Review: Tequila Partida Elegante
Elegante is arguably Partida’s most elevated offering, an extra anejo — and not a cristalino, mercifully — that spends 40 months in oak before bottling. While many extra anejos are ultra-sweet desserts in a glass, Elegante manages to keep agave clearly in its sights. The nose is peppery and green, buttressed by coconut and caramel,…
Review: Merlet Creme de Melon Charentais
Essentially a liqueur made from a French varietal of cantaloupe, this lightly golden liqueur is evocative of melon, but it takes its time to get there. The nose and attack are aggressively sweet, floral, almost perfumed, with an indistinct note of candied melon. The palate showcases the cantaloupe a bit more clearly, but it’s muddied…
Review: Talisker 30 Years Old (2021)
Talisker has quietly dropped a 30 year old release, turned out from refill bourbon casks and bottled in late 2021 at cask strength — a whopping 48.5% abv. Only 3216 bottles were produced, with 498 available in the U.S., so if this sounds enticing, you should probably hop on it. 30 years hasn’t dampened the…
Review: Mocktails Ready-To-Drink Non-Alcoholic Cocktails
Mocktails (the beverage company) hails from the UK and has recently expanded into the U.S. with its offering of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink, well, mocktails. There are no artificial flavors nor high-fructose corn syrup in the drinks (and, of course, no alcohol), and they are certainly not shy about literally and figuratively going the distance to source…
Review: Castle & Key Restoration Rye Single Barrel and Batch 3 (2021)
Early last year, Rob covered the first two Restoration Rye releases out of Castle & Key, one of Kentucky’s newest and most talked about distilleries painstakingly resurrected from an iconic and historic site (for that backstory, see Rob’s review). In 2021, the distillery debuted three new batches of Restoration Rye in limited quantities over the…
Review: Wines of Knotty Vines, 2019 Vintage
Knotty Vines is an unabashed budget brand from Rodney Strong, standing as the third (or maybe fourth) label in its arsenal. We recently tasted a collection of four wines from the brand, the full lineup of its offerings. 2019 Knotty Vines Chardonnay California – Here’s a real surprise to kick things off: This chardonnay has had…
Tasting Kopke Port with Winemaker Carla Tiago
I recently had the chance to sample a range of Kopke Ports with winemaker Carla Tiago on her visit to Boston from Portugal. I was excited to see that she brought some well-aged white ports, which are uncommon in the U.S., as well as Colheita Port, which is single vintage Tawny Port that has been…
Recipe: Brooklynite
The Brooklynite hails from the tiki era during the middle of the 20th century, a golden time in American drinks culture when a bar anywhere could become a vacation spot unto itself, complete with Polynesian music and luau themes. I couldn’t find a specific bartender to credit for its creation, but the recipe can be…
