Review: Wilderness Trail Single Barrel Bourbon Bottled in Bond 6 Years Old
We reviewed the lineup from Kentucky’s Wilderness Trail Distillery last summer, and in that write-up we mentioned that the distillery’s founders had exercised considerable patience releasing their first bourbon as a four year, bottled-in-bond. Well, a couple of years later, and the distillery is now slowly releasing its first six-year-old single barrel. Like the previous…
Tasting the White Wines of Lodi, 2020 Releases
California’s Lodi region is known for its wide range of varietals, irreverent approach to winemaking, and affordable prices, and to showcase all of the above, a sextet of Lodi’s most notable winemakers recently got together to showcase their wares via a Facebook webinar. The theme: white wines, many of which are rarely produced on American…
Review: Sourland Mountain Gin
New Jersey-based Sourland Mountain makes a wide range of spirits, ranging from vodka to bourbon to coffee liqueur. Today we look at a standby, Sourland’s “flagship” Gin (so called to distinguish it from its barrel-aged expression). There’s not a lot of data about what’s in the bottle, though the distillery notes that it uses 12…
Review: NV Steenberg Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc
Here’s a twist: Take sauvignon blanc and fizz it up so that it sparkles like Champagne. That’s the M.O. of South Africa’s Steenberg, which has crafted a no-frills bottling that is best enjoyed in these dying days of summer. Let’s start with the fruit, which is substantial here: Boldly tropical with notes of pineapple and…
Review: 2016 True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
Our final look at the offerings of Baileyana Winery takes us to True Myth, which focuses on chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and a handful of blends. Here’s a look at the 2016 cab, which is aged half in new oak, half in used. This is a surprisingly sweet — and moderately flabby — expression of cabernet,…
Review: Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye
Rare Breed has long been one of Wild Turkey’s premium bourbon bottlings, the big selling point being that it’s bottled uncut, at barrel proof. Now the Rare Breed brand is extending to that other American hallmark: Rye. It’s the same concept — uncut, non-chillfiltered, and full proof — only this one’s blended from ryes aged…
Review: Method + Standard Vodka – Original and Raspberry
Our final look at the spirits of Madison, NC-based Piedmont Distillers takes us to the world of vodka. Method + Standard is a line of vodkas which are made via “a quadruple distillation of American-grown corn.” It’s available as a straight, unflavored vodka and in three infused versions. We look at two of them below. Method…
Review: Convite Mezcal – Esencial and Tobala
Convite — Spanish for invitation — is a new(ish) brand in the U.S. with a substantial range of expressions already under its belt. The Oaxaca-based brand launched with three varieties and now markets at least seven in total, many made from single species of agave. We received two of Convite’s product line to check out. Thoughts…
