There are some large spirits companies in the world whose names almost everyone knows. On the other hand, there are companies only known to booze nerds, traders or people being interested in economics. Beam Suntory is a kind of hybrid against this background. Jim Beam – of course, everyone knows the name; and in combination with spirits, just the word “Beam” is enough. In Japan however, everybody knows Suntory, but then again not really outside the country. Why am I writing this? Well, because a well-known name can be both a curse and a blessing. Read More →

In advance of today’s contribution, I was very excited. A cigar-smoking friend of mine, whom I have unfortunately only rarely seen lately, had already several times tried to enthuse me about the taste of a cigar in combination with a good rum (or alternatively about the taste of a good rum in combination with a cigar). However, I myself have been a non-smoker for more than ten years and will not make an exception for a cigar, so that it will remain a theoretical interest. However, I am well aware that rum and cigars (or whisky and cigars) have a large fan base. Read More →

Yesterday I did already announce it – so I want to deliver today! After my tasting of the Stauning Rye and a suitable cocktail suggestion, it’s time for the Stauning Curious from the so called “Research Series” of the Stauning distillery. To what extent we are dealing with more than a mere white dog here, I will briefly outline in the following. Read More →

Denmark is certainly not the first country that comes to mind in connection with spirits. And certainly not in connection with whisky. However, in fact the missing association is not necessarily justified, because with the Stauning distillery, a whisky distillery from Denmark focuses entirely on national products. What a whisky from Denmark can do and how the makers approach it, I want to take a closer look at today. Read More →

In the German-speaking cocktail and bar scene (as in any other) of course also different trends occur. These can have various causes, but often they were more or less triggered by someone. A person who is very good with that is Joerg Meyer (founder of Bar Le Lion in Hamburg), since he is quite successful in using social media. But of course there are also more down-to-earth “hard facts” that are the secret behind many of Mr. Meyer’s influence. Read More →

If you do some research about Tequila as the Mexican spirit par excellence, of course you will first read about what it is, how it is made, what kind of categories exist and the like. Of course, its close relationship to Mezcal (with tequila actually being a mescal), the raw material and some agricultural information as well as regional designations of origin will also be part of what you find. But most likely you will also come across the names of special people who play an outstanding role in the genre. One such person is Felipe Camarena. Read More →

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Before I started today’s article, I took another look at my article about the Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky. Because the Nikka Coffey Gin comes from the same spirit series of the Japanese manufacturer Nikka. And even though Nikka enjoys a high reputation as a whisky producer most reviews of the Nikka Coffey Gin turned out remarkably positive until the present day. Read More →

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When it comes to the classic repertoire of cocktail ingredients, usually you start by listing various types of spirits, from cognac to gin to whiskey, and then quickly end up with vermouths and cocktail bitters or even herbal liqueurs and syrups. Champagne, on the other hand, is easily misappropriated, which happens probably mainly because most people simply do not think of it as a component of cocktails. The champagne’s nimbus of solemnity, nobleness and sophistication is too big; that is why supposedly it demands to enjoy it neat. However, such thinking is actually a misconception – despite all the qualities of a good, stand-alone champagne. Read More →

Recently I read an interesting interview. It was conducted with Eyck Thormann, who works for the spirit giant Pernod Ricard as a brand ambassador for whiskies, but who himself looks back on a long time as bar manager in Hamburg St. Pauli and who several times became “German Cocktail Champion”. And – you might guess it in view of his personal biography – the interview naturally also dealt with the use of whiskies in cocktails. A topic, which I also did address here repeatedly in the past. Read More →

Today I would like to catch up (in a relatively short article) on something that I have missed for far too long: Since I have presented classics of the cocktail history here in the blog again and again (meanwhile a lot of them can be found in the archives of Galumbi – Drinks & More), it is finally time to also take a closer look at the Negroni Sbagliato. Since the Negroni (together with the Mint Julep) is my all-time favourite among drinks, it might be surprising that the Negroni Sbagliato hasn’t been mentioned here yet. Read More →

It is now about two and a half years since I wrote about a very interesting and unconventional gin. To this day, I have to admit that I have tried only a few gins that differ so much from the aroma profile of a classic London Dry like Tanqueray or Beefeater – but without, like many New Western Dry Gins, focusing entirely on fruit and citrus aromas and almost becoming a kind of fruit spirit. And today I’m looking forward to meeting the new big brother of the Príncipe de los Apóstoles Mate Gin. Read More →

Recently, Jim Beam caused quite a stir with an announcement they made. It was about the Knob Creek Bourbon, which I also reviewed here in the blog in the past (and used it in a drink called the Iron Ranger, a bourbon-based Tikidrink). In that article, I wrote that the manufacturer claims to have been oriented towards an age of 9 years despite they abandoned printing an official age statement on the label. Well, and now they‘re going to change it once again by going back to the original official indication of 9 years. However, what applies to the Knob Creek Bourbon does not apply (to my knowledge) to the Knob Creek Rye. Read More →

Rum from French overseas départements meanwhile enjoys a very good reputation. Those who value transparency and solid quality generally appreciate the French AOC rules, which apply to Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion and which have made their Rhum Agricoles more and more popular outside of the French-speaking world. But it is not only Rhum Agricole tempting from overseas. Read More →

Sweet woodruff is a herb that everyone knows, but which is used only rarely. If you now also avoid thinking of May wine (or “Maibowle” in Germany), it plays almost no role at all. Sure, you think you know the typical taste of woodruff, but apart from the already mentioned Mai Wine, first of all you will probably think of the industrial woodruff aroma and less of the authentic one from the plant. Read More →

Once again I’m writing an article about Mexico’s paragon spirit: tequila. About the basics of Tequila in general and also about the genus Mezcal I wrote a few lines some time ago in the context of past reviews (see linked articles), so that we can go directly in medias res today. Read More →

Today I would like to take a closer look at two special bottles. Basically, the two have nothing to do with each other (apart from the fact that they are both sold by the French Cognac manufacturer Ferrand and in a certain way have been influenced by cognac). At first, I didn’t intend to review both bottles together in a single article, but in the end that changed when the idea for today’s cocktail came to me. Read More →

Today’s article is basically the continuation of a review published a few months ago. With great praise and enthusiasm I wrote about the Hampden Estate Pure Single Jamaican Rum here in October 2018 and on top of that used it in a really interesting twist on a Negroni. Today I’m going to do “part 2” of the whole thing, because again a Hampden Estate Pure Single Jamaican Rum stands in front of me. But this time it is the overproof version. Read More →

Today’s article is no small thing, because even if I basically proceed as usual and will review a spirit and a cocktail, things are a little different this time. I’ll start with the cocktail first, because the drink demands this considering its historical weight. Afterwards I will review the spirit, which nevertheless speaks for itself and represents a felicitous “supplement” to the cocktail. Read More →

Although I always try to approach every article with the same neutrality and objectivity, personal emotions of course sometimes also play a role. Although I try to contain their influence as soon as I become aware of it, it would not be honest if I said it didn’t exist. That has once again become very clear to me today. Read More →

While planning today’s article, I noticed a circumstance about which I was quite surprised. Because although I usually blog for almost four years at least once a week about cocktails, spirits and occasionally also about beers (including some very exotic and special categories), I have not even once written about a Cachaça. Why is that? I honestly do not know, because I have nothing against Cachaça at all and I do not give it a wide berth either. In short: It is time! Read More →

If you visit my blog from time to time and read my articles, you might know how much I appreciate Rhum Agricoles. Especially with the matured variants, you can find real treasures, which are unfortunately too little known to a wide audience. Although I feel very confident that they could offer a welcome change to many whisky drinkers. Therefore, from time to time, people talk about Rhum Agricole as the “missing link” between rum and whisky. However, this is less true for unmatured Rhum Agricole. Nevertheless, also these qualities have their pros. Read More →

If you‘re writing product reviews on a regular basis or if you should intend to do so in the future, you will be faced with the difficult decision of what it is that you really want to achieve with those reviews. Between deeply subjective writing and efforts to be relatively objective, all possible shades of grey are conceivable and all of them have a certain value to your readers. I am usually somewhere in the midfield, because of course as an individual I can only describe my own feelings, but on the other hand I don’t want to write articles that are utterly connected only to me as a person. Read More →

If you should have read about my Strawberry & Sage Highball, you might have noticed a little surprise in the list of ingredients. The recipe itself is only a simple Highball based on an infused rum and a sage lemonade, but gets a final touch by a Dry Curaçao. Moreover, this is not just any dry curaçao, but a dry curaçao from Revolte. Read More →

Today I’ll keep it short. Actually, I only wanted to tell you about a very successful experiment, which started with a small gift of a good friend from the city of Bonn. He had brought along some bottles of a lemonade with the simple and puristic name “Craft Lemonade”, which I had never seen before. Read More →

I have already written one or two articles about Japanese whiskies. For example about the Togouchi Japanese Blended Whisky, about the 10-year-old Yamazaki, which unfortunately is no longer available, the very beautiful Hibiki Japanese Harmony, but also about the Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky. With the KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin I recently added a Japanese Gin and I have also written several articels about Sake, Shochu and Umeshu. And now I’m having a Japanese rum or rhum in front of me. Read More →

Even though I am pursuing the goal of providing a comprehensive overview of current, interesting bottlings with corresponding reviews and suitable suggestions for drinks, it is of course not possible for a blogger to do justice to the entire spectrum of the spirits market, not to mention the number of newly launched products. Moreover, when we talk about gin, this is truer than ever. Read More →