Rated A-
Reviews of spirits, wine, and beer (and various errata like mixers and garnishes) comprise more than 80% of the content at Drinkhacker, and the A- rating is used for very good to exceptional products. On a five-star scale, these products would score 4 stars. On the traditional 100-point scale popular with many wine and spirits graders, these products would merit scores of 90 to 93 points.
ALB is the three-letter IATA code for the airport at Albany, New York, and it’s also been adopted by the company that makes this vodka there, from 100% American corn. Its six-times distilled and quadruple charcoal filtered before being proofed with New York water sourced from the Alcove Reservoir, a limestone-laden source. (It’s also the…
Jack Daniel’s has been dropping ultra-proof whiskeys since the launch of the original Coy Hill Special Release, each one seemingly more popular than the last. For 2026, master distiller Chris Fletcher has a new trick up his sleeve for us: Five batches of barrel proof rye, including two from Coy Hill and three from two…
Normally we don’t cover confectionery here, but if there’s anything I enjoy alongside a glass of dessert wine (especially Sauternes) it’s pates de fruit — better known perhaps as fruit jellies. This box of jellies from Laguna Beach-based Poeme includes three slabs of fruits, 15 pieces each, each in a different flavor: Morello cherry, Williams…
If it seems like we just visited Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Bourbon, you’re not taking crazy pills. The 2025 batch dropped around November, and not even six months later, we’ve got a new release. Indeed, along with a new (age-stated) rye, this year’s bourbon is part of a double-header that coincides with the company moving…
Hot on the heels of its 15 year old Cask Strength edition, Diageo has launched another Oban expression… and it’s another 15 year old. While the Cask Strength release was finished in sherry casks, this one’s done in Port (though at 52.1% abv, it’s not far from the proof of the cask strength expression). Turns…
The James of James Gin is James May, that noted host of Top Gear and, it turns out, a whole bunch of cooking- and travel-related TV shows. He also owns a pub in the English countryside, and he makes gin — with five expressions currently under his belt. I know all this because May explained it…
By the time Brunello di Montalcino was taking shape in the 1800s, Tenuta CastelGiocondo was already on the ground as one of the first estates involved, so the Frescobaldi-owned estate has been there from the beginning in a way that counts. The label, lifted from a Simone Martini fresco, only sharpens the point: this is…
Fords Gin (not Ford’s Gin, btw) is beloved by bartenders, which makes it all the more surprising that there’s never been a line extension in more than a decade since its launch. That changed a few years ago, not with the navy strength expression you might be expecting but with a relative rarity: Fords Sloe…
Boatyard Double Gin was first distilled in 2016 at the newly established Boatyard Distillery, located on the banks of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The name derives from the fact that the distillery is built on a converted boatyard. The distillery and the gin are the brainchild of Joe McGirr, who grew up…
Campo Viejo is an iconic part of Rioja, a place where wine has allowed ample time to permeate the landscape, economy and local culture. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve had anything from the winery, so it’s time to revisit and check out its flagship offering. The nose on this Tempranillo does everything in…