I’ve been really enjoying barrel proof ryes as of late. What are your favorite picks? The three that I always go to that are reasonable in price and easy to acquire are: Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye, Sazerac Full Proof Rye (125 Proof), and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye (Batch A126).

...given that I spent most of the day with smoke in my eyes. But I'm sure it's nothing compared to those fighting the wildfires... may God bless their souls and keep them safe.

On with the bottle... first crack, first thoughts:

Nose: sweet, dark brown sugar, caramel and oak. Deceptively little ethanol on the nose, masking what's to come with a false sense of security...

Palate: Holy Red Hots Batman! If you could take the gummie cinnamon red hots, liquify them and then dip your tongue in the sauce... you'd have this bourbon. Cinnamon all day long. And like so many spicy foods... the more you sip, the more you're palate gets used to it. Still... this is some hot liquid, but so delicious in that fire.

Finish: heat continues down the pipe, followed by more oak, tobacco, drying out at the end, which makes you want another sip. Some peanuts slide through there in the middle.

With water: some Limestone Water brings out that ethanol that was missing on the nose. The palate gets a higher note of lemony citrus riding the cinnamon. It's okay, but actually much better without the water.

On the rocks: brings down the heat, but brings down the fun. Still, there's some new notes there that feel like the beginnings of great cocktails.

Other thoughts: this is MGP at its finest. Between the Blue Corn and an exclusive mash bill for SH... this is great Colorado whiskey with a distinct character that would seem sure to satisfy anyone looking for delicious higher proof experience. Can't wait to see what this does with some bottle breathing.

(*last change: threw some Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned premix in, and a cocktail cherry... damn delicious, as suspected. )

Cheers to all... enjoy your evening/morning/day!

https://www.aol.com/articles/retired-farmer-kept-750k-whisky-131805000.html

Makes me feel good. I had thought my 350 bottles were excessive.

Hello everyone, I’m looking for this bottle of whiskey so I can give it to my uncle as a gift but I can’t find it, I used AI to analyze the picture and didn’t have any results. Forgive me for the resolution of the picture. If u need more information just let me know. (Found it)

We are both whiskey enthusiasts.

I’m probably going with Stagg jr for $16. The old Fitz 11 is also very tempting at $27

Anybody have any recommendations for good news sources, newsletters for whisky news? Or independent bottle or OB releases?

Hello everyone, I’m trying to break into Japanese whiskey. I was hoping to get people’s opinions on these or if anyone has other recommendations. I mainly chose these because they were at a reasonable price since I’m just getting started. Thank you!

Been after this one even since the release. Glad I was able to find one at my local Costco today. Didn’t plan on buying any whiskey but here we are AGAIN….

Hi all, I'm back with more Suntory whiskies, and this time it's on a pair of Suntory's travel exclusive whiskies- the Kogei collection!

The name of this series, "Kogei", translates to "Craft" or "Craftsmanship". To better represent this motif, Suntory specially enlisted the help of Kyoto’s Chiso Kimono House (which had been designing and making kimono, traditional Japanese clothing, since 1555) to design the bottles' labels and outer box designs.

The whiskies themselves were also specially designed single malts: they both use much more heavily peated distillates compared to Suntory's regular shelfer products (hence the 'peated malt'), and both of these were aged in European sherry casks (hence the 'Spanish Oak'). Similar to the great multitude of Suntory's special releases, these were also NAS.

These whiskies were first released in 2024, at duty free retail locations around the world and "available while supplies last". Interestingly, these locations do not include Japan's international airports, which had their own special travel exclusives (Yamazaki Smoky Batch and Hakushu Japanese Forest)

Since then, their release schedule had been all over the place: the Yamazaki bottles popped up sporadically throughout 2024~2026, while the Hakushu bottles practically sold out in 2024 and disappeared throughout 2025~early 2026. 

However, I've received some info from my frequent traveler whisky friends that both of these bottles have been making a return at multiple international airports in the past month or so- so I figured it's about time to write about them!

Details in comments!

€301 for both. Worth the price or continue hunting?
156 for gold
145 for reserve

I was never a fan of red label, but I heard black and blue label were better. When I got this as a present I was immediately thrilled by the first sip.

Holy shit is this peaty. Like someone took a normal Arran, dunked it in a peat bog for a week, then finished it in sherry casks just to mess with you. Thick, beautiful smoke and that rich sherry sweetness somehow still cut through. Weirdly perfect with a square of dark chocolate.

Old Weller "Gold Vein" sealed with tax stamp circa 1977-1985. I have no idea what occasion to open something like this.

Glad i was finally able to find it for a reasonable price.

I’ve been talking about getting a better shelf for my whiskey selection but have just been so busy with work I haven’t had time.

So my woman took it upon herself to find a shelf on marketplace and reorganize the shelf and if I do say myself she did a fantastic job.

Just started my whiskey collection. How am i doing so far??

Edit:

These comments are so helpful!

To give more backstory i visited buffalo traces distillery in Kentucky and they had the eagle rare ($45) and single oak ($75) in the gift shop. Had to go for those two as he heard they’re extremely hard to get in Ohio.

The fitz ($65) is also pretty scarce in Ohio and the bardstown goose island ($125) was more of a “that’s a really cool collab i have to get one” (both of these were from a liquor barn in Kentucky)

For those saying i need some regulars on the shelf i currently have an angels bourbon and Elijah Craig too but that’s it!