Viejo Indecente Smokeless Mezcal

A vibrant, natural agave flavor profile that defies category

You may ask yourself, can a product call itself mezcal if it doesn’t contain that signature smokiness? To a certain degree, a question like this harkens back to some people’s perception of scotch—where only the peated, smokey iterations are familiar to sense memory. In fact, however, smokeless mezcal is a thing—and no, it does not taste like tequila. Instead, it boasts a pure agave profile, …

Camden Town Brewery’s Annual Beer, 2015

The British microbrewery releases its flavor of the year

Once again, British microbrewery Camden Town Brewery has distilled the flavor of the year gone by into an annual beer. “It’s the third year we’ve done this and the second year it’s been a barrel-aged beer,” brand manager Zoe Wulfsohn-Dunkley tells CH. “The beer tells a story, as it’s been aged for quite a large proportion of the year—we brewed it really early on.” The …

The Best Whiskeys for Winter Holiday Gifting

From scotch and Irish single pot still to bourbon and rye

The word whiskey (or whisky, depending on region of production) means innumerable things to a great many people. This brown spirit category plays catch-all for everything from the smokiest scotches to the oakiest bourbons. There are single malts and single pot stills. There are blends of every fashion, and for every taste. It can be exceptionally hard to choose whiskey for somebody else without first …