Awesome Whiskey

The creators of the excellent The Art of Mixology focus on their favorite ways to incorporate bourbon and whiskey into cocktails. After learning the basics of shaking, stirring, layering, and muddling, you’ll find dozens of drink recipes, from timeless classics to unique modern drinks. Like gin, rum, or other spirits? Check out the complete book series.

Whether you’re a recent whiskey convert or an aficionado, there’s plenty to learn about this beloved brown spirit. The third edition of Dave Broom’s The World Atlas of Whisky catalogs over 500 distilleries and offers tasting notes on 480 expressions. You’ll learn how to taste whiskey about the varied grains and production techniques in different regions.

Bring new depth and dimension to your whiskey with this spirit-enhancing gift set. The kit includes various types of oak, herbs, and spices to infuse your whiskey with, along with two bottles for mixing and six stainless steel whiskey stones for ice-free chilling. They also make infusion kits for gin and vodka.

Asobu’s double-walled stainless steel sleeve keeps your whiskey and other cocktails chilled, while protecting your hand from the cold. The sleeve’s rubber insert slides securely over a standard rocks glass, which is included in the package. Available in black, silver, white, or woodgrain finishes.

Inspired by the “Sur Lie” French winemaking process, Redemption Whiskey’s unique Sur Lee Straight Rye Whiskey starts with their pre-Prohibition rye mash bill with 95% rye content. Then, it breaks from whiskey-making norms, adding flavorful “whiskey lees,” leftover bits that come off the still during distillation, into the barrels before aging.

If you’ve never tried a Maryland-style rye whiskey, there’s no better place to start than with Sagamore Spirit Rye Whiskey with baking spices and fruit notes. It’s a meticulously crafted spirit with a harmonious blend of high and low rye mash bills, making it a sound choice for sipping neat or mixing cocktails.

Swag Brewery’s fragrant soaps are derived from real spirits, but we promise you won’t smell like you spilled booze on yourself. They’re actually quite pleasant, with a peppery and oaky Kentucky bourbon scent, a sweet and jammy Merlot scent, and a spicy and grassy IPA scent to choose from. The price shown is for a 3-bar gift set.

Bananas and bourbon might not be the first flavor combination that pops into your mind, but it works surprisingly well. Made with 80-proof Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, Howler Head’s “Monkey Spirit” is infused with a natural banana flavor, and delicious mixed with Coke, espresso and coffee liquor, Bailey’s, or even served in an Old Fashioned.

To indulge in whiskey tastings without the need for a designated driver, Blind Barrels delivers these fun blind-tasting boxes to your door. Each box includes four 50 ml samples of hidden American whiskey gems and new craft distillery releases labeled A, B, C, and D so you can taste blindly to discover new favorites.

This smooth but potent whiskey from Memphis, Tennessee distillery Blue Note has won back-to-back Double Gold awards in San Francisco’s World Spirits Competition. The easy-to-sip spirit is finished in toasted French oak barrels for a bold caramel flavor with vanilla undertones and a deep amber color.

To commemorate 2024’s total solar eclipse, Hopkinsville, Kentucky-based Casey Jones Distillery introduces four-grain Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon and releases a new batch of its Total Eclipse Moonshine, first created in 2017 when it was named the “Official Spirit of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse” on the Kentucky Senate floor.

Frolk’s whiskey glass set comes with two 11 oz. crystal glasses and a matching 30 oz. decanter, both with a unique twisted base design. They come packed in a pinewood box, along with two XL spherical whiskey chillers, a freezer pouch, tongs, and two slate coasters. Makes a great gift for whiskey lovers.

High N’ Wicked’s Foursquare Whiskey is one tasty spirit. The distillery achieves its depth of flavor by aging single-grain Irish whiskey in bourbon barrels and finishing it in casks from Foursquare’s award-winning Mark X 2007 Barbados rum. It starts sweet, like tropical fruit, giving way to bold and invigorating spices as it hits the back of your throat.

Barrell Craft Spirits’ new Foundation Bourbon is more nuanced than its 5-year label might lead you to believe. This sippable spirit is a balanced 100-proof blend of whiskeys from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Maryland. It kicks off with a sweet and honeyed fragrance, complemented by a spicy mix of cinnamon and dark chocolate as it hits your tongue.

Truckee, California’s Rescued Wine, recycles wine bottles to house these great-smelling soy wax candles, which combine the fragrances of whiskey and bourbon with notes like oak, cedar, tobacco, leather, and various herbs. They also make candles inspired by other spirits like rum, tequila, and moonshine.

Founded in 1815 on the wild, remote Scottish Isle of Islay, Ardbeg whisky has an irrepressible spirit with a ‘rollercoaster’ history that survived against the odds after shuttering in 1981. Eight years later, new owners rescued the distillery, and the stills sang once more. The Ardbeg The Rollercoaster handcrafted wooden box marks the distillery’s new era.