Ilegal Mezcal is a small batch mezcal hailing from the Oaxaca region of Mexico. While the spirit is very much legal, the name is a tribute to the brand’s illicit beginnings. Brand owner John Rexer, in a quest to find…
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Plenty of celebrities endorse spirits brands. Many of them endorse vodka brands. Dan Akroyd (Crystal Head) and Diddy (Circoc) come to mind. But none of that matters anymore. Because Dennis Rodman — jetsetting friend to North Korea and piercing aficionado…
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Tequila Tapatio has been a treasured tequila in Mexico for the past 75 years, but only recently became available in the United States. The blanco was released in early 2012, while the resposado and anejo expressions followed in early 2013….
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George Dickel Barrel Select Whisky is a small-batch Tennessee whiskey that’s created each year with the intention of being an extra smooth, mellow expression for the George Dickel line. In creating this product, Master Distiller John Lunn selects about 10…
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Big House Bourbon is a new whiskey that was launched in early 2013 by Underdog Spirits. Underdog is also behind Cupcake Vodka and Flipflop Rum, so… there’s that. Rather than producing the bourbon themselves, Big House is sourced from stocks…
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Woody Creek Distillers is a new distillery based in Colorado. After some construction, farming and producing spirits, they opened their 10,000 square foot facility in May. Woody Creek currently has one product on the market — their signature Potato Vodka…
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Yellow Rose Outlaw Bourbon hails from the small town of Pinehurst, TX. Yellow Rose Distilling is a new operation, with just a couple years under its belt, but its already put out small batches of blended whiskey and rye whiskey,…
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Top of the Hill Distillery is based in North Carolina and makes a vodka and white whiskey in addition to their newest offering: Piedmont Gin. The gin is distilled from organic Carolina wheat, and made in the style of New…
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Paper Plane, a collaboration between Victory Sandwich Bar and Paul Calvert, opened about two months ago, and is already, easily, one of the best cocktail bars in Atlanta. This is to be expected, with Paul Calvert at the helm of…
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One of the more spirited seminars we attended during this year’s Manhattan Cocktail Classic was on the subject of beer cocktails. Some people love them. Some people hate them. And most people are just curious as to where beer cocktails…
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Angel’s Envy Rye Whiskey is a new product from the Louisville Distilling Company, maker’s of Angel’s Envy Bourbon. While the bourbon is finished in port casks, the rye whiskey is finished for 18 months in Caribbean rum casks before bottling….
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Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey is a recently released offering out of Pennsylvania. Rye was a major Pennsylvania export prior to Prohibition, when the 18th amendment closed down many of the state’s distilleries. The guys behind Dad’s Hat, John Cooper and Herman…
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Bombay Sapphire East is a twist on the original Bombay Sapphire Gin. The main difference here is the addition of two more botanicals — Thai lemongrass and Vietnamese black peppercorns — to the 10 botanicals already present in Sapphire. The…
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In the Jameson Irish Whiskey lineup, Black Barrel falls between the standard, ubiquitous Jameson and the 12 year old special reserve. Black Barrel was first introduced in 2011, and it’s composed of a high proportion of Irish pot still whiskey…
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In 2011, Grant’s Whisky archivist, Paul Kendall, made a pretty fascinating discovery while sifting through the Grant family archives. He came across an old blending book used by distillery founder, William Grant. Inside was the exact recipe he used to…
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The latest whisky to cross our desk is also the newest Canadian whisky to hit the U.S. market. It’s called Pike Creek, and it’s a blend of small batch whiskies aged in used bourbon barrels before being finished in vintage…
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Pow-Wow Botanical Rye Whiskey is the latest product from the Georgetown Trading Co. — the fine folks behind John L. Sullivan Irish Whiskey and James E. Pepper Whiskey. This release is their first foray into flavored or infused spirits. According…
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Author Mack McConnell is a contributing writer for Cocktail Enthusiast. He also runs a Rum of the Month Club. When I found out that Bunnahabhain (one of the stranger names in the whisky world, pronounced bunna-hah-ven) was the largest distiller on…
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Author Mack McConnell is a contributing writer for Cocktail Enthusiast. He also runs a Rum of the Month Club. Clear rums aren’t typically my thing. If I’m drinking clear rum, it’s usually mixed with something else. That’s not very flattering…
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Top of the Hill Distillery is a new North Carolina outfit that’s producing small batches of vodka and white whiskey, plus a gin that’s currently in the works. Based in Chapel Hill, they’re distilling their products from local organic wheat…
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