Castle & Cairn

An officially licensed product in partnership with America250, the non-partisan commission established by Congress to plan the nation's 250th anniversary, this commemorative bottling from Heaven Hill showcases the strengths of their huge production capacity and excellent unit economics. Only a fitting 250 barrels were selected which puts my estimate for total yield around 40-45K bottles. All barrels were personally selected by Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll. As part of the promotion of this offering, Heaven Hill donated $75K to Folds of Honor which provides educational scholarships to the family of fallen or disabled US Service members and first responders.  🛒 Sourced: $39.99 for 750ml from Smyrna World of Beverage, April 2026. This is my first time seeing it on the shelf in market, though Georgia tends to be a bit late to new releases. With the lower proof Vintage appearing in the $30-$32 range, this bottle is also likely one of the stronger values on the market. Pricing...

If you aren't already a big fan of Heaven Hill, the Evan Williams Vintage series might be just the thing to turn you onto them. Formerly a Kentucky exclusive, the Vintage series are all single barrels with the novelty that each iteration gets a "vintage" much like wine, noting the year in which the whiskey was barreled. They're usually pretty close to eight years of age, though it does vary +/- six months in my experience. The U.S. doesn't have access to a recurring high aged bottling under the Evan Williams Brand (the 12-year occasionally pops up at the distillery or Evan Williams Experience - but I've never seen one), so this is as close as many will get to that experience. These barrels are pulled based on being true to the Evan Williams profile and are remarkably consistent for single barrels, though you will find some fun nuance in the mix. I was a pretty big fan of the 2015 Vintage, having worked my way though a handful of them, and was excited to pick ...

My personal sweet spot in the proof-flavor continuum is between 100-110 proof (albeit with some notable exceptions). For things that are barreled at 125, I find that this amount of dilution serves only to make the whiskey more drinkable and doesn't unduly harm flavor. Recently, I took a look at some Ezra Brooks Cask Strength , contract distilled by Heaven Hill, and was intrigued. The heaven hill stocks used shared the same mash bill as their hallmark Evan Williams line (heck, they may even have started life intended to be dumped into Evan bottles). This gave me a lovely 120 proof base to dilute down into my preferred ABV range. I toyed with the idea of using some Evan Williams Single Barrel as the complementary bottle, but ultimately decided that it would be too disproportionate (EWSib is only 86.6 proof). The stalwart Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond will stand in as the Ezra Brook's dance partner for this exercise.  Vámonos! For the uninitiated, Whiskey Frankenstein is the prac...

  📚 Background:   The same mash bill as Evan Williams, bottles of this series are dumped from hand selected barrels of whiskey by Evan's master distiller each year since 1986. One of the cheapest and most tenured single barrel editions on the market (Benchmark Single Barrel at $25 is the other that comes to mind), Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage has fantastic labeling for a budget bottle, including both the barreled and bottled dates. Like wine, it prominently features the barreling year on the label. I love the lore even if it's not likely to mean much (single barrels do tend to vary quite a bit even in famed and expensive editions). Each barrel likely produces 250-300 bottles depending on the amount absorbed by the wood and evaporation. To further the crafted aesthetic, each bottle is topped with black wax and has a little booklet necklace with further marketing material around the neck. It has been awarded "Whiskey of the Year" by the Spirit Journal , "...

Heaven Hill is an institution in the whiskey world, manufacturing such deft drams as Henry McKenna, Larceny, Old Fitzgerald, Parker's and Elijah Craig. Savvy buyers know that many of their bottles meet or beat those of similarly priced and exhaustingly hunted Buffalo Trace products. Take a scroll through Reddit, X(formerly known as Twitter) or many a forum and you'll see this bottle as a recurring pick for the best value in bourbon. Here's my take on the budget beast, Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond: 🛒 Sourced: 1.75L   Tower Spirits - ATL, GA  $26.89 - This is a competitive intent price match of Total Wine which is $26.99. That's $11.57 for the 750ml equivalent. Rock bottom prices for a bonded whiskey. 🧪 Proof:  100, 50%  📚 Background : As regulated by the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897, Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond is a beefed up version of the ever population Evan Williams black label. Master Williams, the namesake, opened Kentucky's first commercial distillery al...