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 solid products that we don’t exactly love, but which we still heartily recommend. On a five-star scale, these products would score 3.5 stars. On the traditional 100-point scale popular with many wine and spirits graders, these products would merit scores of 87 to 89 points.
Silkie Irish whiskey, from Sliabh Liag Distillers, hit the scene only a couple years ago, and already the line has expanded to four expressions, including the one we’re tasting today, The Legendary Dark. This blend starts with a rare peated single malt (though to just 22 ppm of phenols), triple distilled and matured in sherry…
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Edition two of the winning ImpEx Collection independent bottling series has arrived, comprising seven whiskies and two rums. Today we’re looking at three of the whiskies in the release, two from Scotland and one from Wales, all limited to a single cask. Let’s not waste time on introductions and dive in. The ImpEx Collection Ardmore…
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Oregon’s Pike Road Winery has more than 20 partner vineyards in the Willamette area, using those grapes to produce a huge range of bottlings from numerous AVAs in the region. We were fortunate to recently try three new releases. Let’s dig in. 2020 Pike Road Chardonnay Willamette Valley – A delightful chardonnay with all the…
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At some point along the way, Rhum Clement’s Premiere Canne got a rebrand as the more straightforward Rhum Blanc Agricole Martinique. (Canne Bleue, a 100 proof white rum expression, is still around.) This 80 proof product, distilled from sugarcane, is as tried and true as they come, featuring present but not overly aggressive petrol notes,…
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Bodega Catena Zapata is the oldest Argentinian family winery, producing under family ownership since 1902. The winery is credited with making Argentina synonymous with malbec, though it also produces a wide range of international varietals. Today we look at three wines produced by the fourth generation of Zapata — all of which were sampled from…
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Don’t call it a liqueur, because it isn’t: Luxardo Antico is a new type of aperitif, essentially a vermouth made from cherry juice. Per the company: Luxardo Antico is Luxardo’s own interpretation of a vermouth. When Luxardo marasca cherries are harvested at the beginning of every summer, part of the juice is separated and left…
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Waterford’s Single Farm Origin series is billed by the distillery as an “uber-provenance” range of single malts. When we first explored them back in 2020, they weren’t exactly uber, but their unique qualities were undeniable (whether terroir-driven or not). Since then, there have been so many of these Single Farm releases, we honestly haven’t been…
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More and more whisky from India continues to land on our shores, the most recent a single malt from Piccadilly Distilleries called Indri, which is distilled in Indri, Haryana, and made from indigenous barley grown in Rajasthan. This is the first Indian whisky to be produced in three different wooden barrels, hence the “Three Wood”…
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It’s hard to believe that California’s St. George Spirits has been producing booze for 40 years, but here we are. To mark the occasion, the company has launched a 40th Anniversary Edition of its iconic St. George Single Malt Whiskey, limited to 1982 bottles (get it?) which ” bring together decades of craftsmanship and our…
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We covered the whiskeys of Ruddell’s Mill about a year ago, all sourced whiskeys from Kentucky that are bottled in New Jersey. Now we’re back with two new, but very limited edition releases, both double-casked before bottling. You can get the whole backstory on Ruddell’s Mill at the above link. Production details and tasting notes…
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