The Caskworth Blog
Expert guides, tasting notes and buying advice. 120 in-depth articles to help you drink better whisky.
Secondary prices for bourbon's biggest trophies have cooled off hard — and the smartest bourbon drinkers have moved on to hunting for bot...
American Single Malt just became the first new federally recognized whiskey category in over 56 years — and Scotch drinkers are taking no...
While "small batch" and "craft" have become marketing terms with no legal teeth, Bottled-in-Bond remains the one bourbon label that's sti...
Bourbon's legal mash bill only requires 51% corn — everything else is where distillers are increasingly experimenting, and wheat is winni...
Cask-finished whiskey keeps growing in popularity, but a parallel conversation is asking a harder question: is a finish elevating good sp...
Kentucky distillers are sitting on more aging bourbon than at any point in four decades — and that oversupply is quietly working in every...
A UK cask investment firm was just wound up in court after customers paid nearly £100,000 for whisky casks that, in most cases, were neve...
Macallan is the single most counterfeited whisky in the world, and forgers don't need to fake the glass — genuine empty bottles already t...
As of July 24, 2026, Scotch whisky entered the United States duty-free for the first time in over a year — but Cognac, Irish whiskey and ...
Every cask of whisky loses a share of its contents to evaporation each year — and how much depends almost entirely on the climate around ...
The line between a bottle of whisky and a piece of fine art gets blurry once you look at what collectors have actually paid at auction fo...
Rare whisky indices get compared to the stock market constantly — but the two are structurally different assets, and that difference matt...
Popular bottles like Suntory Toki and Hibiki Harmony don't list an age on the label at all — and that's by design, not an oversight.
Every bottle of Jack Daniel's starts the same way — charcoal-mellowed through ten feet of sugar maple before it ever touches a barrel — but...
Johnnie Walker's color-coded labels are the most recognizable naming system in scotch — but the colors map to genuinely different blends,...
Named for the Baptist minister often credited (apocryphally) with inventing bourbon, Elijah Craig has become Heaven Hill's flagship premium...
Most Canadian whisky is blended after distillation; Forty Creek does the opposite — distilling and aging corn, rye and barley separately...
Nearly every rye whiskey on the market, American or Canadian, is a blend that includes corn or barley; Alberta Premium is one of the only...
Chivas Regal helped invent the idea of luxury blended scotch in the 19th century, and the modern lineup still splits cleanly along that...
Founded in Louisville by a fourth-generation Master Distiller and his son, Angel's Envy built its entire reputation on a single idea rare...
Oban Distillery sits directly on the harbor in the West Highland town it's named for, predates the town's own street plan, and remains one...
Crown Royal's flavored whisky line started with Regal Apple in 2013 and has since become one of the fastest-growing categories in Canadian...
Dewar's popularized "double aging" — marrying its blend a second time in oak casks after the initial blending — a technique that's since...
Heaven Hill is family-owned and the second-largest holder of aging bourbon in the world, but most drinkers only know a fraction of its...
Most scotch is either a single malt from one distillery or a blend that includes cheaper grain whisky — Monkey Shoulder occupies the less...
While most Highland distilleries use a mix of bourbon and sherry casks, GlenDronach has built its entire identity around sherry — primarily...
Maker's Mark has used the same wheated mash bill since 1958 — wheat instead of rye as the secondary grain — and every expression in the...
D'Ussé launched in 2012 as a joint venture between the historic B&G Spirits and Jay-Z's Roc Nation, and unlike most modern celebrity...
Rémy Martin is one of only a handful of cognac houses to specialize exclusively in Fine Champagne cognac — a blend of Grande and Petite...
Canadian Club has been distilling in Ontario since 1858, making it one of the oldest continuously operating whisky brands in North America...
Courvoisier has marketed itself as "The Cognac of Napoleon" since the 19th century, a historical association with Napoleon Bonaparte that's...
Applejack was America's original spirit — distilled by colonial farmers from surplus apples generations before bourbon existed as a...
WhistlePig set out to prove rye whiskey deserved the same reverence as single malt scotch, building an entire Vermont farm distillery...
Japanese whisky spans everyday sipping bottles under $60 to six-figure collector releases — here's how the category actually breaks down in...
Cognac's age classifications — VS, VSOP, XO — are legally defined minimums, not a full picture of quality. Here's how to actually shop the...
Scotland's five whisky-producing regions aren't just geography — each has developed a genuinely distinct house style over centuries.
Canadian whisky covers everything from approachable flavored bottles to serious sipping rye — here's how to pick the right gift for the...
"Allocated" is a supply-chain term before it's a marketing term — here's what it actually means for the bottle in front of you.
Founded in 1715, Martell is the oldest of the major cognac houses — here's how to navigate its lineup from entry to prestige.
Rye whiskey's legally required 51% rye mash bill still leaves enormous room for stylistic difference — these three brands prove it.
Blended scotch doesn't get the collector attention single malt does, but the category's best bottles deliver genuine quality well under $60.
Scotch made within sight of the sea often carries a genuine maritime character — salt, brine, sometimes seaweed — and these three...
Building a whiskey program for a bar or restaurant is a different exercise than shopping for personal collecting — here's how to think...
Sherry cask maturation gives scotch its richest, fruitiest character — and these three Speyside houses are among the category's most...
Whisky as an alternative asset remains a niche but real market — here's what's actually driving secondary demand this year.
While Speyside's biggest names get most of the attention, a group of independently-owned distilleries is quietly producing some of the...
Kentucky Owl doesn't sell a standing product line — it releases numbered batches, each distinct, each allocated, and each worth...
While Yamazaki and Hibiki built Japanese whisky's global reputation, a newer generation of small, independent distilleries is defining...
Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier account for the vast majority of cognac sold worldwide — but some of the category's...
Whisky isn't the only spirit category with a serious collector market — ultra-aged cognac and armagnac carry the same structural scarcity...
Ireland's whiskey category has expanded dramatically in the past decade, with a wave of new and revived craft distilleries reshaping what...
Rye whiskey's allocated tier has grown alongside bourbon's, with its own discontinued programs, numbered batches and genuine scarcity.
Beyond the historic giants, a new generation of Kentucky (and Kentucky-adjacent) craft distilleries is earning serious critical attention.
Single pot still is the one whiskey style Ireland can call entirely its own — and Redbreast is the name that built its reputation.
No single malt has been poured more often around the world — here's how to move through the Glenfiddich range without wasting a dollar.
Made a stone's throw from the Atlantic on the Isle of Skye, Talisker tastes like the sea it was built beside — here's how to buy across i...
Distilled further north than almost anywhere else in Scotland, Highland Park pairs heather honey sweetness with gentle Orkney peat — here...
Few distilleries lean into sherry cask character as confidently as Aberlour — here's how the Double Cask range and cask-strength A'bunadh...
Made with the tallest stills in Scotland and finished across an unusually creative range of casks, Glenmorangie rewards exploring the ful...
Martell has been distilling cognac since 1715, longer than any other great house — here's how to move through its range from V.S to X.O.
Hennessy sells more cognac than any other house on earth — here's how to move past the V.S bottle everyone knows into the range worth kno...
While most major cognac houses now belong to global luxury conglomerates, Camus remains run by the same family five generations after it ...
Armagnac is older than cognac, distilled differently, and largely made by small independent estates — here's what to know before you buy ...
Distilled from cider rather than wine, Calvados is the brandy category most drinkers overlook — here's why it's worth a place in your bar.
Canadian whisky is far bigger than the handful of brands most drinkers can name — here's where to look once you're ready to go beyond Cro...
Blended Scotch outsells single malt worldwide by a wide margin — here's how the three biggest names stack up tier by tier, and what you a...
Bottled-in-Bond is the oldest consumer protection label in American spirits — a 19th-century law that still tells you exactly what's in t...
A good whiskey gift says more than a gift card ever could — here's how to pick the right bottle for the client, colleague or boss on your...
Same grain, water and yeast — completely different rules. Here's what actually separates the three, and what to buy first.
Single malt is the most misunderstood term on a whisky label. Here's what it actually means.
Whiskey doesn't age in the bottle — but store it wrong and you can still ruin it.
Both mean undiluted whiskey — but the terms come from different countries. Here's the real difference.
Whiskey, sugar, bitters, ice — nothing to hide behind. Here's what actually holds up.
Canadian whisky has spent decades in bourbon and Scotch's shadow. These five bottles prove that's a mistake.
Irish whiskey is the fastest-growing whiskey category in the world. Here's where to actually start.
V.S., V.S.O.P., X.O. — the letters on a Cognac label aren't marketing. They're a legal aging classification. Here's what each one actually means.
Fifty years in sherry oak. A hand-finished Lalique crystal decanter. One of the rarest whiskies The Macallan has ever released.
No bourbon carries more myth than Pappy Van Winkle.
Every autumn, one bottle sits at the very top of the Pappy Van Winkle lineup: the 23 Year.
George T. Stagg is the loudest bottle in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection — bottled straight from the barrel with nothing added and noth
Ask a wheated-bourbon collector to name the best barrel-proof wheater made today, and most will say William Larue Weller before they say anything else — including the Van Winkle line it shares a mashbill lineage with.
Michter’s doesn’t release an aged bourbon on a schedule — it releases one when the Master Distiller decides the barrels are ready, and not a year sooner.
Few American whiskeys are ever released at 25 years old.
Before bourbon dominated American whiskey, rye was the standard — and the Sazerac cocktail that gave this bottle its name was built on exactly that style.
Four Roses distills ten distinct bourbon recipes year-round — two mashbills, five proprietary yeast strains — and once a year, the Master Distiller selects a handful to blend into a single, unrepeatable Limited Edition Small Batch.
Most bourbon is diluted down before bottling.
Every September, Old Forester releases a single vintage-dated bourbon to mark founder George Garvin Brown’s birthday — a tradition running since 2002 that makes Birthday Bourbon one of the longest-running annual releases in American whiskey.
The Macallan built its reputation on sherry cask maturation, and the Double Cask range shows a different side of that tradition — blending American and European oak for a lighter, more vanilla-forward profile than the classic Sherry Oak line.
Distilled in 1987 on the rugged coast of Hokkaido. Aged 35 years in a single cask. The definitive Yoichi expression and a pinnacle of Japanese whisky.
Distilled in 1919. Bottled after one hundred years. The oldest whisky ever released from Campbeltown and a direct link to the golden age of Scotch.
90 years of Suntory craftsmanship across Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita. The most comprehensive Japanese whisky collection available in one vault.
The inaugural BTAC bottling that launched the American craft rye revival. Barrel proof, unfiltered, and historically important.
Up to 100 years in Limousin oak. Hand-blown black crystal decanter. The Black Pearl represents cognac at its most elevated.
Distilled before the Eiffel Tower was built. One of the oldest and rarest spirits ever bottled — and a window into another century.
Distilled in 1993. Aged 28 years in a single cask. The definitive statement of Ireland's unique single pot still tradition.
Forty years in small American oak casks at Walkerville Distillery. The most ambitious expression in Canadian Club's history.
From the shores of Lake Winnipeg, the Cask Series No. 16 showcases Gimli Distillery's finest barrel selection.
Our expert picks for the top bourbons you can order online right now.
Same-day whiskey delivery is now available in 33 U.S. states at Caskworth.
How to buy Blanton's bourbon online and actually get it delivered.
Buffalo Trace bourbon — everything you need to know and how to order it online.
An honest comparison of Macallan 12 and 18 — which is worth your money?
Hibiki Harmony is the most decorated Japanese blended whisky in the world.
The definitive guide to Pappy Van Winkle — what it is and how to actually get it.
The best Scotch whiskies under $100 — expert picks for 2025.
The best rye whiskey bottles to order online in 2025.
Irish whiskey and Scotch compared — production, flavor and which to choose.
The best premium whisky gift sets available online in 2025.
WhistlePig 10 Year has become the standard for premium American rye whiskey.
Eagle Rare 10 Year is one of the best-value allocated bourbons in America.
Japanese whisky and Scotch whisky compared — flavor, price and which to buy.
Yamazaki 12 Year is Japan's first and most celebrated single malt whisky.
The complete story of the world's most expensive single malt — sold for $2.7M at Sotheby's — and the house style that produced it.
Only 100 bottles were ever produced. Over half a century of maturation in the mountains south of Kyoto. Everything you need to know.
Closed in 2000. Casks from the 1960s now sell for over $100,000 each. The haunting story of Japan's most mythologised distillery.
From Richard Hennessy to Rémy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl — the world's most extraordinary Cognac expressions and what makes them worth it.
Two bottles. Both from Suntory. Both extraordinarily rare. Which belongs in your collection — the ultimate blend or the ultimate single malt?
The rare whisky market outperformed equities and fine art. This is the definitive guide to which bottles appreciate — and why.
Only three bottles of Dalmore Trinitas were ever produced, each sold privately for $195,000. The full story of the world's rarest Highland Scotch.
Both closed in 1983. Both reborn. Port Ellen and Brora are the most historically significant — and valuable — Scotch whiskies on earth.