Review: Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2013 Limited Edition
England’s Fuller’s has been brewing its annually-released Vintage Ale since 1997, when it was “created to explore how ‘live’ bottle-conditioned beers mature over time and to provide a vertical tasting experience that focuses on the finest malts and hops of each year.” And evolve it does. With this brew, now cracked open after more than three…
Review: Benromach 35 Years Old
Speyside-based Benromach’s 10 year old expression is a lively but entry-level whisky that’s clearly made with love thanks to owners Gordon & MacPhail, one of Scotch whisky’s most noteworthy independent bottlers. G&M acquired this property, built in 1898, only in 1993 and began producing whisky in 1998. That makes this 35 year old expression a…
Review: 4 Tuscan Wines from Tenuta di Arceno
An Italian outpost of Jackson Family Wines, Tenuta di Arceno is an Italian winery we’ve covered from time to time, with generally stellar results. Today we check out a quartet of new releases, including two of Arceno’s most prized bottlings. 2013 Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG – A fresh, lively, cherry-heavy wine, it drinks…
Recipes: 2017 Grammy Awards Cocktails and Food Ideas
This year’s Grammy Awards show is sure to bring out some of our favorite musicians in style and give us plenty of tunes to please our ears. Whether you’re couch dancing or cutting a rug on the living room floor, these cocktails and snack suggestions will rock the party. To go with the anticipated tribute…
Review: Eden Mill Gins – Original, Love, Oak, and Hop
Eden Mill is a combo brewery-distillery in Scotland’s St. Andrews that makes beer, whisky, and gin, including this quartet, which all come in unique, swing-top bottles. Eden Mill makes quite an array of spirits in its copper pot stills; it’s a bit unusual for gin to be pot-distilled, so let’s take a dive into four of…
Review: Blanton’s Gold Edition and Blanton’s Straight From the Barrel Bourbon
If you’re a bourbon drinker like me, you’ve gotten used to Buffalo Trace never making enough of the whiskeys you love like their namesake brand or the absurdly rare Pappy Van Winkle and Antique Collection offerings that tease us each fall. Blanton’s Single Barrel, another quality Buffalo Trace product, is also increasingly harder to find…
Review: Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond, Pacific Wonderland, Red Chair NWPA (2016), and The Abyss Aged Stout 2016 Edition
Four new and classic brews from Deschutes, including some late 2016 stragglers like the highly anticipated The Abyss. Deschutes Brewery Mirror Pond Pale Ale – A burly and malty pale ale, lightly sweet with notes of apricot and peaches, with a body that’s heavy with roasted nuts and rolled oats. A classic wintertime pale ale,…
Review: A. Smith Bowman Rye Expectations Gin
A. Smith Bowman, owned by Sazerac/Buffalo Trace and based in Virginia, is known for some impressive whiskeys. Now it’s launching an experimental spirits line, and its first experiment is… gin. And that’s just the start. Says Bowman: The line will include a wide variety of distilled spirits, including the aforementioned gin, and will grow to include…
