American Whiskey
American whiskey comprises a huge swath of sub-categories, and most of the whiskeys you’ll encounter fall into one of these. Bourbon (distinguished by its 51%-or-greater corn mashbill) is undoubtedly the largest of these, with Rye (at least 51% rye) arguably second. Tennessee Whiskey (a subset of Bourbon, made in Tennessee and charcoal mellowed) is another major, with Wheat Whiskey, Corn Whiskey, and Malt Whiskey all having their adherents. White whiskey (unaged whiskey) is another segment growing in size. Other categories, including Blended Whiskey, Light Whiskey, and Spirit Whiskey can also be found occupying this broad catch-all category.
Top American Whiskey Categories:
Bourbon
Tennessee Whiskey
Rye
Wheat Whiskey
American Single Malt
Per the producer of Edmond’s Honor: “Off the coast of Madagascar, on a small island of Bourbon (known today as Reunion) began the extraordinary tale of Edmond Albius, an untrained prodigy, who centuries ago, unlocked the secret to manually pollinating vanilla. At only twelve years old his natural curiosity transformed vanilla into a coveted world…
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This one’s a first for us: A bourbon tie-in… with a Broadway musical. Shucked is a stage musical about — no, not oysters — corn. (Officially: An unlikely hero, an unscrupulous con man, and a battle for the heart & soil of a small town.) Since bourbon is mostly made from corn — the mash…
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MGP in Lawrenceburg, Indiana has a fascinating place in the modern whiskey landscape. While operating under Seagram ownership, the distillery was largely used to produce components for blended whiskey. The distillery passed through different ownership a few times and was largely ignored and unknown by whiskey enthusiasts until roughly a decade ago. MGP had been…
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Four Roses famously (and tragically) ended its annual Single Barrel Limited Edition program in 2015, leaving only its rack single barrel offering — always made from its OBSV recipe — as the only single barrel bourbon bottled by the company. (You can still get one-off barrel pick bottlings from bars and merchants, but not from…
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Based in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, H.K. Young Bourbon Co. went to market with its debut release in July 2024. In a world saturated with sourced whiskey, H.K. Young seeks to differentiate itself by focusing on blending whiskey finished with unique toasted profiles. Over the last 2 years, toasted cask finishes have become quite common, but all…
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Washington’s Woodinville is one of the OG craft distillers, with 15 years of history now under its belt. Outside of some unusual finishing choices (Ginja cask, anyone?), Woodinville hasn’t rocked the boat all that much over the years, and has been happily cranking out bourbon and rye to a welcoming public. Recently we received four…
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Since its original founding, Nevada-based Minden Mill Distillery has had a short but eventful history. It opened as Bently Heritage Estate Distillery in February 2019. In 2022, founder Christopher Bently announced the distillery and surrounding properties would cease operations and be put up for sale. And in 2023, Sonoma County-based Foley Family Wines & Spirits…
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We’re finally catching up with the final bottle of Larceny Barrel Proof for 2024, C924, which hit in September of last year. The new labeling we announced early last year is now in effect. Larceny C924 is a solid, if decidedly wood-forward, expression of this now-classic wheated bourbon, really doubling down on an aromatic agenda…
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I’ll be frank: This is one of those whiskeys where we saw the bottle and knew we had to have it, with the Drinkhacker staff swapping photos of the thing, wondering what to make of it. It’s shaped like a cathedral, with a gargoyle on top of the stopper and another etched into the glass…
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It’s that time of year again — and by that I mean it’s 2025 and we’re finally getting around to reviewing the 2024 release of Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bourbon, which (in my mind) is the unofficial conclusion of “whiskey season.” Angel’s Envy had a huge year in 2024 with some of our most exciting…
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