Category: Spirits

It seems like every time I go home, there’s another distillery for me to discover in Westchester County, NY. This could be because I wasn’t nearly as much of a whiskey nerd a year ago, but craft whiskey distilleries are definitely on-trend right now and New York is definitely in on this trend. Today we’re looking at a local distillery in Port Chester, NY and their bourbon, which bears the same area code as my cell phone.

Today we’re looking at a spirit that I knew nothing about beyond the relatively low price point: Caliber Company Spirits Classic Whiskey. And boy, was this an adventure of a review – from unknown provenances to unclaimed websites, this was a whiskey I won’t soon forget… but not for any of the right reasons.

I’m a big fan of the Evan Williams bourbon. It’s probably the best bang for your bourbon-buying-dollar and well worth the investment. The higher end version coming out of that distillery is the Elijah Craig line, so I decided to grab a bottle and see if it lived up to it’s more affordable sibling.

Still Austin is one of my favorite distilleries. Not only is it a great space with friendly staff in downtown Austin, Texas, but they actually make proper grain-to-glass whiskey and make the effort to experiment with their product. Case in point: just this month, they came out with another experiment they’ve been working on: a sherry cask finished version of their bourbon whiskey.

For over a half a century, Maker’s Mark did one thing and, darn it, they did it well. Then they introduced their 46 expression. Since the success of that line, they have continued to add other products added to their repertoire, but are any as good as the original?

One of the best things about my local spirits shop is that some of the smaller whiskey producers show up every so often. In this case, I was walking through one evening after work and ran into Michelle Kooper herself offering free samples of her Sweetheart of the Rodeo whiskey, and I was immediately interested. I bought a bottle and took it home for further study.

Jack Daniels is branching out, trying new things. One of their newest creations is a rye whiskey with a distinctively light label. Today, we give it a try and see if it lives up to the Jack Daniels name.

I enjoy walking down the lesser traveled aisles of the local liquor store. There’s always some unique options, and more often than not I can find a surprisingly cheap and delicious spirit that’s a little off the beaten path. On a recent trip, I spotted Cascade Blonde American Whiskey and I knew that I needed to try it out.

I like the Evan Williams line of bourbon. It’s one of my favorite budget priced spirits, a great balance of taste and affordability. But what happens when you try to elevate a bottom-shelf whiskey? Will it be something like a single barrel bottling of hand selected vintages? That’s what we’re looking at today, asking ourselves if it’s worth the price tag.