Review: Hanson of Sonoma Pink Grapefruit Vodka
Hanson of Sonoma’s latest vodka flavor is a natural (and seasonal) one — grapefruit, made much like its other spirits, starting with a distillate of organic grapes and infusing it with real, organic, hand-peeled grapefruit. (It’s no joke: You can see the pulp floating in the bottle here.) It’s usually hard to get excited about…
Review: Batiste Rhum Silver and Gold
To start, what is the difference between rum and rhum? Rum is the larger category and includes all distilled spirits that use sugarcane as the source material. Most rums, however, are made by distilling molasses. Rhum is generally short for “rhum agricole” (French for “agricultural rum”) refers exclusively to rums made by distilling fresh juice…
Review: 2019 Landmark Vineyards Pinot Noir – Overlook and Grand Detour
Two new pinot noirs from Landmark — one from Paso Robles, one from the Sonoma Coast — both from the 2019 vintage. Ready or not: 2019 Landmark Vineyards Overlook Pinot Noir – Classic Paso Robles pinot, rich with notes of macerated cherries, fresh currants, and an herbal quality that sprinkles in notes of rosemary and thyme…
Recipe: Final Ward
The craft cocktail boom has seen countless riffs on the classics, some great and some not so great. Quintessential libations, like the Manhattan or the Negroni, have seemed to offer the best vehicles for experimentation, partly due to their simplicity but also their familiarity with the drinking public. It’s one thing for a bartender to…
Review: Diageo Scotch Whisky Distillers Editions 2021
Not to be confused with the far more expensive Diageo Special Edition Releases, Diageo’s Distillers Edition whiskies are more accessible (read: affordable) but also released on a (mostly) annual basis. While normally we see these a bit randomly, this year we were fortunate to receive the full collection of 2021 Distillers Editions, six whiskies in…
Review: Dutcher Crossing 2019 Chenoweth Vineyard Chardonnay and 2018 Maple Vineyard Zinfandel
We’ve tried Dutcher Crossing before, but not everything from this smaller, Sonoma based producer, which offers a range of wines from various vineyards. This is our first experience with Dutcher’s Chardonnays (they produce several, often highlighting grapes drawn from single vineyards) as well as one of their Zinfandels. 2019 Dutcher Crossing Chenoweth Vineyard Russian River…
Review: George Dickel x Leopold Bros Collaboration Blend Rye
This latest limited-edition release from George Dickel flew a bit under the radar this fall, but it’s got quite the backstory. Dubbed George Dickel x Leopold Bros Collaboration Blend Rye, this is, as the name suggests, a collaboration between Tennessee’s George Dickel and Leopold Bros, a Colorado distillery that was one of the earliest craft…
Review: Buzzbox Perfect Margarita
Ready-to-drink cocktails are showing up everywhere these days, and buzzbox (with a lowercase “b” to keep it casual) is a new company devoted to providing premium cocktails made without preservatives, additives, or artificial colors or flavors and packaged in eco-friendly boxes that look somewhat like — well, actually exactly like — my children’s juice boxes.…
