Castle & Cairn

Found North is the brainchild of brothers Nick and Zach Taylor with the stated goal of making Canadian Whisky that appeals to the most passionate of enthusiasts. While most historic Canadian brands are smooth and light bodied, the Taylor brothers emphasize full-proof, unadulterated blends often with interesting finishes. Unlike most single barrel programs, Found North utilizes a blended finishing process by which the core blend for each "season" is batched and then re-racked into finish barrels. Picks occur from the individual finished casks. Component whiskies are sourced from a variety of Canadian distillers at high age points. This bottle is from Season Five which is an experiment crossing high maturity rye with casks sourced from Europe. It is finished in ex-sauternes casks. I was not familiar with Sauternes but it is a sweet white wine from the region of the same name in France. Sauternes wine is made from a combination of Sémillon, sauvignon blanc, and muscadelle grape...

Co-founded by CEO David Peet and Chief Blender Macaulay Minton,  Dark Arts Whiskey House is a Lexington, Kentucky-based independent blending, rebarreling, and finishing operation. They specialize in double-barrel and other exotic finishes, in this case white Port & Pinot Noir win casks. The distiller is MGP/Ross & Squibb in Indiana with Dark Arts then doing the aging, blending, and bottling in Kentucky. While the major batches have both white port and pinot noir finished components, split for finishing and then batched together, the private barrels are almost entirely based on just the pinot noir finished bourbon.  🛒 Sourced: $49.99 for 750ml from Tower Beer, Wine, and Spirits, GA - discounted deeply from its shelf price of $95. Guess picks aren't moving. 🧪 Proof: 112.04 proof, 56.02% ABV - usually between 111/114 proof, full but not too much. 🎨 Color: R5 - Ruddy red brown, nice color indeed. 🥔 Mash Bill & Production:  60% Corn, 4% Barley, 36% Rye - Ve...

Since its founding in 2018 by fitness influencer Katy Hearn and husband Haydn Schneider, Alani Nu (now part of Celsius Holdings) is known for shaking-up the traditionally male-focused energy drink industry by focusing on female consumers. Alani's branding and can design emphasize bright and vibrant color palettes while prominently featuring women and traditionally female activities. The vibes-based plan seems to have gained traction with the brand surpassing a $1.8Billion valuation during its aquisition. Beyond energy drinks, Alani Nu's catalog also has pre-workout, shakes, snacks, and energy stick offerings alongside a stable of influencers. Pink Slush  debuted in 2024 featuring a high-contrast pink pastel can with minimalist slushie icons. The flavor profile strongly channels nostalgia and targets a strawberries and cream soda. Its initial marketing push prominently featured many celebrities including Paris Hilton.  🛒 Price: $16.59 for 12 cans, note this reflects a nationa...

The flagship brand of nutrition giant Nutrabolt, Cellucor and energy brand C4 are long-time players in the space, having launched their first energy beverage, C4 powder, in 2014 with a canned version following in 2018. Marketing has long been targeted directly to gym-goers and bodybuilders. Today, you'll see two varieties of cans: yellow which is aimed at athletic performance and endurance, and black, which focuses on brain function and concentration. Minority investor Keurig Dr Pepper provides nationwide logistics. Cosmic Rainbow replaced a co-branded Skittles offering when a number of candy-themed licensing agreements expired in 2024, purportedly keeping the same flavor profile. 🛒 Price: $1.75 each at Publix on sale, typically around $3. Website pricing is $27.99/12ct. ✨Calories: 5 , 16oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 200mg, slightly more than the same volume of coffee 👅 Flavor: They definitely nailed the whole Skittles-adjacent thing, tastes like a mixed mouthful of those candies plus t...

Produced by Barton 1792, a holding of the same Sazerac that also operates Buffalo Trace, this special offering has been a rare sight at US Costcos for the last few years. Though I've previously had a good amount of both the occasionally offensive  Kirkland Small Batch and solid  Bottled-in-Bond , the Single Barrel has proved most elusive. In my native Georgia, we only got two pallets in 2025! The fact that they sat for more than a day shows just how much the bourbon boom has tapered off; I'm still showing them in-stock a week later.  Kirkland Single Barrel Bourbon provides a huge value, undercutting Total Wine's rival Wolcott Rickhouse Reserve by a good bit even though the juice is likely just about the same (there is some small difference as I somewhat proved in a long  blind tasting battery ). Further details are sparse, but Master Distiller Danny Kahn's name is on the bottle which has to mean something. 🛒 Sourced:  29.99 at Costco Perimeter, GA for 1 liter...

Green River seems to be pretty universally loved these days. They and their sister brand Bardstown Bourbon Company are putting out some darn good whiskies. In the last six months, I've tasted both the traditional rye bourbon and wheated bourbon from them and quite enjoyed both. The other night, I was sitting around and wondered how they'd be mixed. The traditional bourbon leaned into some nice fruited notes while the wheated showed some pastry aspects and marshmallow fluff. How does a balanced blend hold up compared to the original subcomponents? Vámonos! For the uninitiated, Whiskey Frankenstein is the practice of whiskey blending at home to try to create improved or interesting combos.  🧪Preparation I blended the two spirits in a 50/50 ratio to arrive at a 50ml sample. Proof should be in the 113-114 range. Whiskies were measured using a 100ml lab-quality graduated cylinder wielded with questionable skill. Mechanical agitation (stirring/shaking) was applied at the time of ...