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).
Marti is best known for a flavored, green-tinted “Mojito” rum that’s available reasonably widely across the country. (The company also has a coconut-flavored rum too, which I’ve never seen for sale.) This is Marti’s first non-flavored product, a traditional aged rum (sans official age statement), which the company labels as “Cuban-style, ultra premium rum.” It…
When last I covered the high-test world of pineapple-flavored vodkas, I declared Skyy my new favorite, and a clear winner over the old bottle of Van Gogh Pineapple I had on hand. Van Gogh cried foul, suggesting that I try a fresh bottle of Van Gogh Pineapple so I could put the two head for…
A Double Gold winner at this year’s San Francisco International Spirits Competition, Bache-Gabrielsen’s XO is a relative newcomer to the Cognac world, launched officially only in 1996, a wee babe in this rarefied industry. Blended from 72 percent Grande Champagne grapes and 28 percent Petite Champagne, then aged for about 20 years, this is a…
Blue Ice expands its line of vodka the month with this second rendition. The original was made of potatoes, this one’s (as the name suggests) distilled from organic wheat. Incidentally, the bottle’s clear this time around, making the name a bit of a misnomer, but hey, it’s what’s inside that counts. Funny then that Blue…
Rob Samuels has bourbon in his blood. He better: He’s an eighth-generation whiskeymaker and the heir to the Maker’s Mark throne, where is father Bill Samuels Jr. serves as President and where Rob spends his days criss-crossing the country, spreading the gospel of Maker’s Mark. Samuels gave me the full court press about his company’s…
The story goes that master distiller Tom Maas and his crew found that, in the old days, some enterprising people in Mexico were preserving peppers not in vinegar but in tequila. And rather than simply eating the deliciously tequila-flavored peppers, someone had the idea to try to do it the other way around: Use the…
On a broiling spring day in San Francisco we turn our attention to these two new flavors from Smirnoff (which now brings the number of flavored Smirnoff bottlings to a whopping 15), both of which are excellent choices for warm-weather cocktails, which usually involve lots of ice, fruit, and/or a refreshing mixer like lemonade. Both…
Cuervo’s latest doesn’t stray far from its profitable core: Jose Cuervo Especial is a mixto tequila (meaning it’s over half blue agave and the rest neutral grain spirits) and unaged. The results should surprise no one: Especial is a crystal clear and clean spirit, (it’s also known as simply “Cuervo Silver,” although it doesn’t actually…
We’ve covered ice before, but it’s never looked like this. Check it out: With these unique molds, you can make enormous, completely spherical balls of ice, pattered after the hand-carved ice balls that apprentice bartenders in Japan are forced to create. With these special ice trays, you don’t need a chisel to create the orbs.…
12 years is a lot to ask for a rum. Well, some rums handle that kind of time without complaint. Some end up begging for mercy. When last we visited Ron Abuelo I was gushing over the Panamanian rum company’s seven-year old expression, and I stand by that. Tasting it fresh today, it’s still delicious,…