The Last Call

      K.Luke Whiskey Company is one of those brands that has been gaining momentum in the whiskey world, and based on what I’ve tasted so far, the growing attention makes sense. Based in Mississippi, K Luke is a husband-and-wife operation named after their two children. There’s something special about building a whiskey company around your family, and it gives the brand a personal touch before you even get to the bottle.     What really interests me about K.Luke, though, is the approach to blending. Rather than distilling everything themselves, the company sources whiskey from Kentucky and Indiana, then brings those barrels to Bardstown Bourbon Company for storage and blending. Founder Jonathan draws on his background in the wine industry to approach whiskey blending much like a chef approaches a dish: finding the right ingredients and bringing them together into something greater than the individual parts.     I’ve already reviewed K.Lu...

     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...

     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...

     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...

     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...

   Whiskey Jypsi is one of those brands that I had seen popping up on shelves here and there, but it took me a little while to finally dive into what they were doing. After trying a couple of their introductory bottles, including the Explorer and Tribute, I quickly found myself enjoying the direction of the brand. What I didn't realize when I first started exploring Whiskey Jypsi was that it is a celebrity-backed project from Eric Church.      Normally, celebrity-backed spirits aren't necessarily something that gets me excited on its own, but Whiskey Jypsi has done something that I really appreciate: they've been fairly transparent about what is actually in the bottle. Age statements, mash bills, sourcing information, finishes and blends are all things I like to see as a reviewer and a consumer. That transparency goes a long way.      The Finish Seeker Series is particularly interesting because it takes that base bourbon and gives it some addition...

     Whiskey Jypsi is one of those brands that caught my attention before I ever poured a glass simply because of the bottle. There is something about the design that really stands out on a shelf. To me, it almost looks like someone took a little bit of High West and a little bit of Castle & Key, smashed the two ideas together, and came up with Whiskey Jypsi. Whatever the inspiration, I think it looks fantastic.      I had previously tried Whiskey Jypsi's four-year Double Barreled Bourbon and came away really impressed, especially considering its price point. That made me curious to see what else the brand was doing, and the Explorer Bourbon immediately caught my attention. This release takes a blend of bourbon from Indiana and Kentucky, gives it at least six years of age, and then finishes it with both French oak and Appalachian oak staves.      Whiskey Jypsi is also a celebrity-backed project through Eric Church, which is something I ge...

       When I’m looking at bourbon in the $40 range, I’m usually asking a pretty simple question: does this bottle give me enough reason to put it on my shelf? With whiskey prices continuing to climb, budget-friendly bottles have become more interesting to me, and Whiskey Jypsi Tribute immediately caught my attention for a couple of reasons.      First, the bottle itself looks fantastic. The rippled glass gives it a little bit of a High West-inspired feel, while the engraved cork adds another nice touch. It definitely stands out on the shelf without relying on a giant celebrity name plastered across the front. That’s something I appreciate, especially considering Whiskey Jypsi was created in collaboration with country artist Eric Church and others from the whiskey industry.      But what really caught my attention was what Whiskey Jypsi tells us about the whiskey itself. Tribute is a blend of straight bourbons from Tennessee and Kentucky...

     1792 is one of those bourbon brands that I’ve consistently enjoyed, especially when you find the bottles at the right price. The Small Batch has always been an easy recommendation for me, and I’ve had pretty good experiences with several other expressions in the lineup as well. So when I finally got the opportunity to pick up a bottle of 1792 Sweet Wheat, I was definitely curious to see what Barton had done differently with this limited release.      The problem was finding one at a reasonable price. I had seen Sweet Wheat on the shelf before, but the price was well over $80, which was roughly twice what I’d expect to pay. I passed. Eventually, my local store sent out a message saying they had some available, and despite initially deciding to skip it, I happened to be heading that direction anyway. Needless to say, I changed my mind pretty quickly.      The exact mash bill for 1792 isn't publicly disclosed, so we don't know exactly how m...

     There are some bottles where you remember exactly what you thought the first time you tried them. This is one of those bottles.     I first came across Hugh Hamer's Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Honey Barrels at the Bottle Bar a little over a year ago. I believe this bottle was released in late 2023 or early 2024, and when I tried it at the time, I remember one thing very clearly: honey. A lot of honey.     At the time, I wasn't completely sure how I felt about honey barrel finishes, so I passed on the bottle. Eventually, I came back around and picked one up for the collection. Now, with a blind honey-finished whiskey battle on the horizon, it seemed like the perfect time to finally crack this bottle open and see what all that honey was about.     Coming in at 51.5% ABV, this is a straight bourbon whiskey with no age statement. It's part of the Hugh Hamer lineup, which sits alongside the Old Hamer series under the W...