Review: Jim Beam Vanilla
Let’s start with the caveat. The bottle may look like whiskey, but that’s not what Jim Beam Vanilla is: This is a vanilla liqueur with bourbon added, not the other way around. You wanna know who’s into it? Mila Kunis. Jim Beam’s global brand partner Mila Kunis is excited about the new innovation. Kunis will be…
Review: Half-Seas Sparkling Paloma and Daiquiri
Ready for a new style of ready-to-drink beverage? Half-Seas Sparkling Cocktails are a new offering from the makers of Scrappy’s Bitters, made with real spirits (no malt or other fermented alcohol). Three “true” ready-to-drink canned cocktails are coming out of the gate, and all are sparkling, with 30psi carbonation (Half-Seas says this is “champagne level”). First…
Review: Arome True Rum 28 Years Old
When you’re sipping on a 7 year old rum, you’re feeling pretty good. 14 years? 21? Fuggedaboudit. Now comes Arome: A limited edition rum that’s 28 years old, just 500 unique bottles produced by yacht broker cum spirits maven Andrew Troyer. How about some details about Arome: The ARÔME 28 Founder’s Reserve is a limited…
Drinking the Bottom Shelf Vol. 3: Gin – Seagram’s, Dover Strait, New Amsterdam
Good liquor can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. This review continues our project of considering bargain bottles by looking at three inexpensive gins. For those on a budget who want to drink well, the results are promising — at least, better than when we looked at whiskey (here and here)! Since gin…
Review: Copper & Kings Apple Brandies – Deep Hearts Cut and Floodwall
Copper & Kings, purveyors of some of the most interesting grape brandies made in America, has spread out to that other classic brandy-making fruit, the apple. The company recently launched two apple-based bottlings, an unaged expression (unusual ’round these parts) and a more traditional barrel-aged bottling called Floodwall. Thoughts follow. Copper & Kings Un-Aged Apple…
Review: Wines of Amazon’s Next, 2017 Releases
If you know Oregon wine, you probably know King Estate, which has been producing quality (but not outrageously-priced) wine since 1991. Now the King family has launched a new brand: Next, “the first wine ever developed from conception to release with Amazon Wine.” (Four more new labels are also in the works.) So, don’t call…
How Is Brandy Made?
“Claret is liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.” – Samuel Johnson So you understand what different kinds of whiskey are called and why, and you can name the aromatics used in gin without a second thought, but brandy is still a spirit that eludes…
Review: Stone Ghost Hammer IPA and Farking Wheaton w00tstout 2017
Two new releases from Stone — one a spin in an IPA with an unusual hop strain, one a revival of the mother of all collaborations, the last version we encountered way back in 2013. Stone Ghost Hammer IPA – This unfiltered, seasonal IPA features Loral hops, a strain which lends a distinctly floral character…
