Drew Beard
Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman Distillery has been on fire of late with its limited editions. The annual Cask Strength releases, each impressive, have become instant unicorns, and the most recent Abraham Bowman, a rum-finished 15-year-old bourbon released in 2021, was similarly spot on. After a two year hiatus, Abraham Bowman has returned with the first…
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We tasted Gortinore Distilling’s flagship Natterjack Irish Whiskey last spring and found it to be exceedingly approachable but not exactly earth-shattering on the flavor front. A cask strength version dropped around the same time, but a sample only recently found its way onto our desk. As a reminder, this is a younger Irish whiskey (under…
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Of all the whisky team-ups I could imagine, Scotland’s Lagavulin and Australia’s Starward was nowhere near the top of my list (despite Diageo having a not insignificant interest in the latter). Sure, the two countries have some cultural history. There’s a better than zero chance that a couple centuries ago an illicit distiller from Islay…
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Just last year we introduced you to the impressive core range from Pokeno, and now the Kiwi whisky maker, which has only been distilling since 2017, is out with another lineup of unique single malts. Pokeno’s Exploration Series is a line that is intended to showcase the distillery’s most innovative whiskeys with emphasis on the…
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While they are known for their “riffs” on American whiskey traditions, Kentucky’s New Riff Distillery is out with a new bourbon that’s about as straightforward as they come. That said, it is twice as old as the flagship bourbon they debuted in 2018, making it their oldest rye bourbon yet (a more limited eight-year…
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We got our first taste of an M&H Apex single cask single malt back in 2022. Several single casks, in fact, including a stripped and recharred cask like this latest expression that recently crossed our desk. As a reminder, Apex is the top of the Milk & Honey portfolio featuring both small batch and limited…
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Glenmorangie already tweaked the Extra Matured Range portion of its portfolio five years ago with age statements becoming a little more prominent for The Lasanta and The Quinta Ruban (the latter jumping from 12 to 14 years old). The exotically named, Sauternes-finished Nectar D’Or, however, suspiciously went from being a 12-year-old single malt to a…
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Our slow march through Bowmore’s travel retail, Aston Martin-inspired selections continues. As a reminder, these hit airport duty free shops in 2021 as 10-year, 15-year, and 18-year bottlings under the Bowmore x Aston Martin label. They mirror the existing travel retail line in age but are drawn from special cask selections, each commemorating a specific…
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Last year saw the return of a full slate of Michter’s 10-year-old bottlings (bourbon and rye) plus a new Toasted Barrel Finish Rye and some other unicorns we unfortunately didn’t get a chance to sample. Missing from the 2023 release calendar was a Barrel Strength Straight Rye (which seems to happen when a toasted offering…
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We’ve been following the evolution of North Carolina’s Southern Distilling Company for a while now. It’s a craft distiller that seems to have achieved the enviable transition from quality sourced whiskey to superior house-made whiskey. That’s not always an easy jump to make, for a variety of reasons. When last we looked in on Southern,…
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