Review: Ballantine Burton Ale 2015
Not familiar with Ballantine? I wasn’t either, so draw near and listen to a story. Ballantine Burton Ale is a legendary and storied beer that has been decidedly limited in availability. One source says he’s heard of $500 being paid for a single bottle. Ballantine, founded in 1878, was a popular brew at the time,…
Review: Ciroc X Vodka
‘Tis the season for luxe vodka bottlings, and at the top of the heap you’ll find this monster from Ciroc, an ostentatiously-packaged vodka that retails for two-fiddy. Er, $250. Ciroc is of course vociferously repped by P. Diddy, who has been stumping for the brand for more than a decade. And now, it seems, it’s…
Review: Magic Opener Extreme
This electric yellow gadget is more than a bottle opener. Well, it’s three bottle openers and one can opener, all in one device. A standard crown cap opener is just the start. Flip it over and you’ll find two tooth-ringed circles of slightly different sizes, designed to help you open plastic water bottles and other…
Review: Gordon & MacPhail Glenburgie 10 Years Old
Glenburgie isn’t a name one encounters too often on this side of the world, but this Speyside distillery has been operating since 1824. An all new distillery was built in 2004, and Pernod Ricard acquired the operation in 2005. The vast majority of Glenburgie ends up in Ballatine’s blended whisky, but Gordon & MacPhail bottles…
Book Review: Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual
From the oversized-yet-slim hardcover format to the big “Haynes” logo on the cover to, well, just about everything else, right down to the font selection, Tim Hampson’s Beer Enthusiasts’ Manual seems like one of those books you’d pick up at the hardware store when you needed a quick primer on plumbing or wiring. Even the…
Review: Hyde No. 1 Presidential Cask Single Malt Irish Whiskey 10 Years Old
A. Hardy is now importing this new Irish whiskey from Hibernia Distillers, which was established only last year. Hyde No. 1 (No. 2 and No. 3 are in the works) is a 10 year old single malt, aged in first-fill oak bourbon casks, then finished in first-fill oloroso sherry casks and non-chill filtered. Those looking for…
Review: NV Cockburn’s Special Reserve Porto
Cockburn’s Special Reserve is a widely available ruby Port, nothing fancy, but workable in a pinch. The wine offers a largely standard nose of raisins, with a bit of dried blueberry. On the palate, the wine comes across as less dense than many nonvintage Ports, a touch watery, but still full of flavor and life.…
Review: Metze’s Select Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey
It’s not the end of an era, it’s the beginning of one. MGP Ingredients, the Indiana distillery where oh so much bourbon is produced and sold to other companies for bottling under their own label, is finally — for the first time — releasing its own whiskey. Metze’s Select “2015 Medley” is a limited release…
