2013-05-11
by Neal Duncan MacDonald, Editor
Robert Gonzalez of IO9 is (primarily) a technology and science-fiction blog that ...
Login | Create Account |
Articles | FAQ | About Us | Media | Contact Us | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Site Terms
Follow us on:
Proof66 Liquor Review Articles
2013-05-02
We have pastry flavored vodkas… we have meat flavored vodkas… we have candy flavored vodkas… and now we have sorbet flavored vodkas. Fortunately, the sorbet vodkas from Smirnoff are something we actually want to drink!
...
2013-03-20
by Neal MacDonald
Like the Cody Road Bourbon (see our ...
2013-03-13
by Neal MacDonald
Cody Road Bourbon is a true craft-bourbon coming out of the ...
2013-03-03
by Neal MacDonald
It really is just about the taste!
At Proof66, we spend a lot of time with numbers. We worry about ratings, weighted averages, prices, proofs, rankings… an...
2013-02-19
by Neal MacDonald
The interesting saga of Maker’s Mark has run its course. They ...
2013-02-13
by Neal MacDonald
Bulleit Bourbon is a success story. It launched in 1987 by four-generation removed Thomas Bulleit (descended from Agustus...
2013-01-28
by Neal MacDonald
The story behind 2 Gingers is quite interesting: a bar owner who sold so much ...
2013-01-15
by Neal MacDonald
Out at the bars, we’re spending something like $7 to $10 for an elegant drink. That’s real cash… even if you’re going to stick to 2-3 drinks. Is ...
2013-01-12
by Neal MacDonald
It’s a time for retrospectives on 2012 and everyone seems to be publishing their Top Whatevers of the year. Here at Proof66, we get a chance to try many different s...
2012-12-30
by Russell Warshay, Contributor, Proof66
[As fans of the craft distilling movement and to salve the curiosity of fans, this is the first article in a series about the opening of a craft distiller...
2012-12-16
by Neal MacDonald, Proof66 Editor
We’ll be honest: it’s sometimes hard to get excited about vodka. It’s a pure, crystalline spirit that requires exacting skill to do well but it’s often far better served as...
2012-12-10
by Neal MacDonald, Editor, Proof66
Colinas do Sul - or “Hills of the South” - is a cachaca that has a lot of modern marketplace sensibilities in ...
2012-12-04
by Neal MacDonald, Proof66 Editor
Hiram Walker provide...
2012-11-19
By Neal MacDonald, Proof66 Editor
We love reviewing gin. We like it because gin is a highly individualized spirit with any number of botanical nuances offered by the distiller. It’s a blend of technical skill in the distillation and ...
2012-11-12
Proof66 is once again participating in Crown Royal’s Pass the Crown (#PassTheCrown) holiday event and that could mean a prize for you!
As some of our more...
2012-11-07
In correspondence with Dennis Stensgaard of Spiced Spirits, we struck up a conversation about aquavit. This is a traditional Scandinavian spirit that in modern times is heavily flavored with carraway but...
2012-10-29
by April Anderson, Guest ColumnistProof66 has always been committed to balancing critical acclaim with "regular people" reviews. This review is the first of a series of reviews where we give a bottle of craft...
2012-10-08
The Tasting Panel Magazine holds an annual tour of selected double-gold medal award winners from that year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition, w...
2012-09-17
by Neal MacDonald
Let’s say you have this tree. Let’s say you have this this peach tree and this year—why this year and not the other years, you don’t know but this...
2012-09-17
Catoctin Creek Distillery is Virginia-based all-organic distillery… absolutely everything is organic. And we’ve visited the distillery ourselves and can vouch for founders Scott and Becky Har...
2012-08-06
by Neal MacDonald
Despite being liquor snobs, we here at Proof66 recognize that beer has its place. You mow the lawn in the hot sun… you finish off an outdoor game of softball or&he...
2012-07-17
This is the fifth (and final) part of our tour through the liqueurs currently available from broVo Spirits: the business of two young women (Erin Brophy and Mhari Voelsgen whose names combine in a kenning to make the name of the company) ...
2012-07-08
This is the fourth part of our tour through the liqueurs currently available from broVo Spirits: the business of two young women (Erin Brophy and Mhari Voelsgen whose names combine in a kenning to make the name of the company) who cashed ...
2012-07-01
This is the third part of our tour through the liqueurs currently available from broVo Spirits: the business of two young women (Erin Brophy and Mhari Voelsgen whose names combine in a kenning to make the name of the company) who cashed o...
2012-06-24
This is the second part of our tour through the liqueurs currently available from broVo Spirits: the business of two young women (Erin Brophy and Mhari Voelsgen whose names combine in a ...
2012-06-20
There’s a lot to love about the Big Liquor industry. After all, how can one not get a little excited about massive campaigns that revolve around celebrity, party, and some balance of snobbery and mob appeal? Or the resources that allow them ...
2012-06-07
Wondering what gift to give the man of the house on Father’s Day? Newsflash: Dad doesn’t want another tie. Or some kind of paperweight for his cubicle. Or a coffee mug. Trust us when we say there are the two, certain-to-please gifts to...
2012-06-01
The folks at Ocotillo Importation kindly sent us a bottle of their Casa De Reynoso Reposado tequila to review. The back story is quite interesting. Upon a time, Mr. Rey...
2012-06-01
Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum—a relatively new offering from Diageo—had us a tiny bit worried. After all, doesn't the Captain already virtually own the spiced rum market? Is trying to offer other styles of spiced rum the equiva...
2012-05-06
Uttering the word “rum” and inviting a person to freely associate from there is a fun game. Polynesian girls, cabana boys, pineapples, ocean, sun, beach, sand, coconuts, pirates, British soldiers and so on… these are the words t...
2012-04-23
Breckenridge bourbon is a youngish thing, made by the folks at Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado, aged for a scant 2 years but done at 9,600 feet at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. A far cry from the humid lowlands of Kentucky ...
2012-04-03
Imagine a place where there’s a great party on a sun-kissed beach. Do that and you’re probably thinking about Hawaii. If there is any justice in this world, Hawaii with its beaches and its sugar fields should be the source of similarly...
2012-03-17
Imagine, for a moment, something utterly unthinkable… imagine, if you can, something as impossible as an honest campaigning politician. A politician who got in front of the camera and said something like, “I’m going to vote my c...
2012-03-17
Xante is a liqueur made from 4yr aged cognac infused with sweet pear essence. The marketing is nothing short of romantic awesomeness. They promise a ménage a trois of cognac, pear, and oak. They remark about the “tender matin...
2012-02-28
We had the pleasure of attending our third straight Distill America event in Madison, Wisconsin. After 3 years, it just keeps getting better.
We ...
2012-02-14
High West’s OMG Pure Silver rye is, without question, a connoisseur’s whiskey. That’s perfectly appropriate because why else does one purchase an un-aged rye whiskey in the first place ...
2012-02-03
We attended the Distill America event in 2010 and enjoyed every second of it. We liked it so much we attended againin 2011. It was even better. W...
2012-02-01
2012 is going to be a big year for Proof66.com and that means even better and smarter liquor for you.
First Android users: you asked for it and you got it. We’re happy to announce...
2012-01-18
We’ve had the opportunity to try High West whiskey once before in the spring of 2011 where we marveled that this Utah-based distillery—famous for beehives and teetotalers—could produce ...
2012-01-18
We received several samples from the High West Distillery in Utah and our most recent foray into Beehive State spirits was the Son of Bourye whiskey. What is bourye? May as well ask what is a jackalope, ...
2011-12-21
Vegefeuer. It’s hard not to know what to do with this. It’s hard to pronounce; coming out of the bottle one’s not sure what taste to expect; having tasted, it’s hard to know what to do with it. From color, to aroma, to styl...
2011-12-20
Ventura Blood Orange Orangecello comes to us from a distinguished pedigree. We had the opportunity to sample the Ventura Limoncello and Crema Limoncello the prior year and found them both to be very good. Then the San Francisco World Spirits Compe...
2011-11-17
Congratulations to Kristy from Ashville, Ohio who was drawn as our lucky winner and will receive a Kindle Fire from Proof66 (courtesy of Crown Royal). Thanks to everyone who participated and we hope to be able to have another contest somet...
2011-10-30
Sometimes buying vodka is about looking cool; say, in a bar with lots of people in “hoochie gear” on the prowl and you really need them to know that you bought something pricy, prestigious, and popular. Then, there are other t...
2011-10-09
There are bars in this world that are special. They make their name in carrying selected spirits that cater to certain sensibilities. They crave exploration; they savor the unusual; and they delight in taking their patrons on a journey rather than...
2011-09-19
For the second year in a row, we had the opportunity to attend the Tasting Panel Magazine’s tour stop in Chicago where twenty-four double-gold medal winning spirits from the 2011 San Francisco Wo...
2011-07-31
There are people in this world who know who Ron Jeremy is and people who do not. First—and especially if you're at work—do not do a Google search on that name! Instead, simply g...
2011-07-22
Emperor's Brand and Crāv Spirits recently sent us some of their newest vodka offerings, namely the Versailles Vodka and Crāv Vodka (pronounced "crave"). The v...
2011-07-13
Let's get one thing out of the way: Deco Distilling flavored rums are about as gentle as the Northeast Atlantic coastline in storm and about as subtle as the political message behind the movie Avatar. Is that necessarily a bad thing? No, ...
2011-07-13
By Sweet JaneI was a little kid in the late 60s and early 70s. In my suburban home, just on the edge of Chicago's southwest side, our world at that time was more Mad Men than hippies and flower power. In fact, I watch M...
2011-06-13
If you're old school and you've opened a cocktail book lately then you'll notice that any given modern drink calls for a wide conquering horde of ingredients and only a few of these actually contain alcohol-many ingredients will defy pronunciation...
2011-05-11
Quick, think of things that go well together: girl scouts and cookies; tailgating and football; Sonny and Cher; Justin Bieber and shears; Utah and whiskey. Utah and Whiskey? Go ahead: laugh it up. Get it all out of your system. Ready?...
2011-04-13
by Sweet Jane I live in Chicago where spring is more an existential argument than a season. The average temperature since April Fool's Day (a day no one in Chicago over the age of 10 finds amusing) has been 45 degrees. So yesterday ...
2011-03-20
Imagine speed dating. Not the creepy kind of speed dating in a worn-out bar and participant list suspect in both hygiene and gainful employment. Instead, imagine speed dating with every movie star you had a half-decent screen crush on...
2011-02-15
There you are: you're at the Outback Steakhouse glancing through the Drink Menu. The teens are mooning the kids are shrieking and the parents are alternatively arguing with each other and yelli...
2011-02-05
From our standpoint, El Tesoro did everything right. It's a fine tequila offered at a very reasonable price. It was submitted repeatedly for professional judging at a variety of institutions. For these efforts, they were rewarded with a barrage of...
2011-01-25
Just outside of Milwaukee, in an out-of-the-way warehouse in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, resides the home of the Midwest Custom Bottling Company. From this unassuming building comes such diverse offerings as RumChata, a long line of various flavored vodk...
2010-12-14
Last February in the winter of 2010, we attended the Celebration of American Distilling in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a wonderful event with a numbe...
2010-11-10
Judging and scoring liquor is an act of subjectivity. It is like giving a score to a work of literature by a serious author; an acting performance in a movie; a meal at a fine restaurant; or a strutting starlet in a beauty pageant. Who is to say w...
2010-10-06
It's all well and good for nations to have healthy rivalries. How about Italy and the USA? America took Italy's recipe for pizza... and made it better. America took Italy's (Rome's really) idea for government... and made it better. Italy's Gugliel...
2010-09-27
Which liqueur is flirting with a big "too cool for school" tag? Well... when you're kryptonite green, announce yourself as "ultra premium," are featured at nightclubs across America, and sport some military dog tags on the bottle, then that tag mi...
2010-09-15
Mr. Anthony Dias Blue is both the editor in chief of the Tasting Panel Magazine and the executive director and founder of the San...
2010-09-15
The second half of the Tasting Panel Magazine event held at Epic Restaurant in Chicago was featured a particular, ups...
2010-08-17
The folks from Northern Main Distillery Company gave us a bottle of their Twenty 2 Vodka to try. Given what we read on the Twenty 2 website (under construction as of August, 2010) we had very high hopes. The founders, with degrees from Rennselaeea...
2010-07-03
Proof66 had the great privilege to welcome Sonja Kassebaum from Chicago's own North Shore Distillery at one of our tastings. It's always a pleasure to watch a professional at work and Sonja was in rare form for us that night. Of course, it helps t...
2010-05-27
"Wildcatters" were individuals who ventured into wild unknown and/or unproductive areas and sank wells drilling for oil. No geological surveys; no safety net. Just an idea and a drill. Are you a wildcat? You've got an idea. You've got...
2010-05-17
Try it some Saturday. Take a 90 minute drive out into the wooded fields of Virginia and see it for yourself. Visit the Copper Fox Distillery and behold the man who is living exactly...
2010-04-27
Cinco de Mayo is coming and what better way to celebrate it than a massive tasting of Mexico's proudest spirit: tequila! We had a very successful tasting of 3 different labels of tequila-plus an additional label of mezcal!-and 13 diff...
2010-04-05
In honor of St Patrick's Day, we hosted an exploratory tasting of three Irish Cream liqueurs: Baileys, Carolans, and the craft-dis...
2010-02-22
In as readable and lucid format as possible, here are some tasting notes from the February 18th event. Visit One: Buffalo...
2010-02-22
Visit Twelve: Black Star Farms Black Star Farms is a winery that also produces a full line of brandies, gra...
2010-02-22
The Edgewater Hotel of Madison, Wisconsin hosted the stars of the spirits world at the Madison Malt Society's second annual Celebration of American Distilling. For any cocktail or sp...
2010-01-13
With the year coming to a close and everyone begins offering lists of various kinds for the year, we ask ourselves: what were the best spirits in 2009? Ultimately the consumer and the marketplace will decide. But if you want to elect an all-star g...
2010-01-01
We like the vision of Thunderdome in homage to the third installment of the Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson. There's really no better scenario for assessing a new spirit than comparing it to a known standard over the course of...
2009-12-08
Absolut has, hands down, some of the best vodka marketing in any industry anywhere on the planet. No matter what you think of their vodka, their ability to seize a concept and execute it is without peer. They were one of the first to come up with ...
2009-11-09
It's no secret that bars in every chain restaurant across the country are experimenting in all manner of cocktail theater. Part of that exploration involves the dark sorceries of syrupy sweetness. They compete in a kind of sugar-syrup arms race to...
2009-10-26
There are peculiar times in one's life where excess and hyperbole are expected and necessary. Examples include bachelor/bachelorette parties; Thanksgiving dinners and tailgate grills; sushi buffets; karaoke competitions; and swimwear selections fo...
2009-09-13
Wake up, America! Craft-distilling isn't only the provenance of boutique distilleries in the United States... the love of the various waters of life unite people the world over and these handmade spirits flow in all countries. ...
2009-09-09
The folks at Graham Barnes Distillery were both generous and brave enough to send us a bottle of their Treaty Oak Platinum rum. And whenever we receive spirits to try out it can only mean one thing...
2009-08-20
Hey Generation-Y: think the temperance movement of the late 18th and early 19th century don't affect you today? Think again! Oftentimes, the degree of prohibition-era regulation of liquor production in a given state will dictate the s...
2009-07-21
Absolut (that is, V&S Group) released a sexy little application for the iPhone. Credit to Liquor Snob for picking it up (at lea...
2009-07-06
Photo from suprabo2 at photobucket Vodka. You've seen the rappers getting jiggy with it... or the super models posing with it... or the smug French guys...
2009-06-21
Distill your liquor See it distributed before you And hear the lamentation of their women Thus read the immortal words of Conan the Barbarian...
2009-06-01
You are Sonja and Derek Kassebaum. You're married. You're living the American dream. One of you is a chemical engineer and the other is a lawyer. You live in Chicago which - while corrupt, crooked and full of awful roads, horrible traffic, and con...
2009-05-19
It was Christmas in May when the kind folks at BH USA Enterprises sent us a bottle of their silver medal winning Adan y Eva Reposad...
2009-05-11
A diamond ring. Picking out a good bottle of bourbon is kind of like pressing suit for a marriage. You appraise the situation - look up and down the shelves appraising whiskies by price, by attractiveness of bottle, by reputation and ...
2009-05-03
Grand Traverse Distillery was kind enough to provide us with a bottle of their True North Vodka to sample. Vodka bei...
2009-04-23
Elitism rules. But elitism is never announced. Elitism is never something about which an elitist must point out to the lumpenproletariat. It is a thing observed; it is a trait displayed; it is an idea manifested in a person. There is elit...
2009-04-11
This competition is one of the backbones of the Proof66 website and concept. We love the fact that it enjoys so many entries and is so big - this year 876 spirits were submitted from 63 different countries (in a financial meltdown, no less!). We l...
2009-03-24
Photo courtesy of Great Lakes DistillerySo, you want to be a distiller, do you? The late-night parties... the rap stars stopping by with their posses after the clubs have closed; glamorous models in slinky, black cocktai...
2009-03-09
Photo from the awful din at Flickr.It's happened to everyone at one time or another. One wanders into the hotel bar parched as only a weary business...
2009-03-03
On February 28, 2009, Proof66 held its third tasting featuring the fine and variegated liquid art that is... the liqueur.Where the two prior tastings (vodka and rum) w...
2009-02-28
Photo by evilgreg3000 at Flickr. We wrote an article (Ladies! Drinks ...
2009-02-19
What a tragedy. Here we are, watching the fine Iron Chef show featuring Symon vs Trabocchi (first aired February 2009). There they are, squaring off. They have beautiful woodland strawberries, wagu beef, shrimp... all the finest ingredien...
2009-02-14
Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini? (Robert Benchley)Liquor is, without a doubt, the lubrication of love! There are those neophytes who quickly become overwhelmed...
2009-02-10
In Cancun, Mexico, over the course of February 2 through February 8, six judges from all over the world assessed eighty different tequilas in the inaugural Agave Spirits Challenge.Ther...
2009-02-02
Novus Vinum is a wine and spirits review service that recently released its 2008 Top 10 Spirit-The Best Selectio...
2009-01-25
The BTI announced their best buy list for 2008. It's a great concept... especially in these times of economic turmoil. After all, the US federal government may be ready to bail out foo...
2009-01-13
Don't look now but the true martini enthusiasts across America are roiling in pain and stocking up the basement.The Wall Street Journal reports that ...
2008-11-24
How to use this site: Proof66 gathers the professional reviews of different agencies and aggregates them for your use. Select a liquor and at a glance compare their ratings, prices, and origins. Refine and specify your ...
2008-11-09
How to use this site: Proof66 gathers the professional reviews of different agencies and aggregates them for your use. Select a liquor and at a glance compare their ratings, prices, and origins. Refine and specify your ...
2008-10-27
How to use this site: Proof66 gathers the professional reviews of different agencies and aggregates them for your use. Select a liquor and at a glance compare their ratings, prices, and origins. Refine and specify your ...
2008-10-12
How to use this site: Proof66 gathers the professional reviews of different agencies and aggregates them for your use. Select a liquor and at a glance compare their ratings, prices, and origins. Refine and specify your ...
2008-09-30
The idea was to sample 5 types of rum while watching the presidential debates. We don't have five minis of rum, said the liquor store clerk. Lest I draw more ire from the local mass of Lotto junkies - I quickly took her advice and opted for vodkas...
2008-09-21
Vodka! What more versatile liquor is there? It mixes in anything; it can be taken straight as a martini; it can be frozen; it can be fermented from just about any organic matter around; it appeals to everyone from sorority pledges to Donald Trump;...
2008-02-08
It's happened. You've done it. You got some stuff that was pretty expensive that you've never had before... and you loved it! And now you want to buy more!...
Copyright Proof66 LLC All Rights Reserved