Tasting and Testing: MashBox Club Spirits Samplers, 2016
Like Flaviar and the Whisky Explorers Club, MashBox aims to expose you to spirits you wouldn’t normally get to try. The main difference with this booze-of-the-month club is that with MashBox you get a lot more than just whiskey (as we’ll see below). It’s a veritable tour of the entire spirits universe. The deal is simple:…
Review: 2013 Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale
This old vines grenache from Australia’s McLaren Vale starts off both a touch thin and overloaded with fruit character. Things settle down a bit with air in the glass, revealing some tart balsamic notes to balance out that initial rush of plum and red berries. The finish adds a touch of dark chocolate and a…
Review: 2015 Hecht & Bannier Cotes de Provence
Another Provence rose, this one a blend of 40% grenache, 40% cinsault, and 15% syrah. The nose is pure strawberry with a lemon twist, but the body takes on a more curious note, with essence of orange peel, herbal lemongrass, and some odd currant and winey Port notes on the somewhat gummy finish. I also get…
Review: The Arran Malt 18 Years Old
The Arran distillery on the Isle of Arran turns 21 this year. To mark the occasion, the bottler is adding an 18 year old single malt to the permanent lineup. Aged in a mix of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks, it is bottled at 46% abv. (Note that this is a different whisky than the previous Arran…
Review: Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Tequila 2016 Edition
Jose Cuervo’s top-end bottling, Reserva de la Familia, is out for 2016. This year’s box design was produced by Jorge Mèndez Blake, a Guadalajara native, who is “famous for merging different historical and geographical elements as he promotes Mexican art.” This year’s expression immediately feels a bit spicier than the bottlings of the past, though not enough…
Review: Redd’s Blueberry Ale
The latest in Redd’s flavored beer lineup is this “limited pick release,” Blueberry Ale. It’s a surprisingly refreshing concoction, a little candylike but far from offensive, with mild (but clear) blueberry juice masking anything by way of the beer base beneath. The finish is a bit green and a touch bitter, but this works with…
Book Review: ReMixology: Classic Cocktails, Reconsidered and Reinvented
The tagline for ReMixology, by Michael Turback and Julia Hastings-Black, is a bit of a misnomer. This is a recipe book that doesn’t reinvent classic cocktails so much as it uses them as inspiration for updated drinks. The standards are all presented as exactly that — the margarita, Manhattan, and other classics are all described with…
Highlights from the 2016 California Beer Festival – Marin
Finally I was in town to visit the Marin stopover of the roving California Beer Festival, which I last attended in 2013. This year saw plenty of worthwhile brews on tap for the hop-loving supplicants, as well as an ample collection of ciders, sours, and even a refreshing kombucha or two. With live music and…
