Review: New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye 8 Years Old (2024)
Kentucky’s craft darling New Riff has been rolling hard eights lately. Their limited-edition High Note Collection featured a pair of 8-year-old offerings last fall, followed by a more widely available 8-year-old bourbon in the spring and now this, an 8-year-old expression of their Kentucky straight rye. This is the same 95/5 recipe rye that New…
Review: Bird Creek Single Malt Whiskey Baronesse & Full Pint
The Pacific Northwest is blossoming with American single malt whiskey production, in large part due to the region’s ability to grow barley. Portland’s Bird Creek Whiskey started operations in 2017 and has become a name that whiskey enthusiasts need to know. While the brand ages and bottles its whiskey in Portland, it contracts with an…
Review: King of Kentucky Straight Bourbon 16 Years Old (2024)
Now in its seventh year, Brown-Forman’s King of Kentucky is once again helping to kickstart the bourbon release season (although we’ve had quite a few big releases already). Of all the bourbons fans tend to clamor for this time of year, few are quite as consistently impressive as this brand, delivering very good or, more…
Review: Bomberger’s Declaration Bourbon and Shenk’s Homestead Whiskey (2024)
From its custom filtration process to its unique approach to barrel toasting and specialty toasted offerings (which have inspired countless imitators), Michter’s made its modern name with an innovative approach to American whiskey. While the distillery hasn’t really tweaked its formula in recent years, it continues to innovate with its Legacy Series, albeit somewhat under…
Review: 6 Selections from Portland Syrups
Portland Syrups is an Oregon-based producer of more than 20 sweetening mixers, ranging from simple syrup to pumpkin spice. We recently delved into a half-dozen of these offerings — tasting all with sparkling water to cut through the sweetness. Each is sold in a 12 ounce bottle, which provides 12 to 24 servings. Bottles are…
Review: Tamdhu 18 Years Old
We continue our march across the ever-growing Tamdhu lineup with Tamdhu 18 Years Old, yet another milestone for this once-shuttered Speyside distillery. Dormant from 2010 to 2013, Tamdhu is now humming under current owners Ian Macleod Distillers who have expanded production since taking over in 2011. The 10-year-old, drawn initially from old Edrington stocks and…
Review: Virginia Distillery Blue Ridge Select American Single Malt
Virginia Distillery has been putting out excellent American single malt for several years and just released a new addition to its core product lineup: Blue Ridge Select. The new release boasts a total maturation exceeding 6 years. Virginia Distillery utilizes two-row spring barley for brewer’s pale malt. The malt is fermented for a minimum of…
Review: Old Louisville Bourbon 11 Years Old
Old Louisville Whiskey Company is a tiny non-distilling producer operated by Amine and Beth Karaoud. Over the past few years, the Karaouds have developed a reputation for bottling quality whiskey distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana by you-know-who. Everything bottled by Old Louisville has matured for at least 7 years. The brand offers batched and single barrel…
