Topic
#i-like-this
13 posts tagged with this topic. RSS feed.
- news
Penelope Architects of Golf, Hole 3
I’d like to thank Penelope Bourbon and their PR partners for sending this sample with no strings attached. Good evening, friends! It’s a holiday weekend coming up, and some of you will be out on the golf course as you celebrate your time off. As such, I thought it was thematically appropriate to feature tonight’s bourbon in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. It’s no secret that I’ve been a fan of Penelope whiskeys for about as long as they have been available. There is some top-notch blending going on there. And using MGP stocks as the basis of the blend doesn’t hurt either. In this case, they are featuring the impact of stave finishing on the blend. As the story goes, they came up with the idea for Penelope on the golf course, so they decided to honor that with the naming of this limited-edition series of three bourbons: Hole 1, Hole 2, and Hole 3. The expressions are all bottled at 94 proof, and the suggested retail price is $59.99 for a 750 mL bottle. The bottle I received was Ho
by Eric Burke0 viewsbourboni-like-thismgp-ross-and-squibbwhiskey-reviews - news
Tamworth Garden Strawberry Rhubarb Cordial and Tamworth Garden Cranberry Cordial
Hello, my friends. First off, I just want to thank you all for your well wishes as I dealt with the loss of my Grandma. She was a very special woman who will be missed by many. But life goes on for those who remain, and so I have been getting back to work. And so here we are, looking at a pair of lovely cordials from Tamworth Distilling in Tamworth, New Hampshire, a place that is quickly becoming one of my favorite non-bourbon distilleries. I bought these a while back from their website and have been waiting for summer to crack them open. They just felt like good summer drinks. Especially this time of year, when my wife makes many tasty rhubarb treats from the plants in our garden. And cranberries are one of my favorites. My Grandma’s cabin was located in one of the major cranberry-growing areas outside of New England. So these felt right today. Let’s dig into the review, though. Tamworth Garden Strawberry Rhubarb Cordial Purchase Info: $35 for a 375 mL bottle at the Tamworth Distillin
by Eric Burke1 viewcocktail-ingredientscocktail-recipesi-like-thismisc-reviews - news
Koopers Family Barrel Reserve Rye
I’d like to thank the Texas Whiskey Festival, Koopers Whiskey, and their PR partners for providing this sample with no strings attached. Bonus post time again! We’ll probably be having these for a while as I work through a massive sample backlog. Tonight’s is another winner from the Texas Whiskey Festival, this time the winner of the Rye — Must-Try Bottles category. Koopers Family Barrel Reserve Rye is a mixture of four- and seven-year-old rye whiskeys that are then put into used bourbon barrels for finishing. Before bottling, toasted oak staves are added to those barrels as a final step. It is bottled at barrel proof and is available on the Koopers Whiskey website for $65 per bottle. Let’s see how it tastes. Koopers Family Barrel Reserve Rye Purchase Info: This sample was provided at no charge for review purposes. It is available on the Kooper's Whiskey website for $65 per bottle. Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33 Nose: Sweet berries, mint, vanilla, cedar, and oak. Mouth: Spicy, with not
by Eric Burke2 viewssmall-or-craft-distillerwhiskey-reviewsi-like-thisrye - news
Penelope Blackberry Old Fashioned
I’d like to thanks the folks at Penelope Bourbon and their PR team for sending this sample with no strings attached. Hello my friends! It is time for a bonus post. I was planning to do this yesterday. I always do bonus posts on Friday, but I just plum forgot. Tonight’s subject is actually something I didn’t plan to review. It was sent along to me by mistake as I had already turned down the sample thinking that you folks might find it a bit outside the norm for the focus of the site. But when it landed on my doorstep, I figured what the heck? I mean I’m not going to force y’all to read this, you are grown adults and can make that decision on your own. So what is it? Well, it is a premade, bottled, cocktail. You open it up and pour it over ice. And while I know that an Old Fashioned is basically the easiest cocktail to make outside of two ounces of whiskey in a glass, they put a nice spin on it by adding blackberry to the mix. But before we get into the review, let’s let the producer tal
by Eric Burke1 viewcocktails-ready-to-drinkmgp-ross-and-squibbmisc-reviewsi-like-this - news
Penelope Bourbon Cooper Series: Riviera
I’d like to thank Penelope Bourbon and their PR partners for providing this sample with no strings attached. I love being proved wrong. In fact, I embrace it. Especially when it comes to opinions. The main reason for this is that I love learning. Especially things about myself. I love grinding my preconceived notions under the boot heel of truth. Case in point, I used to think that Light Whiskey was no good. You distill it to such a high proof that there is barely any flavor left? Who wants that? Flavor is the major point of differentiation between whiskey and vodka. But then I had an aged Light Whiskey sourced from MGP that was one of the more delicious things I’d tasted that year. I used to think that blends of different styles of whiskey were somehow lesser whiskeys. But then I made an infinity bottle of 2 ounces of every whiskey I reviewed in a year. It was amazing. Rosé wine used to be my favorite style when I was young. Then I found that I much preferred fruity, crisp whites and
by Eric Burke1 viewmiscellaneous-whiskeymgp-ross-and-squibbwhiskey-reviewsi-like-this - news
Skeeter’s Nootkatone Flavored Whiskey, Tamworth Distilling
I’d like to thank Tamworth Distilling and their PR partners for providing this sample with no strings attached. As we are just coming out of Memorial Day weekend, a weekend full of dusty work in the garden, we are going a little lighter today than normal. I just didn’t have a lot of time to do the tasting, research, and writing involved in doing a full-fledged review. Plus, with noses full of dust and dirt, we couldn’t really breathe over the weekend. So we decided to wait a few days and look at a cocktail ingredient that showed up on our doorstep recently instead. This is a fun one. And has been since the PR email landed in my inbox. See, this is another release from Tamworth Distilling . We know Tamworth from the absolutely divine 7-year-old Apple Brandy that we covered back in March. But Tamworth makes a few…less traditional spirits as well. After all, it is the home of a crab-flavored whiskey ; a venison-flavored whiskey ; a spruce-, plum- and roast goose-flavored whiskey ; a whisk
by Eric Burke1 viewcocktail-ingredientsi-like-thismisc-reviews - news
Four Roses Single Barrel Collection, 2026
I’d like to thank Four Roses and their PR team for providing this review sample with no strings attached In 1995, Four Roses launched Four Roses Single Barrel, OBSV, to much rejoicing from the masses (actually, as I was a freshman in college at the time, I have no idea if there was much rejoicing or just a collective shrug from the masses, but stick with me here). After 20 years of whining and complaining from people like me, they finally started to let us taste the other nine bourbons that they make, in single barrel form, by releasing the first installment of the Four Roses Single Barrel Collection . Now, these bourbons had been available as Private Barrel Picks for a long time, but those were at a higher proof and a higher price. But until last year, they had never sold them in a package that was accessible to the average Joe or Jane—one unwilling to spend high prices and go on unicorn hunts to the stores that carried the ones they were looking for. Enter the Four Roses Single Barre
by Eric Burke2 viewsbourbonfour-rosesi-like-thiswhiskey-reviews - news
Redemption Bourbon (2026 Revamp)
I’d like to thank the folks at Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits and their PR partners for providing this sample with no strings attached. Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when we were doing the BourbonGuy Brackets? I had one matchup where I said both of the competitors were “products in transition.” Well, shortly after I published the results of the bracket competition, I got an email from the producers of one of those products, completely coincidentally. They were announcing the new bottle and proof of Redemption Bourbon—an announcement that I had apparently scooped by looking at their website. I immediately asked for a sample to be sent to me. I was very interested to give the proof bump a thorough look. When it arrived, I noticed that it also had a higher stated age than previously, having gone from a 2-year-old at 88 proof to a 3-year-old at 92 proof. All good things, especially since it is still distilled in Indiana (assuming MGP) and there is some fantastic bourbon coming out o
by Eric Burke1 viewbourboni-like-thisnon-distiller-producermgp-ross-and-squibbwhiskey-reviews - news
Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut Rye
I’d like to thank the folks at Frey Ranch Distillery and their PR team for providing this bottle with no strings attached. Now, I don’t know about you, but I seldom think of farming and Nevada in the same sentence. Mostly because I’ve really only been to the areas that tourists go to. I’ve been to Vegas, visited nature in the area, and driven through Northern Nevada on I-80 a couple of times. And honestly, I never thought about grain farming as I drove through. But apparently I should have. Just over the southern horizon (poetically speaking) from I-80 lives a small town named Fallon. And when you look for Fallon on a satellite view, you notice one thing quite clearly: there is a lot of green on that image. More than my brief visits to the state would have ever led me to believe. I must not be the only one with those thoughts, as the press release spends a few words explaining just that: Using his own slow-grown grains that take Northern Nevada’s climate, topography, and terroir into a
by Eric Burke2 viewsi-like-thisryesmall-or-craft-distillerwhiskey-reviews - news
Remus Master Distiller Experimental Series No. 2: Straight Wheat Whiskey
I’d like to thank the folks at Ross& Squibb and their PR teams for sending this bottle with no strings attached. Spring has sprung here in Minnesota, and you know what that means. Yep, it was 80 degrees last weekend, and it’s looking like there’s a chance of snow this coming weekend. In spring, Minnesota gets a taste of all the seasons at once: summer, winter, mud, road work—even football if you follow the NFL Draft or the spring game for the local college. You don’t get to experience all of them in their full force (for example, even at 80 degrees, I didn’t turn on my AC for more than a test run, and the Draft/Spring Games are poor substitutes for real games), but you do get the opportunity to remember what you can look forward to and what you are leaving behind. It seems that, much like living through a Minnesota spring, MGP—producer of tonight’s whiskey—is also currently trying to decide what to leave behind and what is coming in the future, as they announced the “temporary idling”
by Eric Burke1 viewi-like-thismgp-ross-and-squibbmiscellaneous-whiskey - news
Revisited: Woodinville Straight Bourbon
I’d like to thank Woodinville Whiskey for sending this review sample with no strings attached. It has been thirteen hundred, thirty-nine days since I last look a look at Woodinville Whiskey . It was the first time that I’d had one of their whiskeys, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Since that time, we’ve looked at a number of their products and liked most of them quite a bit. However, I hadn’t picked up the original bourbon again for a while. So I was very excited when they sent me this bottle in order to promote their recent bottle redesign and new 6-year age statement. God, I love age statements showing up. And it really is a lovely bottle. And since that new bottle was the entire reason I got to take another look at it, I should probably let them tell you a little about it. Woodinville's updated bottle pays homage to the traditional shape that has become synonymous with Woodinville but has been refined to reflect the ultra-premium liquid they produce. The bottle features two differ
by Eric Burke1 viewbourboni-like-thissmall-or-craft-distillerwhiskey-reviews - news
Columbia Creek Tennessee Whiskey
I’d like to thank Columbia Creek and their PR partners for providing this sample with no strings attached. The sun is coming out here in Minnesota. The snow is melted, or at least it was. We are in that time of year where you don't know if you need to shovel the driveway or if you can sit on the deck in shorts. And no, I don't mean you folks from more southern climates. In Minnesota, it isn't unusual for folks to be in shorts as soon as the temp hits the 50s in the spring. And by "folks" I mean me. Of course, I tend to wear shorts all year long. I'm not going to let a little thing like the outside weather keep me from being comfortable in my house. That's what blankets are for. I'm stubborn like that. Which leads me nicely to tonight's whiskey. Columbia Creek Tennessee Whiskey is a sourced whiskey out of Columbia, Tennessee, which the press release says is "where mules outnumber stoplights and pride runs as deep as the creeks." They also use the mule as a mascot on the bottle. The comp
by Eric Burke1 viewi-like-thisnon-distiller-producermiscellaneous-whiskeywhiskey-reviews - news
My Wandering Eye: Tamworth Garden V.S.O.P. Apple Brandy, 7-year-old
I’d like to thank Tamworth Distilling and their PR team for providing this sample with no strings attached. It has been quite a while since we last did a My Wandering Eye post so I thought that I might start with a reminder of what we are doing in this series. My Wandering Eye is an ongoing series reacting to the continually rising prices in the bourbon world. We’ve reached a place where even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going to be asked to drop $40 to $75 on a mid-range bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. I hope to see if another spirits category offers something downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point. The reviews in this series will all be written through a bourbon drinker’s lens. I used to make hard cider every year. I've been traveling during apple season for the past few ye
by Eric Burke1 viewmy-wandering-eyei-like-thismisc-reviewssmall-or-craft-distiller