Review: Don Q “Pina” Pineapple Rum
Pineapple and rum go together like peas and carrots, and as flavored rums go, Don Q’s Pina — made in Puerto Rico with rum aged 12 to 18 months and naturally flavored “with 100% natural pineapple juice” — feels tailor made for your pina colada, or whatever other tropical concoction you have in mind. Quite…
Drinkhacker Asks: Wild Turkey’s Jimmy Russell
Like most discerning drinkers, we here at Drinkhacker have many questions we’d like to ask the people behind our favorite wine, beer, or spirit. Every now and then, we get the opportunity to actually do so. For the first in our series of short interviews, we talked to the “the Buddha of Bourbon” himself and…
Review: 2014 Purple Heart Red Wine Napa Valley
Veterans are naturally the guest of honor with Purple Heart Wines, a collaboration between C. Mondavi & Family and the Purple Heart Foundation. The brand has been around since 2014, and it has donated $40,000 to date to the Purple Heart Foundation, which aids military men, women, and families transitioning back to home. Noble cause, but how’s the wine (a Bordeaux style…
Review: Jameson The Blender’s Dog Irish Whiskey
Jameson began its Whiskey Makers Series with last year’s lackluster The Cooper’s Croze (celebrating the impact of wood and the barrel on its whiskey) with this second release in the trilogy: The Blender’s Dog. For those not steeped in whiskey lore, the dog doesn’t represent a furry friend but rather a long copper tube that…
Review: 2013 Scotto Family Cellars Old Vine Zinfandel
A bold, classic zin, Scotto’s 2013 zin offers notes of plump raisin, bordering on prune, with hints of black cherries. Spicy nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves — all your baking spice classics — add nuance, and are essential in the face of a lingering, molasses-like sweetness. B / $13 / scottocellars.com
Review: Ragtime Rye
We’ve previously encountered New York Distilling Company with its Mister Katz’s Rock & Rye product, and today we take a step back and look at the company’s straight rye, Ragtime. It’s unclear if Ragtime is used as a component in Mister Katz’s, but we do know it is distilled from New York rye grain and…
Review: ‘Merican Mule (2017)
The Moscow Mule does not exactly have a reputation as a difficult cocktail to make: Vodka, ginger beer, a squeeze of lime. Sourcing the copper cup is typically the hardest part of this drink to master, in fact. Never ye mind, though: Some entrepreneurial types out of Long Beach, California decided to can this sucker,…
Review: A. Smith Bowman Isaac Bowman Port-Barrel Finished Bourbon
Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman seems to have no shortage of relatives under whom it can bottle whiskey. Abraham, John, “Bowman Brothers”… they all have spirits made in their honor. Now it’s Isaac’s turn, with a bourbon finished in Port casks. Officially known as Isaac Bowman Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Barrels, this is a NAS…
