$25 - $50 Spirits

Expert Review

Wine Enthusiast: 90-95 Points  |  Pleasantly sweet nose. Medium body and sticky-toffee flavor. This would be great mixed into cocktails, because the flavor is smooth but bold at the same time; it would blend without being completely lost. Finishes mellow, smooth, with just enough alcohol bite. Easy to like. Think Manhattans and Old-Fashioneds.

Barbara Chapman, La Bourbonessa:

Take a perfectly balanced, gentle bourbon (86.6% proof) redolent of vanilla, sugar and the rich notes of ripe berries, present it in a heavenly lyre-shaped bottle adorned with a pair of wings, and you’ve created a whiskey worthy of the angels’ envy. This warmly copper-hued bourbon is a work of art, conceived by the late, legendary distiller Lincoln Henderson and his son, Wes. The Hendersons were creative pioneers in the now-widespread practice of finished bourbons. Angel’s Envy Port Finish is blended in small batches of 8-12 barrels at a time, typically aged up to 6 years before the additional finishing time of 3 to 6 months in 60 gallon French oak ruby port wine barrels imported from Portugal.

The result is subtle luxury. Angel’s Envy is smooth, light and plainly so delicious it’s bound to please bourbon drinkers from newly minted bourbonites to seasoned aficionados. You’d be wise to have a bottle of Angel’s Envy wing its way to your bourbon shelf. After all, everyone deserves a sip of heaven.

Producer Description

Our bourbon starts with the native Kentucky climate and soil in which our corn and rye are grown, and a pristine limestone watershed rich in calcium and magnesium. These local ingredients are distilled and aged for four to six years in American white oak barrels. Because we want to create a genuinely unique spirit, we age it for three to six additional months in hand-selected port casks to create an exceptionally smooth and nuanced bourbon.

Critic Notes

Wine Enthusiast 98 Points | A beautiful, mouthwatering newcomer to the whiskey scene. Named for the "angel's share," the portion that evaporates from the barrel during the aging process, this golden amber spirit is finished in Port barrels, which explains those juicy red-fruit notes that slide into the long finish. Look for orange peel, vanilla and roasted nut flavors, too.

Producer Description 

2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold Medal Winner

One can never have too much Rye, so Redemption High Rye Bourbon recipe approaches the upper limit of allowable Rye grain in a Bourbon mash bill. Aromas of light vanilla, red berry fruitiness and a slight hint of oak. On the palate, spicy, woody, and minty notes. Fennel-like notes of light licorice and black pepper from the Rye. The finish is long and smooth with a nice spice from the high Rye content.

Mash Bill: 60% Corn, 36% Rye, 4% Malted Barley

Producer Description 

Cherry blossom and green tea provide a floral and sweet aroma. Complex, multi layered, yet harmonious flavor of various botanicals. Traditional gin taste in the base, plus characteristic Japanese botanical notes with yuzu as the top note. Smooth and silky texture. The crisp Japanese sansho pepper brings a little spiciness to the finish.

Expertly crafted in meticulous detail by Japanese artisans, ROKU gin combines six unique Japanese botanicals blended with eight traditional gin botanicals that result in a complex yet harmonious gin with a smooth and silky texture. 

Producer Description 

Cointreau has won more than 300 international awards ever since its birth. In the 19th century, Cointreau became the essential ingredient of many classic cocktails, including The Original Margarita, The Cosmopolitan, and The Sidecar. 

Producer Description 

Balanced Agave With Apple And Herbal Notes, Slightly Woody on the nose, fine Agave, herbal and green apple notes. With a medium to full bodied spirit with warm, slightly astringent finish.

Expert Review 

Wine Enthusiast 96 Points | The full bodied, spicy aroma offers delicate notes of juniper berry oil citrus, orris, coriander and caraway seed. Palate entry is mildly peppery, floral and fruity; at midpalate the flavor profile focuses more on oils and juniper. A unique and great gin.- 96-100: Classic/Highest Recommendation 

Producer Description 

On the nose, this gin has a fresh aroma of juniper, cardamom, and coriander, with a flavor profile including earthy tones and lemon.

The flavors of Plymouth gin are best enjoyed over ice, with tonic, and a garnish of citrus, but also goes well in a range of classic cocktails, from Gin Martinis to Gimlets. Synonymous with the British Royal Navy, Plymouth gin is produced in the oldest working gin distillery in England.

Producer Description 

Johnnie Walker Red Label is currently the world's best-selling Scotch Whisky. It's known for its bold and characterful taste, that's shines through even when mixed. It's a flavour the Walker family has never compromised on.

The Walker family have used their knowledge of Scotland's Malts to create a blend that has universal appeal. This has played a pivotal role in Red Label becoming one of the world's favourite Scotch whisky's. It's developed for an export market that has a taste for long, refreshing drinks. Red Label can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks or combined with a favourite mixer.

Producer Description 

This small-batch, handcrafted premium vodka comes from Iceland's first and only distillery, built by William Grant & Sons in the small fishing village of Borgarnes on the country's west coast.

The Distillery utilities a Scottish-made Carter-Head still, the only one to be used for vodka, together with the country's outstanding natural resources - water that is extraordinarily low in minerals, an unpolluted environment, lava rock for filtration, and geothermal energy - to produce a premium vodka of exceptional purity and taste.

Producer Description 

Sipsmith has gained world renown for this traditional London dry gin, which is one of the only gins in the world to be produced using the one-shot method. By overloading the still with botanicals, rich flavors develop upon the first distillation.

Bursting with fresh citrus, floral aromas and a harmonic blend of dry juniper and orange marmalade, this is the quintessential expression of a classic London dry gin and perfect for mixing up a cocktail or sipping neat.

Expert Review

92 Points Wine Enthusiast | Best Buy -  Setting the benchmark for London dry-style gins, look for a fresh, clean scent and flavors of lemon peel and juniper, accented by white pepper, ginger, cayenne and coriander before fading to zingy lemon and a mildly sweet exit. At 47% abv it reads a little hot, but it's ideal for drinks with a bit of dilution, like a classic Gin & Tonic.

Producer Description 

A quintessential London dry gin made with big juniper character and strong citrus notes, this is an authentic London dry for those that enjoy the real taste of gin.

Expert Reviews

92 Points Wine Enthusiast | Delicious but fiery, this nine-year-old small-batch Bourbon offers deep toffee aromatics and bold flavor. On the palate, look for relatively dry flavors: leather, cedar, dried orange peel. A splash of water softens the profile to bring out more vanilla, honey, even a touch of chocolate.

90 Points Whisky Advocate | Knob was one of the first bourbons I had when I started taking whiskey seriously, and it’s still a kicker. No-nonsense, flint-hard nose: slickly-polished oak furniture, cinnamon stick, cracked rye, wet cornmeal, hard candies. Bang! A lean whiskey that gets in your mouth and explodes with rye spice and cinnamon candy, a sharp wedge that opens you right up. The finish echoes: oak, a dying fire, clean and almost crisp. Emphatic, bright, and swift. Value Pick

Winemaker Description 

The original that started it all, Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is still made to exacting standards. Knob Creek is aged to fully draw out the natural sugars in its charred white oak barrels. This exceptional, full-bodied bourbon strikes the senses with an oak aroma, a sweet, woody, full-bodied, almost fruity taste, with a long, rich finish. Created to reflect the flavor, strength, care, and patience that defined whiskey before Prohibition.

Knob Creek is perfect neat or on the rocks with one or two ice cubes.

Producer Description 

Johnnie Walker Red Label is currently the world's best-selling Scotch Whisky. It's known for its bold and characterful taste, that's shines through even when mixed. It's a flavour the Walker family has never compromised on.

The Walker family have used their knowledge of Scotland's Malts to create a blend that has universal appeal. This has played a pivotal role in Red Label becoming one of the world's favourite Scotch whisky's. It's developed for an export market that has a taste for long, refreshing drinks. Red Label can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks or combined with a favourite mixer.

Aviation is distilled using a proprietary maceration recipe that produces a pure medley of botanical flavor.

STEP 1: INFUSION
It all starts with our precise blend of botanicals – cardamom, coriander, French lavender, anise seed, sarsaparilla, juniper, and two kinds of orange peel. The botanicals are suspended in a neutral grain spirit for 18 hours in macerating tanks.

STEP 2: DISTILLATION
The macerate is then pumped into a still along with pure water. Steam jackets heat the macerate, the vapors go into the condenser, which cools the vapors to form the gin distillate.

STEP 3: THE CUT
In a meticulously monitored process, the first fluid leaving the still, the "heads," is removed. Collecting the "heart of the spirit" throughout the run, the distillers then determine the end of the cycle and make the final cut, "the tails." This process takes approximately 7 hours and at this point, the "heart cut" is 142 proof.

STEP 4: BLENDING & BOTTLING
The "heart cut" is transferred to a blending tank where pure water is added, bringing the gin to the desired 84 proof. It is then sent to the bottling line for filling, capping, and labeling. Aviation is then packed into boxes and ready to ship.

"I've tried every gin on the planet and Aviation is, hands down, the best. Also, I don't recommend trying every gin on the planet. Stick with this one."

Ryan Reynolds

Co-Owner, Aviation American Gin

Producer Description 

The world's best selling Irish whiskey, originally distilled in Dublin, where John Jameson, a Scottish Presbyterian, founded a distillery in 1780. Jameson's is now one of many whiskeys produced in Irish Distiller's highly versatile Midleton distillery in County Cork.

The Jameson range of whiskeys comprise a comparatively high percentage of pot still spirit, which gives them greater character and complexity then some other Irish whiskeys. The nose offers an interesting combination of floral, orange, toffee, Sherry and spice notes.

Water releases more cooked fruits and a suggestion of linseed. Initially citric in the mouth, along with classic Irish oiliness, more profound notes of Sherry develop, along with fudge, vanilla and spice.

The finish is long, warming and spicy, remaining oily to the very end. Jameson is deservedly a world leader. Irish whiskey at its finest. "

Producer Description 

We start with a mashbill of 95% premium rye and age it for over two years in new charred oak barrels. Once properly aged we bottle it at a bold 92 proof - perfect to stand up on its own in any cocktail or by itself in your favorite glass.

We bottle in small batches which allows us to leave the whiskey in the barrels longer for the most flavor and color. We empty the barrels and filter for particles, cut it down to 92 proof and bottle it immediately so that the most flavor from the barrel makes it into the bottle. We then mark each bottle with the batch and bottle number by hand - 

Expert Review

93 Points Wine Enthusiast | Aromas are sweet and fruitcake-like, with faint cigar smoke. Restrained, subtle flavors of orange peel, cinnamon and leather ride a medium-to-heavy body. The finish is extremely smooth, with a touch of anise.

Producer Description 

San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Gold Medal 2017

Mingling multiple Bourbon recipes is an art in itself. Four original and limited Bourbon recipes have been expertly selected by our Master Distiller at the peak of maturation to create a perfectly balanced Small Batch Bourbon that rewards you with a mellow symphony of rich, spicy flavors along with sweet, fruity aromas and hints of sweet oak and caramel. Finishes soft, smooth and pleasantly long. Best enjoyed straight up, on the rocks or with a splash

On the nose is mellow spice, rich fruit, hints of sweet oak and caramel. The palate is mellow, ripened red berries, dried spice, well-balanced, rich. The finish is soft, smooth, and pleasantly long.

Expert Review

Wine Enthusiast Superb/Highly Recommended | The bouquet has a dry, grainy aroma which is accented by peppery/spicy scents. The palate entry is surprisingly sweet and corny, considering how dry the aroma is; the midpalate point is deep, corny sweet, sap-like and a bit syrupy. Ends up well and balanced, with a backnote of dried red fruit (raisins, prunes).

Producer Description 

The US*1 expressions, so named to honor Michter’s heritage harkening back to America’s first whiskey company, consist of some of the finest single barrel and truly small batch whiskeys available. Distilled to Master Distiller Dan McKee’s exacting specifications, no US*1 whiskey is ever released until Dan and the Michter’s tasting panel deems it ready.

Michter’s US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon is made from a carefully selected mashbill that features the highest quality American corn. It is then matured to the peak of perfection. Truly “small batch” each batch of our US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon is batched in a holding tank sized to fit a maximum of twenty full barrels, leaving no margin for “blending out” imperfection and thus necessitating excellence from every barrel. Reflecting the spirit of the Bluegrass State, Michter’s US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon is nuanced, mellow and earthy. 

Profile: Kentucky whiskey. Fire-charred, new American white oak barrels. Rich caramel with balanced vanilla, stone fruit notes, smoky depth, with an oak finish. 91.4 Proof

Producer Description 

It all begins with Kentucky Rye, providing a firm foundation of spice, oak, dried fruit and subtle molasses undertones for this release to build upon. From there, Canadian Rye from our award-winning Alberta Distillery is skillfully layered in.

A touch of California Port, and its complementary notes of ripe fruit, provides the third and final layer to a whiskey just as at home on the rocks as it is in a cocktail - Producer Description

Producer Description 

Perfume and clover honey fill the nose. This is deep and rich in structure. Well-integrated elements combine with a high alcohol feel. Still perfumed at the end. Best served neat. Elijah Craig 12-Year-Old is a true Small Batch premium Bourbon, and had that distinction before the term even existed.

Back in the 1700's a Baptist minister by that name actually invented the process of aging whiskey in charred oak barrels. Today, this super premium small batch bourbon remains one of the finest on the market.

Our Professional Review

Oscar Garcia Moncada 67Wine.com | One of my favorite sipping Reposado Tequilas in the market now. Subtle notes of citrus with cooked nopales notes. Great for sipping or mixed in your favorite cocktails. 

Producer Description 

La Gritona Reposado is a subtle and distinctive 100% blue agave tequila distilled by Melly Cardenas at her small distillery (NOM 1533) in Valle de Guadalupe in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. The tequila begins with mature agave grown in the red soil of the Jalisco highlands that has been cultivated at the height of it’s sugar production and is put into our ovens within 24 hours of being cut.

Our agave is baked in our thick-walled earthen ovens for 24 hours and then allowed to rest for another 24 hours before crushing. After allowing the collected liquid to naturally ferment a rate that is only dictated by the surrounding air temperature, we distill our fermented liquid twice. It is then rested in reused American whiskey barrels for 8 months before filtering and bottling.

Every step of production takes place under one roof and our facility is overseen by a small staff of locals that work each process from start to finish. We currently bottle an average of 12,500 liters per batch. All of the agave remnants that are left over after production are given to local farmers to use as cattle feed. Our bottles are hand blown with recycled glass in the Guadalajara neighborhood of Tlaquepaque, an hour away from the distillery.

Expert Notes

Clear color. Grassy, umami, savory aromas and flavors of olive brine, blue cheese stuffed olives, elote, sweet corn and spices, mint, caramelized plantains, honey, and pistachio with an oily, dry fat body and a peppery, distinctive, medium-long finish displaying impressions of blanched almond, roasted tomato, coconut cream with cracked black pepper, cider apple, and spiced pear. A sweet, savory, and funky fun Mezcal that will surprise and delight your palette with every.  

95 Points Exceptional  - Tastings.com

Producer Description 

Producer Description 

The name Haku does not merely means “white” but celebrates the origin and the craft of this Premium Japanese Vodka.

The naming Haku pays tribute to its origin “Hakumai” (白米 ) - 100% pure Japanese white rice, and craft of mastering a “Jyunpaku” (純白) – pure and brilliant Vodka carefully filtrated through bamboo charcoal for an unparalleled soft, round and subtly sweet taste. 

Producer Description 

Created in response to requests by ‘mixologists’ for a Martin Miller’s Gin that would give a more ‘old school’ authenticity to their classic repertoire of cocktails and help them create more fully-flavoured inventions.

It became a bartender’s favourite from the very beginning, enjoying an underground cult status and closely-guarded secret among the bar fraternity.

Since its launch, Martin Miller’s Westbourne Gin has been awarded the highest score ever in some competitions and continues gathering top prizes from worldwide tasting panels and juries including The World’s Best Gin according to BTI in 2020.

NOSE: 

Intense citrus peels integrated with juniper and a very smooth alcohol balance

PALATE: 

Subtle sweetness from liquorice enhances the citrus presence

FINISH: 

Long freshness feeling 

Producer Description 

Monkey 47 is a batch distilled and handcrafted gin from Germany’s Black Forest. In total, 47 handpicked plant ingredients prepared in extremely soft water from the Black Forest lend Monkey 47 unrivaled complexity and quality. Since its launch in 2010, aficionados, bartenders and connoisseurs the world over have come to appreciate the incredible complexity and harmony. Monkey 47 has been part of Pernod Ricard since 2016.

Expert Review

Wine Enthusiast 93 Points | Grand Marnier-or "GrandMa," as some cocktail geeks gleefully shorthand it-remains one of the classics. Although it's Cognac-based, it's a versatile match for other spirits, too. The liqueur is extremely aromatic, with lots of sweet and bitter orange notes exploding out of the glass. Look for a warm, honeyed flavor and a nice burst of orange peel and spicy cinnamon and ginger on the long finish. 

Producer Description 

Bright topaz colour with gold and amber tints. Complex nose of orange flowers, combined with scents of candied zests and toffee. Bitter orange flavours that the cognac enhances with nuances of orange marmalade and hazelnuts. The finish is long and harmonious. 

Producer Description 

A first sip to taste the bitter notes of Colombo, Aloe, and the unmistakable tang of Gentian. A second small sip will reveal the spicy notes of Zedoary and the full-bodied flavor of Chamomile. With the final sip, the liqueur unveils its full repertoire of flavors: the overall effect is bitter, but a delicately spicy aftertaste lingers—the flavor of Myrrh.

Fernet-Branca is the world’s leading Italian amaro with a uniquely bitter herbal flavor profile. The distinctly bitter taste is beloved by bartenders worldwide, earning Fernet Branca the nickname ‘the bartender’s handshake.’

Today, only one person in the world knows the secretly guarded recipe. The complex bitter profile makes Fernet-Branca the perfect bitter herbal modifier for any cocktail.

Fernet-Branca is versatile and can be enjoyed in numerous ways. For a straightforward experience, try it neat in a shot glass accompanied by your favorite beer. Alternatively, you can savor it on the rocks, blended with ice and soda, mixed with tonic water, or paired with ginger ale. Additionally, it serves as an excellent ingredient in a wide variety of cocktails. 

Producer Description 

Heavier and weightier with a marked presence, featuring intense notes of pear, tree fruits, vanilla, and to a lesser degree of nutmeg, cinnamon, and oak.

Lovely warm almost enrobing mouthfeel to it, it is heavy, silky, and weighty like on the tongue. All the elements of a good mixing cognac or a casual sipper.

Producer Description 

Absolut Vanilia was introduced in 2003. Basically because vanilla is one of the most beloved flavors in the world. And it wasn’t long until that fact was reinforced through the instant success of Absolut Vanilia – it is almost equally popular as vanilla itself. 

Expert Review

Wine Enthusiast 95 Points | Offers an intensely bean-like aroma that's assertive and properly bitter; with further time the fragrance turns plumper and sweeter. Palate entry is clean, acidic and bittersweet; by midpalate, the flavor profile displays focused, well-knit tastes of vanilla bean and cocoa bean. Aftertaste is long, semisweet and intensely vanilla-like.