School of Wine & Spirits
All Reviews
1191 curated reviews
Filliers Dry Gin 28 Pine Blossom
Filliers
Filliers brings five generations of Belgian distilling expertise to a gin that is both traditional and distinctive. The pine blossom addition sets it apart without turning it into a novelty — the backbone is pure London Dry rigor. Excellent in a Martini.
Centenario Fundación 20 Year Old
Ron Centenario
Costa Rica remains an underappreciated origin for aged rum, and Centenario's Fundación bottling makes a strong case for the country's potential. The solera method gives it a layered complexity, while the extended aging contributes a dignified dryness. A sophisticated after-dinner pour.
Ocho Añejo Tequila
Tequila Ocho
Ocho Añejo demonstrates that a single year in barrel, when executed with care, can enhance agave rather than obscure it. The vintage and single-estate approach means each release carries a sense of place. This is añejo for people who actually like tequila.
Marc Hébrart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 1er Cru NV
Marc Hébrart
Jean-Paul Hébrart's grower Champagne is the antithesis of flash — it earns its place through vineyard rigor and extended cellar time. The Blanc de Blancs bottling from premier cru sites shows what serious Chardonnay can achieve in Champagne without a luxury-house price tag. Drink it now or let it gain further complexity over three to five years.
George Dickel Bottled in Bond 13 Year Old
George Dickel
At 13 years, this bottled-in-bond release punches well above its price point. The extra time in barrel has given it a seriousness and depth that rewards slow sipping. One of the most quietly compelling values in American whiskey.
Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2020
Château de Saint Cosme
Louis Barruol's family has tended this estate since 1490, and the 2020 vintage captures the exceptional warmth of the year without losing the herbal lift that defines Gigondas. This over-delivers against Châteauneuf-du-Pape bottles at twice the price. The patience to wait five more years will be handsomely rewarded.
Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Bunnahabhain
Bunnahabhain's 18-year expression is the quiet counterpoint to Islay's smoke-forward reputation. It demonstrates that patience on this island yields sherry-rich, maritime complexity without ever reaching for peat. A benchmark for non-peated Islay whisky.
Jeptha Creed Four Grain Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Jeptha Creed
Jeptha Creed grows their own Bloody Butcher heritage corn on the family farm, and you can taste the difference — a depth of corn character that commodity grain simply cannot deliver. This is a bourbon built from the soil up, and it rewards anyone paying attention.
Privateer Navy Yard Rum
Privateer
Andrew Cabot's Privateer is one of the few American distilleries producing rum that can stand next to Caribbean benchmarks without apology. The Navy Yard bottling showcases their molasses-based spirit at its most approachable — complex enough for sipping, structured enough for a stirred cocktail. This is serious American rum.
Domaine du Cayron Gigondas 2020
Domaine du Cayron
The Faravel family has worked these Gigondas vineyards by hand for generations, and their refusal to modernize yields a wine that tastes like the hillside itself. The 2020 vintage shows ripe, generous fruit tempered by the Dentelles de Montmirail's limestone influence. This is old-school Southern Rhône at its most honest.
Kilkerran 12 Year Old
Kilkerran
A handcrafted Campbeltown gem that delivers complexity and coastal character well beyond its modest price — proof that scale and soul are inversely related.
Hernö Navy Strength Gin
Hernö
Jon Hillgren built Hernö as Sweden's first dedicated gin distillery, and his navy strength expression demonstrates what happens when a perfectionist increases proof without sacrificing balance. Every botanical is amplified in proportion, making this a gin that punches through tonic or citrus in cocktails while remaining supremely drinkable on its own.
Domaine Barmès-Buecher Pinot Blanc Rosenberg 2022
Domaine Barmès-Buecher
Geneviève and François Barmès-Buecher converted to biodynamic farming in the early 2000s, and the results speak through wines of crystalline clarity. This Pinot Blanc from the Rosenberg lieu-dit is proof that Alsace's 'simple' grapes, in committed hands, can produce wines of genuine depth and character at an astonishing value.
Tapatio Blanco Tequila
Tapatio
Tapatio Blanco is a masterclass in what highland tequila should taste like when nothing interferes with the agave. Carlos Camarena uses traditional tahona and roller mill extraction, brick ovens, and no additives. This is benchmark blanco tequila at a price that should embarrass the competition.
The Busker Single Pot Still
The Busker
An expressive, value-driven single pot still that punches well above its price — proof that careful cask selection in skilled hands can elevate even an entry-level expression.
Domaine Trimbach Pinot Gris Réserve 2021
Trimbach
Trimbach's Pinot Gris Réserve is a quietly authoritative Alsatian white — rich enough to pair with substantial food, dry enough to stay interesting across a full meal. The 2021 vintage shows the house style at its best: precision without austerity, weight without sweetness. The texture is what binds it — that waxy mid-palate acts as invisible architecture.
ArteNOM Selección de 1146 Añejo
ArteNOM
ArteNOM's 1146 Añejo is what happens when barrel aging complements rather than conceals the agave. Eighteen months in American oak gives structure and depth, but the highland terroir of Jesús María — bright, mineral, vegetal — stays audible throughout. This is añejo done with restraint and intelligence.
Château Phélan Ségur Saint-Estèphe 2018
Château Phélan Ségur
Phélan Ségur consistently outperforms its classification, and the 2018 vintage is a prime example. This is Saint-Estèphe at its most approachable — structured enough to age but integrated enough to drink now. The tannins are polished rather than aggressive, and every element connects without gaps. Excellent value for left-bank Bordeaux.
Clairin Vaval
Clairin
Clairin Vaval is rum stripped to its most elemental — no aging, no blending, no polish. What remains is terroir in a glass: the wild, indigenous sugarcane of southern Haiti, fermented with native yeasts and distilled once. It's a spirit that demands curiosity and rewards it with a flavor profile unlike anything else in the rum world.
Bushmills 12 Year Old Single Malt
Bushmills
Bushmills 12 is a study in gentleness with purpose. Every element is present in proportion — fruit, malt, wood — without any single note attempting to lead. It's the kind of whiskey that demonstrates how triple distillation and patient maturation can create cohesion rather than simplicity.
Yellowstone Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Yellowstone
Yellowstone Select is a bourbon of quiet integration — nothing shouts, everything converges. It's an everyday pour that rewards a moment of patience, particularly when you let it open for a few minutes in the glass. Reliable, well-made, and unpretentious.
Talisker 18 Year Old
Talisker
This is Talisker at its most composed — the maritime punch of the 10-year softened into something more nuanced and integrated. Eighteen years have fused the distillery's wild coastal character with sherry-cask sweetness into a seamless whole. A masterclass in how time can be mortar.
Ransom Old Tom Gin
Ransom
Ransom Old Tom is a gin that reminds you the category has history — maltier, richer, and more texturally complex than modern dry styles. David Enrich's recipe is modeled on pre-Prohibition approaches, and the barrel resting integrates the botanicals into something almost whiskey-adjacent. It makes a Martinez that will change your mind about gin cocktails.
Boodles British London Dry Gin
Boodles
Boodles is a gin that draws its charcoal line by what it leaves out. No citrus peel in the botanical mix means the juniper and spice backbone is laid bare. At 45.2% ABV, it has the spine for a proper Martini and the discipline to let vermouth do the talking. Exceptional value.