Earlier in 2025 we paid a visit to the Messina Hof winery in Central Texas, enjoying a fun harvest meal there with the winemaker and owners. Recently the operation sent us three recently released bottles for more formal review, including one under the Bonarrigo sub-label (Bonarrigo being the name of the family that runs the place). Let's dive in. 2022 Messina Hof Cabernet Franc Private Reserve Texas High Plains…

Blue Run has been fairly quiet this year, but its latest bourbon is far from anything tame. Glimmer is a limited edition release of Kentucky straight bourbon finished in gin barrels. Crafted by Shaylyn Gammon, Coors Spirits Co. Head of Whiskey Development and Innovation, Glimmer is her first barrel-finished Bourbon release for Blue Run, and the second finished release for the brand.

Founded in 2021, Kentucky-based Rare Character has become something of a fan darling among non-distilling producers. In addition to their branded releases — which include both single barrels and batched products — the company has revived and relaunched a number of historic labels, including Fortuna, Brook Hill, and Old Cassidy. The company’s latest offering is the brand new Hurst Knoll, a “carefully crafted union of Kentucky straight rye barrels” aged a minimum of seven years and bottled at 101 proof.

For decades, American whiskey has been shaped by a relatively small circle of entrenched producers concentrated in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. While a few early independents matriculated in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, the period between 2010 and 2015 marked a dramatic increase in the number of small distilleries across the country. These newcomers entered a marketplace already dominated by deeply established operations with immense production capacity, extensive inventories, and generations of accumulated experience.

Technically Luxardo Italian London Dry Gin, this is the creation of the well-regarded maraschino producer. Nine botanicals are included in the botanical bill -- juniper, coriander, iris, angelica, licorice, cinchona, cinnamon, cardamom, and bitter oranges -- which are infused for 24 hours in alcohol (unstated in origin) before redistillation in copper pot stills. The recipe has been in production since the early 1900s.

Somehow, we missed Barrell’s annual New Year release last year. Does that mean 2025 didn’t officially happen? If only we were so lucky. But why dwell on all the batty craziness of the past when we can celebrate the possibilities of the future? Once again, Barrell’s bonkers holiday blend is here to help us stay well-lubricated into a cautiously optimistic new year.

Don't call it a flavored tequila: YaVe is "naturally infused" with jalapeno, mango, or coconut -- in addition to un-infused blanco and reposado impressions. Founded by Joe Cruz Jr. in New York City, the brand is made from a blend of Highlands and Lowlands agave (100% agave, naturally) and a proprietary yeast strain and is produced without additives (aside from what's used in the infusions, of course).

Heaven Hill’s Grain to Glass Series is barely two years old, but the annual whiskey trio produced from locally grown corn is already getting a line extension with the recent release of the new Specialty Barrel Series. For the inaugural releases in that series, Heaven Hill used the same corn varietal that featured in the latest Grain to Glass releases, Beck’s 6225, which was grown just across the road from Heaven Hill’s Bardstown campus.

Back in 2008 we had our first (primitive) encounter with Cognac producer Delamain and its Pale & Dry offering -- an XO that stands at the beginning of the operation's range. The expression dates back to 1920 and is made exclusively from eaux-de-vie of Grande Champagne, matured in 350-litre barrels of old Limousin oak. In 2025 we received a fresh bottle to give it a fresh look and review.

Jacob did a fine job setting the stage for Ben Holladay Distillery with his review of its Soft Red Wheat Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon and Bottled-in-Bond Missouri Straight Bourbon Whiskey in his prior reviews of the Missouri-based operation. Consider this an addendum, reviewing the Soft Red Wheat Bottled-In-Bond expression but at "rickhouse proof," aka cask strength. It's the same mash of 73% corn, 15% soft red winter wheat, and 12% malted barley, and also aged for 6 years, but it hits the bottle at over 60% abv.

It's not every day we get a chance to review a vintage Port release, and it's especially rare to find a 25 year old expression in our inbox. Sandeman's 2000 vintage Port was bottled in 2002, but some bottles appear to have been held back for this celebratory release, 25 years after its harvest. The nose is a classic of the style, though far from the blown out dessert experience that's common with vintage Port: raisin and cherry notes are about equal in prominence, with notes of blood orange peel adding a bit of zip to the experience.

When Elijah Craig launched its Barrel Proof lineup in 2013, we had no expectation that it would continue all these years and ultimately take a place as one of the most revered and anticipated bourbons to hit the market at a regular clip. The whiskey began life as a 12 year old expression, then changed to varying age statements (almost always younger, naturally) in 2023.

Heaven Hill is 90 years old this year, and it's celebrating the occasion -- how else? -- with new whiskey. Heaven Hill Distillery’s 90th Anniversary 9-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is made from the distillery's traditional bourbon mashbill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye, bottled at its typical "special edition proof" of 107. The product is a blend of 70% whiskey aged in standard barrels and 30% aged in heavy, alligator-charred barrels, with 204 barrels total selected for bottling here.

The latest semi-experimental Scotch from Glenmorangie's "A Tale of..." series is, on the surface, an obvious one: Spice notes are endemic to single malt Scotch, so it makes sense that Dr. Bill Lumsden would try to amp them up with this offering, the sixth bottling in the long-running collection. Designed to mimic a spice market. Glenmorangie A Tale of Spices is "made from a marriage of Glenmorangie finished in four different cask types for the first time." Those casks include new charred oak, Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, and shaved, toasted red wine casks (STR casks).

Ethos -- often styled as ETHOS -- is a new wine brand from Washington's Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. The brand will exclusively focus on Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley and "pays homage to Washington’s early wine pioneers who helped establish the rugged and demanding Columbia Valley into a top growing region known for its Cabernet Sauvignon." The 2022 expression was sourced from sites in the Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, and Wahluke Slope appellations, as well as Cold Creek Vineyard and comprises 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc.

While 30 year bourbon isn’t exactly a novel concept, it's exceedingly rare. In the past few decades, only a handful of brands have bottled bourbon that’s hit or eclipsed the three-decade mark, among them Final Reserve (45 and 42 Years), Redemption Whiskey (36 Years), I.W. Harper (34 Years), and Jefferson’s Bourbon (30 Years). So while a 30 year bourbon doesn’t establish any new records per se, it’s certainly uncommon enough to elicit discussion.

Jaen isn't a place but the name of an indigenous Portuguese grape, also known as Mencía in Spain. Virtually unheard of in the U.S., it's the basis for a single-varietal offering from Taboadella, where Luisa Amorim crafts wines in the Dão region of the country. This 2020 vintage is a lively and refreshing wine, mercifully gentle at its 13% abv, bursts with notes of fresh strawberry and blueberry before sliding into a light florality, leaning heavily into hibiscus.

Ha! You thought Little Book's "The Infinite" was the end? Joke's on you, loser! That's why they called it Edition 1! (Or Edition I, we aren't entirely sure. It's Roman numerals now.) The Infinite returns this holiday season with The Infinite Edition II, which is even more infinite than the last Infinite. As with Infinite I, Infinite II is built around a blend of four whiskeys, one from each generation of the Noe clan -- plus a "shared component." While the original shared component was an anonymous 8 year old whiskey, this year's shared is, of course, the original Infinite 1 release.

Hacienda de Chihuahua has been producing sotol in the desert of Chihuahua since the 19th century, using a non-industrial process that seems to be unchanged for much of its existence. The distillery offers a surprisingly large portfolio of aged and unaged sotol, even a pair of sotol-based cream liqueurs. Today we’re taking an initial look at a blanco and anejo expression.

Last year, Maestro Dobel dropped three special edition extra anejo tequilas -- dupped 1968, 1969, and 1970 -- all follow-ups to its original anniversary bottling, Dobel 50 1967. Now it's back with three more expressions, as those 50th anniversaries apparently can't stop coming. These are all made from single estate agave, and all three are at least 8 years old.

The Loire Valley's Vouvray region is synonymous with chenin blanc, which is virtually the only grape grown here. The grape is classically used to make very dry and crisp wines, but as we'll see in this roundup of six expressions, it's a versatile grape that can find a home in various styles of sparkling wine and even sweeter expressions.

World Whiskey Society (WWS) has only been around since 2020, but it's become a veritable juggernaut in the non-distilling producer space, cranking out so many new whiskeys each quarter that it's difficult to keep up with it all. Today we check out a trio of new releases, including one from its Doc Holliday Collection and one which stands as perhaps the most unusual bourbon we've tasted to date.

We've covered the wines of Chateau Cos d'Estournel, a second-growth wine in Bordeaux's Medoc-situated St. Estephe region, in the past, but today we're digging into a special treat -- a decade-old vintage of the producer's flagship bottling that is still available for purchase in a newly reissued 10th anniversary edition. The wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon dominant blend with 23.5% merlot and 1.5% cabernet franc rounding it out.

We're eight years into Brown-Forman’s King of Kentucky project, and once again the age is ticking up: This single barrel bourbon now boasts a 17 year old age statement, with 63 barrels selected by Chris Morris for inclusion in the release. With proofs ranging from 124.4 to 135, Morris picked from the 4th floor of Warehouse J and the first floor of Warehouse G at the Brown-Forman Distillery.

Sicily's Donnafugata recently dropped two new wines and a bold new packaging that is striking, even for the often out-there winery. Both are built around nero d'avola, the defining red varietal on the island. 2023 Donnafugata Sherazade DOC Review 100% nero d'avola, but you'd never know it based on the exuberantly fruity composition on display here. Initially aggressively heavy with notes of currants and overripe cherries, the wine takes its time to find a sense of balance -- eventually finding some in the form of a touch of strawberry vinegar that adds a punchy acidity to the finish.