Review: 2015 Toccata Classico Santa Barbara County
Super Tuscan wine from California? It’s a thing, sort of, courtesy of brand owner Lucas & Lewellen and winemaker Megan McGrath Gates, whose Toccata hails from L&L’s Los Alamos Vineyard and Valley View Vineyard in Santa Barbara County. This blend is 50% Sangiovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 5% Freisa, and 5% Petit Verdot.…
Review: Booker’s 30th Anniversary Edition Bourbon
Why it seems just yesterday that we were celebrating Booker’s Bourbon’s 25th anniversary. Now here the brand is back with a surprise late-season release in the form of its 30th Anniversary bottling, and as one might expect it’s a monster that is already highly prized — selling for up to $600 on the secondary market.…
Review: Martinelli’s 1868 Hard Cider
Since its inception in 1868, most of us have known Martinelli’s as the guys behind those little hand grenades of apple juice that our kids gobbled down whenever they were in reach. If you were fancy, a bottle of sparkling Martinelli’s was just the thing when you weren’t supposed to be drinking. Well, grown-ups, good…
Review: Laphroaig 10 Years Old (2018)
One of the icons of the whisky world, Islay’s Laphroaig 10 Years Old is a longstanding benchmark against which many other competing bottlings are compared. And yet the only coverage we have of this expression dates back to a brief look in 2008. When we recently got pitched by the brand, we figured we were…
Tasting the Wines of Spring Mountain, 2018 Releases
Spring Mountain can be found on the northern tip of California’s Napa Valley, and today it’s home to some of the county’s most prized vineyards. Established as an AVA in 1993, it’s not a particularly high mountain (ranging up to only 2600 feet), though the terrain can be quite rugged. Visiting here often feels like…
Review: The Glenrothes 12 Years Old (2018)
Earlier this year, The Glenrothes distillery made a massive shift in its whisky lineup. Out go the brand’s iconic vintage dates. In come traditional age statements. The hand grenade bottle shape, at least, is sticking around. The new core of the Glenrothes line is called the Soleo Collection, which color-codes its bottles in tune with…
Review: Tippy Cow Peppermint Bark Rum Cream
Tippy Cow is a line of rum-based liqueurs that includes flavors like Vanilla Soft Serve and Shamrock Mint. (It’s made and bottled by the same company that bottles RumChata — Midwest Custom Bottling.) For the holidays, a seasonal variant is here: Peppermint Bark, and we gave this curiosity the Drinkhacker treatment. Thoughts follow. As truth in…
Cocktails for Christmas 2018
Declare the holidays happy with a cocktail or two among friends. We offer up these suggestions along with a Christmas Cookie Cheesecake with Winter Jack Caramel Sauce recipe. Enjoy! Candy Cane Cocktail For candy cane vodka: 1 vanilla pod 6 six-inch candy canes 750ml bottle of Ketel One Vodka Cocktail Ingredients 1 ¼ oz. candy cane…
