This past week a fellow attorney at the office asked me for advice for bourbon selections for their home bar. One of my recommendations was Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. While I have previously blogged about this bourbon, and how great it is when stores pick their own barrels of whiskey for special bottlings, I did … Continue reading Woodford v. Woodford-the case for Store Barrel Picks

"Saint Patrick was a gentleman who through strategy and stealth, drove all the snakes from Ireland. Here’s a toasting to his health. But not too many toastings lest you lose yourself and then Forget the good Saint Patrick...And see all those snakes again."   (A dram of good Irish whiskey and one of my all-time favorite Pink … Continue reading Teeling Brabazon Single Malt Irish Whiskey

Last fall, I reviewed Old Forester's Prohibition Style Bourbon, which is very good. At the end of the review I remonstrated: "But Brown Forman I have a bone to pick with you. You make and char your own barrels which no other distiller does anymore. You know how to make really good bourbon with oak … Continue reading Woodford Reserve Batch Strength, or how Brown Forman totally met my Double Dog Dare to put out a cask strength bourbon

I decided to do something a little different in this blog post-review bourbons in the less than $20 a bottle range. One might ask why I am drinking such swill, but my wife went to Trader Joe's recently and bought me a bottle of their bourbon, and Hokus Pokus started carrying Jeffers Creek as sort … Continue reading Swell Swill Sunday: Trader Joe’s and Jeffers Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskies, but I would rather have Buffalo Trace.

Sometimes I get little breaks from court while I am out of town, and rather than just sitting around I will seek out local liquor stores to see if they have something my local doesn't have. On a recent trip out of town, I stumbled upon a bottle of Redemption 10 year old High Rye … Continue reading Redemption 10 year old Barrel Proof High Rye Bourbon

Jim Beam, probably the largest of all bourbon producers, early on sensed a change coming in the bourbon marketplace in the wake of Blanton's Single Barrel, and developed their small batch collection in the early nineties. Booker's is the cask strength member of the collection and really introduced cask strength bourbon as a staple in … Continue reading Baker’s Small Batch 107 Proof Bourbon-an unsung but great bourbon in the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection

My cousin is a certified wine sommelier and I often wondered if there was such a thing for bourbon. Turns out there is, and Moonshine University which has a curriculum for craft distillers founded the Stave and Thief Society for certifying bourbon stewards, the English word for Sommelier. So, I checked out the website and … Continue reading Bradley Drell, Certified Bourbon Steward of the Stave and Thief Society