Review: Newcastle Werewolf
Just in time for Halloween comes this “blood red ale,” another Limited Edition ale in its year-long series. The dark, ruddy brew is made with rye malts and Fuggle and Golding hops, and it’s not as scary as the name suggests. The rye malt is the most curious component here, giving it a dark pumpernickel…
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…