Review: Balcones Baby Blue and Rumble (2010)
The uninitiated may think of Texas as the frontier, a place where whiskey is probably as common as water. Not so: In fact, for years, Tito’s has been the state’s only legal distillery. Now a few upstarts are coming out of the skunkworks, and the state has its first whiskey since Prohibition. Operating out of…
Review: 2007 Chateau d’Aiguilhe Comtes von Neipperg
This is Bordeaux? This blend of 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Franc has an intense, New World character that does not feel like Bordeaux at all. Ripe with black currants and thick plum character, the Merlot shines through, and the tannins, in just a few years, have mellowed into a silky and smooth…
Review: Berkshire Mountain Distillers Spirits – Ice Glen Vodka, Greylock Gin, Ethereal Gin, and Ragged Mountain Rum
Hailing from Sheffield, Massachusetts, Berkshire Mountain Distillers is a new (est. 2007) boutique distillery that makes a ragtag assembly of vodka, gin, and rum. Primarily available in the Northeast, we tasted through the company’s current lineup, with one exception (we’ll get to that later). Berkshire Mountain Distillers Ice Glen Vodka is distilled from unknown materials,…
Tasting Helfrich Alsatian Wines with Anne-Laure Helfrich, 2010 Releases
Anne-Laure Helfrich isn’t your typical European winemaker. At 23 years old, she’s probably the youngest person I’ve ever encountered in this business, yet she’s known the wine trade all her life. A third generation beverage-maker (grandpa started with Kirsch and dad moved the family into wine), Helfrich spends much of her time on the road,…
Review: Harlem Kruiden Liqueur
A new liqueur called Harlem is making a splash in the cocktail scene, its goal nothing less than knocking Jagermeister off its precious perch at the top of the “grimace and swallow” shot category. That’s an awfully tall order: Jager has 70 years of history and sick college students behind it, all unabashedly downing ice…
Review: Smirnoff Peach and Mango Vodka
Smirnoff keeps cranking out the flavored vodkas, its two latest being the exotic mango and the humble peach. Both are 70 proof bottlings and are naturally flavored. Smirnoff Peach Vodka – Peach is a common fruit, but it’s not often used in spirits (perhaps due to its legacy with SoCo?). As a vodka flavoring, it…
Review: 2008 Frescobaldi Tenuta di Castiglioni Toscana
This is something you don’t often see in Italian wine: A rich and supple wine that’s fruit forward, full not with over-ripe fruit but with a deep and nuanced melange of fresh berries and dried citrus — or perhaps fresh citrus and dried berries, I’m not entirely sure. Marchesi de’Frescobaldi’s Tenuta di Castiglioni, from Chianti…
Review: Knappogue Castle 12 Years Old (2010)
Knappogue Castle has long shunned traditional age statements, instead vintage dating its whiskey with a year instead of telling you how long it’s been sitting around. That is changing, as Knappogue is finally moving from vintages to age, in order, as the company says, to better communicate to the customer how old these whiskeys are.…
