STATESIDE SAKE

Dassai is a powerhouse name in the premium sake space, and now, for the first time, Dassai is coming stateside. The famed producer is opening its first U.S. outpost in Hyde Park, New York, in October of this year, and the brewery and tasting room will be open to the public for tastings and tours. Sake-making is a famously elaborate process, and Dassai is known for its highly polished junmai daijingo sakes, in which most of the rice’s outer hull is removed in order to yield an aromatic, clean expression. Sake is on the rise in the U.S., and even the Yamada Nishiki rice used in sakes like Dassai is being grown stateside in Arkansas, dubbed the “Napa Valley of Sake” by Dassai USA president Kazuhiro Sakurai. The Hyde Park brewery marks a major step for the brand, an exciting development for sake fans hoping to take a firsthand look at the production process. dassai.com

ALL IN TIME

Our ears always perk up whenever a distillery announces the release of its oldest whisky. Good vintage expressions are like time travel, and the first release in J.P. Wiser’s Decades Series takes us back to 1982. The 42-year-old whisky harkens back to a tough time in the Canadian whisky industry, when Wiser himself and his distillery relocated to its current location in Windsor, Ontario. Matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon barrels, Canadian oak barrels, and Speyside single malt casks, this nearly half-decade-old expression has aromas of dried fruit, green apple, and vintage oak, with a richer palate of dark cherry, toffee, and nutmeg. As the first release in the Decades Series, this whisky kicks off a slew of releases that will highlight different eras in J.P. Wiser’s nearly 165-year history. Good things take time; good whiskys take decades. $344, jpwisers.com

SHOW ON THE ROAD

At last year’s PCA trade show, CigarBros and Boveda debuted a unique closed-cell foam humidor, a departure from traditional wood options that offers more thermal insulation as well as a lighter weight. This year, the brands are teaming up once again to offer smaller sizes of their original 80-count humidor, with offerings from 5- to 30-count. Each humidor includes a standard-size Boveda humidification pack nestled in a cutout in the bottom. CigarBros got its start selling humidors for commercial use, and the CigarBros + Boveda Humidor is a testament to those origins. It’s a no-frills, highly functional, and stackable humidor, perfect for travel. Think of it as the Yeti cooler of humidors: a minimalist workhorse that you wouldn’t mind throwing in a trunk or duffel. $14.99-$29.99, cigarbros.com

Final Curtain

Davidoff’s History Re-Rolled Series has given us some of our favorite cigars of the past year, including the Signature No. 1 and Aniversario No. 1 Limited Editions. The project, in which the company has reworked classic cigars from its past, concludes this month with the release of the Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas Limited Edition, a splicing together of two of their most famous cigars: the Grand Cru and the Diademas Finas. The cigar uses an Ecuadorian wrapper over a Dominican binder and fillers, including a San Vicente seco aged in casks that previously held premier grand cru classé red wine from Bordeaux, France. The tobacco is aged for six months. The Grand Cru line got its start in 1946 when Zino Davidoff had the idea to blend a cigar in the same way as a fine red wine. The advantages of blends in cigarmaking is widely known today, but Davidoff takes it one step further with the incorporation of wine casks themselves. Pair the Grand Cru Diademas Finas with a robust red. $57 per, davidoff.com

CATCH A WAVE

Ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails are once again hitting the beach this summer, and tequila maker Casa Azul is looking to make a splash with its Playa Pack. Founded in 2022 by industry veteran Lance Collins, Casa Azul has set itself apart in a crowded RTD space by utilizing real spirits in their canned drinks; each can contains only Jalisco tequila, sparkling water, natural fruit flavors, and agave nectar. The Playa Pack features a couple new flavors, Pineapple Coconut and Spicy Margarita, which are rounded out by classic lime and grapefruit offerings. To debut the Playa Pack, Casa Azul has announced a partnership with the latest in their growing roster of celebrity athlete investors: former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. He joins his rival in the greatest-tight-end-of-all-time conversation Travis Kelce, as well as golf stars Michelle Wie West and Brooks Koepka. The Playa Pack debuted last month and already promises to be a necessary companion for toes-in-the-sand relaxation. casaazulspirits.com