Review: Thomas Ashbourne Ready To Drink Cocktails
Thomas Ashbourne is a new brand that partners with celebrities to bottle and can ready-to-drink cocktails. The objective is to offer top-of-the-line variations of favorite cocktails that are as simple to obtain as popping open a bottle or can. There is always plenty of pomp and circumstance surrounding any celeb-related project so best to override…
Review: Blue Run Reflection I Bourbon
Blue Run‘s second release of the year is another contract-distilled product with Jim Rutledge as “liquid advisor” on the project. Blue Run “Reflection I” Kentucky Straight Bourbon is a small-batch whiskey which Rutledge distilled at Castle & Key Distillery in 2018. Just 200 carefully selected barrels were chosen for this bottling, each toasted to a…
Review: 2020 The Critic Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon
Opici Wine & Spirits is a New Jersey-based importer that has set its sights on the world of wine. The two new bottles under “The Critic” label — which seem to be daring the likes of us to take a stab at it — are both sourced from Napa Valley fruit but land at $20…
Review: Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series #7 and Discovery Series #7
The seventh editions of Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s Fusion and Discovery Series have hit the shelves. While the concept behind the two hasn’t changed, this latest pair of releases does appear to mark a new level of complexity and uniqueness, at least in their basic construction. The blending wizards at Bardstown Bourbon Co. have rarely combined…
Review: The Pathfinder Hemp and Root
The Pathfinder Hemp and Root is a unique little oddity: fermented from hemp and then distilled, the non-alcoholic spirit is then infused with a variety of botanicals, including wormwood, angelica root, ginger, sage, juniper, saffron, orange peel, and Douglas fir. Note that though it’s made from hemp, there’s no THC in the product. The Pathfinder…
Review: Duke Tequilas – Reposado and Extra Anejo
Well, pilgrim. You thought John Wayne would be satisfied with just a bourbon bottled in his name? Well guess what, now The Duke has lent his signature to tequila, which is available in three (unexpected) expressions, reposado, anejo, and extra anejo. No blanco here, folks. John Wayne only consumes oak-aged spirits, it seems. A slight…
Review: 2020 Domaine Bousquet Alavida Malbec
The label of this wine does its very best to inform customers that this Domaine Bousquet offering is a bottle for celebrating, with numerous toasts and well-wishes from around the world in a handwritten font and lively colors. “A La Vida,” when translated, bears a resemblance to the Hebrew toast “L’chayim,” which means “to life!,”…
Review: Avion Tequila Reserva Cristalino
The latest tequila distillery to jump on the cristalino craze is Avion, which formally drops this into its oversized Reserva Range. Avion’s Cristalino is a blend of añejo and extra añejo tequilas that is then double charcoal filtered to clear. Let’s give it a whirl. Initially, the nose is decidedly on the green side, with…
