Reviews
Reviews of spirits, wine, and beer (and various errata like mixers and garnishes) comprise more than 80% of the content at Drinkhacker, and here you’ll find the entire Drinkhacker review archive in one place. Products are rated on a letter-grade scale that should be familiar to most, with F as our lowest, “failing” grade and the very rare A+ as our top score.
Top Reviews Posts:
Notes on Grading
How to Analyze, Score, and Review Whiskey
For its recent 10th anniversary, Evanston, Illinois-based Few Spirits dropped a special edition bottling, a bourbon made from a four-grain mashbill (no breakdown specified), aged six years in oak. It’s available exclusively in Illinois and on Few’s own direct-to-consumer channel, BuyFewSpirits.com. The bright, burgundy-hued whiskey keeps things on the level, aromatically. Peanuts and caramel corn, laced…
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J. Rieger is based in Kansas City, Missouri, where it produces a variety of spirits that includes vodka, gin, and whiskey. Oddly, its best-known is this, a coffee-infused amaro made with local coffee and a blend of botanicals, including juniper berries, cardamom, orange peel, star anise, spearmint leaves, gentian, and vanilla beans. Aiming to combine…
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Octomore — the self-proclaimed world’s peatiest whisky — is back for round 12, this time with a twist. While the “x.2” release is usually a duty-free release, Octomore 12.2 is available for the first time in general retail. Details from the distillery: This twelfth series of Octomore returns to explore a delicately balanced, soft smoke…
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Hella Cocktail Co. is leaning into the spirits-alternative category with five bitters-centered non-alcoholic sparkling beverages. The Bitters & Soda expressions all feature “gentian tincture,” aka a tincture (medicine) made from the root of flowering plants in the Gentiana genus. Gentian root has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries across the continents. Let’s dig right…
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In addition to an impressive and diverse line of single malts (see here), Baltimore’s Old Line Spirits also includes several rums in its portfolio. Sourced from an unspecified Caribbean producer and aged in the Dominican Republic, Old Line’s founders reportedly worked with master rum blenders Luis and Margaret Ayala to finalize their rum blend, which…
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Luretta hails from the Gutturnio region, a new DOC in northern Italy, south of Milan. Frizzante style wines are most common here, and while the winery produces sparkling wine — in the metodo classico style — it also produces a still red wine, also reviewed here. NV Luretta Principessa Blanc de Blancs – A brut…
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We’re finally working our way through the Real McCoy Rum portfolio. Chris enjoyed the distillery’s 5-year-old flagship offering (nearly a decade ago), and next up is this bottle, the Distiller’s Proof version of that same rum. As a reminder, Real McCoy is sourced from the well-known and well-loved Foursquare Distillery in Barbados. Unlike the standard…
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Water and hops — you’re halfway to beer there — and that’s where Hop Wtr (aka HOP WTR) would like to keep it. This non-alcoholic, zero-calorie concoction is made with sparkling water, a blend of various hops (Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic, and Azacca), and some nootropics, including ashwagandha and L-theanine. Four different flavors exist, but we…
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Jim Beam’s Old Overholt lineup saw a major refresh back in 2020, along with the introduction of two limited editions available, at the time, only in Ohio and Pennsylvania: an 11-year-old offering (that still eludes us) and this bottle, Old Overholt 114 Proof. The release was in celebration of the 210th anniversary of Abraham Overholt’s…
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Another Swiss vodka, we know only that Lucky Fly Vodka (though the bottle looks more like simply “Fly Vodka”) is “distilled from grain.” No other production information is available. Another clean if somewhat anonymous vodka, the nose is gently industrial with a modicum of earthiness to it. A light sweetness endures on a moderately creamy…
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