Review: St. George Breaking & Entering Bourbon (2012)
California-based St. George Spirits offers this “super Bourbon” blended (in Alameda) from 80 different barrels of Kentucky Bourbon, each aged five to seven years and hauled back to Cali from the east. This “barrel thieving” has resulted in one of the few California-bottled Bourbons you’ll find, although that term is of course loaded with plenty…
Review: Camus Extra Elegance Cognac
We’ve been mega-fans of the Camus line of Cognac — currently rare in the U.S. but popular around the world (check out duty-free for some amazing deals on the stuff, btw) — for quite a while, and now the distillery is releasing a new expression to top its already high-end XO bottling: Camus Extra Elegance.…
Review: High West Campfire Whiskey
We’re big fans of Park City, Utah-based High West Distillery, and as such we were thrilled to get a preview sample of its latest creation, Campfire. High West is fond of blending whiskeys into oddball conflagrations — Bourye and Son of Bourye are blends of Bourbon and Rye — and now it’s one-upping itself in…
Review: Grey Goose Cherry Noir Vodka
Grey Goose‘s newest expression turns to a classic flavoring agent: the cherry. This flavored vodka , known as Cherry Noir, is a bit boozy, at a stout 80 proof, which keeps many of those cherry notes on the back burner. Flavored vodka makers normally bottle at 70 proof or less, because that 5% lower alcohol…
Tasting Report: Wines of New Zealand 2012
I’d written New Zealand off years ago as the next Australia: Its wines have been turning into ultra-fruity, high-alcohol monsters that didn’t pair well with food and came across almost like dessert tipples. Things may be changing. Recent vintages I’ve tried have been more restrained, and a recent exhibition by the New Zealand Wine organization…
6 Wines for National Sauvignon Blanc Day 2012
June 21: You’re soaking in it. National Sauvignon Blanc Day is here, along with its own Twitter hashtag: #SauvBlanc. But Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t have to mean California. Our friends at Pasternak Wine Imports sent us six Sauv Blancs from all over the world to show us — and you — just how wildly versatile and…
Review: Muscadet Three Ways, 2012 Releases
One of the staple wines of France’s Loire Valley, Muscadet is a wine that does not get a lot of love. The Loire can produce lovely whites but is a bit like the Lodi Valley of France in many respects, an area where simple table wines rule and minimal respect is proffered. Muscadet is not…
Review: Tequila Revolucion Silver
I don’t know if the revolucion will be televised, but it does seem to be arriving by way of Mexico. Tequila Revolucion is a lowlands tequila from the El Arenal region of Jalisco. 100% agave, naturally, and bottled at 80 proof. While a full range of expressions is available, we sampled only the silver. Revolucion…
