On mars 23rd, whiskey lovers of the Midwest will convene for WhiskyFest Chicago, the first WhiskyFest event of 2018. As always, hundreds of whiskies will be available at the event, and attendees can range freely between scotch, bourbon, Japanese whiskies, and many other whiskey styles—including the big tent of American craft whiskey. As craft whiskey has matured, small producers can now stand toe-to-toe with much more established distilleries. A number of craft distilleries from all around the country will be pouring at WhiskyFest Chicago, so you can sample the wide variety of styles now being made. Here are some of...

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While many whisky lovers will be enjoying a drop of the Irish this week (and if you need some suggestions, here are 17 new Irish whiskeys to try ), there are still plenty of bourbons, scotches, and other whiskies to get your hands on.

Booker’s is rolling out the first of four 2018 releases. Kathleen’s Batch, named for longtime brand ambassador and friend of Booker Noe Kathleen DiBenedetto, was aged for 6 years, 3 months, and 14 days, and is bottled at 63.7% ABV. Having tasted it myself during the selection process, I can say with confidence that this will...

The best part of WhiskyFest is the selection: Hundreds of new whiskies await your glass, representing scotch, bourbon, Irish, craft whiskey, and so many other styles. If you want to make a night of tasting only the newest releases, you’ll be busy. Here are our top picks for the must-taste new whiskies at WhiskyFest Chicago on mars 23rd—many of them making their public debut that very night.

Keep this list handy, and consult our recommendations for the top bourbons , scotches , and craft whiskeys at the event. Don’t forget to check out the free seminars , or to plot...

St Patrick’s Day is on Saturday. While it’s generally seen as an excuse to go out for some drinks, for me it’s also the ideal time to try and sneak some Irish whiskey into your drinks cabinet. Recent conversations online have shown me that not everyone is as big a fan of Irish whiskey as I am, so here are a few reasons to give it a try this weekend.

It’s not ‘just the same as Scottish whisky’

All whisk(e)y is far from the same, but Scottish whisky is made in a very similar way to other whiskies around the...

BenRiach has a new expression in their ‘classic’ (unpeated) range, BenRiach 21 Year Old . I suppose this means the excellent BenRiach 20 Years will be phased out. Mind that there is also a peated 21 year-old Authenticus.

The recipe is quite unconventional, with four oak types involved: ex-bourbon, Pedro Ximénez sherry, red wine (Limousin oak) and virgin oak casks. It is one of the first creations of the new Master Blender Rachel Barrie.

BenRiach 21 yo (46%, OB 2017)

Nose: a bright fruity nose, with the ex-bourbon oak in front with some oak spices from the virgin...

Willowbank or the Wilson Distillery was located in Dunedin, New Zealand . Founded in 1974 by the Baker family, it is known for the Lammerlaw whiskies (actually a Seagrams brand, also seen from Cadenhead), the Milford single malt.

However it closed down in 1997, the stills were sold to a rum company and remaining stocks are now owned by The New Zealand Whisky Company which occasionally releases some of the remanining 300-400 casks.

Given the grapes and vines on the label, it is likely that this single malt underwent some wine finishing. In fact a whole series of Willowbank casks...

RumNotes … three rather different rums today, two of which were bottled by independent whisky bottlers.

First there is  Don Pancho 25 Year Old , an old Panama rum bottled by Sansibar . Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez originally worked for Havana Club in Cuba, later for Abuelo rum in Panama and now lends his name to a rum brand that is mostly active in the US and Germany. Not sure how ‘authentic’ this is.

Don Pancho 25 yo 1992 (49,2%, Sansibar 2017, 267 btl.)

Nose: a praline / caramelized pecan nose with hints of chocolate cake and a...

Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018 is starting tomorrow. I already reviewed  the special show bottling (a 37 yo Port Ellen) , but there are a few more interesting new releases for the Whisky Live show and the first one is the second single Maltwhisky from Milk and Honey Distillery.

The Milk and Honey distillery released their first single Maltwhisky in 2017 and now the distillery releases it’s second one for Whisky Live 2018, both whiskies bottled by the distillery under the Experimental casks series brand.

What are those experimental casks? It’s quite simple. A few casks were distilled back...

The Glendronach Peated Port Wood that was released last november is the second Peated release from the distillery. The first one, which was young and is a straightforward bourbon maturation whisky  raised my brows because it wasn’t a proper Dronach for me.

But this second release, which had a second maturation in port pipes from the Douro Valley in Portugal, could fit the Glendronach image because we’ve seen port finishes from the distillery albeit at a far more aged whisky.

Glendronach Peated Port Wood Finish (46%, £59.95 / €56,95 )

Nose : Clean peat, young malt notes, strawberries and lots of cranberries,...

It’s time to make a dent in the back log of samples and notes waiting to be published. For today I’ve picked the BenRiach 21 Years Old Matured in four different casks since such a high count of different casks seems to be getting a tad more popular lately (Yes, Laphroaig Four Oak and Jura Seven Oak, I’m looking at you).

This whisky was aged in four different casks: Bourbon, Virgin Oak, PX and Red Wine Casks and then was blended together by BenRiach master blender, Rachel Barrie and bottled at 46%.

The BenRiach 21 Years Old is one of...

Following yesterday’s review of BenRiach 21 Four Oak  let’s have another BenRiach review for the road for those who goes back to work today after the beautiful spring weekend.

Since it was a great weekend, full of greenery and flowers, let’s review something special, a very old peated BenRiach, the BenRiach Authenticus 30 Years Old.

The 30 Year Old is the logical successor after BenRiach has released following the 21 Year Old and 25 Year Old in the past,  it’s a non chill filtered, au naturale colour and bottled at 46%.

BenRiach Authenticus 30 Years Old (46%,  £300 / €498 )

Nose : Great mellow...

“Pairing the bittersweet and herbal flavor of Campari with the toasted caramel notes of dark rum allows you to experience a full range of tastes that only improve when mixed in this Hot Buttered Toddy,” says Kate Bolton, owner of...

For Allen Lancaster’s Sombrero Rosado—a spin on the 1930s-era Brown Derby, comprised of bourbon, grapefruit, and honey—the master cocktail craftsman at...

This Sinful Julep from H. Joseph Ehrmann, proprietor of San Francisco’s...