We should mention at the top that we are a Massachusettes based review site, we should also mention that as far as craft dstilleries go – Mass can go fuck itself. We are impartial and not above giving places like Berkshire a 4. We say this so that when we give this the score it deserves you know we do it impartially.
If there’s one sad effect of running this site for years it’s the dispelling of the illusion of premium vodkas. Something that looks like this, with the name of some old dead guy, and the price tag to match – you’d think one day I’ll try that vodka and it’ll be amazing. We’re wiser though, and – not so much.
At this point, we’re fairly familiar with Bowmore. However we’ve sort of been going about it in reverse having started with the 17 year, and then near 6 years later (yikes), we did the 15 year. We’ve opted this time to go with the 12 year. We can therefore finally form a verdict on which Bowmore you should buy, and what (if anything) does time do?
Tesoro means someone kind or charming, which feels slightly odd for a volcanic guided tequila. Overall we have little complaints about El Tesoro as anything that can make a damn good margarita and not break the bank is a worthy tequila to have. The best part here though is that unlike many other tequilas from last year, this isn’t a sugary mess.
We have a confession to make. It’s that despite running for near on 6+ years – we are reviewing this – in 2019. It’s sad, it’s profane, and a bit weird. However, despite mentioning it, despite reviewing multiple versions of the rum (even a special pumpkin version) – we haven’t actually reviewed the original – the basic Captain Morgan.
We’ve not actually covered Maker’s Mark here so in typical HBR fashioned let’s review a special version of it first and review the regular spirit many years later as an afterthought. This Maker’s was actually bought as a gift until said person made a comment about hating American whiskey over scotch (and Japanese) so we ran an audible and bought a scotch instead – and enjoyed this ourselves.
Gin is often and ultimately a flavored vodka with juniper and botanicals. Gin Mare however actually claims to distill their spirit from things like Olives – and Thyme and Rosemary, even Basil. That has resulted in a gin that feels like a premixed cocktail.
When one sees something so commercialized marking itself as pure it begs one to wonder how disillusioned and awful our society has become that we feel the need to specify that such a spirit is indeed ‘purity’ and that we can’t comment since we have honest in our name – shit this monologue got away from us.
Christmas time has come and gone once again, and once again a scotch has been gifted to the lounge. Sadly however it’s not a scotch as it’s been tainted by the wicked evil magic that is sherry. We’ve long been opponents of sherry aged scotches, but the recent trend of finishing in sherry has revived our hopes and can often be enjoyable. That is not the case here.
We here are big fans of Louisana. Any place with that much impact on food and music culture (and is actually good) is something we can wholeheartedly stand by. This rum, however, we wouldn’t stand by from the first sign of a light breeze. If you ever wondered what happens when you lean into the sugar cane too far – you’ve arrived.
