Drink the Bottles

  We have long been fans of what Rick and Ricky Johnson are doing over at 15 Stars Bourbon.  They have always focused on rich, exciting flavors and their blending is second to none.  There has never been a release that we have tasted where we weren't instant fans.  So, when we found out that they were releasing a new label - First West - that included some of their own distillate in the blend, we jumped at the opportunity to give this some attention. This is the  First West Toasted Oak Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey , a blend of 5, 6, and 7 year old bourbons, which is really impressive for a first-release label.  The Johnsons have included some of their bourbon that they personally crafted from their proprietary red, white and blue corns, making this, at least for us, a much-anticipated and welcome new phase of their business. We were immediately impressed by the packaging of this bourbon.  The initial releases in the First West series also include ...

  This is one of those bottles that we have had "in que" for sometime and for whatever reason, we kept pushing it further to the back of the line.  Shame on us!  Mutt had never tasted O.H. Ingram and Jeff thought the previous Ingram bottle was fantastic.  Today we have the O.H. Ingram River Aged Straight Rye Whiskey and my God.......... what a treat! It's not very often that we are at a loss for words.  This whiskey took us by complete surprise and threw us for a loop - in a good way.  Tasted neat from Glencairn glasses initially, and then once the camera stopped rolling (see video below) we dug into this even more.  And then we tasted it again the next day.  It goes without saying that we cannot wait to share this bottle with some folks in the local bourbon clubs. Medium honey color and a nose like nothing we have ever experienced.  Jeff said that in a blind tasting, he may not be able to pick this out as a rye whiskey.  On the nose i...

  In Shelbyville, Kentucky sits a farm distillery of just over 60 acres that is operated by Joyce and Autumn Nethery, a mother daughter team who are creating unique flavor expressions in the world of distilled spirits.  Jeptha Creed has been around for about 8 years now, and they are currently produding four different bourbons, vodka, moonshine and brandy.  Today we look at the Jeptha Creek Straight 4-Grain Bourbon , which encompasses a mash bill of 70% Bloody Butcher Corn, 15% malted rye, 10% malted wheat and 5% malted barley.  Why 3 malted grains you ask?  The legend is that prior to having their own facility, the Jeptha Creed team would distill many of their grains at a midwest distillery and when they received their shipment, all of the grains were malted.  So what do you do when you get lemons?  You make lemonade.   Well, you know what we mean... First of all, we love the look of this bottle and label.  It's not over the top, but it...