The best part of waking up is not Folger’s in your cup. It’s green coffee beans aged in bourbon barrels, giving an extra kick of whiskey and oak flavors to your morning joe. Whiskey Barrel Coffee ($50) comes in three options: dark roast, decaf and light roast. Well, there’s actually one option. Buy this now.
Sriracha sauce goes upscale with a twist. Sosu Sauces brings their Barrel-Aged Sriracha Sauce ($25) to the masses. It’s aged 1-3 months in oak barrels. The extra aging process infuses the sriracha blend with more intense, sweet and more robust flavors. All natural with no preservatives. Only chili peppers, brown sugar, garlic, and salt. That’s it. Your taste buds will thank you.
Peanut butter and jelly. Cream filling and Twinkies. Whiskey and jerky? Yes, another combination that can’t be beat. Marinate some beef overnight in Bulleit Bourbon whiskey, slow smoke it in a real smokehouse over Texas pecan wood and booya, you have Whiskey Soaked Campfire Jerky ($16 for 4 oz). Don’t know how many pounds need to be ingested to get drunk, but make a comment in the comments section if anyone finds out.
High-end headphones maker Grado recently collaborated with whiskey producer, Bushmills, for these limited edition Bushmills Whiskey x Grado Headphones ($395). Actor Elijah Wood and his buddy Zach Cowie (who deejay as Wooden Wisdom..yea, never heard of the group either) worked with Bushmills in the past, and sought out a partner to do a collab on headphones. In comes Grado. Before you think ‘vanity project’, everyone put some real thought into getting this partnership just right. Each handcrafted pair features Irish oak and leather, a choice made for leather’s natural ability for durability and the unique character it gets over time. Watch a behind-the-scenes with Elijah Wood below and get a pair exclusively at Turntable Lab.
Remember that song “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you”? Yeah, turns out it wasn’t written about whiskey. That’s why Drink More Whiskey ($15) is a necessary ingredient in your library. This 176-page tome tells all you need to know about this renowned spirit. Covering everything from the unique styles and differences in quality, to the best ways to work whiskey into your daily diet (includes 20 recipes), you’ll never not know enough about what’s going down your gullet again.
Have you ever stared at yourself bleary-eyed in the mirror after drinking a bottle of whiskey and thought, “Eureka! Mine own whiskey!!” And then gesticulated wildly in the bathroom, pointing at the bathtub where you’ll mix your own batch of that sweet firewater. Meanwhile, your roommate stares at you and decides to slowly back away. Well, Mr. Chemist, stop scaring your roommate and leave custom whiskey mixes to the Mississippi River Distilling Company. Their “My Whiskey” program lets you channel your inner John Jameson and dream up infinite flavors of whiskey. You’ll get to choose the grain bill, the yeast, the barrel, the age and the proof. You even get to choose the name. Get creative and name it “Jamesumme”.
Too often we hear about science experiments gone wrong, but finally here’s one that goes right—as in right into your shot glass. The Arkansas Lightning Whiskey Aging Kit ($130) lets you watch your whiskey transform from clear to golden in an oak cask over a few months. The kit contains two 750ml bottles of Arkansas Lightning (bourbon white dog), a two-liter charred oak barrel, a funnel, and step-by-step instructions.
A barrel of monkeys may have been the previous standard for a good time, but Mr. Beam has a better alternative. Jim Beam Jacob’s Ghost White Whiskey ($22) is aged for at least one year in white oak barrels. The end result is a robust whiskey that delivers the richness of a classic vanilla-tinged bourbon, while at the same time maintaining a lighter shade. This means you can get crafty and use it instead of vodka or rum where need be. Plus have you ever seen a monkey after spending a year inside a barrel? They get very silly.