Review: Club Kokomo Barrel Finished Rum
Celebrity spirits are becoming more common every day. Some of the ventures turn out to be flops and some turn out to be quite formidable. Some feel highly gimmicky and don’t make much sense. But what about The Beach Boys and rum? Pairing the tropical imagery of the beach with rum works. Mike Love is…
Review: Casa Obsidiana Tequila, Complete Lineup
So this is the tequila with the wacky bottles. And the wild prices, too. Now look, I roll my eyes at stuff like this too. Those tall ceramic tequila bottles are gimmicks full of workmanlike product, and Obsidiana’s seem over the top. However… there’s some interesting production going on here, most notably in the aging, which…
Review: Zing Zang Blazing Bloody Mary Mix and Bloody Mary Made with Vodka
Had a really great Bloody Mary cocktail lately? I did — and when I asked my bartender for the recipe, they revealed the shocking truth: It was simply Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix and vodka. Zing Zang is a mild secret (it’s the top-selling Bloody mix in the U.S.) that I’m all too happy to…
Review: Ardbeg Spectacular
Ardbeg Day 2024 was just upon us, and with it has come a new Committee Release creation from the madmen of Islay: Ardbeg Spectacular, the first ever Ardbeg aged in Port wine casks. It’s not a mere finishing regimen: This expression is wholly aged in Port barrels, though there’s no age statement on offer. I…
Review: Thrasher’s Rums – Green Spiced, Relaxed, Coconut, and Spiced (2024)
Todd Thrasher got his start behind bars in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. before turning to distilling in 2018 and opening the Potomac Distilling Company in DC’s riverside District Wharf neighborhood. He produces a Guyanese-style rum in a variety of expressions, all of which form the bulk of the backbar at his distillery’s in-house tiki…
Review: Hatozaki Omakase Rye Third Edition Mizunara Cask Finish
Hatozaki Master Distiller & Blender Kimio Yonezawa is a fourth-generation shochu distiller who began producing Hatozaki’s whisky line in 2017. In addition to the brand’s core expressions, Yonezawa and his team produced limited runs of their “Omakase” line. The third such release — limited to under 3,000 bottles, and only sold in the U.S. market…
Review: Etude 2021 Pinot Gris and 2020 Pinot Noir
Two wines from Etude, which crafts bottlings from all over California — but particularly Napa Valley. These two expressions are current releases, both from Carneros, sandwiched between Sonoma and Napa. 2021 Etude Pinot Gris Carneros – Etude’s pinot gris invariably offers a floral-heavy, slightly austere experience, and this 2021 bottling is no exception. White flowers and…
Review: Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series: Amrut
Bardstown Bourbon Co.’s Collaborative Series has been a consistently impressive line from the innovative Kentucky whiskey-makers (with last fall’s Bourbon County being the rare exception). Now, they are out with perhaps their most ambitious offering yet in partnership with pioneering Indian distiller, Amrut. This latest sees straight, unfinished bourbon blended with rye whiskey that has…
