By Richard Thomas Rating: B William Grant & Sons founded the Balvenie distillery in Speyside, Scotland in 1892. The company now owns a host of distilleries, including the Glenfiddich distillery, but the best scotch distilled under the William Grant & Sons banner remains the Balvenie. For more than a century, the Balvenie has grown its own barley on a 1,000-acre ...

Editor’s Note: This review is of the original 15 year old version of this bourbon, not the current NAS version. By Richard Thomas Rating: A- Admirers of old fashioned, pre-Prohibition style bourbon love to hear two words in connection with a new bottle of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, namely “cask strength” and “small batch.” Granted, “single barrel” and “cask strength” ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B Glenlivet is the best-selling malt whiskey in the United States, and the label’s Moray, Scotland distillery has been in almost continuous operation since its founding in 1824. The oldest whiskey-maker in Moray, Glenlivet closed only for the Second World War. Glenlivet’s product is generally known for it’s lightness, and it’s 15 Year scotch is no ...

Updated July 5, 2020 By Richard Thomas Average Rating: A- I was visiting my family in My Old Kentucky Home in March 2011, and while there I did what I always do when I’m in Kentucky on an unplanned visit: I visited the Liquor Barn to pick up a couple of bottles of bourbon to bring back to Portugal with ...

By Richard Thomas Updated April 9, 2015 Rating: B+ Knob Creek is arguably the most well-known of Jim Beam’s line of signature small batch bourbons (the others being Baker’s, Booker’s and Basil Hayden). Each label of that signature line has its own distinctive character, with Knob Creek representing what is probably the most old fashioned and traditional of the four. ...