School of Wine & Spirits
All Reviews
200 curated reviews
Casa Dragones Joven
Casa Dragones
Casa Dragones Joven is among the purest expressions of tequila-as-blend on the market. Silver for freshness, extra añejo for depth.
Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Year Old
Diageo
Green Label is among the most underappreciated whiskies in the Johnnie Walker family. Pure malt — four single malts combined into one harmonious whole.
Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Beam Suntory
Basil Hayden’s is a quiet argument for restraint. Where so many bourbons muscle their way forward with proof and sweetness, this one leads with the grain blend itself — that generous 27% rye lifting everything around it.
Conundrum White Blend 2023
Wagner Family of Wine (Caymus Vineyards)
Conundrum was decades ahead of its time. Chuck Wagner of Caymus created it in 1989, asking what if you gave each grape its best role.
Yellow Spot 12 Year Old
Irish Distillers (Pernod Ricard)
Yellow Spot is the middle child of the Spot range, and arguably the most balanced. Three-cask blend: bourbon, sherry, and Malaga.
The Prisoner Red Blend 2022
The Prisoner Wine Company (Constellation Brands)
The Prisoner began as a rebellious experiment. Each varietal brings a different voice; over 100 growers provide the blending palette.
Pusser’s British Navy Rum
Pusser’s Rum Ltd.
Pusser’s is a definitive blended rum. Charles Tobias secured the original Admiralty blending recipe in 1979 and brought it back to life.
Citadelle Original Dry Gin
Maison Ferrand
Citadelle is a quiet genius of the gin world. Nineteen botanicals, each earning its place under Alexandre Gabriel’s direction.
Garrison Brothers Small Batch Texas Straight Bourbon
Garrison Brothers Distillery
Garrison Brothers makes a convincing case that exceptional bourbon doesn't require a Kentucky zip code. The Texas climate does what years of barrel rotation cannot — it pushes the spirit hard against new oak from the first summer, extracting a depth of caramel and vanilla that rivals aged Kentucky expressions at twice the price. The Small Batch is approachable enough for newcomers and complex enough to challenge experienced palates. This is the bourbon that makes you reconsider every assumption about terroir and tradition.
Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey
Teeling Whiskey Company
Grain whiskey gets little respect until you taste Teeling's version. Matured in Californian Cabernet Sauvignon casks, this single grain has the silkiness of a premium spirit and the depth of a well-aged whiskey. It's the secret that every Irish blend drinker has been unknowingly appreciating for decades, now bottled on its own terms. Serve it slightly chilled, neat, to anyone who claims Irish whiskey is predictable — this changes the conversation immediately.
Cascahuin Tahona Blanco
Destilería Cascahuin (Grupo Cascahuin)
Tahona production is brutally inefficient — the volcanic stone wheel extracts less juice, takes longer, and demands more labour than a mechanical shredder. Cascahuin does it anyway because the result is a blanco with a weight and mineral complexity that industrial methods cannot replicate. This is tequila at its most expressive — unaged, unfiltered, unapologetic. Drink it neat with a slice of orange and understand why the Rosales family has kept this process unchanged for generations.
Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin
The Shed Distillery
The Gunpowder tea botanical is the masterstroke here — it binds the citrus and juniper elements into something cohesive and unmistakably different from any London Dry. Drumshanbo Gunpowder is the gin that makes craft spirit sceptics take a second look. The distinctive spherical bottle is famous in Irish bars, but the real story is inside it: a carefully developed recipe, an unexpected Chinese tea leaf, and a distillery that chose character over convention at every turn. Serve in a copa glass over ice with tonic, sliced pink grapefruit, and a twist of lime.
Torbreck The Struie Shiraz 2021
Torbreck Vintners
Torbreck's The Struie is the Barossa wine that converts sceptics — people who dismiss Australian Shiraz as jammy and overblown take one sip of this and reassess everything. Powell's commitment to old vine fruit and French oak restraint produces a wine with both the power of the Barossa and the elegance of a great Southern Rhône. It over-delivers at its price point and ages beautifully for a decade. Decant for 45 minutes before serving and watch it open up in layers.
Doorly's XO Barbados Rum
R.L. Seale and Co. Ltd.
Doorly's XO is the insider's choice from Foursquare — the same distillery, the same master blender, the same dedication, at a price that makes you wonder if the industry has got its pricing backwards. It outperforms rums at twice its cost and rewards anyone patient enough to nose it properly before sipping. This is the rum that converts whisky drinkers. Serve neat or over a single large cube, take your time, and don't be surprised when you reach for a second glass.
Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt
Distell International
Bunnahabhain is Islay's best-kept secret precisely because it refuses to play the smoke card. While its neighbours compete on peat levels, Bunnahabhain builds complexity through sherry cask maturation and an unpeated spirit that lets the malt character breathe. The 12 Year Old is the entry point to a distillery that rewards loyalty — drink it beside a heavily peated Islay malt and you'll understand the full range of what this island can do. The contrast is revelatory.
Henri Bourgeois Sancerre La Bourgeoise 2022
Henri Bourgeois
The Bourgeois family has been cultivating Sancerre vines for more than ten generations, and La Bourgeoise is the expression that captures everything the appellation stands for. When people discover that Sauvignon Blanc this complex and age-worthy exists in France, their relationship with the grape changes permanently. This is the wine that makes you understand why Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc occupies a category of its own — one that rewards patience and educated appreciation in equal measure. Serve at 10°C with nothing in the way.
Lagavulin 16 Year Old
Diageo plc
If bourbon taught you to love whisky, Lagavulin 16 will teach you to love Scotch. This is the definitive Islay expression — complex enough to reward repeated exploration but immediately compelling to any drinker willing to meet it halfway. The 16-year age statement matters: it's the minimum time needed for Lagavulin's peat to resolve into this degree of integrated complexity.
Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Blend
Campari Group (J. Wray and Nephew Ltd.)
Joy Spence didn't merely make rum — she redefined what was achievable in a field that had underestimated the potential of aged Jamaican spirit. This blend, created to honour her 25th anniversary as master blender, is both a personal statement and an artistic peak. At 25+ years of age, every element has resolved into harmony.
Redbreast 15 Year Old
Irish Distillers (Pernod Ricard)
Redbreast 15 is where Irish whiskey proves its claim to greatness. Every additional year beyond the 12-year expression adds another dimension — more dried fruit, deeper oak integration, and a creaminess that recalls the finest aged spirits from anywhere in the world.
Joseph Phelps Insignia 2020
Joseph Phelps Vineyards (LVMH Moët Hennessy)
Insignia is one of America's great wines — not merely because it is prestigious or expensive, but because it consistently delivers what the greatest Bordeaux delivers: extraordinary complexity that evolves across decades. The 2020 vintage was grown in a challenging year that produced remarkably concentrated, structured fruit.
Eagle Rare 10 Year Old
Sazerac Company
Eagle Rare is one of the most remarkable values in American whiskey — a single barrel bourbon that offers the complexity of releases costing twice as much. Harlen Wheatley's barrel selection philosophy is evident in every sip: each bottle is the product of deliberate, patient selection from barrels that have earned the Eagle Rare designation over a full decade of aging.
Far Niente Chardonnay Napa Valley 2022
Far Niente Winery
Far Niente Chardonnay is a Napa Valley institution — a wine that has set the standard for California Chardonnay since the estate's revival in 1979. Nicole Marchesi's winemaking philosophy is clear: every decision, from vineyard selection to barrel fermentation to malolactic aging, is made in service of balance rather than power.
Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin
Four Pillars Gin Pty Ltd
Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin redefined what the world expected from Australian distilling. Cameron Mackenzie's decision to use whole fresh oranges in the still rather than dried peel was a technically daring choice — and the result is a gin with a citrus character that is genuinely alive.
Patrón Añejo
Patrón Spirits International (Bacardi Limited)
Patrón Añejo is proof that popularity and quality are not mutually exclusive. In an era of marketing-driven premium spirits, Patrón remains rooted in Francisco Alcaraz's original vision: 100% blue agave, proper resting time, and honest craftsmanship. The Añejo is the expression that rewards patient sipping.