Review: 1800 Tequila – Reposado, Anejo, and Cristalino
1800 is a tequila brand that seems always to be on the shelf, yet our coverage is a bit spotty, including reviews of the blanco, extra anejo, and even a coconut flavored expression. Today we fill in the gaps — looking at the reposado, anejo, and new cristalino expressions from this label, the lattermost of…
Review: Firestone Walker 805 Cerveza
805 Cerveza is Firestone Walker’s fresh spin on Mexican-style beer, a crisp lager brewed with a touch of lime — so you needn’t worry about squeezing a chunk of fruit that someone’s pawed over with their dirty fingers into your beer. Anyone worry about that? Moving on. The beer is a solid example of a…
Review: Castle & Key Sacred Spring Vodka and Roots of Ruin Gin
Castle & Key’s long road to revival has been years in the making, culminating in the recent arrival of its Restoration Rye and a variety of other special edition gins. Its recent releases also include a pair of white spirits that will be part of C&K’s permanent lineup — one vodka and one gin. Both…
Review: East Brother Russian Imperial Stout
Spoiler: This is arguably East Brother‘s best beer to date. Brewed with Admiral Maltings’ Gallagher’s Best malt, black barley, chocolate malt, and midnight wheat, plus English Kent Goldings hops and English Ale yeast, this is a complex brew from the start. It explodes pretty much immediately when it hits the palate with almost an overload…
Review: Green Hat Gin Original Batch
Washington, D.C. is a notoriously boozy town, and it’s been that way even when booze was extremely hard to come by. Green Hat Gin takes its name from George Cassiday, dubbed the “Man in the Green Hat,” who was one of many bootleggers to roam the halls of Congress during Prohibition, delivering illegal hooch by…
Review: NV Champagne Bruno Paillard Premiere Cuvee
This non-vintage champagne is a blend of 45% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, and 22% Pinot Meunier. It is a blend of 25 vintages dating back to 1985. Appropriately toasty to start, the wine finds room for initial notes of figs and almonds, sliding toward a brighter citrus character as the wine evolves in the glass.…
Review: Red Spot Irish Whiskey 15 Years Old
The famed “Spot” Irish whiskeys have been slowly resurfacing on American shelves over the last decade, starting with Green Spot in 2014, Yellow Spot in 2015, and then a handful of Green Spot special releases (see here and here). In 2018, the much-anticipated Red Spot finally graced our shores. At 15 years old, it’s the…
Review: Pierde Almas Mezcal Espadin Joven
Oaxaca-based Pierde Almas produces at least 8 different mezcal expressions, including this unaged joven bottling made from 100% espadin agave, naturally fermented in small wooden vats and double distilled in copper pots. No flavorings or additives. Boldly smoky on the nose, this is a very intense mezcal that pours on the campfire character. Notes of…
