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).
Laelia is a new tequila brand entering the U.S. market. No celebrities here: It’s 100% Mexican owned and operated. At present, the portfolio consists of a blanco and a reposado, both produced through “traditional brick oven slow cooking, then distilled in 100% copper pot stills after a Tahona extraction.” We tasted both of them. Thoughts follow.…
Our first experience with Siempre Tequila was not wholly memorable — and that fact was perhaps not lost on its Canadian brand owners, which, since that 2019 review (below), dumped its original distillery and upgraded to a new NOM, the well-regarded but fairly busy NOM 1414, Feliciano Vivanco. The new expressions also carry “vintage” production…
Laphroaig bottlings have been stacking up at Drinkhacker HQ of late, a perennial problem when the end of the year approaches. Finally we had to break down, line them all up on the table, and get to work. Now that Willem Dafoe is stumping for the brand, we can feel the sense of urgency. Today’s…
First things first: That vibrant blue liquid is gin — not violet liqueur, not sloe gin, not something from the planet Zebulon. It’s a straight gin colored to be blue, thanks to the addition of butterfly pea blossoms to the distillate. Why make a blue gin? The British Columbia-based distillery explains: Victoria Distillers introduced Empress…
Country star Dierks Bentley came to know bourbon the way many of us do — through the haze of cheap, bottom-shelf bottles that fueled late nights and questionable decisions. It was “Well, well, whiskey,” and not much else. But just as Bentley’s music matured from the carefree twang of Free and Easy to the heartfelt…
Rye, but make it Scotch. That’s the impetus behind a new release from Bruichladdich, the producer behind (among other things) Port Charlotte and Octomore, in addition to its namesake line. One of nine active distilleries on the Scottish island of Islay, Bruichladdich is the only one currently distilling rye. And its first rye release is…
Lalo Blanco is one of our favorite tequilas to emerge in recent years — and a follow-up expression is finally hitting the market. Surprisingly, it’s neither a reposado nor an anejo, but rather another blanco — specifically a high-proof version of its silver bottling bottled at 54% abv. There doesn’t appear to be any difference…
During our visit to the grand opening of Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky last month, one of the highlights was a taste of a new, limited-edition bourbon bottled to celebrate the occasion: Heaven Hill Master Distillers Unity, a blend of four bourbons, each with a story involving three of Heaven Hill’s former distillers…
Jack Daniel and Bruce McLaren may have come from humble beginnings, but both built legacies that would become global powerhouses — one in whiskey, the other in Formula 1 racing. Bruce McLaren began in a small family garage in New Zealand, transforming a childhood passion for speed into a Formula 1 dynasty, with 22 world…
Grape-based gins aren’t exactly a new thing, but they remain rare even after years of innovation and numberless new brand launches during the now-fizzling gin boom of recent years. New Zealand’s Strange Nature distills its eponymous gin from grapes but not just any grape. Strange Nature is made entirely from the grape that arguably put…