View Post

Dads Drinking Bourbon Willett Family Estate Bourbon Review

In Bourbon Whiskey Reviews by Luke Castle2 Comments

I’ve been a fan of Willett for several years going back to when they were releasing sourced barrels, so it’s been interesting watching them transition into their own distillate. There have been a number of private selections over the last few years and they have been pretty hit and miss. Most of the time, the determining factor on whether it is a hit is like all private picks; the people picking. In this case John and Zeke from Dads Drinking Bourbon along with some of their Willett loving friends picked this barrel.

View Post

Luca Mariano Small Batch Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Review

In Rye Whiskey Reviews by Luke CastleLeave a Comment

Like the Bourbon, this is just not enough proof to get me excited. It’s especially disappointing knowing first-hand what the 4-5 year old Rye from Wilderness Trail (who contract distills this) can be at cask strength. At 110-115 proof (I’ve tried several batches in that range) they fight far outside of their weight class; at 83 proof this just misses everything. I feel like I can taste the water in the bottle which is a first for me. I appreciate their desire to be more moderately priced but if it sacrifices the overall experience it isn’t worth the savings.

View Post

Booze and Vinyl Book Review

In Book Reviews by Luke CastleLeave a Comment

Ok, so a little tease using our bourbon review format but what is this book all about? It’s a fun way to approach pairing cocktails and music. It takes things a little over the top but if you are going to throw a listening party I think this offers a nice blueprint to follow. The book offers tips on what bar items to stock, how to prepare a wide variety of cocktails and suggestions on when to play what albums. They offer more then 50 recipes that use 2 or 3 ingredients, so you can choose how complex you want to get with the pairings.

View Post

Four Roses 2017 Small Batch Limited Edition Al Young’s 50th Anniversary Bourbon Review

In Bourbon Whiskey Reviews by Luke CastleLeave a Comment

I loved the throwback design for the bottle and label. I am a fan of Four Roses and have a reasonable (depending on who you ask) collection of their Private Barrel selections. I was excited with the addition of the 23 year OBSV (2 of my favorite Private Barrel picks are OBSV) but this came up a little short. The nose was quite good to excellent, the flavor just lacked depth and the finish was just a little too bitter and thin.