Awesome Drinks

Symphony 6 is an inventive botanical spirit produced with six fragrant leaves that are otherwise rarely used in distillation: mandarin, lemon, coffee, black currant and fig. Made in California by Copenhagen-based Empirical, the uniquely pink elixir is a bright, floral, citrusy and earthy addition to the sustainable bar arsenal.

Los Arango tequila honors Jose Doroteo Arango (AKA Pancho Villa) for defending his people in the Mexican Revolution. Its locally harvested 100% Blue Weber Agave is fired onsite in clay ovens, fermented with a specialty yeast strain, double distilled, then bottled in blown glass and hand-finished with leather, metal, and wood accents.

Meaning “breast,” pechuga is a mezcal-based spirit that adds or hangs ingredients in the still to impart aroma, texture, and flavor from everything from strawberries to turkey. Rarely found in the US, pechuga is made in Mexico by mezcaleros for celebrations and provides an offering or spiritual connection to the dead.

The full flavor of Grand Old Parr 12-Year-Old Blended Scotch Whisky is smooth as David Beckham’s off-field swagger. Fellow soccer star Sebastian Lletget (currently with Major League Soccer FC Dallas, and formerly the LA Galaxy) is an Old Parr fan so they partnered to create the perfect cocktail for soccer watch parties.

Enhance the taste of your favorite spirits and wines with this craft cocktail infuser. Simply fill with fruits, veggies, candies, or spices, and attach it securely to your bottled beverage. Flip it over to fill with liquid, and let the ingredients infuse over time before pouring. Flavors start to meld in as little as five minutes.

Ring in the holidays with the best craft beers of 2022. GiveThemBeer’s annual advent calendar comes loaded with a dozen great cans from breweries like Lagunitas, Cigar City Brewing, Oskar Blues, and Bell’s. If your gift recipient prefers something a little stronger, they also sell whiskey, tequila, and vodka calendars.

The best gins lean in with a strong juniper core. Junipero Gin does this in spades, blending 12 botanicals for an intense herbal and citrus concoction. Master distiller Bruce Joseph sources ingredients from around the world for small gin batches made in a copper pot still and bottled at an unfiltered 98.6 proof.

Uncle Nearest crafts an impressive range of whiskeys in the historic tradition of the first Black master distiller, Nearest Green. In 2021, it became the best-selling African American-owned and founded spirit brand in history, and the most-awarded American whiskey or bourbon of 2019, 2020 and 2021, with 500+ awards and accolades.

Candy corn cocktails should not be a thing. Scare away bad spirits this Halloween with a Ghost Margarita made with top-shelf 1800 Tequila and impress 21+ boys and ghouls with smoky flavors and ghostly mixologist magic. It’s our kind of treat, whether it’s 1800 Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, Coconut, or ultra-premium 1800 Cristalino.

“The flaming heart can’t get his fill / But the flaming heart will try as he will.” M. Ward’s song has inspired seven editions of Flaming Heart whisky, with the label art a nod to classic rock posters. The peaty 2022 release is a power trio of whiskies from Laphroaig, Talisker, and Caol Ila distilleries.

Ernest “Papa” Hemingway wrote about lots of adventurous things, like bullfighting, hunting, and skiing. But there’s nothing he had more experience in than drinking, with rum being his go-to. Papa’s Pilar Rum honors the adventurer’s spirit by blending premium rums from the Caribbean, Central, South, and North America.

While tasting their latest barrels, Frey Ranch’s farmer-distillers came across a firecracker with their highest proof yet. The 140.18-proof Hazmat Single Barrel yielded only 126 bottles of dark mahogany bourbon, rich with notes of orange peel and oak. Drops 10.8.22 only at Frey Ranch Tasting Room in Fallon, Nevada.

Want a proper job where you get to drink and report to the world’s highest-paid athlete? MMA star Conor McGregor is hiring a “Professional Partier” to introduce Proper Whiskey across the US. The full-time gig involves pouring and preaching Proper, hosting parties, and kicking social media ass, so Conor doesn’t have to kick yours.

Two whisky cultures unite in each bottle of Glendalough 7-Year Single Malt Mizunara Cask. The rare whiskey expression was first triple-distilled from Irish malted barley in the Wicklow mountains. It then matures for seven years in bourbon casks before being transferred into Japanese Mizunara oak casks for another 8-12 months.

For those of us mourning the loss of the Choco Taco, the Choco Tacotini cocktail will aid the healing process. Cody Goldstein of Brooklyn-based hospitality group Muddling Memories has created a dreamy, sweet ‘n’ salty dessert cocktail featuring Tequila Cazadores, amaro, cold brew, cream, peanuts, and fudge-shell chocolate.

Soda Springs, Idaho, is home to a unique geyser that sprays carbonated water into the air. While the sparkling spring water is naturally-occurring, the water spout itself is the result of a man-made mistake. Tom Scott visited the geyser for an explanation of how it came to be and how they tweaked it to fire every hour on the hour.

Beware, vegetarians. The rascally rabbit on the label hints that Bosscal Mezcal isn’t just made with agave, per usual. It’s made with meat. Organic agave is triple distilled in Durango, Mexico. During the third distillation, a skinless rabbit is suspended in the still, allowing the liquid vapors to pass through it.

Puncher’s Chance Bourbon is a knockout, a one-two punch of 5- and 6-year-old Kentucky straight bourbons made from a mash of 75% Corn, 13% rye, and 12% barley. The 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition gold medal winner won a 95-point review from The Tasting Panel. We give it two boxing-gloved thumbs up.

Bring new depth and dimension to your whiskey with this spirit-enhancing gift set. The kit includes various types of oak, herbs, and spices to infuse your whiskey with, along with two bottles for mixing and six stainless steel whiskey stones for ice-free chilling. They also make infusion kits for gin and vodka.

William Landgren might only be 15 years old, but he’s already an accomplished digital artist. He created this 100% CGI short film about a robot desperate for a drink using Blender, After Effects, Marvelous Designer, and Davinci Resolve. We love the mood he created with the grain and lighting. (Thanks, Rob!)

Trailblazing celebrity stylist Jason Rembert is not a minimalist. He fitted Zayn Malik with a robotic arm for a Met Gala, crowned Solange in a crystal halo for SNL, dressed erratic Ezra Miller (yes, the fugitive) in a puffer gown for a film premiere, and mixed up a mean Maximalist Margarita for Grand Marnier.

We love the teasing of Ryan Reynold’s Aviation Gin empire from Ryan’s non-drinking wife, Blake Lively, proprietress of Betty Buzz non-alcoholic mixers. “Well, at least it’s not another celebrity alcohol?” she tweeted for the launch of her healthier, lower-calorie mocktails made with natural ingredients for sipping or mixing.

The mack daddy of summery European cocktails is the refreshing Aperol Spritz, making it de rigueur to stock up on Aperol aperitif, chilled prosecco, and soda. First distilled in 1919 in Northern Italy, the bittersweet orange liqueur gets its pizzazz from a century-old recipe of gentian, rhubarb, cinchona, and other botanicals.