By Debbie Shocair Rating: B- Basil Hayden, with its reputation as the lightest of Beam Suntory’s Small Batch Collection (also including Knob Creek, Booker’s and Baker’s), is named after Meredith Basil Hayden, Sr. Her recipe for a high-rye whiskey in the late 1700s is said to have inspired the current Basil Hayden mashbill, although Basil Hayden originated as an 8 ...

By Richard Thomas One of the slew of accessory products that came out as a result of the Bourbon Boom were home-aging kits. Many of these were nothing more than oak sticks, with variations adding textured surfaces, charring or toasting. There have also been miniature barrels and, strangest of all, twirling whiskey sticks. The usual advised method for using the ...

By Father John Rayls Imagine it’s 1927 and we’re walking the grounds of the Glen Garden Country Club, the second oldest golf course in Fort Worth, Texas. The distant city skyline is visible to the northeast, and a pair of teen-aged caddies, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, jockey for the lead in the annual Caddies Championship. They tie. This is ...

Beam Suntory has introduced Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye, the first-ever permanent addition to the Basil Hayden’s portfolio. Much like Basil Hayden’s flagship bourbon, Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye is designed to stand out in the ever-expanding crowd of American whiskies. Uniting the duo of Kentucky straight rye whiskey and Canadian rye with a splash of California port, Basil Hayden’s Dark Rye ...

By Richard Thomas Although the world’s whisk(e)y boom has brought more choices than enthusiasts have ever had, the heightened demand has also led some prices to rise. It’s a fundamental market mechanism taught in macroeconomics: when supply and demand are out of balance, prices will change until the balance is restored. Thankfully, plenty of good, affordable whisk(e)ys are still out ...