By Susannah Skiver Barton

Tullamore D.E.W. is bringing back the boilermaker with a roving “D.E.W and a Brew” tour this winter. The brand wants to educate consumers about how different beers complement the flavors of the Irish whiskey. In partnership with the locally focused social publication Time Out , Tullamore D.E.W. brand ambassador Jane Maher will visit breweries and bars in eleven U.S. cities to lead consumer events that showcase local beer pairings. Nine additional cities will feature D.E.W. and a Brew drink specials in local bars and at breweries where it’s legal to serve spirits.

The tour starts on januari 9...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

Scott and Becky Harris (Photo by Kristen Dill)

Last oktober, Constellation Brands caught the craft whiskey industry by surprise when it bought Utah’s High West distillery in a high profile bidding war for approximately $160 million. However, another earlier craft distiller investment by Constellation was revealed in the company’s quarterly earnings report on januari 5th. During the third quarter of 2016, the company took a minority stake in Purcellville, Virginia’s Catoctin Creek distillery . No sale price has been disclosed, but the investment will allow Catoctin Creek to increase its production, expand into new markets, and hire...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

This week brings an array of expressions, from bourbon, rye, and Canadian whisky to single malts from Ireland and Scotland—plus a whiskey liqueur, since it’s the holiday season and even die-hard whisky lovers enjoy a sweet treat from time to time.

Bushmills 16 year old and 21 year old single malts

Style: Irish single malt whiskey Proof: 40% ABV Price: $70 (16 year old), $121 (21 year old) Release: december Availability: Widely available, but in limited amounts

Need to know: Both whiskeys are triple-distilled, and both are aged in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks before undergoing...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

When you get in a festive mood, sometimes a simple pour of whisky isn’t enough. Sometimes you want to trim your drink to match your tree. You maj even feel adventurous: after all, what good is that bar set you got last Christmas if you only use it for Manhattans?

If you want to concoct something extra-special, we’ve rounded up a few whiskey cocktail recipes from top bars’ holiday menus. Whether you’re in the mood for a hot or cold drink, or feel like bourbon, rye, or Irish whiskey, you’ll find something suitable to toast this...

John Lunn, who previously worked at the George Dickel distillery, will remain Master Distiller at Sazerac’s distillery in Newport, Tennessee.

  By Susannah Skiver Barton

Sazerac , the company that makes  Buffalo Trace and Pappy Van Winkle , among numerous other brands, announced it has purchased the Newport, Tennessee distillery where Popcorn Sutton’s Whiskey is made for an undisclosed price. The purchase did not include the Popcorn Sutton brand, but did include space for barrel storage. All employees will keep their jobs, including Master Distiller John Lunn and Master Blender Allisa Henley, both of whom joined the distillery from the...

High West Distillery

When we named David Perkins, founder of High West Distillery , our “ Pioneer of the Year ” for 2010, it was a controversial decision. Now, six years later and following the recent sale of the company to Constellation Brands for approximately $160 million, we expect there will still be some naysayers. Yes, High West, a craft distiller based in Utah, is a great American success story. However, their success is not the reason for our recognition, but just one more result of what whisky enthusiasts know to be true: High West delivers innovative and delicious whiskeys,...

Lifetime Achievement This year we honor three icons of the whisky world: Willie Cochrane, Eddie MacAffer, and Richard Paterson.

Willie Cochrane The Isle of Jura’s remote and sparsely populated landscape maj not be for everyone, but it’s a seductively beautiful place to spend your working life. When Willie Cochrane first came to Craighouse, he thought he would stick it out for a year. Thirty-nine years later, after overseeing the production of tens of millions of liters of Jura spirit, he decided to call it a day. Although born in the great city of Glasgow, I’m certain his prominent position at...

Ailsa Bay, 48.9%, £55

Given the plethora of recently opened and planned distilleries within the Lowland area of single malt Scotch whisky production, there should be many contenders for this award in a few years. For now, however, most new releases from the region are independent bottlings of old favorites and innovation has been at a premium. So it was a great pleasure to see William Grant & Sons do something truly radical when it came to the first bottling from their Ailsa Bay Distillery at Girvan, in Ayrshire.

The Grant’s team threw the rulebook of what a Lowland malt...

Brora 38 year old (Diageo Special Releases 2016), 48.6%, $2,200

There is something rather ironic about the fact that Diageo ’s Clynelish site in Sutherland is best known to aficionados for a whisky produced only during the period of 1969 to 1983. That whisky is, of course, Brora, one of the brightest stars in the firmament that is Diageo’s annual Special Releases program.

The distillery was founded in 1819 as Clynelish, and traded as such until the construction of a ‘new’ Clynelish alongside the old two-pot operation during 1967-68. At that point the Clynelish name was transformed to the shiny,...

Lagavulin 25 year old, 50.9%, $1,200

Lagavulin Distillery celebrates its bicentenary in 2016 and as part of the celebrations, two new, limited-edition expressions were released, pitched at opposite ends of the age spectrum. First came a highly regarded 8 year old, though for some this seemed slightly too youthful to do this big, complex whisky full justice. Not for nothing is the Classic Malts expression so widely beloved bottled as a 16 year old, though the fifteen cask strength Special Release bottlings at 12 years of age have been uniformly impressive, too. Later in 2016 the age balance was redressed...

Glenrothes Vintage Reserve, 40%, $55

Glenrothes Vintage Reserve is a fine advertisement for the fact that when no age statement (NAS) whiskies are created with integrity, they can be extremely good indeed. It is also a fine advertisement for affordability. Vintage Reserve replaces the previous Glenrothes Select Reserve bottling, created by now retired ‘malt master’ John Ramsay. Glenrothes had become notable for its policy of releasing vintages from individual years, rather than whiskies with age statements, but Select Reserve took them into NAS territory for the first time in 2005.

Whereas the distillers were less than keen to reveal aspects...

William Grant & Sons Rare Cask Reserves Ghosted Reserve 21 year old, 42.8%, $140

This entrancing blend from lost Lowland distilleries has been a labor of love for master blender Brian Kinsman. A marriage of single Maltwhisky from Ladyburn and Inverleven with grain whisky from Dumbarton; a kindred spirit to the Ghosted Reserve 26 year old blended malt. It is fascinating to see a major producer using their private stocks to tackle the challenge of a closed distillery blend, and it’s no exaggeration to say that this is an unrepeatable exercise.

The distilleries maj have gone, the remaining stocks...

Amrut Spectrum, 50%, £100

One cask. Five woods. Isn’t it amazing that nobody ever perfected it before? Amrut deserves much greater recognition for their successful experiments in whisky making: they have previously mixed malted barley from Scotland and India (Amrut Fusion), matured whisky on more than one continent (Amrut Herald and Amrut Two Continents), and dazzled us with numerous finishing projects, such as Amrut Kadhambam. Last year’s Amrut Naarangi showed great promise for further innovation, by pretreating the finishing oloroso cask with wine and orange peel. Amrut Spectrum is a true original, the result of secondary maturation in bespoke chimeric...

Redbreast Lustau Edition, 46%, $69

Aaah, the luxury of choice. Irish whiskey drinkers are blessed that shelves are brimming with a much wider selection than just a decade ago. It’s not that long since new Irish whiskey releases were too infrequent to run an Irish whiskey section of the Buying Guide in every issue of this magazine. Now they are so numerous that we have to be selective about what goes into print. It’s a good problem to have.

The first thing you need to know about this whiskey is that it doesn’t carry an age statement; however, Irish Distillers...

Yoichi Single Malt, 45%, $80

For the optimists out there, rejoice! U.S. liquor stores are stocking a greater variety of Japanese whiskies produced by a greater number of distillers than for many years. For the pessimists out there, disaster! We still get to grumble about the profusion of whiskies with young or no age statements to our hearts’ content, carp on about steep prices charged by producers relatively new to making whisky, and wallow in our reminiscences about tasting legendary Japanese whiskies. But wait; the global whisky community’s longing for quality Japanese whisky is not an entirely unrequited desire. The...

Crown Royal Cornerstone Blend, 40.3%, $60

A wealth of great new Canadian whiskies in 2016 made it difficult to select just one winner. The sublimely complex Gooderham & Worts, a bourbonesque 14 year old from J.P. Wiser’s called Last Barrels , and Ninety, a creamy, spicy 20 year old all-corn whisky from Highwood Distillers , were strong contenders. When all was said and done, Crown Royal Cornerstone Blend emerged as this year’s Canadian whisky champion. The first release in a new series called the Noble Collection, Cornerstone Blend happened by chance, and if you don’t taste it soon you likely...

Bainbridge Yama American Single Grain Barley Mizunara Japanese Oak Cask, 45%, $495

Experimentation is the hallmark of America’s craft distilling movement. But even during this ambitious era, few distillers forge ahead with the determination of Bainbridge ’s Keith Barnes. Already a proponent of locally grown organic grain, Barnes set out to design a whiskey with a Japanese connection that would benefit the historic site of the village of Yama on Bainbridge Island, the last remaining first-generation Japanese immigrant village in the U.S.

After some consideration, Barnes decided to pursue mizunara oak, a rare and distinctive variety from the Japanese island...

Booker’s Rye, 68.1%, $300

Booker Noe accomplished many things in his career. When he passed away in 2004, rye whiskey was low on the list. Now, that has changed.

Before he died, Booker filled 100 barrels that aged for 13 years in Jim Beam warehouses D and E. The end result is this year’s American Whiskey of the Year, which ranks among the best whiskeys Booker ever made. In addition to high scores, these awards factor in trendsetting, ingenuity, and creativity, too. Plus, there’s a nostalgia factor: this whiskey is one of our last connections to American whiskey’s first “rock...

By Susannah Skiver Barton

West Virginia craft distiller Smooth Ambler Spirits has agreed to sell a majority stake to NBV Investments Inc., an affiliate of Pernod Ricard USA . The deal is expected to close in early 2017, and Smooth Ambler co-founder John Little will now serve as CEO, with director of sales and marketing John Foster also staying on. The sale amount wasn’t disclosed, but it will allow Smooth Ambler to increase production and grow its local team. Paris-based Pernod Ricard owns a number of whisky brands from around the globe, including Chivas Regal , Ballantine’s , Glenlivet ,...

The 23 ^rd Annual Whisky Advocate Awards will be announced here  beginning this Friday, december 9 ^th .

The Whisky Advocate Awards exist to recognize excellence in the world of whisky. Now in its 23 ^rd year, the program honors the world’s greatest whiskies, distilleries, and the individuals who make and promote our favorite spirit. As always, these awards are not necessarily assigned to the whiskies that received the highest ratings in our reviews. The awards are recognition of a combination of excellence, innovation, tradition, and always, great-tasting whisky. Our Buying Guide reviewers reach a consensus on the awards.

The...