Review: Version Francaise Single Malt Whiskies – Armorik 2014, Ninkasi 2017, and Artesia 2018
Our friends at La Maison & Velier recently dropped a new line of small-production, single vintage, single cask Armagnacs, all being sold under its new Version Francaise line. At the time, we mentioned that French whisky was also coming out under the Version Francaise label, and that is precisely where we’re headed today. While some…
Review: Laphroaig Cairdeas White Port & Madeira Casks 2023
Laphroaig’s latest annual edition, dubbed Càirdeas, is described by the distillery as bringing together “the best of much loved Càirdeas releases over recent years.” For 2023, the distillery went in two different directions: 3/4 of the whisky is matured in second-fill Madeira casks (which were the focus with the 2016 Cairdeas release), while 1/4 is…
Review: 3 Ribera del Duero Wines from Familia Fernandez Rivera, 2023 Releases
The Familia Fernández Rivera can be found in Spain’s Ribera del Duero, where the weather is hot and the tempranillo grapes grow ripe, developing an unmistakable intensity of flavor. The family harvested its first vintage in 1975. Today it farms 200 hectares of tempranillo, all sustainably, bottling the resulting wines under four different brands. Today…
Review: Papa’s Pilar Rye Finished Rum
Ten years after its launch, the Papa’s Pilar rum brand continues to explode with the addition of a fourth permanent expression to the lineup. It’s probably the oddest rum in the lineup, finishing the brand’s Dark Rum (a solera blend of rums from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, and Florida) with once-used straight rye whiskey barrels…
Review: 2022 Eleven Eleven Sauvignon Blanc Beckstoffer Melrose Vineyard
Eleven Eleven Winery creates wines from all over Napa and Sonoma, California. This 100% sauvignon blanc hails from a prime single vineyard parcel in Rutherford, Napa. Crisp and heavy with citrus, this is a wine is a decidedly bold crowd-pleaser. It features lots of acidity that leans on lime leaf while gently evoking some of…
Review: GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 12
The latest cask strength sherry bomb from GlenDronach has arrived, a whisky again using Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks to create an unabashed exploration of the power of sherry. As usual, this carries no age statement yet has a clear maturity to it that certainly gives it ample gravitas. As with virtually all of…
Review: Isle of Raasay Hebridean Gin
They asked, and we waited. And now there appears to be a lot of whisky for us to check out from the Isle of Raasay Distillery. But before we get to all that, there’s a clear spirit — a gin, unsurprisingly — that the folks at Raasay have submitted for our consideration. This Scottish island…
Review: The Irishman Cask Strength 2023
Earlier this summer, we covered Writers’ Tears Cask Strength, a limited edition offering from Walsh Whiskey. Now we’re back with another cask strength limited release from Walsh Whiskey’s other moniker, The Irishman. The brand first launched this whiskey way back in 2008, and at the time, it was the first release of a triple-distilled Irish…
