Review: Hunting Creek Rye Whiskey
We’ve been following the evolution of North Carolina’s Southern Distilling Company for a while now. It’s a craft distiller that seems to have achieved the enviable transition from quality sourced whiskey to superior house-made whiskey. That’s not always an easy jump to make, for a variety of reasons. When last we looked in on Southern,…
Review: 2019 Sapaio Toscana IGT
Podere Sapaio’s eponymous Supertuscan is a standout from the moment you open the bottle. (The name comes from Sapaia, a very old Tuscan grape variety.) A blend of 70% cabernet sauvignon, 20% petit verdot, and 10% cabernet franc, the wine spends 18 months in barriques and 12 months in bottle before release. The opulence of…
Review: Freeland Spirits Old Tom Gin
Old Tom gin was popular in the eighteenth century and appears to be making something of a comeback today. That stated, there is no clear definition of what Old Tom gin actually is. It typically describes a gin that has added sugar or sweeteners and can spend time aging in wood. For their version, Freeland…
Review: Tequila Pantalones Blanco
You’ve seen the ads. You know the couple behind it. There’s nothing left to do here but toss out an “está bien, está bien, está bien” for Matthew and Camila McConaughey’s tequila, which is named in honor of the pants you are bound to remove upon cracking open the bottle. This is McConaughey’s second foray…
Review: Maen Japanese Whisky, Complete Lineup
Shaw-Ross International Importers is bringing a new Japanese whisky to U.S. shores: Maen (pronounced “Mi-en”), which means “perfect circle” in Japanese and is evoked by the calligraphed circle presented on the label of all three expressions of the product. While plenty of production details can be found below, little else is known about the whiskies,…
Review: The Botanist Islay Gin – Cask Rested and Cask Aged
Forever there has been only one expression of The Botanist gin. The bottle has changed, but the recipe hasn’t, and the line extensions that other brands have undertaken haven’t ever come to the Islay operation (which is part of the Bruichladdich family). Hell, Botanist doesn’t even have a navy strength version. That changes today, as…
Review: Holistic Spirits Origen Specialty Vodka and Harmony Gin
Holistic Spirits soft-sells its celebrity backing, which boasts wellness entrepreneur Amy Holmwood and actor Woody Harrelson as its faces behind the stills. The company is (thank God) not making whiskey or tequila but rather flavored white spirits, including vodka and gin. The launch products include one of each — though if you didn’t read the…
Review: Naud Cognac VSOP
If you didn’t think you’d find room for innovation and new blood in old school Cognac, look no further than the Naud family, which revived an old distillery and has been making Cognac here since 2017. The operation also produces gin and vodka in addition to its four expressions of the iconic French brandy. We…
