By Richard Thomas Rating: A- The third, oldest and final entry in the travel retail, 500 ml House of Hazelwood line is its 25 Year Old. Having a quarter century old expression at the top only makes sense of an upscale line of blended whisky, after all. This one is billed as William Grant & Sons Master Blender Brian Kinsman’s ...

By Debbie Shocair Rating: B+ At Black Button Distilling in Rochester, NY, Jason Barrett began pursuing his dream in 2012, that of striving to make the fine art of distilled spirits his way of life. Coming from a family whose four-generation button-making business provided the moniker for his spirits company, he broke with family tradition and began his own distillery ...

By Kurt Maitland Rating: B Glenfarclas is a Speyside whisky distillery located in Ballindalloch, Scotland, owned and run by the Grant family (not the same Grant family that owns fellow Speysiders, Balvenie and Glenfiddich). I tell you from personal experience that it is a jewel of a distillery and an exemplar independent operation. Glenfarclas malts are well-made (the winner of ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B+ When Campari decided to launch a collection around the idea of long gone, lesser known whiskey personalities and defunct brands, they couldn’t have chosen a better concept to work with in the initial release than Old Ripy. This is because Irish immigrant James Ripy became the bourbon baron of Anderson County, with his distillery just ...

By Father John Rayls Rating: B+ Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Bourbon Whisky is a celebration of the long and storied history of the brand and the Brown-Forman Distillery. More specifically, it’s a celebration of the distillery’s work during Prohibition. You read that correctly. Brown-Forman continued their distillation for all 13 years of Prohibition. They were one of six organizations ...