Review: Starr African Rum
The strikingly-bottled Starr African Rum hails from Mauritius, home to Penny Blue and Pink Pigeon, the only other African rums I’m familiar with. At first blush, this is a fairly typical white rum. The nose is lightly woody, with notes of coconut, black tea, and caramel. Slightly unusual, but nothing insane. The body really punches…
Review: Four Roses 2014 Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon
Four Roses’ 2014 Single Barrel bottling sneaked up on me, a sample appearing out of the blue for us to review. This year’s whiskey is made from Four Rose’s OESF mashbill — the “lower,” 20% rye mashbill — which has spent 11 years in barrel. OESF is a rarity — In some seven years I’ve never reviewed…
Review: Vodka DSP CA 162 – Straight and Flavored
In 2010, California-based Craft Distillers sold its highly-regarded Hangar One Vodka line to Proximo Spirits. (You may not have even realized this, but now you know.) At the time, Craft signed a strict non-compete agreeing not to make vodka for three years. Well, the three years are up, and Craft is now back at work…
Review: 2bar Spirits Bourbon
Seattle-based 2bar Spirits has extended its line of craft hooch with a new, “100% local” bourbon. Regarding its creation, distiller Nathan Kaiser says, “I can’t disclose exact percentages, but it has significantly more malt, and much less wheat than a typical wheated bourbon mashbill. Barrel entry proof is significantly lower than normal, between 113 and…
Review: Botran Reserva Rum (2014)
Here’s a fresh look at Guatemala’s Botran rum and its Reserva bottling, which we last considered in 2010. This solera-aged rum goes through a range of barrel types — American whiskey, sherry, and Port — and is composed of rums aged 5 to 14 years old. That makes for lots of complexity, with the nose…
Tasting Report: Blue Chip Wineries of Paso Robles, 2014
Paso Robles, in central California, is a wine region that has never gotten much respect. Sandwiched between high-profile Napa/Sonoma to the north; the well-regarded Santa Barbara (Sideways) region to the south; and the bulk-wine-producing Central Valley to the east, Paso is close to nothing and, for many, just not worth a very lengthy drive for what…
Review: 7 Sirens White Rum
If there’s anything I hate, it’s putting numbers into words in place of letters. It’s called “7 Sirens,” but it’s written “S7rens” on the bottle. Ugh. Ssevenrens? I’m ill. What I do like, however, is good rum, and 7 Sirens is solid stuff. This new brand is made in Trinidad. It’s two years old, filtered to…
Review: SW4 London Dry Gin
Named for its place of origin in Clapham, South London, SW4 is an independently-produced gin made of 5-times distilled neutral grain spirits, which is re-distilled in a pot still with its botanicals. The botanical list includes most of the classics, with a few minor twists. The full list includes juniper, savory, orris, angelica, cinnamon, cassia, licorice,…
