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Carbon & Oak



Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon Review
He's often called the man who invented bourbon. He probably didn't. Here's what's actually true, and what's in the bottle.
Sep 103 min read


Blade and Bow 12 Year Solera Reserve Review
Blade and Bow runs the last of its Stitzel-Weller stock through Port, Bordeaux, Cognac, and Moscatel casks for its new 12 Year Solera Reserve — a real test of the solera system the brand was built on.
Sep 14 min read


Maker's Mark Bourbon Review
Bill Samuels Sr. burned his family's rye recipe and started over with wheat. His wife Margie designed everything else — the wax, the bottle, the name.
Aug 272 min read


Jim Beam Black Review
The real story behind Jim Beam Black's 2024 relaunch, an honest tasting, and why every bourbon drinker should know this bottle even at a 'try it' verdict.
Aug 203 min read


Buffalo Trace Bourbon Review
Buffalo Trace itself has one of the longest continuous whiskey-making histories in America. The distillery traces its roots back to the late 1700s, when travelers and herds of buffalo carved paths across the Kentucky frontier to the banks of the Kentucky River.
Jul 282 min read


Old Hoffman 6 Year Bourbon Review
A revived label from the Lawrenceburg distillery Julian Van Winkle once ran — recommended over the rye by a liquor-store owner, and worth listening to.
Jul 253 min read


Woodford Reserve Bourbon Review
I can't say I grew up knowing much about the brand. When I first started drinking bourbon, I was firmly in the Jim Beam camp. In our group of friends, there was only one die-hard Jack Daniel's fan, and over time even he graduated to Gentleman Jack. But that's about as "premium" as our shelves ever got. Woodford Reserve simply wasn't part of the conversation.
Jul 232 min read


Straight Bourbon vs. Bourbon: What's the Difference?
Most people assume "straight" means no coloring or flavoring added. That's not it — no bourbon can have additives. Here's what the word is actually doing on the label.
Jul 212 min read


Elmer T. Lee Bourbon Review
This one just happens to carry the name of the man who started it — the master distiller who selected the barrels that became Blanton's, and later got a bottle carrying his own name.
Jul 152 min read
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