Author: Xenoraiser

  • Milam & Greene Single Barrel r/bourbon Pick Scoresheet & Review

    Milam & Greene Single Barrel r/bourbon Pick Scoresheet & Review

    Milam & Greene doesn’t necessarily spring to mind when I think of barrel picks. Given the staff’s background, blending and batching would seem more up their alley. Yet as anyone who’s done a blind tasting can attest, whiskey and surprises (good or bad) can often go hand-in-hand. Case in point:…

  • Talisker 10-Year Scoresheet & Review

    Talisker 10-Year Scoresheet & Review

    Whisky is very much a product of its environment. Wherever the aging spirit physically resides will impact how the final product comes out, from the surrounding climate to the casks chosen for maturation. One of the more interesting ways whisky can take on a unique personality is through coastal influences.…

  • Blackened Scoresheet & Review

    Blackened Scoresheet & Review

    Metallica and Dave Pickerell. These two names hardly require an introduction when discussing their respective fields. Metallica are essentially the biggest metal band still producing material (albeit infrequently); the late Pickerell was a guiding force for a multitude of distilleries, including Maker’s Mark and Whistlepig. So what happened when these…

  • Michter’s Single Barrel Rye Scoresheet & Review

    Michter’s Single Barrel Rye Scoresheet & Review

    Do you ever accidentally do something backwards? That’s how I felt coming into this review. The last time I looked at an expression by Michter’s was with their Barrel Strength Rye. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that it’s a personal favorite. And yet, like most of the…

  • Chattanooga 1816 Reserve Scoresheet & Review

    Chattanooga 1816 Reserve Scoresheet & Review

    Some things simply slip through the cracks. When preparing one of my upcoming reviews, I realized that I hadn’t talked about a certain bottle that I bought on a whim during my vacation last year. That bottle is 1816 Reserve from Chattanooga Whiskey. Although the folks at Chattanooga Whiskey were…

  • Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered (Batch 45) Scoresheet & Review

    Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered (Batch 45) Scoresheet & Review

    The spirits industry (bourbon in particular) has been seeing a lot of firsts recently. For example, it was only a decade ago that a Las Vegas distillery was first established. Enter Nevada H&C Distilling Company, founded by Aaron Chepenik and Jonathan Hensleigh. Their backstory comes from trying a host of…

  • Buffalo Trace Scoresheet & Review

    Buffalo Trace Scoresheet & Review

    These days it’s nearly impossible to discuss bourbon at large without mentioning Buffalo Trace. If not the brand name itself, then certainly any of their multiple bottlings. The Frankfort distillery’s more coveted expressions (Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Van Winkle) might be what some enthusiasts go nuts for, but even their…

  • Willett Family Estate Rye Scoresheet & Review

    Willett Family Estate Rye Scoresheet & Review

    Willett has always been a tricky distillery for me to pin down. A host of people hold the brand in particularly high regards, largely thanks to their purple-top (Family Estate Bottled) bourbon. These coveted bottles can occasionally push the 30-year mark, but tend to land between 4 and 12 years…

  • Heaven’s Door Decade Series 10-Year Scoresheet & Review

    Heaven’s Door Decade Series 10-Year Scoresheet & Review

    Of all the celebrity-sponsored whiskey brands out there, Heaven’s Door might be one of the more respected. Initial responses to the core lineup may have amounted to a resounding shrug, but the brand has gone on to offer a slew of other releases, including barrel picks and at least one…

  • Maker’s Mark 2021 Wood Finishing Series (FAE-02) Scoresheet & Review

    Maker’s Mark 2021 Wood Finishing Series (FAE-02) Scoresheet & Review

    Maker’s Mark is one of my favorite distilleries. That’s not exactly an unpopular opinion, given the brand’s iconic look and penchant for consistency. However, my appreciation for Maker’s Mark largely comes from their uniquely finished products, namely the Private Selections and Wood Finishing Series. Rather than taking their whisky and…

  • Milam & Greene Triple Cask Scoresheet & Review

    Milam & Greene Triple Cask Scoresheet & Review

    If you’ve seen the popular Epicurious video Whiskey Expert Guesses Cheap vs Expensive Whiskey, then you might be familiar with Milam & Greene. The second name comes from Heather Greene, the brand’s CEO. Greene was the first American woman to serve on the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society in Edinburgh and,…

  • Teeling Single Grain Scoresheet & Review

    Teeling Single Grain Scoresheet & Review

    Grain whiskey is a style that often flies under the radar. Part of this is due to the relative dearth of available options, further confounded by a likely confusion about what separates grain whiskey from other categories. Yet the simplicity of it is right in the name: grain whiskey can…