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).
Organic tequila? Why not? Tequila (real, good tequila, anyway) is made entirely out of one plant, the agave, so if you can raise it organically, you’re pretty much making organic tequila. (Making an organic gin, say, with its myriad botanical ingredients, would be considerably more difficult.) 4 Copas (translation: “4 cups,” from a saying that…
First, terminology for the newbs: Blended malt Scotch lies between single malt and blended varieties. Single malt is made from malted barley from a single distillery. Blended Scotch is made from malt whiskey plus grain whiskey and can come from just about anywhere. (Blended Scotch is blended with the intent of making it consistent from…
Don’t like coffee drinks? Don’t think tequila will work in one? Give this recipe a try (inspired by south-of-the-border spirits) and I absolutely guarantee your satisfaction. Catalina Coffee 1 oz. premium silver (blanco) tequila 1/2 oz. Licor 43 1/4 oz. Damiana liqueur 1 sugar cube Add above ingredients to a coffee mug, fill mostly with…
The red bottle screams gimmick, but the rum inside is legit: Rubi Rey, I’m happy to report, is one of the best white rums on the market, and a good deal, to boot. Finished in white oak and marketed as a “single barrel” rum, Rubi Rey offers a very clean sugary rum flavor and a…
A little primer for gin novices: Though there are numerous types of gin, but the vast majority sold is called London Dry Gin. Bluecoat is an American Dry Gin. The difference (putting aside their national origin) between London and American gin (not that there’s a lot of gin made here) is generally one of flavor.…
In case you hadn’t noticed (and I’ve yet to see these widely on sale in liquor stores), Kahlua is now broadening its line away from just the standby coffee liqueur and into other flavors. The latest is the 40-proof Kahlua Mocha, a chocolate-coffee blend launching this month that is built from “100% Arabica coffee, natural…
If you haven’t seen Cabana’s advertisements in the glossies, you haven’t been looking hard enough. You really can’t miss them, what with the woman’s lower torso and the tagline “Authentically Brazilian.” (As a side note, this has caused some tongues to wag, as the spirit is brought to us by an American liquor magnate.) Politics…
For a spirit inextricably associated with England, how surprising it was to read on the bottle of Whitley Neill gin: “Inspired by Africa.” Apparently Mr. Neill’s (Johnny Neill, actually) wife is originally from Africa, which is why a baobab tree appears on the label and in the bottle, in the form of its fruit used…
Maybe if Vincent Van Gogh had had vodka like this he wouldn’t have had to cut off his ear. Van Gogh makes a standard vodka, but it’s best known for its flavored offerings (it currently has 17 of them, plus a gin). The company recently sent a pack of five sample-size bottles for me to…
7 Leguas or Siete Leguas (“Seven Leagues”) was the name of Pancho Villa’s horse. How does such a moniker bode for the tequila named after him? Well, I guess I’d rather drink tequila named after a horse than something named after Pancho Villa himself. (Really, think about it…) 7 Leguas offers the three traditional (all…