WHISKEY ROUNDUP! A Six Pack Of Brand New Irish, Scotch, Irish, Bourbon, And Ryes

Jefferson’s founder Trey Zoeller loves stashing whiskey barrels in weird places. Case-in-point is Jefferson’s Ocean, which began in 2016 as a simple experiment to see how the effects of finishing aged bourbon on a cargo ship would affect the liquid. Twenty six “voyages” later, this experiment has become a popular recurring staple for the brand. With Jefferson’s Tropics Aged in Humidity, Zoeller takes his Ocean concept to another level by shipping 720 barrels of matured bourbon to Singapore in July 2019 to finish in the blistering heat for an additional 18 months.

New Riff’s foray into American single malt has been a work-in-progress since the earliest days of the distillery’s existence in 2014. Since then, the New Riff team have been experimenting with a variety of malt barley strains and barrel types, five of six of which are present in this inaugural bottling. Distilled between 2014-2016, these whiskeys were matured in Northern Kentucky, then bottled cask strength and non-chill filtered.

From the wonderfully twisted mind of Director of Whisky Creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden, comes the debut of Ardbeg Anthology Collection. This latest Ardbeg series is a range of experimental, peat smoked single malt matured in a variety of experimental casks new to the brand. The first release is The Harpy’s Tale, a hybrid of whiskies matured thirteen years in classic ex-bourbon barrels and Sauternes casks, a French sweet wine from the Sauternes Region in Bordeaux.

At its heart, Redbreast is single pot still Irish whiskey aged in a combo of ex-bourbon and Spanish oak Oloroso sherry butts. To create this Tawny Cask expression, Midleton Distillery’s Master Blender Billy Leighton and cohort Dave McCabe re-casked a portion of this whiskey in tawny port casks. After a couple of years the whiskey is blended and once again finished in tawny port hogsheads from Portugal’s Douro Valley for 14-25 months.

“Redbreast Tawny Port Edition’s flavour profile is well within our flock’s DNA, yet it provides an exciting twist from another part of the Iberian Peninsula,” McCabe adds. “Each subsequent expression in the series will represent a new discovery from this rich region which to date has greatly influenced the Redbreast style over the course of its history.”

The newest member of the Jack Daniel’s Bonded Series is the company’s first rye whiskey ever to wear the bottled-in-bond designation. This means the whiskey is required to be distilled by a single distiller during a single season, aged in a government bonded warehouse for at least four years, and bottled at 100 proof. Made from a grain recipe comprised of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley, this Bonded Rye is the third expression in the BIB series lineup, sitting alongside Jack Daniel’s Bonded and JD Triple Mash.

Barrell Craft Spirits is a Louisville based sourcing and blending company who seeks out tasty barrels of whiskey and rum then blends them into their own mega award winning expresssions. The latest entry in the BCS Cask Finish Series is Amburana, a combo of 5, 6, 7, & 10-year bourbons distilled In Indiana, which is joined by a 5-year-old Kentucky bourbon finished in Amburana casks, a Brazilian oak strain. Like all BCS products, Amburana is bottled cask strength and non-chill-filtered.