Castle & Cairn

An ultra-high rye whiskey from the production wizards at Bardstown Bourbon Company, Origin Rye rounds out the standard four-bottle lineup of Origin Bourbon, Wheated Bottled-in-Bond , and High Wheat . The rye starts in American white oak barrels for 6 years before being rebarreled into a second cherry wood barrels for up to 6 months. The Cherry barrels have a distinctive alternating "zebra" pattern with half of the staves being specially toasted oak and the other half being toasted cherry wood. Looks beautiful in the rickhouse. Working with the West Virginia Great Barrel Company, precise infrared heat is used for the toast rather than open flame, allowing for a deeper and more uniform toast (around 400 degrees Fahrenheit) which can enhance specific vanillins and fruit esters without the bitterness of a heavy char. 🛒 Sourced:  $47.99 from  Tower Beer, Wine, and Spirits  (The GOATs) - 750ml. Purchased it at the same time I picked up my first BTAC, a Thomas H. Handy. S...

From celebrity lead-investor Patrick Mahomes, Throne Sport Coffee has a strong lineup of cold brew and flavored latte functional beverages that blend coffee, protein, and electrolytes. Michael Fedele of BODYARMOR fame provides the industry know-how for the brand and it's athlete and creator centric funding base which also includes Lex Bregman, Breanna Stewart, and Chris Brickley. Generally, the drinks are targeted as recovery beverages with lower sugar content and natural caffeine when compared to traditional sports and energy drinks. This can in particular is part of the latte line featuring natural Madagascar vanilla . I got this as a free sample through the QuickTrip app, but they typically go for $3-$4 a can. 🌍 Origin: Arabica from Central/South America 🔥 Roast Level: Unknown, likely medium-dark. 🧪 Brew Method: Industrial cold water extraction (immersion). Like consumer cold brew, this has less acid prevalence that hot methods.  📗Ingredients: Throne lattes feature u...

Designed to be a morning-centric alternative to a hot cup of joe, Ultra Sunrise first debuted in 2015. Unapologetically orange, it still seeks to have the light and tangy Ultra aspects. Notably it includes actual lemon pulp to help with mouthfeel. The can features a paisley psychedelic motif with a stars, plants, and planets design etched into a cheery orange exterior. 🛒 Price: $17.99/15  - Amazon with 40% subscribe and save coupon ✨Calories: 10 , 16oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 150mg, slightly less than a cup of coffee 👅 Flavor: Tastes very much like a good full pulp orange juice, though in this case the pulp comes across more as creaminess than strings. Underneath the orange you can get a bit of grapefruit and the faintest hint of sweeter pineapple. There is still a bit of brightness to the overall experience from carbonation, but it's mellowed a bit from some other editions. Very refreshing. 🧪 Ingredients: Around the same as the rest of Monster's Ultra editions. Sweeteners: Ery...

Sharing the same mash bill as Green River's standard Wheated Bourbon, this full proof edition  is a batch of selected barrels blended and bottled without dilution. Because of this, batch final proof will vary depending on the barrels involved, but GR is targeting a batch output range of 109-116. The February 2026 announcement hit social media like wildfire, and I've been excited to try this upgraded version. They also offer a full proof single barrel product that I believe was previously a distillery exclusive. If you're not familiar with Green River, the brand has a historic legacy of "Whiskey Without Regrets" since 1885 and was reintroduced in 2022. A sister company of Bardstown Bourbon Company, both operations have become known for their industrial precision and quality. 🛒 Sourced: $49.99 for 750ml from Smyrna World of Beverage, April 2026. This is my first time seeing it on the shelf in market, though Georgia is often behind getting new releases it seems.  ...

Debuted in 2019, Ultra Paradise is yet another of Monster Energy's always growing ultra family of low calorie functional beverages. The can is a striking green with art featuring a volcano, palm trees, and inland river with lovely pacific island theme. 🛒 Price: $17.99/15  - Amazon with 40% subscribe and save coupon ✨Calories: 10 , 16oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 140mg, slightly less than a cup of coffee 👅 Flavor: The official branding is Kiwi with Green Apple and I get lots of both, though the apple dominates. If you've had the Green Jolly Rancher, this isn't too far from that. There is a little bit of lime towards the finish and the mouthfeel is the customary prickly ultra pop with some effervescence. This is notably the lowest citrus of any Ultra I've had to date, so if the usual isn't your cup of tea this can be your can replacement. 🧪 Ingredients: Around the same as the rest of Monster's Ultra editions. Sweeteners: Erythritol & Sucralose (Standard Ultra ble...

Another of Cometeer's in-house brands, Peak Season focuses on coffees for cold-crafted use cases like iced coffees, iced lattes, or cold brews. With this product line, they're looking to maintain crisp clarity, sweetness, and vibrant fruit even when diluted with milk. In the broader coffee industry, "peak season" refers to the cyclical nature of the global coffee harvest. Since coffee cherries are the fruit of a tropical shrub grown across a variety of altitudes and latitudes, they do not ripen simultaneously worldwide. If you are not familiar with Cometeer's process, they use a precision brew system to make a strong coffee concentrate, 400lbs of bean at a time, at roughly 10x final strength that is then flash frozen at -321 degrees Fahrenheit. They typically work with Roasters individually to perfect the settings for each brew.  🌍 Origin: Washed Guatemala, Pulped Ethiopian 🔥 Roast Level:   Medium 🧪 Brew Method: Cometeer Pod, 5oz water added 👅 Flavor:  Soft...

First released back in 2016, this purple retro themed can probably has you thinking "grape" and you'd be right! The can art is vaguely 1970s themed with paisley and kaleidoscope designs. Ultra Violet  seeks to combine the traditional citrus tingle and effervescence of the Ultra family with a sweet red grape. How does it hold up? 🛒 Price: $17.99/15  - Amazon with 40% subscribe and save coupon ✨Calories: 10 , 16oz. can 🍵 Caffeine: 140mg, slightly less than a cup of coffee 👅 Flavor: On the tongue, it is a lot of what you might expect from a Monster Ultra family member. The grape definitely takes a backseat and hits after the initial tangerine and grapefruit citrus tingle. It is reasonably bubbly but the conflicting flavors mute out some of the cleanliness of the experience. Most other grape beverages are sugary and syrupy, providing more of an illusion of body/thickness, which makes this seem unexpectedly lighter, a playful prickle with a purple fruit undertone. 🧪 Ingr...