My Tiny Bottles with Tammy Coxen

Most of the bottles in the collection I inherited from my grandmother are regular size 50 mL mini bottles. But the collection included a few larger bottles. After debating what to do with them, I decided that if they were still here, Grandma considered them part of the collection, and so should I! So for this episode, the project would be better titled "My Medium Bottles." Listen in to hear about...

Wolfschmidt Vodka survived the Russian Revolution, Prohibition and World War II. At least by name, anyway. In this episode I dive into the history of this nearly 200-year old vodka brand, including its connection to James Bond. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bottle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mytinybottles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for pictures and...

Black Velvet's advertising (see last episode) may have assumed that women didn't want to drink whiskey, but at least when it comes to me and Katie Stryjewski, they would be wrong. We are a pair of whiskey loving women, so we cracked open my Grandma's tiny bottle of Black Velvet Canadian whisky to taste and compare to a modern bottle. We also talking about the perceptions that continue about what w...

As a whiskey, Black Velvet doesn't have much of a story. But it is a great example of the kind of sexist advertising that dominated advertising in the 1970s, and that's what I dive into in this episode. The 1970s were the era of women’s liberation, and advertisers struggled to figure out how to sell to women while also still using women to sell. Black Velvet's "Touch the Velvet" campaign was just...

Canadian Club Classic is a 12 year old bottling of Canadian Club. It was created by Hiram Walker in the 1980s as a way to compete with Crowne Royal, as well as appeal to drinkers of high end bourbon and Scotch. Check out this episode to find out why they wanted you to know it was "barrel blended" and to discover which US city featured this Canadian spirit in its "official cocktail." Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Kings, queens, bootleggers, lovestruck courters of opera singers - this episode has all that and more. J&B Rare is a blended Scotch which has assembled a whole string of fascinating stories in its 275 year history. I dive into a few of them in this episode about some of the characters who defined this iconic brand, including Justerini, Johnson, Brooks, Tatham and more! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bo...

I could think of no one better to taste and talk sherry with than Chantal Tseng. In this episode we talk about our mutual love of sherry, the quintessential Spanish fortified wine, and playfully debate whether it's the most complicated wine in existence. Then we open up a 35-45 year old bottle of Tio Pepe, a style of sherry that is usually recommended to be drunk right away once bottled, not store...

Sherry is one of my favorite things to drink, and it's chockful of history and stories and science too! In this episode I dive into the history of sherry in general and the Tio Pepe brand in particular, as well as how Manuel María González Ángel started it and why it made such a splash when Robert Blake Byass brought it to England! Then I ponder what this 35-45 year old bottle of fortified wine mi...

You know when you see a puppy and they are so excited that they're wagging their tail with their whole body? That's me in this episode. All the bottles made it intact on their move across the country, and now it's time for me to unbox a few more of those, including the 100th bottle I've discovered in Grandma's collection. As you'll hear, it's a very exciting set of bottles for me, with lots of thi...

Tanqueray gin has a simple recipe but a long history. Created by Charles Tanqueray in the 1830s it would go on to be one of the world's best-selling gins, surviving US Prohibition and the Blitz. And it's all packaged in a completely iconic bottle, which is so timeless it made dating this bottle a challenge! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bottle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://myti...

Greg Benson is back to taste another bottle. La Mallorquina Anis Seco was one of the more mysterious bottles in Grandma's collection, but Greg is a black licorice fan, so he was eager to give it a taste. We dive into this tiny bottle that can double as a musical instrument and talk about why so many cultures have anise flavored spirits and liqueurs. Check out ⁠this episode ⁠ on the website for a t...

This 1980s bottle of Gibson's Finest is a 12 year old Canadian whiskey with a long American history that spans Moby Dick, Prohibition, and that time when Canada had a bourbon industry. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bottle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mytinybottles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for pictures and more. Want even more? Patreon supporters get access to...

The fabulous ms. franky marshall is back for another round of tasting. This time we're exploring my grandmother's bottle of Suntory Royal from the 1980s and comparing it to the 2010s version. It's amazing how different they are from each other, but the 1980s was a time when Japanese whisky was really new to the US market. It's evolved a lot since then, which we talk about as we taste. Check out th...

This episode is a whole barrel of fun as I dive into a barrel filled with mini bottles. This faux barrel of Canadian Club was released in the late 1990s and has four bottles inside it - a regular 6-year old, a "Reserve" 10-year old, a 100 proof bottle, and a Sherry Cask finished bottle. In order to tell their story I catch you up from where I left off the history of the brand in my earlier bottle...

For this tasting I was joined by  Sother Teague , bartender, drinks writer, and host of  The Speakeasy Podcast  at his bar  Amor y Amargo  in NYC’s East Village. Sother is known for his love of bitter and amari, so I brought him the closest thing I’ve found from Grandma’s collection – a Bottle #42:  Dubonnet . This classic French fortifed wine has a long history, including being a favorite of the...

It's a bottle of Icewine and Brandy, but it's also the entry point into a story about the man at the forefront of the revitalization of the Canadian whisky industry. Travel from Kittling Ridge to Forty Creek in this episode. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bottle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mytinybottles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for pictures and more. Want even mo...

As was apparent in Reveal #17, when I was very much NOT excited to discover this bottle of Luksusowa Vodka from Poland in Grandma’s collection, I’m not a huge vodka fan. I like spirits and liqueurs because the flavors are so interesting and, most of the time with vodka, flavor is not the point! But I also like spirits and liqueurs because they have fascinating stories. And on that score, vodka doe...

It’s time for another bottle pick from Grandma’s collection of mini liquor bottles and nips. Tune in to see what I found this time, but I will tell you that the whiskey trend that started in Reveal #17 continues, accompanied by a couple of intriguing other bottles! Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ this episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mytinybottles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to watch the vid...

Bottle #85 is La Grande Passion, a passionfruit and Armagnac liqueur from Marnier-Lapostolle, better known as the makers of Grand Marnier orange liqueur. It was released in 1984, and advertising included art by Andy Warhol and Clayton Lefevre. In this episode I dive into the history of Marnier-Lapostolle, as well as the relationship this bottle might have with another of Grandma's tiny bottles, Bo...

Since there are lots of places to learn about the Beam family history, in this episode I focus on the faces that appear on the side of each Jim Beam bottle. Who are the generations of distillers? And why are some names and faces on the bottle while others aren't? I also talk about the wide-ranging influence of the Beam family on bourbon whiskey in general. But here are some links if you want more...

Aaron Goldfarb ‘s latest book is  Dusty Booze: The Search for Vintage Spirits , and in it he tells the stories of vintage spirit collectors and the subculture that has sprung up around the pursuit of dusty bottles. So he seemed like the perfect guest for My Tiny Bottles. Aaron chose a pair of eclectic liqueurs to crack open with me –  DeKuyper Apple Barrel Schnapps  and  Convier Menta . Listen in...

When I realized my tiny bottle of  Canadian Club  was from 1972, I knew I had no choice about who to taste it with. That’s my birth year, so clearly I was going to taste it with my Dad! We do that in this episode, but we also reminisce a lot about Grandma. If you want to know more about the woman behind the collection (and I hope you do) then this one’s for you. It’s got tons of family pictures, t...

In this episode I talk about how Canadian whisky is made, what makes Canadian whisky different from American whiskey, and why in Canada it's all called "rye". When Lot No. 40 was first released in 1998 (the era of my bottle), it broke a lot of those rules, which helped explain why it came and went, then came again. But since 2012 it's been here to stay, thanks to the craft cocktail revival and cha...

Hiram Walker was a Massachusetts-born American who only spent four years actually living in Canada. But despite all that, he would go on to be one of Canada's most influential distillers, and his legacy lives on still today. In this episode Tammy explores how Walker's "Club" Whiskey became Canadian, and why it makes her think of her childhood. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this bottle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Ciclón was a rum & tequila mashup released by Bacardi in 2002. In this tasting episode I was joined by Greg Benson, a Brooklyn-based food & beverage writer, host of the Speakeasy podcast, and part of Quiote Imports. We were really excited to try something we full expected to be terrible, so give this episode a watch to find out if we were right! Find Greg at: https://www.instagram.com/100p...