By Richard Thomas Rating: C Nestled into the Alpine foothills of Italy’s South Tyrol, Puni Distillery bills itself as Italy’s first malt whisky-maker. The family-owned and -operated concerned set up shop in 2010, installed Forsyth’s-made mashtun and stills, and began production in 2012. The spirit from those initial production runs were released earlier this year as a pair of young ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C The idea of hybrid blends of whiskey, combining two or more types, has been catching on, with most of the attention focused on Wild Turkey’s Forgiven and the work of High West. The “catching on” part means more and more hybrids, though, and these aren’t as well-known as the critically acclaimed, aforementioned pair. One such ...

Updated December 23, 2015 By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Back in August, Lexington, Kentucky’s Barrel House Distillery transitioned from making moonshine, rum and vodka and into making proper whiskey by releasing their RockCastle Bourbon. Avid Travel Channel watchers or fans of British presenters Jeni & Ollie should note, however, that this is not the same stuff that Ollie Smith tried ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ With bourbon booming, the idea of pitching Scotch to appeal to either bourbon drinkers or people who might become bourbon drinkers is catching on. Pernod Ricard has already dabbled in this area with its limited release Barrelhound, but now they have gone one further with Ballantine’s Hard Fired. That isn’t what the company itself is ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C+ Rebel Yell Small Batch Rye is a two year old, 90 proof (45% abv) whiskey sourced out of MGP in Indiana. We know that because Luxco, makers of Rebel Yell, followed the letter of the law and then some by telling us as much in the fine print on the back of the bottle. The ...