Review: Bhakta Indian Single Malt 2012
Vermont-based Bhakta Spirits rose to prominence via highly aged brandy, particularly Armagnacs dating back to 1868. The brand more recently dipped its toe into rum and whiskey, with both finished bourbons and American ryes hitting the market over the past two years. It was only a matter of time before Raj Bhakta’s latest venture looked…
Review: Cedar Ridge The QuintEssential Special Release – The Untitled Cigar Malt Project
Iowa’s Cedar Ridge Distillery has hit with its third limited-edition single malt: The QuintEssential: The Untitled Cigar Malt Project. And it’s a complicated one, with five different cask types involved (as near as we can understand the details in the press release): According to master blender Murphy Quint, “The vision for this release was a…
Meet the Guy That Picks Hundreds of Single Barrels for One U.S. State
“Here, try this.” Mark Roy hands me a Túath glass, filled with about an ounce of spirit pulled straight from a nearby barrel. It’s a 17 year-old single grain Irish whiskey, perhaps one of two dozen casks we’ve sampled so far that day. And there are plenty more to come. We’re at one of Clonakilty…
Review: 2022 Sokol Blosser Grenache Syrah Mourvedre Columbia Valley
Sokol Blosser is known for its Oregon-born wines, but this GSM blend hails from Washington’s Columbia Valley. It’s a limited edition Rhone style blend that was originally thought to be unworkable due to early frost, but which was surprisingly salvaged when secondary buds emerged on the vines. Let’s see how it tastes! I initially found…
Review: Penelope Bourbon Architect Build 10, Barrel Strength Batch #18, and Toasted Batch #24-301
Penelope Bourbon has settled into a groove that revolves around one-off (for now) releases like Valencia combined with regular updates to a series of limited editions. Today we look at three of the latter — new versions of Architect, Barrel Strength, and Toasted Barrel — though it’s our first taste of the lattermost. While Penelope…
Review: Wines of Hall, 2024 Releases
There’s a lot going on at Hall, which also operates Walt (pinot noir) and Baca (zinfandel) brands — and six tasting rooms in California — under the leadership of winemaker Kathryn Hall. Fun fact time: Hall was formerly the United States Ambassador to Austria, from 1997 to 2001, when she returned to winemaking — and…
Review: World Whiskey Society Japanese Single Malt
We know World Whiskey Society best for its various bourbons, but today the brand is bringing us something unique: A single malt made from 100% Australian malt, distilled in Japan, and finished in bourbon and ruby Port barrels — all in collaboration with Texas whiskey legend Chip Tate, founder of Balcones Distilling. The formal name,…
Review: Wyoming Whiskey Outryder 2024
Our last encounter with Wyoming’s Outryder dates back to the 2021 edition. For this seventh release, this American whiskey that threads the needle between bourbon and rye comes with its origin story, which I don’t recall ever reading. And here it is: In 2010, co-founder David DeFazio requested Wyoming Whiskey’s distiller at the time, Bourbon…
