Review: Little Book Blended Whiskey Chapter 2: “Noe Simple Task” (2018)
When Jim Beam and Freddie Noe released Little Book last year, it caused a bit of a stir. Though it wasn’t my favorite whiskey of the year, it had a lot of charm, in part because it was so different from the usual juice coming out of Kentucky. Little Book isn’t bourbon, it’s a blend.…
Tasting the Wines of Argentina’s La Posta, 2016 Vintage
La Posta is an interesting concept from Argentina’s Laura Catena, a master brand designed to promote “grower wines” — wines which are made by the growers of the grapes. The focus here is, of course, heavily on malbec. Some details: Fourth generation vintner Laura Catena is championing Grower Malbec with her passion project, La Posta.…
Review: Bowmore 27 Years Old Port Cask
A trilogy is complete at last: Bowmore’s Single Malt Scotch Whisky Vintner’s Trilogy has found its third member, Bowmore 27 Year Old Port Cask. This expression joins Bowmore 18 Year Old Double Matured Manzanilla and Bowmore 26 Year Old Wine Matured, both of which were released in November 2017. (We haven’t reviewed either of the other…
Review: Wines of Gia Coppola – #selfish, #overit, and #thirsty, 2018 Releases
Don’t look now but there’s another Coppola family member making wine. This time it’s Gia Coppola (Francis’s granddaughter), who’s turning out three millennial-friendly bottlings with hashtags baked right into the names of the wines. Each is bottled in one liter containers, bears an artsy photograph on the front label, and is sealed not with a…
Review: Highland Park Valknut
Highland Park’s second release in its Viking Legend series is here: Valknut. (Rhymes with hoot, not nut. The Valknut is a ) As a refresher, HP’s Valkyrie hit in summer 2017. Like Valkyrie, Valknut is a non-age statement single malt. The twist here: The whisky is aged in sherry-seasoned American oak casks, and finds “the addition…
Review: 2016 Mercer Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon
So your first question must be: What or where is Horse Heaven Hills? Check the fine print (or Google) and you’ll learn that it’s in southeastern Washington, part of the state’s huge Columbia Valley. Mercer Family Vineyards makes a huge selection of wines across five different quality tiers. These two from the HHH AVA fall roughly…
Review: Playa Real Tequila – Silver, Mandarin, and Pineapple
Austin-based importer Davis Spirits brings Playa Real into our fair nation. Made at the busy Distillery La Cofradia, where Lowlands agave is the norm, Playa Real is distinctive for two reasons. First, it is triple distilled instead of the usual double distilled — a process that results in a cleaner, more neutral finished product but…
Review: 2018 Tio Pepe Fino En Rama
“Tio Pepe En Rama” is a special version of Tio Pepe’s Fino bottling, released once in a year (this is the 9th time), bottled unclarified and unfiltered. For 2018, En Rama is drawn from 62 casks, pulled from its “dense veil of flor” to showcase fino sherry at its finoest sherriest. If fino sherry is…
