Review: Tip Top Margarita
If your idea of a proper cocktail is one positively brimming with booze, Tip Top Proper Cocktails has one for you with its ready-to-drink margarita. Made with tequila, orange liqueur, and I can only assume the tiniest squeeze of lime, this stiff drink comes in at a heavy 26% abv, roughly three times the alcohol…
Review: Pokeno New Zealand Single Malt – Origin, Discovery, and Double Bourbon Cask
Whisky from New Zealand is such a rarity that we don’t have a category for it — yet, anyway. Pokeno was founded here only in 2017, with the specific vision of putting New Zealand on the map as a producer of single malt whisky. It is already the largest single malt distillery in the country,…
Review: NV Cockburn’s Tails of the Unexpected Port – Ruby Soho, Tawny Eyes, and White Heights
Can you make Port wine millennial-friendly? Cockburn’s is trying to find out, offering new expressions of three classic styles in untraditional bottles, complete with vibrantly designed labels and a catchy tagline. These are all reportedly new, “experimental” formulations that use “the highest-grade lots usually reserved for our best wines.” That said, I think most Port…
Review: 10 Barrel Brewing Classic Margarita
Made with tequila, triple sec, lemon-lime, honey, and a little salt, Oregon-based 10 Barrel continues its craft of ready-to-drink cocktails with this Classic Margarita. Aimed at the center of the bullseye for what we all think of when we think of a margarita, this RTD classic delivers a clean, though fairly sweet, citrusy sipper that’s sure…
Review: Drake’s Organic Boxtails Perfect Margarita
Margarita lovers looking for a ready-to-drink option that’s USDA organic, non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, and kosher will find a worthy candidate in Drake’s Organic Boxtails Perfect Margarita. Eschewing all things artificial, Drake’s Organic boxes up this ready-made marg with a blend of Drake’s Organic Tequila, triple sec, and fresh citrus juice. Coming in at a boozier-than-usual…
Review: Holmes Cay Single Cask Rum – Barbados 2002 and Fiji 2001
We’ve been huge fans of Holmes Cay from the beginning, and with these two new releases — “the rarest selections” — that isn’t about to change. These two new bottlings are some of the most special and prized that Holmes Cay has released to date. We were fortunate to be able to sample them both.…
Review: Bull in China Artisan Series Mixing Glass and The Highball
The bartending founders of Portland-based barware producer Bull in China are obsessed with glass. Specifically, the mixing glass, that most essential of craft bartending tools. Believing there was an absence of quality mixing vessels on the market, they set out to create a glass that could endure a 200-drink shift and still look good. But…
Review: Uncle Nearest Single Barrel Rye
Uncle Nearest has had quite a precocious start as a nascent distillery, and they kicked their output into overdrive to cap off 2022. The brand did so by introducing the world to their ’12 Weeks of Christmas’ campaign which saw the Uncle Nearest add three permanent expressions to its national portfolio: Uncle Nearest Straight Rye…
