Tasting Report: Pinot Days 2009
Hot weather and worse traffic conspired to make my trip to this year’s Pinot Days a relatively abbreviated one, but I still had the chance to try nearly three dozen pinots from California and Oregon. Favorite: Eric Kent’s entire line (though one 2008 barrel sample wasn’t nearly ready), a perennial Drinkhacker favorite, plus the wines…
Review: NV Armand de Brignac Brut Gold Champagne
They don’t call it “Brut Gold” for nothing. The bottle of Armand de Brignac is, for real, plated with gold. The bottle is then placed in a velvet bag and a black lacquered wooden box, just for good measure. All the labels are stamped out of pewter. There’s no paper on the bottle at all.…
Review: Pretoxx Alcohol Supplement
What do I like the most about Pretoxx? It comes in pill form, so no need to choke back some nasty liquid in the guise of hangover prevention. Pretoxx is pretty simple stuff. One pill has 600mg of Vitamin C, 100mg of Vitamin B-1, and 200mg of NAC. That’s it. Basically, it’s vitamins, which you’re…
4th of July Cocktail Recipes, 2009
Every time a holiday rolls around, the spirits makers commission all manner of cocktails from their in-house mixologists and professionals in the field. Independence Day is no exception, and this post full of selected recipes is drawn from what is arguably the biggest bumper crop of cocktail ideas I’ve seen since starting this blog. Hope…
Review: 2008 Quivira Sauvignon Blanc Fig Tree Vineyard
Quivira, in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley, is known for its Sauvignon Blancs. (It’s also a fun winery to visit. Take the kids. They have goats.) This 2008 release is no exception to the winery’s string of quality releases. This Sauvignon Blanc, grown biodynamically, fermented with wild yeast, and aged six months in stainless steel, is…
Drinking Ginger Beer with Fever-Tree’s Tim Warrillow
What’s that hot kick in your typical ginger beer from? If you said ginger, you’re probably wrong: Many brands put cheap chili pepper oils in their brews to give them that kick, which is why so many come off as hot, but not particularly spicy in the way that real ginger is. That’s just one…
Review: Beefeater 24 Gin
Tanqueray has its 10. Beefeater kicks that up to 24. Premium gins — and expansions of big-name brands — are becoming quite the rage, and “24” from England’s Beefeater is the latest in this trend. 24 is an extension of the venerable Beefeater brand, drawing its name from the 24-hour period its botanicals steep in…
What Web Users Want to Drink…
Today I did a fun comparison, checking out historical Google search trends for the terms gin, vodka, whiskey, tequila, and rum. While vodka‘s win (based on average search volume since 2004) is no surprise, the fact that tequila was right behind — and has led search volume since late 2007 — was quite a shock.…
