’s line-up, because it was the last unchanged whiskey in the seminal Jim Beam Small Batch Collection. Introduced ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B For 2019, the tagline attached to Old Forester Birthday Bourbon was that it had the highest proof yet. This annual limited edition expression has never been noted for being a ballsy, high octane whiskey, and last year’s clocked in at just above the bonded line at 101 proof. This year is slightly higher, 105 proof, ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ Maturing whiskey is a complicated picture, and the easiest way to identify a nincompoop out of his depth is to listen for someone saying “older is always better.” This is especially not the case for American Whiskey, where climate and new oak combine to produce whiskeys that are over-oaked as a matter of routine after ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ In my mind, the first proper in-house expression to come from Bardstown Bourbon Company, under their own brand name, was this wine barrel-finished bourbon. It marked a rather early transition (just a couple of years into operations) from being a contract producer and collaborator to having their own products, even if this initial example is ...