TOTC’s 10 best spirit launches 2015

This past year has seen innovation in the cocktail and spirits world ramp up a notch, as these 10 best new products shortlisted by the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards show.

Mr Lyan’s Bottled Cocktail range is among some of the best new spirit and cocktail products, according to Tales of the Cocktail

Recently, the world’s foremost cocktail and spirits trade show, Tales of the Cocktail, announced its top 10 Spirited Awards finalists, including those in the Best New Spirit of Cocktail Ingredient category.

Among those named is a high-end vodka and Cognac hybrid, a bottled cocktail range and a tonic syrup made specifically to pair with Beefeater Gin.

Vermouths and bitters which allow mixologists to get experimental behind the bar have also received the accolade, as has a ground-breaking “vermouth” created without wine.

Click through the following pages to see the 10 best new spirits and cocktail products to launch in the past year, as selected by the esteemed Spirited Awards 2015 panel of judges. If there’s a product you think deserves a spot on this countdown, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Amaro di Angostura

For the first time in its 190-year history, bitters and rum producer Angostura branched in to a new spirit category with the launch of Amaro di Angostura. Released to mark the company’s anniversary, the product uses Angostura aromatic bitters as its base and combines additional spices and neutral alcohol to create a 35% abv liqueur. With notes of dark chocolate, cinnamon and liquorice, Amaro di Angostura launched in the US last autumn.

Balsam American Amaro

Mixologist Adam Serger and Rodrick Markus set themselves quite the task when they created a vermouth-like product, but without using wine as a base, earlier this year. The first 3,000 bottles of the product sold out in its initial two hours of sale, with bartenders keen to get their hands on something which has a much longer shelf life than standard vermouths, and also which allows them to experiment. The liqueur mixture can be added to red and white wines in order to create a bespoke vermouth, however the perishability of the product is markedly less than ready-made vermouths which contain wine.

Grey Goose VX

Representing a bid by an established international brand to step into the innovative hybrid spirits category, Bacardi launched Grey Goose VX – a blend of vodka and Cognac – in July. Described as an ultra-premium vodka containing drops of fine Cognac, Grey Goose VX was also one of the first hybrid spirits launched in the luxury segment of the spirits market. Priced at £89, the spirit contains Cognac created from grapes from the Grande Champagne cru and was described by Bacardi as “truly disruptive” to the mainstream vodka category.

Rieger & Co. Kansas City Whiskey

Ninety five years after Prohibition put an end to its whiskey-making, the Reiger & Co distillery was re-established in Kansas City’s East Bottoms. The company then re-launched the Kansas City Whiskey brand which uses its original recipe: a blend of corn, malt and straight rye whiskies with a small amount of 15-year-old Oloroso Sherry from the Williams & Humbert bodega in Jerez, Spain. The use of Sherry in American whiskey was commonplace in the 1800s, but was lost after Prohibition.

Mister Katz’s Rock and Rye

Created by the New York Distilling Company, Mister Katz’s Rock and Rye is another reawakened American classic. A blend of the distillery’s young rye whiskey with rock candy sugar, sour cherries, cinnamon and citrus, the liqueur is named after Allen Katz, co-founder of the NYDC. Popular in pre-Prohibiton saloons, Rock and Rye was once thought to have medicinal qualities.

Mr. Lyan’s Bottled Cocktails

Largely thought of as the product which truly set the wheels of the pre-batched cocktail trend in motion, Mr Lyan’s Bottled Cocktails were launched by Mr Lyan, otherwise known as cocktail maverick Ryan Chetiyawardana, last year. Following the opening of his boundary-breaking White Lyan bar – where only pre-bottled cocktails and house spirits are served, and ice, citrus and other perishable ingredients are banned – the range includes a Bonfire Old Fashioned, Candlelit Manhattan and Spotless Martini.

Redemption Rye Barrel Proof

Released as a limited edition, Redemption Rye Barrel Proof has a mashbill of 95% rye and 5% barley and is bottled at 120.8 proof (60.4% abv). The expression is aged between six and seven years and is said to have a taste of oak, maple, vanilla, custard and spice.

Small Hands Foods Yeoman Tonic Syrup

Bartenders have been singing the praises of San Francisco-based Small Hand Foods Tonic Syrup since its launch in 2013. The company, founded by award-winning bartender Jennifer Colliau claims to “help provide local bartenders with the best possible ingredients for making delicious cocktails”. The newest addition to its range is the Yeoman Tonic Syrup, which was launched specifically to pair with Beefeater Gin and was created in partnership with the gin’s master distiller Desmond Payne.

Suze Bitters

Launched by Pernod Ricard earlier this year, Suze Bitters is a range “created with bartenders, for bartenders”. The drinks group enlisted the help of French bartenders Fernando Castellon, Joseph Biolatto, and Julien Escot to create the Aromatic, Orange and Red Aromatic bitters. The launch forms part of Pernod Ricard’s innovation programme.

The Bitter Truth Cucumber Bitters

Capitalising on demand for savoury cocktails, The Bitter Truth added a cucumber variant to its portfolio last year. Also said to be a perfect addition to Pimms or a gin and tonic, The Bitter Truth Cucumber Bitters have a flavour of, of course, fresh cucumber, as well as rosemary, thyme and blossom.