Although I try to limit my spending on non-whisk(e)y booze, sometimes variety is king. And, of course, you can’t drink whisky all the time. I’m trying though. Here’s the highlights of 2013 that are not whisk(e)y:

Beer

This year, I had quite some beers but nowhere near as much as the previous two years. I limited myself since I was stretching my booze budget to the point of breaking with spending increasing amounts on beer, and on beer per bottle. When I started drinking craft beer I started with some € 2 per bottle, but not long after I bought some bottles between € 10 and € 17. This, of course, is not maintainable. So this year the expensive beer was limited to BrewDog’s Equity for Punks beers, and I didn’t even get all of them. The best beers were the following:

• San Diego Scotch Ale, 11.9%, BrewDog
• Westvleteren 12, 10.2%, Westvleteren
• IPA is Dead #3, Waimea Hops, 6.7%, BrewDog
• Hollows Alcoholic Ginger Beer, 4%, Fentiman’s
• Westvleteren 8, 8%, Westvleteren
• Abstrakt: 13, 11.3%, BrewDog
• Prince of Darkness, 10%, Loch Ness Brewery

The last one deserves a bit of explanation. I had a few different ones of them, some unregistered ones at Maltstock with Jon Beach. Also some at the brewery straight from the cask in which it was still maturing. All of them were great. The cask and initial beer style makes a great difference, but again, all of them were great.

Gin

I hadn’t had any proper gin in ages, and I think I didn’t have any at all except when at St. George Spirits. This summer I opened the bottle I brought from there and I drank ik in a week. Don’t worry, it was only 2ocl, and not a full one. That would have been rather disturbing. Anyway, St. George’s Terroir Gin is my favourite of the year, and still trumps all other gins I’ve had.

Vodka

I don’t think I ever tried vodka for its taste, except for the Hangar One I had, also at St. George’s distillery. I did drink rather copious amounts of the stuff when clubbing in Minsk for work (back in the day, when I worked at Colours).

This year I tried a glass of Belarus’ Kristal Vodka and didn’t like it. After I got in contact with William from Vestal Vodka, he sent me some samples and I was very, very impressed by the products. It’s purity and heaps of great flavours swept me away. So, to be more specific Vestal Podlasie Vodka takes the prize here!