Review: Samuel Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin
Samuel Adams 20 Pounds of Pumpkin is a new seasonal pumpkin ale. Samuel Adams has a long history of crafting pumpkin ales and this years lineup also includes Fat Jack Pumpkin Ale, and Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Pumpkin Batch no longer appears on their web site, so it may not be available this year. Most pumpkin beers contain as much real pumpkin as a bottle of Bud Light. If you read their labels you will find they are Pumpkin Spice flavored. As the name implies, 20 Pounds of Pumpkin is brewed with 20 pounds of pumpkin in each barrel. This compares to the 11 pounds Samuel Adams uses to craft their Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Spices including ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg are included in the brewing process. Read more 
Review: Frida Kahlo Blanco Tequila
Frida Kahlo Blanco Tequila was launched in 2005. It is named for Frida Kahlo a Mexican surrealist artist known as the original Mexican party girl. She was openly bisexual and reportedly had affairs with American jazz singer Josephine Baker, and Russian communist Leon Trotsky. How many people can make that claim? The tequila is made from 100% agave hand selected and then slow cooked in an adobe brick oven for no less then 28 hours. The agave is then steamed and cooled to remove any bitterness before being pressed to remove the juice. The juice is then naturally fermented for four days before being double distilled in small batches in an antique copper still. Read more
Review: Bold Rock Peach Hard Cider
Bold Rock Peach Hard Cider is one of 10 hard cider varieties crafted at their Cider Barn in Nellysford Virginia, and Mills River Cidery just outside Asheville North Carolina. The Bold Rock Hard Cider Company was formed when John Washburn who owned 50 acres of farmland in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia reached out to Brian Shanks to see if the New Zealand native and cider expert would be interested in producing a hard cider from locally grown Virginia apples. The two became friends and their first cidery opened in 2012. Bold Rock Peach Hard Cider is crafted with a hard apple cider base made from the juice of locally grown apples. Natural flavors including juice from yellow peaches are blended before bottling at 4.7%. Read more
Review: Old Camp Peach Pecan Whiskey
Old Camp Peach Pecan Whiskey was launched August 2016. The whiskey was created by Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. Yes, the same Brian and Tyler from Florida Georgia Line. This is the first of what promises to be an expanded line of whiskey. A straight whisky will be available in December. Old Camp starts with an American Whiskey base made in Lawrenceburg Indiana. The whiskey is aged for a minimum of two years in white oak barrels with a number 3 char. It is then infused with natural southern peach and pecan flavor and bottled at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Wild Docta Alcoholic Rock & Rye
Wild Docta Alcoholic Rock & Rye Soda was released June 2016 along with Wild Citrus. Both are hard soda’s brewed by WG Brewing Company in Nashville Tennessee. They join a hard soda lineup that includes Wild Ginger Alcoholic Beer and Wild Root Alcoholic Root Beer. Faygo is the only brand I know of that makes a Rock N Rye Soda. With a name like Wild Docta I was expecting a hard Dr. Pepper flavored soda. WG Brewing founder Jamey Grosser learned the art of brewing from legendary moonshiner Popcorn Sutton. Read more
Review: Sobieski Estate Single Rye Vodka
Sobieski Estate single Rye Vodka was launched October 2015 in California, and released Nationally February 2016. It is crafted in limited production at the Landcut Distillery, the oldest distilley in Poland. Sobieski Estate is made exclusively with Dankowski Rye from the fields of Galicia. The vodka is continuously rectified. Pure water from the Carpathian Fore is blended with the vodka to reduce to 80 proof. The vodka is then hand poured and hand crowned delicately with white gloves. Read more
Review: Club Caribe Coconut Rum
Club Caribe Coconut Rum is one of seven flavored rums launched in 2013 by Florida Caribbean Distillers. The other flavors include Mango, Banana, Lemon, Citrus, Pineapple, and Raspberry. The rum is distilled in Cidra Puerto Rico in a building once owned by Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals. After distilling, the rum is aged for one year and shipped to Florida where natural flavors are infused before bottling at 55 proof. Read more
Review: Effen Green Apple Vodka
Effen Green Apple Vodka is one of two new flavored vodka’s just released by Effen. The previously reviewed Effen Blood Orange is the other flavor. This is the forth new apple flavored vodka launched this year. Three Olives Apples and Pears and Smirnoff Sourced Cranberry Apple vodka were also introduced in 2016. While I’m not ready to select apple as the 2016 Best Tasting Spirits Flavor of the Year, it certainly appears to be the vodka flavor of the year. Effen Green Apple starts with a vodka base crafted with premium wheat from Northern Holland. After a low temperature continuous distillation in stainless steel columns the vodka is filtered five times through active carbon in a bottom up filtration process. Pure spring water that has been filtered through reverse osmosis is blended with the vodka for several days to reduce to proof. Natural flavor is infused before bottling at 75 proof in their trademark color coordinated polymer sleeved bottle. Read more
Review: Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale was introduced in 2002. It is one of four pumpkin flavored beers the Elysian Brewery crafts in Seattle Washington. The other three beers include Punkuccino Coffee Pumpkin Ale, Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale, and Dark O The Moon Pumpkin Stout. If you have any doubt they take their pumpkin beer seriously, you have obviously not been to their annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. This year the festival is on October 8th, and there will be over 80 unique pumpkin beers brewed from across the country. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is a pumpkin ale that has scored high on many top ten pumpkin beer lists for years, but it has never been available in my market. The Elysian Brewery was acquired by Anhueser-Busch Inbev January 2015, and say what you will about the big breweries buying up the craft breweries, I am finally able to find this beer at my local liquor store. I believe pumpkin flavored beers have more of a tendency of changing their recipe or ABV, than any type of beer. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is no exception, as previous years reviews post the ABV at 5.9. This years bottle lists a 6.7 ABV. Night Owl Pumpkin Ale is brewed with 7 1/2 pounds of pumpkin per barrel with roasted and raw pumpkin seeds included in the mash. It is also spiced with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Read more
Review: Baileys Pumpkin Spice
Baileys Pumpkin Spice was just released. As the bottle states, this is a Limited Edition. Could this be the start of a seasonal flavor line of Baileys Irish Cream Liqueurs? I hope so. Baileys Pumpkin Spice is the third pumpkin flavored Irish Cream liqueur I’m aware of. I previously reviewed both Mollys and ODowds Pumpkin Spice Irish Cream liqueurs. Baileys Pumpkin Spice is made with aged Irish Whiskey, grain spirits, fresh dairy cream, and natural flavors, and is bottled at 34 proof. Read more