I am often asked what I consider the “best whisky in the world”, and my response isn’t meant to be coy, but it probably comes off that way as I often answer, “For who?” The truth is, there are a number of amazing whiskies out there, and the best in the world FOR YOU may be something completely different than for me.

This is why I often take exception to the furor which tends to surround Jim Murray’s annual decree of the “World’s Best Whiskey”. Murray is a master of publicity, and his picks often are aimed at creating controversy and generating ink for Murray rather than genuinely accolading the best whisky of the year. This past year Jim Murray selected Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye as his “Best of The Year” which, as he hoped, created a lot of buzz. Murray has a track record of snubbing Scotch Whisky, and his pick of Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye was another calculated poke in the eye to Scotch.

Prior to Murray’s pick, it was really Crown Royal Apple that represented the biggest win for Crown Royal in 2015. Crown Royal’s strategy to down market their premium brand caught the flavored whiskey wave right at the sweet spot. That didn’t stop the brand from also releasing some nice premium offerings including Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel Release, selected by noted Canadian Whisky writer Davin De Kergommeaux, and the now infamous Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye.

Beyond the Murray nod, Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye is notable because of the high percentage of rye whisky in the blend, a whopping 90%. Rye whiskies continue to be very hot commodities, and Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye delivers a high rye whisky to this very thirsty market at a very reasonable price. This is the same kind of formula that made Diageo’s Bulleit Rye such a smash hit.

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye Canadian Whisky (45% ABV, $29.99 ) – dark gold in color, the nose is unmistakably rye with rye spice, graphite, dill, cinnamon, and oak. Underneath the spice is vanilla and marzipan. It’s a spicy nose, squarely focused on the character of the rye, with just a slight edge.

On the palate, Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye is considerably softer than the nose would suggest. The solid rye flavor that was suggested by the nose is there but it’s presented with much more balance at the entry. Whereas the nose had an edge with the rye spice, here it’s mitigated with an undercurrent of maple and vanilla. The mouthfeel on the entry is also lighter and more delicate than expected.

In the midpalate the flavor experience shifts towards spicy with the addition of cinnamon, black pepper, and oak. Even though the midpalate is spicy, Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye doesn’t lose its sense of balance. The combination of the rye, oak, and cinnamon with the undercurrent of vanilla and maple is delightful. In the midpalate the mouthfeel makes a shift as well from the soft opening to a slightly drier, slightly more acidic feeling.

This sets up a nice medium length finish which features the rye and cinnamon flavors from the midpalate. The finish is notably dry, but not overly so, creating a solid conclusion to an enjoyably whisky.

Is Crown Royal Northern Rye the best whisky in the world? Absolutely not. It’s a very affable and well constructed Canadian whisky, but it pales when stacked up to other key whiskies released last year, like William Larue Weller, Barrell Bourbon Batch 1, or The Exclusive Malts 13 year old 2002. Crown Royal Northern Rye doesn’t need to be “the best whisky in the world” – it succeeds at delivering an affordable, light, affable, and balanced rye-heavy Canadian Whisky that will appeal to whisky drinkers looking for something a little more delicate in their glass.  92 points.

This special Plantation Rum release is the third collaboration between Cocktail Historian David Wondrich and Alexandre Gabriel, owner of Cognac Pierre Ferrand and Plantation Rum. Their first collaboration was Pierre Ferrand 1840 Original Formula, a resurrection of an old style of cognac based on a sample Alexandre acquired at auction. Distinctly different from most modern cognacs, the 1840 Original Formula lends itself very well to making cocktails, and was originally produced with the craft cocktail movement in mind.

Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Dark Pineapple Rum takes another recipe inspired by writings from the 1800s. This time inspiration came from the 1824 English Journal of Patent and Inventions and the 1844 Journal of Agricultural Society. As with the 1840 Original Formula, the initial focus for this rum was bartenders, and the first batch of this rum was created specifically for Tales of The Cocktail in 2014 as a “one time only” release to honor the bartenders who work exceptionally hard in the Tales of the Cocktail Apprentice Program.

The rum was so well received that Plantation has brought it out as a national product. Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Dark Pineapple Rum is made using the rinds of Queen Victoria pineapples infused with Plantation 3 Stars white rum for one week and then distilled in pot stills. This is blended with Plantation Original Dark Rum which has had the flesh of the pineapple infusing in it for three months. Plantation has created an excellent video which shows the entire process and is well worth watching.

Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Dark Pineapple Rum (40% ABV, $34.99) – dark brown in color, this rum is effusive with its aroma. Fresh pineapple leaps out of the glass, even when it’s far away from your nose. What’s nice about the nose, although the pineapple is expressive and highly aromatic, is that it doesn’t obliterate the actual rum aromas that you’d expect to find. In the core of the nose is molasses, vanilla, banana, citrus, and sugar cane. These aromas are well tied into the strong pineapple, which reads both as top note and in the core of the nose.

On the palate, this rum opens much more like a traditional rum than a flavored one with deep molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and banana. The pineapple is certainly there at the beginning, but it’s not the star, the rum is. The mouthfeel of Stiggin’s Fancy Dark Pineapple Rum is also much closer to a straight rum than a flavored one, and there doesn’t seem to be noticeable sugar added to the mix.

As we move towards the midpalate, the pineapple really begins to emerge, and it does so without dropping the rum notes established in the opening. The expression of pineapple in the midpalate is exceptional; it’s multidimensional, capturing the depth and complexity of a great pineapple, from the smoky exterior to the acidic core along with the slightly sweet flesh of the fruit. It’s all here, and it’s perfectly integrated with the dark molasses, vanilla, banana, and sugar cane of the base rum. The midpalate also adds some nice spice and citrus for a very complex and wonderfully balanced experience.

The finish is long, slightly dry, with some nice spice and a touch acidic. As with the rest of the taste experience, the finish presents pineapple wonderfully as a top note, supported by dark brown sugar as the base.

It’s no surprise that Plantation Stiggin’s Fancy Dark Pineapple Rum went from well kept secret at Tales of the Cocktail to national product. It’s one of the very best flavored rums out there. What’s great about this rum is that it shows a deep understanding of flavor and how a flavored or infused product can capture the very best of what’s being infused without losing the core character of what it’s being infused in. 94 points.

Eddie Russell has learned the craft of distilling from one of the masters of American whiskey, his father, Jimmy Russell. Over the past few years there’s been a measured transition from Jimmy Russell to Eddie Russell as Wild Turkey’s Master Distiller. As with any journey, there have been a few missteps along the way, but Eddie has managed to plot his own course and have his own identity with the products he’s overseen. This is no small task given the enormous shadow the legacy of Jimmy Russell casts.

Last year, Eddie Russell and Wild Turkey celebrated the legacy of Jimmy Russell with the Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary Whiskey. That release was important, not only because it celebrated the legacy of one of the greats in whiskey, but it continued Wild Turkey’s move into the ultra-premium American whiskey space. Wild Turkey Master’s Keep is meant to signify the end of the transition between Jimmy Russell and Eddie Russell with the formal designation for Eddie Russell as Wild Turkey’s Master Distiller. It’s also another entry for Wild Turkey at the top end of the American Whiskey category.

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep 17 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey  – (43.4% ABV $150) – this whiskey comes from casks which have been aged in three separate rickhouses (two wood and one stone). It’s a little odd that Wild Turkey doesn’t indicate which floors these casks were aged on, as which floor can have as much an impact as the kind of rickhouses. The mash bill is also not indicated.

Master’s Keep comes packaged in a sturdy cardboard locker with a nice magnetic enclosure. The bottle itself is stunning with an embossed wild turkey in flight. Even though it’s a 750ml bottle, the shape and glass make it feel like it’s something special.

Dark gold/medium amber in color, Master’s Keep isn’t as dark or saturated with tannins as one might expect from a 17 year old bourbon. As you would expect from a 17 year old bourbon, the nose is very expressive and oak driven. The oak on the nose is a deep weathered oak combined with strong varnish. Wild Turkey has always had a lot of rye in its mash bill and here on the nose that aging rye is apparent as it reads like dill, graphite, and rye. Wild Turkey’s signature cinnamon is also there on the nose, but it’s buried underneath all the oak. Overall, the nose isn’t very balanced and feels over-oaked.

As with the nose, the entry for Wild Turkey Master’s Keep is very expressive, but unlike the nose, it’s not just all about oak. Here, strong oak is well supported by deep caramel and vanilla. The mouth feel on the entry is phenomenal, remarkably light and delicate for a whiskey of this age.

The oak introduced in the entry ramps up into the midpalate, but it does so without disrupting the delightful mouthfeel or destroying the balance established in the opening. The midpalate is a showcase for strong oak, which is joined by cinnamon, rye spice, black pepper, and nutmeg. The caramel and vanilla from the opening are here as a subtle sweet floor that the spice builds from. This gives Master’s Keep some nice balance as well as complexity.

The finish for Master’s Keep is long and spicy, showcasing the oak, rye, and cinnamon from the midpalate. The finish is medium dry, and far less tannic and dry than we expected when we first nosed this whiskey.

Eddie Russell has always preferred delivering whiskeys at a lower ABV and with Master’s Keep he’s really hit his mark. The proofing on this whiskey is spot on and it helps preserve the light and delicate quality while still delivering enough support for the spice and finish.

With Master’s Keep, Eddie Russell has clearly shown his sensibilities as a distiller, sensibilities which are different from his father. We’ve been a little on the fence about if that was a good thing or not, but with Master’s Keep, he’s shown that Wild Turkey can both be a strong, spicy and flavorful whiskey while also being light and delicate. It’s an interesting path and we’ll watching to see how it translates as Wild Turkey continues under his command. 91 points

When it comes to spirits, rum is by far the biggest “undiscovered” category. There are so many exceptional rums being produced around the world, and consumers have access to only a very small fraction of them. Increasingly, we’re seeing businesses pop up focused on bringing some of this quality rum to store shelves. Some of these rum companies act like curators, like Plantation Rum, buying rum from a variety of locales, aging them, and then bottling them under the Plantation brand. Others, like Parce Rum, work with an individual distiller or blenders to create a rum customized for their brand.

As with many merchant spirits, the story behind Parce is a little convoluted. While it’s considered a “Colombian rum”, Parce is actually distilled in Panama by Varela Hermanos at the Destilería Don José. It is shipped to Armenia, Colombia for aging, blending, and bottling. The company has begun some small scale distillation in Colombia, and intends to transition its operations over the next few years. Origin story aside, what’s more important is what’s in the bottle.

Parce 8 Year Old Colombian Rum (40%, $40) – dark gold in color, this rum has a notably sweet nose with brown sugar, caramel, toffee, cocoa powder, and fig. These sweet notes are well counterbalanced with an oak spice which is tightly integrated in the nose.

The entry for Parce 8 Year Old Rum is expressive, with brown sugar, dried cherry, vanilla, and oak. As we move towards the midpalate, we get a little sense of some added sugar. It’s not egregious, but it’s there and has a minor impact on the mouthfeel, which is otherwise solid.

In the midpalate the oak becomes more pronounced and is joined by black pepper and clove. The midpalate is much spicier than you’d expect from the nose, and it helps create a nice journey from the sweet opening to a solidly spicy midpalate. In the midpalate a distinct cocoa powder note emerges that’s quite pleasant and lingers through the finish beyond the spice.

Parce has done a good job with their 8 year old rum creating an flavor experience that’s affable but not singular. The sweet nose draws you in, and then on the palate you’re given a nice mix of flavors with a solid balance of sweet and spice. The finish is the real star, though, and the cocoa powder note is a really nice conclusion to really enjoyable rum. 87 points.

Parce 12 Year Old Colombian Rum (40%, $60) – medium amber in color, the nose for the Parce 12 year old rum is a lot less effusive than the 8 year old. This isn’t a bad thing, as it invites exploration, which is rewarded with some nice aromas of toasted marshmallow, caramel, molasses, walnut, and soft oak.

The entry for the Parce 12 year old rum is also much softer and less effusive than the 8 year old rum. It opens with vanilla extract, brown sugar, and molasses. The entry is a little understated, which could have been an issue were it not for the remarkable turn the rum takes in the midpalate.

In the midpalate the Parce 12 really unfolds – it’s almost a “ta-da” after the understated opening. Here is a wonderful mix of the sweet notes from the opening including the brown sugar and molasses, along with allspice, oak, and black pepper. What’s really entrancing in the midpalate is the morphing of the molasses note from the opening. Here the molasses intensifies and you get both the sweet part of its character along with the more funky and charred elements.

After it’s presented this molasses symphony, the midpalate turns spicy with black pepper, oak, and clove. It’s a solid turn towards an excellent presentation of spice. The integration between the spice notes and the underlining sweet notes is spot on, and the subtle funk and char from the molasses serving as a bridge between the two.

The finish for Parce 12 Year Rum is long, spicy, and slightly dry. It maintains both the black pepper and oak spice from the midpalate with the sweet and dark notes from the molasses.

Parce 12 Year Rum has tremendous crossover potential, and its flavor experience, including its stellar sweet and spicy finish, should definitely appeal to American Whiskey drinkers. 92 points.

Parce has done an excellent job of delivering two solid rums to the American market. Both these rums do a good job of balancing sweet and spice, and both these rums have something special to say on the finish. The most exciting thing about Parce Rum is that it shows the kind of gems which exist out there in the Rum market. With rums like these, it won’t be long before more drinkers catch on to the fact that Rum is indeed one of the the greatest undiscovered spirt category.

It’s difficult to imagine major mistakes happening at big spirits brands. When you think how much a single cask of a spirit is worth, there’s an extremely high incentive to make sure everything is meticulously labeled, tracked, and referenced. Sure, mistakes can happen, but it’s hard to imagine them happening at the magnitude to produce a major new release.

These “oops” stories of mistaken barrels mixed together feel a lot like the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials, “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” They are an instant backstory to make something new sound spontaneous and special. In truth, the purposeful mixing of two divergent spirits happens all the time, and companies like High West have built their business on it.

Now, we have another major spirits company, Diageo, releasing an “oops” product. Orphan Barrel The Gifted Horse Whiskey is a supposed result of the mistaken mixing of a 17 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon with a 4 year old whiskey at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Given the smaller scope of the Orphan Barrel series, this one is slightly more plausible, but we’re still skeptical.

Initially, Diageo filed a label for The Gifted Horse Whiskey that had a 4 year age statement on the label. This makes sense as the age must reflect the youngest whiskey in the mix. They’ve since dropped the age statement and are focusing on the whiskey as a union of whiskeys rather than a singular age-stated spirit. This is a smart move as the ignorance among many consumers about age statements would only hinder a release labeled as 4 years. Even with so much information about how and where a whiskey is aged impacts its character, many consumers still chase the numbers.

As with many of the Orphan Barrel releases, we don’t know the exact lineage of this blend. We do know that it comes from Diageo’s stock of whiskeys at Stitzel-Weller, where many of the Orphan Barrel releases have been stored. The Gifted Horse Whiskey label also indicates that it’s a blend of 39% 17 Year Old Whiskey and 61% “younger Corn Whiskey and Indiana Bourbon Whiskey”. Ultimately, the ingredients in a blend are far less important than how it all comes together in the glass.

Orphan Barrel – The Gifted Horse American Whiskey (57.5 ABV, $50) – medium gold in color, this whiskey has an expressive nose. The signature apple note common to many of the Orphan Barrel releases is right there along with oak, cinnamon, maple, and marzipan. Unlike some of the other Orphan Barrel releases which tend to be oak bombs, The Gifted Horse has strong oak, but here it’s more integrated with greater complexity on the nose.

The entry for The Gifted Horse is enjoyable. All the balance and integration on the nose are there in the opening with baked apple, marzipan, maple, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, and oak, all wrapped by a nice soft layer of caramel corn. The mouthfeel matches the solid opening with a nice roundness.  Even at this high ABV, The Gifted Horse has a level of soft finesse on the palate that makes it enjoyable straight. After this slightly sweet and lush opening, The Gifted Horse takes a turn towards the spicy.

The midpalate becomes a showcase for the union of oak and cinnamon, and an illustration of how much better these elements are when they are balanced. Beyond the cinnamon and oak is the support of the sweet caramel and baked apple, as well as other spices like clove and black pepper.

It’s at the end of the midpalate that the issues from the 17 year old whiskey really show up. There’s a sharp varnish note that leaps out, showing that indeed the original 17 year old whiskey had lost its battle with the barrel. This tannic bite was handled well up to this point, but it breaks through. The varnished oak note drives a long and slightly dry finish.

The Gifted Horse Whiskey answers an important question in the spirits industry: how do you release an older whiskey that has some nice character, but that has ultimately lost the battle with the oak cask? The answer is pretty simple – you blend it! An older, weathered whiskey can be revitalized when you mix with younger whiskeys, and the sum can be much stronger than its individual parts.

Accident or not, The Gifted Horse Whiskey is an important test for the high end American whiskey market to see if consumers will set aside their desire for age statements in favor of an enjoyable whiskey that is a blend. 87 points.