I feel like I’m falling out of love with whisky appreciation. Not whisky – I still enjoy a good deal of whisky from all over the world. No, I’m talking about falling out of love with the pursuit of new bottles, new distilleries, new information. The prospect of Rosebank distillery reopening used to excite me, now I just shrug and think about all the limited edition “not quite there yet!” bottlings that are going to retail for $150 and I just can’t get enthused about it. I hear about a new craft distillery (that I’ve never heard of) winning awards at a recent competition and all it makes me thi ..read more

Here we have a refreshing change amid the long, endless, maddening aisle chock full of NDP American whiskey. (NDP = Non-Distiller Producer, or brands that do not distill their own whiskey.) Rabbit Hole started in 2012 by – yes – rebranding whiskey from New Riff distillery. However, they completed construction and opened their state-of-the-art Louisville distillery in 2018 and now produce all of their own whiskey. Boxergrail is a Kentucky straight rye whiskey made from a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley (for enzymes). The mash is aged “over 3 years” in new charred American oak barrels a ..read more

So it has indeed been 12 years since I first reviewed the 12-year edition of DoubleWood by Balvenie. In that time, it became my go-to suggestion for newbies, or (more accurately) my suggestion for aficionados wanting to indoctrinate newbies into the single-malt fold. It has a little of everything, and manages to remain balanced. It is (or was) reasonably-priced, and comes from a venerable name in single-malt scotch. After some prodding from commenters, I realized it was necessary to revisit this bottle to make sure it hasn’t slid down the slippery slope of demand-outstripping-supply that has u ..read more

I just returned from South Africa (Cape Town) and a lovely time was had by all. While travelling, I always try to carve out some time early in the trip to seek out a bottle of whisky or whisky-adjacent spirits that are locally made, or at least only available locally. I do this for two reasons: First, it’s easy to get tunnel vision about what products are available at my regular liquor stores, and I like to try to get access to things I can’t get at home. Second, then I have a bottle of whisky that must be finished before the return trip! My only prior experience with the Three Ships brand of ..read more

I had lofty goals about writing a few blog posts to catch up from my recent bout of negligence. Especially since I have a long trip coming up, well, tomorrow. But then I woke up with a head cold and so there goes any hope of tasting whisky. Sorry? (Yes sorry) I hope to get back into a regular schedule upon my return. Until then, Cheers ..read more

Glenfiddich, as befitting a large distiller with a significant share of the global single malt scotch market, releases enough special editions that I can’t keep up with them. I do know not to dismiss them as “airplane bottle” scotch, as not only is the Glenfiddich 12 serviceable in its own right, but several of their special editions have had that magic combination of high quality and low cost. Even their 15 and 18 (both excellent) can be found for less than comparable brands. This particular release, which I snapped up in 2022 but is still on shelves well into 2023, was aged for a full 12 yea ..read more

In furthering my pursuit of reviewing low-end as well as high-end whiskies, and because I reviewed Jim Beam’s basic white label with surprisingly positive results, I figured that a review of Old Faithful itself Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 was due. I know that no one cares what I think of Jack Daniel’s. Essentially nobody is out there drinking it neat out of a Glencairn and performing Richard Patterson’s tasting routine on it. Really, this is just an exercise in completionism and I’m going to ignore all the hateful comments that shall arise in that spirit. You also don’t really need my overview of ..read more

I last reviewed the 2019 edition of this malt, which was an entirely different beast: heavily peated, 15 years of age, and rum finished. The 2021 bottling which appeared at my local Costco last week is unpeated and sports a red wine cask finish, but at least it’s a bit cheaper due to a lower age statement. Glen Scotia makes a small amount of heavily-peated malt whisky and most of its products are very lightly peated at around 15 ppm, but they also make some unpeated malt. Glen Scotia forms the Campbeltown triad – the last remaining vestiges of a robust whiskymaking region – along with Springba ..read more

Some of my more astute readers have noticed an uhm… dramatic drop-off in my posting regularity. The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, a bout of Covid and a number of real-life distractions have gotten me out of the habit of sitting down Saturday mornings to churn out a blog post. Once that habit is broken, well… it’s easy to stay distracted. For my first attempt at a return to weekly posting, I have dredged up this relic of my days buying everything that David Driscoll wrote about. Ok, let’s be fair, I still buy everything David Driscoll writes about. This review is p ..read more

Oof it’s been a month. Nobody wants to read about a blogger’s personal life outside of the topic of interest, so I won’t bore you, but lately Saturday mornings (when I write) have been… unavailable. Apologies for that. I want to write about blended scotch in the same way that people want to pick at a hangnail until it inevitably bleeds. I want there to be excellent, affordable, widely-available blended scotch for everyday drinking, and I want to be the one that finds it and tells the world tiny corner of the Internet that I inhabit about it. So, every time I see a blended scotch (preferably wi ..read more