Review: 2018 Double Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

This label, part of Napa’s Schrader Cellars, is about as classic as Napa cabernet gets: Intense with chocolate both milk and dark, rosemary and sage, and a dense and silky body dominated by currants with some raspberry mixed in. Opulent and encompassing, Napa cab fans will find this drinking exactly to expectations, its tannins beautifully…

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Review: Porter’s Imitation Peanut Butter Flavored Whiskey

So you want to get on the Skrewball bandwagon and drink peanut butter whiskey… but you’re allergic to peanuts! What then? Why, check out Porter’s peanut butter-flavored hooch, unabashedly marketed right on the label as an Imitation Peanut Butter Flavored Whiskey. That’s intentional, Utah-based producer Ogden’s Own says, so as to inform the 1.2% of the…

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Review: Atlas Brew Works Giant Flaming Zombie Polar Bear Double IPA

Giant Flaming Zombie Polar Bear — GFZPB if you prefer — is Washington, DC-based Atlas Brew Works’ seasonal for winter 2020. It’s a fitting name for a fitting year — and a fitting beer, a double IPA featuring a blend of Bravo, Mandarina Bavaria, Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade hops. Aggressive with a classically creamy, resinous…

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Review: NV Hey French 1st Edition

Ready for something off the beaten path? “Hey French” is a white wine, not from France. It’s actually an multi-vintage “super-Bianco” from northeast Italy’s Veneto region, produced by Famiglia Pasqua and made from 60% garganega grapes, plus pinot bianco and sauvignon blanc, “sourced from several parcels of vineyard on the Veronese side of Monte Calvarina in…

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Review: Huling Station Bourbon, Wheat Whiskey, and Blended Whiskey

Memphis-based Old Dominick Distillery makes gin, vodka, and other goodies, but it’s arguably best known as the producer of Huling Station, a line of whiskeys that began with bourbon and expanded to wheat whiskey and a blended whiskey earlier this year. Old Dominick sources all of these whiskeys from MGP, but they’re all made in…

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Review: Still Austin Straight Bourbon “The Musician”

As a former resident of Austin, I can fully understand why a craft distillery in the Texas capital would dub its new flagship whiskey “The Musician” — and clearly the company behind the brand would love to have you singing the whiskey’s praises. Still Austin got started in 2014, and its first homegrown bourbon is…

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Review: Proseccos of Adami, 2020 Releases

Adriano Adami is a top-tier winery focused on Prosecco, having produced this classic Italian wine since 1933, when it created Italy’s “first commercial “cru” Prosecco from a single vineyard bottling from his Vigneto Giardino site.” Some additional backstory on Adami: Adami owns vineyards and has well-established long-term relationships with the best vineyard sites across the…

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Review: Rhum Barbancourt 4 Years Old

We’re working our way backwards through Haitian rum producers Barbancourt, now hitting the 4 year old expression, also known as Rhum Barbancourt 3 Stars. Like other Barbancourt rums, it’s made in the agricole style from fresh sugar cane juice. This expression is quite young, and the aggressive nose bears that out: hot and smoldering, with…

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