Review: Kirkland Silver Tequila
After a brief absence, Kirkland Silver Tequila is back on the shelves at Costco. If you think the bottle looks a little different, it does. Kirkland Silver Tequila is also now distilled at a different distillery, La Madrilena. It had been distilled at Fabrica de Tequila Finos, so I expect the taste to be different also. La Madrilena was founded in 1911 in Totolan Jalisco Mexico. They produce several tequila’s, including Piedra Azul, and Xicote. Kirkland Silver is double distilled from 100% Weber Blue Agave grown in the Highland region. It is still sold in a 1.75L bottle, and priced under $20. Read more 
Review: Novo Fogo Silver Cachaca
Novo Fogo Silver Cachaca is one of the worlds most earth friendly spirits, and as such they are the ideal spirit to review today on Earth Day. Cachaca, or Brazilian rum as it is also known, is made from sugar cane similar to rhum Agricole, and not the molasses used to produce most Caribbean rum. Novo Fogo is crafted from organic sugar cane at a zero waste distillery built into the slope of a hill so the liquids can flow from room to room by gravity instead of motorized pumps. The sugar cane is hand cut with machetes and immediately transported to the distillery. The cane is pressed within hours. The juice contains about 15% sugar. The dried up sugar cane pulp is used as fuel to fire stills and also as a natural compost to fertilize the fields. Once the sugarcane juice has been filtered, wild yeast cultivated from their own cane is added to a steel tank and fermented for 24 hours, producing a wine. The sugarcane wine is distilled in a copper pot still. Only the heart of the spirit is captured, yielding 130 liters of cachaça. The cachaca rests in stainless steel tanks for 1 year to smoothen without changing its flavor. Novo Fogo is not chill filtered, and filled in recycled glass bottles. Read more
Review: Effen Yuzu Citrus Vodka
Effen Yuzu Citrus Vodka was just released. It joins a flavor lineup that includes, Green Apple, Raspberry, Black Cherry, Cucumber, Blood Orange, and Rose. Yuzu fruit originated in China, and grows to the size of a tangerine. The Effen vodka base is made from premium wheat grown in Northern Holland. Effen uses a continuous distillation process where the liquid circulates within giant stainless steel columns and is effectively distilled hundreds of times. Heating during distillation occurs at temperatures below 85 degrees creating a vodka without any trace of burnt sugar. Effen is filtered 5 times through active carbon. Pure spring water filtered through reverse osmosis is blended with the vodka for several days to reduce to proof. Natural yuzu and citrus flavors are infused before bottling at 75 proof in a yellow polymer sleeved bottle. Read more
Review: New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka
New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka was just released. The bottles painted trim is brown for those keeping track at home. For those unfamiliar with New Amsterdam, their flavored vodka comes in bottles matching the fruit flavors with corresponding bottle trim colors. NA Gluten Free joins a vodka lineup that includes 9 flavored vodka’s, a 100 proof vodka, and their Original New Amsterdam Vodka. These vodka’s are all made from “the finest grains”. No specific grains are listed. New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka is made from “the finest corn” grown in the heartlands. It is distilled five times and meticulously filtered three times before bottling at 80 proof. Only Smirnoff and Tito’s sell more vodka in the US. Last year New Amsterdam sold over 5 million cases of vodka. Not bad considering their first bottle was sold in 2011. Read more
Review: Absolut Juice Strawberry Edition
Absolut Juice Strawberry Edition was just released along with an Apple Edition. The bottles label hints at a seasonal release, with Summer notched for each of these two flavors. If you are a fan of flavored vodka’s, I’m sure you have already noticed several real fruit juice infused flavored vodka’s. Absolut Strawberry is made from Swedish winter wheat sourced from 450 local farms. One kilo of wheat is needed to produce one liter of vodka. The wheat is milled onsite, blended with water, a proprietary yeast, and fermented for 2 days. A continuous distillation process is used with steel column stills and copper plates. The spirit is filtered once through a mesh filter. Pure deep well water that comes from naturally filtered aquifers is softened through reverse osmosis and then blended with the spirit to reduce to proof. 5% real strawberry juice, and natural flavors are infused with the vodka before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Ciroc Summer Watermelon Vodka
Ciroc Summer Watermelon Vodka was just released. Summer Watermelon is a Limited Edition flavor. It joins a flavor lineup that already includes 9 year round flavors. Last years Limited Edition flavor, Summer Colada is still available, while supplies last. To create Summer Watermelon Sean “Diddy” Combs worked with DJ Khaled and Diageo to develop the flavor profile. The vodka base is made from a blend of Ugni Blanc and Mauzac Blanc Grapes. The juice is made into wine. The wine is distilled four times in stainless column stills by Master Distiller Jean-Sebastien Robicquet at his 500 year old family owned Maison Villevert Distillery. A fifth distillation follows in a traditional custom copper pot still at Distillerie de Chevanceaux in the South of France. The vodka is infused with a blend of watermelon and natural flavors before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Bacardi Lime Rum
Bacardi Lime Rum was just released. It is Bacardi’s 9th flavored rum. The other flavors include Limon, Coconut, Dragonberry, Pineapple, Mango, Raspberry, Banana, and Grapefruit. Bacardi Lime is made from a molasses rum base. The molasses is fermented for 30 hours with a single strain of yeast, Le Levadura Bacardi, in closed fermentation tanks. The fermented molasses is split. Some is column distilled, and some beer distilled. Each is aged separately in charred American white oak barrels previously used to age bourbon. Once mature the rums are blended and filtered through a mix of charcoal made from tropical woods and coconut shells. Natural flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Astral Blanco Tequila
Astral Blanco Tequila is crafted at La Cofradia. This distillery also creates several tequila’s including Casa Noble, Calende, Grand Mayan, and Senor Rio. Astral was founded by Master Sommelier Richard Betts. He also founded Sombra Mezcal. Both brands were acquired by Davos Brands March 2017 but Richard Betts retains a significant interest. Astral is made from 100% organic Weber Blue agave grown for 8-10 years at high elevation in the mountains on a single estate in the western edge of Jalisco. The agave is slow roasted in traditional volcanic stone ovens. The agave is crushed and the juice is fermented with the agave pulp and wild native yeast. This process takes up to ten times longer than conventional methods but results in maximum agave character. After a double distillation Astral is bottled at 92 proof. The vast majority of tequila is bottled at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Stoli Lime Vodka
Stoli Lime Vodka was just released. After shortening their flavored vodka lineup, Stoli is now rebuilding. They recently added Stoli Crushed Strawberry, the fourth member of their Crushed, real fruit juice infused vodka brand they launched in 2016. Stoli Lime joins a lineup that includes Stoli Cucumber, introduced last year. Stoli Lime starts with a vodka base made from estate grown winter wheat from fields in the Tambov region surrounding their distillery. The spirit is triple distilled. The spirit travels to the historic Latvijas Balzarns in Riga Latvia, where pure artesian well water is blended to reduce to proof. The vodka is quadruple filtered through a series that includes quartz, Siberian birch, and tightly woven cloth. Natural lime flavor is infused before bottling at 75 proof. Read more
Review: Arcadia Grapefruit Vodka
Arcadia Grapefruit Vodka is one of eight flavored vodka’s distilled and infused at the OHSO Brewery and Distillery in Scottsdale Arizona. The other seven flavors include Meyer Lemon, Orange, Coffee, Horseradish, Jalapeno, Cucumber, and Rosemary. I have enjoyed OHSO beers for years while vacationing in Arizona. Arcadia Grapefruit starts with a vodka base distilled from sugarcane. Dried grapefruit peel is soaked in vodka. The infused vodka is then redistilled and the distillate is mixed with real grapefruit peel extract and the natural sugars and acids found in real grapefruit: sucrose, glucose, fructose, citric acid, and malic acid. Read more