Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky is a relatively new distillery on the scene, but they put the whiskey community on notice when taking home Best in Show from the 2023 American Craft Spirits Association. The history of Casey Jones is that of illicit distilling near Golden Pond, but now very licit. Casey Jones refers to their 4-grain wheater as Mashbill 3 and consists of 26.5% Bloody Butcher corn, 26.5% yellow dent corn, 35% soft red winter wheat, and 12% malted barley with a 4:1 ratio of Pilsner to caramel. Casey Jones runs around a 72-hour sweet mash fermentation and ages in b ..read more

Heaven’s Door has become a juggernaut of whiskeydom, to the point where we’ve lost count of the number of expressions the outfit has cranked out to date. The good news is they are almost uniformly excellent, so we aren’t complaining about the arrival of yet another series from Heaven’s Door: The Exploration Series. Heaven’s Door will unveil two unique expressions under The Exploration Series banner annually, each standing as a testament to the brand’s dedication to pioneering the frontier of the whiskey category. Fueled by the restless and uncompromising spirit of co-founder Bob Dylan, the t ..read more

Heaven Hill’s first 2024 release of the Old Fitzgerald bottled in bond series has arrived with extra-special vibes attached: This release commemorates the 25th anniversary of Heaven Hill acquiring the historic Bernheim Distillery (DSP-KY-1) in Louisville — and along with it the Old Fitzgerald brand. This isn’t the spring release of Old Fitz — we figure that will show up by the end of summer — but rather a special “VVS” edition, which features a maroon label. Since 2018, there have only ever been two other VVS releases, including VVS 2018 14-year-old and VVS 2020 16-year-old — neither of which ..read more

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

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

Our friends at Texas-based Garrison Brothers have new special releases of both their Guadalupe and Balmorhea bottles hitting the market. We sampled both, and thoughts follow. Garrison Brothers Guadalupe Bourbon (2024) – This is the fourth year for Guadalupe, with a release of 10,500 bottles available. The unique maturation of this whiskey starts with four years in white American oak casks followed by two years in tawny port barrels from Portugal. The slightly ruddy hue is a clear nod to the Port influence, and the nose picks up on that front, melding a deep barrel char character with heavy no ..read more