Review: Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Appleton Estate Reserve Blend, and Appleton Rare Blend 12 Years Old Rum (2015)
It’s been six years since we last reviewed Appleton‘s Jamaican-born rums, and the company has recently done some label and nomenclature updates across the line. The distillery tells us that the recipes and the juice inside (nor the Rubenesque bottle design) haven’t changed, so let’s take a fresh look at one of the icons of…
Review: Scales Sweet & Sour Mix and Margarita Mix
We reviewed the Bloody Mary mix from Scales a few months ago. Today we are taking a belated look at its no carb/no sugar sweet cocktail mixers, including a Sweet & Sour and a Margarita mix. Both are minimalist products flavored with sucralose. At 5 calories, it’s hard to come up with a less fattening…
Review: Reilly’s Mother’s Milk and Reilly’s Ginger Whiskey
What with the label featuring young ruffian sporting an eyepatch emblazoned with a shamrock — plus the squared off, Bushmills-like bottle — you can be forgiven for assuming Reilly’s is a new Irish whiskey brand. Not so. It’s a blended American whiskey, albeit one with “Irish roots.” The avowed goal of Butte, Montana-based Reilly’s was…
Review: Teeling Single Cask Rum Barrel Aged Irish Whiskey 16 Years Old
Our friends at Dublin’s Teeling Whiskey Company already make a single malt Irish Whiskey release, but now they’re taking things a step further with a series of Single Cask releases of their single malt stock. Some seven casks of Irish single malt — each release under 200 or so bottles — are being released, including…
Review: 3 White Wines from Kim Crawford, 2014 Vintage
Three new whites from New Zealand’s Kim Crawford — each made from one of three different varietals. On with the show… 2014 Kim Crawford Pinot Gris Marlborough – Fruit-forward, with both bright tropical and crisp apple notes. There’s a bit of nougaty sweetness that creeps in and grows in power as the body develops. That…
Review: Gordon Biersch SommerBrau and Zwickel Pils
Two new summery brews from our friends at Gordon Biersch — one ready to go in six-pack form, the other an oversized bottle designed for sipping and sharing. Gordon Biersch SommerBrau – A delightfully refreshing Kolsch (made with 80% malted barley and 20% malted wheat), this German-style beers balances its malty beginnings with a touch…
Recipes for National Rum Day, 2015
Of all of the marketing-designated holidays which have come and gone over the years, few have had the staying power National Rum Day (August 16) has managed to muster. Aside from a few other special days (the Super Bowl and St. Patty’s come to mind), our inbox rarely gets this full of suggestions from PR…
Review: Hornitos Spiced Honey Tequila
The flavored tequila world isn’t necessarily the most successful one out there. Most offerings in this space are tolerable at best. Hornitos Spiced Honey is a more ambitious product than the Hornitos Lime Shot that came before it — lime-flavored tequila isn’t much of a stretch — adding honey and a blend of spices to standard…
