Review: 2016 Illumination Sauvignon Blanc
Quintessa is a blue chip, cult-level winery in Napa Valley — but it only produces one wine, a Bordeaux style blend. But the winery has quietly been making a sauvignon blanc for nearly two decades, bottling under its own label, Illumination. Thoughts on the newly released 2016 vintage follow. This is a complex sauvignon blanc…
Review: Nemiroff Vodka and Honey Pepper Vodka
Nemiroff, Ukraine is the home of Nemiroff Vodka, a relatively quiet brand that has nonetheless been around since 1872. A typical eastern bloc product, it’s best known as a duty free vodka brand, where it seems to sell through the roof. Today we look at the distillery’s two expressions, a classic, unflavored vodka, and a…
Review: Wines of Cycles Gladiator, 2016 Releases (Plus Canned Pinot)
Cycles Gladiator (we last covered its 2014 vintage) is known as a solid budget brand — and now it’s adding to that notoriety its first canned wine. Today we’re looking at the full cycle of Cycles, so to speak, in bottles, plus taking a peek at its pinot noir in a can. We’re including thoughts…
Review: GlenDronach Original 12 Years Old (2018)
GlenDronach, dark for many years, started up again in 2002, which means that the 12 year old whisky on the market today was actually produced there since the reboot. (When we last saw GlenDronach’s standard lineup in 2010, the spirit would have been older stock pulled from the warehouse.) GlenDronach has a laser-like focus on “richly…
Why Every Drinker Should Try Something New
Over the last year I’ve gotten a little bit into wine. As a whisky guy, my goal was to be able to read a wine list in a restaurant but I quickly became absorbed in a new world, not too dissimilar to the way I fell down the whisky rabbit hole. This process of learning…
Review: Michter’s US-1 Toasted Barrel Finish Rye 2017
Michter’s Toasted Barrel whiskey releases are arguably its most sought-after spirits. The whiskeys are unique in that they are first aged in new oak, then finished in barrels that have not been charred but rather just toasted — lightly torched, but not burnt to a char. As this is a single-barrel, cask strength release, proof…
Review: Virtue Cider Michigan Harvest
Virtue Cider’s Michigan Harvest is an entry-level cider, “made from all sorts of Michigan-grown apples, fermented deep in our cool cellar and aged in French oak, then blended with this year’s fresh-pressed juice.” (The similar-sounding Michigan Apple, not reviewed here, is also a semi-dry cider but is made from different types of apples.) The cider is…
Review: Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum Sherry Finish
Papa’s Pilar is out with a limited release of 8400 bottles of a new expression of its sourced rum. It all starts with a custom version of Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum: The team of Master Blenders created this special edition expression of custom barreled Papa’s Pilar Dark, with seven different hand-selected rums up to 25 years old, which are both pot…
