Book Review: Dr. Cocktail
Can drinking be medicinal? Since the dawn of time alcholic beverages have been billed as good for the body. That’s how legions of drinkers got their hands on booze during Prohibition, even — through a doctor’s prescription. Alex Ott, “the sorcerer of shaken and stirred,” takes things a step further with his book Dr. Cocktail: 50…
Review: Avua Cachaca – Prata and Amburana
Is the world ready for single-estate cachaca? Avua, made from single-estate sugarcane grown near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, is now available in two expressions, an unaged prata version, and an aged amburana cachaca matured for up to two years in casks made of local Amburana wood. While cachaca has a long (and largely deserved) reputation as…
Review: Booker’s 25th Anniversary Edition Bourbon
If Colonel Blanton is the Louis Armstrong of the bourbon world, there is no question that that bellowing, boisterous Booker Noe is its John Coltrane. His larger-than-life presence dominated the bourbon world during a time when personalities were less idolized than today. So it is most appropriate that on the silver anniversary of creating the…
Book Review: Drinking Japan
I’ve never been to Japan, but it’s at the top of my list. When I get there, I plan to drink it. The whole thing. Chris Bunting’s Drinking Japan will surely help. Part guide book, part encyclopedia of Japanese alcohol, the tome guides you throw the best places to get a sip of sake, shochu, Okinawan awamori,…
Review: Alaskan Brewing Company Hopothermia and ESB
Alaskan Brewing Co., arguably Alaska’s most noteworthy brewery, is releasing these two beers this spring — with Hopothermia now joining the ranks as a year-round release. Bold, bitter, and hoppy, they’re both worthy sippers no matter what the weather is like. Alaskan Brewing Co. Hopothermia Double IPA – A stellar IPA, a little citrus, a…
Review: 2012 Laetitia Pinot Noir Whole Cluster Arroyo Grande Valley
Laetitia’s latest from the Arroyo Grande AVA in San Luis Obispo is a a Pinot Noir made from whole clusters of Clone 115 Pinot Noir grapes, aged half in new and half in used French oak barrels. Classic dark cherry and cola notes dominate the nose, developing just the lightest touches of chocolate and cedar…
Book Review: Wine: A Tasting Course
USA Today readers rejoice: There’s a book that takes the pedantic prose out of wine and turns it all into colorful infographics. Marnie Old’s Wine: A Tasting Course cues you in from the start, with a cover festooned with cartoony illustrations and questions designed to pique your interest in the category (“Which are the most important…
Review: Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition
Cutty Sark, from Scotland, brings us this upscale bottling in celebration of… Prohibition? An American phenomenon? Bear with us. “Cutty Pro” as it’s being taglined, “salutes the notorious Captain William McCoy, who courageously smuggled Cutty Sark into American speakeasies. McCoy possessed an infamous reputation as a distributor of the highest quality products, always genuine and…
