Review: Bully Boy Distillers Merchant Gin and Estate Gin (2020)
We’ve covered the gins of Boston’s Bully Boy Distillers on several occasions. Recently the distillery rebranded its two gins — relaunching them with much different labels and mildly different identities. The recipes have not been altered, but batch and bottle numbers have been eliminated. Let’s dig in. Bully Boy Distillers Merchant Gin (2020) – Launched…
Recipe: Beast of Burden
We’ve long been fans of the craft whiskey and gin rolling out of Kentucky’s New Riff Distillery. When you arrive at the distillery in Covington, the very first thing you notice when walking through the front door is a small yet bustling tasting bar, dubbed The Aquifer. One of the many cocktails on offer there…
Review: Wines of Sullivan Vineyards, 2020 Releases
Sullivan Vineyards has been “Rutherford’s cabernet sauvignon hideaway” since 1972. This small producer offers a collection of ultra-premium bottlings with a focus not on cabernet but on merlot and chardonnay, too. It’s top tier of wines are known as the James O’Neil collection, a block selection representing 5 percent of the estate’s vineyards which is…
Review: BenRiach 21 Years Old (2020)
BenRiach’s latest is a complex Speyside single malt, matured for 21 years in a combination of four casks: bourbon, virgin oak, Pedro Ximenez sherry, and red wine casks. It’s quite a delight, kicking off on the nose with baking spice, nougat, and coconut, filtered through a lightly smoldering note of barrel char and toasted spices.…
Review: Cocktail Kits from Lonerider Spirits and American Cocktail Club
Recently, for Wired, I took a deep dive into cocktail subscription kits and delivery services, whereby you get all the ingredients you need to make a cocktail or three shipped to your home, no shopping required (unless, of course, it’s one of the kits that are shipped without booze included). Since that story ran, I’ve…
Review: Holmes Cay Single Cask Rum – Fiji 2004 and Guyana 2005
Holmes Cay, which launched its first independently-bottled rum in last year’s Barbados 2005 release, is back at it with two new expressions, one a 2004 from Fiji 2004 and the other a 2005 demerara from Guyana’s Port Mourant. Both are bottled from single casks of 100% pot still rums, bottled at cask strength with no…
Review: Wines of Robert Mondavi, 2020 Releases
This trio of wines represents some of Mondavi’s most widely available products, all drawn from its affordable (but not cheap) Napa Valley tier. Let’s try them. 2017 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Napa Valley – Buttery and nutty, this is a California chardonnay that’s tempered by age, its butter lightly browned and its fruit toned down just…
Review: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bourbon 17 Years Old Bottled in Bond
Feeling some deja vu? You’re not crazy. There was indeed already a Master’s Keep 17 Years Old expression from Wild Turkey, which released back in 2015. In fact, that release was the first of the Master’s Keep line altogether. Now the 17 year old version is back — as Master’s Keep release #5 — the…
