Tasting Report: Whiskies of the World Expo San Francisco 2016
The 17th annual Whiskies of the World event wrapped this March in San Francisco, and it was as fun and chaotic as ever to wander three stories of the San Francisco Belle paddleboat, moored in the San Francisco Bay. This year I focused my attention primarily on independent bottlers of Scotch whiskies, with Alexander Murray…
Review: Barrell Bourbon Batch 6 and 7
Two new releases from our friends at Kentucky’s Barrell Bourbon, which take a variety of sourced whiskeys and release them at cask strength, one (often wildly different) batch at a time. Batch 6 and 7 are here, as are our thoughts. Barrell Bourbon Batch 006 – A close sibling to Batch 5, this is 70% corn, 26%…
Classic Book Reviews: The Home Bartender’s Guide and Song Book, American Bar, and Louis’ Mixed Drinks
Old timey cocktails are back, and so are old timey cocktail books. While cheap paperback reprints have been rampant in recent years, now these out of print tomes (originals can run up to $700 on Amazon) are being remade with fancy hardcovers and all the original detailing intact. Here’s a look at three, all recently republished…
Tasting Report: Wines of New Zealand 2016
It’s been four years since we’ve checked in on the wines of New Zealand in earnest. At this year’s San Francisco installment of the New Zealand Wine Fair, I made it a point to focus particularly on white wines. Were they still tropical blowouts in the classic “New Zealand style” to which we’ve become accustomed?…
Review: Copper & Kings CR&FTWERK American Brandies
American brandymaker Copper & Kings is up to something wild with this line of four new brandies, each of which is aged not in old bourbon barrels or new oak but rather barrels that come from craft beer companies. Each of these four bottlings spends 12 months in a different beer barrel; the resulting brandy…
Review: Jordan 2014 Chardonnay and 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon
Iconic Sonoma winery Jordan has two new releases on tap. Let’s listen in… 2014 Jordan Chardonnay Russian River Valley – A crisp and citrusy chardonnay, aromatic and fresh, with notes of peaches and apricots, with lemon juice on the finish. The butter and oak notes add body but only to a degree — on the…
Review: Stonecutter Spirits Single Barrel Gin
Stonecutter Spirits is based in Middlebury, Vermont, and this is the company’s signature product, a gin matured in former bourbon barrels. The botanical bill, source of the barrels, and length of aging isn’t revealed — aside from the note that juniper, orange peel, and cardamom are used (which doesn’t tell us a whole lot). Stonecutter’s…
Review: Beers of New Belgium, 2016 Releases
A monster collection of seasonals, limiteds, sours — and two gluten-reduced bottlings — from Fort Collins, CO and Asheville, NC-based New Belgium. Let’s dig right in. New Belgium Side Trip Belgian Style Pale Ale – A modernized Belgian ale, made (in America) with Belgian malts, hops, and yeast. Bready and malty up front, the initial sweetness fades…
