Winter is here; whisky (and whiskey) season is in full swing. The issue, as always, is choosing what to drink, because the range and head-spinning variety of options is as confusing, confounding, and exhilarating as ever.
This is a good thing for brown-spirit fans, but a trip to the store, or a saunter up to the bar, is an increasingly complicated undertaking: 12-year aged or 18? Peated or not? Special edition or something more familiar? And that’s not even getting into the age-old questions of whether to drink something from Scotland or Ireland or Japan or, increasingly, more far-flung locations. even Israel and Mexico earned spots in my roundup of recommendations this year.
Without any further ado, then, here they are..