Review: The Macallan 1824 Collection – Select Oak, Whiskey Maker’s Edition, and Estate Reserve
The Macallan is now releasing a new line of four single malt whiskys with the 1824 Collection label, an homage to the year in which Macallan began operation. None of these malts date back to 180-some years ago, mind you, but they do pay respects to that era. I tried the three bottlings which will…
Review: Buen Amigo Tequila Blanco
Is Buen Amigo a good friend, as its name would imply? Let’s find out, shall we? An unusual citrus nose is immediately evident on this blanco tequila, which is apparently a mixto tequila despite one of its reposado big brother versions being a 100% agave version. Pungent and charcoal-like, Buen Amigo’s hard-edged nose gives way…
Review: THC The Hangover Cure
THC The Hangover Cure — yes, the name is completely coincidental — comes in powder form, contained in a long tube. You mix it with water — 12 to 16 oz. — and guzzle it down after “a night of debauchery” and before bed. What’s inside? A whole bunch of stuff: Supersized doses of vitamin…
Tasting Appleton Reserve and Extra 12 Years Old Rum with Master Blender Joy Spence (2009)
I had the immense pleasure to host Joy Spence, master blender at Appleton Rum and a 28-year veteran of the company, at Drinkhacker HQ today, where we tasted two of the company’s upscale bottlings. These estate rums, both from Appleton’s Jamaica sugar cane plantations, are impressive and perfect for sipping or — as Spence notes…
Classic Recipe: The Pink Squirrel Martini
A good friend sent me a link to this recipe on the Mad Men “1960s cocktails” page today (where you can make your own Mad Men avatar like the one to the right here) and almost dared me to make one. It’s odd, because almost all the other recipes on the page you still see…
Review: Cocaine Energy Drink
You don’t name your beverage “Cocaine” because it’s subtle. Banned in numerous jurisdictions (despite the warning on the label that the product does not in fact include cocaine nor is it intended to be used a substitute for any street drug (“and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot”)), Cocaine is intended to raise eyebrows…
Drinking and Dining with Tandem Wines’ Greg La Follette
Greg La Follette has a long history in winemaking (De Loach and Flowers are two labels you might recognize that he’s worked on) — on a global scale — and a passion for both his family (six kids, “Brady Bunch” style, as he puts it) and his leather pants. But get La Follette talking about…
World’s [not quite] Most Expensive Whisky Sells for $19,741
That’s what a bottle of 50-year-old Macallan Anniversary Edition cost one buyer today, after successfully winning a Glasgow auction for the ultra-rare bottle. Macallan Anniversary was bottled in 1978 and is a blend of three casks distilled in the late 1920s. Sounds delish! As one commenter notes below, this is hardly the most expensive whiskey…
