Rated B
Reviews of spirits, wine, and beer (and various errata like mixers and garnishes) comprise more than 80% of the content at Drinkhacker, and the B rating is used for products that are good but which we don’t exactly love — and which we can provide with a qualified recommendation. On a five-star scale, these products would score 3 stars. On the traditional 100-point scale popular with many wine and spirits graders, these products would merit scores of 83 to 86 points.
Conceived at Harlem cocktail bar Sugar Monk and produced in Brooklyn, Atheras Spirits distills a collection of six spirits — two amari and four herbal liqueurs — all “bridging centuries-old traditions of botanical distillation with modern innovations in flavor extraction” — “each inspired by the intersection of art, history, music, and alchemy.” To call these liqueurs…
Glass is out. The new hotness: Ceramic decanters shaped like animals. Aiko Importers, best known for the World Whiskey Society releases, has launched a new line called the Wild Clay Collective, which “merges premium craftsmanship with creative designs.” Those creative designs get started with decanters shaped in the forms of Pelican, Flamingo, and Rainbow Trout. Flamingo…
I wasn’t sure I saw this one coming: On the heels of Jack Daniel’s first two age-stated releases, JD 10 Years Old and JD 12 Years Old, the Lynchburg, Tennessee-based distillery has added a third sibling, Jack Daniel’s 14 Years Old. Intriguingly, it’s the first 14-year-old expression of Jack Daniel’s produced since Jack Daniel himself…
Denver’s Ratio Beerworks has been putting out brews for 11 years now. We’ve never sampled its wares until now, so we kick off our coverage with three of its offerings, all available in 12 oz. cans and in expanded national distribution. If you’re an artist in Denver, you’re in luck: Ratio donates 3% of its…
It was only a few months ago when we saw Dow’s 2018 Late Bottled Vintage Port. Now it’s already back with the 2020 release, released in honor of a black and white photography competition held by the brand. (Check out the winners on Dow’s Instagram page.) As for this 2020 wine, it comes across with…
The Pathfinder is an up-and-coming non-alcoholic brand with a unique production method. The core product, Hemp and Root, is fermented from hemp and then distilled. The non-alcoholic spirit is then infused with a variety of botanicals, including wormwood, angelica root, ginger, sage, juniper, saffron, orange peel, and Douglas fir. Note that though it’s made from hemp,…
Tupac Shakur was impossible to place into a specific, tidy category for the sake of convenience, the result of an intentional refusal to stay in one lane long enough for anyone to simplify him. He could move from party swagger to full political indictment in the space of a verse, sometimes in the same breath,…
Jack Daniel’s has been making headlines for its latest bottling, the first whiskey with a 10 year old age statement in more than 100 years. (You can see an old bottling of JD at 10 years old in the photo above.) Most JD carries no age statement at all, of course, so it’s unusual to…
Violet Crown Spirits in Bastrop, Texas, produces a variety of obscure liqueurs and other spirits, including multiple absinthes and amari, the latter of which we turn our attention to today. We’re looking at three of them, each decidedly different. Violet Crown Spirits Midnight Marigold Bitter Cordial Review This herbaceous amaro was created in collaboration with…
Corte Vetusto is a new brand to us, though it lays claim to status as “the world’s most highly awarded mezcal brand.” Newly available in the U.S., Corte Vetusto is a small batch, single-sourced mezcal that is uniquely distilled to proof, with each expression offering a different, natural, and uncut abv. While the espadin expression (100%…