Review: 2006 Markham Single Vineyard Estate Cabernets
For years Markham has been a standby of supermarket shoppers: Relatively reliable, affordable, and always on the shelves. The mass-market bottlings are nothing that will knock you over (I have a string of reviews in my notes, mostly B+ ratings, dating back to the 1990 vintage), but in a pinch, they’ll do fine. Now Markham…
Review: Slane Castle Irish Whiskey (2010)
It’s not just a drawing on the label of this whiskey. There really is a Slane Castle. It’s even in Ireland, thank the stars. Slane Castle Irish Whiskey is a new whiskey on our shores, and it’s now becoming available on the eastern seaboard. Created by the good folks at Cooley Distillery, it’s a young…
Review: 2007 Domaine de Fabregues Coteaux de Languedoc
The French wine region of Languedoc is attempting a renaissance of late, highlighting the carignan grape — a workhorse of this region’s wines and something which is also making a bit of a comeback as a standalone varietal in the U.S. No one will argue that Languedoc’s biggest selling point is value, and this 2007…
Review: El Dorado Rums – 12, 15, and 21 Years Old
Hailing from Guyana, El Dorado makes what is known as demerara rum, which is simply a rum from the Guyana area that is made using demerara sugar, aka turbinado sugar — you probably know the coarse brown crystals best under the trade name Sugar in the Raw. El Dorado isn’t Rum in the Raw, though:…
Review: Ty Ku Soju
The only sane thing to do here is to explain what soju is. It’s not sake, though sake drinkers will notice some similarities in the flavor profile. While sake is more akin to wine or beer, soju is a Korean distilled beverage, more like vodka. But not exactly: At just 48 proof (Ty Ku’s alcohol…
Review: Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Beer Chiller
I’m an avowed fan of the Vacu Vin Rapid Ice Wine Chiller, which can take a bottle of white wine from cellar temp to ready-to-drink in under ten minutes, and as a result I had high hopes for Vacu Vin’s Rapid Ice Beer Chiller. The theory is simple: A cylinder of re-freezable ice packs envelops…
Review: Gordon & MacPhail Benromach 10, Caol Ila Madeira 10, and Caol Ila Port 10
Our good friends at Gordon & MacPhail sent along these three new independently-bottled single malt whiskys for our consideration. Naturally we oblige them with our fair-minded coverage. Gordon & MacPhail Benromach 10 Years Old is a privately bottled whisky from a relatively quiet Speyside distillery. It’s clearly young, with a bit of bite on the…
Review: Dulce Vida Tequila, Complete Lineup (2010)
Dulce Vida: “The sweet life?” The lush life is more like it. Tequila already gets a bad rap for turning ordinary citizens into raging drunks, and Dulce Vida has to go and pump it up to 100 proof just to make sure the job gets done. I’m sure their hearts were in the right place.…
