Review: Brown Sugar Bourbon BSB and BSB 103 (2021)
Under its original owner, Washington-based Heritage Distilling, Brown Sugar Bourbon was a quirky flavored whiskey from a company really striving to make it in the craft game. Earlier this year, the Brown Sugar Bourbon brand was sold to actor Jamie Foxx, dramatically boosting its market presence. Following the sale of the brand, production of the…
Review: Dutcher Crossing 2019 Sauvignon Blanc and 2015 Kupferschmid
Located on 35 acres in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley, Dutcher Crossing is an under-the-radar winery with a fairly vast collection of bottlings on offer. Today we look at two current releases — including a red blend from the 2015 vintage. 2019 Dutcher Crossing Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County – Bright with fruit, this sauvignon blanc is…
Review: Bently Heritage Hecate Coffee Liqueur
Bently Heritage’s Nevada-based operation makes vodka, gin, and liqueurs, including a chocolate version and this coffee flavored offering, made from Magpie Roaster’s Pica Pica coffee infused into Bently’s Source One Vodka base. It’s infused with organic cane sugar and a twist of lemon — the latter of which you can definitely taste on the surprisingly…
Review: High West Rendezvous Rye
Imagine my surprise to discover that we had never formally reviewed High West’s iconic Rendezvous Rye — despite having tasted it at events at least four times. Rendezvous is a whiskey, much like most of High West’s production, that changes over time. At present it’s a blend of “older” straight rye whiskeys ranging in age…
Review: Tequila Dahlia Cristalino
Dahlia is a new brand of tequila from the folks behind Mezcal El Silencio. Available exclusively as a Cristalino, it is aged for a rather spare 6 months — most Cristalinos start their life as extra anejos — before being filtered back to clear. Essentially a “clear reposado,” this is a considerably rougher cristalino than most…
Review: Red Clay Brewing Miura West Indies, Forbidden Blade, and Dark Cape
This new trio of “Double Master” beers mark a collaboration between Alabama-based Red Clay Brewing and California’s Miura Vineyards. The partnership isn’t the usual one of pass-it-around barrel aging, as you might expect, but rather of technique, with brewer and winemaker collaborating on ingredients to include in the creation of each beer, each of which…
Review: Strike Performance Accelerator Energy Beverage
Strike makes no bones about its value proposition as a “performance accelerator energy beverage.” Consider this another contender in the evolution of the “sports drink” category, made ubiquitous first by the likes of Gatorade and followed suit by brands such as Monster, which relies mostly on caffeine and sugar to perk you up for…
Review: Crown Royal Noble Collection Rye 16 Years Old
Crown Royal’s latest Noble Collection release eschews tricks and keeps it simple, bottling a straight rye at the age of 16 years. Bold butterscotch and brown banana notes lead the way on the nose here, though the sweetness quickly blows off and leaves more savory elements behind — bacon fat and some black pepper emerging…
