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Genfarclas always comes to mind for me when talking about the last of the independent dinosaurs.

Would have been a lot less disappointing at that price! Probably nearly double that here last I looked.

I have the Leblon Reserva and liked it but it did not quite fully scratch my itch to try reasonably well aged cachaça (Maybe at least 5 years or so. The Leblon is reportedly about two years old). Still had a pretty notable youngish twang to it. Not sure I fully appreciate the grassy versus earthy distinction Tiare makes either but that may just be me. Then again I am not completely sure what that itch is supposed to be! I suppose I am comparing it to aged agricole but maybe that isn't fair. But until I can find a few bottles of reasonably well aged good quality cachaça (not that I am sure I even know which brands are "good quality". There are so many options in Brazil that never get to the States as noted earlier) to spend some time with so that I can really try to scratch it I guess I won't know!

If you didn't care for Storm (I didn't either, would rather drink the regular 10yo) then probably shouldn't bother with Dark Storm! I found it even more disappointing especially given it is harder to get. It came out originally as travel retail only. Don't know if it is more available now.

A local Brazilian steakhouse has that brand with a relatively well aged version available (maybe 5yo?) but apparently they get a special deal as I can't get it at retail so far. Presumably for that reason they are pretty fond of it which has discouraged me from trying more than a single pour. I though it was good but not great. The bottle was probably 2/3 empty and no telling how long it had been on the shelf so maybe that affected it a bit.

It often seems to get placed in the"Vin de Liqueur" category that includes fun things like Pineau des Charentes, Floc de Gascogne, Ratafia de Champagne, Cartagène de Languedoc and Macvin du Jura but the addition of the peach components makes it sound a bit different and rather interesting. Unfortunately I have never seen it in the US and as a vin de liqueur fan I have looked!

I think of a "classic" martini as having orange bitters as well as a twist (or an olive I suppose but more typically a twist if I am making them) giving it four ingredients if you are going to count the garnish.

Well, not so much bought as acquired from friends living in Tanzania who were back visiting for a couple of weeks. Konyagi from Tanzania, known as "The Spirit of the Nation". Apparently a molasses based "spirit" with citrus and spice flavorings that allegedly goes down "smooooth". A good bit of info on the back label but unfortunately all in another language (Swahili perhaps?). Also have seen references to the spirit as "Tears of a Lion". Hmm, at 70 proof that seems possible since there isn't much alcohol in it! So a liqueur of some sort might be the most accurate category for it. Apparently a Dawa cocktail (Swahili for "medicine" I am told, two "shots" of Konyagi with fresh sqeezed lime juice, crushed ice, honey, brown sugar and a dash of tonic) is one way to consume this curious beverage. That doesn't sound so bad but I think I will have to start with a bit of it neat, purely for scientific purposes of course!

A bit out of the box but Maestro Dobel is a filtered joven that is a blend of reposado, anejo and extra anejo. I was a bit surprised that I liked it but I did. And it is essentially a Cuervo product. Same NOM.

I have moved away a bit from gin cocktails of late but it is summertime and if I can find this bottle it might be just the thing to put me back into the mood! As to recent acquisitions I came upon this interesting little novelty perched on a shelf for the last 4 years or so and after getting a bit of a discount I decided to bring it home. A Murray McDavid bottling of a moderately peated (38ppm) Bunnahabhain finished in Chateau Lafite casks. Wine cask finishes can be hit or miss in my experience but this one seems to be a winner! The peat and the fruit really seem to be well balanced.

Looks like we are shut out for the moment in the US. Which is annoying since they own Beam! Probably the damned 700/750 ml issue again.

Not sure even that would deter a determined alcoholic. And no doubt there were a few in Jamaica, mon (as there are in pretty much every corner of the world!).

The Irishman recently went through a change in the labels and a slight restructuring of the lineup. They have a NAS single malt, a 12yo single malt and the Founders Reserve which is the blend of single malt and single pot still. They also do an occasional limited edition cask strength version which I think is also a blend f pure pot still and single malt with more pot still than the Founders reserve. Haven't tried any since the new line and labels came out. I too love the Nikka Coffey Grain. Not sure I would think rum first but will need to try it again to refresh my memory. Definitely delicate and sweet and yet well balanced and so easy to drink. Would love to try the Coffey malt but don't think it is in the US. Will have to add it to the overseas acquisitions list! I am hoping to track down a bottle of the Kavalan Soloist Sherry soon as I have heard great things about that. Would love to try the St George's malt as it sounds quite interesting but just haven't had the chance. No experience so far with the Glenrothes line.

Sorry to hear you got stuck with a bad bottle but I will heed your advice and avoid the brand if at all possible!

Yes, WhistlePig would love for you to believe their little lie! But nothing is distilled in Vermont and never has been. It is presumably bottled there and there may be some whiskey aging out in the barn but all the whiskey they bottle comes from Alberta Distillers at least at present. They claim they will eventually distill there but so far they have made no significant progress on building a distillery to my knowledge and then it would take them another 10 years to have an equivalently aged product to the current WhistlePig.

Leblon is perhaps the best of a rather underwhelming group of the few I have access to locally. They did a two year old 375ml release of Leblon Reserva Especial that was pretty decent as well. Yes, that is the frustrating part. I know there are probably some really good ones out there but we get so few options here. Mae de Ouro was another decent one to me. I would really like to explore some of the aged versions particularly using local Brazilian woods. But for now it is a category of spirits I just don't put much effort into until availability improves.

There are however a number of American style ryes that are made in Canada. WhistlePig is perhaps the best known example of that. Early Jefferson Rye and the current Masterson's rye all reportedly came from the same source, Alberta Distillers Limited. It happened to be owned by Beam which of course is now owned by Suntory under the new name "Beam Suntory". ADL certainly puts out other whiskey using its 100% straight rye whiskey as the base. I think Alberta Premium Dark Horse whiskey is mostly an American Style rye with some corn whiskey added that is mostly available only in Canada. The addition of corn whiskey blended into it is what gets it labeled as Canadian whiskey rather than a straight rye. If it didn't have that it could probably be called a straight rye whiskey under US rules.

Batavia Arrack is almost mezcal funky but in such a good way! It is an Arrack which is not exactly a rum though although the Batavia Arrack from Indonesia is a cane based spirit. So I suppose you could consider it a subset of rum? Some Arrack (Sri Lankan and Filipino styles for example) is made from coconut flower sap rather than cane sugar. Tastes very different from Batavia Arrack to me. I like Batavia Arrack much better. I am told some cachaça's can be pretty funky but I only have limited experience with them as it seems hard to find any here but the most basic "industrial" brands of cachaça which I find to be a bit underwhelming.

Writer's Tears is a bit of an odd one for me. It is a blend of single pot still and single malt whiskey which is similar to the Irishman line. Not surprising I suppose since both brands come from the same company. My understanding is that the Irishman has a bit less of the single pot still whiskey (70 malt/30 pot still) than does the Writer's Tears (60/40) and they are deliberately kept separate from one another in their advertising even though they come from the same company. Writer's Tears seems to be a bit more expensive and as far as I know isn't available here in the US. That said I did pick up a bottle of the 2012 Cask Strength Writer's Tears in a shipment from across the pond which reportedly reverses the blend with more single pot still whiskey than single malt (and of course is bottled at a moderate cask strength of 104 proof). I thought it was really quite good. But have never tried the regular Writer's Tears to compare to it.

To my recollection the Fusion does not use sherry casks at all. The sweetness, almost like a chocolate maltiness is presumably the malt and the barrel influence. The Amrut Intermediate Sherry on the other hand does a nice job with a blend of bourbon and sherry casks.

Got my favorite kind of whisky today as a friend brought home a Nikka Whisky from the Barrel as a gift from London. No better friends than that! This is typically unavailable in the US because it is packaged in a 500ml bottle which generally isn't permitted for spirits in the US for some no doubt idiotic reason. Rather like the prohibition on 700ml bottles which keeps so many interesting things out of the US. This, along with the Westland American Single Malt (finally found the picture) And the Old Scout mentioned above along with several others (like the new Four Roses 2014 Limited Edition single barrel and a gift shop OESK 11yo selection I happen to have on hand) will almost certainly find their way into tomorrows tasting session. Should be fun! Hope I remember some of it...

A post in the Single Malt section reminded me of a couple of recent additions including a barrel pick from Smooth Ambler that I had a small hand in selecting just arrived in the store. A new "Devil's Batch" is born! Also a new American made single malt that has been getting some positive reviews called Westland Distillery which released a couple of single cask special releases. The Cask 29 is the one I was able to get. A lightly peated whisky aged in full sized used cooperage for about 29 months. Young malt but young peated whisky can be very drinkable as Kilchoman has shown. Hope to crack it open tomorrow.

Good point. I think that is what makes it so much better to me than other PR rums! I have the same trouble giving Bacardi much credit but agree the Bacardi 8 is fairly decent if you avoid looking at the label...

Balanced seems to be a real hallmark of a lot of Japanese whisky. Often very good but not always pushing the envelope the way some others do. I have been trying to get the Miyagikyo 15yo which isn't available here in the US (the 12yo is available) to compare to the Yoichi 15yo and the Nikka Taketsuru which is the blend of those 2 malts at 12, 17 and 21 years old. Fun stuff! The James E Pepper is a sourced bourbon (and rye) from MGPI. It is a massive distillery in Indiana left over from the Seagram days that makes whiskey in a variety of mashbills including at least 2 different bourbon mashbills sourced by many NDPs around the US. They recently added several more mashbills including several interesting bourbon mashbills like 49% barley malt that likely won't be available for a few more years. To me it all comes down to how well they pick the barrels. Pepper is OK but I like what Smooth Ambler has been picking a little better.

Rebel Yell is a venerable old brand once made at the same distillery (Stitzel-Weller) that was run by Pappy Van Winkle where his Old Fitzgerald brand was made. It stopped being made there in the 1980's. The Rebel Yell brand is now owned by Luxco but made by Heaven Hill and is a wheated style bourbon like Larceny and Old Fitz, both also made by Heaven Hill. I don't think it is very good myself and you are probably better served with the other two brands or perhaps Weller Special Reserve from Buffalo Trace, also a wheated bourbon. WSR was about $12 for 750ml last time I saw it on the shelf and a decent drinking whiskey. Certainly better than Rebel Yell in my opinion. Even Williams and especially the bourbons made under the Heaven Hill label are rye based whiskey and tend to be a bit spicier than the typical wheated bourbons but can be a decent value as well and typically are at or under $20.