Review: Bluebird Distilling Four Grain Bourbon
Bluebird Distilling, a grain-to-glass operation in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, has been producing a huge range of spirits since its founding in 2014, but somehow we’ve never managed to review any of their wares. Today we finally correct that with a look at Bluebird’s Four Grain Bourbon, made with a mash of corn, rye, red winter wheat,…
Review: Vina Leyda Sauvignon Blancs – 2022 Reserva and 2021 Coastal Vineyards Garuma
Located in Chile’s Leyda Valley, family-owned and operated Vina Leyda has not only received an aesthetic makeover but has introduced a new range they are calling Coastal Vineyards, highlighting the influence of the Pacific Ocean on their wines. They also produce a wide range of other whites and reds, but today we’re taking a look…
Review: WhistlePig PiggyBack Bourbon, PiggyBack Rye Brothers Osborne, and PiggyBank 2022
WhistlePig has been stuffing our mailbox of late with new releases and special editions. What started with the masterful new Boss Hog IX has only continued, with a new extension of the PiggyBack line — a bourbon, not rye — a second special edition of PiggyBack Rye, and — saving the best for last —…
Review: Black Infusions Vodkas – Gold Apricot, Dark Cherry, and Black Fig
Black Infusions is based in Bend, Oregon, and their focus is singular: Making fruit-infused vodkas that are free of artificial colors, sugars, and flavors. Each vodka has just two ingredients, vodka and the fruit noted on the label — in this case, apricot, cherry, or fig. Given the depth of color of the spirits, those…
Review: 2021 Yalumba Y Series Viognier
This Australian Viognier is nothing if not a bold wine. The nose exudes honeysuckle, peach, butter, and white flowers. The palate follows the nose nicely and starts with butter and honeysuckle. Peach and perfume notes follow midpalate, along with some gentle minerality. The wine has a big, full mouthfeel, but zippy acidity keeps the wine’s…
Review: Tincup Bourbon Fourteener Release No. 1
Colorado-based Tincup is back with its oldest whiskey yet. Fourteener is billed as a bourbon, unlike its eponymous bottling and Tincup 10 Years Old, both of which are denoted as American Whiskeys, due to the addition of a small amount of Stranahan’s single malt in their final blends. (Update: Tincup says that single malt is no…
Book Review: American Whiskey (Second Edition)
In his forward for the second edition of Richard Thomas’s American Whiskey, Robin Robinson offers up the monumental understatement that the American whiskey industry is “a dynamic industry where change is constant.” That truth is born out just in a quick comparison between the first edition of Mr. Thomas’s book, published in 2019, and the…
Review: Robert Mondavi 2019 Sauvignon Blanc and 2018 The Estates Cabernet Sauvignon
Two new releases from Napa’s iconic Robert Mondavi Winery have just arrived. Let’s dive in. 2019 Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley – Initially on the green side, in fact a bit bitter, this wine never quite develops beyond its roots as a grassy, lemon peel-driven experience, culminating in a finish that is heavy on…
