So, an interesting one today, and a classic East-meets-West kind of deal. Is it still bourbon after the way they age it? Maybe! Is it good? Definitely!
Overall Rating: ★★☆
It’s been some time since we did a review, let alone a gin. No time like the present, and today we have an interesting one.
Overall Rating: ★★☆
Remember how Lucy would always yank the football away from Charlie Brown before he kicked it? The Glenmorangie X is exactly that in liquid form.
Overall Rating: ∅
If you’re gunning for a great tequila, I’d say to set your sights higher. Still, this isn’t bad. Inexplicably, it isn’t bad.
Overall Rating: ★☆☆
Go ahead and cue up Bob Seger’s “Still the Same” for this review. Basil Hayden is usually what most consider their first “good” bourbon, though I’m willing to bet you’ll outgrow it, if you haven’t already.
Overall Rating: ★☆☆
It’s “fancy,” certainly, but I’m always impressed when upmarket vodkas back up an elevated price with elevated substance. This is a bottle worth purchasing.
Overall Rating: ★★☆
“Jack Daniel’s” carries a lot of connotation. The standard black label “Jay Dee” might not hold appeal, but don’t sleep on its upmarket brand extension. It’s delicious.
Overall Rating: ★★★
The Connemara 12 is just about one of the only peated Irish whiskeys available on the market. If you want to know why there aren’t more, you could blow $55 and take a sip of this stuff.
Overall Rating: ∅
I certainly don’t want to be an asshole when it comes to appraising a small business trying to do something new. As you’ll see in this review, squaring that circle can be a real challenge.
Overall Rating: ∅
It’s been some time since we did a scotch, no? Here we have a whisky made remarkable by the fact that just about every whisky delivered with this kind of presentation should be unremarkable. And yet… here we are!
Overall Rating: ★★☆
A 'Yac that isn't Yuck and won't make you Yack, but yoked to a $50 price point? Yeesh! Personally, I yearn for other young 'Yacs, which yield better results and fewer yawns.
Overall Rating: ★☆☆
Here's my pitch when it comes to choosing from the Old Forester variants: do you want more, or do you want better? The 1910 shoots for “better,” and for that I am a big fan.
Overall Rating: ★★★
Look, I get it: finding new niches for a product and staying competitive is hard. More than anything I want to reward trying something new. But is aging shit in bourbon barrels literally the only thing distillers feel they can try?
Overall Rating: ∅
A surprising example of when hate turns to love in the spirits world. Not everything makes a good first impression, but I’m as pleased as punch I stuck with it.
Overall Rating: ★★☆
There's a lot to be said about knowing where the goalposts are and then kicking the ball through them without much screwing around or having aspirations of anything flashier. The EC Small Batch is this philosophy in liquid form.
Overall Rating: ★★★
An Austrian Vodka masquerading as a Russian product? Boy, you're just full of surprises, aren't you, NEFT?
Overall Rating: ★☆☆
Everything’s bigger in Texas! No surprise, then, that the Lone Star State would produce such a delightful ass-kicker.
Overall Rating: ★★★
I’m not going to say that you can safely ignore anything calling itself a “luxury vodka,” and it’s not like people won’t enjoy this, but in a saturated market being good enough isn’t enough.
Overall Rating: ★☆☆
Underpromise, overdeliver. It's an old axiom any business owner would do well to internalize, and Arshak II is a shining example of how this works in a niche category of spirits.
Overall Rating: ★★☆
Maybe it’s better if you never watched Game of Thrones. If so, you can fully enjoy the value of a heavily-discounted whisky without ever having to know the details of why the price fell like a rock.
Overall Rating: ★★☆