Reviews
After “Ronnie’s Batch” and “The Lumberyard Batch” dropped earlier this year, Booker’s Bourbon is back with 2022’s third expression: Kentucky Tea. As with all contemporary Booker’s releases, this one is named for a person, place, or concept near and dear to the Noe family, eighth generation descendants of Jim Beam and Master Distillers at his…
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Bourbon has long defined the American whiskey business, though rye and single malts are fast-growing categories many drinkers are keeping close tabs on. But we may be witnessing the genesis of a newer homegrown spirit: American rice whiskey. With just a handful of producers, it’s a category whiskey drinkers can explore in a single sitting,…
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At the Clonakilty Distillery in southwest Ireland, they are definitely establishing terroir for their spirits. The barley for their whiskeys is grown on a 9th-generation family farm, they make a gin using whey from the farm and locally-foraged rock samphire, and their aging warehouse stands on top of 200-foot cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean just…
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The NB stands for North Berwick, a town on the east coast of Scotland where this distillery is based, adding to the distinguished list of Scottish gin makers like Caorunn, Arbikie, and Crossbill. The company started off with distilling experiments in a home kitchen and now produces a range of gins, rums, and a vodka……
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Cutwater is an unusual company. We’ve favorably reviewed some of their whiskey products, and (along with everyone else in the spirits world) they recently brought out some canned cocktails, which were fairly well-received. Despite the fact that they’re based in San Diego, and do distil their own spirits, they’ve also released a tequila and now…
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Vodka can be made from many things, basically anything that has starch or sugar in it — like potatoes, grains, grapes, or sugar beets. Black Cow Vodka in the UK makes vodka from milk, and we’ve reviewed a couple of New Zealand vodkas that are made from whey. Whey is what’s left over when…
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If you’re going for a flavored vodka, it may as well be something natural and appropriate for the season, like watermelon, and from a reliable brand like Absolut. Last summer we reviewed a limited edition Ciroc Summer Watermelon Vodka, so how do the two compare? Well, Ciroc’s label admitted to the use of some artificial…
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The pandemic has seen a huge upsurge in the number of ready-made cocktails in cans and bottles on the market, as people have adjusted to drinking at home more often. While there are some incredibly good pre-mixed cocktails available, there’s still nothing to beat a freshly-made cocktail creation of your own, especially when you have…
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For Cinco de Mayo this year, Patron Tequila has partnered with tattoo artist JonBoy and the Cocktail Courier website to produce all the ingredients needed to make a Fresh Ink Smoked Margarita. There’s a choice of JonBoy artwork when you order, and this is included in the package by way of coasters and cocktail stoppers,…
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In the hospitality world, there’s often tension between being the best and being accessible. (It’s not so different in the spirits world.) A bar can be superlative in one category — renowned for their cocktails, or perhaps a nearly-unparalleled whiskey selection — or it can be beloved by neighborhood locals, offering great pours without the…
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