Book Review: Drinking with Saint Nick
Drinking with Saint Nick: Christmas Cocktails for Sinners and Saints is a natural idea for a seasonal cocktail guide: Collect holiday-appropriate recipes and bundle them into one, Christmas-friendly tome. Note that does not mean that Michael P. Foley stuffs this book with peppermint-flavored cocktails, mulled wine, and eggnog variants — though all three make appearances…
Review: Cruzan Hurricane Proof Rum
St. Croix-based Cruzan was shut down for three weeks after Hurricane Maria smashed through the island in 2017, and while the distillery got back on its feet fairly quickly, the rest of the Virgin Islands region wasn’t so lucky. Now the distillery is launching Cruzan Hurricane Proof Rum, an overproof offering which will help raise funds…
Review: Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey Edition Four
Sugarlands Distilling is best known for its wackily flavored moonshines and “sippin’ creams,” but it’s slowly been moving upmarket, into the realm of real whiskey. It’s called Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey, and six editions have been released to date. These are tiny, tiny releases. Edition Five was made up of just 600 bottles, and…
Review: Knob Creek Twice Barreled Rye
Earlier this year Knob Creek rolled out a cask strength version of its rye whiskey, and now it’s back with another take: Its 2012 straight rye finished in a second barrel. Per the press materials: “A first for the brand, Knob Creek Twice Barreled Rye presents the brand’s signature straight rye whiskey, secondarily finished in…
Review: Allagash Ganache
Although it is already one of Maine’s most successful and well known breweries, Allagash is clearly not content to rest on its laurels as it keeps creating exciting, new, experimental beers. Allagash’s most recent creation, Ganache, is a “Dark Ale Fermented with Brettanomyces and Aged on Raspberries.” Brettanomyces or Brett is a wild yeast that…
Review: T.W. Samuels Straight Bourbon Bottled in Bond
While Kentucky’s Heaven Hill Distillery produces its fair share of coveted top shelf bourbons, it puts out even more quality bottom shelf bottlings, many of which carry the desirable bottled-in-bond label. Not surprisingly, three of Drinkacker’s Top 10 Bourbons Under $20 are Heaven Hill juice, including the Heaven Hill “White Label,” a six-year-old bottled-in-bond that took…
Review: Lagavulin 12 Years Old Limited Edition 2018
A 12 year old Lagavulin has been part of the Diageo Special Releases for as long as I can remember (for 16 years now), and as is the norm, this release is bottled from refill American oak (bourbon) hogsheads. As always, the powerful smoke and sea spray of Lagavulin kicks off the aromatic experience, but this…
Review: Talisker 8 Years Old Limited Edition 2018
In its Special Releases for 2018, Diageo tends to toss out a few young whiskies — at cask strength, mind you — as callbacks to earlier days — in this case, when Talisker put out a number of 8 year old releases in the 1980s. This one, distilled in 2009, is aged in first-fill ex-bourbon…
