Review: Wild Turkey 81 Bourbon
Wild Turkey is famously — perhaps infamously — hot, coming in at a blistering 101 proof. Now our friends at WT have released a cooler, lighter, and smoother version of the same Bourbon, weighing in at a mere 81 proof. (It just wouldn’t be Wild Turkey without the extra 0.5% alcohol.) First things first: Wild…
Review: Malibu Black (2011)
Malibu is clear. Malibu Black is brown. With that out of the way we can introduce you to another extension of the Malibu rum line: Malibu Black, a stronger, less-sweet, and more-brown version of the classic coconut rum. That description is, basically, all you need to know. Malibu Black has much more bite (70 proof)…
Review: Balblair Vintage 2000
Balblair is a Highland malt, and a relatively obscure one at that. The squat bottle and modern label design don’t even look like your typical Scotch — not even Glenrothes. You could be forgiven for presuming you were looking at an obscure herbal liqueur when you spy this across the room. But you’re not, and…
Review: Tres Agaves Tequila – Blanco and Reposado
The spawn of some old-school tequila execs (and a spinoff of the Tres Agaves restaurant, now just called Tres), Tres Agaves burst on the scene last year as another producer of high-quality, 100% agave tequilas. The company also makes a very good agave nectar and naturally-flavored margarita mix, with key lime and agave nectar as…
Review: Old Pulteney 12 Years Old (2011)
My favorite Old Pulteney has always been old Old Pulteney: At 30 years old, Pulteney takes on the essence of a longshoreman, but at a young 12 years old, as we have it here, it’s but an innocent seafaring lad of a whisky. Hailing from the Highlands, Old Pulteney is the northernmost distillery on the…
Review: 2010 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais, Moulin-a-Vent and Morgon
2010 vineyard-designated cru Beaujolais is starting to hit the scene, and Duboeuf is (as always) one of the first out of the gate with a range of Gamay-based wines from the major Beaujolais regions. We took a stab at tasting a couple of representative bottlings. 2010 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Moulin-a-Vent – Young, but not without…
Review: HealthGuard Be Happy Mood Booster
Most “relaxation drinks” require consuming 8 to 16 ounces of sugar water to deliver their dosage. Be Happy comes in a much more manageable shot format — a good thing considering many of these concoctions are not the best tasting beverages in the world. Be Happy, designed by a doctor, is careful to note it…
Review: 2010 Esporao Verdelho
Portugal doesn’t just do fortified wines, it also has a wide array of dry table wines, many quite affordable. Esporao, one of the country’s top table wine producers, brings us this wine produced from the Verdelho grape, a hot-weather grape widely planted in the Alentejo region. The wine: Lemony, moderate body, almost Chardonnay-like in the…
