Skip to main content

Review: Doug Funnie’s New Favorite, Beet Booze?

beet
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Okay, so this week’s spirit isn’t made from Killer Tofu (though, for spirits makers out there—you’re welcome for the idea), but I still think this would be Doug Funnie’s favorite booze.

Lansdale, PA’s Boardroom Spirits Beet Spirit is made completely from beets. From a classification standpoint, it would be closest to a brandy. Brandies that are made with vegetables, though, are fairly rare here in the US, so the government merely calls it a spirit.

Nose: Earthy and sweet, it smells exactly like opening a can of pre-sliced beets (or, for the more industrious ones out there, cutting up a fresh beet). Often, a spirit that’s made with X, Y, or Z does smell like its namesake, but with some other notes. In this case, this smells like beets and pretty much only beets.

Palate: Warmth that quickly gives off sweet notes backed again by beets and earthiness. On its own, neat (and neat is the optimal serving method, according to the bottle), it’s not unpleasant at all. While it isn’t labeled as a vodka, the Beet Spirit definitely resembles one on the palate, as it doesn’t have the body that you might think of in a brandy.

Finish: Medium, lingering heat on the tongue. Again, everything comes back to the beets on this. The taste in your mouth is as if you just had a beet salad, but without the creaminess of the goat cheese to blend with the earthy beets.

Final Thoughts: I like what Boardroom has done with this spirit and I appreciate that they did not add color to it to make it the same color as the beets, which could’ve easily made this into a very gimmicky spirit. Another thing to consider, which I appreciate—Beet Spirit is 45% ABV, yet it does not come close to registering that sort of strength. It has the same punch as, say, Malibu.

Beet Spirit retails for $30.

Topics
Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
What foods are high in iron? These staples will help you live a healthier life
Add these high-iron foods to your shopping list today
Ribeye caps topped with garlic and herbs cooked in a cast iron pan over charcoal.

What foods are high in iron? We all know that iron is important for a healthy, balanced diet, but did you know you can find two different kinds of iron in food: heme and non-heme. Your body can absorb iron from heme (animal-based) food better than from non-heme (plant-based) food sources. Where can you find heme food sources? Read on to find out about foods high in iron.

If you eat a plant-based diet, you’ll get a lot of non-heme types of iron. As a result, your body might need a bit of help to absorb it properly. Sometimes vitamin C can aid with the absorption of plant-based kinds of iron. Regularly consume both plant and animal-based sources of iron to get the best of both for your body. 
What is iron?

Read more
The Macallan, Bentley serve up a single malt Scotch whisky worth more than a car
The Macallan and Bentley mean luxury
The Macallan

When it comes to luxury, The Macallan and Bentley are two of the biggest names in the world. While one is a single malt Scotch whisky brand and one is a car company, they both carry a certain, fancy weight. It only makes sense that the two brands would collaborate for a special bottle of Scotch whisky. This is likely because a whisky-powered car is more science fiction than reality.
What does the new whisky look like?

It's called The Macallan Horizon, and its bottle was created in collaboration with British automobile brand Bentley Motors. It was designed to meld the worlds of single malt scotch whisky and the sleek, elegant car brand. The result is a horizontal (hence the name) bottle crafted with a breathtaking 180-degree twist.

Read more
Forget wine — Beer and cheese is an unbeatable combination
Put the corkscrew away and crack open a cold one
Beer and cheese

When one hears the term cheese pairings, wine is the beverage that most often comes to mind, we'd wager. Because, of course, it is. The pairing of wine and cheese is as classic a coupling as peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, or chocolate and strawberries. They're meant to be together. But that certainly doesn't mean that wine is the only adult beverage that can dance an alluring tango alongside everyone's favorite dairy product. Beer, as humble as its reputation can be, is also a beautiful balance to cheese's immense offering of flavors. While some may think of beer as not being as multi-dimensional and varied in its palate-pleasing capabilities as wine, this is not the case - especially now that we live in a world with so many exquisite craft beers, stouts, and lagers.
Of course, another classic accompaniment to cheese is bread or crackers. Why might that be, one might ask. Is it because we're simply in need of a starchy vessel to usher the cheese into our mouths? The answer is actually a bit deeper than that. Starches like bread and crackers are made from the same yeasty ingredients as beer, so their pairing makes perfect culinary sense.
This isn't to say, though, that one can simply pick up a hunk of cheddar and crack open a Budweiser and expect culinary artistry. The science is a bit more nuanced than that, so we're here to help you find the best pairings for your favorite beers and cheeses.

How to pair beer and cheese

Read more