Book Review: Drinkology Beer
As lackluster as I found the first Drinkology book to be, I didn’t have high expectations for this treatise on all things beer. Much to my surprise, it’s a thorough, engaging, and well-written book about the beer world, especially if (like me) beer is not you normal beverage of choice. There’s really no facet of…
Want a New Whisky? Blend Your Own!
Recently Wired asked me to check out the unique Whisky Blender, a startup that lets you make your own Scotch whisky from a palette of seven base spirits. I took up the task with gusto. My story of the experience — and the results — can be found here. (In case you’re wondering, on the…
Brewery Spotlight: Epic Brewing Company (Part II)
Continuing from our recent Brewery Spotlight, today we are rounding out the last few beers from Epic Brewing Company. Epic Brewing Hopulent IPA looks every much the part of an imperial IPA, with a dark amber body, snow white head, and cloudy appearance, but despite this and the name, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill hop bomb.…
Review: Flipflop Rum – Silver and Spiced
Best known for its ultra-affordable, thong-friendly wine series, Flipflop (or all-lowercased flipflop, as they write it) is now branching into rum, with two equally affordable sugar-based spirits. There’s not a lot of information on provenance available: They hail from “the Caribbean” and are four-times distilled, but that’s all the info provided. We tasted both of…
Review: Belvedere Intense Unfiltered 80 Vodka
Is “intense” something people normally want from their vodka? Made from single-estate Dankowskie Diamond rye in Poland, Belvedere distills this vodka four times then bottles it unfiltered for your happy consumption. (Note: There is also a Belvedere Intense that is filtered; but this version typically goes by the nickname of “Belvedere Unfiltered,” even though the…
Review: VnC Pre-Mixed Cocktails
Pre-mixed cocktails continue to grow in popularity. VnC, which is based in New Zealand, takes it to the ultimate conclusion: The cocktails not only have the alcohol already in them (in addition to natural juices), they’re packaged both in party size bottlings and in single serve versions, which we reviewed. Each 200ml cocktail comes in…
Review: Shock Top Lemon Shandy
From now until the end of July, our friends at Shock Top are offering this seasonal release, a classic Lemon Shandy reminiscent of the classic beer and lemonade combo. It’s not my favorite from this brewery: The base beer is a lightly spiced Belgian wheat brew, which is harmless enough with a bit of coriander…
Tasting Report: Wines of Howell Mountain 2012
The northernmost section of the Napa Valley AVA, Howell Mountain is literally the top of a mountain due east of St. Helena. (The AVA starts at 1400 feet, where the fog breaks, and goes on up to the top. Like most mountain AVAs, Howell Mountain is sunny and cool, with a level climate. The vast…
