Rum’sploration : Crab Island Rum Añejo

Just about a year ago, my wife and I traveled halfway around the world to visit Puerto Rico for a friend’s wedding. Of course, I took advantage of the situation and picked up a bunch of rums I don’t have access to elsewhere (especially not in Japan) and have finally gotten to a point where …

Rum’sploration : XXX/ Five

Oh, man. Talk about a blast from the past. I’m finally getting around to opening, drinking and writing about my bottle of XXX/ Five that I picked up when it was initially released about four years ago. I saved it for no reason- it just kept getting put on the “open next” list and never …

Rum’sploration : Pusser’s Deptford Dockyard Reserve

This was a random pickup that just so happened to look good at a good price at the right time. I enjoy Pusser’s even though they get a good amount of hate in the rum world. I won’t dive deeper into that here, you can do your own research. But I’m often intrigued by their …

Browsing Botanicals : Bluecoat Gin

Finding a bottle of Bluecoat gin in Tokyo was not something I expected during my booze journey here. Bluecoat was the first gin I really fell for many years ago while we were still living in Philadelphia. We popped into a local wine dive bar and … since I don’t drink wine I had to …

Rum’sploration : El Dorado 8

Not all rums are made to be sipped neat over the course of a couple hours. El Dorado 8 exists, in my opinion, to meet the Demerara needs for a wide variety of cocktails. I know it works great in a grog (that’s where most of this bottle went) but can it function outside of …

Browsing Botanicals : Bols Genever

I’m not sure this fits in the “Browsing Botanicals” category of posts and yet here we are. I’ll be honest, I don’t see myself going though enough genever to come up with its own theme. That’s attributed to the fact that there aren’t that many out there. At least not in the places I’ve lived …

Rum’sploration : Havana Club Edición C

I really enjoyed the bottle of Havana Club Edición A I have on my bar so I was open to snagging the other edicións even if the reviews I’ve read of them are less than glowing. To each their own, ya? So when I found C at a very enticing price I didn’t hesitate to …

Browsing Botanicals : Senjyo Sakura Gin

Sakura season is maybe the most beautiful time of year … anywhere. The Northeastern U.S. may argue that point for their autumn season, but the delicate beauty of the sakura is hard to beat. It’s no surprise that a gin distillery in Japan used the sakura blossoms in their gin and it should be even …

Whiskeylust : Nikka Yoichi 10 Year

A friend of mine passed this bottle along to me as he was moving away from Japan. A pretty good friend, I’d say. This is the old Yoichi 10- I’ve not had the 2023 restart so I won’t be comparing the two. But I did have a bottle of the No Age Statement version for …

Happy Birthday, Donn

On this day, 117 years ago, the father of Tiki was born. Happy birthday, Donn Beach. I could go into detail about Don the Beachcomber’s life but it has been told time and time again (and much better than anything I could put together). So instead, I’ll raise a Navy Grog in Don’s honor. Thanks …