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).
Our pals at Bushmills did an interesting experiment, challenging several San Francisco-area bartenders to come up “a twist on the traditional Irish meal of whiskey and eggs, but in cocktail form.” Here’s what they came up with. An Bodhran (The Drum) Jonny Raglin, Absinthe 1 1/4 oz. Bushmills Irish Whiskey 1/2 oz. Port 1 barspoon…
St. Patrick’s Day approaches… here’s more Irish whiskey reviews. Kilbeggan is an awfully simple blended Irish whiskey, its claim to fame being that it comes from the “oldest licensed distillery in the world.” It isn’t hard to drink, offering light sweetness and moderate wood character locked into a pale yellow spirit. There’s a touch of…
I’ll be blunt: Ron Abuelo’s rums are as good as rums that cost twice as much and possibly more. Right now the company (producer Varela Hermanos, a 100-year-old firm) offers two rums, distilled in Panama from sugar cane the company grows itself. (Abuelo claims to be one of few distilleries in the world to grow…
Mega-independent bottlers-slash-retailers Gordon & MacPhail are releasing a few new private bottlings this season, notably featuring this new 8-year expression of Caol Ila, served up for your approval. The initial nose is a hefty dose of peat and smoke, and though the color is just the palest gold, it hints at a mightily big, smoky,…
How do you get people to come and visit your faraway land? Lure them with booze: Intended as an answer to Singapore’s slings, Cuba’s mojitos and the many manhattans downed in New York, the Siam sunray is intended to give tourists an instant taste of Thailand’s charms. At the very least the drink’s ingredients are…
St. Patrick’s Day is just a week and change away. That means spirits merchants inundate us with holiday-appropriate recipes — I’ve been surprised by the number of tequila-based cocktail ideas this year — but this was the one I was most anxious to try, courtesy of the folks at Tullamore Dew. (Irish whiskey, of course,…
The world has no shortage of orange-flavored liqueurs. If generic triple sec, Cointreau, or Grand Marnier aren’t good enough, you can always delve into a dozen or so orange-infused vodkas on the market. I’d say there’s room for one more, but La Distillerie Combier has a different claim to make: It owns up to being…
I’m quite the fan of Suntory’s 12 year old Yamazaki Japanese whisky, and finally got the chance to compare the 12 year to the 18 year version of The Yamazaki, side by side. Everything you like about the 12 year old — honey and citrus galore — is present in the 18, but amped up…
Bruichladdich — a perennial favorite at Drinkhacker HQ from Islay — recently released a number of new expressions of its classic whisky, some with surprising compositions. We got our mitts (and tongues) on four of them: Bruichladdich Bourbon Cask Aged 16 Years Old – No big surprise here. 97 percent of Scotch whisky is matured…
One occasionally gets in the mood for gin, and when one does, said mood hits hard. Citadelle is a relative newcomer to the scene… with not one but two gins for your drinking pleasure. These gins hail, unusually, from France, and both are 88 proof, distilled from wheat. Citadelle Gin (2009) Review I’ll let Citadelle…