Bodega Cat Spirits Co. Straight Rye Whiskey

If you have ever met a bodega cat you already know the appeal: unbothered, faintly disreputable, and somehow exactly what the moment called for. Comedians Mark Normand and Sam Morril, who established over enough episodes of their podcast "We Might Be Drunk" that whiskey was the house drink, built one in its image. The liquid is more serious than the label lets on: a mash bill of 95 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley, distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, aged a minimum of three years in new American oak with a number three char from Speyside Bourbon Cooperage, then bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky at 90 proof. Cinnamon and earthy herbs lead the nose over caramel and toasted oak, the palate turns to honeyed rye, mint, and a touch of malt, and the finish runs long on spice, dark chocolate, and citrus zest. Drink it neat or let it carry a Manhattan; two lives down, seven to go.