Review: 2013 Bodvar of Sweden No. 5 Rose Cotes de Provence
Rest easy: Sweden isn’t producing wine (or at least, it isn’t exporting any to our soils). This is a French Cotes de Provence created by a new, boutique wine company from our friends to the northeast: Bodvár of Sweden – House of Rosés. The brainchild of Bodvar Hafström, the Bodvar brand includes sales of cigars, brandy, and…
Review: Stone Coffee Milk Stout
It’s breakfast for happy hour with Stone’s latest, a limited edition beer that was previous bottled as a pilot project called Gallagher’s After Dinner Stout. Stone tinkered and reformulated Brian Gallagher’s brew to bring it to the masses, and here it is, a stout brewed with milk sugar lactose and coffee beans from San Diego’s…
Review: Platinum 7X Vodka
As the name implies, this low-cost vodka is seven times distilled, from American corn. There’s lots of sweetness up front on the nose alongside some raw alcohol notes, and little else of note. On the palate, sugar masks any impurities — or anything else of note — and the spirit finishes with little impact. Over…
Recipe: Day of the Dead Cocktails, 2014
Recently we received an email with some recipes for drinks celebrating the upcoming Day of the Dead (see also this year’s Halloween cocktail compilation). Normally we just pick and choose from the recipes we receive and offer them up as a compendium, but mixologist Justin Noel did a such great job on each of these…
Review: Highland Park 50 Years Old
When one receives an invitation to taste one of the rarest spirits in the world, one accepts before the bearer of the invitation realizes what he’s done. In this case, the offer was legit, and I found myself staring down a bottle of Highland Park 50 Years Old — 275 bottles made, $20,000 each, and sold…
Recipe: Halloween Cocktails, 2014
Probably more than any other holiday in recent memory, our inbox has been overflowing with Halloween inspired cocktail recipes from various folks. It’s been quite tough to muddle (no pun intended) through all of them, and even tougher to narrow down our favorites. Here are but a few that we’ve tested and enjoyed for your…
Tasting Report: 6 Whiskies Along “The Highland Journey,” 2014 Releases
I had the recent good fortune to attend an online tasting called “The Highland Journey,” a road that took us through four distilleries and six single malts, all from distilleries throughout the Scottish Highlands. Tasted roughly from southeast to northwest, the experience covered anCnoc, Speyburn, Balblair, and Old Pulteney. We sampled a range of malts made…
![Te wahi 2011 (Native) [MHISWF041779 Revision-1]](https://www.drinkhacker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Te-wahi-2011-Native-MHISWF041779-Revision-1.jpg "Te wahi 2011 (Native) [MHISWF041779 Revision-1]")
Review: Cloudy Bay 2011 Te Wahi Pinot Noir and 2012 Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand’s most notable winery is back with new vintages — including a major departure for the brand with its new Pinot. Let’s not let my intro get in the way. Here are thoughts on two new releases from Cloudy Bay. 2011 Cloudy Bay Te Wahi Pinot Noir Central Otago – This is Cloudy Bay’s…
