Review: 2015 Hahn Pinot Gris Monterey County
2015’s pinot gris from Hahn has arrived. It’s a fresh and lively but straightforward white, with notes of mango backed up by a core of apples and pears. A touch of sweet baking spice adds complexity but keeps things from falling into the overly sweet side of the fence — despite a few marshmallow notes on the…
Recipes: 4th of July Cocktail Recipes 2016
Considering our seasonal cocktail submissions, surprisingly this year’s crop of Independence Day cocktails wasn’t as heavy leaning on the red, white and blue aesthetic and focused more on items such as berries, mint, and cucumber. While none of the cocktails represented in this overview have brazenly replaced their brand name with “America”, there are many…
Review: Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky
We’ve seen a number of products from South Africa lately — lots of wine, and even liqueurs and brandy — but this is our first South African whisky review. The bottle won’t tell you much, but Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is single grain whisky made from 100% South African yellow maize (we call it corn!).…
Review: Jim Beam Bourbon White Label and Black Extra-Aged, 2016
It’s hard to believe but we’ve never formally reviewed good old “White Label,” the bottom shelf of Jim Beam but, to be sure, one of the great values in the world of Kentucky whiskeymaking. Beam recently revamped its bottle and label design — and in some cases the names of its products have been tweaked…
Review: Mulberry Club Fruit Brandies
Regions like Albania and Azerbaijan are known primarily for their brandies — though few of these bottles ever make it to our shores. Two that did come from Mulberry Club, and Azerbaijani producer of fruit brandies. The company sent us two to sample, one made from local cherries and another, of course, from mulberries. Both are…
Recipes: 2016 Summer Cocktail Roundup
Summer is in full swing for most of the nation and with it the usual brush with unbearable heat and humidity for most of the nation. Along with upcoming July 4th cocktails and National Tequila Day celebrations, we’ve also received some pretty interesting recipes that don’t really fit under a theme or holiday. We’re rounding them…
Review: 2015 AIX Rose Saint Aix Coteaux d’Aix en Provence
AIX — aka Saint Aix — is a Provence rose, likely a busy blend of grapes (though no specific grape varietals are stated). As you’d expect, the wine exudes light strawberry, with notes of peaches that fade quickly to a moderately acidic body and a fresh, breezy finish that evokes light floral notes alongside tropical…
Review: Hangar 1 Vodkas (2016)
Hangar One was an icon of the independent spirits world, a trailblazer that was founded by small time St. George Spirits in 2002 and which grew to become one of the most beloved vodka brands around, at least amongst cocktail connoisseurs. We reviewed them all formally in March 2010. In April 2010 the company was…
