Ocho Tequila & Alma Oscura

The concept of terroir is a much-vaunted one when it comes to marketing and quality promises concerning spirits in general (not to mention wine). Moreover, in recent years, also consumers have increasingly valued it. In particular, fermentation as a process that is significant for the taste of rum and whisky has become a popular subject. But not only there, because producers of Mexican agave distillates are also proclaiming the influence of the terroir on their product. And – how could it be otherwise? – this is of course also the case with the two bottles in focus here today. Read More

No.3 London Dry Gin

Whenever a gin lover will inspect the shelves of her or his local liquor store or supermarket these days, there will always be new, innovative newcomers to that fiercely contested market. However, of course, there will always remain some of the old favourites, which already represent good quality and were able to establish themselves since years. One of the latter is certainly the green glass bottle with the embedded key. Although sometimes it doesn’t seem to fit into the modern gin world. Read More

Plantation Single Cask Trinidad 1997 & Pirate’s Penicillin

It’s been a while since I last wrote about a Plantation Rum here. Since then, Ferrand has been consistently pursuing the path they had taken in the past: The focus lies increasingly on transparency and information, especially in the “premium segment” of the brand. And so, with the new Single Casks, a whole series of very interesting rums has been launched, some of which have undergone very unusual cask maturations. Read More