Recipe: Full Monte
It took a few decades, but amaro has finally become a thing stateside, with tons of options now available in the U.S., primarily from Italy and France. Not surprisingly, various amari have become a fixture of the craft cocktail boom, serving as unique modifiers that have added whole new dimensions to a never-ending list of…
Review: Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine
Madison, NC-based Piedmont Distillers, best known for the Moon Mountain Moonshine series, also produces Catdaddy, an unusual mashup of moonshine and spiced rum. Catdaddy is triple distilled from corn, then flavored “with hints of vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon,” though it’s unclear if that’s exactly what comprises the flavoring bill. The finished product is unaged and…
Review: Luxardo London Dry Gin
Luxardo is famous for its cherries and maraschino liqueur, and now the Italy-based brand is branching out into London Dry gin. (A “sour cherry gin” was released by Luxardo last year.) The gin is pot distilled from an unknown mash/base spirit and includes nine botanicals — juniper, coriander, iris, angelica, licorice, cinchona, cinnamon, cardamom, and…
Review: 2018 Casillero del Diablo Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon
Chile’s Concha y Toro is back with two new Casillero del Diablo releases, a cabernet and a carmenere from the 2018 vintage. Let’s dig in. 2018 Casillero del Diablo Reserva Carmenere – While thinner in body than I’d like, this wine offers a healthy layer of red fruit to complement the traditional meaty elements of…
Review: Bhakta 50 Armagnac Barrel 3
You may know Raj Bhakta best as the founder of WhistlePig. But you might have missed the news that Bhakta left WhistlePig last year and struck out in search of new ventures — and sure enough, he found a few of them. The first you’ll be seeing is called simply Bhakta 50, the product of…
Review: Wines of Bodegas Caro, 2020 Releases
Bodegas Caro is a Mendoza, Argentina-based winery that was founded in 1999 as a partnership between Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) and the Catena family. The concept: “combine French and Argentine cultures and the two signature grapes of each producer, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.” Bodegas Caro began with just one wine — CARO — and…
Review: Lismore Speyside Single Malt
Lismore is a non-distilling producer from Speyside which gathers its goods from an undisclosed location. The independent bottler in question, William Lundie & Co., is keeping mum on the source, and that’s quite all right. There are enough mysteries and turmoil in the world to fret upon without having to diligently sleuth for an answer…
Review: Old Tub Bourbon
Old Tub was an old Jim Beam brand that dates back to the late 1800s, and 2020s Beam decided to bring it back as a limited time release. It’s a bonded expression of straight Kentucky bourbon, and though it carries no formal age statement it’s at least 4 years old. It’s bottled “unfiltered, for more…
