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🥃Review #89: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye Batch A925

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Released in September of 2025, Batch A925 (A for the first batch of the year, 9 for September, and 25 for 2025) is the first mass market release for Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye.  There had been a previous distillery exclusive bottling of the Rye Barrel Proof (Y725 - 132 proof NAS) which was much higher alcohol and closer to the 2026 A batch that has just started rolling out. I had the pleasure to try Y725 which was good, but I ended up taking home the ECBP Bourbon . Heaven Hill plans to roll out three batches of ECBP rye each year alongside the bourbon releases. In the months since its launch, Whiskey Advocate has named Batch A925 its "2025 Whiskey of the Year".   “As Whiskey fans know, barrel proof is kind of like that famous box of chocolates, in not knowing what you’re going to get until the barrel dumps. In this instance, we got a 108 proof treat that drinks bolder than its number would suggest.” -  Conor O'Driscoll, Master Distiller, Elijah Craig Bourbon Whi...
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🔌Review - Costco's Kirkland Sparkling Energy Drink - Peach

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Released in the first quarter of 2026, the Kirkland Sparkling Energy Drink lineup features three flavors: Orange , Tropical  Fruit, Peach (this one). Modeled after Celsius Energy, the packaging evokes a "clean" lifestyle veneer with no high fructose corn syrup, GMO ingredients, or artificial colorings.  🛒 Price: $16.99/24 ~$.7/each - Costco. Celsius is normally around $20/12 without sales, so figure around 95 cents savings per can vs. full sticker which is around 58% savings. I am seeing sales across CPG, including from Celsius but Costco's pricing advantage is strong.  ✨Calories: 10 , 12oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 200mg, around a third more than a cup of coffee, more than Monster and Red Bull - similar to Celsius. 👅 Flavor: Yep that's peach - it tastes like the peach flavor you commonly find in flavored teas, not overly natural yet not terribly artificial. There is a slight minerality towards the finish but it is manageable. Compared to the other two flavors, peach is s...
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☕Review - Cometeer - Winslow Coffee Company - Home Sweet Home Blend

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From Cometeer's in-house roast brand Winslow Coffee Company, Home Sweet Home is a dark roast blend that aims to highlight chocolate and nut notes. Winslow Coffee Company is used as a testbed for Cometeer's internal processing, with the brand profile tending towards smooth, low acid, and balanced coffees in an homage to the "time-honored tradition of the morning cup." If you are not familiar with Cometeer's process, they use a precision brew system to make a strong coffee, 400ish pounds of bean at a time, concentrate at roughly 10x final strength that is then flash frozen at -321 degrees. They typically work with Roasters individually to perfect the settings for each brew.  🌍 Origin:  Not Specified, Central and South America - Washed 🔥 Roast Level:   Dark 🧪 Brew Method: Cometeer Pod, 6oz water added 👅 Flavor: Not overly roasty. I do get the walnut, some cereal, and more of a dark chocolate coco towards the finish. Did not find the molasses or any overt sweetne...
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🥃Review #88: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon - 2025

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Hand selected by legendary father-son master distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell, Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon is renowned for its quality and can still be found more widely than some of the high age stated special releases. Russell's Reserve barrels are pulled from the center cut, the middle 3-5 floors of Wild Turkey's 7-story rickhouses, which get a good balance of fluctuations in temperature and humidity. They don't give much more info beyond that, but if you're interested in Wild Turkey's laser codes you can sus out a few more details. These codes etched into the back of the bottle just a smidge above the base.  LA NA20E1339 - LA codes started in 2024, A20 is January 20th bottling, N is 2025 (M was 2024 - sequential alphabetical), E bottling machine and time of day 1:39PM. This shelf destined bottle doesn't note the location or barrel number, but we know they were pulling from Tyrone F&G (high spice and leather) and Camp Nelson B (sweet w...
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🥃Review #87: Four Roses Single Barrel - OBSV

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Four Roses has long been praised for the quality and consistency of its single barrel editions. They currently release a number of their ten recipes as single barrels, but this is from the original OBSV recipe "standard" bottling that is most prevalent. If you're not familiar with Four Roses recipe codes they follow a structured format: Distillery - "O" for all recipes, meaning distilled at Four Roses Distillery Mash Bill - either "B" (60% Corn, 35% Rye, 5% Barley) or "E"(75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Barley) Straight Whiskey - "S" for all editions Yeast Strain - V(Delicate Fruit), K(Spice), O (Rich Fruit, Q(Floral),or F(Herbal). The combination of the two mashes and five yeasts yields 10 possible variations. If your head isn't already spinning, Four Roses also includes the exact warehouse aging location for each single barrel. This one is from Rickhouse TS and has the code 49-3C which means rick/row number 39, tier 3 (height), and pos...
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