Using six of the distillery’s ten recipes, including the V yeast strain that imparts delicate fruit notes—here presenting as Pixy Stix, Rocket Pops, and cherry pie—and the F yeast strain that offers herbal notes, like licorice root, earthy tea leaf, and root beer. There’s also orange blossom, pecans, cedar chest, and tobacco. Aromas and flavors unfold in layers, with rich oak, roasted pecans, and vanilla whipped cream juxtaposed against peppery spice, blueberry-cinnamon crumble, and sweet tea. Water reveals new depths.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Fall 2019)

Tangerines on the nose, then Turkish Delight, sliced cucumber, new leather, toffee, soft spices, and a hint of char. Mouth-coating, with sweet orchard fruits dipped in cream. Sharper fruit notes in time, with almonds and ginger. Icing sugar, milk chocolate, spicy oak, a fleeting savory note, and lingering fruitiness in the finish. Shows well-integrated character. (18,000 bottles) Collectibles

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2019)

A nose of cherry, peppermint, vanilla frosting, pound cake, buttered toast, cherries, cola, peanut shells, rye seed, and old warehouse. The palate is big and powerful yet smooth and sophisticated. It’s chewy and spicy, with chocolate fudge, peanuts, white pepper, fresh cherries, bitter espresso, leather, and old oak. There’s great length on a finish of chocolate, cocoa powder, raspberry, cigar box, and baking spice. Toasty and delicious; a tour de force.

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Fall 2019)

Earthy, with charcoal smoke on the nose, sea shells, citrus oil, and a candied note of lemon pastille. A powerful palate offers bonfire smoke, iodine, grilled sausage, and black pepper, with lemon oil, bitter chocolate, and light earthiness. The finish has some salinity, as well as more bonfire smoke and bitter espresso. Assertive but balanced, well-structured and smooth. A dynamic whisky that’s an iron fist in a velvet glove. (230 bottles for U.S.)

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Fall 2019)

The nose is nutty and yields sweet sherry, Jaffa orange, old leather, instant black coffee, and a suggestion of ozone. The palate is oily and textured, with more sherry, dried fruits, nutmeg, and dark chocolate. The finish lingers with brine and pepper.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2019)

Nuts sinking into molten toffee wrapped in pure, sensuous smoke on a foundation of cedarwood, dried fruits, and seasoned oak: as exotic as the box’s interior artwork. Sandy Hyslop’s multi-phasic blend draws on closed distillery Imperial’s trademark fruitiness and peated Caperdonich, while maintaining a steady hand on the balance. Toffee sweetness, mixed peel, pepper, nutmeg, citrus, and smoke. Creamy, satisfying finish with hints of melted chocolate and light smoke. (Travel Retail)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2019)

Aromas of oak, dried fruit, and horse saddle set up for a sucker punch of leather boxing glove from this big and brawny bourbon. But it also dances with grace, tickling the tongue with sweet spices, dark bitter chocolate, and wisps of tobacco. Intriguing notes of horehound, cocoa-dusted almonds, and baked apples are lip-smacking good, and it handles water well, revealing ever more depth.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Fall 2019)

Some whiskies reveal their maturity with just one whiff, and this is one of them, with notes of varnish and mothballs, along with cooked dark fruits—cherries, blackberries, blueberries—sassafras, root beer, and rich spices. More maturity is revealed on the palate, which is tannic but not dry, and viscous, showing off blackberry cobbler, brandied cherries, pecans, roasted peanuts, cracked pepper, and ginger. An excellent, lengthy finish that draws out the fruity, rich spice and practically demands a cigar.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Fall 2019)

Sweet sherry with a heady spring floral intensity, lemon, honey, and graham crackers, yet delicate as a dandelion seed in a summer breeze. The palate is seductively sweet, with honey, effervescent lemon sherbet, caramel, and spices, showing a little more of the wine, fruit, and hints of citrus. Distinctively different, the finish is initially drying, then the fruit returns with a grapefruit peel sharpness. Terrifically good dram. (18,000 bottles) Editors’ Choice

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2019)

Sweet honey, pears, melon, and vanilla sponge, with smoke that is both sweet and acrid and cuts through like a knife. Islay knows that delicious combination of sweetness, fruitiness, and smoke very well, and this could be amazing with a firmer, weightier texture. Flavors of watermelon, taffy, squeezed lime, and candied pineapple, with the smoke and meek spices growing in strength, adding smoked chocolate notes before a short finish. (5,000 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2019)

A blend of 9 to 14 year old bourbons from Tennessee and Kentucky. A generous and perfumy nose of dusty spice, peanut brittle, cherry candy, orange, cola, molasses, and roasted grain. Full and rich in the mouth, with fruit leather, blueberry-pomegranate juice, orange oil, ginger, pepper, dark chocolate, cola, molasses, and coconut. The finish is lengthy and superb: horehound candy, white pepper, dark chocolate-covered blueberries, and silky yet racy oak.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Fall 2019)

A complex nose that starts out herbaceous and then opens to notes of saddle leather, buttered popcorn, pecans, dark cherry, orange tea, and fragrant vanilla. A rich, chewy palate offers vanilla cream pie, lemon, blackberries, corn muffin, and chocolate-covered coconut, balanced against some drying oak, an herbal note, and dried leaves. The finish is a long, balanced ride of chocolate, cinnamon, and tobacco leaf. A rich, classic bourbon.

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Fall 2019)

Aromas of newsprint, damp foliage, and wood spice dominate on the nose. Confident, almost fizzy sherry notes on the full palate, with sultanas, figs, and fruit spices. It becomes progressively more citric. The lengthy finish produces dark chocolate dipped in chili sauce. A sherry-soaked dram.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2019)

This was matured entirely in sherry wood. Blackcurrants, black pepper, vanilla, caramel, and fruit spices on the nose. Supple on the malty palate, with red berry fruits, nutty sherry, and almonds. The finish is spicy, with black tea and firm oak.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2019)

Like licking caramel-drizzled mint chocolate chip ice cream; master distiller Henric Molin’s high-rye mashbill delivers a great balance between rye spices and creamy sweetness. Quite soft, with mint and caramel at first; layers of toffee and cinnamon follow, then becoming mouth-drawing as the pepper and clove spices crest a peak of intensity, tapering to toffee and cinnamon, and a dry finish.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2019)

Corn and rye whiskies blended with a tad of Villard Noir Starboard wine commemorate Canada’s victory in a battle fought in the War of 1812 where Forty Creek now distills whisky. Toasted oak staves were inserted into half of the fully matured whisky for 2 months. A strong maple nose dissolves into hints of fruitiness, while a sweet palate balances and restrains drying tannins. Fruity, creamy, and mouth-filling with peppery spices. (600 bottles for U.S.)

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Fall 2019)

Distilled from Oxbridge and Publican barley varieties grown on six Islay farms. Lime, brine, oatmeal cookies, and custard on the nose. Sweet barley, apricots, sultanas, cloves, and quite tannic oak on the palate. Malt and sea salt in the medium-length finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Fall 2019)

This is Bardstown Bourbon’s first release using its own whiskey—60% 2 year old bourbon, along with 40% 11 year old from another Kentucky distillery. The nose is herbal, with a rush of peppermint, along with caramel-swirl ice cream, peanuts in the shell, and root beer. In the mouth, it’s dense with cooked dark fruit, cola, chocolate, nuts, and well-integrated spice (nutmeg, white pepper, allspice). More dark fruit, spice, dark chocolate, espresso, and oak on the lush finish.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Fall 2019)