The Last Call

     I honestly never expected to own a bottle of Penelope Rio, let alone a single barrel pick. I first tried this one a year and a half to two years ago when Penelope sent me a sample, and I fell in love with it. Since then, I've been hunting for a bottle, but eventually I pretty much wrote it off as a unicorn. That changed when T8ke, a curator over on r/bourbon who puts out a ton of spirits reviews, organized a single barrel pick of Rio. With only around 160 to 169 bottles available, I threw my name into the mix and was fortunate enough to get selected for the opportunity to purchase one. Needless to say, I wasn't passing that up.      Bottled at 54.5% ABV, this single barrel select also comes in a little stronger than the standard Rio, which sits at 49% ABV. I've always enjoyed what Penelope does with this particular release, and I'm a big fan of the cinnamon-sugar character that Amburana brings to a whiskey. I know that finishing style isn't for everyon...

     There is something special about finding a well-aged Indiana rye whiskey, especially one that brings together everything I enjoy about a good MGP rye while turning up the oak, spice, and complexity. Tonight, I’m checking out a 12-year-old single barrel pick from Circle City Whiskey Company, selected for Holly’s Package Store in Greentown, Indiana. Bottled at a hefty 64.5% ABV, this is a barrel-proof rye that immediately caught my attention.      I also had the opportunity to help with the bottling of this particular pick, which made the experience a little more personal. Getting to participate in that process was a lot of fun, and it gave me another reason to look forward to opening this bottle. At around $130, it isn't an inexpensive pour, but a 12-year-old, single barrel, cask-strength rye certainly isn't something I come across every day. I have some aged Indiana rye on my shelves, but very little that combines this kind of age with this much proof....

     Whiskey Jypsi has been making a pretty good impression on me lately. Their standard four- and six-year offerings have been solid pours, especially when you consider their price points, and their Double Barreled bourbon has been a particularly good value. So when I came across something a little different from the brand, I was more than happy to give it a try.      Tonight, we're looking at the first release in their Finished Seeker series: a straight bourbon whiskey finished in Mizunara oak barrels. Coming in at 55% ABV and at least six years old, this one immediately caught my attention. I'm a big fan of Mizunara finishing when it's done well, and seeing a brand specifically state that it's using actual Mizunara casks rather than staves makes this one even more interesting.      The brand is also associated with country music artist Eric Church. Celebrity-backed spirits can sometimes lean heavily on the name and packaging, but my experi...

     Indiana craft whiskey continues to be one of my favorite things to explore, especially when I get to find a distillery doing things its own way. Backroads Distilling out of Laotto, Indiana, is a great example of what makes this part of the whiskey world exciting. They're working with locally harvested grains, handling their own distilling and bottling, and building a portfolio that reflects the area they're from.      Today we're checking out something a little different from them: their first rye whiskey, Firehouse Rye. I actually got to try this one during a visit to the distillery, and it was good enough that I decided to bring a bottle home. That's always a promising start. There's also a great story behind the name. Backroads comes from a fourth-generation firefighter family, and the bottle pays homage to that background and the local firehouse that once had a field of rye growing behind it. I love seeing a bottle connect the whiskey to the people...

     Heaven Hill has been putting out some interesting bottles in its Bottled-in-Bond lineup, and while the series has had its share of mixed opinions over the years, the value proposition has become a lot more appealing as prices have settled down. Tonight, we're looking at something a little different: the Bottled-in-Bond Double Mash Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.      Coming in at 50% ABV, with a nine-year age statement and a roughly $50 price tag, this bottle certainly caught my attention. Nine-year-old bourbon at that price is not as easy to find, and Heaven Hill is giving us more transparency than we often see when it comes to what's actually going into the bottle. I managed to find this one sitting in cases at Total Wine after an earlier batch had disappeared from the shelves, so I was pretty excited to finally get one home.      First, let's talk about what makes this release different. Heaven Hill takes two separate bourbon mash ...

    This is one of those bottles that had been sitting on my want list for quite some time, so finally getting a chance to sit down with it was pretty exciting. Originally released as a Texas exclusive, the Old Forester King Ranch Bourbon started making its way into additional states in 2026, and somehow Indiana ended up being one of them. Considering some of the bottles that never seem to make their way here, I was genuinely surprised to see this one hit Indiana shelves.     The reason this bottle caught my attention isn't just the Old Forester name. This is a collaboration between Old Forester and King Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the United States, and they decided to put a Texas-inspired twist on the bourbon by incorporating mesquite charcoal filtration into the process.     The bourbon starts with Old Forester's familiar mash bill and is aged in heavily charred barrels. The unique part comes afterward, with mesquite wood from King Ran...

     Quintaliza has quietly carved out a name for itself by doing something genuinely different in the tequila space. This release takes an additive-free tequila from NOM 1522 and finishes it in American oak barrels that previously held Mexican cold brew coffee, a concept that immediately grabs attention. I reviewed the standard 40% release about a year ago and walked away impressed by how clearly those roasted coffee notes came through without overwhelming the agave.      Because that original bottling was so well received, Quintaliza followed it up with a cask strength version, bottled at 45% ABV. On paper, five extra proof points does not sound dramatic, and I initially wrote it off for that exact reason. Still, curiosity won out, especially with Quintillesa keeping the price the same as the standard release and maintaining transparency around additives and sourcing.      This reposado starts as an additive-free tequila and then ...