From the label: "Proudly made in the USA and inspired by the American lifestyle, Country Smooth was developed by the first female founder and CEO of an American whiskey company as a refined experience to be savored on its own or enjoyed in cocktails. CS is dedicated to celebrating the spirit of America and the crafting of premium American whiskey."
Please enjoy our Old Wm Tarr Manchester Reserve Whiskey Review! Have you heard of William Tarr Distillery? While the current iteration of the distillery is a new kid on the block, their namesake most certainly is not. You see, William Tarr and Thomas J. Megibben purchased the financially troubled Ashland Distillery in 1871. The Ashland Distillery was initially established in 1865, and in 1866 it was the first to obtain a federally registered distillery license in Lexington and was assigned RD 1. So that's pretty cool! The original Ashland Distillery was destroyed by fire, and then rebuilt and reorganized as Wm. Tarr & Company in 1879. Old Wm Tarr Manchester Reserve 7 Years Aged Whiskey is the first release from this resurrected distillery.
Please enjoy our Bardstown Bourbon Company Double Oak Fusion Review! I had heard that this Double Oak Fusion bourbon was coming, but I didn't know when. It turns out that it showed up at the new "Fill Your Own Bottle" station that Bardstown recently debuted. This isn't your usual double oaked story. It turns out that when Fusion 1 was bottled, there was a little snafu in calculations and some bourbon was left over. What to do? Well it was already dumped and shipped to the bottler, so it got put back in a tote and then went back to Bardstown and into a new charred oak barrel. The bourbon was left to age another 2 years in that new barrel. So how'd it come out?
Please enjoy our Pinhook Bourbon Heist High Proof review! Pinhook Bourbon Heist High Proof is the latest bourbon release from Pinhook. As many of you know, Pinhook releases a new "Crop" of bourbons and ryes each year. Each bears the name of a real life thoroughbred identified by McMahon & Hill / Bourbon Lane Stables and each horse has either bourbon or rye in its name. Every year, both the bourbon and rye are named after a new horse, and the bourbon, and sometimes the rye, come in both high proof and lower proof options. Also released each year are bourbons and ryes which are part of the Vertical Series; these whiskeys will be released yearly as they age from 4-12 years. They are all named either Bourbon War or Tiz Rye Time and the latest releases for both are their 5 year olds.
A month or so ago, Heaven Hill released Square 6 Bourbon which is sold only at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. It was the first bourbon to ever be released to the public that was distilled in the artisanal distillery at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. Next, it was the newly renamed and renovated Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience's turn to get its own bourbon. At the time of the grand opening of the new visitor center, Five Brothers Bourbon made its first appearance. It is sold only at the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience and initially was in short supply, although now it seems to be more readily available.
The new Square 6 Bourbon from Evan Williams is a really cool bourbon. Why? Well, first and foremost, it's the first bourbon distilled at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience to be ever released to the public! I was really interested in trying this one, so we drove out to Louisville, waited for a few minutes for our turn, and headed up to the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience gift shop to pick up a bottle.
Have you ever had a pickleback? It's a shot of whiskey chased by a shot of pickle brine. I sort of winced at the idea, but then I remembered that I'm a big fan of Russian food accompanied a nice shot (or 10) of vodka chased by pumpernickel and a pickle. So I was interested in giving this new Bluegrass Distillers Pickleback bourbon a try.
Broken Saddle Bourbon would be yet another "mystery bourbon" (who has ever heard of The Winship Company??) were it not Bottled-in-Bond. But since it is, we actually know that it comes from the Barton 1792 Distillery, which is DSP-KY-12, and apparently occasionally goes by the name The Winship Company. Isn't that cool?! That's why I love bottled in bond! We also know that this bourbon is at least 4 years old and 100 proof. Otherwise there is next to no information about it or the company online. The best I can tell is that it may be a store brand of sorts of Spec's in Texas. They also carry the related Broken Fence Single Barrel Bourbon and Broken Thorn Small Batch Bourbon. Either way, at less than forty bucks for a BiB bourbon by Barton, I figured I would give it a shot!
Have you heard of Blue Run Spirits? This Blue Run 13.5 yr Single Barrel Bourbon will be their 2nd release (or one of their 2nd releases - there is a 14 yr small batch on the way, and it looks like their is a rye in the works, too). The first release was a 13 year old Kentucky straight bourbon, which I had written about a few months ago. This one is a single barrel, so of course there will be some variability, and the bottle you get could be from a different barrel than the one that I am tasting.
Well this one was a real surprise! I had no idea that the folks at Wilderness Trail Distillery were going to be releasing such an amazing barrel in honor of the Kentucky Derby! I have said before how much I love their bourbon at barrel strength, and that goes double for their wheated bourbon. That extra proof just does something amazing to it. Unfortunately, the barrel strength wheated bourbons have become somewhat of a rarity as they have been holding them back to further age. So I was very happy to get a bottle of this Wilderness Trail Bourbon!
Bluegrass DistillersKentucky Straight Bourbon WhiskeyBottled-In-Bond71% Yellow Corn, 21% Wheat, 4% Malted BarleyDSP-KY-20007 Bluegrass Distillers is located in the historic Northside neighborhood of Lexington, KY. They are housed in the Bread Box (the former home of Rainbo Bread Factory) at the…
Are you familiar with the Parker's Heritage Collection from Heaven Hill? According to their website: "Each year as part of the Parker's Heritage Collection, we select a special whiskey to be released in the name of our late Master Distiller Parker Beam. The barrels selected for this series include Bourbon, Rye, and Wheat Whiskeys, among others, and are some of the finest and most diverse American Whiskeys ever produced. They are a fitting tribute to the expertise of Parker Beam." Parker Beam suffered from ALS, and currently, a portion of the proceeds from each bottle sold go to the ALS Association. I believe the donations began with this release, Parker's Heritage Collection Promise of Hope Bourbon.
Casey Jones Distillery released their first Kentucky Straight Bourbon late November 2020. They use a very unique square pot still also known as a "square still" or "coffin still" to produce their bourbon (and moonshine). In addition, Casey Jones uses the moonshiner's technique of mashing and fermenting all in the same tub. Now that's efficiency!
The Whisky Drop is a new service from Maker's Mark Distillery. Taking advantage of Kentucky's recently passed House Bill 415, which allows the direct shipping of alcohol from producers directly to consumers, Maker's Mark launched this program early this year. There is a shipment every season and each contains two bottles of bourbon.
So, like all of the Rare Perfection whiskeys from Preservation Distillery, this Rare Perfection 12 Year Old Bourbon is also a mystery. We know it is from Kentucky and is 12 years old. Enigmatically, it doesn't declare itself a Straight Bourbon, although I guess that is implied by the age. And yes, the wording of the age is a bit different as well: YR 12 OLD.
