Awesome Drinks

If you love showy smoke-infused cocktails but hate craft bar prices, do it yourself with a Cocktail Smoker Kit from Bark & Barware. The handsome wood gift box contains six wood chip flavors (like cherry, hickory, and maple), a torch (sans butane), four whiskey stones, a metal brush, and tongs.

To commemorate 2024’s total solar eclipse, Hopkinsville, Kentucky-based Casey Jones Distillery introduces four-grain Total Eclipse Kentucky Straight Bourbon and releases a new batch of its Total Eclipse Moonshine, first created in 2017 when it was named the “Official Spirit of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse” on the Kentucky Senate floor.

Coca-Cola sells billions of cases of Diet Coke every year. How did the drink that replaced Tab in the 1980s become a sweet and fizzy juggernaut? Weird History Foods looks at the origins of carbonated beverages and low-calorie soft drinks and how Diet Coke achieved its cult-like status to leapfrog its competition.

High N’ Wicked’s Foursquare Whiskey is one tasty spirit. The distillery achieves its depth of flavor by aging single-grain Irish whiskey in bourbon barrels and finishing it in casks from Foursquare’s award-winning Mark X 2007 Barbados rum. It starts sweet, like tropical fruit, giving way to bold and invigorating spices as it hits the back of your throat.

Barrell Craft Spirits’ new Foundation Bourbon is more nuanced than its 5-year label might lead you to believe. This sippable spirit is a balanced 100-proof blend of whiskeys from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Maryland. It kicks off with a sweet and honeyed fragrance, complemented by a spicy mix of cinnamon and dark chocolate as it hits your tongue.

There’s an art to infusing spirits with spices and fresh ingredients. This 1800 Tequila does it the right way, starting with the distiller’s signature double-distilled 1800 Blanco Tequila made from 100% Weber blue agave, then infusing it on site using ripe cucumbers an jalapeños to impart natural flavors without pulp residue.

Leave it to The Kraken Rum to spawn an anti-Valentine’s Day gift for the blackest of hearts… like your ex, probably. The Beast’s Desolate Rose Bundle pairs a preserved black rose in a delicate glass dome (made by Holy Chic Los Angeles) with a bottle of The Kraken Black Spiced Rum.

It takes a special single-malt whisky to stand out from the pack. Waterford Whisky’s three distinctive Cuvée Concepts do the trick, signifying an impressive evolution in the southern Irish distiller’s mission to use terroir-driven techniques to create naturally flavorsome single malt whiskies with no artificial colors or chill-filtration.

Chocolate and mezcal are two of Mexico’s greatest gastronomic gifts, so MarieBelle chocolates and Del Maguey Vida Puebla bundled them for this limited edition. Infused with Del Maguey mezcal, the boxed bon bons are inspired by seven classic cocktails: Margarita, Carajillo, Negroni, Old Fashioned, Paloma, Mai Tai and The Last Word.

Still hanging tough this Dry January? Seedlip Notas de Agave has your back with its zero-alcohol alternative blend of prickly pear, lime, and agave flavors to replace hankerings for tequila cocktails. It warms the palate with notes of vanilla, damiana flower, and peppercorn and is meant to mix with tonic or other NA ingredients.

Bourbon and chocolate are a brilliant taste pairing, so Woodford Reserve’s Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall paired up with Compartés chocolatier Jonathan Grahn to create a limited-edition of four truffle flavors to complement a 750 ml Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon: butterscotch chocolate, oak-smoked salt caramel, pear nutmeg, and maple pecan.

Following in the footsteps of their Indigo Gin, Empress 1908’s Elderflower Rose Gin pays homage to the distillery’s home city of Victoria, BC, AKA the City of Gardens. Inspired by Victoria’s flowers, Empress Elderflower Rose Gin has a bright floral bouquet of nine botanicals, including red rose petals, elderflowers, lavender, and black carrot.

Sober curious? Wet your whistle during Dry January with the line of non-alcoholic liqueurs by premium French liqueur maker Giffard. Drawing on five generations of know-how Giffard uses the same fruits and plants as their liqueurs, extracting essential flavors — Elderflower, Ginger, Grapefruit, Pineapple — through traditional maceration techniques.

Ring in the New Year with Freixenet’s most popular cava, Cordon Negro Brut. Affectionately known as “Black Bottle Bubbly,” this inexpensive sparkler from Catalunya, Spain, is the world’s #1 imported sparkling wine. Crisp and creamy Cordon Negro Brut’s delicate bubbles are best served as the heart of mixed cocktails like Mimosas, Spritzes, and Bellinis.

WhistlePig founder Raj Bhakta is the talent behind this eponymous spirit. Bhakta 1928 is a delicious drink that combines 60% rye whiskey, 30% XO Calvados, and 10% Armagnac. The latter blends vintages dating back as far as 1928. The result is a complex blend of spiced apples, tea, vanilla, and gingerbread, perfect for slow sipping by the fireplace.

For 2023’s special release, master blender Trudiann Branker crafted Mount Gay Rum PX Sherry Cask from pot and column still rums that were aged in American whiskey casks for 20 years. Barbados’ tropical heat and humidity worked like magic, especially while the rum spent an extra year in Pedro Ximenez Sherry wine casks.