Review: Prairie Organic Grapefruit Hibiscus & Chamomile Vodka
Prairie Organic Grapefruit Hibiscus & Chamomile Vodka is one of three organic zero sugar, flavor infused vodkas in Prairie Organics new Sustainable Seasons line of spirits. The other two flavors are the previously reviewed Apple Pear & Ginger, and Watermelon Cucumber & Lime. Prairie Organic Spirits was founded in 2008 and they currently also craft Prairie Organic Vodka, Prairie Organic Cucumber Vodka, Prairie Organic Gin, Prairie Organic Navy Strength Gin, and Prairie Organic Sparkling Craft Cocktails. Everything is produced using 100% renewable energy. Launched in 2019 The Spirit of Change Fund champions the next generation of organic farmers by helping more farmers go organic. Prairie Organic donates 1% of sales to support this fund. Prairie Organic Grapefruit Hibiscus & Chamomile is made from a single sourced vintage corn grown on family owned organic Midwest farms. The harvested organic corn is brought to a farmer owned co-op where it is ground up and put into a mash where it ferments before being transported to Princeton Minnesota where it is distilled to taste. Organic grapefruit hibiscus and chamomile are infused before bottling at 60 proof. Read more 
Review: Prairie Organic Apple Pear & Ginger Vodka
Prairie Organic Spirits , The #1 USDA Certified Organic spirits brand is expanding its portfolio of farm crafted spirits with the launch of its new Sustainable Seasons line of organic botanical infused vodka. There are currently three flavor varieties including Prairie Organic Apple, Pear, & Ginger, Grapefruit, Hibiscus, and Chamomile, and Watermelon, Cucumber, & Lime. Prairie Organic Apple, Pear & Ginger is made from single sourced vintage corn grown on family owned organic Midwest farms. The harvested organic corn is brought to a farmer owned co-op where it is ground up and put into a mash where it ferments. It is then delivered to Prairie Organic Spirits where it is distilled to taste in a copper still. Organic apple, pear, and ginger are infused with the vodka. No sugar or artificial sweeteners are added before bottling at 60 proof. FYI: Apples and Pears are both included on Environmental Working Groups 2020 Dirty Dozen List which annually highlights fruit and vegetables that have the highest pesticide residues when not grown organically. Read more
Review: Golden Road Fruit Cart Hard Seltzer
Golden Road Fruit Cart Hard Seltzer was launched July 2020. It is brewed with a beer base made with dextrose and 2-row malt, and nugget hops at Golden Road Brewing Company in Los Angeles California. Fruit juice and natural flavors are added. The four flavors currently available include, Mango, Watermelon, Cucumber Lime, and Strawberry Pineapple. This is not Golden Road Brewing Company’s first hard seltzer. They released Maha Organic Hard Seltzer April 2020, and Spiked Agua Fresca the summer of 2019. Golden Road Fruit Cart Hard Seltzer appears to be a re-branding of the Spiked Agua Fresca line as the four flavors are the same and Spiked Agua Fresca is no longer present on the Golden Road website. The recipe in some cases has been tweaked as the calorie and carb. count doesn’t exactly match up. Golden Road Brewing was co-founded in 2011 by Meg Gill and Tony Yanow. They started brewing with a 15 bbl brewhouse in the Atwater Village neighborhood. They grew and expanded quickly before Anheuser Busch acquired Golden Road September 2015. At that time Golden Road Brewing Company was the largest craft brewery in Los Angeles, selling 45,000 barrels that year. Each flavor of Gold Road Fruit Cart Hard Seltzer weighs in at 4% alcohol with a calorie count ranging from 98-113 per 12 ounce serving. Read more
Review: Barcelo Imperial Rum
Barcelo Imperial Rum was launched in 1980. It is distilled from the finest selection of estate grown Caribbean sugar cane grown in the Dominican Republic. Ron Barcelo is the only rum produced in the Dominican Republic from fresh cut sugar cane. The other brands are all made from molasses. Imperial is one of eight rums currently produced at this distillery. Having arrived from Spain in 1929 Julian Barcelo founded Ron Barcelo in 1930 and by 1950 the Ron Barcelo Brand was launched with Barcelo Blanco and Dorado. In 1974 Don Julian Barcelo handed over the reins of the business to his nephew Miguel Barcelo. Barcelo Imperial is made from a blend of rums aged up to 10 years in American bourbon barrels. Ron Barcelo is sold in over 50 countries and it ranks as the 4th largest exporter of rum in the world. Read more
Review: Timber Creek Vodka
Timber Creek Vodka is crafted at Timber Creek Distillery in Crestview Florida. The Distillery was built on a 1400 acres farm near Destin Florida owned by Aaron Barnes family. Aaron partnered with neighbor Camden Ford in building the distillery, and creating the spirits. They currently also produce gin, rum, flavored rum, and several whiskey’s. Timber Creek Vodka is four times distilled in a custom pot still from 100% Florida grown red soft wheat and Florida limestone spring water pumped directly from the Florida aquifer. The wheat is cracked open and gently cooked to release the sugars. The grain is removed from the lauter tun and only the liquid is fermented. Timber Creek has developed a proprietary distilling and blending technique they call PureBlend. The spirit is filtered with natural charcoal. The vodka then rests for 6 months prior to bottling. Read more
Review: Fulton Hard Seltzer Mixed 12 Pack
Fulton Hard Seltzer is brewed with cane sugar and real fruit. The brand was launched May 2019. The Fulton Hard Seltzer Mixed 12 Pack includes three cans each of Grapefruit, Blood Orange, Berry, and Lemon Lime. They also produce Fulton Hopped, and Fulton Citrus Ginger Hard Seltzer. The Fulton Brewery was founded October 2009 by Peter Grande, Ryan Petz, Brian Hoffman, and Jim Diley. The Fulton name comes from the Fulton Minnesota neighborhood where they brewed 10 gallon batches of beer in Peters 2 car garage for family and friends until they moved the operation to Wisconsin where they contract brewed their beer at Sand Creek Brewery. Two years later they moved the operation back to Minnesota where they opened their own brewery in 2011. Today Fulton is the third largest Twin City brewery behind only Summit and Surly in barrels sold. Each variety of Fulton Hard Seltzer weighs in at 5% alcohol with 1 gram of sugar, and a calorie count between 111-113. Read more
Review: La Adelita Blanco Tequila
La Adelita Blanco Tequila was launched 2019 along with La Adelita Black, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo by Chris Radomski. This is not the first spirit Chris has created. He collaborated with Ethan Wayne the youngest son of John Wayne in developing and founding Duke Spirits. Duke’s whiskey lineup now includes Dukes Kentucky Straight, Grand Cru, and Double Barrel Rye. Chris also co-founded Hundred Acre Wine. La Adelita is named to honor the female soldiers that fought and turned the tide in the Mexican Revolution. La Adelita is crafted at Compania Tequilera Hacienda La Capilla. This distillery produces several tequila brands including Ambur, Cuestion, Puntagave, and Cavalino. La Adelita starts with 100% Blue agave grown on a single estate in the Los Altos Region of Jalisco. Once hand selected and trimmed the pinas are split in half and steam roasted. The cooled pinas are crushed and shredded, and the juice is fermented in stainless steel drums. The spirit is double distilled in small Cuban built copper pot stills, bottled, and hand labeled onsite. Read more
Review: Boardroom Rum
Boardroom Rum was released by Boardroom Spirits Distillery in Lansdale Pennsylvania November 2016. This is a bottle that has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be reviewed for some time now. I have been impressed with the other spirits I have reviewed from this distillery. I remember being exciting when this bottle arrived but when you have a bar with over 1800 spirits sometimes a bottle gets hidden behind others before you get a chance to review. What led me to search for this bottle was the information that Boardroom would soon be announcing the release of several new spirits. Boardroom Spirits Distillery was founded and built by three former Management Consultants, Vlad Mamedov, his young brother Malat, and his wife Zsuzsa Palotas. August 2017 Celebrity Chef Robert Irvine invested in and became part owner of the distillery with the other three. Boardroom Spirits currently also produces Boardroom Gin, Boardroom Vodka, a Fresh Cranberry and Fresh Citrus Vodka, a Beet Spirit, and Carrot Spirit. Boardroom Rum is made from 100% organic cane. It is fermented and distilled in small batches in-house. Read more
Review: Silver Moon Vodka
Silver Moon Vodka was introduced May 2016. It was the first spirit produced at Kerr Creek Distillery in Walton New York. They have since added an Apple Flavored Vodka, Easy Speaker Bourbon, and Ishka Triple Malt Whiskey. Kerr Creek Distillery is a New York State Farm Distillery owned and operated by Matthew and Jessica White and her parents Bob and Loretta Beckman. Silver Moon Vodka is made from a proprietary blend of locally grown potatoes, cane sugar, and fresh mountain spring water. It took several years to find the right blend of potatoes used to craft this vodka. One of the potatoes included is Katahdin, an heirloom variety developed on Presque Isle Maine in 1932. Cane sugar makes the potatoes easier to work with and avoids the need for chemical clearing agents. Read more
Review: Arctic Chill Hard Seltzer The Weekender Mix
Arctic Summer Hard Seltzer was released April 2019. The name was changed to Arctic Chill August 31, 2020. It is created by Bay Brewing Company and Polar Seltzer. The alcohol base is made from 100% cane sugar at Harpoon Brewery’s facility in Boston and transported to Polar Seltzers facility in Worcester Massachusetts where it is carbonated and flavored with natural fruit flavors and essences. The Weekender mix is a 12 can variety pack with 3 cans each of their first four flavors, Raspberry Lime, Black Cherry, Ruby Red Grapefruit, and Pineapple Pomelo. April 2020 they added 5 new flavors. We hope to review those flavors in the near future. Arctic Chill is not the first collaboration between Harpoon and Polar. They previously got together to brew UFO wheat beer with the essence of Polar Blueberry Lemonade. Each 12 ounce slim can of Arctic Seltzer weighs in with 5% alcohol, 110 calories, 3 carbs and only 1 gram of sugar. Read more