Review: 4 Hands Strawberry Burst Hard Seltzer
4 Hands Strawberry Burst was released April 23 and is sold in 16 ounce, four can packs. It is one of 10 seasonal hard seltzers produced by 4 Hands in St Louis Missouri. They also produce three year round seltzers. 4 Hands Brewery was founded in 2011 by Kevin Lemp after his ten year career at E&J Gallo. 4 Hands is the largest craft brewery in St Louis. The brewery currently brews 39 Core, Seasonal, and Limited release beers. In 2018 they added spirits with the founding of 1220 Spirits. Strawberry Burst is made from a sugar alcohol base with natural flavors and was inspired by the iconic Starburst Strawberry candy square. Read more 
Review: Cambio Tequila Blanco
Cambio Tequila was founded by John des Rosiers a classically trained chef who began his career at age 15 working in a fine dining French restaurant. At age 30 he opened his first restaurant, Inovasi in Lake Bluff Illinois as chef and proprietor. His wife’s family lives in the Highland region of Jalisco. Four years ago John toured 18 different distilleries before partnering with ZB Distillery to craft his tequila. Today we are reviewing Cambio Tequila Blanco. It is crafted from 100% blue weber agave estate grown on Ruvalferti Farmland in the Highlands of Jalisco. Once trimmed the pinas are slow cooked whole in stone ovens. The rich juice is extracted with a traditional tahona wheel and slow fermented at extremely low temperatures with wine yeast in open air without fibers in American white oak and Mexican pine lined fermentation tanks. The spirit is distilled to an uncommonly low proof-below 50% abv. and is reduced to 92 proof with local deep well water. The tequila rests 45 days in used French oak wine barrels. Read more
Review: Twin Spirits M Vodka
When stay at home mother of 4 boys Michelle Winchester was about to turn 50 she was looking for a big change. After attending a conference at the American Distilling Institute she was hooked. Michelle founded Twin Spirits in 2014 and purchased a 1920’s property in NE Minneapolis. After two years of renovation she opened her distillery. It was the first woman owned distillery in Minnesota. The distillery went on to craft vodka, gin, rum, whiskey and Mamma’s Moonshine. Twin Spirits M Vodka is double distilled on a Hillbilly Stills 100 gallon column still from 100% domestic raw cane sugar. Due to her own health issues Michelle closed Twin Spirits Distillery at the end of 2023. Their spirits are still available in Minnesota including Total Wine & More stores while their current supply lasts. Read more
Review: Casa Mexico Reposado Cristalino
Casa Mexico Reposado Cristalino was launched January 2024 joining the previously released Casa Mexico Blanco, Reposdo, and Anejo. While no age statement is provided for their cristalino, Casa Mexico Reposado is aged 6 months in American oak barrels. Casa Mexico was founded by Don Buccio, Mario Lopez, and Oscar De La Hoya. Casa Mexico is made from 100% weber blue agave estate grown for 8 years in the red clay soil of the Highlands of Arandas on land Don Buccio acquired 20 years ago. The agave is slow cooked for 2 days in brick ovens. Once cooled the pinas are crushed in a tahona mill to extract the juice which is then naturally fermented and double distilled in copper stills and matured in American oak barrels. A three phase carbon cellulose filtration process follows before bottling. Read more
Review: Roaring Fork Vodka
Roaring Fork Vodka is make from 100% corn at Woody Creek Distillery at an elevation of 6610 feet in Basalt Colorado. Woody Creek started as a potato vodka distillery and now they also craft award winning Bourbon, Gin, and Rye. The Woody Creek story starts with co-owners Pat Scanlon and Mark Kleckner’s love of Chopin vodka and their desire to craft the worlds best potato vodka. While on vacation in Maine they met David Matthews, then a property manager on Nautilus Island who had experience working part time at Cold River Vodka distilling potato vodka. After some gentle persuasion Mark, Pat, and third co-owner Mary Scanlon convinced David to move to Colorado to distill vodka from potatoes grown on Pat’s 130 acre farm. In my opinion their Woody Creek Vodka is one of the worlds best tasting vodka’s. Which leads us to Roaring Fork vodka. When they first started making vodka from potato’s the cost was about $1200 a batch compared to about $170 if it was made from corn. Tito’s, Smirnoff, New Amsterdam the 3 top selling vodka in the US are all made from corn and all are priced at a much lower price point than Woody Creek Vodka. Roaring Fork Vodka is distilled from 100% corn on a custom Carl still and blended with mountain spring water softened and filtered through reverse osmosis. Read more
Review: New Amsterdam Tangerine Vodka
New Amsterdam Vodka recently released Tangerine, their 15th different flavored vodka. Only 13 of these flavors are currently produced. Citron, and Orange no longer appear on the New Amsterdam Vodka web page. Their current flavor lineup includes Red Berry, Grapefruit, Mango, Lemon, Watermelon, Passion Fruit, Apple, Pineapple, Peach, Raspberry, Coconut, and Pink Whitney. New Amsterdam Tangerine is made from a 100% corn, 5 time distilled, and three time filtered vodka base. It is infused with tangerine and other natural flavors before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Cazcabel Tequila Blanco
Cazcabel Tequila was launched in 2014 and while it was available overseas it wasn’t released in the US until 2023. It was originally distilled at NOM 1460, Compania Tequilera de Arandas it is now produced at their new distillery Tequila Artesanal de Los Altos de Jalisco located in Atotonilco El Alto Jalisco. Cazcabel is independently owned and led by the Vazquez family with 4 generations of agave farmers and tequila producing experience. Cazcabel is currently available in 6 expressions Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and Coconut, Honey, and Coffee flavored. Cazcabel Tequila Blanco is made with their own grown 100% Blue Weber agave. The hand selected agave grown at least 7 years is steamed for over 26 hours at 95 degrees in brick ovens. The extracted juice is fermented in steel tanks for 10 days and distilled in copper pot and steel tanks. The spirit is chill filtered before bottling certified additive free. Read more
Review: Maestro Dobel 50 Cristalino Extra Anejo Tequila
Maestro Dobel 50 Cristalino Extra Anejo Tequila was launched in the US October 2020 to celebrate the 50th birthday of 11th generation tequila maker Juan Dobel. Juan oversees the production of all Maestro Dobel tequilas. Maestro Dobel and Don Julio are both credited with creating the worlds first cristalino tequilas. Maestro Dobel 50 Cristalino is made from 100% blue weber agave grown in the Lowlands on their family estate. The agave is cooked in an autoclave and double distilled. The spirit is aged for a minimum three years in American and Eastern European oak barrels. A proprietary carbon filtration removes the color before it is hand bottled. Read more
Review: Hinterhaus North Grove Vodka
Hinterhaus North Grove Vodka was the first spirit released when Nate and Bonnie Randall opened Hinterhaus Distilling Company in Arnold California March 2020. The distillery built at a 4000 foot altitude in the Arnold Plaza Shopping Center, was named in honor of their German family roots, and the “Hinterland” at their doorsteps in the vast Sierra Nevada wilderness. They currently also craft gin, whiskey, bourbon, and rye. Their son Keagan Randall fills four bottles at a time from an automated dispenser then slides the bottles to three other production workers who seal, label, and box the bottles. North Grove Vodka is made from 100% sulfite free big bodied California red wines including Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from local Calaveras County wineries. It is small batch distilled on a custom hybrid pot still with a 20 plate column still and bottled additive free. Read more
Review: Amatitena Tequila Blanco
Amatitena Tequila Blanco is made from single estate agave using artisanal methods that date back to the early 1900’s. Master Distiller Don Alberto Partida is a fifth generation Maestro Tequilero and a 6th generation agave grower. He began distilling tequila at the age of 12 at the family’s Puerta de Hierro distillery. Each label denotes the field or parcel of land within the Partida Family Estate on which the agave was grown. It also notes the year the agave was planted. The agave from the bottle I’m sampling was grown on Las Tripitas and planted in 2018. The trimmed agave is cooked in a rare type of traditional stone oven which burns mesquite wood to cook the agave. The cooked agave is milled using a Tahona wheel. The juice and fibers are fermented in wooden tanks with spring water and ambient yeast. The spirit is double distilled in 19th century alembic copper pots and bottled additive free. Read more