Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch Bourbon – 2015

Every year around mid-September, Four Roses releases the coveted Limited Editions. 2015 also marks another transition at Four Roses: Legendary Master Distiller and American whiskey celebrity Jim Rutledge will be retiring this Fall. That makes the 2015 Limited Edition Small Batch the last limited release made under Jim’s direction. If you do secure a bottle, you’re in for a treat. A mixture of 4 different bourbons, using 3 recipes (out of the 10 Four Roses recipes) at unusually high ages: 16 year-old OBSK, 11 year-old OBSV, 15 year-old OESK, and 14 year-old OESK.

Woodford Reserve Bourbon (Revisited)

Way back in 2011 … I was called out in the comments by Woodford adherents that I was doing the whiskey a disservice by reviewing it based on the sample bottle. I had an opportunity to revisit Woodford Reserve recently – this time from a full 750ml bottle – and thought it would be appropriate to review it again for National Bourbon Heritage Month. Does my review from 4 years ago hold up?

Spotlight: WhiskyAnalysis.com

WhiskyAnalysis.com is a meta-analysis of online whisky reviews and ratings, to “provide an extensive comparative assessment of whiskies, based on a proper scientific meta-analysis of descriptions and scores given by whisky reviewers with extensive experience” so that you can “make sense of whisky flavors and quality, as an aid in selecting ones you might like to try next – based on your own personal preferences.”

Sons of Liberty: Hop Flavored Whiskey (Seasonal)

Sons of Liberty set out to create a whiskey that evoked refreshing summertime IPA beer by actually distilling an IPA beer wash, suspending hops in a gin basket during pot-still distillation, and then dry-hopping the finished (aged) whiskey! No sugar syrup, no weird chemicals, just artisanal ingredients treated with respect and using traditional brewing and distilling methods creatively to craft something innovative.

Sons of Liberty: Uprising

Uprising is an American single malt whiskey distilled from a stout beer using classic American ale yeast and the traditional stout malts: Pale Malt, Dehusked Chocolate Malt, Crystal 45, Biscuit malts, and plain roasted barley. The beer is then double-distilled in Sons of Liberty’s 250 gallon pot still and aged for under two years in new charred American oak barrels.

Sons of Liberty: Battle Cry

Battle Cry is an American single malt whiskey distilled from a Belgian Trappist-style beer made with 20% rye malt and the rest Pale and Honey malts. The beer is then double-distilled in Sons of Liberty’s 250 gallon pot still and aged for under two years in new charred American oak barrels that are “enhanced” with lightly toasted staves of French Oak.