Review: 1512 Spirits Signature Poitin
I’m not sure if it will be the “next big thing,” but if you haven’t heard of poitin already, prepare yourself for it. What’s poitin? It’s an Irish spirit distilled from potatoes and/or barley, heavy on the alcohol, dating back hundreds of years. Not quite a vodka and not quite a white whiskey, it occupies…
Review: Voli Lyte Vodka
Listen up: You can make light vodka at home yourself! Take a new bottle of vodka and pour out half of it. Replace what you poured out with water and shake it up. Presto! Voli Lyte takes the difficulty out of this operation for you, bottling its own low-cal vodka, which promises to cut 25…
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…
