School of Wine & Spirits
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2043 curated reviews
Monkey 47 Distiller's Cut 2022
Monkey 47
Each year's Distiller's Cut adds a secret botanical to the standard 47, and the 2022 edition brings a subtle aromatic shift that rewards comparison with the classic expression. The base architecture — 47 botanicals in precise harmony — remains one of gin's great achievements. This is precision distilling at its most expressive.
T1 Tequila Uno Añejo
T1 Tequila Uno
T1 Añejo is the work of Germán González, a third-generation master distiller whose process is equal parts rigorous methodology and gut-level intuition honed over decades. The highland agave is selected by hand, the fermentation monitored obsessively, yet the final blending decisions come from instinct alone. The result is an añejo that feels engineered for balance while tasting utterly natural — a perfect embodiment of precision meeting instinct.
Glenfarclas 40 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Glenfarclas
Glenfarclas 40 is a masterclass in long maturation done right. Where many whiskies this old become over-oaked and one-dimensional, this remains vibrant and layered. The Grant family's insistence on sherry cask maturation and their willingness to let time do the work results in something genuinely rare — a four-decade spirit that still feels alive.
Fuenteseca Reserva Extra Añejo 21 Year
Fuenteseca Reserva
A meditation in a glass — one of the oldest tequilas in existence, and proof that patience, when applied with restraint, can transform agave into something closer to grand cru brandy without erasing its soul.
Ron Diplomático Planas
Diplomático
Planas is the most underappreciated expression in the Diplomático range. Aged up to six years and then charcoal-filtered to remove color, it carries far more complexity than most white rums while remaining versatile enough for cocktails. At 47% proof, it has the backbone to stand up in a Daiquiri without drowning in dilution. A workhorse with hidden depth.
Domaine Huet Vouvray Le Clos du Bourg Moelleux 2023
Domaine Huet
Domaine Huet's Clos du Bourg is one of the great Chenin Blanc vineyards on earth, and the moelleux style in a strong vintage like 2023 shows why. The interplay of richness and cutting acidity is breathtaking — this is a wine that appears sweet but finishes dry in spirit. Biodynamic farming and the clay-silex soils of this walled vineyard produce a Chenin of uncommon depth and ageability.
Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky Double Barreled
Old Forester
Old Forester's 1910 demonstrates what a second maturation can accomplish when executed with precision. The double-barreled technique adds depth and texture without masking the distillery's signature fruity character. A bourbon that rewards patience in the glass as much as it required patience in the warehouse.
Bols Genever Barrel Aged 2 Year
Bols
This is gin that learned to sit still. Where most gins are built for immediacy — bright, loud, now — Bols Barrel Aged Genever asks you to slow down. Two years in French limousin oak have woven the juniper and malt into something that belongs alongside aged whisky and fine brandy. In an issue devoted to patience made tangible, this is the amber between breaths: the proof that waiting, simply waiting, can turn grain and juniper into gold. Sip it neat, slightly below room temperature, and give it the unhurried attention it gave the wood.
Jameson 18 Year Old Limited Reserve
Jameson
This limited reserve expression showcases what eighteen years in a mix of sherry and bourbon casks can do to Midleton's spirit. It's a whiskey that moves between sweet and spiced with effortless grace. While many aged Irish whiskeys lean heavily on cask influence, this one maintains the distillery's characteristic elegance throughout.
Domaine Tempier Bandol Rouge La Migoua 2020
Domaine Tempier
La Migoua is one of Tempier's single-vineyard cuvées and shows the more refined, aromatic side of Bandol Mourvèdre. The 2020 vintage brought concentration without losing the elegance that defines this estate. This is a wine that demands and rewards cellaring, though it already shows impressive complexity. Bandol at its most articulate.
Hampden Estate 2018 LROK Single Vintage Jamaican Rum
Hampden Estate
Hampden's LROK marque sits in the 'medium-high ester' range, and this single vintage from 2018 showcases the distillery's signature hogo in vivid detail. It's not for the timid — this is rum that demands engagement. But for those who appreciate the unvarnished funk of Jamaican pot still distillation, few bottles deliver more honestly.
Gin de Mahón Xoriguer
Xoriguer
In an issue celebrating rhythm and the clockwork of seasons, Xoriguer is the gin that answers the call. Made from wine-based spirit distilled in copper pot stills over juniper harvested from the very hills surrounding Mahón, it is a spirit inseparable from its place and its calendar. The juniper harvest, the grape harvest, the Mediterranean seasons — all audible in the glass. It is beautifully uncomplicated, profoundly rooted, and unlike any London Dry you've ever tasted. A timeless rhythm bottled on a tiny island.
Michter's 20 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Michter's
Two decades of Kentucky seasons have shaped this bourbon into something rare — a whiskey where extreme age amplifies rather than overwhelms. The integration of wood, grain, and time is nearly flawless. This is what patience tastes like when a distillery refuses to release a barrel before it's ready.
Glenmorangie A Tale of the Forest
Glenmorangie
Glenmorangie's experimental spirit finds perfect expression here — a whisky that channels the turning rhythms of a Highland forest through its remarkable botanical character. Matured using kiln-dried juniper and birch alongside traditional barley, it's unlike any conventional Scotch, yet unmistakably Glenmorangie in its elegance. In an issue celebrating rhythm in the glass, A Tale of the Forest delivers nature's own metronome: the endless cycle of growth, harvest, and renewal translated into liquid form. A singular, contemplative dram that rewards patience and attention.
Casamigos Añejo
Casamigos
Casamigos Añejo is a study in measured cadence. Its 14-month rest in ex-bourbon barrels allows time to orchestrate the interplay between bright agave and warm oak spice with the precision of a metronome. In a lineup exploring rhythm in the glass, this bottle demonstrates how patient aging creates a tequila whose flavors rise and fall in perfect tempo — never rushed, never stalling, just the steady clockwork of transformation.
Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Grand Cru Brand 2022
Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
Zind-Humbrecht's Brand Grand Cru is one of the great Riesling sites in Alsace, and Olivier Humbrecht MW — one of the first Masters of Wine in France — coaxes extraordinary expression from these biodynamically farmed granite-derived soils. The 2022 vintage delivers power and precision in equal measure, a wine that will evolve beautifully over the next decade.
Vietti Barolo Lazzarito DOCG 2019
Vietti
Vietti's Lazzarito bottling captures the essence of Serralunga d'Alba — power tempered by elegance, with the 2019 vintage providing generosity of fruit without sacrificing structure. It's a Barolo that rewards patience but doesn't punish curiosity. A serious wine with real aging potential that's already showing beautifully.
Redbreast 27 Year Old
Redbreast
Nearly three decades of maturation in a combination of bourbon and sherry casks have produced a whiskey of breathtaking complexity. The pot still character — spicy, oily, fruity — remains intact despite the long aging, a testament to careful cask selection. This is Irish whiskey at its most ambitious and rewarding.
Brovia Barolo Ca' Mia DOCG 2019
Brovia
Brovia's Ca' Mia vineyard sits in the commune of Serralunga d'Alba, and this 2019 delivers the muscular structure that vineyard is known for alongside surprising aromatic finesse. It's a wine that genuinely changes over an evening — decant it and come back every thirty minutes to find a different wine. Traditional Barolo done with a steady, confident hand.
Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin Ceramic Bottle
Drumshanbo
Drumshanbo's Ceramic Bottle expression is the same celebrated liquid — slow-distilled with oriental botanicals including gunpowder tea, star anise, and meadowsweet — but housed in a striking hand-glazed blue ceramic vessel that feels like holding a flask of alchemical mercury. The gin itself is a study in transformation: each sip shape-shifts between bright citrus and deep spice, never settling, always quicksilver. It's craft with restless, mercurial energy, perfectly at home among this issue's boundary-pushing selections.
Plantation XO Barbados 20th Anniversary
Plantation
Plantation XO remains one of the most accessible aged rums on the market, offering real complexity at a price that invites regular pouring. The double aging — first in bourbon barrels in Barbados, then in cognac casks in France — creates a layered profile that shifts between island warmth and continental refinement. It's a versatile bottle, equally at home sipped neat or as the backbone of an elevated cocktail.
Stellum Vega Single Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey
Stellum
Stellum's single barrel program consistently punches above its price point, and the Vega expression demonstrates what careful barrel selection can accomplish with well-aged sourced bourbon. At cask strength, it's a hands-on pour — add water deliberately and watch the profile shift from power to nuance.
Writers' Tears Red Head Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Writers' Tears
Walsh Whiskey's Red Head bottling showcases what oloroso sherry casks can do to well-made Irish single malt. It's richer and more contemplative than the standard Copper Pot expression, with a shifting interplay between fruit and spice that keeps you reaching for the glass. Non-chill filtered at 46%, it holds up well to a few drops of water.
Excellia Añejo Tequila
Excellia
Excellia Añejo embodies the 'Quicksilver in Craft' theme perfectly — the unconventional French oak Sauternes cask finishing creates a tequila that shape-shifts on the palate, never settling into one dimension. The technique, borrowed from cognac aging traditions, gives this añejo a fluid, almost elusive elegance that rewards patient sipping. At its price point, it's a brilliant example of how cross-cultural craft can transmute familiar agave into something luminous.