Review: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Tasters’ Selection – Barrel Reunion #1
Last November Jack Daniel’s introduced its first experimental whiskey releases — ever. The two Tennessee Tasters’ Selection releases were both solid but unusual (to varying degrees), and a third release was promised to come down the pike in the near future. Now that third release is here, Barrel Reunion #1 (or Reunion Barrel #1, depending…
Review: Firestone Walker XXII Anniversary Ale
We’ve been fans of Firestone Walker’s Proprietor’s Vintage Series for a while now, but only recently did we get the chance to sample their Anniversary Ale. We’re clearly late to this party because they’ve already released thirteen of them! In 2006, on the occasion of their 10th anniversary, they started the tradition with the appropriately…
Review: Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Line – Ambrato Vermouth, Rubino Vermouth, and Bitter Liqueur
Martini & Rossi is a staple of the mass market vermouth world, and now the brand is moving upmarket with the launch of its Riserva Speciale line. The collection includes two vermouths — Ambrato Vermouth, a dry white vermouth, and Rubino Vermouth, a sweet red expression — and a red, bitter liqueur in the Campari…
Review: Mountjoy CBD Sparkling Water (2019)
Last year we reviewed a series of flavored sparkling waters from Mountjoy, notable because they are infused with 10mg of CBD (with a couple of versions infused with THC). Recently Mountjoy wrote to let us know they’d “refined their process,” and thus refined the finished product. Would we like to take a fresh look at…
Tasting the Wines of Cartograph, 2019 Releases
If you find yourself in the quaint town of Healdsburg on the northern end of Sonoma County, you’ll find the tasting room of Cartograph Wines in a primo spot just a block off the town’s lovely main square. Cartograph is a brand established by Alan Baker & Serena Lourie in 2008, and it’s been quietly…
Review: 2016 Forever Young Malbec Reserva Mendoza
This affordable Argentine malbec (100%) is initially quite unassuming, a quiet wine with notes of peppery grilled beef, fresh cherries, and currant notes evident at the start. Over time, the wine develops more fully in the glass to reveal a spicier edge (beyond black pepper, that is) with hints of thyme and rosemary. Tannins are…
Review: Michter’s US-1 Barrel Strength Straight Rye 2019
We last encountered Michter’s US-1 Barrel Strength Straight Rye, the overproof version of its US-1 Single Barrel Rye (it in turn a single barrel version of Michter’s US-1 Rye), in 2016. This 2019 expression is a classic rendition of overproof rye and the Michter’s style — as much as such a thing exists — with a…
Review: Citizen Cider bRose
Silly me. I thought the “bro” in bRose meant this was rose for bros… not that it was made with blueberries along with the apples in the fermentation. This pink number is certainly berry-forward. While not immediately evident as blueberry — if you told me this was made with raspberry or blackberry I may well…
