Finish: The end really leans into the cherry tobacco with a layer of mild chili spice and more of that soft and sweet orchard firewood.

Palate: The palate delivers on those notes as the tobacco spice amps up before being smoothed out by rich and creamy vanilla, salted caramel, and apricot stone dryness. Palate: The taste has a clear sense of dates, creamed vanilla honey, walnuts, wet brown sugar, and a touch of salted dark chocolate with a whisper of bitterness. Finish: The end just sits on your palate — like a soft hug from an old friend as the nuttiness and dark sweetness slowly fades out, leaving you … happy. This latter category doesn’t include Michter’s, and I doubt it ever will. I suspect they’ve been too commercially successful with the procure-and-pretend model to ever pivot to their own production, absent some seismic change in the availability of sourced whiskey. Michter’s diehard stans and those newer to the hobby will likely continue their tireless pursuit of bottles from this resurrected and repurposed brand. For my part, I’ll continue pounding the drum of truth and transparency so that others – should they decide to buy a bottle of Michter’s – know what they’re getting, or at least know what they don’t know about what they’re getting.Value for Price: Our tasting panel’s assessment of this product’s quality-to-cost ratio within its larger category of competitors. Palate: That fruit becomes more dried and almost salted on the palate while bourbon vanilla and mild caramel sweetness mingle with cinnamon and nutmeg. Palate: The sip really embraces the smoky dark fruit with hints of vanilla and cherry popping up next to winter spices and a touch of green savory herbs.

At Michter’s Fort Nelson distillery, a piece of the brand’s Pennsylvania history remains. When the historic Schaeffersville, Pennsylvania distillery was abandoned, retired Jim Beam master distiller David Beam bought the copper stills and kept them in his garage, with hopes of one day using them for his own whiskey.

Finish: The whiskey carries that smoky plumminess through to the end with a nice nod to an oaky and bourbon-y vanilla underbelly. Nose: Orchard fruits, butterscotch candies, and vanilla cake greet you on the nose with a hint of wooden spice. Palate: The palate has a lightly smoked cherry vibe next to clove and allspice with a sense of lush and creamy eggnog and vanilla-cherry tobacco stuffed in a slightly pitchy pine box.

Goddamn, this bottle has no business being as good as it is for this price. It’s a legitimately first-rate single barrel rye that you can actually find pretty much everywhere and also afford. That’s a quasi-miracle on its own these days. I guess the one point in favor of sourcing is if (and a big IF) the bottler truly does have a unique process or recipe. Like Old Elk, for example, who use a unique-to-them mash bill. Sure, it’s sourced by MGP, but you can’t just go out elsewhere and get a high-malt mash bill under another MGP label or brand name (not that I’m aware of, anyway). Still, why not be transparent about it (at least Old Elk appears to be fairly transparent in this)?

13. Michter’s US*1 Barrel Strength Toasted Barrel Finish Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Finish: The end has a creamed honey vibe next to figs and prunes with fresh chewing tobacco and salted dark chocolate. Nose: Toasted marshmallow, mint, tobacco leaf and almonds. Rye spice is apparent, but it’s overwhelmed by vanilla ice cream. Already we’re seeing younger releases coming to market, and that will continue, in addition to just seeing less rye whiskey altogether. We’re also going to see new and more experimental rye whiskies– which I think is only a good thing, in an industry built upon creativity and innovation. And another hopeful caveat to that – a decade or so down the line, we’re going to be seeing some really, really good aged ryes coming out. This seems to be a practice common in Ireland too (Echlinville’s Dunville brand springs to mind), high prices for sourced whisky with no transparency. Still Type: Copper column pot still and copper pot doubler, both made by Vendome Copper & Brass Works