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100 reviews.It started five years ago with a freshly-minted Chicagoan and a bottle of Jeppson’s Malört I didn’t know eno...
08/30/2026

100 reviews.

It started five years ago with a freshly-minted Chicagoan and a bottle of Jeppson’s Malört I didn’t know enough to be afraid of. So number 100 was never really a question. It had to be Barrel Aged Malört. Poetic or absurd? Honestly, both.

CH Distillery took the most aggressively bitter thing Chicago has ever exported, ran it through ex-bourbon barrels, and somehow made it sippable. Neat at sunset it’s a legitimate “walkin’ around” pour. The old fashioned is one of the best cocktails I’ve had in a while, no Malört asterisk required. (Skip the ice. Skip the mule. Trust me on this.)

Rating: 5/5. Perfect, no notes. (For Chicago residents, maybe.)

Fitting timing, too: today Chicago is going for the world record for the largest group of people taking a shot of Malört at the same time, all to raise money for Ravenswood Community Services. I’m not at Recess for the 7:30 attempt, but you’d better believe this guy is taking one in solidarity.

Here’s to 100. The spirit that started all of this has finally grown up. Full review at the link in bio.

🥃 Rye, all rye, all rye. Alright, alright, alright.New review up: 291 All Rye 100% Rye Malt Colorado Whiskey. No corn, n...
08/25/2026

🥃 Rye, all rye, all rye. Alright, alright, alright.
New review up: 291 All Rye 100% Rye Malt Colorado Whiskey. No corn, no wheat, no barley to hide behind. A 50/50 split of Colorado malted rye and German rye malt, triple-distilled, Aspen-stave finished, 130.2 proof, and only 802 bottles per batch. A mash bill that exists precisely nowhere else in American whiskey.
🥃 Neat: we’ll be honest, don’t. The alcohol so thoroughly dominates you’re getting maybe 30% of the glass 🧊 Ice: essentially mandatory, and it transforms. Dark chocolate, roasted coffee, malted-grain earthiness, and crisp apple finally emerge 🍸 Old Fashioned: exceptional. Warmer and earthier than the Big Horn, with coffee and pepper in place of cedar 🍺 Mule: also exceptional. That earthy richness stands right up to the ginger beer. A rare double win
At $130 for a limited run you’re paying a premium, but you’re getting something you cannot find anywhere else. Just bring ice. 4.5/5
Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

🦊 A barrel-proof rye from the Hudson Valley that gets better the more you throw at it.New review up: Taconic Distillery ...
08/20/2026

🦊 A barrel-proof rye from the Hudson Valley that gets better the more you throw at it.
New review up: Taconic Distillery Fox & Hare Single Barrel Rye. Drawn from Taconic’s oldest barrels, 95% rye, six years old, not chill filtered, and bottled at a muscular 125 proof out of 113 acres of old farmland in Dutchess County, New York.
🥃 Neat: shockingly gentle for 125 proof. Brown sugar, toffee, black pepper, and a dark chocolate finish that anchors everything 🧊 Ice: it actually gets deeper. Gala apple appears out of nowhere and the chocolate runs the whole length of the sip 🍸 Old Fashioned: textbook. The kind where you close your eyes and wonder why you drink anything else 🍺 Mule: holds its own where most ryes get bulldozed
At roughly $80 for a single-barrel, barrel-proof, six-year New York rye, the price is more than fair. We could not find a bad way to drink this one. 4.5/5
Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a bourbon is throw some ice at it and tell it to calm down.New review up: Penelo...
08/17/2026

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a bourbon is throw some ice at it and tell it to calm down.
New review up: Penelope Toasted Series Bourbon. Toasted (not charred) barrel finish, single mash bill, 100 proof, and the “Honey” toast on the finishing barrel. The nose promises liquid candy. The palate has other plans.
🥃 Neat: veers hard from that sweet toffee nose into black coffee and grapefruit pith. On the bitter end for even our tastes 🧊 Ice: dials the bitterness way back and finally lets the toffee step forward. Reach for the ice bucket 🍸 Old Fashioned: where it really comes alive. Mocha, toffee, bright orange zest. Smooth and full-bodied 🍺 Mule: a miss. Ginger beer bullies the nuance right out of it
At $60 it sits in a crowded, competitive range, and it needs a little help to get where it’s going. 3/5
Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

⛰️ Some trophies you earn by hiking Pikes Peak. This one you earn by surviving the first sip.New review up: 291 Big Horn...
08/15/2026

⛰️ Some trophies you earn by hiking Pikes Peak. This one you earn by surviving the first sip.
New review up: 291 Big Horn Colorado Bourbon, the newest addition to Distillery 291’s lineup and a barrel-proof beast at a breathtaking 132.8 proof. High-rye mash bill, triple-distilled through a still Michael Myers literally built from his old copper photography plates, then finished with toasted Aspen staves for that unmistakable Colorado character.
🥃 Neat: the proof hits like a freight train, then gives way to dark chocolate, cedar, and toasted brown sugar 🧊 Ice: this is the move. Most barrel-proof bourbons merely survive the ice. This one welcomes it and the flavors rearrange into something even better 🍸 Old Fashioned: one of the best we’ve made in recent memory. Brooding, rich, mountain-bar complex 🍺 Mule: good, not the revelation the Old Fashioned was
At $130 it’s premium territory, but the craft provenance and that Aspen-finished flavor profile earn it. 4/5
Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

🇺🇸 A rye whiskey with George Washington’s actual mashbill. No, seriously.Part two of our Journeyman Distillery series is...
08/14/2026

🇺🇸 A rye whiskey with George Washington’s actual mashbill. No, seriously.

Part two of our Journeyman Distillery series is live: Not A King Rye — named for the time someone suggested Washington become America’s monarch and he said absolutely not. Released every year on Presidents’ Day. Made with the same 60/35/5 rye-corn-barley ratio Washington used at Mount Vernon, where he was cranking out 11,000 gallons a year and running one of the biggest distilleries in the young nation.

So how does the Father of Our Country’s recipe hold up?
🥃 Neat — this is the move. Smells like brown sugar cayenne bacon (yes, really), drinks with cinnamon, clove, black pepper, pecan, and raisin. Easy sipper with almost no burn. 🧊 On ice — the rye spice disappears and it starts drinking like a bourbon. Not bad, just... not what you came here for. 🍸 Old fashioned / mule — same story. Fine, but you’d be better off using something else and saving this one for sipping.

At $50, it’s solidly middle-of-the-road — a great neat pour that doesn’t translate anywhere else. 3/5. More Journeyman reviews still to come.

Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

💀 Chris Stapleton + Buffalo Trace’s master distiller + the marketing machine behind MLB’s first Official Whiskey. On pap...
08/01/2026

💀 Chris Stapleton + Buffalo Trace’s master distiller + the marketing machine behind MLB’s first Official Whiskey. On paper, this should be a slam dunk. It is not.

New review up: Traveller Whiskey Blend No. 40. The nose is genuinely promising — orange citrus, brown sugar, vanilla. You take that first sip and think it might actually work. Then the dark chocolate bitterness arrives like an uninvited guest and refuses to leave. Through the neat pour. Through the ice. Into the old fashioned. Even the mule couldn’t escape it.

The old fashioned was especially painful — adding bitters to a whiskey that’s already bitter is like adding salt to seawater. And the mule? The best we could say was “you can almost tell it’s not vodka.” At $40, Buffalo Trace’s own flagship bourbon is cheaper and better.

We gave it a 1/5 — our lowest score. The packaging is great. The liquid is not.

Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

🙈 Think you can taste whiskey without the label doing the work for you? Prove it.New review up: Blind Barrels — a whiske...
06/15/2026

🙈 Think you can taste whiskey without the label doing the work for you? Prove it.

New review up: Blind Barrels — a whiskey subscription that ships you four mystery samples labeled A, B, C, and D. No distillery names. No proof. No mashbill. Just you, your palate, and whatever vocabulary you’ve picked up along the way.

We drafted a buddy who walked in ordering Malört and Old Style. Ninety minutes later he was picking out clove, orange peel, and black pepper in a cask strength bourbon. That progression — from “this is smooth” to actually breaking down flavors — is exactly what this kit is designed to do.

The real product isn’t the whiskey. It’s the education. A structured tasting format, a flavor reference card, a companion quiz that tests your guesses before the big reveal, and deep dives into small craft distilleries you’ve probably never heard of.

We gave it a 5/5 — and if Father’s Day is still on your shopping list, this one ships gift-ready right out of the box.

Full review at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

🍋 When life gives you lemons... you make limoncello.New on the blog: our step-by-step recipe for homemade limoncello — a...
06/07/2026

🍋 When life gives you lemons... you make limoncello.
New on the blog: our step-by-step recipe for homemade limoncello — and it’s way easier than you think. Less than an hour of actual kitchen time, four lemons, some grain alcohol, and a little patience while things steep.

The trick? Use grain alcohol instead of vodka for a cleaner base, peel carefully to avoid the bitter white pith, and add simple syrup to taste until you find your sweet spot. Keep it in the fridge door and you’ve got a perfect after-dinner pour all summer long.

Full recipe (plus what to do with the leftover lemons) at ThirtyOneWhiskey.com 🔗

Sometimes you just need a hotel old fashioned, and 50mL Rocky Mountain Old Fashion hits all of the right notes - just n...
06/02/2026

Sometimes you just need a hotel old fashioned, and 50mL Rocky Mountain Old Fashion hits all of the right notes - just need to find your own bougie cherry

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