Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is back for another year. The latest edition of Birthday Bourbon, which commemorates the birth of Brown-Forman’s founder, George Brown, is aged 12 years and just may be the best of the bunch. Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is quite old for a bourbon.  As expected, those 12 years in wood play a prominent role in shaping this whiskey.  On the nose, there is a noticeable hit of alcohol, but let it open up for a couple minutes, and the bourbon reveals plenty of oak, spice and some sweet vanilla.  Underneath it all is some honeyed fruit. Take a...

Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon is part of Four Roses’ core lineup of whiskeys that also includes the Small Batch and Yellow Label bourbons.  The “single barrel” designation means that the bourbon is pulled from single casks and bottled, rather than being a blended product from several barrels. Each bottle is hand-marked by the distiller to indicate the specific warehouse, cask and shelf where the bourbon was aged. Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon is golden amber with a nose of peppery spice, fruit, citrus and oaky vanilla.  On the palate, the citrus notes are more prominent, with some orange coming...

In March, I spoke with Maker’s Mark Master Distiller Kevin Smith about the launch of the new Maker’s 46 bourbon.  Skip forward a few months, and Maker’s 46 has officially launched, hitting store shelves July 1st.  The release of Maker’s 46 marks two important points: 1) this is the first new Maker’s Mark product ever, and 2) I can finally stop nursing the sample I received in March. Maker’s 46 starts out as regular Maker’s Mark bourbon, but at the point when the whiskey is typically bottled, it’s instead put into a holding tank while aged, seasoned oak staves are inserted...

After a call with Maker’s Mark President Bill Samuels in February, and receiving a sample in March, today I spoke with Master Distiller Kevin Smith about the new Maker’s Mark bourbon, called Maker’s 46, that will hit store shelves in July. This is the first genuinely new product (Maker’s has experimented with different proofs and ages in the past) released by Maker’s since its first bottling in 1958.  According to Smith, he and Bill Samuels had a vision in mind when setting out to create their new bourbon, so rather than find a winner by trial and error, they put down...

Recently 30 booze experts tasted 1,024 premium spirits for the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  Entries represented 58 countries and six continents.  Some winners are noted below. Premium Awards Distillery of the Year – Glenmorangie Distillery Importer of the Year – Moët Hennessy USA Best in Show, White – Trago Silver Tequila ($40) Best in Show, Whisky – Isle of Jura Prophecy ($70) Best in Show, Brandy – Père Magloire 20 Year Old Calvados ($100) Best in Show, Liqueur – Grand Marnier 100th Anniversary ($135) “Best of” Awards Vodka – Chase ($40) Flavored Vodka – Rain Organics Cucumber Lime ($21) Gin – Beefeater 24 ($30) Rum – Vizcaya VXOP Solera  ($38) Extra-Aged...

With just a few days remaining before Valentine’s Day, I suppose it’s time to sort through some of these Valentine’s-themed emails.  There are lots of cocktail recipes in the mix, a testament that no matter your date status for the big day, you can always cozy up to a nice cocktail. A couple drinks to kick things off – Cupid’s Arrow 1 ½ parts Maker’s Mark ¼ part DeKuyper Crème de Cacao ¼ part DeKuyper Hazelnut Liqueur Cream or half and half Bar of chocolate for garnish Shake Maker’s Mark, Crème de Cacao and Hazelnut Liqueur with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass, and top with a thin...

I delete a lot of emails.  Mail touting something irrelevant to this blog’s focus, like a book about the evils of drinking, goes straight into the trash.  Pitches about obnoxious new products, like yet another flavored vodka (“now infused with unicorn tears!”), gets a glance before being buried.  But a pitch titled “The world’s first beer, bourbon and BBQ cocktail” gets my rapt attention.  It’s not too often that three tenants of my diet are mixed into one drink. Tom Fischer of BourbonBlog.com, along with Louisville mixologist Stephen Dennison, created the cocktail, which will be premiered at this weekend’s Beer, Bourbon...

Once per month cocktail aficionados band together to create a booze-soaked collection of drink recipes for Mixology Monday.  This month’s host is Frederic of Cocktail Virgin Slut, who chose tea as the theme.  From Frederic – Tea has played a historical role in cocktails for centuries. Perhaps the best documented early example was its inclusion in punches as part of the spice role to round out the spirit, sugar, water, and citrus line up…Find or concoct a drink recipe that uses tea or tisane (an herbal "tea" which lacks tea leaves) as an ingredient. This can be hot tea, cold...

Rye whiskey is back, and in a big way.  The recently released 2010 edition of the Whisky Bible, the prominent whiskey book by Jim Murray, has named Kentucky’s 18-year-old Sazerac Rye  as the finest whiskey on the market.  It edged out Scotland’s second-place Ardbeg Supernova—which has dominated the awards for several years—and a relative newcomer to the mix, third-place Amrut Fusion from Bangalore, India. Jim Murray described Sazerac’s 18-year-old Rye as "reaching previously unknown heights,” and mentions that by being named the world’s top whiskey, Sazerac 18 has “set the bar for rye whiskey, and it will be fascinating in...

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us and a slew of other holidays on the horizon, it’s time to pull out cocktails that you don’t make any other time of the year.  Drinks with ingredients like pumpkin puree and vanilla liqueur are acceptable and downright tasty during the judgment-free holidays, when festiveness trumps sensibility. The below cocktail recipes utilize some seasonal flavors as families everywhere gear up for the holidays with a drink in hand. Pumpkin Egg Nog 1 1/2 ounces Appleton Estate Reserve Rum 1/2 ounce Navan vanilla liqueur 1 ounce egg nog 1 ounce pumpkin purée 4 dashes Angostura bitters 1 bar spoon real maple syrup Shake all ingredients...