Review: Lost Spirits Japonisme Rum
I’ve been writing about Lost Spirits for as long as I can remember — and part of the reason I can’t remember that far back is because I’ve consumed my share of Lost Spirits’ products, which are often ultra-proof rums designed to mimic, as the name suggests, “lost” styles of boozemaking. The company remains at…
Review: Wines of the Cotes du Rhone, 2024 Releases
France’s Côtes du Rhône region is vast, complex, and varied, home to rustic reds and unusual whites and everything in between. 23 grape varieties are allowed to be used in the Côtes du Rhône AOC, with grenache, syrah, and mourvedre the standard bearers that created the “GSM” moniker that describes numerous wines made in the…
Review: Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Batch Proof 2024
Woodford Reserve’s Batch Proof release for 2024 arrives early this time, arriving this year at a relatively tame 121.2 proof. As always, “Batch Proof showcases the flavor nuances created from batching 100+ different Woodford Reserve barrels together, then presenting that bourbon at the exact proof from the barrels.” Other than abv, it’s essentially a barrel…
Review: High Desert Cactus Vodka
Further proof that you can make vodka out of anything, High Desert is made from prickly pear cacti harvested in the high desert of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. That’s really the whole story: There’s a whole lotta cactus out there in the southern deserts, so good on ’em for trying to do something useful with…
Review: Tres Generaciones Anejo Tequila – 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition
Tres Generaciones upgrades its Anejo expression with this third bottle in its Legacy Edition series of tequilas. This 50th Anniversary Añejo “is a unique expression paying homage to Don Francisco Javier Sauza’s original recipe, which he crafted 50 years ago to create a tequila masterpiece celebrating three generations of distilling at La Perseverancia distillery.” This…
Review: Procera Green Dot Gin 2023
The importance of terroir to wine is well known. The distillers at Procera bring the same concept to gin by carefully sourcing the fresh, African juniper berries they use. For the 2023 release of their apparently annual Green Dot Gin, Procera has taken this approach one rather giant step further, sourcing all the juniper berries,…
Review: Renegade Rums – Aura, Nova, Dunfermline, and Hope – Swimming Pool
Drew has been dutifully chronicling the many releases of the terroir-obsessed Renegade Rum, a Grenada-based operation that specializes in products with incredibly specific provenances. Various “pre-cask” (white, unaged) rums, blends called Cuvees, and “super-geeky ‘MicrOrigin’” products are available — with nearly 20 different expressions now on the market. We can’t possibly keep up with all…
Review: Attems 2021 Ribolla Gialla and 2022 Sauvignon Blanc
Attems is a winery in Italy’s Friuli-Venezia region with a particular focus on white wines, plus the occasional rose. Today we look at a pair of recently released whites, both from the 2021 vintage. 2021 Attems Ribolla Gialla IGT – The lightly oxidized quality of this indigenous grape makes for a wine with lots of…
