Review: Scotch Malt Whisky Society September 2012 Outturn
Another outturn from SMWS, this one including my first grain whisky sample from SMWS, covering September 2012. SMWS Cask 2.81 – 15 year old Glenlivet from Speyside – Blazing Glenlivet that’s turned out from first-fill sherry butts. (It’s unclear how long the whisky spends in the sherry casks, but based on the deep Bourbon-brown color,…
Review: Kahlua Iced Coffee Grab & Go Cocktails
You can pour your Kahlua into coffee, or you can get it in one-stop format, thanks to Kahlua’s new “grab & go” canned cocktails. (I’m not sure where you’re supposed to be “going” with one of these in hand, but that’s another story.) Each of these pre-mixed cocktails are fairly self-explanatory, and each includes 100%…
Review: Buffalo Trace Giant French Oak Barrels Experiments Bourbons
With all the hubbub over small whiskey barrels going on, it almost went unnoticed that Buffalo Trace released a whiskey that went the opposite direction: Aged in oversized French oak barrels for a long, long time. To be sure, the 135-gallon barrel (likely a “puncheon” as terminology goes) is not the largest wooden barrel out…
Review: The Arran Malt Devil’s Punch Bowl
Best whisky name ever now goes The Arran Malt, whose new Devil’s Punch Bowl single malt is seductive and devilish — and comes with packaging to match. Named for a glacial hollow called Coire na Ciche on the Isle of Arran, the boggy hill sits in the distillery’s backyard. The whisky inside is drawn from…
Review: Cu Dhub Black Whisky
How do you turn Scotch whisky black as stout? Well, the secret isn’t as fantastical as you might have hoped: Cu Dhub is colored (heavily) with black caramel. Cu Dhub, pronounced “kaddoo,” is actually a very loose recreation of a whisky called Loch Dhu, which was bottled for only a few years in the ’90s…
Review: White Lion VSOA
Billed as the “world’s oldest naturally fermented, single ingredient spirit,” VSOA is a beverage that defies description or easy categorization. VSOA is part of a group of spirits called arrack, which can can be made from just about anything (the better-known Batavia Arrack is made from sugarcane, like rum). This version (VSOA stands for Very…
Review: Mariposa Agave Nectar Liqueur
Let’s start with the natural first question: Mariposa’s not tequila. Tequila is made from roasted agave hearts which are juiced and fermented. Mariposa is made from agave nectar — a natural sweetener that’s frequently used in margaritas and other applications — plus enough vodka and tequila to bring it up to 60 proof. Rose and…
Review: Dancing Pines Chai Liqueur
Believe it or not, Dancing Pines is not the first chai tea liqueur we’ve reviewed. That honor goes to Voyant, a cream-based liqueur so nice we named it our favorite liqueur of 2010. Dancing Pines is not cream-inclusive — it’s a straight, syrupy, brownish liqueur — and that alone is a curiosity. Chai — as…
