Tax strips are the blue (if exported), green or red strips that go up the side of the neck and over the cap and will either say U.S. Internal Revenue or Bureau of ATF. If it says ATF on the strip then your bottle is from 1977 – 1985. If it mentions the IRS then it’s pre-1977.   We can break it down to smaller chunks of time thanks to tax strip changes over the years. 1934-1944: Weight/Proof Marks on ends, no “Series” near Eagle’s feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1945-1972: Words “Series” and “111″/”112″ added near Eagles feet. Upper-left edge reads “US Internal Revenue” 1 ..read more

I like to get my hair cut on the road.  I enjoy going to little barber shops in major cities, or in smaller towns.  I just love meeting new people in them, and the characters that are so often the barbers.  It’s easy to find a barber shop, all you have to do is look for the Barber Pole. That’s the whole concept of what I call, Whiskey Barber Poles. When it comes to wines, I like Pinot Noir’s and Cabernet Sauvingnon. When it comes to beer, I like a Pilner, Ambers, and Pale Ales. That really helps me out when I’m looking at a wine or beer list.  You can do the same thing ..read more

Why do essentially the same style bourbons made from different distilleries taste so different? The laws on the books for producing bourbon are very restrictive. The law states that “Bourbon Whisky is whisky produced at not exceeding 160 proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51% corn, and stored at not more than 125 proof in charred new oak containers”.  Our Master Distiller at Heaven Hill Conor O’ Driscoll puts it this way. “There’s only so many levers we can pull.” Yet bourbon tastes different from one distillery to the other. What is it that makes them taste different? I descri ..read more

Bourbon hounds love it when they come across a store that has an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof on the shelf, just sitting there. Or a couple Blanton’s, Weller 12, or Kathleen’s Batch of Booker’s available with “no strings”; just up there on the top shelf as if they were waiting there just for you. And then there’s the folks that automatically cruise the top shelves to look for “gold dust” as I call them, or in locked cases in the front of stores. Most all distilleries have “gold dust” in varying rare offerings. Its what people want, we just don’t have enough of them, but that’s really what makes t ..read more