Visiting Del Dotto Winery and Caves
Do you want to taste some seriously “lights out*” wines? Look no further than Del Dotto, a postmodern institution along Napa’s main wine trail, and the proprietor of a tour I’ve been hearing about for years as a “must experience” event. This weekend I finally summoned up the courage and paid the whopping $50 to…
Review: El Jimador “New Mix” Tequila Cocktails
“New Mix” is not a slogan stuck on the can of El Jimador’s ready-to-drink tequila cocktails. It’s the actual name of the product: New Mix. Hugely popular in Mexico, New Mix now comes in five flavors. We’ve had the first three flavors sitting in the fridge literally for months, and finally we are getting around…
Review: Bohemia Clasica Beer
Yes, Virginia, there is more beer in Mexico than Corona. Don’t be fooled by the dark, squat bottle. Bohemia is a fairly simple pilsner, a light gold beer that offers a nice, easy-drinking balance of sweet and bitter. There’s a distinct note of gingerbread on the nose, which is quite pleasing, and the body comes…
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…
