Review: Antech NV Brut Nature and 2014 Emotion – Sparkling Limoux Wines
Limoux is a region within the Languedoc best known as the most likely birthplace of sparkling wine. Records dating back to 1531 show that local monks had developed the technique that closely resembles that of Prosecco. Today, Limoux wines are the second most imported French sparkling wine, after Champagne. Limoux sparkling wines come in two…
Do Sulfites in Wine Give You Headaches?
For many wine drinkers, one of the first things they consider when buying wine is whether their bottle contains headache-inducing sulfites. But are sulfites as bad as they are painted out to be? Do they really cause headaches, and if so, how does one avoid them? The term “sulfite” refers broadly to a group of…
Review: Santa Fe Spirits Colkegan Single Malt Whisky
A name like Colkegan may evoke Ireland, or perhaps Scotland… but not exactly New Mexico, does it? Nevertheless, here we are with a distinctly American single malt — its barley dried not with peat but with mesquite — double pot-distilled, and aged (time unstated) in casks at 7000 feet above sea level (yes, in the Santa…
Review: LIQS Ready To Drink Whiskey Fireshot
A late addition to the (reformulated) LIQS ready-to-serve shot lineup is this, a creamy “whiskey fireshot” made up of whiskey, cinnamon, and vanilla. The name is a bit misleading, because while this creamy concoction may have a fiery cinnamon kick up front, it’s quite cooling thanks to Irish cream consistency and heavily vanilla-chocolate finish. That said,…
Review: Gem&Bolt Mezcal
Gem&Bolt? Such a bizarre product name doesn’t come our way too often. In this case, one has to surmise, the Gem refers to the mezcal base of the product, and the Bolt is the little something extra added — Damiana, which is a popular herb in Latin America and which is sometimes used to make…
Review: Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Porter
A year round member of its Mainline series, Breckenridge Brewery boasts of using fresh vanilla bean in the brewing process of Vanilla Porter. This is certainly evident in the beer, with a strong vanilla nose the minute you open the bottle. The first taste delivers a strong root beer and vanilla essence, followed by a…
Tasting: Late 2016/Early 2017 MashBox Club Spirits Samplers
Today we’re ganging up two recent quarterly shipments of MashBox spirits samplers, one a rather random collection of recent releases, the other a trio of the same whiskey but finished in different barrels types. Read on for details from this outturn of the internet’s most interesting booze-of-the-month club. As a reminder, $99 a year gets your…