Review: Crown Royal Noble Collection Cornerstone Blend
Crown Royal is embarking on a new collection of whisky releases called the Noble Collection. This will be a series of annual, limited releases (no time horizon has been announced), each designed to “showcase Crown Royal’s team of talented distillers and blenders and named for the whisky brand’s noble roots.” (Crown Royal reminds us that…
Review: Diageo Orphan Barrel Project Rhetoric Bourbon 22 Years Old
Diageo’s Orphan Barrel project has an ambitious goal with the Rhetoric brand. First released as a 20 year old in 2014, it was further aged and reissued as a 21 year old last year, and as a 22 year old this month. 23, 24, and 25 year olds will be forthcoming through the remainder of…
Review: Booker’s Rye “Big Time Batch” 2016
It is easily the most notorious whiskey release of the year, but Booker Noe — otherwise known exclusively for bourbon — couldn’t have predicted such when he decided to lay down some rye barrels in 2003. (Noe died in 2004, but his name has lived on in his namesake bourbon.) Apparently he took the mashbill information on this…
Tasting Summer Wines from Germany – 2013 S.A. Prum Luminance and 2013 Guztler Pinot Noir
German wines are only made for roast pork knuckles and boiled sausages with lots of kraut, right? Not so. Here’s a look at a couple of German bottlings that are down-right cool for the summer, designed for lighter fare. 2013 S.A. Prüm Luminance Dry Riesling – A lovely Mosel riesling, offering a mix of citrus and tropical…
Review: FOS Greek Mastiha Liqueur
File under ??? First, some history. Mastiha is a unique spirit made exclusively in the Mediterranean, and it is best known on the Greek island of Chios, where it has protected status. A cousin of ouzo, it is a liqueur that starts with neutral spirits and flavors that with resin from the mastiha tree, also known…
Bar Review: Whitechapel, San Francisco
Of all the gin joints in San Francisco, well, you probably walked into this one, the only temple to this classic white spirit in town — in fact, the only one I’ve ever been to at anywhere. Whitechapel opened in October 2015, part of the resurgence of classy, artisanal, and/or themed cocktail bars sweeping the…
Review: Milagro Tequila Select Barrel Reserve, Complete Lineup (2016)
Milagro is a run-of-the-mill tequila brand that nonetheless produces one of the most expensive product lines in Mexico, the Select Barrel Reserve line, which comes packaged in an elaborate bottle designed to look like an agave plant erupting from the interior of the decanter. It’s a neat trick that earns some premium coin for these…
Review: Yuengling Traditional Lager and Summer Wheat
“America’s oldest brewery” gets minimal play out here on the west coast, but Yuengling (est. 1829) is nonetheless a well-known brand in these parts, even though we don’t often see its labels being peeled off of damp bottles. That’s because Yuengling is also a very large brewery — roughly the size of Sam Adams’ parent…
