I’d like to thank Byrne PR and Lux Row Distillery for providing this review sample with no strings attached. We are still working through the backlog of samples that we received during the brackets, so let’s jump right in. Just about a month and a half ago, I got a great email from the PR folks who work with Lux Row and MGP. And, I LOVE this email. Not wasting my time or theirs, it just said: Rebel 100 / 6 Years / 60 bucks. Launches today. Details attached. And in the spirit of that announcement email, let’s keep this short. Because, really, there isn’t much more to be said about this new ..read more

Last month, during our brackets, I included exactly one bourbon that I’d never previously reviewed. It was a reader suggestion that, honestly, I had never seen for sale in Minnesota. But when I unexpectedly ran across it during my cross-metro shopping trip, I knew that it would be a shame to pass by the suggestion. I mean, what is the point of asking for suggestions if you then turn around and ignore them? Here is what I had to say about this during the competition. Wheel Horse Bourbon is a new one to me. It was suggested by a reader in the last giveaway. I don’t know too much about it, but ..read more

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Penelope Bourbon for providing this review sample with no strings attached. Her name is Rio, and she dances on the sand Just like that river twisting through a dusty land And when she shines, she really shows you all she can Oh, Rio, Rio, dance across the Rio Grande —Chorus to Rio by Duran Duran, 1982 I am highly suggestable to earworms. It can take as little as two words out of a 1980s sitcom theme song to have me singing it for the next two weeks. And for some reason, the more annoyed I would be by the song, the easier it seems to lodge itself in my brain. I so ..read more

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Yellowstone Distillery for providing this review sample with no strings attached. I’ve sung the praises of the folks over at Yellowstone more times than I can count. Well, that’s not true. I can count pretty high. But more times than I care to count, how about that? And because I enjoy their connection with their namesake park and the ways they give back, at the end of the post, I’d like to share the press release for a fun contest that the brand is running. It happened to land in my mailbox as I was getting ready for tonight’s post, and since I’m talking about Y ..read more

It isn’t often that I look at something this expensive, so I thought I’d give a little backstory on how it ended up on my shelf. It was 2013, and my wife was planning the yearly trip she takes with her mother. Usually, it is somewhere local, like the North Shore of Lake Superior or Door County, Wisconsin, but this time, my mother-in-law wanted to see Niagara Falls. She’d never been and wanted to see it before she no longer could. Normally, the trip is just the two of them, but I’d never been out of the country and asked if I could tag along. They were driving, and I didn’t have enough vacatio ..read more

Welcome back, folks! We are now at the end of the 2024 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, with not a single stinker in the bunch. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups. Division 2: Whiskey A (Buffalo Trace) vs. Whiskey B (George Dickel Bourbon) Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The noses are pretty similar. “A” is more vibrant, “B” is nuttier. In the mouth, “A” is very nicely balanced with a nice sweetness. “B” is spicier, also with a nice flavor. Winne ..read more

Hello again, my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we? If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife, which was another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets finishes up with Division 2’s Number 2 seed, Wheel Horse Bourbon, taking on Number 3 seed George Dickel Bourbon. Wheel Horse Bourbon is a new one to me. It was suggested by a reader in the last giveaway. I don’t know too much about it, but I know that it was distilled at the Green River Distilling Company in Owensb ..read more

Hello again, my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we? If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife, which was another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 1’s Number 1 seed, Old Forester 100 proof, taking on Number 4 seed Elijah Craig. Old Forester 100 proof, one time known as Old Forester Signature, is probably my favorite Brown-Forman bourbon from a Quality-to-Price perspective. It is delicious, relatively inexpensive (at least when compared ..read more

Hello again my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we? If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife as another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 1’s Number 3 seed Ezra Brooks 99 taking on Number 2 seed Old Grand-Dad 114. Ezra Brooks 99 recently replaced Lux Row’s Ezra Brooks 90 proof. Much to the dismay of certain commenters. I happen to enjoy the fact that they bumped the proof up. I’m guessing the dismay comes from the fact that they also b ..read more

Here we go! Let’s get down to the competitions.  I hope that you guys are as excited by this as I am. These were tasted in an order only known to my wife as another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets starts with Division 2’s Number 4 seed Old Tub taking on Number 1 seed Buffalo Trace. Buffalo Trace is the flagship product of Sazerac’s Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY. It can be hard to find in this area, and I’ve heard tell of it costing in the $50 or more range from commenters in other states. When I happened across ..read more