About Us

Castle & Cairn is a blog where you can find my ramblings across beer, wine, spirits, energy drinks, and more. Who am I?

I'm Josh. Nice to me you. You can find me on X/twitter as @Joshdebiers. I live in Georgia, am a CPA, and have worked for consulting houses like Deloitte and PwC. I am a certified Bourbon Seward and previously was a community ambassador for Anheuser Busch.

Looking to get in touch? Send me a DM on X or submit the contact us form below!

My operating costs are low, but if you'd like to support this passion project there are a number of options on our support us page (direct donations and affiliate links). I keep the ad load low and you won't find any affiliate marketing on our post pages. It means the world to me that you're reading.

A glass of whiskey sits on a stone wall overlooking a green field in the old country

Approach to Editorial Integrity

In the event a product is provided for free in exchange for a review, no preference will be given to the providing party or manufacturer (though we will be understandably over the moon about the opportunity). These circumstances will be disclosed in the relevant post. Opinions and analysis will be genuine and free from modification other than verifiable corrections of fact. I will wait a little while before reviewing it as I likely will be overly excited that someone has sent me something. For review articles, look for a verifiably authentic header photo of questionable composition (likely my living room) as a stamp that the bottle or item in question has indeed been sampled.

Scoring Guidelines

For spirits, a modified 10 point T8ke scale will be used as it is the de facto standard adopted by community reviewers and allows for more differentiation between truly remarkable products. All spirits are blinded with at least one other representative offering before score assignment (typically more), and reviews are updated throughout the course of the bottle. If only a taster or mini-bottle was sampled, this will be disclosed.

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | Struggle to get through the bottle
4 | Serviceable | Mixing or ice recommended.
5 | Good | Drinkable Neat | An agreeable dram indeed.
6 | Very Good | Any flaws offset by interesting flavors | A cut above.
7 | Great | You find yourself reaching for this one often | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Serve to Impress Guests | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | You guard this bottle jealously.
10 | Perfect | No Notes | No time, ingredients, or craftsmanship can improve this.

For beer and energy drinks, we use an abbreviated five point scale as that aligns with Untapped and reflects the tighter relative quality range within those categories. The scale used is always presented at the bottom of the review.

1 | Bad | Don't Drink it | I Wouldn't Drink it
2 | Poor | I would drink it if there was nothing else or it was free
3 | Good | Serviceable | Buy it on sale
4 | Great | A Cut Above | White Monster - Ballast Point Sculpin | Buy at full price
5 | Excellent | Standout in the Category | Pay venue prices

Approach to AI Generated Content

I believe that human generated content is critical to the future of the internet and continued functioning of society. At work, I utilize traditional machine learning models as well as generative AI to accomplish a variety of tasks. After more than three years of working with these tools, I can tell you that they are fantastic for many use cases, but still significantly prone to error. While AI tools may be used to create some of the images on this site and language models may be used as research aids, all text on Castle & Cairn will be human generated. Additionally all review photos are non-generative.

Behind the Name

Why Castle & Carin? Cairn is fairly straightforward as it is the back half of the now prolific Glencairn drinking glass popularized in the early 2000s for tasting and assessing whiskey. Castle comes from my natural disposition as a homebody. I do enjoy traveling but there's just something different about being at home. It's the environment most cultivated to your enjoyment. It's a place to host parties and be generous with friends. It's a hierarchy need and the single most worthwhile investment in yourself, a nice place to live. In 1644, English judge Sir Edward Coke was quoted as saying, "For a man's house is his castle".

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🔌Monster Energy Ultra Review - Blue Hawaiian, Fantasy Ruby Red, & Vice Guava

One of Monster Energy's newer variety packs, this set features Blue Hawaiian, Fantasy Ruby Red, & Vice Guava and seeks to continue on the success of the White Monster Ultra Zero. They have the same high carbonation, featuring tiny bubbles for an effervescent mouthfeel, and citrus flavor focal point, but each ads a special fruited twist. Flavor Ultra Blue Hawaiian - Pineapple dominates an undercurrent of coconut in this Monster twist on a tropical punch. Some batches have seemed to be a bit under carbonated but this variety pack edition doesn't have that issue. Strong pineapple aftertaste and juice reminiscent mouthfeel. Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red - Officially Fresh Pink Pamplemousse, Fantasy Ruby Red delivers the grapefruit you'd expect along with blood orange and tangerine, reminiscent of the white monster but with an additional buff to the citrus and slightly more substantial texture. Honestly, this may be an improvement over the the White Ultra. Ultra Vice Gua...

🎮Call of Duty Zombies: The Drinking Game - Rules

Since its introduction in Call of Duty: World at War , Call of Duty Zombies has been a PvE staple for gamers everywhere and has appeared in many subsequent titles. In this post, we'll explore rules for turning a game of round-based zombies into a lovely drinking session. As with all drinking games, set limits before you begin and be sure to conduct yourself both legally and responsibly. Preparation To play the game, you'll need the following in addition to an internet connection, gaming device, and Call of Duty: A Party Sipper of your Choice - I recommend something relatively low ABV. We balanced the rules for a player of moderate ability and a sipper of 4-8% alcohol. Light beer is my go-to here since it has enough lovely hydrating waters to help stave off some small sadness. A Couple of Shots - I would pre-pour a couple of shots to have on hand. Again, lower end of ABV which for shots likely means 80 proof. Kirkland Canadian Whiskey, Tito's Vodka, or Lunazul Tequila wo...

🥃Review 29: Costco's Kirkland Canadian Whisky - Is it Crown Royal?

Awarded 91 points and a gold medal by the Beverage Tasting Institute, Kirkland Canadian Whisky is known a great value and many in the popular culture have alleged that it is repackaged Crown Royal due to its relative quality for the price. But is it? 📚 Background: Kirkland first introduced their line of spirits in the 1990s and has expanded their offerings over time. While I wasn't able to find a first release date for this product, the first TTB label in the COLA database is from 2016. The whisky is imported for Costco by Wide World Importers in Louisville Kentucky. Digging a bit further reveals that Wide World Importers is an alternative name for SAZERAC . For me, this conclusively busts the popular myth that Kirkland Canadian is made by Crown Royal (a Diageo property). Sazerac has a number of Canadian Whisky brands in-house, including: Rich & Rare Reserve ($19.99 for 1.75L - No Age Statement), Seagram's VO ($22.99 for 1.75L - Aged Six Years),...

🥃Review 92: 1.75L Costco's Kirkland Kentucky Bourbon 2026

Costco has historically worked with Barton 1792 for it's bourbon line, putting out a small batch , bottled-in-bond , and single barrel edition in liter bottles in waves over the last few years. This new 1.75L edition debuted in Spring of 2026 and mysteriously lacks a named distiller. The label proudly states that it was distilled and aged in Bardstown, Kentucky before being bottled in Columbia, Tennessee by DC Flynt MY Domaines & Estates (never heard of them). Flynt appear to be more wine focused and have led a number of wine bottlings for Costco historically in addition to some Gins. Distilleries at scale in Bardstown include Jim Beam, Barton 1792, Heaven Hill (though primary production is at Bernheim in Louisville), Lux Row, Willet, and Bardstown Bourbon Company. I doubt it is Barton 1792 since they proudly label their existing collaboration and I suspect it may be a producer without a 1.75L bottling line (would justify the move better than just adding logistics for ...

☕ All Java Monster Flavors Tasted & Ranked

As a habitual caffeine abuser, I have a soft spot for Monster, both for their expansive lineup of flavors as well as their support for Sports and E-sports. Coffee is my standard caffeination vector, so the Java Monster suite of products is the perfect mix of bean flavor and energy boost. In this post, I'll provide my personal rankings and rationale for what is a very strong lineup. Note that I have not been compensated in any way for this write-up... I just like them. Currently, Monster Energy 's Java Monster lineup has five available flavors: Mean Bean - Vanilla Irish Crème Loca Mocha - Chocolate Salted Caramel Café Latte There are two "triple shot" versions of the Vanilla and Mocha which contain 300mg of caffeine though their flavors are very similar to the base versions above. At this point, we should also take a moment of silence for the two cold brew flavors, sweet black and nitro latte. The nitro latte was a personal favorite and I quite liked the sweet black,...

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