Category: Spirits

Scotch whisky is about as difficult to navigate as French wine varietals. There’s a huge array that varies depending on the location and production methods, which often feels like it requires an encyclopedia to decipher. William Grant & Sons wants to simplify this by putting the flavors pretty much right on the bottle with their new Aerstone release.

Even as someone who reviews whiskey professionally, it seems like there’s a never-ending list of unique scotch whisky distilleries to discover. One of those is Speyburn, a distillery located on an offshoot of the river Spey nestled in a valley so cramped they needed to create a tall pagoda-shaped distillery to get it to fit. Today, we’re checking out their 10-year single malt.

Possibly the most surprising thing about P’Nutty Peanut Butter Whiskey is just who makes it. Seriously – if you can accurately guess, I’ll be shocked. In case you didn’t gather from the name, it’s a peanut butter whiskey, which is all the rage right now and has a ton of copycats popping up from mass production distilling operations and bottling groups. And now it looks like one of the big names is getting into the game, too.

In the world of wine, beer, and spirits, there are two things that Dublin is primarily known for: Jameson Irish Whisky and dark beer. (Specifically a dark beer produced by a competing spirits company which we won’t name, but you can probably guess). Which makes a collaboration between Jameson and a local craft stout beer distillery a no brainer, and the Jameson Caskmates Stout edition is the result.

Peanut butter whiskey is having a moment, and it seems like everyone is trying to get in on the action. But while most companies seem to be at least attempting to put their own distinct flavor or mark on the product, Skatterbrain Peanut Butter Whiskey seems to be an exercise in trying to figure out how close they can get to the original without getting sued.

If you’ve never heard of Tomatin, you aren’t alone. Just like MGP here in the United States, it’s a distillery that focuses primarily on mass producing spirits for other blenders and bottlers to use and re-brand. But while some might be dismissive of a distiller focused on supplying others, we’re intrigued by their considerable experience as a result of this business model.

Cask finishing is a common process in Scotland. The idea is to give their commonly lightly-flavored whisky a bit more power by letting it sit in a barrel previously used in another aging process (like port, bourbon, or wine making). A variation on this that I have never seen before is a mezcal cask finishing, but that’s something that Dewar’s has decided to give a try.

The blended scotch whisky market is a crowded field, but there are a few giant players in the game – brand names so infamous, even a scotch novice knows them immediately. Obviously, Johnnie Walker is the biggest, most recognizable name, but Dewar’s is right on their heels. Today we’re checking out Dewar’s White Label to see how it stacks up against competitors both large and small.

We’ve reviewed the Tuthilltown distillery’s line of whiskey before, but something is different now. They changed their branding and changed up some of the recipes in their spirits, and the first one we’ve got our hands on to try is their new Bright Lights, Big Bourbon.

Like many fans of the television show Game of Thrones, I’ve been understandably burned and bitter for a few years now. Despite having previously reviewed Dalwhinnie’s House Stark edition scotch, I haven’t been able to bring myself to touch any of the other Diago GoT-marketed variants since. But since 2020 is turning out to be just as peachy as that cursed final season, I figured things can’t get any worse. Hence, today I’ll be checking out Johnnie Walker White Walker.