Review: Old Forester Whiskey Row Series – 1920 Prohibition Style Bourbon
Like all bartenders and spirits producers, Old Forester is in love with Prohibition — even though this period of time is hardly associated with high-quality anything. At the same time, you can barely count the number of “Prohibition Edition” spirits that have hit the market in recent years. Are we as a society really that…
Review: Mount Gay Rum Origin Series Vol. 2 – Copper Column vs. Copper Pot
One of my favorite things in the world of whiskey is when distilleries start to get experimental. Buffalo Trace has become legendary for putting out all manner of experimental whiskeys that you can sample side by side. The idea isn’t just to see what different barrel treatments or mashbills do to a spirit — but…
Review: Diageo Orphan Barrel Project Whoop & Holler American Whiskey 28 Years Old
For this ninth release in Diageo’s Orphan Barrel Project, the company has turned to George Dickel, of all places, where it has unearthed a 28 year old expression of this Tennessee classic. Produced at Cascade Hollow in Tullahoma, it is made from Dickel’s standard mash of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley, and…
Review: Smithworks American Made Vodka
“From the heartland,” the bottle boldly proclaims. Water from Lake Fort Smith, grain (corn) from Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Triple distilled in Kansas, bottled in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And Blake Shelton is the brand’s spokesperson. So yeah, that’s some heartland stuff right there. I’m happy to report that the heartland acquits itself admirably with this…
Review: Greenbar Grand Poppy Liqueur
Los Angeles-based Greenbar Distillery is the home of TRU organic vodka, Crusoe rums, and Bar Keep bitters… plus this truly unique product, a bitter liqueur made (in part) from poppies. Distilled from molasses a la rum, the finished product has quite a list of odd botanicals inside, including California poppy, orange, lemon, grapefruit, bearberry, California bay…
Review: Germain-Robin Alembic Brandy One-Time Blend No. 23
Germain-Robin makes some amazing brandies, but this may be the best I’ve seen from the company to date. The catch: it’s a one-time only blend, as the name suggests, so if this review catches your palate, better grab a bottle now. The focus of this blend is French colombard grapes, which were the preferred grape in…
Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 2007 Vintage
After a two year drought, we are finally back with another Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon review. What happened to 2005 and 2006? Good question. At the time, rumors swirled that the Single Barrel line was being discontinued or was becoming a distillery-only product. The distillery went dark to questions about the line, but apparently…
Visiting and Tasting With Hourglass Wines, 2016
“Michelin restaurants have more equipment than we do.” So says Tony Biagi, winemaker at north Napa’s Hourglass and a celebrity in his own right, having made wines at Plumpjack, CADE, and other blue-chip operations. Now he’s got another feather in his cap in the form of Hourglass, a cult winery in the making, where a…
