Book Review: Never Cook Sober Cookbook
I’m the first one to agree with the concept of using alcohol — beer, wine, spirits — in your cooking, but a standalone cookbook devoted to boozing up otherwise average recipes is just a mistake from the start. This slim volume goes for kitsch, with dishes like “Sassy Salmon in Champagne Sauce,” “Vini Vidi Vici…
Review: Vino Innovations Vino Freeze Mix
Do you like wine? Do you like Kool-Aid? Do you like Slurpees? If you said yes to all three, you’re in for a real treat (ahem): Vino Freeze Mix, which gives you the triple threat of ultra-sugary powder plus the buzz of cheap wine in a slushy frozen package. It sounds like a joke but…
Recipe for the Mars Landing: Red Planet Curiosity
Our friends at Campari sent us this cocktail recipe in honor of today’s Mars landing. Enjoy with your beanie on! Red Planet Curiosity 0.75 oz Campari 0.75 oz Skyy Infusions Citrus 0.5 oz Cointreau 0.5 oz Fresh Blood Orange Puree 1 oz Fresh Lemon Sour (2 parts Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice and 1 part Simple…
Central Italian Wine Review: 2009 Fratelli Barba and 2008 Saladini Pilastri
First, a note on Montepulciano, which is both a region (where Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is mode) and a grape. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is made from (mostly) Sangiovese. Second, a bit of geography. Abruzzo is a region in central Italy, east of Rome. Le Marche is right next door, directly north of Abruzzo. The…
Book Review: Brewed Awakening
Joshua M. Bernstein is a fountain of beer-centric knowledge, and if you found yourself sitting next to him at the bar you’d probably get your ears filled with talk of saisons, cask ales, and Berliner weisses. Brewed Awakening, subtitled Behind the Beers and Brewers Leading the World’s Craft Brewing Revolution, is well-written in an engaging…
14 Rums Reviewed with Paul Pacult and “Rum For All”
is no name in the spirits reviewing business more prominent than F. Paul Pacult. His Spirits Journal is the gospel of the booze industry, the way Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate makes or breaks companies in the wine business. Pacult, along with cohort Sean Ludford, is branching out from neutral critic into industry advocacy. His new…
Top 10 Best Scotch Whisky Names
Just some fun for Friday… Say these 10 out loud — if you can — and see if you agree with me. 10. Daftmill 9. Dufftown 8. Knockando 7. Pittyvaich 6. Knockdhu 5. Sheep Dip 4. Laphroaig 3. Hankey Bannister 2. Auchentoshan 1. Bunnahabhain What’s your favorite whisky to order — strictly from a phonetic…
Review: Third Shift Amber Lager
Band of Brewers (part of MillerCoors) offers this new, limited-release lager, now available in select markets (Dayton, San Francisco, Reno, Sacramento, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas). It’s a traditional amber color and a big, malty lager — one of the maltiest brews I’ve had in a long time, sweet and sticky with a nose…
