Review: BridgePort Brewing Trilogy 2 and Hop Czar Topaz Copper IPA
“Oregon’s Oldest Craft Brewery” is back with two new installments in its Trilogy and Hop Czar series of beers. (Find reviews of the first edition of each one here.) Trilogy is a series of three beers celebrating BridgePort’s 30 years in business. Hop Czar is a series of single-hop IPAs. Thoughts on both beers follow.…
Review: 2013 Hahn Pinot Gris and 2012 Chardonnay
Hahn’s Pinot Noir has a good reputation, but it also produces some very affordable whites, both sourced from the Monterey area. Thoughts follow. 2013 Hahn Winery Pinot Gris Monterey – Quite tropical on the nose, but the body is restrained, coming off with buttery notes up front and reserving its mango-pineapple character for the finish. Hints of…
Review: Whiskies of Lost Distillery – Auchnagie, Stratheden, and Gerston
This is one of the niftiest ideas to come out of the whisky world in years. As the Lost Distillery Company reminds us, some 100 Scottish distilleries were shut down or destroyed in the last century, which means most of us will never know what their spirits tasted like. Until now, as they say. What…
Review: Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2014 and 100% Islay Fourth Release
Islay-based Kilchoman may be one of the youngest distilleries in Scotland, but somehow it cranks out more different spirits than just about everyone else in the business. (Mainly because it’s presenting itself as a bit of a “work in progress,” so Kilchoman’s releases tend to be annual updates.) Today we consider two of the main…
Review: Innis & Gunn Original, Rum Aged, and Toasted Oak IPA
Founded in Scotland in 2002, Innis & Gunn has built a reputation around its Scottish Ale and a host of other beer expressions, all of which are aged in oak barrels. (It’s now the most popular British beer in Canada.) As the story goes, the company’s barrel-aged beers came about almost as an accident, when…
Review: 2011 Pina Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons and 2012 Chardonnay
Every year we anticipate a shipment of wines from Pina Napa Valley for review, and every year that shipment seems to get larger. For 2014 the winery has offered a whopping six wines for review — five from different regions of Napa — upon which we’re happily ready to offer our commentary. 2012 Pina Napa…
Review: Laphroaig 10 Years Old Original Cask Strength
The only member of the Laphroaig core lineup that we haven’t reviewed — but stay tuned for two new expressions dropping in the next couple of weeks — Laphroaig 10 Years Old Original Cask Strength is exactly what it says on the label: A cask strength version of the classic Laphroaig 10 Years Old expression. Now…
Recipe: National Tequila Day, 2014 Edition
July 24th brings us another mid-week holiday we can all get together and celebrate: the 2014 edition of National Tequila Day. We offered some great tequila recipes last year, but here’s a few more that have come across our inbox you might want to check out. The Garden Fresh Skinny Summerita Created by Travis London,…
