Drink the Bottles

When the Blend Becomes Greater Than the Barrels In today's bourbon landscape, it seems like every new brand is chasing the next limited release. Silverthorn Reserve has taken a different approach. Rather than focusing on volume or flashy marketing, the company has built its identity around something that often gets overlooked—the art of blending. Founded by Drew Thorn after helping build Sagamore Spirit into a nationally recognized whiskey brand, Silverthorn Reserve is intentionally small. Every release is produced from just a handful of carefully selected barrels, allowing the team to prioritize flavor over scale. Transparency is equally important. Each bottle details exactly what went into the blend, from the originating states to the mash bills and blending percentages, giving whiskey enthusiasts a rare level of insight into what they're drinking. The Silverthorn Reserve 10-Year Blender's Art Bourbon is an excellent example of that philosophy in action. Rather than relyi...

  ASW Distillery: How Atlanta's Whiskey Pioneer Became One of America's Most Innovative Bourbon Producers There are certain distilleries that consistently find their way back onto my shelf. Not because they're trendy. Not because they're impossible to find. And certainly not because they're backed by massive marketing budgets.  They earn their place because they make whiskey that I genuinely enjoy drinking. For me, ASW Distillery falls squarely into that category. Over the years I've tasted countless bourbons from every corner of the country. Some have been excellent. Some have been forgettable. A select few have become bottles that I actively seek out whenever I see them. ASW's Fiddler line belongs in that latter group.  These bottles are nothing short of incredible! What makes ASW so fascinating is that they're not simply following the blueprint laid out by Kentucky's legacy distilleries. They're creating something uniquely their own in Atlant...

If you haven't heard of Shortbarrel Bourbon yet, you're either living under a rock or it isn't currently distributed where you live.  We first tasted one of their Bees Knees  bottles from a friend who bought it on a trip to Kentucky, and that first sip made us sit up and take notice.  While it isn't available in our state (yet), we've been lucky enough to find their bottles while on trips and we always look for new releases.   Three friends - Patrick Lemmond, Clinton Dugan, and Adam Dorfman - had a dream like so many whiskey enthusiasts do.  But they turned their vision into a reality and they are the founders of Shortbarrel, one of the most exciting, consistent and fast-growing brands in the past couple of years.  No detail is overlooked from the quality of the blending and/or distilling and down to the eye-catching packaging.   While the company operates a distillery in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Norcross, their flagship  Shortbarr...