Review: Grander Panama Rum Trophy Release 20B08 (2022)
Apologies on the long wait for this review of Grander’s latest Trophy Release, which began in 2020 and has been intended as a twice-yearly edition. Release 20B08 — they’re now indicated with release information on the front label — hit in early 2022, and it’s a batch of 6 barrels from Panama — three 8…
Review: Pursuit United Blended Rye
Kentucky residents and bourbon mega-fans Kenny Coleman and Ryan Cecil have built a small media empire with Bourbon Pursuit, arguably the most popular bourbon-focused podcast across multiple platforms. Beginning in 2018, they started leveraging that audience for regular releases of single barrel whiskeys. And in 2021, they launched Pursuit United Bourbon, a blended product sourced…
Review: Maestro Dobel 50 1967 Tequila
Maestro Dobel invented the cristalino category back in 2008, and while it has released standard tequila expressions since that time, the brand’s name has largely been synonymous with cristalino with its “Diamond” bottling. Now Dobel is back with a new series of upscale releases, a collection of extra anejo bottlings each with a different cask…
Review: 2019 Brendel Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon
Brendel farms its wines organically in Napa Valley, producing a variety of single-varietal and blended wines. Today we look at two of Brendel’s flagships, a chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon. 2019 Brendel Noble One Chardonnay Napa Valley – While it’s an unoaked chardonnay, this expression nonetheless tilts at notes of vanilla, coconut, and butterscotch, the…
Review: Case 1 Rum Port Cask Finish
We first introduced you to the rums of Old Line Spirits last summer with their unique Single Malt Cask Finish. Since then, its Navy veteran founders, Mark MacLaughlin and Arch Watkins, have decided to rebrand their entire rum line with the Case 1 moniker. I’ll let Old Line explain that one: In Naval Aviation the…
Review: Firestone Walker Parabolita
For over a decade now, Firestone Walker has offered an impressive variety of barrel-aged beers as part of its Proprietor’s Vintage Series, and all of those brews were available exclusively in glass bottles. But not anymore. For 2022, the California-based brewery has released its first-ever canned Vintage beer, Parabolita. As the name suggests, this beer…
Review: George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey Bottled in Bond 13 Years Old (2022)
Dickel’s well-priced, top-shelf Bottled in Bond release has become an annual affair, now in its fourth edition. For two of the first three years, the BiB bottling has been a 13 year old, as it is once again for 2022. Dickel’s 2020 is the lone outlier, a whiskey distilled in fall 2008 and bottled at…
Review: 2021 Grochau Cellars Melon de Bourgogne
Melon de Bourgogne is a grape varietal rarely grown in the U.S. It is much more common in the Loire Valley where it is used to make Muscadet wine. But Grochau Cellars grows it successfully in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They use sur lie aging (aging the wine on the lees) for 8 months…
