So much booze in the world

Walk into the liquor aisle of your nearest corner market and you'll come face to face with an intimidating wall of whiskey, tequila, vodka, gin, and rum, among other eccentricities.

For years, this degree of choice was paralyzing to me, not refreshing. I've found that most people are similarly overwhelmed and find it hard to make a choice or a trial purchase without having some kind of context. They want an “in” that allows them to know something about the something they choose to bring up to the register.

Your money is valuable, and you should have a great experience when you spend it. Spirit Animal is intended to be a small island in the sea of review sites that are pretentious, overly-sanitized, or just straight-up boring. I'm not a guy connected to the beverage industry. I'm not a professional taster. There's an awful lot I haven't tried.

Basically, I'm just a guy trying to provide the kind of resource I wish I had as a novice drinker: something that could tell me what was marvelous or underwhelming, and if there was some kind of story behind any one of the bottles arranged on the shelf. A knowledge base that would allow me to confidently branch out from the same-'ol, same-'ol.

Stay a while. We'll talk about what's good, what's not so good, and a few of the things I've learned along the way that's made the act of pouring a good drink more interesting and more satisfying. It'll be fun—I promise.

Are you New ARound Here?

If so, click on over to the Index page and take a look at the articles we've marked under "Beginner's Guide." If you want a quick crash course in what to buy and what you should know about good spirits, a lot of these articles are written for you! The index is also a good place to look for specific categories of spirit reviews or to sort products by rating. 

You'll also note that whiskies are popular on this site, with one whiskey review written for one of any other kind of spirit. That's intentional: we like whiskey. We hope you do, too.