Review: Warre’s Otima Tawny Port 10 Ten Years Old (2012)
Tawny Port is the fastest growing Port category in the U.S., because it’s an easy shortcut: Leave Port in wood barrels for a decade or so and it oxidizes in ways that ruby and vintage Port simply can’t. The result is a madeirized wine that adds woody and sour oxidized character to the traditional raisin…
Review: Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon
Four Roses’ annual Single Barrel release is almost here. Based on the OESK recipe, I was surprised that this 2012 Limited Edition was from the lower-rye mashbill (just 20% of the grain mash blend), bottled at 12 years old. You can really taste the rye, and the finish has the spicy kick you’d expect from…
Review: Stolichnaya Stoli Hot and Stoli Sticki Vodkas
Stoli says it created the flavored vodka category 50 years ago, and I’ve got no way to argue with that. Stoli Pertsovka (Pepper) and Okhotnichya (Honey and Herb) came out in 1962, and to celebrate 50 years of flavored vodkas, the company is reintroducing these two flavors under new names. We tried them both.…
Now THAT’S a Drinking Problem!
I don’t think I could even drink 10 liters of water a day. From Fox News: A New Zealand mother of eight has died after drinking 10 liters of Coca-Cola a day, a coroner’s investigation heard. Natasha Harris, 30, suffered a cardiac arrest that her partner believes was brought on by her massive soft drink…
Tasting Report: Whiskies of the World Expo San Francisco 2012
Kudos to Douglas Smith for putting together this event, easily the best installment of the Whiskies of the World show that I’ve experienced since I started this blog six years ago. Loaded with whiskies you rarely see in the U.S. or even at whisky shows, WotW 2012 also had plenty of long-time favorites on hand…
Review: 2009 Murietta’s Well The Spur Livermore Valley
This wine is a pretty different blend than last year’s version, and frankly it’s much more successful. For 2009, the composition is 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Malbec, 21% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petite Sirah, and 4% Merlot, all from Livermore Valley. To put that in comparison, in 2008 the percentage of Malbec was…
Review: Rhum Clement Premiere Canne and Sirop de Canne (2012)
Today we take a fresh look at Rhum Clement, a Martinique-based producer of rhum agricole, which is rum made not from molasses (the norm) but of free-run sugar cane juice. This year Clement celebrates its 125th anniversary, and it’s redesigning its packaging and adding a new product, Sirop de Canne (a bottled sugar syrup). We…
Review: Tap 357 Canadian Maple Rye Whisky
The name says it all, pretty much: Canadian Rye whisky (a blend of whiskys aged 3 to 7 years — the 3, 5, and 7 refer to barrel ages) blended with Quebecois Canada 1 Light maple syrup (and caramel color). Distilled four times, it is aged in used Bourbon barrels and bottled at an odd…
