The holidays are approaching fast. Whether you need to bring a bottle to a gathering, gift one or just drink it, we give you the top 5 bourbons for this winter. We sampled each, and we give a quick description. Enjoy alone or with friends. But these are sure to please.
1. Woodford Double Double Oaked
Woodford Reserve adds its matured Double Oaked Kentucky straight bourbon to lightly charred new oak barrels for an additional year. The double-wood finish doesn’t add any new flavors, but rather enhances its sweet, aromatic notes and gives it a spicier characteristic. You get rich maple syrup, butterscotch, marshmallow, and hickory smoke on the nose with warming clove, chai tea, cherry, cranberry, and blackberry jam on the tongue.
2. Four Roses Small Batch Reserve
With a blend of bourbons ranging from 12 to 19 years of age, Four Roses Small Batch Reserve edges right up to the cliff of deep, resiny wood flavors, but pulls it back with controlled, youthful notes of fruit and vanilla cream. Master Distiller Brent Elliott really outdid himself.
3. Thomas S. Moore Cabernet Cask
A product of the Barton 1792 distillery, the Thomas S. Moore lineup of whiskies are all cask-finished. The bourbon is aged in oak barrels for several years, then placed in cabernet sauvignon barrels for a few more. The wine barrel aging helps the spirit acquire notes of dark fruit that pair well with the rich caramel and vanilla flavors typical of bourbon.
4. Angel’s Envy Cask Strength
A legendary expression, Angel’s Envy Cask Strength has earned numerous accolades, and each year’s release has its own unique variations. It’s finished in port wine barrels for intense flavor. Even though it’s 120 proof, it’s a surprisingly easy sipper, with strong notes of cherries on the nose and palate along with salted chocolate and orange peel.
5. Old Forester 1910
Part of the Old Forester Whiskey Row series, Old Fine Whisky double barrels ready-to-bottle Old Forester a second time in new barrels. They scorched the barrels to the high heavens. The process lends plenty of toasty characteristics. The typical sweetness of burnt sugar and vanilla Old Forester is known for is elevated by coffee and dark chocolate notes, particularly on the finish. It’s a stellar dessert whiskey—a great way to cap off a big meal.
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu