Spirits
Spirits are beverages made by the process of distillation. The “Spirits” category is not commonly used at Drinkhacker because the vast majority of reviews we publish fall into this category. It is used only occasionally to help organize our category list (and mainly gets clicked by accident).
Each year Aberfeldy releases a whisky (or more than one) that is finished in a specialty wine cask. For its 2025 release, that’s an especially interesting one, opting for wine casks from Tuscany’s Bolgheri, home to some of the world’s most prized wines, like Sassicaia and Ornellaia. Per the distillery: Crafted by Malt Master Stephanie…
Iowa’s Templeton Whiskey has launched the first in a new collection of bottlings called Hidden Stash. Intended to support “the pinnacle of its aging program,” the series begins with a 13 year old rye whiskey, sourced from Indiana. It’s made from a classic 95% rye/5% barley MGP mash and matured in heavy char barrels before…
According to a July 2025 Gallup poll, only 54% of American adults report that they currently drink alcohol. That figure represents a historic low. From 1997 through 2021, the percentage of adults who drank alcohol consistently held at or above 60%. The drop has placed real pressure on the American beverage alcohol industry, which now…
In 2023, Heaven Hill did once again what it always does to its popular whiskey lines by releasing a barrel proof version of the product. Bernheim Barrel Proof is released in batches — twice per year instead of three, the way Larceny and Elijah Craig are released — with proof and batch information denoted on…
Holy schnikes! Garrison Brothers expands its already extensive product lineup with the addition of Sonora, a new bourbon (of course) aged for 7 years and finished in rye whiskey barrels (4 years in new oak, 3 years in the rye barrel). This is the 9th bourbon in the GB lineup. The use of rye whiskey…
Happenstance Whiskey is a 100% women-owned & led whiskey company in Nashville, Tennessee, started in 2021 by an Anheuser-Busch alumna. The operation focuses exclusively on sourced bourbons, including a mainline release and a pair of single barrel bottlings. We tasted both the full-time Founder’s Edition and one of its single barrels — with details and…
Kentucky Peerless launched its first Toasted Rye in early 2025 and promptly sold out. A second edition arrived in recent months, made using the same process: Peerless Toasted Rye is aged first the distillery’s standard, level 3 charred new oak barrel, then moved to a second, toasted barrel for finishing. There’s no additional detail on…
Few spirits are made in as far-flung locations and environments as rum. While it’s associated with Caribbean, we’ve tasted rums from the U.S., Australia, South Africa, Cambodia, and more in recent months — and some of them are damn good. With this annual update, we look back at the rums we loved that were released…
Garrison Brothers, my neighbors down the road in Hye, Texas, release Cowboy Bourbon once a year. This annual drop is commonly drawn from 8- and 9-year old barrels and bottled uncut and unfiltered, its full-proof presentation making it one of the distillery’s most prized expressions. We’ve encountered three Cowboy Bourbon releases to date, and we’ll…
Dominican rum brand Kirk and Sweeney has changed since last we encountered it over a decade ago. At least on the surface. The move happened sometime around 2020 with the brand trading their lineup of age-stated 12-, 18-, and 23-year-old rums for a fresh, ageless core portfolio. The new product stable consists of a Reserva,…