Tag: a- rating
-

Booker’s The Reserves 2024 Scoresheet & Review
If there’s one bourbon distillery that earns the designation, “jack of all trades,” it’s almost certainly Jim Beam. About the only thing missing from the distillery’s otherwise expansive portfolio is a core wheated product. Yet for all of the strong and consistent releases that Jim Beam puts out, it’s rare…
-

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Beacon Scoresheet & Review
When I started reviewing Wild Turkey Master’s Keep releases, I had every intention of procuring at least one bottle of each and providing a subsequent review. That was around the time Master’s Keep One released, one of the line’s more polarizing bottles. I wasn’t able to track down a bottle…
-

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bottled in Bond 17-Year Scoresheet & Review
Many legacy distilleries have at least one bottled in bond product as part of their core whiskey range, including Heaven Hill, 1792, Buffalo Trace, Old Forester, and Jack Daniel’s. Some brought theirs to the market more recently than others, but when you shop an established distillery’s portfolio, it’s safe to…
-

Russell’s Reserve 13-Year (2021) Scoresheet & Review
Something strange happened to Wild Turkey between 2020 and 2021. The Lawrenceburg distillery, often the target of woe for people who’d previously made poor drinking decisions, quickly ignited interest from enthusiasts with the release of a couple of limited products. 2020 saw Wild Turkey drop a 17-year bottled in bond…
-

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Cornerstone Scoresheet & Review
“Cornerstone” is an interesting name for a limited release from a distillery otherwise known for its everyday, budget-friendly bottles. One could easily argue it’s a name more befitting a core product that anyone can walk into a store and purchase, making it a foundational piece for the producing party. The…
-

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye Scoresheet & Review
These days it’s easy to find praise being sung for Wild Turkey, particularly following the inaugural release of Russell’s Reserve 13-Year. This brought increased demand for other limited offerings from Wild Turkey, such as previously slept-on Master’s Keep releases. Limited edition is all the rage these days. We might like…
-

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Decades Scoresheet & Review
The first Wild Turkey Master’s Keep release was a hardly an accurate representation of the distillery’s more recent overarching profile. Its age was the highest of any Wild Turkey product at the time, was under 90 proof despite being bottled at cask strength, and the pour itself was generally mild…
-

Maker’s Mark 2020 Wood Finishing Series (SE4xPR5) Scoresheet & Review
Maker’s Mark has one of the more interesting stories in bourbon, especially when we compare their past to their present. Bill Samuels, Sr., one of the two key players behind the brand’s creation, was a traditionalist with regards to maintaining and ultimately preserving what made Maker’s Mark, well, Maker’s Mark.…
-

Old Carter Single Barrel (12-Year, Barrel #19) Scoresheet & Review
Old Carter is a name I’ve heard people drop every now and then. It’s a fairly recent brand, being the latest passion project for Mark and Sherri Carter, a wine-versed couple who initially worked for Kentucky Owl. Now they’re doing their own thing with the Old Carter brand. Their focus…
-

Whistlepig 12-Year Old World Rye Scoresheet & Review
Whistlepig isn’t a brand I expected to try anywhere outside of a bar. I often speak ad nauseum about whiskey pricing, and Whistlepig is an easy target in this respect. When a brand’s flagship bottle costs over $70, the word “premium” quickly springs to mind. In my review for said…
-

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban Scoresheet & Review
Finished whisky is huge. It’s to the point that if a household brand doesn’t have at least one finished product, then it makes them an outlier. The process, where a whisky is matured and then dumped into a different cask, has supposedly drawn the ire of some whisky purists (I’ve…
-

Maker’s Mark Private Select Batch #2 Scoresheet & Review
For the longest time, Maker’s Mark didn’t spring to mind when I thought “worth a premium.” I regarded the Loretto-based company as one that could charge more than its competition because they had a unique bottle design with their red wax. But it works. Maker’s Mark is a top-selling spirits…
