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).
Today we’re looking at two new releases from WhistlePig, and they couldn’t be more different. One is another oddball experiment from the Vermont operation — bourbon aged in barrels with two different types of Vermont maple serving as barrel heads, and the other a non-alcoholic offering made in collaboration with… Alice Cooper, who it turns…
In recent years, Writers’ Tears has launched a series of limited edition releases, all single cask offerings with exotic finishes, which is something of a strength of the distillery. Today we’re looking at two of these — release #8, finished in Inniskillin Ice Wine casks, and release #6, finished in Japanese mizunara oak. Both seem…
Founded in 2001 in the quiet countryside of Starlight, Indiana—just 15 miles northwest of Louisville—Starlight Distillery is a standout on the American whiskey landscape. Though the lights of Louisville aren’t far, the Huber family’s farm and distillery are tucked into a rural expanse where tradition, craft, and innovation thrive across hundreds of acres. Originally established…
Sometimes a liquor bottle is so wild we have no choice but to write about. Other times, it’s so basic that we also have to write about it. Such is the case — intentionally — with World Whiskey Society‘s Green Code, which is packaged in “an eco-friendly, fully recyclable bottle boasting an 84% lower carbon…
We’re entering our seventh year of Heaven Hill’s bi-annual Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond releases. While these whiskeys have always featured the distillery’s wheated mashbill bourbon, their age statements have varied wildly, from as old as 19 years to a comparatively youthful 8 years. The first Old Fitz that really got our attention, however, was the impressive…
Does where you age your bourbon matter to the final product? It seems like the answer to that is an obvious yes; whiskeymakers have been telling us for decades that everything matters, and that even the floor of the aging rickhouse and whether it’s made of wood or concrete can have a huge impact on the…
Earlier this year, Heaven Hill dropped three unique expressions that take a step away from the distillery’s existing product line — with new mashbills and an approach that focuses foremost on the underlying grains. The launch of the Heaven Hill Grain to Glass series includes three Kentucky whiskeys (at least to start), including a straight…
For the last five years, Angel’s Envy has released its Cellar Collection Series of straight rye whiskeys, which are high-proof special editions of its venerable and well-regarded rye whiskey, each featuring a particular, unique finish. Somehow we have never reviewed any of them — until now. After annual spins through finishes in sherry, Port, Madeira,…
Let’s give tequila newcomer Cambio some credit for mixing things up in the tequila world. While these are both 100% Highlands blue agave, additive free tequilas, they are unusual in that they are fermented at low temperatures in tanks lined with American white oak and Mexican pine before distillation. Bottling, at 46% abv, is considerably…
This new blend from the upscale sourcing operation at 15 Stars at starts with 9- and 15-year-old Kentucky bourbons, then finishes them in three kinds of Port barrels — tawny, ruby, and white. I can’t think of any time I’ve heard of such a finish, so it’s already an intriguing proposition from the start. 15…