Review: No. 3 London Dry Gin (2016)
Five years ago we sampled Berry Bros. & Rudd’s classic gin, No. 3. Little seems to have changed; this is still a pot-distilled gin with a mere six ingredients: juniper, orange peel, grapefruit peel, angelica root, coriander, and cardamom. Recently I had the good fortune to attend a lunch hosted by No. 3 at San Francisco’s…
Review: Ardbeg 10 Years Old, Uigeadail, and Corryvreckan
At 200 years of age, Ardbeg is one of the most venerable of Scotch whisky distilleries, and it’s an icon of Islay, where peat has long been the currency of whiskymaking. While we’ve reviewed many of Ardbeg’s annual, limited edition Committee releases, we’ve somehow never taken our pen to the core range, which spans three…
Review: Old Forester Whiskey Row Series – 1920 Prohibition Style Bourbon
Like all bartenders and spirits producers, Old Forester is in love with Prohibition — even though this period of time is hardly associated with high-quality anything. At the same time, you can barely count the number of “Prohibition Edition” spirits that have hit the market in recent years. Are we as a society really that…
Review: Mount Gay Rum Origin Series Vol. 2 – Copper Column vs. Copper Pot
One of my favorite things in the world of whiskey is when distilleries start to get experimental. Buffalo Trace has become legendary for putting out all manner of experimental whiskeys that you can sample side by side. The idea isn’t just to see what different barrel treatments or mashbills do to a spirit — but…
Review: Diageo Orphan Barrel Project Whoop & Holler American Whiskey 28 Years Old
For this ninth release in Diageo’s Orphan Barrel Project, the company has turned to George Dickel, of all places, where it has unearthed a 28 year old expression of this Tennessee classic. Produced at Cascade Hollow in Tullahoma, it is made from Dickel’s standard mash of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley, and…
Review: Smithworks American Made Vodka
“From the heartland,” the bottle boldly proclaims. Water from Lake Fort Smith, grain (corn) from Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Triple distilled in Kansas, bottled in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And Blake Shelton is the brand’s spokesperson. So yeah, that’s some heartland stuff right there. I’m happy to report that the heartland acquits itself admirably with this…
Review: Greenbar Grand Poppy Liqueur
Los Angeles-based Greenbar Distillery is the home of TRU organic vodka, Crusoe rums, and Bar Keep bitters… plus this truly unique product, a bitter liqueur made (in part) from poppies. Distilled from molasses a la rum, the finished product has quite a list of odd botanicals inside, including California poppy, orange, lemon, grapefruit, bearberry, California bay…
Review: Germain-Robin Alembic Brandy One-Time Blend No. 23
Germain-Robin makes some amazing brandies, but this may be the best I’ve seen from the company to date. The catch: it’s a one-time only blend, as the name suggests, so if this review catches your palate, better grab a bottle now. The focus of this blend is French colombard grapes, which were the preferred grape in…
