Rated D/F
Reviews of spirits, wine, and beer (and various errata like mixers and garnishes) comprise more than 80% of the content at Drinkhacker. This category is a catch-all for everything rated D+, D, D-, or F, our lowest rating. These products should be categorically avoided by everyone (and preferably discontinued altogether). On a five-star scale, these products would score 1.5 stars (for D+ ratings) or 1 star (for D, D-, and F ratings). On the traditional 100-point scale popular with many wine and spirits graders, these products would merit scores 68 or below.
A new ultra-cheap wine label from Trinchero: Fancy Pants! The only thing that isn’t fancy is the price, amirite fellas!? Anyway, here’s what they’re like should you fancy a bottle. 2012 Fancy Pants Pinot Grigio California – Lemony nose, with very slight musty notes. The palate offers more citrus, plus distinct peaches and cream. No mustiness here;…
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You say yogurt. I say yoghurt. Bols says let’s turn yogurt into booze. This idea is so nuts my sample of Bols Yogurt Liqueur has sat untouched on my kitchen counter for four months. I actually moved during that time, and still the Bols Yogurt has sat there, unmolested, on my new kitchen counter. Turns…
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The insanity of increasingly unlikely and unnatural vodka flavors continues courtesy of UV, which brings us these new offerings: Candy Bar and Salty Waltermelon. Thoughts follow. Both are 60 proof. UV Candy Bar Vodka – OK, it’s a candy bar, we get it. But which one? A Caramello doesn’t taste anything like a Payday. “Candy…
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The Portuguese don’t sit around sipping Vintage Port all day. For everyday drinking, they turn to some simple and very affordable wines. Increasingly, these wines have been coming to the U.S., letting us discover new grapes, like Antao Vaz, and new regions, like Alentejo, where these three wines hail from. Alentejo covers most of the…
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There’s no picture to this review because this beer is not for sale. You can try it — available on tap only — in extremely limited quantities at beer festivals around the country this year. Want to find this stuff? Try the San Francisco International Beer Festival on April 27, or the American Beer Classic…
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We’ve covered celebrity wine. Celebrity vodka. Celebrity Cognac. Even celebrity tequila. This is definitively the first and likely the only celebrity sangria that we’ll ever see. Mangria comes to us courtesy of sangria-lover Adam Carolla, who’s apparently still working the “man” angle on just about everything. Like Mansinthe, it’s a horrible name for a product,…
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Targeting a clearly younger, more modern, and cost-conscious drinker, Naked Rebel is a new brand that’s offering two wines at launch. One is quite good. Thoughts on both follow. NV Pink Panda – “Sparkling grape wine with natural flavors.” Say what? There’s really no telling whats in this ultra-fruity concoction — it is reportedly a…
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Discriminating drinkers aren’t immune from the mainstream, and ultra-micro-craft brews aren’t always available when you’re looking for a six pack at your local convenience store. What then about the biggest beer of them all? Today we look at the complete lineup of Budweiser beers, which now includes six different bottlings. Thoughts follow. As the oldest…
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Harvest Spirits Farm Distillery, in Valatie, New York, focuses like so many other operations in this region on using local fruits to produce artisinal, farm-to-bottle spirits. The lineup below represents a full farmers’ market of goodies. Thoughts on the bulk of Harvest Spirits’ production follow. Harvest Spirits Core Vodka – Another vodka distilled from New…
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A funny thing happens when I try to type “Canadian.” I always mistype “Candian” instead. Never has that been a more apropos typo than with Black Velvet’s Toasted Caramel Whisky. Flavored with a hefty dose of “natural toasted caramel flavor,” this sugar bomb is so dense with sugar it’s actually difficult to swallow it. The…
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