Review: 2010 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
Justin is a classic Paso Robles winemaker, and this Cabernet is the winery’s entry-level bottling. It’s a simple wine with a surplus of fruit, big jammy notes just overwhelming with strawberry character. Let it open up and there’s a bit of tobacco and cedar wood There’s a lack of balance here, driven by the wine’s…
Review: The Glenfiddich Rare Collection: 1974 Vintage Reserve
Mitch Bechard is a Glenfiddich ambassador and a friend, and I don’t just say that because he drops by the house with goodies like this from time to time, I swear. This very special whisky is a vatting of just a handful of barrels from 1974, selected by Bechard and the other Glenfiddich ambassadors in…
Review: D’usse Cognac VSOP
This new Cognac is being launched by Bacardi and endorsed by Jay-Z. The package is one of the snazziest I’ve seen in a long time, and the name, pronounced “dew-say,” is exotic enough to pique anyone’s interest. Produced by a 220-year-old Cognac house, Otard, D’usse is a premium-priced VSOP but is intended mainly as a…
Tasting the Wines of Languedoc, 2012
We’ve covered the Languedoc — the area in the south of France that borders the Mediterranean — before. Recently we had a chance to sample a variety of wines from the region, known both for its affordability and the eclectic nature of the grapes grown and wines made there. Enjoy this semi-random walk through the…
Tasting Report: Wines of Castilla-La Mancha U.S. Tour 2012
We’ve covered this land of Don Quixote before, a vast region in central Spain that stretches from Toledo to Albacete where 46 grape varieties are grown and a staggering variety of wine styles are produced. A recent roadshow brought what seems to be the vast majority of them to San Francisco, where I was delighted…
Review: Jellybean Wines
This new brand is attempting to muscle its way into the mass-market wine space (Yellow Tail, Cupcake, Barefoot, you know the ones), choosing to head to the ever-popular “desserts” branding strategy for its identity. Jellybean wines come from just about everywhere. We reviewed two of the company’s offerings, with predictable results. 2011 Jellybean Berry Smooth…
Review: Lost Spirits Distillery Leviathan I Cask #3 Heavily Peated American Whiskey
Recently we featured Lost Spirits Seascape, a peated American single malt whiskey. Now we’re back with what may be the company’s flagship dram: Leviathan I. Leviathan is bottled as a single-barrel release of heavily-peated (110ppm phenol, or thereabouts) single malt whiskey, aged for under 4 years in casks formerly used for late-harvest Cabernet Sauvignon. The…
White House Beer Recipes Are Finally Here
Obama’s homebrew recipes are finally available to the public. And here they are! White House Honey Porter Ingredients 2 (3.3 lb) cans light unhopped malt extract 3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked) 1 lb crystal 20 malt (cracked) 6 oz black malt (cracked) 3 oz chocolate malt (cracked) 1 lb White House Honey 10 HBUs bittering…
