What Is Chill Filtering? So, here is how it usually goes. You pour a bourbon over ice — and suddenly it turns cloudy. Panic sets in. Did my whiskey go bad? Nope. Your bourbon is fine. You just accidentally discovered one of the most debated topics in modern whiskey culture: Chill Filtering. And if you…
Barrel Symphony — What happens when Bourbon and Rye stop competing and start playing together There are whiskey releases that feel like a line extension, and then there are releases that feel like a distillery planting a flag. 13th Colony’s Barrel Symphony: Composition No. 1 seems to be a new flag from this great Georgia…
Some bottles make you curious before you ever pull the cork. Oak & Eden Spire Select Wheat & Spire is one of those. There is literally an oak spiral inside the bottle. That is not a marketing note hiding in fine print. That is the whole idea. Oak & Eden has built its identity around what it calls in-bottle finishing, using a spiral-cut piece of oak, the spire, inside the bottle to continue shaping the whiskey after traditional barrel aging.
Wax Dips — Beautiful or Dangerous? Now we need to discuss one of the most divisive subjects in bourbon culture: wax-dipped bottles. Some people love them. Some people absolutely hate them. To most people, a bottle closure is just a way to keep whiskey inside the bottle. To whiskey nerds, it is part of the…
The label on Blue Note’s Wheated Bourbon gives it a strong identity right away: “Born in Kentucky, Raised in Memphis, Finished with Soul.” That is a great line. It tells you exactly what the brand wants this bourbon to be, Kentucky bourbon character shaped by Memphis attitude.
How Did We Get Here? Most whiskey fans eventually end up with one, a drawer, a shelf, a box in the bar area, filled with old corks. Nobody really plans for this to happen. It just does. Somewhere along the way, certain corks become souvenirs of things like that first allocated bottle, special birthday bourbon,…
Buzzards Roost is a Louisville-based whiskey brand co-founded by Jason Brauner and Judith Hollis Jones in 2019. The brand is built around secondary maturation, especially custom barrels designed to create specific flavor outcomes. Buzzards Roost says its whiskey begins in traditional new oak, then moves into custom-built secondary barrels that are toasted and charred to specific profiles. That matters here because this bottle is not just wearing the words Double Oak for decoration. Buzzards Roost has made double oak maturation a central part of its identity.
Maple-finished bourbon can go wrong fast. Too much sweetness and suddenly the glass starts feeling less like bourbon and more like breakfast syrup with a proof point. That is not what we want. Thankfully, 13th Colony Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished With Maple Wood Spirals takes a different road.
Double oaked bourbon sounds simple. Put bourbon in a barrel. Then put it in another barrel. Done. Right? Not exactly. That second barrel can change everything. Bourbon already has to spend time in new charred oak to be bourbon in the first place. That oak gives us the familiar flavors we love: vanilla, caramel, brown…
What It Really Means Some bourbon labels are easy to understand. Single barrel? One barrel. Barrel proof? Bottled close to what came out of the barrel. Bottled in bond? Rules, history, and paperwork. Then there is Cigar Blend. That phrase sounds like it belongs in a dark leather chair beside a fireplace, with a heavy…
