Drink the Bottles

Adam Hines and his dad turened a motorcycle ride through Kentucky and Tennessee into a dream, which eventually became an award-winning and groundbreaking distillery..... in Ohio!  After tons of blood, sweat and tears, High Bank Distillery Company has found its foothold and Hines is dubbed the most awarded Master Distiller in Ohio.   For those of you who only believe that good whiskey is born in Kentucky, you are sorely wrong. We tasted the High Bank Whiskey Company Whiskey War Barrel Proof expression, which is a blend of small batch handcrafted straight whiskeys.  This is batch number 107 and according to the ditillery, has an age statement of at least 5 years.  This was actually honored as the Best Blended Whiskey in America a few years ago at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  No pressure here, but this bottle need not rest on its laurels.  We gave this the once over and admittedly......  it is deserving of all the praise. The color ...

  Our friends at Lux Row Distillers have another hit on their hands!  This new, limited-release bottle is their Small Batch Rye finished in PX Sherry Casks.  For finished whiskey lovers, this is one you'll want to seek out.  For straight rye fans, this one will appeal to you as well.  So many distilleries are finishing whiskey in about every type of previously-used spirits container you can think of, and Lux Row has this talent fine-tuned. Tasted from sample, this is brown sugar in color.  On the nose is a sweeter fruity note, fig pudding, hints of flower bouquet and grape.  We dug right into this one and found that the palate was not as sweet as we had anticipated or that was hinted from the nose.  Mutt got spice up front while Jeff took note of the espresso bean taste.  The spice tapered off quickly and suggested cinnamon stick, fig and roasted nuts (specifically cashews) on the back end.  This was literally mouth-watering. While this...

  In the midwest sits a small town of under 11,000 people, producing their self-proclaimed #1 Rye Whiskey in the World.  Carroll, Iowa is home to Iowa Legendary Rye Distillery , where they create pre-Prohibition rye whiskey using a bootlegger's recipe and cooking up trouble in 26-gallon pot stills.  They age their craft in small, 15 gallon casks, always using all-natural ingredients and doing things the old fashioned way, or in their opinion....... the right way. This is the gold label is a fine example of a family owned secret that was finally and reluctantly passed down from Grandma Lorine Sextro.  Now that recipe lives in Iowa Legendary Rye and boy, were we in for a treat!  This small batch rye is a hand picked tri-barrel blend.  The team strives for excellence by using new barrels, barrels with experience and double distilled double barrels to create a spirit that is not only unique, but memorable.  And that's exactly what you're getting here. Medi...

If you know anything  about whiskey, you know that blending the spirits is nothing new.  However, it truly takes an exceptional talent to have the senses needed to make this work successfully.  Nearly anyone can blend whiskey.  But only a handful of folks can turn blended whiskey into amazing products that blend seamlessly and like magic.  Chief Alchemist Macaulay Minton is completely dialed in when it comes to producing a product that is unique and also makes you as giddy as a school girl. Today we taste and share the  Dark Arts Amburana Oak Stave Finished Small Batch Rye  which has a mash bill of 95% rye and 5% barley.  While each batch is naturally different, the blends are from six to eight year age statements and contain three barrels for each small batch.  The whiskey is distilled in Indiana (most likely MGP) and the finishing and bottling happens in Lexington, KY.  We tasted this sweet treat neat in our favorite mini Belgian beer ...