Minnick tasted over 900 whiskeys this past year. That's an average of just under two and a half whiskeys a day, which means he knows what he's talking about when it comes to whiskey. Or maybe it's because he knows what he's talking about when it comes to whiskey that he tasted 900 whiskeys. There's a chicken and egg thing here. Either way, Fred Minnick is a man who knows whiskey, and he's just released his Top 100 Whiskeys of 2023.
This is the unranked list and is sorted alphabetically, so you won't have to look too far down to find Colkegan Cask Strength. Minnick will be doing a live stream tasting on December 20th to announce his number one for the year.
Colkegan Cask Strength has been getting a lot of kudos this year, as it should. Only the best of the best barrels in our rick house get to become Colkegan Cask Strength. As Minnick says “Gone are the days of Straight Bourbon owning the shelves. Now, Blends of Straights and barrel finishes garner consumer love. And this list is loaded with these two categories. But I do worry that this welcomed trend is bringing in newcomers who simply do not know whiskey; thus, there are far too many Blends of Straights, Stave & Barrel Finish products that not only don’t make this list, but are not selling and hurting the health of the American whiskey category. For every Barrell and Milam & Greene, blenders with skill, there are 20 brands releasing blends that started with bad whiskey and hoped a stave would hide the flaws.”
At Santa Fe Spirits we pride ourselves on putting excellent quality whiskey into our barrels so we can get extraordinary whiskey out.
Colkegan Cask Strength has proven to be extraordinary this year, with 94 points from Whisky Advocate and now making this Top 100 list. It’s only December 4th and there are more annual lists still to come; we’re looking forward to seeing them.