January 2020 in Review

Welcome to the January 2020 recap. If you are looking for more ways to interact and share your love of bourbon, please tell everyone you know about the site and don't forget about the monthly Columbus Ohio Whiskey Society (COWS) meetups.

Also, be sure to sign up for emails on the front page. You'll get an email the day after anything is posted with the full article. No spam and the email address is not passed on to me in any way.

This month I posted 10 unique articles and the site saw over 8000 views... up from the 7875 last month and up over 570% from the 1189 views in January of 2019.

Baby Leo showing off his new shoes

Announcement: February Columbus Ohio Whiskey Society (COWS) Meeting - Wed, February 12, 2020

Love is in the air for the COWS February meeting. Love for rare and pricey whiskey that is! We will be doing a special blind tasting as Buckeye Bourbon House has stepped up again and will be putting together a flight of either hard to find or pricey whiskey to try. There will be an $18 price tag for this flight but as always we will get more than our money's worth. You will not want to miss this special tasting. 

If you're planning on attending, please RSVP here so they can let the Buckeye Bourbon House know to properly prepare. Any questions, email eric@columbusbourbon.com. 

Date And Time And Location
Wed, February 12, 2020
Buckeye Bourbon House
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EST
36 East Gay Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Buffalo Trace Distillery Releases 13th Edition of Stagg Jr.

Buffalo Trace has announced the 13th release of their Stagg Jr. Bourbon. Like all previous releases, this is barrel strength, 8 years old, and unfiltered. The edition comes in at a whopping 128.4 proof (64.2% alcohol).

Latitude Beverage Announces Wheel Horse Rye Whiskey

Latitude Beverage, best known for their 90+ Cellars brand of wine, has announced their newest alcohol brand called Wheel Horse Rye. This new rye was produced at the O.Z. Tyler distillery (Formerly the Green River Distillery) and is the first aged rye to debut since the reopening in 2016.

Ohio Division of Liquor Control (OHLQ) Announces New Batches from Woodford Reserve - Available Thursday, January 23 - Update Cancelled

1/22/20 update: The State has canceled this release citing that 'the allocation didn't meet the profile excellence we selected.' I have no idea what that could mean or how this was only found out the day before the release... either way, it's incredibly disappointing. The complete statement from the state is:

Since the allocation didn't meet the profile excellence we selected, Assistant Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall and I chose to delay the release while get you something even more special. 

Both Ohio Liquor and Woodford Reserve want to release to you only the best selections, and we'll work to make it up to consumers. 

We'll also reschedule with Elizabeth so you can meet her and get your bottles signed.
Stay tuned for details about the make-up date for the release; you won't want to miss what we have up our sleeves. 

Please enjoy all products responsibly.
Cheers!
Jim Canepa

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The Ohio Division of Liquor Control (OHLQ) has announced their first bourbon release of 2020 with the availability of eight new taste profiles of Woodford Reserve available beginning at 6pm on Thursday, January 23 at select locations across the state (list below).

Knob Creek Twice Barreled Rye Whiskey Review

Welcome to the review for Knob Creek Twice Barreled Rye. This is my first Knob Creek review so I'm excited. Let's get to it!

Manufacturer: Beam Suntory

Ohio Liquor Announces 2019 Bourbon Bottle Lottery Winners

The Ohio Department of Commerce has notified the winners of the 2019 Buffalo Trace and Pappy Van Winkle Bottle Lottery. Winners will receive an email from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control with further instructions on how to redeem your bottle. If you are wondering what the odds of winning were, I have you covered here! Sadly, there were two Mark R's listed as winners, but I wasn't one of them.

2019 Ohio Bottle Lottery Odds Extravaganza

Hopefully, you were able to enter the 2019 Ohio Bottle Lottery. Like last year, I thought it would be fun to check what kind of odds we really have of winning and answer some other questions around the process.

Announcement: January 2020 Columbus, Ohio Whiskey Society (COWS) Meeting - January 8th @ 5:30pm

The next meetup of the Columbus, Ohio Whiskey Society (COWS) will be on January 8th at the Buckeye Bourbon House.

The meetups include three blind tastings for only $10. The fun starts at 5:30pm and all are welcome.

If you're planning on attending, please RSVP here so they can let the Buckeye Bourbon House know to properly prepare. Any questions, email eric@columbusbourbon.com. 

Date And Time And Location
Wed, January 8, 2020
Buckeye Bourbon House
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EST
36 East Gay Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Ohio Division of Liquor Control (OHLQ) Announces Speyburn's Companion Cask (Scotch) - Available January 10

The Ohio Division of Liquor Control (OHLQ) has announced the first release of 2020 with the availability of three barrels of Speyburn's Companion Casks, which are matured in ex-Buffalo Trace Distillery casks. The bottles will be available beginning at select locations (list below) at 9am on Friday, January 10th. For this release, the state worked with Master Distiller Bobby Anderson to taste and select the barrels that will only be available in Ohio.

Woodford Reserve Wheat Whiskey Review

I'm back with what seems like my first review in ages... and as a bonus, I have my friend Brett McMillionaire helping.

Welcome to the review for Woodford Reserve Wheat. This is the newest permanent edition to the Woodford lineup and follows my other reviews of Woodford Bourbon (83.5/100) and Woodford Malt (57.5/100). Since this wasn't made with 51% or more corn, it is officially called a whiskey. With that said, let's get to the review!

Manufacturer: Brown-Forman