By Richard Thomas Rating: B To help inaugurate their imported, Forsyths pot stills, Balcones has released a Pot Still Bourbon. Those gleaming, Scots-made copper pots are the centerpiece of the new Balcones distillery in Waco, Texas, but the mash bill behind the bourbon is very much in keeping with Balcones’ own style and Lone Star roots. They went for a ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: B KOVAL Four Grain Single Barrel Whiskey has no lead grain (i.e. no grain at 51% or higher in the mash bill). In fact, we don’t know what the exact grain recipe is, except to say it’s malted barley, oats, rye and wheat. Like everything KOVAL does, it’s a single barrel, bottled at 94 proof and ...

Woodford Reserve has announced the release of two different expressions for its fall Master’s Collection, a first for the series since its introduction in 2006. The two new Master’s Collection whiskeys are Woodford Reserve American Select Oak and Woodford Reserve Oat Grain Kentucky Bourbon. Woodford Reserve’s Select American Oak Bourbon was matured in Ozark oak, known for its fast growing ...

By Richard Thomas Rating: C A few years ago, Will Kehler and Ian Smiley, the author of Making Pure Corn Whiskey and co-author of The Distiller’s Guide to Rum, teamed up to create and release Manhattan Moonshine. A few years is typically seen as a minimum aging period (two is the standard for the American “straight” designation; three is the ...

Union Horse Distilling announced last week the release of their Rolling Standard Midwestern Four Grain Whiskey. Rolling Standard is the first in the company’s “Distiller Series,” a collection of the experimentals. This first installment is made from locally-sourced barley, wheat, corn and rye and bottled at 92 proof (46% ABV). This release is in the wake of the Colonel E.H. ...