Looking for a new flavor? Need a little help making your next choice at your local bar or bottle shop? Dining and drinks writer and judge Virginia Miller combs through new craft spirits releases to taste, review, and recommend. Here are her top 12 picks of the month, rated on a scale of one to five.
My bottle review column (last month’s edition here) is about what is unique, standout, new and/or trending in spirits with my review ratings on a 1-5 rating scale. My 12 bottle picks of the month:
RUM
Rhum J.M Terroir Volcanique Rum
https://spiribam.passionspirits.com/rhum-jm.html
Rhum J.M’s Terroir Volcanique Rum ($46.99) launched in the U.S. just before Earth Day, April 2023, paying homage to the distillery’s micro-climate setting, volcanic soil sugarcane fields and blessed longtime commitment to sustainable production under their EDDEN Project. As a blend of rums 3 years or older, the rums are aged in new American oak barrels with custom heavy toasts. As a Martinique rhum agricole legend since 1845, I’ve been a fan of Rhum J.M. over 15 years since I first fell in love with agricole in rum, thanks to the education of Ed Hamilton and his Ministry of Rum events here in the Bay Area at that time. Adoring J.M.’s grassy-elegant agricoles, Terroir Volcanique is not my first choice with its heavily woody, tannic, smoky profile, which, for me, overwhelms the beautifully fresh, refined funk I crave in agricole. However, being Rhum J.M, it is still well-balanced, exuding sugarcane, brown sugar, toasted notes with the rum subtly coming through on the finish. This is a rum for whisk(e)y lovers. Taste Rating: 3.5
SOTOL
Los Magos Barrel-Aged Sotol, WhistlePig Edition #1
https://losmagossotol.com
Los Magos just launched their unique Los Magos Barrel-Aged Sotol WhistlePig Edition #1 May 2023. It’s their 100% wild harvested sotol (traditional Mexican desert spoon cactus spirit) aged over a year in WhistlePig‘s rye oak barrels. A collaboration between Los Magos co-founder Juan Pablo Carvajal and WhistlePig master distiller Meghan Ireland, it’s an exceptional sotol. It showcases all the herbaceous, saline, subtly smoky-earthy beauty I love in Los Magos’ unaged sotol with a blessedly light hand on the oak. It plays almost like a gentle reposado mezcal, light on oak but with some refined maturity around its interplay of smoke and eucalyptus-herbaceous-florality. A shining beacon of what is possible in sotol. Taste Rating: 5
GIN
Bertha’s Revenge Small Batch Irish Gin
https://ballyvolanespirits.ie
Winning a Double Gold at SF World Spirits Competition (where I’ve been a blind judge for years), Bertha’s Revenge Milk Irish Gin ($39.99, ABV 42%) is the first Irish distillery to produce small batch Irish milk gin from whey alcohol, just launching their first sloe gin this spring. I have not tried their sloe or navy strength gins, but have tasted and judged a number of whey spirits of the years, appreciating their typically silky texture. Bertha’s Revenge follows suit, unfolding with classic botanicals (coriander, orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, licorice, orris root, angelica root) as well as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, cumin and almond. It’s a creamy, spice-forward gin that shines in a range of cocktails given its texture and its delicate balance of herbaceous, citrus and spice notes. Taste Rating: 4
MIXERS
The Yuzu Co. Cold-Pressed Yuzu Juice
theyuzu.co
Cold-pressed yuzu juice from Japan comes in pure, tart, floral form with YUZUCO, a Los Angeles-based importer and supplier sourcing yuzu juice and products from multi-generational producers in Kyushu and Shikoku islands. 100% Yuzu Juice ($24 for 8 oz.) and Yuzu Super Juice ($12 12 oz.; $24 for 1 liter) were made available in the states in May 2023, ideal for cooking but also for cocktails. While we grow wonderful yuzu — among all other citrus — in my home of California, it’s still a delight to get Japanese-grown yuzu. While some residue forms around the top of the liquid level in the plastic bottles when sitting in the fridge (wish it was not plastic), the taste is clean, bright and fresh in drinks. Bottled in CA, 100% Yuzu is not heat-treated to maximize flavor and aroma, with yuzu oils from rind and fruit imparting a silky texture. Their products are shipped nationwide via their website and stocked at these shops. Taste Rating: 5
RTDS (Ready-to-Drink/Canned or Bottled Drinks)
Miixt Vodka Kombucha Refresher
www.miixt.com
Miixt Vodka Kombucha Refreshers sticks with simplicity — a vodka base, real fruit juices, fermented kombucha tea and sparkling water — in four flavors: mango, peach, strawberry lemonade and tangerine. Described as low in carbs, gluten free and high in antioxidants and probiotics, the California-produced RTDs are light, subtle and refreshing. For those who don’t like kombucha or who love boozy seltzers/sodas, the line is a welcome newcomer with understated fruit flavors. As an appreciator of kombucha and not much of a fan of watery seltzers, these are not for me with their sleight flavors (more vodka soda than kombucha), but I still give an objective higher rating for restrained balance. Taste Rating: 3.5-4
SCOTCH WHISKY
Mortlach Midnight Malt 30 Year Scotch Whisky
www.reservebar.com/products/mortlach-30-year-old-midnight-malt/GROUPING-1933739.html
While nothing compares to the original Mortlach 16 year Scotch whisky I used to buy for under $50 on the regular in the UK 15 years ago, I have written about the newer 16 year Distiller’s Dram, and recently sampled Mortlach MIDNIGHT MALT 30 year old Scotch (49.1% ABV), a whopping $4,999.99 with only 350 bottles released annually. Distilled in six stills precisely 2.81 times, this Single Malt is finished in Bordeaux wine, Calvados and Guatemalan rum seasoned casks, then afterwards married in custom quarter casks. Yes, it’s bold and layered, unfolding with baked apple, spice from the rum, cocoa and even a gentle peppery note. It is gorgeous, reminding me of why I loved the distillery to begin with in my young Scotch-drinking years falling in love with their original 16 year. Taste Rating: 5
TEQUILA
• Chrome Horse Society
www.ChromeHorseSociety.com
Just launched in April from New York, Chrome Horse Society’s first tequila ($75.49) is produced at Distileria Leyros in Jalisco, the one distillery in the region with an innovation laboratory. Founded by equestrian, entrepreneur and philanthropist Jack Morgan with a unique bottle that almost reminds me of cologne, the focus is modern with elements like controlled fermentation and triple distillation in copper plated stills, and environmental practises in their privately owned agave fields, including frequent crop rotation and water reduction. The tequila is sold through an online subscription-based platform with automatic replenishments. While there is more of a hit of vanilla than I would like, this is also a very vegetal, bright tequila, exuding those white pepper, herbaceous, citrus notes I look for in a blanco. Taste Rating: 4
• Cenote Ahumado
http://tequilacenote.com
As tequila continues to grow dramatically in sales each year, we are seeing continuous unique expressions of tequila come to market. While some smoked, unaged tequilas exist already, Cenote’s brand new Ahumado ($75.99) is hickory-smoked and rested in oak barrels for just over two months. In a black bottle with a charred pina cork, the tequila certainly exudes campfire smoke (of the hickory kind), subtle grassiness, coconut and caramel with a roasted pepper hit. As a smoky spirits lover, however, I struggle with the almost wood chip note to the smoke. Instead of ringing through with a natural hit of char, I get more of an unnatural, cloying liquid smoke flavoring on the nose and palate. Taste Rating: 2.5
BRANDY
Merlet XO Cognac
https://merlet.fr
Merlet Cognac has a history in Cognac, France, dating back to 1850, with a range of award-winning Cognacs, including a double gold for their XO in San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2022 (SFWSC), where I am a blind judge. Merlet XO Cognac is an elegant beauty in the line, aromatic with stone fruit, spice and florality, underscoring deeper tones of wood and brown sugar. It’s rich on the palate, with a boozy burst of power that borders on hot. Golden apple and quince notes linger on the finish. Taste Rating: 4.5
AMERICAN WHISKEY
• Santa Fe Spirits Colkegan Unsmoked Single Malt Whiskey
https://santafespirits.com/spirits/colkegan-unsmoked
Santa Fe Spirits just released Colkegan Unsmoked Single Malt Whiskey ($69.99 SRP) May 2023, their first unsmoked whiskey from a line centered around their impressive Colkegan Mesquite Smoked Single Malt. I’ve appreciated founder Colin Keegan and distiller Stephen Julander’s sense of balance and delicacy with his initial whiskies. There are Scotch Whisky elements in this 100% malted barley-based line of whiskies, but with a New Mexico-evocative mesquite smoked malt instead of peat. While I am partial to Colkegan’s smoked originals, the roughly four years aged (in new American Oak and ex-bourbon barrels), unsmoked Colkegan is a welcome addition to the line, ideal for those who don’t love smoky whiskies. Though just a touch hot, the whiskey rolls out with cinnamon and toasty, nutty spice, a brown sugar, dried fruit sweetness and balanced oak. Another great entrant in the Colkegan line. Taste Rating: 4.5
• Blackened Cask Strength Whiskey
www.BlackenedWhiskey.com
Released May 2023, BLACKENED Whiskey® ($69.99 SRP) launched its cask strength, volume 01 whiskey. It’s the same award-winning blend of bourbon and rye, finished in brandy casks, non-chill filtered, but bottled at cask strength. Launched by none other than Metallica with master distiller/blender Rob Dietrich in 2018 under Sweet Amber Distilling Co., the original whiskey was a collaboration between late whiskey legend (and my friend) Dave Pickerell with the iconic rock band. Dietrich came on board in 2019 after Pickerell’s passing. I appreciated the initial whiskey since tasting it at a celebratory launch with Dietrich during a special week of intimate concerts Metallica conducted in my — and their — hometown of San Francisco. The whiskey is a fine interplay of bourbon corn sweetness, rye spice and robust oak and body. Cask Strength amps up the same notes with more spice, oat and sweet fig, vanilla and maple. Taste Rating: 4
• Lux Row Distillers Blood Oath Pact 9 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
https://luxrowdistillers.com/blood-oath
Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown, KY, released their limited edition Lux Row Distillers Blood Oath Pact 9 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey ($129.99 SRP, 49.3% ABV) this spring, finished in Oloroso Sherry casks. Master distiller and blender John Rempe blends 16, 12 and 7-year rye-heavy bourbons for a wood and ripe fruit-forward whiskey. While I find it too tannic and a bit stripping on the palate, especially for the reasonable proof, there are some layers of fig, raisin, chocolate and tobacco that unfold around all that wood. Each Blood Oath Pact whiskey has a different colored label (Blood Oath Pact 9 is deep crimson) and is sold in a commemorative fire-branded wooden box. Taste Rating: 3
Ready for another round? Visit Virginia’s website http://www.theperfectspotsf.com/wp02/for last month’s edition, plus personal recommendations on the best spots in cities around the world.
