Review: Starr Hill Front Row and Looking Glass IPA
Two new brews from Starr Hill — one a permanent, one a seasonal to get while you can! Starr Hill Front Row Golden Ale – This brand new offering, which joins the year-round core lineup, is made with Honey malt and Cascade hops, which makes it drink suspiciously like a lager, malty and crisp, but with…
Review: Bumbu Rum
Spiced rum tends to follow a pretty well-worn path. But Bumbu is something quite different, and well worth exploring. The rum starts with sugarcane sourced from all over Latin America: Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, and Honduras. The cane is taken back to the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados where…
Review: Cali Whiskey
When is a flavored whiskey not a flavored whiskey? When it’s Cali, a unique spirit from Sukkah Hill Spirits, makers of Etrog and Besamin liqueurs, which we reviewed in 2015. I’ll allow proprietor Howard Witkin, who runs the LA-based company with his wife Marni, to explain what Cali actually is: Building on Marni’s knack for…
Review: 2016 Sidebar Sauvignon Blancs
Sidebar Cellars is the brainchild of David Ramey (of Ramey Wine Cellars fame), launched in 2014 with the goal of “exploring diverse grape varieties grown beyond conventional AVAs. The Sidebar portfolio includes Kerner, Rosé, Zinfandel, and two Sauvignon Blancs. Grapes are sourced from special vineyards located in the Russian River Valley, the High Valley AVA…
Review: Rebel Yell Single Barrel 10 Years Old 2018
Rebel Yell continues its march upmarket with this third single barrel release, again a 10 year old bourbon that joins its acclaimed 2016 and 2017 single barrel releases. Brand owner Luxco hasn’t reinvented the wheel here, again relying on a wheated recipe and a bold, 100-proof alcohol level. 2018’s Rebel Yell Single Barrel sees a…
Review: NV Locations “TX” (Texas Red Blend) TX4 4th Release
Dave Phinney’s Locations series continues with an unexpected region as its next target: The state of Texas. This wine, its sixth release from the state, is a blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Carignan, and assorted Bordeaux varietals. It was made as a joint venture with Kim McPherson of McPherson Cellars. Heavily fruited from the start, the wine eventually…
Review: Baltamaro Fernet, Szechuan, and Coffee Amaro
Bitter amari continue to be developed outside of their historical homeland in Italy, with the latest release of this intense liqueur coming to us from the Baltimore Whiskey Company. The distillery is putting out Baltamaro Volumes 1 through 3, a line of three core herbal liqueurs made in very different styles. Volume 1 is an…
Review: Ninkasi Brewing Yours Truly, Pacific Rain, and Prismatic
Eugene, Oregon-based brewery Ninkasi has a bit of a cult following, and it’s just dropped three new brews, all available in cans (its first canned beers) and on draft. We tried them all. Thoughts follow. Ninkasi Brewing Co. Yours Truly Easy-Drinking Ale – With loads of malt, this brew is quite lager-like, with a doughy…
