Review: Vive Hard Seltzer Tailgate Variety Pack
Vive Hard Seltzer Tailgate Variety Pack was released August 2019. It was the second 12 can variety pack of hard seltzer crafted by Braxton Brewing Company in Covington Kentucky. Their first was launched early 2019. They have since created two seasonal seltzers Pumpkin, and Cinnamon Apple and they just released a third 12 can variety pack with Fruit punch flavors. The Vive Brewing Company also brews 4 year round beers including Storm Golden Cream Ale, Garage Beer Premium Lager, Tropical Flare New England IPA, and Revamp India Pale Ale. The also craft 2 dozen seasonal and specialty beers and two hard ciders. Vive Hard Seltzer is made from pure Kentucky artisan water, alcohol from fermented dextrose, natural cane sugar, natural fruit flavor and natural juice concentrate. Each can weighs in at 5% alcohol with 100 calories, 2 Carbs and 2 grams of sugar. Vive Hard Seltzer is currently available in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana. Read more 
Review: The Busker Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey
With today being St Patrick’s Day I thought it would be a good time to review The Busker Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey. Irish Whiskey can be distilled as a Single Grain, Single Malt, and Single Pot Still. A quick coarse in Irish Whiskey 101 tells you a Single Grain Irish whiskey is made from unmalted grain from a single distillery. A Single Malt Irish Whiskey comes from malted barley distilled from a single distillery. A Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey is made from a blend of malted and unmalted barley at a single distillery. A fourth type of Irish whiskey is Blended which is made from a blend of malted whiskey from the same or different distilleries. The Busker crafts all four styles. Of my 43 Irish Whiskey reviews my top 2 rated have been Green Spot and Redbreast 12 Year old Single Pot Still, so I guess you can conclude Single Pot Still is my favorite expression. The Busker SPS is made from malted and unmalted barley and pure water sourced from a 70 meter deep aquifer. It is finished in ex-bourbon and sherry casks and non-chill filtered before bottling at 88.6 proof. Read more
Review: Vizzy Lemonade Hard Seltzer
Molson-Coors just released Vizzy Lemonade Hard Seltzer. This is the third national release of a lemonade hard seltzer 12 can variety pack so far in 2021. Wachusett Brewing Company in Westminster MA. also released Country Hard Seltzer, in a 4 flavor hard lemonade seltzer 12 can variety pack. All of this follows the 2020 release of Truly Hard Seltzer Lemonade that quickly captured a 10% market share of the hard seltzer market. Like the other brands, Vizzy Lemonade Hard Seltzer is made from a cane sugar alcohol base with natural flavors and stevia. All except Bud Light contain lemon juice concentrate. What sets Vizzy Lemonade apart is the addition of agave, and dried acerola cherry juice. Vizzy also contains antioxidants and 19 MG of vitamin C. Read more
Review: Narrow Road Vodka
Narrow Road Vodka was released with the opening of Elevation 5003 Distillery in Fort Collins Colorado February 2016. CEO and Distiller Loren Matthews currently also crafts Timber Ridge Gin, 5003 Straight Rye, 5003 Straight Bourbon, Lunarshine Corn Whiskey, Falernum Liqueur, and Franklin Coffee Liqueur at her distillery. Elevation 5003 is named for the altitude the distillery is built at. Narrow Road Vodka is made from single malt barley and fresh Colorado Mountain spring water. The barley is cooked, fermented, distilled, proofed, filtered, and bottled onsite. Narrow Road is small batch triple distilled and triple filtered. Read more
Review: Corona Hard Seltzer Variety 2
Corona Hard Seltzer just released their second 4 flavor 12 can variety pack. They released their first a year ago and within a few months Corona had already become the fourth best selling hard seltzer brand on the market, trailing only White Claw, Truly, and Bud Light Hard Seltzer. If you thought the hard seltzer market was getting crowded you haven’t seen anything yet. This is one of five large National hard seltzer brands to release a new hard seltzer 12 can variety pack this month. Corona Hard Seltzer is made with carbonated water, alcohol from cane sugar, natural flavors and citric acid. Each can weighs in with 90 calories 4.5% alcohol, 0 Carbs, and 0 Sugar. Read more
Review: Deep Eddy Lime Vodka
Deep Eddy Lime Vodka is the newest of seven flavor varieties crafted by Deep Eddy from a vodka base made from the highest quality corn and spring water from deep aquifers in Texas Hill Country. Deep Eddy is named for the oldest spring fed swimming pool in Austin Texas. The vodka is small batch distilled 10 times on a state of the art column still, and gently filtered over charcoal 4 times. Real lime juice is blended and the vodka is lightly sweetened with real cane sugar before bottling at 70 proof. Deep Eddy was established in 2010 by Chad Auler founder of Savvy Vodka and Clayton Christopher founder of Sweet Leaf Tea Beverages. In 2015 they sold Deep Eddy to Heaven Hill Brand for a figure that has been estimated to be between $165-300 million. Not a bad 5 year return on their investment. Read more
Review: Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer Classic Collection
Michelob Ultra just released their second variety pack of hard seltzer. They released their Signature Collection two months ago. They are calling this 12 pack, Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer Classic Collection. Each 12 pack contains three cans of Mixed Berry, Citrus, Mango Apricot, and their newest addition Black Cherry. Like the previously released Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer Signature Collection each flavor is made from a cold fermented cane sugar alcohol base, purified water, organic natural flavors, and organic malted rice. New to each flavor variety in this pack is the addition of organic white grape juice from concentrate. This addition results in each flavor weighing in with 90 calories instead of 80 and 2 carbs compared to 0. This review was updated 12-5-21 to include the recently added Black Cherry flavor. I also updated the Classic Collection 12 pack image. Read more
Review: Vizzy Hard Seltzer Variety Pack 2
Vizzy Hard Seltzer Variety Pack 2 was just released. Vizzy is currently the fifth best selling hard seltzer brand, trailing only White Claw, Truly, Bud Light, and Corona. With a second variety pack and Vizzy Lemonade Hard Seltzer coming soon, parent Molson-Coors has designs on improving that position. Vizzy is only one of the brands produced by Molson-Coors. Coors Hard Seltzer and the soon to be launched Topo Chico Hard Seltzer are part of their hard seltzer portfolio. Like most hard seltzers Vizzy is made from a cane sugar alcohol base. Unlike other hard seltzers Vizzy is made with dried acerola cherry juice an antioxidant rich super fruit with 30 times more vitamin C than an orange. Each 12 oz. can contains 17 mg of vitamin C, 20% of the recommend daily dose. Simple math tells me 5 cans of Vizzy = 100%. Read more
Review: Akva Vodka
Akva Vodka recently arrived on shelves at Total Wine and More stores throughout the US. Priced at $11.99 for a 750 ML bottle in Brookfield Wisconsin, Akva is a value priced vodka. It is made from organic Swedish wheat grown in local fields and mineral rich water from Vanern, Sweden’s biggest Lake. It is distilled five time in Sweden and bottled in The Netherlands. Svedka is also a value priced vodka distilled five times and made from Swedish wheat. I’m interested in how the two compare. Read more
Review: Connellys Original Country Cream
Connellys Original Country Cream is currently available as the store brand at over 2000 Aldi’s stores in 36 states across America. It is made by R.A. Merry in Tipperary Ireland, from a grape wine, and neutral spirits alcohol base. No other creamery producers more brands of Irish Cream and Country Cream than R.A. Merry. Natural flavors, dairy cream, and caramel color are blended with the spirit base before bottling at 13.9% Alcohol. Read more