Category: Reviews

Benromach Triple Distilled

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This Benromach can still be found on shelves (and, sometimes, on sale!). It was distilled from partially-peated malted barley in 2011 and bottled in 2019, making it 7 years of age. No, I’m not bad at math, it’s just that the month of bottling means the whisky was under 8 years which by law means any age statement must be “7 years”. It’s bottled at a robust 50% ABV, higher than Benromach’s usual 46%. This might be an intentional choice to combat the reduced concentration of flavor from…

Old Elk Blended Straight Bourbon

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Old Elk Blended Straight Bourbon is a blend of sourced straight bourbons, with the youngest aged 5 years. As for the mash bill, Old Elk is once again an outlier: A whopping 34% malted barley, 51% corn, and 15% rye. I’ve never seen that much barley used in a bourbon before. They say it makes the whiskey extra smooth. The bourbon is bottled at an acceptable…

Kilkerran (12 year)

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The name Kilkerran is Scots Gaelic for “head of the lake of Saint Kieran’s cell” and refers to a local historic settlement. Glengyle distillery uses a local water source, Crosshill Loch, for its process and proofing water. After a series of “Work in Progress” malts, Kilkerran is now bottled under a range with an 8 year-old cask strength expression, an NAS “heavily peated” expression, and this flagship 12 year-old. Glengyle actually uses Springbank’s…

Far North Spirits Roknar Rye

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Roknar is one of the products of Far North Spirits, a “Field to Glass” distillery in Hallock, Minnesota, near the Canadian border. This is a single-estate rye made from non-GMO “AC Hazlet” rye grown on the family farm, mashed with 10% heirloom corn and 10% malted barley, and hammer-milled, fermented, and double-distilled in small batches on-site. The whiskey is matured in…

The Deveron (12 year)

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The Deveron is a line of single malts produced at the Macduff distillery. The name “Macduff” appears on independent bottlings, while variations on “Deveron” are used for official releases. Why? I’m too apathetic about this malt to find out. Probably it doesn’t matter. At some point in the hazy last couple of years the owners of Macduff distillery…

McKenzie Straight Rye

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So, I thought I was relatively safe to purchase this McKenzie Straight Rye after being impressed by their bottled-in-bond wheated bourbon. It’s a real distillery (not sourced), so you’re not at the whims of the local secondhand market for barrels that could suddenly go downhill, and the price is comparable. Lesson learned: rules of thumb are not infallible. I just…

Glen Grant (15 year)

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This 15 year is aged in ex-bourbon for 15 years and bottled at 50% ABV without chill filtration (color is not mentioned, so it might be color-adjusted). While Glen Grant does use sherry casks in some of its expressions, this is a purely ex-bourbon bottling. The bottle says “Batch Strength” which is a little odd when you think about it. Isn’t every batch…

Doc Swinson’s Single Barrel Rye

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Doc Swinson’s is a brand owned by Distiller’s Way LLC, an independent bottler aka NDP (non-distiller producer) specializing in selecting, blending, and finishing sourced American whiskey. They kind of burst onto the scene in the last two years, suddenly winning a number of awards. They’re probably best known for their “Alter Ego” series of finished bourbons, but I first truly considered them when I noticed this single barrel of rye at my local Costco…

The Glenrothes Vintage Reserve, Revisited

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The Glenrothes Vintage Reserve is an oddball vatting of what appears to be the leftover casks from the last public vintage releases plus a bunch of younger barrels that have not (yet) seen release: 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Of those years, the 1998 vintage makes up (according to marketing) 25% or more of the volume. This review is a second look at the expression.

The Glenrothes Bourbon Cask Reserve

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…the Bourbon Cask Reserve was a way for The Glenrothes to showcase its house malt with a background of only ex-bourbon aging. As part of the “Vintage Collection” released in 2015 it was also a way to dump together unused vintage-dated stocks and get away with classic NAS pricing (that is, more money for younger – on average – whisky). I suppose I can’t be too hard on that decision now that they’ve abandoned it in favor of age-stated bottles.