Review: The Diamond Standard Vodka
The world is awash in $30 vodkas. It takes serious cojones to price what is supposed to be a flavorless, clear spirit at more than twice that. At $73 and up, The Diamond Standard Vodka is one of the most expensive vodkas on the market (though there are pricier ones). Calling itself “fashion you can…
Review: Mathilde Orange XO Liqueur
The Cognac Ferrand brand doesn’t just sell its cognac on its own, it also mixes the spirit with fruit infusions to create cognac-based liqueurs. We tried the company’s Orange XO, one of five liqueurs the company sells. For starters, this is a dark, 80-proof spirit that’s in the Grand Marnier family (not the Cointreau/triple sec…
Tasting Report: 4 Upcoming French Wineries, 2009 Releases
Had the chance to meet and lunch with representatives of four French wine properties this week at San Francisco’s Boulevard restaurant. The properties are from all over France — Alsace, Loire, Bordeaux, and the Rhone Valley (what, no Burgundy?) — which gave us a chance to explore, in case we’d forgotten, how widely variable styles…
Review: The Glenrothes Select Reserve
In its distinctive hand-grenade bottle (with cardboard shell), a bottle of Glenrothes comes across like a liquid hand grenade. The Glenrothes Select Reserve is the entry-level variation on this whisky, an 80-proof concoction from Speyside with no age statement, a single malt vatted from Glenrothes whiskys of a variety of ages. (Since it’s all malted…
Review: Avitae Caffeinated Water
Take water. Add caffeine. You have just made Avitae, “energy water,” and officially written as “ávitãe” (but with a long dash over the second “a” instead of a tilde, can’t make ’em with HTML). Avitae’s promise is simple: You get purified water with 45mg of natural caffeine added (putting it in the same ballpark as…
On Decanting Whiskey
Reader Paul Moody writes: Is there any real reason to decant a bourbon? There seems to be a good selection of crystal decanters to be found on the market these days, but are they primarily for style and looks? They are strictly for looks. Decanting wine is done to aerate the wine and minimize the…
Review: Maria Mezcal Anejo
Mezcalapalooza continues with this mezcal, a 100% agave anejo, aged one year in oak, and bottled at 80 proof, sans worm or other insect. Maria’s “Mezcal de Oaxaca” is quite unique. Though it offers traditional aromas of smoke laced with agave, the body is something else. Tart like a cherry, it is both sweet and…
Review: Deschutes Brewery Mirror Mirror (2009)
Take Deschutes’ Mirror Pond Pale Ale, double the strength to 11% alcohol and age 35 percent of it in oak barrels, and you get the cleverly named Mirror Mirror. The moniker is a bit misleading. “Mirror” would seem to imply clarity and smoothness, but Mirror Mirror is a deep bronze color with a lot of…
