Balcones Distilling recently had its first Bourbon Fest and, like moths to a flame, Texas-based whiskey drinkers (myself included) made the pilgrimage to Waco, Texas to check it out. One of the things that they were selling was the latest bottling of their Texas Pot Still Bourbon and I couldn’t resist bringing a bottle home to test out.
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I’m not made of money, and not every night is a Lagavulin night. Sometimes I just need something that I can mix in a cocktail without feeling regret about wasting a “good” spirit. But I’m also not interested in something bland or poor quality, either. To fill this void of a reasonably priced yet consistently delicious scotch whisky, one of my go-to brands has been Lismore.
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It’s that time of the year again… when everything is pumpkin spice flavored including Spam, pasta sauce, and Kit-Kat bars. (I’m not kidding — Google these for yourself!) For the majority of these Franken-foods, the pumpkin spice is quite obviously being shoehorned into/onto the product. But in my opinion, there’s one place where the ubiquitous flavoring actually makes sense: a Kentucky Mule.
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Balcones Distilling recently had its first Bourbon Fest and, like moths to a flame, Texas-based whiskey drinkers (myself included) made the pilgrimage to Waco, Texas to check it out. One of the things that they were selling that weekend was a special bottling of their Texas High Rye Bourbon — and after one sip, I knew that this was something interesting that deserved a review.
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I’m always on the lookout for new products from my favorite distilleries, and in this case it might not be so much of a “new” product as it is one that’s just new to me. I’m used to the higher end spirits from the Nikka production facilities, but had never heard of the Nikka Blended Whisky before I spotted a bottle in Brussels a few weeks back. Intrigued, I snagged a sample and brought it back to the States for further investigation.
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I recently came back from France with a smattering of whiskey bottles to try. French whiskey is still a very new concept and I’m loving the variety of products that are coming out. In this case, what we have is probably the epitome of French grain to glass whiskey, made in a beautiful location and housed in a damn fine looking bottle.
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We’ve previously reviewed Bellevoye’s Bleu variety of this whiskey, the “standard edition” if you will. But there are several other versions as well — a red label, a white label, and what we’re reviewing today: the black label version. Billed as the star of their lineup, I was curious to see how well the top of their range stacked up against the competition.
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The city of Waco, Texas had been a relatively minor player in the Texas landscape for a few decades. The only two attractions in the city were Baylor University and the Dr. Pepper museum… which all changed in 2015, when the stars of Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines, opened Magnolia Market (aka The Silos). Since then, the city has seen an explosion in popularity as a tourist destination — and correspondingly, in increase in craft production facilities. Balcones Distillery, located just three blocks south of Magnolia, might just be the more worthwhile attraction of the bunch.
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French whiskey is having a bit of a moment. There’s a number of varieties of French whiskey that have come out over the last couple years and Bellevoye is positioning itself as the premium brand. So we treid it for ourselves to see how it fares compared to some of the competition.
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The combination of maple syrup and whiskey seems to be a winner, with a number of manufacturers jumping on that bandwagon and producing their some version of a maple-infused whiskey. Tuthilltown Spirits is breaking the mold a bit, though, by using a rye base to better represent it’s New York roots. So how does it stack up?
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