‘Tis the season, to be sure, but sometimes it takes a convivial cocktail for folks to feel filled with Christmas Spirit.  Here are three spirits that are guaranteed to elevate your festivities, this Holiday season.

GIN No. 61
Wonderbird Spirits

I’d never been a fan of gin, until I tasted GIN No. 61, the flagship of Wonderbird Spirits.  Founded in 2019 by Chand Harlow, Rob Forster, and Thomas Alexander, Wonderbird Spirits is inspired by traditional Japanese sake-making techniques, methodically fermenting Mississippi Delta rice for its base spirit and growing its koji in-house.  The GIN No. 61 features a complex layering of ten botanicals—angelica root, bay leaf, black tellicherry peppercorns, coriander, fresh Meyer lemon peel, juniper, lemongrass, and rosemary, as well as loblolly pine needles and red clover, harvested directly from the grounds of the distillery, located just outside of Oxford, Mississippi—giving it a balanced profile of spice, citrus, and sweet florals.  Is it any wonder that GIN No. 61 won two gold medals at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition?

Casa Dragones Mizunara Reposado
Tequila Casa Dragones

Just in time for the holiday season, ultra-premium tequila producer Casa Dragones—known for their small batch, artisanal, handcrafted sipping tequilas—has just released its fourth expression, the Casa Dragones Mizunara Reposado.  The first tequila to be rested in casks of Mizunara, a rare Japanese oak that must grow for 200 years before being harvested for use in a cask barrel, the Casa Dragones Mizunara Reposado features notes of oak, butterscotch, and apricot with a long finish of coffee bean and mellow spice, making it perfect for such cocktails as a Cadillac Margarita or a Reposado Manhattan, or simply poured over a single ice cube and garnished with a twist of orange.  ¡Espléndido!

Ten To One Dark Rum
Ten To One

Launched in 2019 by Marc-Kwesi Farrell, Ten To One does not produce the kind of rums you’d buy in college and mix with Coca-Cola.  Rather, Ten To One Dark Rum is a sultry blend of 8-year-old Barbados, Dominican, and Trinidadian column-still rums, individually aged in ex-Bourbon American oak casks, then combined with a high-ester Jamaican pot-still rum.  The resulting elixir exhibits notes of toffee, banana peep, cooked fruit, tobacco, vanilla, and worn leather, with a dry, clean finish. It is such an enticing spirit that singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur Ciara joined Farrell as an investor, co-owner, and director of the company, in 2021.  Like all of the spirits in this article, Ten To One Dark Rum is lovely on its own, while elevating such classic cocktails as the Negroni and the Old Fashioned.

Spirits for the Holidays
Wonderbird Spirits: Click HERE
Tequila Casa Dragones: Click HERE
Ten To One: Click HERE

Get into it!
#Spirits