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).
Vanilla is an essential part of any good dessert, and it’s equally essential as part of any good dessert cocktail. (Check out how often I use Licor 43 in my dessert drink recipes if you don’t believe me.) The challenge is that there are very few vanilla-based spirits out there. The aforementioned Licor 43 is…
Jameson isn’t the only name in Irish. With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, let’s share the love with Bushmills, the other major name in Irish whiskey, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. Bushmills — aka Bushmills Original — has a very typical Irish flavor: The honey of Scotch and but without…
Amidst the crushing shelf space given over to Scotch and Bourbon, you (and by you, I mean myself) can be forgiven for not knowing all that much about Irish Whiskey. But did you know that Irish Whiskey was once the most-consumed whiskey in the world. Unfortunately, those days ended with Prohibition, and Irish has never…
After my recent review of Beija cachaça, the good souls at challenger Ypióca (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) sent a volley across my bow, obliquely throwing down a little smack by claiming “every day there seems a new U.S.-made designer brand… wanting to be the next Grey Goose of the category.” Them’s fighting…
If you aren’t familiar with Russian Standard‘s Imperia vodka (its highest-end of three bottlings) due to its ubiquitous print advertising, you won’t miss the angular, hexagon-bottomed bottle at the liquor store. It looks like something that ought to have been erected on the outskirts of Moscow during the Yeltsin years, a stark monument to drowned…
The world’s first “eco luxury vodka,” 360 Vodka is bottled at 80 proof in 85% recycled glass, labeled with chlorine-free paper, and even uses a twine string to attach a postage-paid envelope to the top of the bottle: You use it to return the metal closure on top of the bottle (like a Grolsch beer…
We did a rare experiment tonight and put Gran Gala to blind test vs. the liqueur it’s designed to imitate: Grand Marnier. This Italian liqueur even has the red ribbon and circular wax seal, just like Grand Marnier, and it promises it’s blended from “triple orange essence from the choicest oranges from Sicily.” So, how’d…
For Hollywood’s most glamorous night, here’s what the Drinkhacker crew is imbibing: The Oscar Cosmo 1 1/2 oz. vodka 1/2 oz. pomegranate liqueur 1/4 oz. orange liqueur 1 oz. cranberry juice Shake first three ingredients with ice in a shaker. Pour into a cocktail glass. Top off with cranberry juice.
Inspired, so they say, by the cafe scene of 1920s Paris (it says so write on the bottle: “1920’s Paris”), the folks behind Alizé bring us this curious liqueur, a blend, again so they say, of coffee, vodka, cream, and vanilla. Sounds like four great tastes that go great together! Café Bohême muscles into a…
The Healthberry 1 1/2 oz. vodka 1 oz. VeeV açai spirit 1/2 oz. Chambord 1 sugar cube Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake well, and strain into a cocktail glass. It looks a lot like a Cosmopolitan, but the taste is quite different (letting the açai come through), and much stronger. Just…