Review: Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter
Beer and non-booze brand mashups have been working overtime lately, with brews like New Belgium’s Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale standing as curiosities for the masses to gawk at. The latest entry is a beer from Boston’s Harpoon and Dunkin’ (nee Dunkin’ Donuts), which brings together “two of America’s iconic beverage brands” by…
Review: Dubonnet Rouge (2018 Reformulation)
Dubonnet is a French aperitif — an aromatized wine similar to vermouth — that’s been around for 170 years. If you look at the back bar of most dives, you’ll see a dusty bottle of Dubonnet that’s been sitting around for nearly that long. Even though Queen Elizabeth II claims Dubonnet as her tipple of…
Review: Fistful of Bourbon
Contrary to popular opinion, bourbon does not have to come from Kentucky. When it comes from Scotland, though, that’s when things get weird. In all seriousness, Fistful of Bourbon is actually a U.S. product, but it’s the brainchild of William Grant & Sons, best known as the owner of Glenfiddich and Balvenie. The product is…
Tasting the Wines of Argentina’s Salentein, 2018 Releases
Salentein is a strange name for a winery in Latin America, right? Turns out the Salentein family is Dutch, relocating to Argentina in 1996 after falling in love with the land here in the country’s Uco Valley. Salentein’s estates are located at the highest elevations in Mendoza, where it operates four fincas, or estates: El Oasis,…
Review: Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2008, The Organic 2009, and Octomore 8.4
These three releases from Bruichladdich arrived earlier in the year, but our tasters got shuffled behind some larger bottles. With deep regrets, here’s a belated look at some of Bruichladdich’s most notable 2018 releases. Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2008 Islay Grown Dunlossit Estate 9 Years Old – Bruichladdich has lately been focusing hard on its home…
Review: 2016 Cantina Tramin Nussbaumer Gewurztraminer
Our final venture into Alto Adige for the moment, this is an aromatic gewurztraminer from this mountainous region. Even more heavily perfumed than the typical gewurz, this 15% alcohol wine is a monster, layering camphor and mothballs atop notes of quince and orange peel. Doughy, almost yeasty at times, there’s a mushroom element that plays…
Review: Buchanan’s Select Blended Malt Whiskey 15 Years Old
Buchanan’s latest release fills a mid-level spot in the whisky producer’s lineup, this one unique in that it’s a blended malt, with no grain whiskey in the blend. There’s no information on the distilleries used to produce the blend, but since Buchanan’s is a Diageo brand, pretty much the entirety of Scotland is a…
Review: 2016 Exitus Red Wine Aged in Bourbon Barrels
“Complex. Toasty.” Exitus tells us what to expect right on the label of this bourbon barrel-aged monster, which spends 3 months in bourbon barrels. It’s a California-sourced mix of Zinfandel, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, and Merlot, which makes for a true mutt of a blend. But… can it stand up to a bourbon cask?…
