drinkhacker.com

Made at what is reportedly the second oldest tequila distillery in the world, the Dano’s Dangerous Tequila brand is based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and dates back to just 2018. Dano’s Dangerous Tequila Blanco – Fresh with agave punchiness on the nose, but laced with fruity sweetness that evokes lemon and pineapple. On the palate, the tequila presents about the same, heavy with tropical fruit notes, lots of coconut this time, and a vanilla-laced body that gives it ample, lingering sweetness. A- / $54 Dano’s Dangerous Tequila Pineapple & Jalapeno –

Kentucky’s Willett Distillery has assumed almost Pappy-like status in today’s bourbon world, helped in large part by their first releases of exceedingly rare, well-aged single barrel bourbon. Two years later, the Old Bardstown brand relaunched as Willett-distilled products with a standard 90 proof and a bottled-in-bond 100 proof. It flew under the radar, but a small amount of house-distilled single barrel, cask strength bourbon also hit the shelves as a four-year-old product, most of which was available only at the distillery. According to a spreadsheet I found online (thanks Bourbonr), this bottle is the high corn mashbill which also has the lowest entry proof of the lot at 103.

The latest whiskey from the prolific Silver Screen Bottling Company — which has released everything from James T. Kirk Bourbon to a Step Brothers branded vodka — is this bourbon released in collaboration with Terry Bradshaw, “ Beyond all the char, there’s a heavy chocolate note along with notes of rosemary and dried thyme, all of which comes across as rather intense. It opens over time (and/or with water) to push past its toasty oak note, slowly revealing notes of sesame, dark chocolate, and caramel sauce. The finish remains quite drying though it does hit its sweetest point here, offering a lingering milk chocolate character and, curiously, a note of fortune cookies.

Last year, Drew wrote about Rabbit Hole’s Rye-Finished Gin, a distillery-only bottling that stood as the only non-whiskey offering the operation produced. ’s straight rye whiskey barrels — which itself has been rebranded as “Boxergrail” Straight Rye — though this new branding is much more modest than the gin’s overhaul. For me, the nose has more of the hallmarks of gin — juniper, then baking spice and some citrus peel — while the palate pumps up more of the whiskey kick. Things definitively start off on the sweet side, with almond notes and some fresh lemon, then that grainy rye note kicks in strong and a quick punch of barrel char.