Forbes features Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye

Some warming spirits for Winter - by John Mariani for Forbes

It used to be that, with the exception of a few gift bottles shaped like Napoleon or Elvis, liquors didn’t change much from year to year. Fans of, say, Dewar’s Scotch or Bacardi rum or Stoli vodka expected and wanted them to taste the same with every bottle. But marketing new spirits has become enormous business, sometimes just by putting the same old liquor in a brand new bottle. But the most enticing spirits in the market are very new, often depending on “finishes” in various oak barrels previously used for wines of Sherry or even other spirits. Others are special editions from what have been deemed “vintage years,” even though vintages were once disdained for the same reason I gave about fans wanting their favorites always to taste the same.

Here are some of most interesting new spirits I’ve found, not just those that somehow were “discovered” tucked away in an ageing barn.   Read the full story here