Review: Serpent’s Bite Apple Cider Flavored Whisky
With a name like Serpent’s Bite, one expects at least a little drama. Truth is this apple cider flavored Canadian whisky is about as harmless as they come. (Yeah, I get it, Adam and Eve and all that.) Mystery Alberta, Canada-born spirit is spiked with apple cider flavors, with results that are, well, probably exactly what…
Review: Khortytsa Platinum Vodka (2016)
Its distillery built in 2003, Khortytsa is a Ukrainian vodka that is now pushing 6.4 million cases of spirit each year, according to the company. Distilled from unspecified grains, Khortytsa is filtered through schungite (“a unique natural mineral”), birch and alder-tree charcoal, and quartz sand from the Crystal Mountains of the Urals near Yekaterinburg, Russia. Khortytsa…
Review: Bacardi Tangerine Rum
I’ve never had a tangerine that tasted anything like this, but Bacardi Sunny Delight Rum probably would’ve gotten the company into hot water. What we have here is an indistinctly orangish-citrus, petrol-laden rum that is simultaneously super-sweet and incredibly artificial in the way it comes across. (As always, “natural flavors” are promised, per the label.)…
Review: 2014 Atalon Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley
Atalon has been releasing wines since 1997, with just three offerings on the table — two reds, and this sauvignon blanc. Intensely grassy, this is sauvignon blanc that at first showcases a wine pushed to its herbal limits. As it develops, notes of grapefruit peel and saltwater taffy give this wine an extreme profile, a…
Review: Marlee’s Green Tea Whiskey
Tea-flavored whiskey is nothing new, but Marlee’s, produced in the Miami area, is rye whiskey flavored with green tea, a unique combination. Also in the bottle: Mexican agave nectar, miscellaneous natural flavors, and caramel color. Now the south is the home of sweet (black) tea, and the home of whiskey. The two have come together in…
Review: Pinnacle Cinnamon Roll Vodka
Those of you afraid that vodka flavors are losing their edge, rest easy, here’s a flavor that’s sure to strip the enamel straight off your teeth: Cinnamon roll, produced in conjunction with (or at least, with a picture and logo from) Cinnabon. Unbearably sweet — though that’s not far from the source — the overall…
Review: Wines of Matanzas Creek, 2016 Releases
Sonoma’s Matanzas Creek is out with new merlots and a chardonnay. Let’s dive in to these new releases. 2013 Matanzas Creek Winery Chardonnay Sonoma County – Initially quite oaky, with a bold, brown-butter body. Classic California chardonnay from top to bottom, but Matanzas Creek infuses it with just enough fruit to make the dense, dessert-like…
Review: Wines of Avant, 2016 Releases
Avant is a new budget label from the folks at Kendall-Jackson, with a trio of basic California-sourced wines comprising the initial production run. While a lot of this comes across exactly as you expect it will, there’s at least one modest surprise in the bunch. Thoughts follow. 2014 Avant Sauvignon Blanc California – Undistinguished and…
