Review: Pollinator Vodka
Pollinator Vodka is produced and bottled at Catskill Provisions Distillery in Long Eddy New York. Catskill Provisions founder Claire M Marin was born in Madrid and raised in New York. She previously was the publisher for Women’s Day magazine. In 2003 she moved to Long Eddy and started beekeeping as a hobby and today she tends to over 300 beehives. She launched Catskills Provisions in 2010 and now supplies honey and maple syrup to over 300 restaurants. In 2013 working with another distiller she launched a Honey Rye Whiskey. In 2018 she built her own distillery in a former firehouse on her 40 acre property. The distillery currently produces 2 rye whiskeys, 2 gins, maple bourbon, amaro, and Pollinator Vodka. Pollinator Vodka is made from New York Non GMO corn, and New York wildflower honey. Once distilled it is proofed down with pure mineral rich Catskill Mountain spring water before bottling at 90 proof. Read more 
Review: Dos Angeles Caidos Tequila Blanco
Dos Angeles Caidos Tequila was founded by Yahaira Nunez, a Biochemical Engineer who was born and raised in Sinaloa Mexico. She partnered with Hacienda de Oro and Jaime Villalobos Sauza a fifth generation Tequila Master to craft her brand. Hacienda de Oro, ” House of Gold” currently produces 29 tequila brands including 4 Copas, Entremanos, Hacienda de Oro, and Suave. Dos Angeles Caidos Tequila Blanco is made from 100% Weber Blue agave grown in the Lowland Region. The agave is cooked in an autoclave for 12 hours and once extracted the juice undergoes a natural fermentation with wild yeast from the Amatitan Valley in an open air stainless steel tank. After a double distillation the tequila is chill filtered before bottling additive free in a recycled glass bottle. Read more
Review: 46 Peaks Potato Vodka
46 Peaks Potato Vodka is made from potatoes grown on Tucker Farms in Gabriels New York in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains at Lake Placid Spirits. Michael McGlynn, the son of ski instructors first came up with the idea to open a distillery in 1993. At the time he owned a specialty ski and sporting goods store that had declining sales and he was going through a divorce. Michael not only owns Lake Placid Spirits he is their distiller. In 2008 he introduced their first product, P3 Placid Vodka. A grain based vodka filtered through garnets. 46 Peaks Potato Vodka gets it’s name from the 46 Adirondack Mountains High Peaks. It was their second spirit when it was launched in 2010. 46 Peaks is distilled in a custom column and copper pot still, then blended with filtered crisp clean water drawn directly from Lake Placid. It is charcoal filtered, followed by a final filtration through crystals from the Herkimer Diamond mines. Read more
Review: Montagave Heritage Blanco Tequila
One quick glance at the bottle’s golden pink hued liquid shows Montagave Heritage Blanco is not your typical transparent uncolored blanco tequila. My bottle is from Lote 404. The Montagave tequila story began in 2019 when Lucie and John Melvin looked for a way to mesh her French and his Texan heritage for their upcoming wedding. They settled on maturing a single estate tequila in a single fill Cabernet Sauvignon French oak barrel sourced from a French winemaker, to serve at their wedding. John had previously worked at Andalusia Whiskey Distillery a single malt, grain to glass distillery in Blanco Texas, so it didn’t take long to start planning on creating their own tequila brand. John and Lucie partnered with Master Distiller Salvador Rosales Trejo and Cascahuin Distillery in El Arsenal Jalisco Mexico to craft the tequila. The Rosales family began distilling tequila in 1904 and now their fourth generation continues the family legacy. Montagave is made from 100% agave grown in the valley and deep mineral rich well water. Once trimmed the pinas are brick oven cooked for 72 hours. A roller mill extracts the juice which is naturally fermented in an open air stainless steel container. A double pot still distillation follows. The spirit is then aged for 45 days in Grand Cru Bordeaux barrels. Some of the earlier Lote’s only sat in a barrel 29 days. 14 barrels are used in each batch. 9 first fill Pape Clement wine barrels and 5 second fill Bordeaux barrels. Once matured the tequila barrels are blended, and bottling additive free at 82 proof. Read more
Review: Eleven Lakes Vodka
Eleven Lakes Vodka is crafted at Yankee Distillers in the heart of Saratoga County across the street from Shmalz Brewing Co. in Clifton Park New York. Eleven Lakes is named for the eleven Finger Lakes that lie within a triangle between Syracuse, Rochester, and Elmira-Corning. The distillery was founded by Matt Jager, Walter Kleemeier, and Scott Luning and opened July 2015. All three previously worked at Albany Distilling Company. Matt a former Business School Teacher at The College of Saint Rose Co-Founded Albany Distilling Co. with John Curtin. Yankee Distillers is a New York State Farm Distillery and as such they are required to use a minimum of 75% NYS raw materials in their spirits. They currently make rye, bourbon, white rum, amber rum and vodka. Eleven Lakes Vodka is made from Finger Lakes wheat grown on Inverness Farms and malted wheat from Valley Malt Farms. It is small batch distilled on a custom Italian made copper still at their 9000 foot facility. Read more
Review: Tequila Revolucion Blanco
Tequila Revolucion Tequila was launched in 1995 by Juan Carlos Arav who partnered with Tequila Cascahuin to craft his tequila. Tequila Revolucion Blanco is handcrafted in El Arenal Jalisco from 100% tequilana weber blue agave grown in the Lowland region. The trimmed pinas are cut in half and cooked in masonry ovens. Once cooled they are milled no more than twice to obtain the true pulps of the plant. The juice is fermented with natural yeast in stainless steel tanks and distilled in stainless steel stills with copper coils. Read more
Review: Vusa Vodka
Spearhead Spirits was founded in 2019 by Chris Frederick and Damola Timeyin with a mission to showcase spirits made in Africa using ingredients native to the continent. They partnered with Midlands Distillery and after 3 years of research and testing they launched Bayab Gin and Vusa Vodka. Today they also make 3 flavored vodka’s and 3 flavored gins. Mansas African Whisky and Sango African Agave are coming soon. Vusa Vodka is made from the finest South African cane grown in the heart of the Kwazula- Natal subtropical climate, sourced within a 50 mile radius of the distillery. Vusa is small batch triple distilled in a copper pot still, proofed with pure water from the Lion’s River in the hills of Kwazula-Natal, and filtered once through coconut shells. Read more
Review: Aman Tequila Blanco
Aman Tequila was founded by Gerardo Madrigal, a former Mathematics Professor at East Los Angeles College. Gerardo’s parents immigrated to Los Angeles from Nayarit Mexico in 1972 and they worked packing meat and shrimp for 30 years. On a family trip back to Mexico at age 9 Gerardo fell in love with the soils of Nayarit and the millions of blue agave plants. After acquiring a 6.35 hectare plot of land in Nayarit he began planting agave in 2014. He later built the first distillery in Nayarit Mexico. Aman Tequila is made by Master Distiller Hector Davalos at Hacienda Capellania. Hector’s father was a Chemical Engineer who worked at Tequila El Viejito for 25 years, and later partnered with Maestro Alcaraz Master Distiller for Patron for 15 years. Aman Tequila Blanco is made from 100% agave grown at a 3933 elevation in Nayarit. The agave is cooked in autoclave ovens and open air fermented in stainless tanks. After a double distillation the spirit is proofed with alkaline spring water. Read more
Review: Tenjaku Japanese Vodka
Tenjaku Japanese Vodka was launched in Japan February 2023, and released in the US in 2024. No specific distillery is listed on the bottles label but an internet search of Tenjaku Vodka leads me to the tenjakuwhiskyusa.com website. Besides vodka, Tenjaku also produces several whisky’s, and gin. Tenjaku Japanese Vodka is distilled from short grain Yamada Nishiki rice, Koji malt, and crystal clear stream water sourced 250 meters below the Mt. Fuji basin. Once the spirit is distilled it is finished using a birch and bamboo charcoal filtration system. Read more
Review: El Gran Legado De Vita Tequila Blanco
After a 15 year career in strategic marketing in the entertainment industry Steve Vera went a different direction. First he acquiring land in the Michoacan Region to plant agave, an estate that now numbers 1 million agaves. He later partnered with Tequila Cascahuin to craft his own tequila. This distillery currently produces tequila for 17 brands including Cascahuin, Wild Common, Loco, Montagave, and Siembra Valles. El Gran Legado De Vita Tequila Blanco is made from 100% single estate tequilana weber blue agave grown on Steve’s own estate. The agave is cooked in masonry ovens for 3 days then cooled for 24 hours before the agave juice is extracted using 100% roller mills. The juice is fermented for four days in a stainless steel tank then double distilled. First in a steel alembic pot still then a copper alembic pot still. Before bottling the tequila is stabilized in stainless steel tanks for 15 to 30 days. Read more