Review: 21st Amendment Sparkale Tropical
Sparkale Tropical was just released. It is crafted at 21st Amendment by Co-Founder and Brewmaster Shaun O’Sullivan. Shaun opened the distillery in 2000 with Co-Founder Nico Freccia. The brewery is named for, you guessed it the 21st Amendment. The repeal of Prohibition. Prohibition had shut down thousands of small breweries across America and the forty something that operated in and around San Francisco at the time. Sparkale Tropical joins a lineup that already includes Hell or High Watermelon, Brew Free or Die IPA, and 1966, a Coffee IPA brewed with Peet’s Ethiopian Supernatural whole coffee beans, just to mention a few. Sparkale is a Sparkling Rose Ale Style of beer and a followup to their Sparkale Sparkling Rose Ale made with apple, cranberry, peach, and cherries. Rose Ale is a new style of beer that typically uses grapes in the fermentation process but not always. Surly Brewing Company makes their Rose Lager with black currant and strawberry’s. Real premium fruit including pineapple, coconut, and apple are sourced from a longtime purveyor partner and used in crafting Sparkale Tropical, which is now available in 30 states. Read more 
Review: Whisper Creek Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Liqueur
Whisper Creek Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Liqueur is produced at Pennington Distilling CO. in Nashville Tennessee. It is made from premium aged charcoal mellowed Tennessee Whiskey made at Speakeasy Spirits. Fresh dairy cream and natural flavors are blended before filling their old-time milk jug with the 40 proof spirit. Whisper Creek is made from a 100% whiskey base. Most Irish Cream liqueurs supplement their Irish Whiskey base with neutral grain spirits. Jenny and Jeff Pennington launched their Original Whisper Creek Tennessee Sipping Cream in 2012 and have since added Whisper Creek Mocha Cream, and Whisper Creek Pumpkin Spice Cream. Read more
Review: Bellewood Farms Vodka
Bellewood Farms Vodka is a true farm to glass spirit made from a blend of apple varieties grown on the farm the spirit is distilled and bottled on. Bellewood Farms is a 31 acre farm owned by The Abel Family. They currently grow 24 apple varieties including Ambrosia, Belle de Boskoop, Bellewood Prince, Brown Snout, Everycrisp, Fuji, Gala, Golden Supreme, Gravenstein, Honeycrisp, Idared, Jonagold, Jonamac, Kingston Black, Mountain Rose, McIntosh, Orin, Sansa, School House Red, Sonata, Sunrise, Tsugaru, Yarlington Mill, and Zestar apples. Who knew there were that many apple varieties. In addition to farming the apples, they produce a line of spirits that includes their original Bellewood Farms Vodka , Honeycrisp Apple Vodka, Raspberry Vodka, Gin, Brandy, and a new Coffee Liqueur. Bellewood Farms Vodka is crafted with a variety of fresh picked apples from their farm. The apples are pressed into a cider and fermented with a proprietary yeast. The spirit is distilled in a 24 foot tall 250 gallon column Vendome still custom build in Kentucky, before hand bottling at 93 proof. Read more
Review: Seis Hermanas Blanco Tequila
Seis Hermanas Blanco Tequila is no longer produced, but it is still available from several online retailers including Old Town Tequila in San Diego. I found this bottle on a back shelf in my bar while I was actually looking for another unreviewed tequila. Being a baseball fan I enjoy visiting different baseball parks and one of my biggest regrets is never seeing a game in the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit. I’ve heard good things about Seis Hermanas Blanco and if it’s as good as some say, I’d like to pass the word around while it is still available so those interested won’t miss out like I did with Tiger Stadium. Seis Hermanas translates to six sisters, and it is six sisters who created the brand to honor their father who grew up in the small town of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico with a dream of sharing his Mexico with the world. It was made at Feliciano Vivanco y Asociados. This distillery currently produces 20 tequila brands including Yeyo, Siembra Azul, Arte NOM Seleccion de 1414, Tequila Cabeza, and Tequila Honor Del Castillo. Read more
Review: Henry’s Hard Sparkling Water Fruit Fusion Variety Pack
Henry’s Hard Sparkling Water is currently available in two variety packs. The previously reviewed Henry’s Tropical, and this one, Henry’s Fruit Fusion. Henry’s is one of Miller-Coors two hard seltzer brands. The other is Vizzy. A third, Coors Hard Seltzer is set to launch in July with 4 flavors, Black Cherry, Lemon Lime, Mango, and Grapefruit. Unlike most of today’s hard seltzer’s that are made from a cane sugar, or corn syrup alcohol base, Henry’s is made from a malt beverage alcohol base. Natural flavors are added. Each can of Henry’s weighs in at 88 calories with 4.2% alcohol and 0 Sugar grams. Read more
Review: Malibu Strawberry Rum
Malibu Strawberry joins a flavor lineup that already includes Original Malibu, Malibu Lime, Malibu Pineapple, Malibu Mango, Malibu Passion Fruit, Malibu Tropical Banana, Malibu Black, and Malibu Red. Malibu Strawberry is not the first strawberry flavored rum on the market, we have already reviewed Cruzan Strawberry and Parrot Bay Strawberry. It is also not Malibu’s first strawberry rum, they introduced Malibu Swirl Strawberries and Cream, May 2012, but later discontinued production. As with all Malibu flavored rums they start with a rum base triple distilled at West Indies Distillery in Barbados. The rum is made from molasses created with Caribbean cane sugar and pure water. A proprietary yeast is used to ferment prior to distillation. The rum is then shipped to Canada where it is blended with a Strawberry Liqueur and bottled at 42 proof. Read more
Review: Porters Small Batch Rye
Porters Small Batch Rye was launched May 2019 with the release of 1000 cases. Rye whiskey was the most popular form of whiskey in America until Prohibition in 1919. Today Rye Whiskey is one of the fastest growing spirits in the US. Porters is made from a 95/5 mash bill of rye and barley. It is distilled and aged for one year in Indiana at the MGP distillery. The 111 proof whiskey is transported to Ogden’s Own Distillery in Ogden Utah where it is further aged in heavy charred new oak barrels for over 3 years. The whiskey is blended down to 90 proof with water sourced from a hidden spring only accessible by foot. This pure spring water is brought down 5 gallons at a time. Read more
Review: Bacoo 8 Year Old Rum
Two years ago I reviewed Bacoo 5 year old rum. It is one of the best tasting 5 year old rums I’ve tried. While I was anxious to find Bacoo 8 year old rum, distribution is limited and it took until now to get my hands on a bottle. Bacoo is named for a mischievous mythological spirit claimed to be found in empty corked rum bottles floating in the Caribbean. Once freed he lives on banana’s and milk. As long as you keep your Bacoo happy and well fed he will grant your wishes. Bacoo rum is made from estate grown cane sugar grown on the island of Dominican Republic. The fresh cane juice is fermented, then distilled in unique copper stills, and aged in ex-bourbon barrels for 8 years in before bottling at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Bon Viv Spiked Seltzer Blends Variety Pack
Bon Viv Spiked Seltzer Blends Variety Pack is one of two 12 can four flavor variety packs sold by this Anheuser Busch owned brand. Not only did Nick Shields create the first hard seltzer when he introduced Spiked Seltzer in 2013, but it was also AB’s entry into the hard seltzer market when they acquired the brand in 2016. For the record AB now controls four hard seltzer brands including Bud Light Seltzer, Kona Spiked Island Seltzer, and Natural Light Seltzer. Bon Viv is made from purified water, cold fermented corn syrup, champagne yeast, natural flavors, sodium citrate, and malted rice. Read more
Review: D George Benham Vodka
D George Benham Vodka is crafted in Sonoma County California from a blend of 50% non GMO Nebraska corn, 35% Organic Italian wheat, 10% Sonoma County Merlot and Zinfandel grapes, 5% Minnesota and North Dakota rye, and pure water from the lower Russian River aquifer. The water is naturally filtered as it passes through layers of volcanic alluvial soil. The grain and the grapes are distilled individually in a custom built continuous micro column still and charcoal filtered. Only 8 hands touch this spirit from start to finish. Read more