Review: 896 5 Year Old Rum
896 5 Year Old Rum is made from a blend of rums distilled and aged for a minimum 5 years in Barbados. Sitting next to 896 5 Year Old Rum on the shelf at Total Wine and More is 896 8 Year Old Rum. Both are imported and bottled by Universal Brands in Princeton Minnesota. If you have ever visited a Total Wine and More, I have no doubt you are amazed at the selection of beer, wine, and spirits they carry. While they sell most of the top name brand spirits you would expect, they specialize in selling local craft spirits, along with spirits you just can’t find at any of your local liquor stores. Some of these spirits are hidden gems from craft distillers that would never make there way to your state if not for Total Wine and More. Others are produced or bottled by some of the nations biggest private label distilleries including the one in Princeton Minnesota that produces 896 Rum. Unfortunately little or no information is available about these products. I often stay away from these products because as a reviewer there is very little to write about other than the actual product review. I purchased this bottle because I am a big fan of rum produced in Barbados and since it was on sale for $13.99 I thought I would give it a shot. Read more 
Review: Bacardi Anejo Cuatro Rum
Bacardi Anejo Cuatro Rum was just released. If Bacardi Anejo sounds familiar it is. Bacardi Anejo was produced from a recipe dating back to 1862 and aged up to three years before bottling. As the name would imply Bacardi Anejo Cuatro is a rum that has been aged a minimum four years in oak barrels. Bacardi includes some 5 and 6 year old rum in this blend. As a comparison Bacardi Superior is aged for a minimum one year with some of the rum aged up to three years before blending. Bacardi Cuatro is part of a lineup that includes Ocho 8 year old, and Limitada, a rum aged up to 16 years. Gran Reserva Diez, a 10 year old rum will soon join this lineup. Read more
Review: Belvedere Ginger Zest Vodka
Belvedere Ginger Zest Vodka is set for release in April. I was luck enough to pick up a bottle a little early. Belvedere Ginger Zest starts with a vodka base made from Dankowski rye and pure water. The water is sourced from their own wells and undergoes an 11 step purification process that includes reverse osmosis. The spirit is distilled four times and is filtered twice. Once through carbon followed by a finer mechanical filtration process. The flavors and aromas of fresh ginger, lemon, and grapefruit are extracted in a proprietary maceration process. These extracted oils are blended with the vodka. No sugar is added before bottling at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Stoli Cucumber Vodka
Stoli Cucumber Vodka will soon be arriving at local liquor stores nationwide. This is the first new flavored vodka Stoli has produced using their signature Stolichnaya vodka base since 2012. They did launch Stoli Crushed Pineapple and Stoli Crushed Ruby Red Grapefruit, two gluten free vodka’s made from corn and buckwheat that are flavored with natural fruit juice and bottled at 60 proof last year. Stoli Crushed Mango is coming soon. Stoli Cucumber is made from estate grown winter wheat, from fields in the Tambov region surrounding their distillery. The spirit is triple distilled. Pure artesian well water is blended to reduce to proof and the vodka is quadruple filtered through a series that includes quartz, Siberian Birch, and tightly woven cloth. While most flavored vodka’s are bottled at 70 proof, and some as low as 60 proof, Stoli Cucumber Vodka weighs in at 75 proof. Read more
Review: Skyy Infusions Sun Ripened Watermelon Vodka
Skyy Infusions Sun Ripened Watermelon Vodka will soon be released. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle a little early. This is not the first watermelon flavored vodka Skyy has produced. Three years ago Skyy Vodka released a 60 proof line of flavored vodka under the Skyy Barcraft product line. One of those three flavors was Watermelon Fresca. The Barcraft line is no longer produced. Sun Ripened Watermelon is the one of 15 flavors in the current Skyy Infusions line up. Watermelon continues to be a popular flavor ingredient for both beer and spirits. This will be my 13th Watermelon flavored vodka review. The vodka base is made from Midwestern grown wheat quadruple distilled in Pekin Illinois. Once in San Jose the spirit is triple filtered through California limestone and blended with water filtered through reverse osmosis. Natural watermelon flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: The Real McCoy 5 Year Old Rum
The Real McCoy 5 Year Old Rum is produced at the Four Square Distillery in Barbados. The Real McCoy brand of rum is named for Bill McCoy the pioneer rum runner of the Prohibition era. He was the first person to load his boat with rum and sail up to New York in January of 1920. He parked his boat 3 miles of the coast in international waters so as to obey the law. His rum was never cut with turpentine, wood alcohol, prune juice or water as many others did. His rum soon became know as the Real McCoy because it was unadulterated. Bailey Pryor while producing a documentary of the life of Bill McCoy found the distillery that supplied Bill McCoy his rum. After speaking with forth generation master distiller Richard Seale he launched the Real McCoy brand. The rum is created in a classic dry rum style which was the style Bill McCoy sold from his ocean parked boat. The rum is made from black strap molasses, yeast, and pure spring water. After a 44 hour fermentation in a closed top tank, the molasses wine is split in half. Half is distilled in a 2 column Coffey still and the other half is distilled in a 1500 liter copper pot still. The rums are aged separately for 5 years in heavy char American oak bourbon barrels. Once mature these rums are blended. Barbados spring water is then mixed to reduce to 80 proof. No sugars, perfumes, or coloring are added before bottling. Read more
Review: Tullamore DEW XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish
Tullamore DEW XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish is made with the same recipe as Tullamore DEW Original. It is triple distilled and a triple blend of pot still, malt and grain Irish whiskey. The whiskey is finished in first fill XO rum casks previously used to age Demerara rum. Tullamore DEW XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish pays tribute to the role of Irish immigrants in the development of rum in the Caribbean in the 17th century. This is not the first Tullamore DEW finished in a second cask. They also produce Tullamore DEW Cider Cask Finish. Read more
Review: Two Founders 80 Acres Vodka
Two Founders 80 Acres Vodka was recently released. I found my bottle at Total Wine and More. Two Founders is one of several vodka varieties that are bottled in Princeton Minnesota that I only seem to find at Total Wine and More stores. Two Founders is made from corn grown in Iowa, presumable on an 80 acre farm. The spirit is distilled five times in Iowa before heading to Princeton Minnesota to be bottled at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Bacardi 8 Anos Rum
Bacardi 8 Anos Rum was originally created in 1862. It was the exclusive party rum of the Bacardi family for over 130 years, and still today it only exists in very limited stock. The Bacardi Company got its start when Don Facundo Bacardi Masso purchased a distillery in 1862 in Cuba for 3500 pesos. They continued producing rum in Cuba until 1960 when their distillery was seized as part of the Cuban Revolution. Since then they have been distilling their rum in Puerto Rico. This molasses based rum is fermented with a single strain of yeast, Le Levadura Bacardi. After distilling, the spirit is aged for a minimum 8 years in oak barrels, and then blended by their Master Blender. Read more
Review: Powers Gold Label Irish Whiskey
Powers Gold Label Irish Whiskey is a brand that has been around since 1886 when John Power and Son Distillery began bottling this whiskey with a gold label. Until then casks of whiskey were sold to merchants and bonders who would bottle the whiskey. The Powers Gold Label Irish Whiskey produced today is a blend of triple distilled pot still whiskey and grain whiskey. Both are matured in American oak casks, non chill filtered, blended, and bottled at 86.4 proof. The previous version was chill filtered and weighed in at 80 proof. To see my thoughts on Powers Gold Label 80 Proof, check out yesterdays review. Read more