Drinkhacker’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide – Best Alcohol/Spirits for Christmas
Can it be time for the holidays already? We’ve been utterly swamped in 2014 with new products for review, which makes this seventh annual edition of the Drinkhacker holiday gift guide — our “best stuff of the year awards” — all the tougher to produce. As usual, we are looking not just at what the very…
Review: Louis Royer Force 53 VSOP Cognac
Most Cognac is bottled at the usual 80 proof, but Louis Royer’s Force 53 says screw that, let’s take a cue from the fellas in the whiskey world and go megaproof. The choice of 53% abv (106 proof) isn’t accidental. The House of Royer got its start in 1853. Lucky for them, I guess, that the…
Review: Diageo Orphan Barrel Project Lost Prophet Bourbon 22 Years Old
These orphans are working harder than Oliver Twist for Diageo, and a fourth expression of the Orphan Barrel Project is now hitting the market: Lost Prophet. The Lost Prophet stock was distilled in 1991 in Frankfort, Kentucky at what was then the George T. Stagg Distillery and, per the company, was found in the old…
Review: Bruichladdich Cuvee 382 La Berenice 21 Years Old
When people ask me what my favorite whiskey is — and they do that a lot — after I hem and haw about it for a while, I usually tell them it’s one they’ve never heard of: Bruichladdich 16 Years Old First Growth Series: Cuvee E Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes Finish, a limited edition that Laddie…
Recipe: 2014 Thanksgiving Cocktails
Traditionally at our house “Thanksgiving cocktails” means Stroh’s beer or lots of neat bourbon to numb yet another loss on national TV courtesy of my hometown football team, the Detroit Lions. This year looks to be different with the Lions actually performing well and family members willing to eschew their normal comfort zone and try…
Rueda Review: 2010 Shaya Habis Verdejo and 2013 Jose Pariente Verdejo
Fret not if you’re unfamiliar with Rueda. This region, directly to the west of Spain’s Ribera del Duero, is the home to a white wine that is beginning to find favor overseas. Long a favorite in its homeland, Rueda wines are made primarily from the verdejo grape (viura and sauvignon blanc are also grown here, as…
Review: 2011 Matchbook Tempranillo Dunnigan Hills
Here’s a surprisingly lovely little wine from JL Giguiere’s Matchbook brand, made from Tempranillo in Yolo County, grown in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The restrained nose features notes of tanned leather, stonework, touches of smoke, and dried fruits. On the palate, things are more fruit-forward: dark cherries, plums, tobacco, and cranberry notes lead to a well-rounded,…
Review: The Balvenie 25 Years Old Single Barrel and Tun 1509, Batch 1
Lucky day: Not one, but two new bottlings from a perennial favorite: The Balvenie. Actually, the distillery has recently released three different whiskies, the third being The Balvenie Fifty, Cask 4567, a 50 year old expression that runs $38,000 a bottle. We did not manage to nab a bottle of this lattermost one, but no…
