Review: Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection – Stave Drying Time Experiments
When trees are cut down and turned into lumber, the wood planks are dried, or “seasoned,” by leaving them out in the open air. After a few months, the wood has lost enough of its oiliness to allow the staves to be turned into barrel planks. (If the wood isn’t dried at all, the moisture…
Tasting Report: 2009 and 2010 St. Emilion Bordeaux Wines
It isn’t every day we get to experience a narrowly-focused tasting that offers only wines from a single, small region — and restricts them to just two vintages, at that. Hard, then, to pass up the opportunity to sample the 2009 and 2010 vintages of St. Emilion red Bordeaux wines — all Grand Crus —…
Tasting Report: Ferrari-Carano and J Vineyards, 2014
A recent trip to Sonoma County took us to a pair of well-known wineries to sample their latest bottlings. Here’s a look at what’s new from Ferrari-Carano (including a number of rare dessert wines) and J Vineyards, best known for its sparkling production. Ferrari-Carano 2011 Ferrari-Carano Pinot Noir Russian River Valley / $38 / B+…
Review: 2008 Banfi Brunello di Montelcino
Castello Banfi’s newest vintage in its Brunello di Montelcino line is a knockout, and a great improvement over last year’s oxidized mess. For 2008, Banfi has produced a well-balanced mini-masterpiece, with a nose of black pepper and dried cherries, and a body of fresh cherries and raspberries, light tar notes, and a sultry vanilla-inflected finish.…
A Pro-Suntory Argument for the Consideration of the Anti-Beam Acquisition Crowd
Perhaps the most troublesome trend from the announcement of Suntory’s potential purchase of Beam yesterday is the stench emanating from that petri dish of democracy, the anonymous reactionary commenter festering in pockets of news web portals and its hydra-headed cousin, social media. Some of the contributions have been a bit disturbing and mildly ill-informed. In…
Review: Kilchoman 2007 Vintage and 100% Islay Third Release
Two new expressions from Islay’s Kilchoman, still the youngest distillery in Scotland and arguably its most intriguing… Kilchoman 2007 Vintage – This is Kilchoman’s oldest bottling to date, a six-year-old single malt whiskey matured entirely in ex-Bourbon barrels. Here we see Kilchoman starting to mellow out, its aggressive peat subdued by some of the wood…
Review: Zwack, Unicum, and Unicum Plum Liqueur
Four years ago I covered a line extension from Hungary’s Zwack, which confusingly was launching for the first time a spirit called Zwack. Previously, Zwack’s sole product was the bitter Unicum, and “Zwack” was nowhere to be found on the label. At some point Unicum left the U.S. market, leaving Zwack the company’s sole product…
Recipes: Golden Globe Cocktails 2014
This Sunday two of the funniest women in the history of comedy, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will be hosting this year’s edition of the Golden Globes. A rundown and reviews of the best movies nominated this year can be found on our sister site, Film Racket. In the meantime, here are a few recipes…
