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…
Review: Bache-Gabrielsen XO Decanter Cognac
Norway’s Bache-Gabrielsen has been doing some rebranding and relaunching of late. Its most recent launch is a third XO expression (not to be confused with its Classic XO or XO Fine Champagne bottlings, which are both separate products and different blends). You’ll immediately notice the difference because the XO Decanter is packaged in a squat decanter and comes…
Recipes: A Duo of Belvedere Vodka Cocktails
These two cocktails from Belvedere Vodka are perfect for any party or get-together with friends. Both are easy to make and are very enjoyable. We had trouble finding pear puree for this first Pear and Rosemary Cocktail. So many fruits and vegetables are seasonal, so don’t be afraid to adapt these recipes to what you…
Review: Yves Leccia 2015 Patrimonio Blanc and 2013 Patrimonio Rouge
Corsica isn’t a wine region that many Americans are familiar with. (Hint: It’s part of France, not Italy.) That’s a shame, because this island produces some stellar stuff, and at the head of the class is Yves Leccia, a veteran winemaker whose products are widely considered ‘the Rolls-Royce’ of Corsican wines.” Leccia doesn’t need me…
Review: Glen Scotia Double Cask
Campbeltown, a tiny region on Scotland’s west coast, was once a hotbed of whiskymaking, but today there are just three companies with active stills. Springbank is by far the best known. Glengyle/Kilkerran is largely unheard of in the U.S. The third is Glen Scotia, which was built in 1832 but has changed hands and gone…
Review: Virtue Michigan Brut Cider
Virtue’s Michigan Brut Cider is made from Michigan-grown apples (a blend of heirloom varietals) and, like its high-end Lapinette, is a bone-dry brut. As with Lapinette, it offers overtones of mushroom, bramble, and oxidized wine, but here, the core of the cider — the apple — is significantly dialed back. Pushing through the earth tones…
Review: J. Wray & Nephew Silver Rum, Gold Rum, and Overproof Rum
Jamaica’s J. Wray & Nephew — or just Wray & Nephew — lays claim to being the #1 producer of rum in the country, and when you consider that the company makes both Appleton and Captain Morgan, it’s a claim that’s not hard to believe. Wray & Nephew also makes pot-distilled rum that is released…
