Review: The Arran Malt 12 Years Old Cask Strength
Arran, from Scotland’s Isle of Arran, normally releases overproof whisky as a matter of course — its 10 and 14 year old expressions are both 92 proof — but now it’s releasing for the first time in the U.S. a cask strength version of its 12 year old single malt. This malt is typical of…
Review: Kirkland Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 20 Years Old Sherry Cask Finish
One of the questions I get asked the most is, You don’t buy much booze, do you? Well, no, I don’t. I give away and pour out more wine and spirits than I could possibly keep on hand, a natural by-product of having reviewed close to 2000 products over the last several years. (Heresy, some…
Review: Wines of Lawer Family Vineyards, 2013 Releases
Lawer Family Wines is a new(ish) operation based in Calistoga, California, where husband and wife Betsy and David Lawer produce a trio of limited production wines under a variety of (non-Lawer) names. Each label is designed to commemorate a pursuit of the Lawer family, though I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to…
Review: Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer
The whole “ginger ale/ginger beer” thing is extremely misleading. As any partaker of the occasional can of Canada Dry can tell you, there’s no “ale” in there — it’s really just ginger-flavored 7-Up. Ginger beer and ginger ale aren’t the same thing (The difference between the two is simple: Ginger ale was actually invented as…
Pisco Disco Cocktails
Okay they’re really not disco-inspired cocktails, but it was tough to resist the whole rhyme scheme. Absolutely abysmal wordplay aside, Pisco is indeed a wonderful South American brandy that is sorely under-represented in the cocktail world. Here are a couple of recipes courtesy of our friends over at Portón that are worth checking out and…
Review: Woodford Reserve Spiced Cherry Bitters
I’m not sure why it’s taken so long for a whiskey company to get into the bitters business, but Woodford Reserve has finally opened that door, introducing its first bitters, barrel-aged and spiced cherry-flavored. Crafted in conjunction with Bourbon Barrel Foods, the bitters are specifically designed for use in a Manhattan cocktail (and presumably one…
Cocktails from the Sundance Film Festival 2013
Sundance isn’t just about movies. All those stars have to eat and drink, too. And eat and drink well they do. The “Chefdance” dinner series gets underway when Sundance starts on Thursday of this week. Here are some of the cocktails the A-list will be consuming with their wagyu and foie gras. All cocktails courtesy…
Review: Russell Henry Gins
Who the heck is Russell Henry? I’m not sure, but I’m guessing Craft Distillers is referring to this guy, a chemist and expert in digestion from the late 1800s. Not sure he had anything to do with gin, but in a funny coincidence, there is a Henry Russell who wrote about the cotton gin in…
