New Spirit Releases 2009

Charbay Tequila Blanco
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Tequila; Mexico $58
www.charbay.com

According to popular wisdom, the most desirable qualities in real estate are “location, location, location.” Charbay takes this adage seriously, with each bottle of its un-aged artisanal tequila displaying the GPS coordinates of the agave plantation used to make the spirit. Charbay’s founder Miles Karakasevic and his son Marko, twelfth and thirteenth-generation distillers respectively, traveled to a distillery in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, to personally produce their 100-percent blue agave tequila. As guest distillers, the duo supervised the entire process, from harvest to fermentation, combining traditional and proprietary production methods. This 80-proof drink, which was double distilled in copper alembic pot stills, exhibits strong and spicy agave nectar aromas, followed by straightforward citrus, pepper and cinnamon flavors, and a sharp finish. Enjoy neat, over ice or in a cocktail.

Southern Comfort Ready-to-Serve Sweet Tea Cocktail
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Cocktail; United States $20
www.southerncomfort.com

Skip the frustrating late night hunt for that last cocktail ingredient and simply enjoy one that is ready straight from the bottle. Southern Comfort’s Ready-to-Serve Sweet Tea Cocktail is a synthesis of two iconic southern beverages, and since it is sold in 1.75-liter bottles, it’ll help reduce the preparation time for large social gatherings. This 30-proof mixed drink’s main component is Southern Comfort, a smooth peach-flavored liqueur that was first created by New Orleans bartender M.W. Heron more than 130 years ago. With instructions to pour directly into an ice-filled glass, this pre-made sweet tea cocktail features peach and apricot flavors with strong hints of tea in the background. If tea’s not your thing, there is also a Ready-to-Serve Hurricane Cocktail available.

Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old Rum
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Rum; Jamaica $30
www.appletonrum.com

Appleton Estate has produced rums in Jamaica’s Nassau Valley since 1749, and is notable for having the country’s oldest sugar factory and distillery in continuous production. While only accounting for a fraction of the company’s 260-year history, their Extra 12 Year Old Rum offers a taste of the region’s terroir since it is the culmination of a blend of estate-crafted rums, each of which has been aged for at least twelve years in small oak casks. The dark amber-hued spirits are produced via traditional small-batch copper pot and column distillation, using onsite limestone-filtered spring water and estate-grown and distilled sugarcane. This 86-proof potable exhibits smooth yet spicy nut, brown sugar, citrus and vanilla flavors with a bittersweet aftertaste. The drink is suitable served neat or on the rocks.

Seagram's Grape Twisted Gin
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Gin; Arkansas $9
www.seagramsginlive.com

For those of us who love both grape juice and distilled beverages, this 70-proof spirit offers a synergetic sipping experience. Intended for cocktails, the Grape Twisted Gin is made with Seagram’s classic Extra Dry Gin, which is crafted from an American grain spirit and then blended with botanicals from around the world (such as Spanish orange peel and Sri Lankan cardamom) before being mellowed in white oak whiskey barrels. A low-temperature distillation process helps preserve the potable’s unique essence. This grape-infused version of the gin uses natural grape flavors, giving it a sweet and smooth candy taste with a dry, lingering finish. The drink joins others in the Twisted Gin product family—that includes raspberry, apple, lime and orange varieties—and comes in a textured glass bottle resembling melting ice cubes.

Americana Luxury Vodka
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Vodka; United States $30
www.americanavodka.com

Bourbon’s not the only spirit to come from the United States, something Americana Luxury Vodka is quick to point out. This 80-proof spirit, a notable domestic variant in a market full of imports, is made from water sourced 300 feet below sea level along with unflavored wheat, barley, rye and corn grown in America's heartland. In addition, the patriotic potable is distilled four times at the nation’s oldest family distillery (in New Jersey) before undergoing six rounds of a slow charcoal filtration process, with yet another round before bottling. The vodka comes in an appropriately red and blue-tinted bottle with a clear mid-section, evoking the hues of the Stars and Stripes. Plugging the bottle is a synthetic cork emblazoned with the number 50 inside an outline of the U.S. mainland.

Dos Maderas 5+3 Years Old Rum
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Rum; Caribbean and Spain $35
www.bodegas-williams-humbert.com

Compared to most spirits, which are both crafted and refined in a single geographic region, the Dos Maderas 5+3 Years Old Rum is a globetrotter. The 75-proof distillation is produced in the Caribbean (Guyana and Barbados to be exact), where it is aged in American oak barrels for five years. Then the rum is shipped 4,000 miles east to Jerez, Spain where it is aged again, this time for three years in casks that once contained sherry. Naturally, the Dos Maderas brand name means “two woods.” The spirit’s maker, Williams & Humbert, bills the drink as the world’s only double cask-aged rum, saying that the unique process helps makes it smooth on the palate with ripe fruit, tropical spice, tobacco and sherry flavors. Enjoy in a balloon glass, either neat or on ice.

Gran Duque d'Alba Solera Gran Reserva
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Brandy; Spain $50
www.bodegas-williams-humbert.com

Williams & Humbert’s Gran Duque d’Alba offers a tangible taste of Spain as it is made in the country’s Jerez region, one of only three official brandy-producing zones in the world. Building on its Hispanic heritage, and evoking a masculine elegance, the 80-proof brandy is named after Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, a sixteenth-century Spanish aristocrat and accomplished general. This mahogany-hued spirit is distilled from white wine made with Airén grapes and aged for at least twelve years—via the solera system—in American oak barrels that formerly contained sherry. Resulting is a medium-dry brandy with nut, caramel, brown spice and vanilla flavors, a smooth mouthfeel and a lingering finish. The drink comes in a shapely 750 ml bottle with a portrait of the Duke on the label and a signature red wax seal.

SKYY Infusions Pineapple
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Vodka; California
$2 (50 ml), $18 (750 ml) & $26 (1 L)
www.skyy.com

If in need of a taste of the tropics, skip the flight to Hawaii or even the drive to your local Tiki bar, and enjoy SKYY Infusions’ latest addition at home; an all-natural pineapple-flavored vodka, which the San Francisco, California-based company claims is the first on the market. Launched in February 2009, the 70-proof spirit joins a lineup that already includes the fruit flavors of citrus, cherry, grape, passion fruit and raspberry. The drink comes in the Infusions’ cobalt blue bottle and conveniently spares mixologists the hassle of carving a pineapple for their creations. Indeed, according to SKYY Spirits, this vodka—with its lighter character—was created to usurp rum’s prominence as the base for summertime cocktails such as Mai Tais and Piña Coladas.

Read our SKYY Infusions review

Pyrat XO Reserve Rum
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Rum; Anguilla $25 (750 ml) & $15 (375 ml)
www.pyratrum.com

Rum has long been associated with piracy, and the Pyrat brand makes no amends, as its name is merely an old English spelling for the stereotypically eye-patched miscreant. Pyrat’s lineup, comprising Cask 1623, Pistol and XO Reserve, is blended and hand-bottled on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Their XO Reserve is a mixture of several different barrel-aged pot-still rums from throughout the Caribbean, many of which have been aged for more than 15 years. The resulting blend is further aged in select French Limousin oak and American sweet oak barrels, which according to Pyrat, imbues the XO Reserve with a smooth, toasted apricot taste. This 80-proof amber-hued spirit is available in either a 750 ml or 375 ml handcrafted bottle designed to evoke the kind used by seafarers in the 19th century.

Scapa 16-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
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Scotch; Scotland $75
www.scapamalt.com

Scapa overlooks the Scapa Flow waterway and is located on the main island of Orkney, an archipelago of 70 isles north of mainland Scotland. Defined by its remoteness, this tiny distillery—established in 1885 and renovated in 2004—operates only two stills with a three-person team. They produce a single malt Scotch, made with local spring water carried for more than a kilometer via large iron pipes, and more distinctively, unpeated barley, which gives this honey-hued island whiskey gentle, subtle flavors. Since the Scotch ages in old warehouses by the sea, evaporation is replaced with traces of briny air, imbuing their 80-proof spirit with a slightly salty aftertaste. Their full-bodied 16-Year-Old starts sweet and smooth, and finishes dry, all the while exhibiting tangy butterscotch and honey flavors.

Crop Harvest Earth Organic Vodka
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Vodka; Minnesota $22
www.cropvodka.com

Make it an eco-friendly happy hour by enjoying Crop Harvest Earth’s organic artisanal vodka, an American-crafted spirit that bears the USDA’s “certified organic” seal. This 80-proof beverage earns its certification by being made from grain that is grown without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals. In the same way that the company eschews conventional agriculture, Crop Harvest Earth says they avoid using carbon treatment or charcoal filtering, instead choosing to distill each batch of the spirit as many times as needed to remove impurities. In addition to their plain artisanal-style vodka, vegetable lovers will be glad to know that they also offer cucumber and tomato-flavored versions, both of which are 70-proof and cocktail-friendly.