Review: TOPO Vodka, Wheat Whiskey, and Spiced Rum (2020)
We tasted the clear spirits of Top of the Hill Distillery (TOPO), including their white whiskey, way back in 2013. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based distillery has been hard at work tweaking, adding new products, and barrel-aging their whiskey since then, so we thought we would check in on their latest offerings. TOPO is one…
Review: Brooklyn Crafted Ginger Beer
When it comes to making Moscow Mules and Dark & Stormies, there’s a new mixer choice in town: Brooklyn Crafted Ginger Beer, billed as “Extra Spicy.” Available in cans and bottles, it is the usual high-end offering, made with cane sugar and bottled unfiltered with visible specks of ginger in the mix. (A sugar-free version, made…
Visiting the Breweries of Flagstaff, Arizona’s Craft Beer Capital
With eight breweries, two of which have expanded into second locations in recent years, it’s not surprising Flagstaff’s been described as the Craft Beer Capital of Arizona. Better-known as a stopping point on Route 66, the Mother Road, the city has a population of about 70,000, and almost half of those are students. No wonder…
Review: Wines of Tenuta di Fessina, 2020 Releases
We last encountered the wines of Tenuta di Fessina — which are bottled under several different labels — just a year ago. Today we look at Fessina’s new vintage releases (sans the Musmeci release, which wasn’t available for review) for 2020. Thoughts follow. 2017 Tenuta di Fessina Erse Etna Bianco DOC – A blend of…
Review: Westland Peat Week 2020
After six years of special releases, Westland Peat Week should need no introduction, but we’ll give it one all the same. Peat Weak is a special annual release from the Seattle distillery that, like Balvenie, is made for only one week out of the year. Again, Westland makes peated whiskey all the time, but Peat…
Review: Founders Brewing KBS Bourbon Barrel Aged Espresso Stout
Fans of Founder’s Brewing Kentucky Breakfast Stout, affectionately referred to as KBS, recently got another breakfast brew option: Founder’s KBS Espresso. The original KBS was already brewed with coffee, but the Grand Rapids-based brewery decided to punch up the java content by aging the original brew on espresso beans. That extra coffee aging happens after…
Review: Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine Ale (2019)
Good news: Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout was more readily available in 2019, but you’ll still have to do some searching to locate the other Bourbon County releases. One of the more unique in that lot is Wheatwine Ale, the first non-Imperial Stout in the lineup since Barleywine arrived way back in 2013. It’s…
Review: Grander Rye Finished Panama Rum
Grander Rum got its start back in 2015, kicking its brand off with an outstanding 8 year old expression. Now the brand is launching its first limited edition series, called the Barrel Series. Entry number one is this bottling, a blend of Panama-distilled stock, 65% 12 years old and 35% 15 years old, then finished…
