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.