Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky traces its roots back to 1907, when explorer Ernest Shackleton fortified his Antarctic expedition with several cases of his favorite whiskey from the Glen Mhor distillery in Inverness, Scotland. Shackleton and his men ultimately failed to reach the South Pole, and they sailed for home in 1909, leaving behind three crates of the precious whiskey buried in ice. It stayed this way until 2007, when fortuitous members of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust happened upon the hundred-year-old hooch. Whyte & Mackay – owners of the Mackinlay brand – analyzed the remaining stock, and master...

Denizen Rum is a new white rum that harkens back to the days of yore, when white rums were full-flavored spirits to be both sipped and enjoyed in complex cocktails. To achieve its desired flavor profile, Denizen enlisted rums from Trinidad and Jamaica and expert rum blenders from Holland. Denizen Rum starts with column-distilled rums from the Angostura Distillery that are charcoal-filtered and aged up to five years in small bourbon barrels. From there, 15 types of Jamaican pot-distilled rums are added to the mix and blended in Amsterdam (a city that’s been blending rums since the 1700s, when the...

The Glenrothes makes a range of fine whiskies, including the Select Reserve. This bottling is a rarity for the Speyside distillery, as The Glenrothes typically releases vintage-dated whiskies, like the 1985 and 1998. Bottled at 80 proof and lacking some of the character seen in its older brothers, the Select Reserve is like an entry-level introduction to the brand. But a good one, at that. The Glenrothes Select Reserve pours light gold and gives aromas of vanilla, malt, ripe fruits and a touch of briny sea air. Take a sip and find lots of malty sweetness, vanilla, zesty orange and...

El Tesoro de Don Felipe makes a range of quality tequilas, including the Añejo, which is aged between two and three years in oak barrels before bottling. All El Tesoro tequilas are hand-crafted in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, where the estate-grown agave plants are cooked the old-fashioned way – in large brick and stone ovens called hornos. After the agave hearts are crushed and the juices are extracted, the tequila is double distilled straight to 80 proof. For comparison, most tequilas – and spirits in general – are distilled to a higher proof and then diluted with water to...

Excellia Tequila is a relatively new player in the tequila category, and it’s making some noise due to its unique maturation process. The 100% agave Excellia Tequilas begin their life in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, where the estate grown blue agave plants are cut by hand and cooked slowly in traditional brick and stone ovens. From there, the cooked agave is shredded and crushed to extract the aromatic agave juice and then fermented in wooden vats and twice distilled in copper stills. Most aged tequilas then sit in used whiskey barrels until maturity. But in producing Excellia Tequilas, the...

Vision Vodka hails from Oregon, where it’s crafted with American wheat and mountain spring water before being distilled five times. During its short time on the market, Vision Vodka has won numerous awards, including a gold medal at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a score of 93 from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Sounds promising. However, it comes from a company best known for producing entertainment awards like the Golden Globe statuettes; it’s a fixture in NYC nightclubs, comes in a chic bottle and relies heavily on lifestyle-oriented marketing. With few exceptions, such a pedigree often suggests a product...

Plantation Grande Reserve Rum falls under the Cognac Ferrand umbrella, and each rum in the Plantation range undergoes a two-step maturation process. Step one involves aging in the Caribbean in American oak; step two moves the rum to France, where it’s finished in old French oak casks. In this case, the Barbados-sourced Plantation Grande Reserve is aged for five years in ex-bourbon barrels in the Caribbean before heading to France. The result is a rum that’s rich in flavor and aroma, with notable oak accents. On the nose, Plantation Grande Reserve offers aromas of ripe bananas, toasted coconut, leather and...

Laphroaig Triple Wood is the Scotch whisky maker’s latest expression, just released three weeks ago into the U.S. market after two years of availability in duty free shops. Triple Wood gains its name from its maturation process, in which the whisky is aged in three kinds of casks. The first maturation is in American oak – ex-bourbon barrels just like other Laphroaig expressions. From there, the best of these barrels is transferred into quarter casks for a second maturation. Finally, the spirit moves to large Oloroso Sherry casks. It’s the mingling of these different woods that gives Triple Wood its...

Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is the latest offering from Kahlúa, adding to the brand’s stable of flavors that also includes French Vanilla, Mocha and Hazelnut, to name a few. Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is a blend of Arabica coffee and sugar cane spirit that’s infused with flavors of cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar. We already know Kahlúa to be a nice addition to coffee, but what else can we do with this liqueur? For starters, we drank it neat. On the nose, Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice is rich and sweet, with aromas of coffee and cinnamon. Take a sip and it’s more of...

Karlsson’s Gold Vodka is distilled from virgin new potatoes grown in Sweden’s Cape Bjar. This ‘07 entrant to the U.S. market is made by Bjore Karlsson, who helped create Absolut, one of the world’s most popular and better-produced vodkas. Karlsson’s Gold is an industry rarity, in that it’s the product of a single distillation and is unfiltered. To give this more weight, Smirnoff is distilled three times, Svedka and I Spirit Vodka are distilled five times, Tito’s goes through six distillations and Russian Standard Imperia is distilled a whopping eight times. Karlsson’s Gold is a testament to the fact that...