In the overcrowded world of American whiskey, it’s getting harder and harder to grab the consumer’s attention, but Filmland Spirits seems well-positioned to crack that code. The brand has one of the most creative and eye-catching bottle labels in the industry right now, with each offering sporting a B-movie name and a full, pulp-style movie poster to go along. Each expression even includes snippets of script, storyboards, and an animated trailer for those curious enough to visit the brand’s website. But we all know what matters most is what’s on the inside of the bottle. And Filmland made a r ..read more

Seattle’s Westland Distilling continues to iterate its special edition single malt whiskeys, annual releases of Garryana, Colere, and now Solum, which just hit its second release. We missed 2022’s Garryana bottling and the inaugural Solum release, so we’re picking things up here with our look at the latest Garry and our first spin with Solum. Incidentally, the environmentally focused Westland just achieved B Corp status, reflecting its hard efforts put into sustainability. Details, and thoughts, follow. Westland Outpost Range – Garryana American Single Malt Whiskey Edition 8 (2023) – Release ..read more

Bernheim Barrel Proof — the high-test version of Heaven Hill’s wheat whiskey — is released twice a year. A224 marks the first release of 2024 and the third release of the whiskey ever. As usual, the whiskey changes little from batch to batch, this one hitting 62.6% abv. The blend is made from a mash of 51% wheat, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley, aged 7 to 9 years. Maybe my nose is dialed down a bit today, but this expression seems less aggressively sweet than previous bottlings of the Barrel Proof — and the standard release of Bernheim. That classic maple character is part of the equation, bu ..read more

The recently rebranded and relaunched Savage & Cooke whiskey brand just got its first line extensions with the arrival of a new Bottled in Bond Series. These two whiskeys are both built around heirloom corn varietals designed to showcase the grain above all else. We got a very early look at these whiskeys, so let’s dive in to see how they fare. Savage & Cooke Bloody Butcher Bourbon Bottled in Bond – Made from 70% Bloody Butcher heirloom corn, 16% red winter wheat, and 14% malted barley, 4 years old, aged in #3 char barrels. The nose is complex and expressive but refined, the note ..read more

Heaven Hill’s Elijah Craig Barrel Proof machine is rolling for 2024, and we’re off to a curious start: A124 is one of the youngest releases in the series, at 10 years, 9 months old — and one of the lowest in proof, at just 59.5% alcohol. That’s still toasty, but considering some ECBP releases have hit over 66% abv, it comparatively feels like it should come in a juice box. Much to my surprise, right out of the gate, this is tough stuff. The nose is heavy, weighted down by notes of well-roasted meat, saddle leather, and some camphor. In time, the aroma lightens up to reveal dried flowers and a ..read more

First, I love that a company in the 2020s named itself “Liquor Co.” Forget “Distilling” or “Spirits,” Sausalito Liquor Co. is kicking it old school. The California operation launched last year with three spirits, a gin, a bourbon, and a rye. Designed with northern California’s distinct flora in mind, “these spirits are meant to be enjoyed with just a few other simple ingredients in any glass you have handy and with good friends and family – no Ph.D. in mixology required,” per the company. “Our goal with Sausalito Liquor Co. is to provide spirit drinkers with the same welcoming, authentic, an ..read more

Since they began procuring whiskey from other producers in 2011, Smooth Ambler hasn’t been shy about labeling the resulting products as sourced. Today, the distillery categorizes its offerings across three labels: Old Scout, a brand for their sourced offerings Founders’ Series, which denotes bottlings with 100 percent in-house distillate Contradiction, with bottlings containing a blend of in-house and sourced whiskey After a multi-year hiatus, the West Virginia-based operation has brought back Old Scout 7, an MGP-sourced bourbon with a seven year age statement. It’s made from a mashbill of ..read more

We’ve covered a pair of whiskey releases from Pennsylvania-based Bluebird Distilling in the past, with mixed results. Up next is a new bourbon, “well aged and lightly smoked,” with a charitable goal: 10% of profits from the sale of the whiskey go to the Jetty Rock Foundation, which aims to protect east coast oceans and waterways, and those who live near and work them. You wouldn’t know it from the bottle, but the unique whiskey features a mashbill of corn, wheat, rye, barley, and smoked cherry malt, aged for 5 to 7 years in charred American oak and finished in Brazilian Amburana barrels. A tr ..read more

Six years ago, Taiwan’s Kavalan re-launched the Single Cask Strength Series of its single malts, with high-proof versions of its four uniquely matured bottlings on tap. We didn’t review them at the time, but from what I can tell this was a semi-relaunch of the Solist series. Neither series however has been available since 2018, but now they’re back, at least for a limited time. Unfortunately we only received one of the quartet for review, but it’s a new version of one of our favorites from the Solist lineup: Vinho Barrique, which is fully matured in used American oak wine barrels that have be ..read more

Blanton’s has reached such a point of saturation in the collective consciousness of bourbon folk that it’s lost all meaning. Both the name and the object. Is it a meme, is it collectible, is it overhyped… is it even any good? The answers are: Yes! Luckily, Dominic Guglielmi’s Warehouse H, based on his website of the same name, goes a long way toward imbuing the brand with a sense of identity. While it does touch upon the polarization of Blanton’s, it doesn’t mire itself in the superficial cruft incessantly debated over social media. The book is a concise and celebratory account of the brand’s ..read more