While I’ve sampled a few sakes over the years (Emmeline and I even shared a sake flight the last time we had sushi), I’ve never actually owned a bottle myself. I was always too overwhelmed by the number of brands and styles. Thankfully, I came out of the holiday season with this bottle of Gekkeikan Black & Gold Sake, so I don’t have to stress anymore, and can finally start my sake journey. The Gekkeikan brand can be traced all the way back to 1637, when Jiemon Okura first established a sake brewery in Fushima, a town near Kyoto. The Okura family continued to operate the brewery and expand the brand until it was officially renamed […]
Diplomático Planas Aged White Rum is produced by Destilerías Unidas S. A. – a family-owned company and distillery based in Venezuela. It’s a brand that I already have a fondness for, having reviewed their Reserva Exclusiva Rum a little over a year ago and giving it a good rating. That’s why I was so excited to receive this bottle of their Aged White Rum as a gift over the holiday season. Each of their rums are “field to bottle”, which basically means that Diplomático handles all the steps of production. The production process varies a little depending on which rum variety is being made. This particular bottle of Aged White Rum is a […]
My journey through the Scotch whisky regions continues! This time, I’m trying a bottle from a northeast region of the Scottish highlands called Speyside. The region is well known for single malt scotch with sweet and fruity flavors. It’s been far too many years since my last experience with a Speyside Scotch, so I thought a good place to start would be the reasonably affordable Glencullen 10 Year Single Malt. BOTTLE SPECS ❖ Spirit: Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky ❖ Distillery: Distilled, Matured and Bottled in Scotland and Imported my County Line Distillers, Louisville, KY. ❖ ABV: 40% (80 Proof) ❖ Aged 10 Years ❖ Low Price TASTING […]
Lyre’s Orange Sec is produced by Lyre’s Spirit Co – a UK based non-alcoholic spirits company. Founded in 2019, Lyre’s produces a wide variety of non-alcoholic spirits including whiskey, gin, tequila, rum, vermouth, absinthe, sparkling wine, liqueurs, and more. As a brand, they aim to create “true to taste” products that are as close as possible to the flavor of real spirits for substitution in cocktails. Inspiration for their name and logo comes from they Lyrebird, an Australian bird known for its mimicry. Lyre’s takes pride in the fact that they have four different manufacturing locations, which shortens supply chains and makes […]
After spending a large portion of last year exploring budget and/or mixing spirits, I was grateful and excited to come out of the holiday season with a handful of higher priced bottles. And, since it has been far too long since I last experienced a higher end bottle of tequila, my most anticipated bottle was Grand Mayan Tequila Extra Aged. Family is important to Grand Mayan Tequila. The company was founded by Carlos Monsalve, a long-time veteran of the tequila industry. His family continues to play a significant role in the entire production process and Carlos works especially closely with his son, Carlos Jr, to carry on the family […]