Book Review: Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails
Camper English’s Doctors and Distillers can be construed as a history book. However, the problem with that designation is that it invokes imagery of starched-shirt history teachers hell-bent on the recitation of dates, names, endless quizzes, essays, and obscure characters on the peripherals of history. English does an excellent job diving deep into the symbiotic…
Review: Procera Red Dot Gin and Green Dot Gin 2022
We reviewed Procera Blue Dot Gin in January and liked it so much that it found its way onto our list of top 10 gins of the year. Now, half a year later, Procera has released two new, very different follow-ups. One is made exclusively from botanicals drawn from the juniper tree, and the other…
Review: 2017 Vina Cobos Reptil Malbec
Nestled in the Uco Valley region of the Mendoza province of Argentina, the legendary Paul Hobbs has quietly delivered one pleasing bottle after another under the Viña Cobos moniker. Much like siblings Bramare and Felino, Reptil promises to hold attention and offers some of the best the region has to offer. Let’s find out. Complex…
Review: Foursquare Mark XVIII “Indelible” Single Blended Rum
It’s getting a bit hard to keep up with these Foursquare Exceptional Cask Selections. I don’t know if they adhere to a particular schedule, but I seem to always be noticing a new one on the shelf at least a couple of times each year (and at steeper and steeper price points). In addition to…
Review: Southern Star Standard Bourbon and Double Rye (2022)
We’ve been keeping tabs on North Carolina’s Southern Distilling Company for a few years now. The distillery remains one of the largest, if not the largest, in the state and continues to expand their portfolio. Initial offerings, some of which we covered in 2019, relied mostly on whiskey distilled by MGP, but the distillery is…
Review: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch B522 (May 2022)
The second ECBP for 2022 arrived earlier this summer, clocking in at just a hair hotter than A122‘s 120.8 proof. By now you know the drill about what’s in this seasonally released 12 year old bourbon. Let’s dive in. Toasty but not overly woody on the nose, B522 sets up to be more barrel-forward than…
Review: St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur
St. George is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but its coffee liqueur is inspired by New Orleans, using Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans, Madagascar vanilla, and organic cane sugar as the basis for its rich spirit. The nose is classically bold, with a coarse grind of coffee doused with vanilla and dark chocolate evident.…
Review: Westward Single Malt Whiskey Elements: High Desert to Klamath Basin
We’ve reviewed several single malts from Oregon’s Westward Whiskey in recent years, but no one told us the distillery had its own whiskey club! Color us a little envious that we weren’t invited to join. For those interested, here are a few deets: Launched in 2019 and previously available exclusively in Oregon, the home of Westward Whiskey,…
