After I attended a whiskey weekend at Buffalo Trace for Friends of the Trace in 2017, the authors of this blog, Mike Bonin, Robb Gibb, and I, decided that the Friends (colloquially referred to as FOTT) needed to have an annual single barrel select pick, and we pestered the powers that be at Buffalo Trace … Continue reading The 2021 Friends of the Trace Barrel Tasting and a Review of the 2020 Friends of the Trace Blanton’s Pick

The New Orleans Bourbon Festival just released two more bourbon barrels, these being rye recipe bourbons from Wilderness Trail. Both have the same mashbill: 64% corn, 24% rye, and 12% malted barley, fermented using the sweet mash process and barrelled at 110 proof, and then bottled at cask strength. Both were $58. Barrel No. 17E09-10, … Continue reading Tasting Notes: New Orleans Bourbon Festival Picks -Wilderness Trail Rye Recipe Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Hokus Pokus got another barrel selection in, this time from Hotel Tango, a veteran owned distiller in Indiana. Hotel Tango gets its name from the names of the founders, Hillary and Travis Barnes. Travis served in Iraq and was hit by several IEDs, resulting in traumatic brain injury and PTSD. He returned home and went … Continue reading Hotel Tango Bourbon Ready-To-Drink Hokus Pokus Single Barrel Selection

This bottle is not to be confused with the A.H. Hirsch of yore which had legendary status in the bourbon community. Those famous bourbons were distilled at the now shuttered Bomberger's distillery in Pennsylvania, which also made the Michter's back in the day Julian Van Winkle was involved in the bottling, and most of the … Continue reading Tasting Notes: Hirsch The Horizon Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Pinhook is a non-distiller producer that bottles sourced bourbon at Castle & Key distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Robb Gibb, one of the writers of this blog is a big fan, me not so much. Generally speaking, they have been bottling bourbons sourced from MGP in Indiana, which can be very good, but I find most … Continue reading Pinhook Collaboration Series Edition No. 1 Straight Bourbon Whiskey Ten Years Old

Seven Three Distilling Company is a distillery in New Orleans whose trademark is to name their spirits for various New Orleans neighborhoods, of which there are seventy three, thus the name of the distillery. 73's mission statement if you will is to make spirits with a sense of place, that being New Orleans. In August, … Continue reading Seven-Three Distilling Company’s Bywater Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Heaven's Door is a partially Bob Dylan created bourbon brand headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. They are using Tennessee Whiskies generally but in their Double Barrelled and Single Barrel Cask Strength releases there are some MGP sourced whiskies as well. This particular bottle from Hokus is Tennessee bourbon, with a low rye mashbill but the mashbill … Continue reading Heaven’s Door Single Barrel Cask Strength Hokus Pokus Pick “Heaven’s Pour”

Some call it American Whiskey, some call it Light Whiskey, I call it Carondolet Whiskey (Bourbon Street on the other side of Canal Street), but whatever you call it demand for ultra-aged bourbon has many whiskey producers experimenting with bourbon mashbill whiskey aged in used bourbon barrels. Sometimes this is an amazing and delicious whiskey, … Continue reading Hokus Pokus Private Release Barrell Whiskey finished in used Sauternes barrels

Friday afternoon I picked up the latest Hokus Pokus store pick, and this one was a bourbon I haven't had before - Old Soul. Cathead Distillery is Mississippi's first legal distillery since prohibition, and was started by Mississippians with a passion for spirits. Founded in 2010, the current distillery has been in operation since 2015. … Continue reading Old Soul Single Barrel Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Hokus Pokus Store Pick “Cara’s Day Off”

This past week, Hokus Pokus released the second in the Dead Man's Hand series, this one with 5 seared french staves, 1 Maker's 46, 3 roasted french mocha, and 1 toasted french spice, at 111.3 proof. They also have on the shelf for the askimng a limited edition of Maker's 46 Cask Strength, at 110.3 … Continue reading Tasting Notes: Maker’s Mark 46 Cask Strength and Hokus Pokus Private Select “Dead Man’s Hand II”