Review: Lift Bridge Hard Seltzer
Lift Bridge Hard Seltzer was launched April 2019. It is crafted at Lift Bridge Brewing Company in Stillwater Minnesota. Lift Bridge is named for the Stillwater Lift Bridge that connects Stillwater Minnesota with Houlton Wisconsin over the St. Croix River. Lift Bridge was founded in 2008 by home brewers Brad Glynn, Dan Schwarz, Trevor Cronk, and Jim Pierson and today they are the 6th largest Craft Brewery in the state of Minnesota. Today we are reviewing the three flavors sold in the Lift Bridge Hard Seltzer Variety 12 pack. Those flavors are Lift Bridge Voyageurs, Northwoods Juice Box, and Island Time. They also produce Lift Bridge St. Croix Berries and Blue Agave Margarita, which are sold in single variety six packs. Each flavor of Lift Bridge is made with filtered water, alcohol from dextrose sugar, and natural flavors. Read more 
Review: Coastal Creek Peanut Butter Whiskey
Coastal Creek Peanut Butter Whiskey was just released. It is a private label brand sold exclusively at Total Wine & More. CEO Steve Jackson sampled half a dozen formulas before selecting his favorite blend. It is made from a six month barrel aged Kentucky whiskey blended with a natural peanut extract sourced from London. While Coastal Creek is currently produced in Wisconsin the blending and bottling will soon move to a new distillery in Baltimore Maryland along with several other brands they produce including Ernie Els Iced Coffee, and IC Iced Coffee. Read more
Review: 2Docks Vodka
2Docks Vodka is crafted at Proof Artisan Distillers in Downtown Fargo North Dakota. 2Docks was the first spirit brothers Jay and Joel Kath released when they opened the distillery in 2015. Their current lineup includes a coffee liqueur, cinnamon whiskey, gin, Old Tom gin, Cream Liqueur, Glen Fargo American Malt Whiskey, Harvest Blend Bourbon, and Crooked Furrow Bourbon. The distillery was built in a historic building previously occupied by Fargo’s Municipal Court. A 25 foot copper still named The Judge, is located near the original judges chamber. 2Docks is made from Red River Valley potatoes. After fermenting a five pass distillation follows. The finished product is pure and natural without the use of activated carbon, chill filtering, or added sugar. Read more
Review: The Busker Triple Cask Irish Whiskey
The Busker Triple Cask Irish Whiskey is one of four new expression in The Busker product line that includes all four types of Irish Whiskey. Those are Single Grain, Single Pot Still, Single Malt, and Blend. The Busker Triple Cask is made from a high quality single grain and a very high percentage of single malt and single pot still whiskey. It is triple barrel aged in Marsala casks from Cantine Florio 1833, Spanish Oloroso cask, and American Bourbon casks. The Busker is crafted at Royal Oak Distillery. This distillery originally opened June 2016 as the Walsh Distillery. It was a 50-50 partnership between Bernard Walsh maker of Writers Tears and The Irishman, and Illva Saronna, the Italian Spirit maker of DiSaronno, and Tia Maria. January 2019 Illva Saronna acquired 100% ownership and renamed the distillery. Read more
Review: Civic Vodka
Civic Vodka is crafted from 100% North American grown Eastern Sweet Corn. Once distilled the spirit is charcoal polished 2300 times through a meter of activated charcoal. Civic is on of four spirits produced and bottled at Republic Restoratives Distillery in the Ivy City neighborhood of Washington DC. The others include Borough Bourbon, Chapmans Apple Brandy, and Purpose Rye. The distillery is women owned and crowd funded. Founders Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner worked in politics and policy before building the distillery. Read more
Review: Indigenous Fresh Pressed Apple Vodka
Indigenous Fresh Pressed Apple Vodka is made from 100% Hudson Valley apples grown on orchards less than five miles away from the distillery. About 80 apples are needed to produce 1, 750ml bottle of vodka. The apples are juiced into fresh apple cider, fermented, and triple distilled in a hybrid pot column still with 22 plates. The vodka is hand bottled, unfiltered. Initially called Heart of the Hudson Vodka when it was first released in 2005, it was the first vodka distilled from apples in the US and possibly the worlds first. The distillery was built by owners Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee in 2003 in one of the granaries of the Tuthilltown Gristmill which was built by Selah Tuthill in 1788 and operated for over 200 years. The Tuthilltown Distillery also produces Hudson Whiskey, the first legal whiskey in the state of New York since Prohibition. They also craft Indigenous Empire State Wheat Vodka and more recently Indigenous Corn Vodka. Read more
Review: Willies Superbrew Hard Seltzer
Willies Superbrew Hard Seltzer was started by a surfer and a goat farmer. It is currently available in 6 flavors. Three cans of four of these flavors are including in their 12 can variety pack. Those are Mango & Passion Fruit, Pomegranate & Acai, Pineapple & Lime, and Blueberry & Lemon. Ginger & Lemon, and Pear & Cinnamon are sold in their own six can packs. Willies Superbrew is the result of a chance meeting between Nico and Willie who met over a game of beach volleyball over a decade ago. Eventually Willie shared his prized ginger home brew with Nico. Soon they started making big batches to sell at local farmers markets. Every week they would sell out. From there with help from family, friends and $20,000 from Kickstarter they formed Willies Superbrew. Each variety is made from water, alcohol from cane sugar, fruit juice, & fruit concentrate. 3% of profits are donated to environmental causes every year. Last year that money was given to Coral Reef Alliance. Read more
Review: Mijenta Tequila Blanco
Mijenta Tequila Blanco was launched September 2020. Former Bacardi CEO Mike Dolan partnered with Maestra Tequilera Ana Maria Romero in crafting the brand. Mijenta Reposado is currently barrel aging. Mijenta is inspired by Mi Gente meaning “my people” and refers to a collective mind set. It is made from 100% agave grown in deep red soil in the Highland region. Once harvested and hand trimmed the agave is slow cooked and fermented with proprietary yeast strains. A triple distillation in pot stills follows. The tequila rests for 45 days prior to bottling unfiltered. All paper related components including the label and box are made from agave waste. Read more
Review: Whiskeysmith Banana Whiskey
Whiskeysmith Banana Whiskey was launched October 2020, along with Whiskeysmith Pineapple, and Whiskeysmith Chocolate. They join a flavored whiskey lineup that includes the previously reviewed PB&W Peanut Butter Whiskey. The Whiskeysmith brand appears to be associated with Old Elk Distillery, but they go out of their way to separate the Old Elk Whiskey and Whiskeysmith brands. It is unclear where Whiskeysmith is actually distilled and flavored. One possibility is the Old Elk Distillery in Fort Collins but there are some bread crumbs that hint at a possible Minnesota connection. Also unclear are the ingredients used to create this whiskey as none are included on their website, Facebook, or the bottles label. Read more
Review: Belching Beaver Hard Seltzer
Belching Beaver Hard Seltzer was launched September 2020. It is produced by Belching Beaver Brewery in Oceanside California. Belching Beaver Brewery was established 2012 by Tom Vogel, Troy Smith and Dave Mobley from their desire to make great beer and have a dam good time. The year round beer list includes Hazers Gonna Haze, Deftones Phantom Bride IPA, Here Comes Mango IPA, Me So Honey Blonde, and Peanut Butter Milk Stout. While they still love making beer, CEO Tom Vogel admits they were all packing on the pound so they developed a low carb, no sugar added easy drinking seltzer that weighs in with only 110 calories per 12 ounce serving. Belching Beaver is currently available in 3 varieties including Passion Fruit & Guava, Pineapple & Mango, and Raspberry & Blackberry. All are made from purified carbonated water, alcohol derived from cane sugar, and real fruit puree. Read more