Famous Grouse 18 Year

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: Generally $60+
Place of Purchase: Received as gift
Rating: 8.8

This blend vaulted to the top of the list the second I took a sip after receiving a bottle for Christmas. If White Horse is my favorite everyday blend, this is easily my favorite "indulgence" blend. Benefiting from some strong but not overpowering sherry influence that matches the maroon label quite nicely, this stuff possesses a sweet smoothness that reminds me of Balvenie DoubleWood but in the end might even be better than that much heralded single malt. As full and rich an experience as you can ask of a "mere" blend. A great, great whisky and worth the money even if you are not fortunate enough to receive a bottle as a gift. Trust me, I wouldn't lie about this!

Clontarf Classic Blend

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $16
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.6

Clontarf Single Malt is very nearly my all-time favorite Irish Whiskey so I had high hopes for its cheaper “Little Brother” blend. Well it didn’t live up to my expectations—this is pretty dull stuff. Somewhat paradoxically, it reminds me a bit of Brennan's in the way it makes me completely forget about it only five minutes after drinking it. It also appears that this brand has gotten a facelift in the labeling department (I’ve posted a picture of the old label since that was the bottle this review is based on) and a new ad campaign geared towards twentysomething binge drinkers. Their website actually stoops to utilizing a picture of two fetching coeds clinched in a lip-lock to get the pulses of potential consumers racing. How utterly puerile. I’m not sure what else to say except that the song "The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle" by Thin Lizzy is a pretty good song.

Lord Calvert

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: $10
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

I hadn’t given this brand so much as a stray though in decades and then, boom, there it is, sitting on the shelf in Warehouse going for the decidedly un-Lordly price of $9.99 per 750ml. With just one glance at a bottle shape and label that hasn’t changed in probably half a century, I was instantly transported back to a late-seventies era I spent thumbing through shoplifted copies of Penthouse and National Lampoon magazines. Lord Calvert always seemed to have a full page ad in these periodicals every month of the year. It’s worth noting that when I googled this to find a picture of the bottle, one of the first links I saw was an article about some vehicular miscreant who was found passed out in the front seat of his car with “four pint bottles of Lord Calvert scattered about.” There also appears to be a Lord Calvert bowling alley somewhere in Maryland. Rather fitting I think, although, I must admit, I actually like this. It’s got a touch of Juicy Fruit-type sweetness that reminds me a bit of an Irish whiskey but still plenty enough rye overtones to reassure that this is indeed a product of north North America. A pleasant surprise!!

Rittenhouse 100 Proof

Rye
Purchase Price: $15
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

Along with flinging money into a black hole meant to bail out bankers and automobile manufacturers and insurance companies, the United States government is also charged with ensuring that certain liquors are “Bonded”--meaning they are bottled and sold at a certain minimum proof. Rittenhouse is a grand old name in rye, and is a serviceable example of this oft-overlooked category, but it suffers in comparison to the identically-priced Old Overholt. You’d think something that is 25% stronger than the normal 80 proof would have a bit more “oomph” but Rittenhouse just doesn’t bowl me over the way my favorite ryes do. Worth a try, though.

Rain

Vodka
Purchase Price: Generally $16-20
Place of Purchase: Never Purchased
Rating: 5.0

I hear a lot of chirping about how vodka’s infamous “neutral taste” makes it impossible for a truly "bad" vodka to exist, but I must disagree and hold (at arm’s length) a bottle of Rain up as evidence. I first had the displeasure of sampling this at an art opening on the LES that caused me to say a lot of disparaging things about it in a loud tone of voice—rather ungentlemanly behavior on the part of a guest, but drinking is at least as serious a business as art, don’t you think? I was hoping never to see it again, but only scant months later I was at a party somewhere in Tribeca where there were about six bottles of Rain arranged about the kitchen counter and honestly, no alternative in sight, not even a cheap bottle of wine! I tried to choke down a plastic cup full, even adding some fruit juice to it, but there was no escaping the slightly sickening, throat-constricting feeling this vodka produces. So it was down the stairs for a six-pack of micro-brewed beer. Rain really is a must to avoid.

Knappogue Castle 1993

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $36
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.8

Knappogue is an Irish single malt initially recommended to me by a bartender in an authentic Irish Pub in the authentically Irish city of Boston, so my hopes for this were as high as Carrauntoohil, but it never really scaled those dizzying heights of 3,000 feet or so. It seems really washed-out and thin to me, like a summer blouse fashioned from Irish Linen instead of the hefty Munster Rugby jersey I was anticipating. Hmmm. Retarded analogies aside, this is way too mild-mannered for me—and they’re not exactly selling it for eleven bucks, either. A surprising let-down.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: Generally $160--200
Place of Purchase: By the glass in several different places
Rating: 8.1

I'm probably one of the few people strolling the planet who's had a FULL bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue THROWN at them. Last December, I bore witness to a bunch of skateboard punks relieving some businessman-type guy of his belongings, shortly after beating him down to the sidewalk. One of the items they nabbed was a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue--perhaps a client or business partner had given it to their victim for Christmas? In any case, these kids must have been straight-edge or single malt snobs because they heaved this most famous of blends my way without so much as blinking an eye. Even being the most overpriced, overhyped scotch out there, it really didn't deserve that sort of treatment. Luckily for my well-being, the kid who threw it wasn't quite ready to give Brett Favre or even Trent Dilfer a run for his money so I escaped with some "minor splashing" on the lower parts of my Z. Cavaricci trousers. The businessman was a bit more unfortunate, he was blubbering like a girl after his overcoat had been pulled over his head and the sleeves tied up around his noggin like the bow on a wedding gift. Did I mention that Johnnie Walker Blue is overpriced and overhyped? If you want to drop $200 on a blend, Chivas Regal Royal Salute is the only way to go. And it comes in a beautiful ceramic vessel that even the most cretinous teenager would think twice about destroying.

Aberlour 16 Year

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $65
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.1

Aberlour 10 year is one of the best—no scratch that, Aberlour 10 is the best “bang for the buck” single malt around. Granted, I live near a place that sells it for 24 bucks a bottle, but even at its recommended retail price of about $35, it’s well-nigh untouchable. Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Tamdhu—don’t even bother with that stuff. Aberlour 10 “brings the noise” as they say. So, all that being said, I don’t feel I was out of line when I expected the 16 year old double-casked (bourbon and sherry) version of this malt to be something extraordinary. Honestly, I think I was actually whistling on my way home with this! Well, it didn’t happen. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fine malt, it’s Aberlour, after all, and they are incapable of producing bad whisky. But this rather expensive expression seems way too restrained to me, as if the weight of six extra years have pressed out all the lush chewiness that makes the 10 year so special. And the sherry-finishing seems a non-starter.

An interesting sidenote: I purchased this bottle using about six months worth of change I had saved up. Have you ever heard of Penny Arcade? What will “mankind” think of next?

El Dorado Superior 12 Year

Rum
Purchase Price: $20
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.8

To paraphrase Rattle and Hum-era Bono Vox: “El Dorado. Cadillac stole it, the Demerara Distillers of Guyana are taking it back.” If only. This came to me highly touted (by whom, I can’t remember) so I was pretty excited about trying it, but it really failed to make much of an impression. It’s undergone a formidable amount of aging, 12 years as a matter of fact, but even a relative toddler like 4 year old Barbancourt thrashes this like a mongoose set loose on a garter snake. It’s just not doing it for me the way Michelle Ryan from the new Bionic Woman does, but that is probably asking too much in the first place. Maybe the 15 year-old is better, I will keep you posted…

Siku

Vodka
Purchase Price: $20
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

This is supposedly made with water from glaciers—I don't know what they're gong to resort to when the glaciers are all gone in about 18 months, but that is Siku’s Master Distiller’s problem, not mine. In any case, for a spirit touting such a majestic pedigree, this is pretty underwhelming. I don’t know if I was expecting it to drink ice cold even after being stored at room temperature or to be flavored with a slight infusion of Gatorade “Arctic Ice”, or what, but in the end it really seemed like “just another” vodka--there’s thousands of them now, all trying to outdo one another in packaging and gimmickry in order to grab the attention of a rapidly fatiguing consumer base. You’ve heard the phrase “miles of aisles” well, that’s what most vodka sections look like these days. Siku’s bottle is fairly normal in shape but it has a fetching blue-green tinge to it that makes it look slightly extraterrestrial. The vodka itself, though, is decidedly earthbound.

Old Charter 8 Year

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $12
Place of Purchase: Somewhere in Nashville, TN
Rating: 7.8

The shock yellow label on this reminds me a bit of the way the old Jim Beam Rye labels looked before they switched to the ho-hum hue they use now—which is more like the color of your Dad’s faded Dockers. Old Charter is hardly a “sexy” name in the drinks biz, but it is one of the oldest. It was a brand I had heard of but never seen populating the shelves of New York liquor stores, so when I saw a bottle in a package store down in Tennessee, it was an easy call to grab it. The 12 dollar price tag certainly wasn’t discouraging me, either. At that price point, I was expecting an everyday “shot and a beer” type whiskey and that’s exactly what this is. At least the label is doing its part to set it apart from the pack. Otherwise, it’s just another in a long line of prosaic bourbons featuring the word “Old” in their name. They are legion.

White Horse

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: $12
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.6

My all-time favorite "bargain" blend and you can purchase a bottle for roughly the price of breakfast at Denny's or a child's wooden pull toy. It's got a bit of everything, all expertly arranged and balanced--a bit like a walking tour of Scotland in a glass. White Horse is so beloved that fanatic devotees have actually carved massive tributes to it on the side of hills in the UK. That's the kind of dedication only an exceptional whisky is deserving of and I am here to say that White Horse is so exceptional that I truly believe these mysterious simply aren't enough--it really is worthy of having a visual memorial to it blasted into the side of Mount Everest using pinpoint-placed SCUD missiles and a battleship full of white paint. Buy a case and settle in for the winter, it'll be the best one of your life.

Seagram's 7

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: Generally $13-$18
Place of Purchase: Various
Rating: 8.1

What can I say about this--the first drink I ever had? I was 13 years old, a happy-go-lucky attendee at a neighbor’s graduation party. At some point a bunch of us started badgering some of the older teenagers to get us drinks, and incredibly, they actually agreed. When they asked me what I wanted I blurted out “7&7”—it was just about the only drink I knew! These older kids were so cool they not only delivered our cocktails to us out behind the rented hall, but supplemented them with a bunch of 7 ounce cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Talk about a bounty! Not long after that you had a bunch of drunken 13 and 14 years-olds running around the circular driveway pretending to be racehorses. But nobody got sick and no one got in trouble. Ah, youth. You never forget your first buzz. It is a feeling I’ve tried to recapture many times since then, with varying levels of success. I salute Seagram’s 7 and still believe that it goes better with 7-Up than anything on the market.

Sobieski

Vodka
Purchase Price: $9
Place of Purchase: Joe Canal's - Rio Grande, NJ
Rating: 8.0

Purchasing a bottle of vodka you’ve never heard of for $9 at a self-described "mega-store" in New Jersey is always going to be a potentially disastrous acquisition. But Sobieski had three things going for it that nudged me into pulling the trigger. One, it’s Polish (they rarely misstep in this category) two, it’s distilled from rye, (just like one of my favorites Belvedere, also from Poland) and three, it shares a name with LeeLee Sobieski (who is quite fetching and probably should be doing some advertising work for this brand—think of the synergy!). Well, for once, my instincts steered me right, Sobieski is a decent vodka, not exactly something you'd serve the Czar if he dropped by, but it most certainly lacks the anti-freeze burn of some of the other vodkas being peddled at this price point. It is a genuine economic bargain in these troubled times. Unscrew a bottle while the movers empty out your foreclosed house!

Bruichladdich Infinity

Single Malt
Purchase Price: Generally $75 or so
Place of Purchase: Received as gift
Rating: 8.0

This and Isle of Jura Superstition qualify as the strangest-tasting malts I’ve yet encountered. Bruichladdich has been a laboratory of sorts in recent years, offering the general public dozens of experiments in various cask-finishing, peating and God knows what else. This weighs in at a hefty 55.5% alcohol, but for all that formidable strength, it is not overpowering. (I’ve got a bottle of Old Grand Dad 114 proof at home at the moment that feels like it’s attacking me with a flamethrower.) Granted it does begin with an initial tsunami of brine right from the start, but it’s been assembled so deftly that the middle and back end prevail with ever decreasing waves of fruitcake, peat and leather. Plus, about a dozen other notes I’m hard-pressed to identify. And then some hale sea air again that actually leaves you thirsty. I like it, but it is definitely a dram for the adventurous.

Jim Beam Black

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $26
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

Like any red-blooded American, I've consumed my share of white-label Jim Beam over the years, but the older I get, the more I avoid it. Let's just say it does the job, but in this new era where a veritable explosion of single-barrel, small-batch whiskeys have raised the bar for American bourbon, "regular" Jim Beam has been relegated to where it belongs: a commodity to mix with Coke at a tailgate or teenage pool party. Jim Beam Black, however, is supposedly a cut above its fairer-labeled brother, a more refined, complex affair more suited to sipping neat on the front porch of your McMansion. Well, after sampling a bottle, I remain unconvinced. There's nothing "wrong" with Jim Beam Black but I can think of half a dozen bourbons at this price point I'd rather sit back and relax with. I'm truly sorry, that's just the way it is.

Hurricane

Rum
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

I get a bit leery when I encounter a rum produced in the U.S. but at least Hurricane is distilled on an island (Nantucket if you are keeping track) like most good rums. Another plus this has going for it is that it truly is a hand-crafted, small-batch rum. Limited production from a tiny enterprise they proudly call a “micro-distillery.” Just what the doctor ordered and they pull it off with great aplomb. There are flags flying on the front of this bottle, but from a distance they look like red wax lips. In sum, a great rum from a great country. Did you know that the United States of America has won every single Olympics ever staged? The sheer number of gold, silver and bronze medals we have collected over the last 100 years are enough to fill Lake Michigan. Strange but true.

Clontarf Single Malt

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $26
Place of Purchase: Astor Wine and Spirits - New York, NY
Rating: 8.6

This is the best Irish Whisky I've tried to this point and that includes expensive examples like Knappogue Castle and Redbreast. (I haven't tried Connemara or Midleton yet, but we'll see) Bananas, pears and just the right amount of cake-like smoothness combine to produce a real winner. There's a lot more going on here than your average Irish Whiskey and I'm not sure if that's because it is a single malt or not. I don't think it really matters. They've recently changed the labeling on this and I hope they haven't monkeyed with the whiskey inside. It really is an exceptional pour and raises the stakes in a category this is usually congenial (meaning easy to drink) but bland (meaning too easy to drink). Superb.

Cragganmore

Single Malt
Purchase Price: Generally $40-$50
Place of Purchase: By the glass at Red Lion Inn (Stockbridge, MA) and dba (New York, NY)
Rating: 7.2

Wow. It's the honest to God truth to say that there are very few single malts that I don't like. There are some I like better than others, of course, but I genuinely feel that to make a comment like "All single malts are good" is NOT misleading or irresponsible. However, it's really only 90% true because (in my case, anyway) of malts like Cragganmore. I've tried it twice now, and had a hard time finishing my glass each time. This astounds me, as it is a highly rated malt. I can't even put my finger on what facet of it keeps putting me off. There was just some crazy aftertaste that stuck to the roof of my mouth like a Fruit Roll-Up and each successive sip only furthered my consternation. Baffling, but it is what it is. This rating may be revised in the future when I give it a third and maybe even fourth try, but for now, this holds the dubious distinction of being my least favorite single malt.

Skyy

Vodka
Purchase Price: $16
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 5.0

America did quite well in the Summer Olympics but in the vodka stakes they keep offering up hapless losers. This stuff has some nasty edges to it that are on par with putting your tongue on a cold metal ice cube tray. And then moving it around. It's a shame because the bottle is a pleasant shade of blue. I still remember the anger and outrage I felt when an old roommate of mine replaced a bottle of Stoly she had stolen and consumed during a weekend cocaine binge with a bottle of Skyy. It was not an even trade. True story: I used to work with a guy whose psychological problems led him down a path that ended up with him being a "Financial Slave" to a girl he met on Craigslist. Part of their agreement had him purchasing cases of Louis Roederer Champagne that she then bathed her feet in. I would have suggested using Skyy vodka instead--it seems like the perfect solvent for cleansing bunions and corns begrimed by a long day of flouncing around Soho in designer flip-flops. Yuk!

W.L. Weller 12 Year

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $18
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

William Larue Weller, what have you wrought? Quite a lot, I think. The entire Weller range provides some of the most reliable quaffs to be found at prices that'll leave you plenty of dosh in your pocket for the OTB or purchasing Halloween candies for the little ones. Warehouse was selling this for an absolutely sick sub-$20 price about a year ago, unfortunately I haven't seen it there recently. But even at its more typical low to mid twenties price, this is a bargain that almost seems unfair to the people producing it. I mean this is 12 year old bourbon! Granted it's not single-barrel, but it might as well be. There are flavors hitting from all directions in this and a finish that lets you down gently for the next go-round. Not sure what else "we" need in a drink, but if I can think of it, I'll tell you.

Sazerac

Rye
Purchase Price: $27
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.5

This is one of the more expensive ryes out there before you take the big leap up to extensively-aged single-barrels, but it lives up to its elevated price point in every way. In fact, this is probably the best rye I've tried so far. Great traditional rye spiciness combined with some hints of black licorice (a flavor I have little tolerance for when it’s presented in the form of candy—go figure) and even a bit of anise somewhere in there. Sounds crazy, but the end result is as smooth and luxurious and exhilarating as sitting in your rich uncle’s Maybach doing 110 on a freshly paved road. In other words, serious business. Rye whiskey is the unsung hero of American distilling and this is one of its shining examples.

Windsor

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: $11
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.5

Windsor shares its name with that of the current British royal family, but there's nothing regal about this stuff. I kind of feel bad picking on Windsor because its aims are admittedly low, but it just doesn't taste very good. I mean, it's not undrinkable, but there's a distinct "why bother" vibe to this stuff that even a perennial bottom shelf-loiterer like Canadian Mist somehow manages to avoid. There are several other "cheapo" Canadian whiskies out there better than this. Serviceable for drowning in Coke or Pepsi, but that's about it.

Doorly's XO

Rum
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.4

As rich and sweet on the palate as molasses flecked with flakes of 24 karat gold. This drink really gets up and goes, treating anyone fortunate enough to sip it to various fruits, flowers and spices. It really does hearken back to the days when the high seas were dangerous places to be, but it’s far more refined than rum your average deck-swabbing pirate might slug down. This was definitely kept in the Captain’s Quarters only. And--is that a rare blue macaw on the label? Indeed it is. A lovely bird for a lovely rum. From Barbados, an island that always seems to get this particular spirit right.

Ballantine's Finest

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: $15
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

Scotland's ability to consistently send over reasonably-priced blends that work on every level is truly astounding. I read somewhere that Ballantine's is one of the best-selling blends in the world, holding the top spot in several countries that were once ruled by kings, and I believe it. In the US, it's one of those "Grandpa's Scotch" products overshadowed by less interesting shelf-mates who elbow past it by spending a lot more on marketing and that's a shame. This is a superb blend and I've never seen a bottle going for more than $20. If you want an everyday scotch to sip on while watching an award-winning movie or classic novel, you can't go wrong here. Hell, it even works if you want to watch "Gigli" or peruse an advertising circular from Radio Shack. It's just that good.

Tanqueray Ten

Gin
Purchase Price: $28
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.6

We all have a favorite. Favorite car, favorite musician, favorite episode of Saved By the Bell. (Mine's the episode where they were going to go white water rafting and then something silly happened and then a lesson was learned and everybody was happy in the end, just like always.) Gin is always hard for me to review because I usually mix it with tonic and, well, tonic can be pretty overpowering stuff. But this is my favorite and I like it so much I even had some on the rocks once, and it still did the business. The most complex, complete gin on the market with a fruity sweetness that is indeed the result of using hand-picked citrus botanicals. What a great idea! Do yourself a favor and don't confine this to the usual G & T. There's so much going on here, it just begs to be part of a dry martini. And the elegant green bottle will bring class to any liquor cabinet, especially if you've got a bottle of Old Crow lurking around in there, as I suspect you do!

Belvedere

Vodka
Purchase Price: $30
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.5

Here's another great drink with an ad campaign I can't say I'm very fond of. Vincent Gallo is a funny man who will make exactly one great film in his lifetime (and he's already made it--poor thing, and no, it's not the one with "Bunny" in the title) and he looks great for three seconds in that Jay-Z "99 Problems" video, but why should anyone on earth trust his opinions on super-premium vodkas? He can't even wash or cut his hair properly. Maybe I'll consult Harmony Korine next time I need some advice on rare, collectible cognacs. Yeah, right. In any case, it's a shame this Polish distiller feels compelled to align themselves with the likes of Vinnie boy, because Belvedere is truly a delightful vodka. I've managed to discover some grapiness and even a bit of peppermint in its formidable taste profile. Who knows what you might find, vodka is, after all, the blankest canvas onto which we can project tastes and flavors both real and imagined. All I know is that this is a top five vodka for me, a pretty good showing since I've literally tried about 80 different brands over the last couple years.

Caol Ila 18 Year

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $70
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.8

A lot of people have a high opinion of Caol Ila, and indeed, even its own labeling isn’t afraid to declare itself the Islay malt for people in the know--a “hidden malt” that only a chosen few will find. A couple Christmases ago, I took all this at face value and used some gift money to buy a bottle. I quickly found out that Caol Ila forbids retailers to stock it on the shelves with other “mere” malts—prospective consumers must go to the counter and ask for it by name. If you don’t pronounce the name correctly, you don’t get a bottle. It’s simple. I passed the test, hence this review, but I must say in comparison to the other Islays I’ve tried, notably Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and Laphroaig, it comes up a bit short. Now, the Caol Ila 12 year might be the revelation of a lifetime for all I know, but the 18 year seems slightly threadbare to me--a wisp of smoke, a sniff of peat, some brine and pepper on the palate and then it seems to fade away rather quickly. It’s often said that Islay malts are the Van Halen of whisky. If that is true, is Caol Ila 18 year the island’s “Diver Down?”

Jameson

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $23
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

In the eternal struggle for the hearts and minds of serious drinkers there's always been a "Big Two" in the Irish Whiskey category. The players: Jameson and Bushmill's. I like (not love) both, but I've been leaning towards Bushmill's lately. Since every bar on earth carries them, often to the exclusion of every other Irish Whiskey, you're going to have to pick one as a "go to" drink if you like Irish Whiskey. I've learned my lesson after receiving dozens of quizzical looks and hundreds of outright "no's" over the years when asking bartenders if their place of employment carried Powers. Jameson's is certainly easy to drink, it's smooth and sweet but I have to dock it a notch for their overly chummy subway ad campaign that tries way too hard to be "one of us"--i.e. a New York subway commuter--and fails in every regard. Take a look at it and judge for yourself exactly how much it inspires you to run out and buy a case. In sum, I do drink Jameson fairly often, but always at the bars. At home, you'll more than likely find a bottle of Powers hanging around.

Balblair 16 Year

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $48
Place of Purchase: Park Avenue Liquor - New York, NY
Rating: 8.4

It was a rainy, cold day in November when I strolled into Park Avenue Liquor with $100 to spend. Park Avenue Liquor is a connoisseur's stop--they have a lot of rare and obscure single malts from every distillery you can think of--vanished distilleries, mothballed distilleries, and maybe even some distilleries that only ever existed in legend. It's a real playground for the single malt buff, but it's not cheap. You can pretty much count the number of bottles going for under $50 on one hand and things don't top out until the $13,000 mark for a bottle of 50 year old Macallan in a Lalique decanter. So I traded my Benjamin for the Balblair 16 and Glencadam 15 for no other reason than each of them were about $50 each. Wow. If only every random decision I made turned out as well. Balblair 16 immediately became one of my favorite malts, it's got style, class, sweetness and legs that seem to go on for miles. Kind of like Katarina Witt but from a different European country! Well worth seeking and making your own.

Tito's Handmade

Vodka
Purchase Price: $16
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

Vodka distilled in Texas. Well, I remember getting stares of disbelief in response to this fact when I doled out glasses of this to some friends one time, and I always wondered why that fact seemed so crazy to people--I mean it's not a three-headed turtle or Gorgon or something. Actually, on second thought, Tito's is comparable to those rare and wondrous creatures because at this moment in time, it is the only domestically-distilled vodka I've ever liked! So maybe it actually deserves all the little prizes and medals and doo-hickeys it supposed to have won. And as for this "handmade" business, just what exactly do the distillery employees in Russia and Poland use to produce their respective vodkas? Tentacles? Antlers? Prosthetic hooks? Anyway, if you're the kind of consumer who strives to buy as many "Made in the USA" products as possible, this is the vodka for you. From the state that brought us Anna Nicole Smith before "they" murdered her.

Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Yr

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: Generally around $55 a bottle
Place of Purchase: Various - Always by the glass
Rating: 8.0


I remember ordering a glass of this after dinner at an Indian restaurant at a hotel somewhere in bucolic Lee, MA. It was the only Scotch they carried, which I thought was strange--I mean, Johnnie Walker Green isn't exactly the cornerstone of most bars, especially tiny ones like at this place but it only cost something like $6 and it was a generous pour. And since the restaurant was part of the hotel, I was able to bring the glass to my room and savor it over a day's worth of college football highlights. I've always considered the Johnnie Walker line of blends the most overrated of the modern age, but the Green is a decent dram, not as good as the Gold, every bit as worthy as the wildly overpriced Blue and far and away better than the pedestrian Black and utterly forgettable Red. That's about all I can say, as I was quite sozzled at the time and indeed that has seemed to be my state of mind every other time I've tasted this. But I've got to be fairly fond of it, or I wouldn't keep ordering it! And color-coded Scotches are kind of fun, in a Nursery School-type of way.

Canadian Club

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: $18
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.1

Canadian Club is one of those brands that seems like its been around forever, and in fact, it's inception probably falls somewhere between the printing press and Silly Putty on the great Timeline of Western Civilization. It also never changes--it is a natural-born partner for everything from 7-Up to ginger ale to good 'ol soda water. I even drink it on the rocks sometimes and have suffered no ill effects. If Canada is a club, this unassuming whisky sits right up there with Rush and Mike Weir as one of its most esteemed members. Don't be afraid to apply for membership.

Gosling's Gold

Rum
Purchase Price: $26
Place of Purchase: Astor Wine and Spirits - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

Gosling’s Black Seal is great, one of the world’s foremost dark rums, but I was a bit wary when they released a lighter version complete with uninspired labeling that reminded me of something Captain Morgan's might dream up to bushwhack our nation's collegiate binge drinkers with. I’ve found you can get around the labeling by turning the bottle around so it faces the wall-- kind of like that poor guy at the end of the Blair Witch Project--but the rum itself is just fine, really pleasant drinking. I had low expectations and this stuff just leaped right over them. A harmonious blending of sweetness and spice, it may even go down a bit too easy, so eat a big meal before you sit down with this or you may end up doing something you regret, like drunk texting your neighbor’s wife or falling asleep on the couch with the phone book on your lap open to the “Escorts” section.

Eagle Rare Single Barrel

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.3

Eagle Rare isn't so rare, but it is definitely near the top of the heap as far single-barrel bourbons in the $25 range. In fact, you could say Eagle Rare commands an “aerie” far above all others, but that would be inaccurate, not to mention a rather childish way of looking at things. Better for you to just pour a glass of this rich and complex bourbon and relax a bit.

Bowmore Legend

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

A mild and young tipple that is probably the most approachable of the malts that hail from Islay, easily the most intimidating region of the spirit world's most intimidating drink. Bowmore doesn't exactly nuzzle the back of your hand like a doe at the petting zoo, but compared to swaggering peat monsters like Ardbeg and Laphroiag, it's much easier to confront head-on. A nice balance of peat, smoke, salt spray and toffee. And who among us would dare pass by its sub-$30 price tag? Bowmore is a world-class distillery and being able to buy in so cheaply is nothing to be scoffed at.

Three Olives

Vodka
Purchase Price: $20 (1.75 liter)
Place of Purchase: Crossroads - New York, NY
Rating: 7.2

And much like any given member of their national football side is wont to do, England skies this strike up into Row Z. Three Olives is pretty dire. Vodka’s a neutral enough entity that it’s pretty hard to ruin. Okay, not that hard, various American distillers have been doing it for years, but Tres Aceitunas
have produced a right cock-up here. The off-putting metal-spoonful of Metamucil aftertaste reminds me of my all-time least favorite vodka, Rain. It’s a memory I’d rather not have revisited. Three Olives have been pushing to break into the youth market with a lot of gusto and “sexy” marketing, but I don’t think the kids are buying into it. This bodes well for our country’s future.

Saint Brendan's

Cream Liqueur
Purchase Price: $9
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.6

This was Bargain of the Year for 2006, and the ensuing years have not seen its stature diminished in any way. Supposedly this was conceived as a "clone" of Bailey's, and while that might not seem such an admirable goal in theory, in practice it works just fine. Every bit as lush and creamy as Bailey's for just about half the price. Over a few ice cubes it's simply unbeatable as a dessert bridging the meal and the Scotch. I'm a bit of a name-brand snob myself, but this is just too good a bargain to stroll by looking the other way. Buy a bottle by next Tuesday and on Wednesday morning you'll be emailing me your sincere thanks. ;-)

South

Gin
Purchase Price: $16
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

This is sold to the general public in a towering bottle that's going to loom over its companions in your liquor cabinet like Jan Koller over everyone else on the pitch. And that's about it. New Zealand is supposedly an exotic place that has hobbits, wizards and other fantastic creatures, but they seem to have forgotten to infuse this gin with any of that 'ol Kiwi magic. It's serviceable, and that bottle is always going to come in handy in a liquor bottle sword fight, but a little bit of packaging gimmickry does not a world-beater make. Especially when it is priced considerably higher than the bargain basement introductory price I paid for this. I think it's going for $30+ in most places.

Pyrat XO Reserve

Rum
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.4

This stuff is great--really delicious! Spicy, fruity, and floral, it tastes a bit like cake, so you may not want to pour half a bottle down your gullet in one sitting but rather save it for special times and special places, the way cake is traditionally doled out. I like this rum so much I can even overlook the fact that the name of it is an overly cutesy way of spelling "Pirate." As long as they are expending their mental faculties on putting together the rum in the exemplary fashion they obviously are, I’m not going to quibble about the mildly retarded branding. As a bonus, each bottle comes with its own medallion doo-hicky thing imprinted with a picture of Hoti, the Chinese patron saint of bartenders. This little item makes a perfect icebreaker—go ahead and present it to that hot bartender you’ve been stalking and good things are bound to follow.

Dewar's White Label

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: $23
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.5

This is the first brand of Scotch I ever actually purchased an entire bottle of and at that time (roughly 1989), I liked it--although at that point in my life the only scotches I had tried were stolen rations of brands like Cutty Sark, Passport and J&B out of the family liquor cabinet. It's amazing how all those high profile blends of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties have now almost entirely faded away. Does anyone anywhere these days stroll into a bar and say "I'll have a J&B on the rocks please." I doubt it. The one exception, however, is Dewar's, which is performing as strong as ever-- in fact it's consistently ranked among the top-selling blends in the world. My only problem is that I just don't rate it very highly these days. There are so many fantastic, involving and wonderfully unique blends out there that Dewar's heavy reek of familiarity just doesn't measure up.

Grande Canadian

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: $12
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.7

I grew up in a town where that most infamous of Canadians--Black Velvet--ruled the roost. I never liked it, because just what was there to like? The stuff is all harshness and truculence, just the ticket to wash away bad memories of another day at the mill. At least that's what you'd think but the fact is, it wasn't just steel workers and retired drunks who took to BV with such enthusiasm back then. In fact, there are people "of means" and in general, fairly decent taste in things, who STILL love the stuff. Well, good for them, they can have it. What's funny is that Grande Canadian is actually cheaper than Black Velvet, but it somehow manages to taste better. It's not exactly as delicious as a mouthful of Lucky Charms, but if the soaring costs of 21st-century living have left you with only enough money for a cheap bottle of Canadian Whisky, grab this instead of the "other guy." Some good things should happen from that point on. If you drink enough, of course.

Tomatin 12 Year

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $20
Place of Purchase: Unknown - Somewhere near Stockbridge, MA
Rating: 7.6

I saw Tomatin for the first time sitting on a shelf in some random liquor store out in the wilds of Western Massachusetts. With a cool black label (very rare for this category for some reason) and a price of exactly one $20 bill, I had absolutely no compunction about grabbing a bottle. Well, the verdict is that Tomatin is a strange malt, possessing an element of bicycle tire rubber that makes you think you've been stranded in the sporting goods department of Kmart again. Now, normally that would get anyone other than maybe Eddy Merckx pedaling the other way, but surprisingly enough this whisky manages to offset that bizarre note with a lot of really pleasant layers of "normal" things like malt and heather and toffee. Still, it’s pretty hard to reconcile all that with the feeling of "biting down hard on an inner tube for no reason," so approach with caution.

Danzka

Vodka
Purchase Price: $13
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

You talk about Space Age packaging--seriously, the brushed aluminum bottle Danzka utilizes not only looks like it belongs on a space capsule, but it could even be a space capsule, if you, er, blew it up to 1,000 times it’s normal size using some kind of Matter Expansion Machine. The Danes have seemingly perfected the art of churning out affordable and great-tasting vodka--both Fris and this stuff are real revelations. And wonder of wonders, they both score the exact same 8.2 on the “That Drinking Feeling” scale of achievement. Sweden should take some notes because they are coming up short with their bargain-priced offerings like Svedka and Svensk, neither of which come within a ten-foot icicle of this.

Merry's

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $15
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.1

A real find. I think this was $15 at Warehouse but it's got some genuinely becoming sweetness to it—a real charmer. It reminds me of holding hands and talking about Samuel Beckett and Brendan Behan with some green-eyed, dark-haired lass with skin as pale as moonlight. Much better than spending time in a borstal, I would say!

Michter's Straight Rye

Rye
Purchase Price: $34
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.8

Michter’s line-up of brown whiskies tend to cost and arm and a leg and maybe even part of an ear. Some things are worth losing extremities for, but this isn’t among that elite group of sacrificial worthies. In fact, this rye (and the Michter’s bourbon as well) doesn’t come anywhere near justifying its inflated price tag. There’s something anemic about it and that’s a trait one just shouldn’t be charged extra for. I find it remarkable that this drink costs twice as much as Old Overholt while delivering approximately half of what that grizzled veteran provides. A fraud? I wouldn’t go that far, but you can get far more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Plymouth

Gin
Purchase Price: $14
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.4

Plymouth is one of the world’s best gins, period. I would even go so far to say that it is my second favorite gin, just a nose behind Tanqueray Ten. Plymouth is crisp; it’s no-frills; it takes to tonic or vermouth like Yukon Cornelius does to snow. They have changed bottles recently and the price has gone up but it’s still worth every farthing. I have included the old bottle here for nostalgia’s sake. Plymouth is one of England’s oldest brands--just a bit younger than the USA itself and the spirit itself was originally distilled by Monks on the same site for many years before that. The Pilgrims of yore departed for the New World from Plymouth on a ship you may have heard of--The Mayflower, which, as you can see, had a prominent place on the label until only very recently. So sip a bit of history, won’t you?

The Famous Grouse

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: $24 (1.75 ml)
Place of Purchase: Roma Liquors - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

For the longest time, Roma Liquors on the Upper West Side was selling a 1.75 glass jug of The Famous Grouse for $23.99, a price point that in any other store nabs you exactly 750 ml of this same fine blend. It was, as they say, the bargain of the new millennium. The price has since gone up and when I asked the owner of the store what happened, his only words were, “It is the end of an era.” Lofty words for such a silly, trifling thing, but I am in full agreement. I’ve heard through various news agencies that The Famous Grouse is the best-selling scotch in Scotland, but as I’ve mentioned before in my Powers review, that means very little to me. Can it stand on its own, out of the home country, is a much more relevant question. Well, The Famous Grouse (and please don’t ever, ever forget the “The” when ordering) is one of the best blends out there. Complex but still creamy, it’s as soothing as a night at the symphony.

Brinley Gold Vanilla Rum

Rum
Purchase Price: $18
Place of Purchase: Astor Wine and Spirits - New York, NY
Rating: 1.0

My first "drain pour" ever and thus the lowest score ever, this stuff is so syrupy-sweet and hard to swallow I can't even get a handle on it four months later. It should be elementary--I like rum a lot and I like vanilla. And I especially like when vanilla is added to some everyday item to produce something of lasting culinary value. Some of my favorite “treats” are vanilla ice cream, vanilla Coke, and even the ultra-rare vanilla-flavored Sour Gummi Bears. So I was expecting this vanilla-fortified rum to be a drink for the ages—a Shawn Kemp slam-dunk. Well, what’s being peddled here is more like a Craig Ehlo airball. I just can’t deal…

Ardbeg 10 Year

Single Malt
Purchase Price: $40
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.3

Classic Islay, you know what you're getting when someone slides a glass of this straw-colored whisky in front of you. It’s rousing stuff with wispy tendrils of campfire smoke, pitchforks full of peat and a stiff briny breeze. It all falls together quite nicely. Perfect for autumn days, winter evenings and maybe even a chilly spring night, but I wouldn’t advise carrying a bottle of this around on a stifling hot June day at, say, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It’s just not meant for that.