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...

     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...

     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...

     K. Luke is one of those whiskey brands that I've been seeing more and more of lately, and for good reason. The brand has been expanding into more states and becoming easier to find both on shelves and online, while some of its more interesting barrel-strength and finished releases have started getting people’s attention. Their core lineup is particularly interesting because the company has been experimenting with some pretty unique finishes. I've had the opportunity to try several of them, including the Oloroso Sherry, Toasted, and Armagnac finishes, and they've generally been very impressive. The Oloroso Sherry has actually been my favorite of the bunch so far. This particular bottle takes a different approach.      The Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey is bottled at 100 proof and carries a minimum age of 7 years. Rather than being another barrel-strength or heavily finished release, this is meant to be a more approachable expression of what they are d...

     Penelope has built a reputation for producing creative, transparent, and consistently enjoyable whiskeys. Their Cooper Series continues that trend by experimenting with unique finishing casks, and Riviera Lumière looked like one of the most exciting releases yet. Taking the original Riviera concept and bottling it at a much higher proof sounded like a recipe for success. Unfortunately, higher proof doesn't always mean a better whiskey.      Riviera Lumière starts with a blend of 8-year American Light Whiskey and Straight Bourbon sourced from MGP before being finished in rosé wine casks from Spain. Unlike Penelope's standard Rosé Cask Finish, which uses French rosé barrels, Riviera Lumière uses Spanish rosé casks. This Total Wine exclusive is bottled at 60% ABV (120 Proof) and listed as cask strength.      On paper, everything about this release sounds like it should work. The question is whether the proof elevates the blend or ...

     Larrikin Bourbon Company continues to be one of those names I’ve been paying close attention to in 2026, especially as they’ve finally started landing more consistently in Indiana. This release immediately stands out not just because it’s a single barrel pick, but because it’s also the first nationwide release of their rosewater bourbon at a higher proof. This particular barrel was selected by Handy Spot Liquor, and it pushes things in a direction you don’t typically see in American bourbon, floral augmentation via in-house distilled rosewater layered onto a 9-year Kentucky straight bourbon base. What makes this release interesting is how it’s built: sourced 9-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon that is then proofed with Larrikin's own distilled rosewater. Rosewater is one of those ingredients that can go wrong fast. It’s extremely potent, and even a slight overuse can turn a whiskey into something perfumed and unbalanced. Here, though, it’s being used as a structural...

Copper & Cask continues to impress me with both the quality of their releases and the level of transparency they provide. While plenty of companies source whiskey, very few are willing to give consumers this much information about what's actually in the bottle. Between the detailed blending information and the QR code that lets you hear directly from the master blender, it's clear they're proud of what they're producing.      This particular release immediately caught my attention because I'm a huge fan of cigar blend bourbons. Even though I'm not a cigar smoker myself, I love the sweeter, fruit-forward profiles these blends often create. With a blend of 8-year-old MGP bourbon finished in Armagnac, Cognac, Tawny Port, and Sherry casks, this one checked all the boxes before I ever pulled the cork.      Copper & Cask created this release using a 26-barrel blend of both high-rye and low-rye MGP bourbons aged at least 8 years. The blend was then separat...