Whiskey
Whiskey is a spirit produced from the distillation of grain. Debate still rages about whether the Irish Celts or Scots were the first to produce the “water of life,” but the first written recording of whiskey’s creation dates to 15th century Scotland. Origin isn’t the only debate concerning whiskey. Spelling is contentious, too. When distilled in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, it is spelled whisky without the e, while whiskey distilled in Ireland and the United States is most often, but not always, spelled with the e. Technically, whiskey is a distilled spirit produced from a fermented grain mash, distilled to no more than 190 proof, and bottled at no less than 80 proof. All whiskey, with the exception of corn whiskey and “white” whiskey, must be aged for some period of time in oak containers. Whiskey is classified by country of origin (i.e. Canadian whisky) and may be further defined by the type of grain used (i.e. rye whiskey) or the way it is produced (i.e. single malt).
Top Whiskey Posts:
The Top 10 Whiskeys of 2018
The Top 10 Whiskeys of 2017
All About Dusties: 1970s vs. 2018 Bourbon Tasted Side by Side
Top 10 Bourbons Under $20
What Grains are Used to Make Whiskey (And Why?)
From Barrel To Bottle: How Wood Aging Impacts Whiskey
We’ve long been impressed with the bourbons rolling out of Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman distillery. While new, hyper-rare limited edition releases under the Abraham Bowman label come around roughly once a year, there hasn’t been ...
The Glenmorangie train keeps rolling right through this summer, with this our final destination: the latest addition to Glenmorangie’s core lineup — X by Glenmorangie. It was created in partnership with barkeeps, and is a ...
Recently, we enjoyed a survey of the Glenmorangie core range while chatting about giraffes. With this in mind, the time felt appropriate to clean off the shelves, empty some bottles, and engage in a quick ...
Kentucky’s Willett Distillery continues to periodically release cask strength, single barrel bourbons under its Family Estate label, with some releases now approaching 8 years of age or older. Last year, we reviewed the earliest of ...
We’ve covered the whiskies (and gin) of Israel’s Milk & Honey (aka M&H) several times. Now we’re back with a look at five new expressions, including a pair from the Elements Series which we hadn’t ...
Berry Brothers & Rudd is another venerable independent bottler which curates a wide variety of spirits beyond single malts (wine, gin, Cognac, etc). This timely review takes us back to a 2018 release and Speyside’s ...
Balnellan is another in a long line of private label bottlings for big-box American chain store Total Wine, this time supplied by independent bottler Angus Dundee. There have been a few offerings in the Balnellan ...
Sam Houston was an adventurous, self-made patriot and eventually a Democratic senator from Texas known for his brutal honesty. The bourbon bearing his name and produced by Three Springs Bottling Company hails from Bardstown, Kentucky. ...
Previously on “Everybody Hates Drinkhacker”: we reviewed an 11-year old Dailuaine from independent bottler WM Cadenhead. It was pleasant and serviceable enough to rate as a “B” on our grading scale, a respectable enough showing. ...
In 2019, George Dickel impressed us so much with its 13-year-old Bottled in Bond that we put it in our Top 10 Whiskeys list for the year. In 2020, the distillery produced a very solid, ...
