Whiskey

Granted, your insistence on continuing to reference the 1987 film Predator by summoning up your best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression and yelling, “Get to the chopper!” might not be aging like fine wine, but it is the inspiration for a new whiskey.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I tried Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey. I love peanut butter, and I love whiskey, but together? I wasn’t sold.

While whiskey was my drink of choice in college, I can’t truthfully say I’m a seasoned taster. My choices tended—and let’s be honest, still tend—to be based on price.

Two years ago, Food & Wine covered a small startup making big promises: Ava Winery wanted to create great wine “with no grapes or fermentation.” This synthetic wine company was even going after one of the biggest names on the planet, working on a product it said could replicate a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

Any publicity is good publicity, and for New Hampshire-based spirits brand Tamworth Distilling, that includes the inevitable chatter that’s sure to pop up after deciding to flavor a new limited-edition whiskey with castoreum—a secretion that comes from a beaver’s castor sacs located not too far from its tail by the rodent’s bottom.

When Louise McGuane left her career in the fine drinks industry after 20 years, she knew she wouldn’t be out of the game entirely. Pairing her knowledge of the business side of the field with her desire to move home to her parents’ farm in Ireland, McGuane swiftly made history.

Sure, there are quite a few cocktails that incorporate a splash of hot sauce—bloody marys and Micheladas come to mind. And when it comes to whisky, if spicing things up was your jam, you could always opt for a cinnamon whisky, including the infamous Fireball brand.