The Last Call

     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 ...

     Larrikin is one of those brands that I’ve really fallen in love with pretty quickly. Before 2026, we didn’t really have access to Larrikin here in Indiana, but that changed when a few local stores started bringing in single barrel picks. That gave me a chance to try several of their bottles, and they’ve quickly become a brand I look forward to seeing on the shelf.      What I really appreciate about Larrikin is the transparency. They’re giving us the information I want to see on the bottle, including the mash bill and the details behind the individual barrel. They also seem to have a real interest in finding interesting whiskey rather than simply putting another standard bourbon on the shelf. That’s something I can definitely get behind.      Tonight’s bottle takes things in a very different direction. This is a single barrel hazmat American light whiskey coming in at a massive 75% ABV and aged for at least 8 years. That’s a pretty intim...

     Frey Ranch has built a strong reputation in the craft whiskey world, largely because of their true farm-to-bottle philosophy. Based out of Nevada, the distillery grows its own grains, distills the whiskey, ages it, and bottles everything on-site. Very few distilleries can honestly say they control the entire process from seed to bottle, and that alone makes Frey Ranch an interesting name to watch.      Going into this review, expectations were a little mixed. Their bourbon had received a lot of hype, but the experience didn’t quite live up to it. With that in mind, the hope was that their Bottled-in-Bond Straight Rye might offer something a little different. Rye has been gaining popularity over the past couple of years, and it’s always exciting to see craft distilleries put their own spin on the style.      The mash bill is particularly interesting because it uses 100% winter rye grown directly on the Frey Ranch farm. That level of contr...

     Ben Holladay Distillery in Missouri has become one of those distilleries that I always find myself paying attention to. They distill, age, and bottle their own whiskey, and some of their original releases were bottles I really enjoyed when they first came out. The higher-proof versions didn't quite hit the same level for me, so when I saw this Soft Red Wheat Double Oaked Bourbon showing up in Indiana, I was curious to see where this one would land.      This particular release comes in at 57% ABV and is 6 years and 8 months old. It was originally a distillery-exclusive release in 375 mL bottles before Ben Holladay moved to 750 mL bottles for the wider release. The Indiana allocation was essentially a one-time drop, and from what I understand, we'll have to wait for the next batches to be ready before seeing more.      The bourbon itself starts with Ben Holladay's Soft Red Wheat Bourbon mash bill of 73% corn, 15% soft red wheat, and 12% m...