Review: Wines and Cider of Dutton Estate, Early 2022 Releases
Dutton Estate is one of the more unsung, high-quality wineries in California’s Russian River area, and recently the operation made a bold move that’s highly unusual in these parts: They launched a cider, born from 200 acres of organic apple orchards in the region. Today we look at a collection of five newly released wines…
Review: The Old Man of the Mountain Bourbon 4 Years Old
Tamworth Distilling doesn’t just make weird stuff like venison-flavored and turkey-flavored whiskey. It also makes regular old whiskey too, including this bonded bourbon, a four year old made on site in its pot still in New Hampshire. The mashbill includes 82.4% organic yellow corn, 11% organic rye, and 6.6% malted barley. Let’s dive in. The nose…
Book Review: Spirit of the North
As a guy who runs a website about alcohol and who’s married to a Swede, I read “spirit of the north” literally: The spirit of the north is of course aquavit, or maybe vodka, depending on the season. Of course, Selma Slabiak’s book isn’t intended to be so literal: For her, the spirit of the…
Review: Whiskey Del Bac Classic (2022) and Winter Release 2021
Hamilton Distillers has been making and marketing their distinctive, Arizona based single malt Whiskey Del Bac since 2013, and we had a chance to try three varieties in 2018. Today we revisit the Whiskey Del Bac Classic, which is the only whiskey in their core line that does not use mesquite to roast its barley.…
Book Review: Fever-Tree Easy Mixing
Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to sample some of the best of the best mixers and of those, the name Fever-Tree consistently appears at the top of the list. Whether it’s ginger ale, ginger beer, lemon mixers, club soda, or just plain tonic water, the outcome is always an enjoyable one and improves…
Review: Templeton Rye 4, 6, and 10 Years Old (2022)
Templeton Rye has been with us since the dawn of the “non-distillery producer” — and the backlash that came along with them. (We first reviewed Templeton way back in 2009, none the wiser and well before people were talking about NDPs in earnest.) Templeton had a lot of street cred when it first launched and…
Review: DaySmith Coffee+
Pop into any bodega or convenience store and chances are there will be a cooler filled with ready-to-drink coffee options ready to refresh and energize. You probably won’t find DaySmith in those options, as this plucky little Texas upstart is just getting its feet wet in the market, but we were lucky to sample a…
Review: Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series #6 and Discovery Series #6
Bardstown Bourbon Co. is kicking off 2022 with what else, their bi-annual Fusion and Discovery Series releases which now number six in total. This bourbon duo impressed us at launch back in 2019, and while the Discovery Series release has remained consistently top notch, the Fusion Series struggled a bit in 2021. Let’s see how…
