It might surprise people to hear the Liquor Snobs have been a bit late to the elderflower liqueur party. St. Germain has been the belle of the ball for quite a while now, but we never got into it too much due to a sweetness that we found borderline overbearing. Yeah, we know it's meant to be used in small amounts, but hey - taste is taste.
That's why we're psyched our man on the street DKF has gotten a chance to sample Thatcher's Elderflower, an organic liqueur he says knocks the stuffing out of St. Germain. In fact, he says St. G is the tawdry, syrupy older sister of Thatcher's, and at half the price. We have to agree - our last bottle of St. Germain was almost $40, and BevMo has Thatcher's Elderflower for under $20, along with two more of their eight total flavors.
We've just caught wind of a new Margarita-aping juicebox that has an interesting twist. Instead of distilled spirits filling the booze portion of the proceedings, they're slightly lower-test so they can be served by restaurants without spirits licenses. In the words of the company:
The mar-GO-rita is made from a fermented version of the blue agave plant that classifies our product as wine instead of distilled spirits. The wine classification allows beer and wine retailers the opportunity to sell premium margaritas under their beer and wine license.
The pouch allows the consumer to place the product into a freezer and enjoy a frozen margarita without the hassles of mixing or blending. We use a screw top and provide the straws for a true "On-the-Go Experience". Simply freeze, squeeze and enjoy!
Mar-GO-ritas are available in California, South Florida, Louisiana, Virignia and Texas, and they've got some new flavors on the horizon as well (Pina-Go-lada and the Daiq-GO-ri. We're not kidding). An interesting concept and we like the idea of having a freezer full of boozed-up slushies, so we'll see where this goes...and how they taste. More info - and a store locator - at Big Easy Blends.
Jake here, Editor in Chief of Liquor Snob, and I wanted to take some time to write a quick note. We've gotten some mail lately wondering where the hell we've been, and I wanted to let you know not to give up on us. We were MIA for most of August and the beginning of September, but we don't want you to worry that we've given up on the site or lost interest in boozing. This month is my five year anniversary of running Liquor Snob, and it's been a bittersweet time for me as I haven't been able to focus on the site as much as I'd like.
I lost my brother in early September after a long illness, and while the last few months have certainly driven me to drink, it made it tough to focus on the site and give it the love and attention it deserves. But we haven't lost our focus or our drive, and I wanted to write to tell our readers not to give up on us, let the the liquor companies know we we haven't run away with their review bottles, and ask our fans to keep submitting their questions, comments, and tips.
Thanks to everyone who's been supporting me over the last few months, and I look forward to helming Liquor Snob into its next five years and beyond.
A while back we heard about an organic spirit called Square One Botanical, and we were curious about why it wasn't classified as gin. After all, it's full of botanicals and all the other stuff that pretty much makes a gin a gin. Thankfully, our main man Kevin from over at The Scotch Blog gave us our V8 headsmacking moment by pointing out Square One is lacking one vital ingredient that would make it gin - juniper. Duh.
Anyway, we've gotten our hands on a bottle, and we'll ask our Editor in Chief to get a review online post haste. More at Square One.
It seems like every time we turn around a celebrity is endorsing a bottle of booze, but maybe Ludacris is going about it a bit differently? He's not just pimping a bottle he happened to slap his name on; he also helped select the flavor notes and has apparently been involved in the creation every step of the way. But what could a rapper know about cognac, right? From checking out the description, they may just be on to something.
Conjure is made from the ugni blanc grape from blends that represent a variety of Cognac regions including Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne and Borderie. The rich copper color of this signature cognac accents a bouquet of cedar, cocoa and hazelnut. Hints of vanilla, apricot and dried prune leave a smooth warm feeling and long lasting oak finish on the palate.
Conjure will have a limited release in September, and will retail for somewhere around $30 per bottle. Keep an eye out for the website that's on its way at ConjureCognac.com.
For those of you familiar with Square One Organic Vodka (and those who aren't, of course), the company just released a new organic spirit called Square One Botanical. According to the website, it's a "bold organic rye spirit, infused with a striking blend of 8 organic botanicals - pear, rose, chamomile, lemon verbena, lavender, rosemary, coriander and citrus peel." Sounds like a nice new organic gin to us, but they never actually use the term, so we guess we won't.
We're very much intrigued by the mix of botanicals in there, and we like the feeling of drinking organic booze, so we're sure we'll pick up a bottle ASAP.
Why not, right? You need something to do in between posting your "clever" status updates and cyberstalking. Become a fan.* It will make your life better...we guarantee it.**
* The "Become A Fan" button should be right up near the top, next to the title, if this is your first time. We'll be gentle.
** Guarantee not valid anywhere.
PAMA is one of those liqueurs we've heard about for quite a while but we haven't gotten around to tasting it yet. Well, we've had it in cocktails while we were out, but never had a bottle of our own to experiment with. That's all a thing of the past, because we've very recently gotten our hands on a bottle. Review is forthcoming and we're excited to whip up some cocktails in time for the summer months.
PAMA is a pomegranate liqueur and our first impression when we uncapped it and took a sip was that it was a bit more tart and less sweet than we expected...definitely a good thing. It strikes us as a good candidate for margaritas, mimosas, and many other cocktails that don't begin with M.
Learn more @PAMAliqueur.com, and check out the PAMA blog if you're looking for cocktail recipes and more tidbits in the meantime.
If you're a cognac distiller, and you're putting out your first new product since 1961, how would you play it? If you're Hennessy, you would call the product "Black," probably to cash in on that Spinal Tap relevance.
It's like "how much more black could this cognac be?" and the answer is none. None more black.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make money in the cognac business. Hey, it worked on us - we'd love to try Hennessy Black and then, as they say in the business, "smell the glove."
We got in a couple bottles of Hiram Walker Triple Sec this week, and one of the things that makes it stand out is what else was in the box. Not only did they send us two (count 'em, two) bottles for reviewing purposes, they also nestled a mini bottle of Cointreau in there. We like the cut of their jib - it takes balls to send out a product for review and not only suggest we compare it to the gold standard of orange liqueurs, but also send us a bottle of it to ensure we do. Sounds like it's time for a Pepsi Challenge, but with Margaritas!
Oh, and we are also fans of Hiram Walker (the man) after some quick Web research, due to his business sense and his role in the groundbreaking Pregnant-Cow Case.
Now that you know his interpretation of contract law, read up on his interpretation of Triple Sec at the Hiram Walker Website
We have three words for you - summer is coming. And due to those three words, we're giddy with excitement. We've found one of the best ways to enjoy a hot summer afternoon is to sit around, do nothing, and drink limoncello. Luckily, Limoncello Quest, as part of their never ending...umm...quest to create the perfect limoncello, have posted an excellent recipe for the stuff.
They also have reviews of commercially-available limoncellos (we're still waiting for the review of Danny DeVito's), but you don't want to drink those. What you want to do is get to practicing so you can make a phenomenal batch come summer, and we'll be waiting for our invitation to come drink it. Thanks in advance.
Thatcher's Organic Elderflower Liqueur
It might surprise people to hear the Liquor Snobs have been a bit late to the elderflower liqueur party. St. Germain has been the belle of the ball for quite a while now, but we never got into it too much due to a sweetness that we found borderline overbearing. Yeah, we know it's meant to be used in small amounts, but hey - taste is taste.
We've just caught wind of a new Margarita-aping juicebox that has an interesting twist. Instead of distilled spirits filling the booze portion of the proceedings, they're slightly lower-test so they can be served by restaurants without spirits licenses. In the words of the company:
A while back we heard about an organic spirit called 
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