Named after Jacob Beam, founder of Jim Beam, Jacob’s Ghost is a direct descendent of the white whiskey he distilled way back in 1795. Unlike most white whiskeys, Jacobs Ghost is aged for 12 months in new white oak barrels.

Broken Shed Vodka is a premium whey vodka based in Wanaka, a small lake town in the mountains of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Broken Shed vodka has been four-times distilled, gluten and additive-free. Broken Shed Vodka is distilled from whey …

Loki, is the second bottling in Highland Park’s Valhalla series. This limited edition single malt scotch is named for Loki, the Norse God of mischief or fire or both. He may not even be a full God, his status has…

Shellback Rum is a new offering from Grande Antilles Cane Spirits (Gallo).  A mid-range offering, Shellback Silver and Spiced versions. Made at the famed West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados, Shellback Silver Rum is made using a combination of pot…

New on the rum scene is Shellback Rum from the folks in Modesto, Grande Antilles Cane Spirits (Gallo). No, it is not produced in Modesto, the rum is made at the famed West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados.

In the town of Kilbeggan, Ireland sits one of the World’s oldest distillery. It dates back to 1757. After siting idle for over 50 years, Cooley Distillery (now Beam owned), began making whiskey in Kilbeggan once again. One of the…

Diageo’s small batch, Bulleit Bourbon recently released it’s newest expression, Bulleit 10, a 10 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

D’usse Cognac VSOP is the lastest offering from Bacardi’s Chateau de Cognac, the Cognac house that produces Baron Otard.  This is not your ordinary bottle of Cognac.  It’s producers have gone for a completely different look on the bottle.  It’s…

New from Pernod Ricard comes Mama Walker’s, a new line of breakfast inspired liqueurs.

Kinky Liqueur has paired with Kinky Boots, a Broadway bound play involving Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein that debuted in Chicago. The play is based on the English movie Kinky Boots. It’s about a man who inherits a barely alfoat family shoe business. To keep the business alive, the man turns to making footwear that is a bit on the risky side or perhaps even kinky. If you are in Chicago or New York, take in the play. If you are nowhere close to those two cities or prefer cinema to theater, track down Kinky Boots!

We are lucky at DOTW to try the newest, hippest and edgy spirits and liqueurs. Often, I am not quite sure what to expect. Occasionally I am blown away – sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Other times, I am pleasantly surprised. I will admit that when the bottle of Hiram Walker Whipped, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. However, I am happy to report that this was one of those times that I was pleasantly surprised. Hiram Walker Whipped was incredibly pleasant and adds a nice flair to cocktails. There is also something warm and toasty about the Whipped that almost makes me look forward to Fall.

Rose Courvoisier recently celebrated its first year anniversary as a product. That’s not bad for a new product release in the ever competitive spirit space these days. It seems like new products are being released weekly, if not daily. It’s hard to keep up. Rose Courvoisier is a liqueur at 18% alcohol by volume (versus the Courvoisier cognac that clocks in at a much heavier 36%) that was created by blending Courvoisier cognac and red wine.

With so many brands focused on adding flavors to their collection we sometimes forget about “the original flavored spirit” but Southern Comfort is ready to reclaim its title. Keeping it fresh and innovative is key in the spirits industry and so Southern Comfort has stepped up to the plate after releasing SoCo Lime in 2010, SoCo Fiery Pepper in 2011 and now its latest offering, SoCo Cherry.

Italy has a long tradition of making spirits and liqueurs. However, you might not know it as Italy isn’t famed for their spirits or liqueurs. In fact, when you think of Italy and spirits, you probably think of Grappa. But, there is definitely more to Italian spirits than Grappa. One of them is called noisette, which are liqueurs that are made by soaking nuts in alcohol and then distilling part of the infusion again. Similar liqueurs are also made with rose, fruits and other florals.

According to lore, Drambuie is fit for a King. In fact, it was allegedly invented by a Prince of Scotland who would have been King of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland if his insurrection has succeeded. We are speaking of Prince Charles Stuart, whose lineage included many of the Kings of Scotland and a few in England after the two countries united under James Stuart in 1603. In 1745, Charles sailed to Scotland and with the aid of the Scottish Highlanders, a fierce bunch of men, began their quest to retake Scotland for a “Scottish King”. During this period, there was much strife in England and Scotland. In Scotland, it was the Highlanders versus the Lowlanders, who had benefited the most from the merger of England and Scotland. The Highlanders wanted to be left alone with their Scotch and were no fans of the heavy taxes levied on their fine beverage.

When the flavored Martini craze hit in the late 1990’s, early 2000s, I was pretty excited. I really love Jolly Ranchers and the flavored schnapps reminded me of Jolly Ranchers. In fact, I used to joke that a Watermelon or Apple Martini was a Jolly Rancher for adults. Even thought the flavored Martini craze is supposedly now passe, I still love a good Watermelon or Apple Martini. We recommend you make up a pitcher to help the adults celebrate Easter. Here is our tasting note for the Hiram Walker Watermelon Schnapps:

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. We have selected an almost perfect wine for the holiday! It’s pink, it’s slightly sweet with notes of grapes, honeysuckle, strawberries and raspberries and it’s bubbly. The best part is that the wine is well below $10 in most markets in the United States. What is it, you may ask. It’s the Jacob’s Creek Moscato Rose

For this week’s Wine Wednesday, we are heading back to the 1970’s and imbibing in it’s most popular wine – Riunite Lambrusco. As many of you may know, I love, love, love Lambrusco. It is fizzy and fruity and pairs really well with food. But, I had never had the wine that beget the craze in the United States – Riunite.

The Wine Wednesday column has been missing for awhile now! But, we are back and we will do our best to bring you a bargain wine selection each Wednesday. Our first return to Wine Wednesday selection is an exclusive at Trader Joe’s, one of our favorite places for bargain wines. The 2010 Dark Horse Cabernet Sauvignon is an easy drinking Cabernet with tamed tannins and displaying that the grapes hail from a warm growing region. This wine spent its time in stainless steel, which preserves the pure fruit notes and shows an absence of oak flavors, like vanilla, oak, cedar, cocoa and chocolate. Instead, the Dark Horse Cabernet is extremely fruit forward with an almost candied fruit notes of blackberry, black cherry and currants. This wine is great for newbies, cocktail parties and sangria.

Nero d’Avola is the main red grape grown in Sicily. It’s generally dense and jammy with dark red fruits. If you like Syrah, you might be a fan of Nero d’Avola. However, this wine can run the gamut. The Archeo version is a very light version of Nero d’Avola. If it were a little lighter, it would be a borderline rose. However, the Archeo is highly drinkable and enjoyable. It’s an affordable every day wine! Salute!

This week’s Wine Wednesday is the 2010 Stoneleigh Pinot Noir and it hails from Marlborough New Zealand. While we receive this wine as a sample, it appears to retail from $9.99 to $17 and at $9.99, just sneaks into Wine Wednesday. There have been many a wine from Italy and Spain featured in the Wine Wednesday column, but not so many from New Zealand. While the wines from New Zealand aren’t overly expensive, they generally don’t fall into the $10 and under category. But, a number of them can be had in the $10 to $20 range and are still a good value at those prices.

The R Collection is the introductory line by Raymond Vineyards, which traces it’s roots to the immediate post-Prohibition era in Napa. The founder of Raymond Vinearyds, Roy Raymond arrived in Napa Valley in 1933 and married into the Beringer family. After working at Beringer for more than 35 years, Roy and his sons started Raymond Vineyards with the family working side by side for their first crush in 1974. Since then, Raymond Vineyards has earned a reputation for producing elegant wines. Luckily, it lives up to it’s reputation with the R Collection.

This week’s pick resulted from my desire to please a good friend that isn’t a huge fan of dry wines. But, she is a huge fan of sweet wines. However, I was also going to have a table full of other people to please so I couldn’t start off the evening with dessert wine, which is my friend’s absolute favorite. As I looked over my racks of wine to see what I should take, I spotted an Australian Moscato. Until we received the bottle from Pernod Ricard, I didn’t even realize that the Aussies produced Moscato, or Muscat as it’s also known. I seized upon it and away we went, along with a few other bottles. Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the entire table. Everyone appreciated the light and refreshing wine with a spritz as a starter to the evening.

This week’s pick is the 2010 Campo Viejo Rioja. This wine is a little unusual as it’s a basic Rioja, which means that the wine spends less than one year aging in oak. You more often see Rioja Crianza, which must be aged at least two years with one in oak, or Rioja Reserva, which must be aged at least three years with one year in oak. The 2010 Compo Viejo Rioja is also unusual as it exemplifies a very modern, almost new world style that is made from 100% Tempranillo, which is the main grape variety in Rioja. The wine is aged for four months in American oak and then ages in the bottle. This results in a wine that is very fruit forward with bright red fruit with cherry dominating and hints of black fruit, vanilla and baking spices.

We thought that Cookout USA would be the perfect cookbook for Memorial Day. While not technically the start of summer, for many, Memorial Day signifies the start of summer and grilling season. I love everything about grilling season. The smell…

Tony Abou-Ganim, one of America’s elder statesmen of mixology, recently released Vodka Distilled, a masterpiece on the subject of Vodka. Vodka is America’s most consumed spirit but is largely on the outs with the cocktail crowd. Mr. Abou-Ganim thinks that this is an unfortunate state of affairs, and I happen to agree with him.

In Search of Bacchus is a great book for anyone interested in wine history in far flung places and wine tourism. Also, if you are interested in blueprints for exploring various wine regions, In Search of Bacchus could be a fun, yet unorthodox, travel guide.

A number of years ago, we ventured down to New Orleans for the early parts of Mardi Gras and a tour of New Orleans drinking spots.  We loved the dog parade but didn’t really love New Orleans.  It wasn’t really…

Each recipe was listed with the book that is accompanies. Each entry includes a brief overview of the book, the recipe and the reasoning behind the selection of the recipe. The recipes in the book come from the authors of the books, book club members from around the country and the authors of the Book Club Cookbook, which results in an eclectic mix of sweet and savory treats to try!

I recently picked up a copy of George Taber’s book A Toast to Bargain Wines. I couldn’t wait to read the book given that I am a big fan of George Tabor’s Judgment of Paris book, as well as budget wine. This was a book that combined the two of them. And, I appreciated the fact that Mr. Tabor was going to champion “budget wines” or “bargain wines” as he called them.

This week’s Literary Monday pick is a book filled with fun facts about wine. Most interestingly, the book is authored by Dr. Vine. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist – a book on wine authored by Vine.

Edible Cocktails brings us a cocktail book brimming with goodness from gardens and fruit trees. In her tome on drinking your fruits and veggies, Ms. Bovis explores the use of wine, syrups, jams, purees and vinegar as ingredients in the ever burgeoning repertoire of cocktails recipes. If that weren’t enough, Ms. Bovis teaches you how to use meat, dairy and eggs in your drinks too! And don’t forget to throw in the herbs!