Review: Rabbit Hole Distillery Heigold Straight Bourbon
Rabbit Hole Distillery continues to add expressions to their portfolio, so to keep the rest of us from getting too confused going forward, they’ve rebranded each offering with a distinctive name. For those playing at home, the straight bourbon is now Cavehill, the straight rye is now Boxergrail, and the PX finished bourbon will henceforth…
Tasting Report: Wines of New Zealand 2019
New Zealand’s winemakers were back in San Francisco recently, bringing their most recent vintages to show to trade and press. No big surprises here, though as always the trend of overblown tropicality in NZ sauvignon blanc is being tempered, in no small part thanks to winemaking expanding beyond the Marlborough region to other terroirs and…
Review: Buffalo Trace Antique Collection 2019 Edition
It’s October, and that means that Buffalo Trace’s five whiskeys in its highly sought-after Antique Collection — the BTAC — is here. Bourbon and rye fans will know these whiskies well, and Buffalo Trace has only a few twists in store for you for 2019. While you’re savoring the tasting notes for our 12th review…
Review: Freemark Abbey 2018 Sauvignon Blanc and 2015 Merlot
For fall sipping, Napa’s Freemark Abbey offers two wines for your consideration. Let’s dig in. 2018 Freemark Abbey Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley – Iconic notes of ammonia impregnate the nose of this classic Napa sauvignon blanc, with notes of grapefruit, lemon peel, and lime peel all coming on strong in short order. It’s fairly floral…
Review: Traverse City Whiskeys – Complete Lineup
Traverse City Whiskey is a Michigan-based purveyor of, well, whiskey. The company got its start in 2012 and was sourcing product at that time. Now its own stills are up and running and all of its products are distilled and aged in-house. Oddly enough, we’ve only reviewed one of Traverse City’s products to date: cocktail…
Review: Clear Creek Vodka
Hood River, Oregon-based Clear Creek Distillery is best known for its numerous brandies and liqueurs (and a lone single malt), and now it also makes vodka, the first addition to the company’s portfolio in nearly 10 years. Clear Creek Vodka is 100 percent distilled from apples grown in the Pacific Northwest. It is proofed with…
Review: Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
The only proper answer to a Fireball is a Skrewball, no? In case you’ve missed it, peanut butter flavored whiskey is here, and it’s taking the world by storm (at least a bit). There’s no huge setup here. This is some random young whiskey (Canadian?) pumped to the gills with peanut butter flavoring. It’s “natural…
Review: Firestone Walker Old Man Hattan 2019
I love whiskey, beer, and cocktails, but I never dreamed I’d be able to drink them all at once. Old Man Hattan is a unique brew, even by Firestone Walker’s already very creative standards. Brand new to their well-loved Proprietor’s Vintage Series, it’s a blend of no less than five beers in that series including…
