Drink the Bottles

If you don't have the three of four minutes to read our entire review of this whiskey, we will cut to the chase.   This is quite possibly the best single malt whiskey we have tasted in 2024.  Now, if you want to know why then keep reading.  The  Westward Single Malt Whiskey  is what they call their original whiskey.  It is 100% malted barley from the Pacific Northwest and aged in heavy and light charred oak barrels.  The great northwest is known for exceptional barley crops and that is evident in what we are tasting today.   Medium to dark copper in color, this single malt whiskey carries distintive aromas and flavors that represent the waters of the Pacific Northwest, which is the foundation for what Westward produces.  Aromas include a basket of fresh picked peaches, orange bitters, maple candy, roasted nuts, lemon-lime soda and tree bark.  There is a lot going on here!  In the mouth is a mesmerizing and colorful palate ...

  A Smith Bowman Distillery out of Fredericksburg, Virginian has been turning some heads with their limited edition whiskey offerings.  This is the  Abraham Bowman Limited Oak Series: French Oak Whiskey  that was available through the distillery via lottery due to its exclusive nature.  The distillery has crafted about two dozen special limited release bottles and you quickly understand why these are so popular with whiskey enthusiasts and collectors. Gorgeous saddle brown color, this twelve year aged whiskey is a blend of their best barrels aged in French Oak, with and without char.  Tasted neat, aromas of freshly baked biscuits, vanilla extract, cherry cobbler and chewy caramel dominate the the nose.  This is instantly mouth-watering and equally matched by the beaming flavors of cherry cordial, lightly tanned leather, vanilla cream, spice cabinet and stone fruits.  It covers the tongue and leaves a very long and lovely finish.  We had the ...

We re-tasted Traveller Whiskey, a collaboration from Buffalo Trace Distillery and country music superstar Chris Stapleton, under the direction of master distiller Harlen Wheatley.  This is a blended whiskey and one that we think you will enjoy.  Don't buy this thinking you are getting a bottle of Buffalo Trace bourbon!   ABV:  45.0% (90 proof) Distillery:  Buffalo Trace Distillery Suggested retail price:  $39.99 Drink The Bottles  score:  87/100

We don't have an opportunity to taste many flavored whiskies, but it's always fun and interesting to see how one brand compares over another.  Flavored whiskey is great for the novice whiskey drinker who wants to try whiskey without getting the familiar burn or "hug" from the bottle.  It is also fantastic in festive and summertime cocktails and for creating your own signature drink.  This is  Firefly Distillery Steel Feathers Blackberry Whiskey  and it is definitely one of the better flavored whiskey offerings we have tasted in a very long time.   Jim Irvin and Scott Newitt are the co-founders of Firefly Distillery, bringing their experience from years working in the wine business to a venture that included not only traditional distilled spirits like whiskey, rum, gin and moonshine, but also ready-to-drink cocktails.  The Steel Feathers Blackberry Whiskey is a selection from their Tom and Huck Distillers series and it features "good ol' southern c...

  If you don't vacation on the east coast, you may  not know that Ocean City, MD is a hotbed of tourist activity in the summer months.  But it is also a one-of-a-kind distillery, producing award-winning rum, whiskey, vodka and gin.  We were fortunate to taste these  Seacrets Distilling Company  flavored vodkas, just in time for the hot summer weather and they are really something special.  Whether or not you consider yourself a vodka consumer, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what Seacrets is producing here.   If you've been around here for awhile, you know that we taste everything  neat - at least initially.  It can be tough to taste vodka and gin neat, as they are at the lower end of our "hey, lets' drink that today" list.  And too often you have to filter out the dozens of flavored vodka that sit on the shelf produced by the companies who are sloshing out a zillion barrels per year.  So when we had the opportu...

Two cousins who worked over a decade in the music and film industry found that they had discerning palates for whiskey and wanted to fill what they thought was a void in the beverage industry.  The inaugural and flagship blended whiskey from  Lodestar Whiskey  has a cool, laid back California vibe with mellow flavors and appealing owners.  They are relatively new to the space so they aren't distilling their products (who has a cool $25 million to do that?) but they are stepping outside of the box to blend warm and welcoming flavors with a combination of straight high rye bourbon and American single malt whiskey. While blending isn't new and it definitely is  an art form, what Anna and Wendelin are doing is charting their own course and getting people to notice.  We certainly did!  Medium chestnut color with graham cracker crust, orange and lemon peel and chewy caramel candy on the nose.  Those aromas led the tasting notes as well, but we also pick...

  What do you think of when you picture Brooklyn, New York in your mind?  Do you think of diverse neighborhoods, amazing food and Coney Island?  Maybe.  But you might be surprised to know that there is a distillery with a rich history, creating inviting drams that should be on your radar during your next visit to the city.  Husband and wife owners Alex Clark and Amy Grindeland set out to create premium liquors and that is exactly what they are doing.  They bourbon, rye whiskey, vodka and gin, connecting the distillery's name to the historic Fort Hamilton Army Base, which was named after Alexander Hamilton. First up, we tasted the  Fort Hamilton Sinble Barrel Bourbon  with an inviting mash bill of 85% Corn, 10% Rye and 5% Malted Barley, all locally sourced from New York state!  We always have a soft spot for folks who source their grains locally, as it adds to the footpring of what that area of the world is doing in the whiskey world.  Th...

  What happens when two brothers begin a trek to trace the whiskey distilling history of their great-great-great grandfather?  They run across a local historian in Tennessee who delightfully shows them two prestine bottles that were originally distilled by the elder Nelson, Charles.  This discovery lit a fire in Andy and Charlie Nelson, ultimately driving them to re-birth the Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey brand.  Fast forward eighteen years, this distillery produces not only the Green Brier label, but Nelson Bros as well.  These bottles are unique, delicious and created with time-honored traditions that began in the late-1800's. The  Nelson Bros Whiskey Calvados Cask Finish   is a distillery-exclusive product, and a unique creation that has been loosely copied by other distilleries, but never with the same outcome - deliciousness!  The Calvados Apple Brandy casks used in maturation of this whiskey allows for additional flavors to infuse t...

On a 1,500 acre farm in Fallon, Nevada comes some of the best whiskey we have tasted to date.  The Frey family has been farming this ground east of the Sierra Nevada mountains for about 170 years, which has resulted in them producing true  grain to glass products.  They maintain complete control over every step in the process and their dedication to the craft results in wonderful products. Colby and Ashley Frey establised Frey Ranch Distillery in 2006, all while still farming the family ground.  They are deliberate about each action they take from the obvious milling, mashing, fermeting (you kow, the "whiskey stuff") to the bottle and stopper design and label colors.  No detail goes unnoticed and no decision is made without the hands on approach of this team. The  Frey Ranch Bottled In Bond Straight Rye Whiskey is comprised of 100% slow-grown winter rye, aged for at least five years and is an absolute rock star in our opinion!  It bothers us that many...

  We don't get a lot of opportunities to taste rum, but we are so glad we had this chance.  Dread River Distilling Co out of Birmingham, Alabama has been distilling bourbon, rum, vodka, gin and other fine spirits since 2019.  During the Covid pandemic they were also pumping out hand sanitizer.  What started as a dream to create a small craft whiskey distillery has turned into a thriving and impressive destination location that not only produces whiskey but has so much more to offer.  Dread River now has a full-service kitchen, bar, gift shop, even facility....and some damned fine rum! The  Dread River Blackstrap Rum is starts with brown sugar and molasses, which is important to know when tasting this one.  In lieu of sugar cane, the brown sugar plays an important part in the color, aromas and flavors of this unique liquor.  If you pop this open and are thinking you're going to get something similar to a Captain Morgan plonk, you're in for surpris...

  By now, the world clearly knows that 95% of the world's bourbon is born in Kentucky.  But did you know that all fifty states not only make whiskey, but they distill other unique spirits as well?  Today, we travel virtually to Broad Branch Distillery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to discover six very unique spirits, ranging from a 60 proof flavored whiskey to a 6+ year aged, 100 proof Rye.   We tasted the Broad Branch Distillery Spirits line up from 50 mL sample bottles.  This includes four of their CORE spirits and two of their PREMIUM selections.  This tasting was very unique, as it included North Carolina rum and a classic Carolina Spirit that was reminiscent of tequila.  Don't get us wrong - we LOVE our bourbon and whiskey (and we tasted those too!) but it's always fun to discover new flavors and products outside of the famous distilled brown water. BBD relishes the Blue Ridge Moutain distilling processes and they live by the mission to c...