Review: J Carver Vodka
J Carver Vodka is one of two vodka’s crafted at the J Carver Distillery in Waconia Minnesota. The other vodka, Lake House is made from a blend of rye, corn, and wheat. J Carver Vodka is made from locally sourced winter wheat grown in Glencoe Minnesota and pure limestone filtered water. The spirit is distilled in a custom copper double column still built in Germany. This local farm to glass distillery produces all of their spirits onsite. Their other crafted spirits include whiskey, gin, brandy, aquavit, and liqueurs. J Carver was named for Minnesota explorer Johnathan Carver. Carver is also the county in Minnesota where their spirits are crafted. The distillery was founded in 2012 by Bill Miller. His brother Matt Miller was a distiller for Catskill Distilling Company in New York. Read more 
Review: Arette Blanco Tequila
Arette Blanco Tequila is made at Tequila Arette de Jalisco from estate grown agave and water sourced from the Tequila volcano springs. Arette is named for Arete, a horse who won a gold medal for Mexico in the 1948 Olympics in England. Eduardo and Jaime Orendain, the great grand sons of the legendary Don Eduardo, returned to El Llano Distillery, the original building where Don Eduardo first starting crafting tequila in 1900. They rebuilt the distillery in 1978 and Tequila Arette was introduced in 1986. Once harvested and trimmed the agave is slow cooked for 15 hours in autoclave ovens then rested for 15 hours in a stainless steel autoclave. The pinas are shredded and the extracted juice is fermented for 4 days is stainless steel vats with natural house yeast. It is small batch double distilled in stainless steel pot stills with copper coils and carbon filtered. Read more
Review: Hinch Small Batch Irish Whiskey
The 30,000 square foot Hinch Distillery opened its doors in 2021. It was built by Dr. Terry Cross on the historic Killaney Estates in County Downs Ireland at a cost of $19 million. County Downs had a strong distilling history from the late 18th century until the early 20th century. It was home to seven Irish Whiskey Distilleries. They are already producing Ninth Wave Gin, and a true grain to glass whiskey that is currently barrel aging. In the mean time they are sourcing their whiskey from another distillery. Hinch Small Batch Irish Whiskey is one of nine Irish whiskies they currently produce. It is made from a blend of 25% single malt and 75% single grain whiskeys and it is matured for 3-4 years in the finest first fill bourbon casks, and bottled at 86 proof. Read more
Review: Down East Vodka
Down East Vodka is made from a unique strain of organic wheat grown on a fifth generation family farm in Paxton Illinois. The three Glazik Brothers, Dallas, Clayton, and Will have partnered with Stumpy Spirits Distillery in Columbia Illinois to craft their spirit. The brothers haul 2.5 tons of their own grown wheat to Stumpy’s and they process the grain into vodka. The process takes 3 weeks and when complete the brothers drive down and bottle the vodka and return with it to Paxton Illinois. The Down East name comes from the wheat fields being located east of their farmstead. Clay Glazik designed the bottle with a Silver Tree Logo, a tribute to their Irish heritage. Read more
Review: Jameson Orange
Jameson Orange Irish Whiskey was just released in the US. It was first released in the UK August 2021. Jameson Lime & Ginger was recently launched in Russia. Seems like a curious place to kick off a new spirit from one of the worlds largest whiskey producers. It is made with Jameson Irish Whiskey and natural orange flavor. Jameson Original Irish Whiskey is made from 3 ingredients, barley, both malted and unmalted grown within 100 miles of the distillery, non GMO maize grown in the South of France, and water sourced from the Dungourney River. Jameson is a blend of pot still and fine grain whiskey. Both are triple distilled and aged for a minimum of four years in both used bourbon barrels and Spanish sherry casks. Read more
Review: Captain Morgan Cherry Vanilla
Captain Morgan Cherry Vanilla was just released. This is not the worlds first cherry flavored rum, I’ve reviewed six already, but it is the Captains first. While not as famous and peanut butter and jelly, cherry and vanilla have several very successful marriages. These include Cherry Vanilla ice cream, Cherry Vanilla Coke, Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, Cherry Vanilla Burts Bee lip balm, and more recently Skatter Brain Dark Cherry Vanilla Whiskey. Captain Morgan Cherry Vanilla is made from premium Caribbean rum, spice, natural flavors, and certified color. The rum base is made from sugarcane molasses. It is distilled in St. Croix on a continuous still and aged in oak barrels for 1 year. Read more
Review: Truly Margarita Style Hard Seltzer
Truly Margarita Style Hard Seltzer was just released. It is available in a 4 flavor 12 can variety pack. Truly is not the first to include agave nectar in their hard seltzer but depending on the success of Truly Margarita Style they may start a new wave of me too products. Each of their four flavor varieties share similar DNA including lime juice concentrate, cane sugar, stevia sweetener, sea salt, natural flavors, and agave nectar. Pear Juice is added for color. Each weighs in with 5.3% alcohol, 110 calories, and 2% real juice. Flavor specific ingredients will be listed in the review. Read more
Review: Mount Gay Eclipse Rum
Mount Gay Eclipse Rum is named for the 1910 total solar eclipse from Halley’s Comet that was visible over Barbados. Mount Gay distillery is the oldest continuous operating rum distillery, dating back to 1703. Master Blender Trudiann Branker hand selects a blend of rums distilled in traditional copper pot and column stills and matured for up to 2 years in charred used American whiskey barrels. The rum is crafted from sugar cane molasses in Barbados, the birth place of rum. The spirit is fermented for 72 hours with a proprietary house yeast and double distilled in a traditional copper pot and column still. Pure well water sourced from a 300 foot well is blended to reduce to proof. The rum is filtered through natural coral. Read more
Review: Skaalvenn Vodka
Skaalvenn Vodka is one of four spirits hand crafted at the Skaalvenn Distillery in Brooklyn Park Minnesota. The others include Skaalvenn Rum, Habanero Rum, and Aquavit. They also bottle a bourbon but that is distilled in Indiana. Tyson and Mary Schnitker started distilling in 2015 and have grown the business significantly since opening. They now also operate a Japanese Cocktail Bar serving craft cocktails made from their craft spirits. The Skaalvenn name is actually a Norweigen greeting which translates to “Cheers friends” in English. Skaalvenn Vodka is made from locally grown wheat. When they started crafting their spirits they knew they wanted to make their vodka from wheat but they had trouble finding a source so they placed an add in Craigslist. Fourth Generation farmer Scott Lee responded and after touring his family owned Lee’s Seed Farm in Benson Minnesota they knew they had found their local source for wheat. After harvesting, the wheat is milled and delivered to the distillery where they mash and ferment the wheat and yeast for three days. The spirit is distilled in two different stills including a custom copper still. The vodka is carbon filtered before hand bottling. Read more
Review: Villa One Reposado Tequila
Villa One Reposado is one of three tequila expressions of tequila developed by Nick Jonas and John Varvatos. They were inspired during a trip to Mexico in 2018 with family and friends. Nick and John partnered with Stoli and Master Distiller Arturo Fuentes, “The Godfather of Tequila” to create Villa One. It is crafted at Fabrica de Tequilas Finos, a distillery Stoli acquired in 2016. The spirit is made from 100% Weber Blue agave grown for 5-7 years in both the Highland and Lowland Region. Once harvested and trimmed the agave is slow cooked and double distilled in traditional copper pot stills. Fresh water drawn from their own artesian well located on their property is blended to reduce to proof. Read more