Review: Henrys Hard Sparkling Passion Fruit
Henrys Hard Sparkling Passion Fruit is one of two hard sparkling water flavors just released by MillerCoors. The other flavor is Lemon Lime. By my count this is the seventh hard seltzer brand. Miller Coors is no stranger to creating malt beverages, as they already have a successful line of Hard Soda, Hard Cider, Hard Iced Tea, Hard Apple Ale, and oh yes they do a pretty good job brewing beer too. They are not alone, as this is the same path others including Anheuser Busch, Boston Beer Company, Smirnoff, and Mark Anthony Brands, the makers of Mikes Hard Lemonade have taken. For those not familiar with passion fruit it is most commonly used as a fruit juice or jam. The Passion fruit is native to South America from Brazil to Argentina and it is currently grown in Florida and California. If you have been to Hawaii you may know passion fruit as lilikoi. Henrys Hard Sparkling Passion Fruit is made with natural flavors and it weighs in at 93 calories. Read more 
Review: Cold River Vodka
Cold River Vodka was introduced in 2005. It is crafted along with a Blueberry vodka, a Barrel Aged vodka, and a gin at Maine Distilleries in Freeport Maine. While many vodkas made from a potato base use potato starch, Cold River Vodka is made from whole Yukon Gold, Russet, and White potatoes grown on the Green Thumb Farm owned by Donnie Thibodeau. He is one of the distilleries four partners that include his brother, a neurosurgeon at Maine Medical Center. The whole potatoes arrive at the distillery washed and in 2000 pound bags. 3-4 of these bags are dumped into a 1475 gallon kettle where they are steamed and cooked in filtered water. The potatoes are then fermented with yeast, before being triple distilled in a 1000 liter copper pot still. Water from Maine’s Cold River aquifer is filtered and blended with the vodka to reduce to 80 proof. Cold River Vodka is then bottled onsite. Read more
Review: Blue Chair Bay Key Lime Rum Cream
Blue Chair Bay Key Lime Rum Cream was recently released. I have been checking liquor stores shelves for weeks since I first heard of it’s existence. It is one of eight rum varieties Kenny Chesney has in his Blue Chair Bay product line. I have enjoyed all of them so far. Key Lime Rum Cream starts with a white rum base, distilled and aged in oak barrels at the West Indies Rum distillery in Barbados. The rum is shipped to Rochester New York where real cream, key lime, and other natural flavors are blended before bottling at 30 proof. Read more
Review: Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Silver Tequila
Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Silver Tequila is one of seven tequilas currently produced at Tequilera Milagro. The Milagro brand was launched in 1998 by Danny Schneeweiss and Moy Guindi. They selected Pedro Juarez, a Master Distiller with 35 years of experience to help craft their tequila. Everything about Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Silver Tequila appears special. From the hand blown glass pina in the bottom of the bottle, to the genuine cork top. Even the way it sounds poured through the long neck of the hollow bottomed bottle into my glass. The tequila is made from 100% estate grown agave. It is double distilled and aged for 30 days in oak barrels. Lets see if Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Silver Tequila lives up to the hype. Read more
Review: Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Cranberry Lime Seltzer
Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Cranberry Lime Seltzer is one of three hard seltzer flavors they launched the line with November 2016. The other flavors include Watermelon, and Orange Mango. The classic Cape Cod cocktail, made with vodka and cranberry juice, and garnished with a lime slice may be the inspiration for this seltzer. This is not Smirnoff’s first cranberry lime flavored malt beverage. At one time they produced Smirnoff Ice Cranberry Lime Splash. Smirnoff Cranberry Lime is brewed as a premium malt beverage. Natural fruit flavors are infused with no sugar or artificial sweeteners added. Read more
Review: Bacardi Banana Rum
Bacardi Banana Rum was just released. This is one of ten flavored rums in their current product line. If you thought they had more, they did at one time, but several flavors have been dropped. Bacardi Banana starts with a rum base made from molasses, and a single strain of yeast, Le Levadura Bacardi. After fermenting for 30 hours 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. While this is Bacardi’s first banana flavored rum I have already reviewed 7 other banana flavored rums. I can’t wait to see how Bacardi Banana Rum compares with the others. Read more
Review: Svedka Blue Raspberry Vodka
Svedka Blue Raspberry Vodka was just released. It is one of 14 Svedka flavors currently available. They also produce an 80 and 100 proof unflavored vodka. Svedka is the number one imported vodka in the US, and while flavored vodka sales have fallen recently, Svedka’s flavored vodka sales have continued to grow. Svedka Blue Raspberry vodka starts with a vodka base made from Swedish winter wheat. Four pounds are required to produce one 750 ml bottle. The vodka is distilled 5 times in a continuous distillation process. Ice cold water from Swedish springs is blended to reduce to proof. The vodka is then run through high performance purification columns five separate times to remove impurities. Natural flavors are infused before bottling at 70 proof. Svedka is the fifth vodka brand I am aware of to produce a blue raspberry vodka flavor. The others include UV, Wave, Burnetts, and Ursus. Read more
Review: Stolichnaya Elit Vodka
Stolichnaya Elit Vodka was the worlds first ultra premium vodka when it was released in 2003. Elit is crafted from winter wheat, summer wheat, and rye all grown on the Rapuga Farm in Tambov Russia which is owned by Stoli. The breakdown is about 97% wheat, 3% rye. Elit is distilled three times and blended with pure Balzams Artesian water. The vodka is then freeze filtered at 0 degrees in a silver filter where all the impurities freeze against the filters wall, leaving a very cold and pure 80 proof vodka to be bottled in their distinctive bottle. Read more
Review: Tromba Blanco Tequila
Tromba Blanco Tequila was created by Marco Cedano, the original Master Distiller for Don Julio. Tromba is named for the big spring rains that soak the soil and nourish the agave. Tromba was launched in 2010 and it is small batch distilled at Casa Tequilera de Arandas. While this is a contract production distillery, Marco and his son Rodrigo have complete control over the entire production process. Tromba is made from 100% blue agave grown on estates owned by Don Ruben Gonzalez at an altitude of 5090 feet for 7-12 years. The pinas weighing between 40-70 kilograms are quartered and then steam baked in autoclave ovens and fermented in open air tanks. Tromba Blanco is double distilled and bottled unaged. Their Reposado and Anejo expressions are aged in previously used Jack Daniels barrels. Read more
Review: Toppers Spiced Rhum
Toppers Spiced Rhum is one of six rhums crafted in St Maarten at the Toppers Distillery. For years Melanie Daboul created several flavored rhums out of her home kitchen. These rhums were given as complimentary after dinner drinks at the two restaurants she and husband Topper Daboul own on the Dutch side of St Maarten. Toppers Spiced is a premium rhum infused with vanilla bean, cinnamon, cloves. allspice, cardamom, nutmeg, orange peel, aniseed, and black peppercorn. Read more