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February 7, 2012

Trader Jose's Premium Silver Tequila Review

We were recently sent a review bottle of Trader Joe's new-ish tequila product, AKA Trader Jose's Premium Silver Tequila. This is a 100% agave spirit that weighs in at a fairly standard 80 proof (40% ABV) and costs in the neighborhood of seventeen bucks ($17). Trader Joe's is a brand we always associate with good quality at a reasonable price - so how does it taste when Joe dips his toe into tequila?

Since they're not aged, many silver or white tequilas run a bit hotter than your reposados or anejos, but that doesn't mean they can't be delicious. In fact, we here at Liquor Snob tend more toward a silver than the aged varieties, especially when mixing typical cocktails. We found this one to have a sweet floral nose heavy on good old agave, which was very appealing without burning our nose hairs.

When we tasted it had a hint of smokey grass, a big wallop of agave, and a slightly bitter finish. All in all we thought it was tasty straight, and the flavor was improved greatly on the rocks. It was great for most people's typical tequila needs - you know, margaritas and body shots - and measured up well with tequilas that were a smidge pricer...maybe $20-$25.

All in all we thought Trader Jose put a good foot forward with this tequila and it feels like a good addition to your shopping cart between the plantain chips and the frites.

Learn more at Facebook.

February 2, 2012

Patron XO Cafe Dark Cocoa Arrives for Review

As we all know, Valentine's Day is coming soon, which puts us in the mind for romance. As most of us know, chocolate is a traditional gift for said holiday. Many folks also know that tequila is a great way to inspire more...amorous feelings in themselves and their romantic partners.

Luckily for you, Patron has compiled these two last concepts into one bottle, also known as Patron XO Cafe Dark Cocoa. Using Patron silver as its base, this liqueur brings together two amazing products of Mexico - tequila and chocolate. Available for under $25 per bottle it clocks in at a pretty reasonable price, and initial reports indicate it's a pretty amazing combination of its two flavors.

Our review will be out soon; pass the time by checking out the Dark Cocoa page at Patron Tequila.

January 26, 2012

American Harvest Organic Vodka Arrives for Review

American Harvest is an organic vodka made right in Idaho, smack dab in the middle of America's heartland. They've got an American flag emblazoned on the bottle, and the word "America" is right there in the name of the spirit. Kind of feels like Sidney Frank (the gent who brought you a little brand called Grey Goose - you might have heard of it) is targeting Red Staters, doesn't it? We'd say he's a genius for releasing it during an election year to attract patriotic voters from either side of the aisle.

American Harvest is an organic vodka with "organic flavor" and an ABV of 40% (80 proof). It retails for under $25, and we'll let you know what organic flavor tastes like once we're able to do a full review.

Learn more at AmericanHarvestSpirit.com

January 25, 2012

Arehucas Ron Miel Arrives for Review

We just received a bottle of Ron Miel, known to us English-speaking American types as honey rum. Arehucas honey rum is a product of Spain's Canary Islands, consisting of seven-year-old rum blended with honey.

Weighing in at 40 proof (20% ABV) and dosed with natural honey, this is far sweeter than your average rum, so we can see it being an acquired taste - or an excellent sweetener for cocktails. We'll do some investigative reporting and write up a full review ASAP.

Get the full scoop at Arehucas.es

January 16, 2012

Margaritaville Chillin' Pour Liquor Chiller

Some might say a liquor chiller is unnecessary in a time when pretty much everyone has access to a refrigerator, but we say those people lack vision. Margaritaville's Chillin' Pour liquor chiller holds 750ml (a full bottle) and chills liquids down to 15 degrees Farenheit. Some might put a margarita in there as the designers intended, but others might use it for something more nefarious - such as a Jagermeister chiller? Possibilities are endless.

At the time of this post Amazon is selling the Chillin' Pour machine for a huge discount - the retail price is $200 but they're selling it for under $60. That, friends, is a bargain.

At Margaritaville Chillin' Pour Liquor Chiller [via DealNews]

January 4, 2012

How 1940s Whiskey Ads Predicted the Future

The time - the mid-1940s. The place - somewhere in Canada. The action - commercial prognostication. The folks over at Technologizer found a cool old set of Seagram's ads where they attempted to predict the future of technology, with some interesting results.

Among their predictions include some hits (cell phones, video conferencing and sports bars) and some misses (coin-operated fax machines, package delivery via bomber plane). Check out the full list at Technologizer and if you're anything like us, stop to think about what today's Madison Avenue Nostradamuses are saying about our future.

December 13, 2011

The Perfect Drink for Every Occasion

It may not come as a shock to you that we like to drink, but you may not know how much the Liquor Snob staff likes to read. We're only asking for books and booze this Christmas, and not in that order. That's why we dig the title of the book we just found - The Perfect Drink for Every Occasion. We like the way it just rolls off the tongue.

This book features 151 cocktail recipes, and claims its cocktails "complement every situation imaginable . . . and then some." We're doing our best to come up with 5 situations that probably aren't included in this book - though we suppose you'll have to buy it to find out if we're right. Here's our list we'd like to drink to, though we imagine we'd be on our own for pairing a cocktail:

Toasting your grandma's marriage to her parole officer Remembering the first time you heard Wilfred Brimley say Diabeetus Eulogizing Mr. Ed Commemorating your narrow escape from those cannibals Celebrating a successful squirrel hunt

At The Perfect Drink for Every Occasion

December 12, 2011

Bitters: A Spirited Look at a Classic Cure-All

If you're looking for the perfect gift for the cocktail nerd on your list, you could definitely do worse than a book on bitters. An ingredient in many cocktails - and some say a requirement for most - bitters is finally getting its time in the limelight. With the resurgence of cocktail culture over the past few years there's definitely been an uptick in interest, but we haven't seen such an in-depth treatise.

Gone are the days when a lonely bottle of Angostura bitters held court behind the bar. A cocktail renaissance has swept across the country, inspiring in bartenders and their thirsty patrons a new fascination with the ingredients, techniques, and traditions that make the American cocktail so special. And few ingredients have as rich a history or serve as fundamental a role in our beverage heritage as bitters.

This book has it all - history, curative applications, and even recipes to make your own bitters, including Apple, Coffee-Pecan and Root Beer varieties. There are even tips for cooking with bitters in both sweet and savory dishes.

At Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All

December 7, 2011

Margaritaville Mixed Drink Mixer

If you're one of those people who'd rather socialize with guests at your holiday party, rather than mixing their drinks, Margaritaville has a new option for you. They've put together this tidy little machine that will allow you to attach a bottle of booze (vodka, rum, whatever) and four different types of mixers. Guests can then choose their own poison (figuratively) while you're flitting around fluffing pillows and twittering at bad jokes.

The gizmo will let you pour a double (though your guests don't have to know that), and will even let you surprise yourself with a random concoction. If we had this machine, we'd attach a bottle of vodka, then fill the other canisters with rum, tequila, gin and whiskey and see how many button presses it would take to black out mix a Long Island Iced Tea.

At Margaritaville Mixed Drink Maker

December 1, 2011

AT-AT Liquor Cabinet Just In Time For Xmas

Drool cleanup in Aisle 3...can we get a drool cleanup in Aisle 3? I can't say I've been on the market for a new liquor cabinet, but this glorious piece of work mashes my Star Wars Nerd button and my Liquor Nerd button right at the same time. I'm already dreaming about using my harpoon and tow cables to bring this sucker down, then lightsabering my way in to get the boozy goodness inside.

Guess I'd better keep dreaming, though, because I don't think this sucker's for sale. [Thanks for the tip, Jay]

Make [via Gizmodo]

October 19, 2011

SoCo Fiery Pepper Arrives for Review

We just got our review bottle of Southern Comfort's Fiery Pepper, a tabasco-infused twist on the whiskey liqueur. We can't wait to see what the addition of a little fire does for a spirit that's always been on the sweet side. Our review bottle came with a smoke detector and four light-up shot glasses too - we're looking forward to bringing the heat.

Learn more at SouthernComfort.com

October 18, 2011

CocktailGoGo at Portland Cocktail Week

Portland Cocktail Week is happening out in Portland this weekend (left coast Portland, not right coast Portland), and it just so happens our second-favorite drinks site is going to be right there in the middle of it. That's right, CocktailGoGo will be be co-sponsoring two events, and you can expect them both to be liver-asploding fun.

The first event is on the official roster - The Bon Vivants present Triple Buck - and is scheduled from noon to five on Saturday:

The Bon Vivants present Triple Buck with Cocktail Go Go and the good dudes from Bar Lab during Portland Cocktail Week and featuring the beautiful whiskies from the Brown Forman Portfolio. Come drink whiskey as it was intended, show off your Buck Hunter skills, take part in the old-fashioned reckoning, dance your ass off to the foot stompin' music of Portland's own Vandamonium, and get fat on face melting ribs and sides.

We have inside info on the second event, a.k.a. the Bus-a-Move Tour, and all we can say is it involves a double-decker bus, a tour of five area bars, and a whole lotta drinkin'. Those of you hitting up Portland this weekend should keep an eye out for CocktailGoGo representatives to see if you can weasel your way into either or both events.

Get more info about this weekend's doings at Portland Cocktail Week and hit up CocktailGoGo on Facebook.

October 11, 2011

The Rum Diary [book]

Hunter S. Thompson. Puerto Rico. Johnny Depp in underpants. Copious amounts of mini bottles. A mermaid from Connecticut. Those are the images we can dredge out of our booze-soaked brains about the trailer for upcoming film The Rum Diary. We do recall that the movie looked kickass, and we always love reading a good HST yarn, so we do believe we'll pick up the novel.

"Disgusting as he usually was," Hunter Thompson writes in this, his 1959 novel, "on rare occasions he showed flashes of a stagnant intelligence. But his brain was so rotted with drink and dissolute living that whenever he put it to work it behaved like an old engine that had gone haywire from being dipped in lard."

We always knew Mr. Thompson was magical, but it's kind of uncanny how he peered into the future to describe the entire Liquor Snob staff.

At The Rum Diary: A Novel

October 10, 2011

7 Reasons to Allow Booze in the Office

We've always been a fan of drinking in the workplace. We're not talking shameful hidden drinking, or sneaking a beer during lunch - we're talking having a full-blown social pop on occasion without going out to a bar. It doesn't often happen, but when it does - responsibly of course - there can be some real benefits to allowing the old social lubricant to grease its way into the workplace.

KegWorks put together a nice little list of seven reasons why you should be able booze in the office:

Here are 7 Reasons Drinking at Work is a Good Thing: Feel free to send them to your boss)

1. It's relatively low cost (as far as benefits go) but it's a perk your employees will really enjoy and appreciate. They're sure to go around boasting about how incredible their company is and that's really valuable PR.

2. It reduces stress - when you know there's a cold one waiting for you at the end of a taxing meeting, the meeting doesn't seem so impossible anymore.

3. It encourages socializing and team building - some people open up more with a beer in their hand than they ever do around the coffee pot. Creating a corporate culture where people feel relaxed is a beautiful thing.

See the rest of the list at the KegWorks blog.

October 7, 2011

Backpacking With Booze

We've spent a goodly amount of our Liquor Snob career discussing how to bring liquor to places most people wouldn't think of. From the Beer Belly (and the Wine Rack) to the Bootlegger, we've smuggled more booze than Canada during Prohibition.

That's why we love this article at Mother Nature Network about how to bring drinks when you go backpacking. Nobody wants to lug glass bottles or coolers around when they're hitting the trail, but there are alternatives. Our favorite was buying a box of wine and just taking the wine pouch out of the box...we've done that before, but we never though of inflating the bag afterward to use as a pillow.

at MNN