Review: 2012 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
I give Caymus all the credit for making me a real wine lover. When I was in grad school, my friend Sonny would regularly have me over for dinner — Korean style steaks, asparagus, and Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, which we procured for $20 a bottle back then. It was a bit of indulgence for kids…
Tasting Beers and Stout Ice Cream at Peter B’s, Monterey, California, 2014
A recent trip to Monterey, California took us to Peter B’s Brewpub, back behind the Portola Hotel. A rowdy place full of pool tables and TVs blasting sports, it’s also home to Monterey’s biggest brewpub operation, with about a dozen beers on tap at any one time. This time we came in search of something…
Review: Bittermilk Mixers No. 1, 2, and 3
OK, yes, there are dozens of pre-packaged cocktail mixers on the market. And yes, most of them claim to be ultra-premium-better-than-you-can-make-yourself products. And — yes — most of them are passable at best, swill at worst. Well, finally, here’s one that isn’t. Bittermilk is a Charleston, South Carolina operation that is making truly high-end mixers…
4th of July Cocktail Recipes, 2014 Edition
Once again we present a wide assortment of July 4th inspired cocktails for you to experiment with over the long holiday weekend. We received a ton for consideration of inclusion, but after sampling many of these over the previous week we felt the recipes below were at the top of the class. Everyone stay safe…
Review: Cabernets of Louis M. Martini, 2014 Releases
No need for a lot of throat-clearing here. Check out these three new Cabs from both Napa and Sonoma, all made by Louis M. Martini. 2011 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Sonoma County – Textbook Sonoma Cab, milder on the palate than Napa’s fruit bombs, but with plenty of earthy mushroom notes, leather,…
Review: Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection – Rye Bourbon Warehouse Floor Experiments
More tinkering in the form of experimental whiskeys from the mad scientists at Buffalo Trace. This is one of the company’s most interesting and telling ones to date: Three 12-year-old, rye-heavy bourbons each aged on a different floor of Buffalo Trace’s massive Warehouse K (floors 1, 5, and 9). Warehouse K is built of brick, with…
Review: Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky Bottled in Bond
One of the classic examples of this spirit, Rittenhouse is a 4-plus-year-old, 100 proof bottled-in-bond rye, made from a surprisingly low-rye mashbill of 51% rye, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley. The winner of all sorts of accolades and awards, the Heaven Hill-produced Rittenhouse Rye Whisky (the company’s spelling) recently updated its packaging with a…
Review: Town Branch Bourbon
Full confession: the first batch of this stuff was so bereft of quality, it was not uncommon to passive-aggressively serve generous pours to irritating house guests in hopes of expediting its stay on the shelf to the recycling bin. A few years since its initial release, reconsideration is warranted; with the hopes of quality control…
