By Andrew Graham Grade: A- Back in March, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending an Irish whiskey tasting at the Irish Consulate in New York City. I enjoyed casually strolling into the lobby of a giant filing cabinet for bankers and lawyers on Park Avenue in Manhattan as the 9-to-5ers fled their offices to either hit up ...

By Randall H. Borkus Rating A- I recently had the good fortune to spend time at Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont Kentucky with some special people, where we met with Freddie Noe and were introduced to an exciting 2019 release of “Little Book Chapter 3: The Road Home” (Recipe 051). Little Book Chapter 3 is the first Kentucky Straight Bourbon ...

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 Paer Johansson Rating: B+ Does Sweden make whisky? Yes indeed, very much so. It all started with Mackmyra, founded back in 1998. Since then, many more distilleries have started and right now there are 13 active whisky distilleries in this small country. One of the oldest is Smögen distillery located on the west coast one and a half hour ...

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, ...