Interesting Alcohol I Found Based Purely on Labels

My husband has an app he uses whenever we visit a liquor store. If he scans a label, it will pull up information about the product as well as reviews. This allows him to have some idea of what he’s getting into before he makes a purchase. Which is particularly useful since alcohol is usually expensive.

I have a different method all together for choosing which alcohol (especially wine) I want to try. I walk up and down the aisles and look at the labels.

This might sound foolhardy. But I don’t spend a ton of money on these random purchases. I like to joke that I’m cheap and easy to please but, well, it’s not untrue.

And the truth is, this method has yet to steer me wrong. Every single bottle of alcohol I have picked up this way has been fantastic. So much so, that we’ve added a few to our regular rotation. One even got an esteemed nod of approval from my husband. I consider that a victory!

I’ve mentioned before that my husband and I never really used to drink much. But the place we live now is deep in wine country. And the more we travel around to various places in the area discovering what they have on offer, the more we’ve developed a taste for the local wares. I still haven’t really taken to red wines yet. But I’m at the point where it’s hard to find a white that doesn’t satisfy me.

It helps that we’ve learned to just buy separate wines, since my husband enjoys the reds and dislikes the sweetness of whites. That way, instead of half-enjoying wine most of the time, we both enjoy it whenever we drink it!

Here’s a look at my favorite discoveries.

Moon Curser

My favorite discovery so far. The label features a werewolf holding a bag of what I assume is meant to be gold, creeping along a sea shore. But it was the back of the bottle that really made me want this one. Instead of a description of the taste, this wine label reads:

“Curse you moon for lighting my path tonight! This gold is mine and no agent of the law will take it from me.”

I had to have it. I had no idea what I was getting into. But as a writer and story teller, I appreciate the dedication of the only space you really have to sell your unfamiliar product to a story.

And this wine is actually delicious. I found out later that the winery is called Moon Curser. It’s located in a place where smuggling runs across the US / Canada border were once very common. Hence the name.

The wine itself is a Viognier. On the website it lists the profile as having mandarin, lemon and coconut flakes on the nose and a taste of quince, honey, lime and a note of minerality – which is pretty accurate to what I remember of the taste. I’m actually really excited to get back to the store that carries these wines so I can snag another bottle.

Dead Man’s Fingers

I was originally going to make this post all about wines. But the first alcohol I was bold enough to buy based on my label browsing method was a rum called Dead Man’s Fingers. Because of the name and the fact that it has a skull on the label. How could I resist?

This was a bit of a safer purchase than some of my others. I’ve never met a rum I didn’t like at least when it’s mixed in a cocktail. Rum is my go-to base drink when I’m not really sure about any of the other options. Not to mention my comfort after a long day / week, especially when it’s mixed with my favorite ginger beer.

My go-to rum is Kraken, and we always have that in the house. But it’s always nice to have a little variety, and Dead Man’s Fingers has become a dedicated part of our collection as well. Both are spiced rums, but I find Dead Man’s Fingers to be mellower. It has what my husband likes to call banana funk. If you mix a few shots of Dead Man’s Fingers with sprite, it tastes like you’re drinking banana cream pie.

On the website, the makers of Dead Man’s Fingers describe its flavor as creamy caramel followed by vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and subtly sweet undertones of orange. Incidentally, they also have a pineapple version that we’re also pretty fond of.

The Escapist

My most recent discovery at the time of writing this. It has an octopus on the label. That’s it – that’s the reason I bought it. It might not be as obvious on my blog as some of my other passions, but I love octopus. If you’ve ever been to one of my streams, you can probably tell at a glance.

This wine is dedicated to the octopus, the apparent inspiration for its creation. Escapist is a great label for octopus. They have a reputation for escaping from their aquarium habitats, since they are apparently quite adept at scooting around on land despite being sea creatures. One infamous octopus was eventually caught sneaking out of his tank to snack on some of the rare fish kept in another area of the aquarium.

Some people think octopus could have a society as advanced as ours if they didn’t mostly all hate each other.

But back to the wine. I had some trouble locating this one online, so I don’t have a lot of tasting notes. (My bottle has meandered to the recycling bin already.) It was light and breezy, reminiscent of the sea with a few subtly fruity hints, if I remember correctly. The one I had was a Pinot Gris.

Kung Fu Girl

I bought this wine for a digital girl’s day. I figured it would be a badass wine for a badass lady. It was one of my early adventure purchases, and the one that finally convinced me to just go wild and grab whatever got my attention (so long as the price was agreeable). Most of the wines on this list actually come from British Columbia, the area where I live. It makes sense that the BC Liquor stores favor wines created in our province.

Kung Fu Girl actually comes from a winery in Washington state an area that, like ours, produces a fair number of wines due to their ideal grape-growing climate.

It was largely the name that drew me to this wine, but the rest of the label is also cool. Honestly, I like any label that features art, and this one certainly embraced its theme.

This one is somewhat hard for me to find, so I’ve only managed to secure two bottles. I don’t have a ton of tasting notes, but the website proclaims it is a Riesling designed to pair with Asian food. It’s also great for a nice chill day spent at home watching movies with friends.

Other Honorable Alcohol

Writing this post has actually made me realize how much awesome alcohol I’ve discovered just by being a little adventurous. I could probably go on for some time, but I don’t have a lot to say about some of my other discoveries. There are a few more I want to at least mention, however, because they’re amusing to me.

Wild White Ink – I picked this one up because it says ‘ink’ in bold letters across the front. It turns out that’s the name of the winery. But as a writer, I was instantly drawn to their offerings. I’ve tried a few, but the first one was the wild white. Another crisp and refreshing drink for a warm summer afternoon.

Doctor’s Orders Gin – We were running low on gin around the time we first bought Dead Man’s Fingers, so I pointed to another interesting label and suggested we give it our try. We actually have a favorite gin, but it’s expensive and sometimes hard to get a hold of. I liked this label because it had two starry figures on either side of the name. And the name gave me a bit of a chuckle.

My husband took a moment to look this one up before we bought it. It’s a bit more floral than other gins we’ve tried, so it gives a unique twist to everything we use it in. I don’t know if it will become part of our regular alcohol rotation, but it does make a pretty killer cocktail so it’s worth giving it a try. It’s herby nature certainly fits with its name.

Pink Elephant – Another label that drew my attention purely based on the name. The art isn’t actually all that spectacular, but the name was enough to do it for me. This is a sparkling rosé, which is one of my go-tos when it comes to wine. This one is slightly more expensive than my usual default (simply called Pink), but I really enjoyed it. It was worth the extra money.

How do you decide what alcohol you’d like to sip on date night?