Monthly Archives: March 2011

Review: The Bitter Truth E**X**R Krauter Liqueur

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Fun fact: E**X**R has more asterisks in its name than any other product we’ve reviewed.

That alone makes it exciting, but the product is also worthwhile on its own merits.

Also known as Elixier (overseas) and EXR — there were some issues with the original name, courtesy of your government overseers — E**X**R is a mild amaro style liqueur, and a good introduction to this type of bittersweet spirit.

For anyone scared of Cynar or Fernet, EXR is a good segue to the digestif style of spirit. Moderately sweet with a mild bitter edge, it is, typical of amari, somewhat syrupy, with cinnamon, raisins, and nutmeg notes. The overall effect is less Fernet and more of a mulled wine or even a tawny Port.

The sweetness fades as the bitterness zips up quickly in the finish, then soon fades as well. Neither heavy nor grimace-provoking, E**X**R is actually easy to drink because of its balance. More seasoned amaro fans may find it a little simplistic, but it’s still worth a try.

60 proof.

B+ / $32 / the-bitter-truth.com

the bitter truth exr Review: The Bitter Truth E**X**R Krauter Liqueur

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Posted in Liqueurs, Rated B+, Reviews

Review: Col. E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Christopher Null| 1 Comment

Is there anything better than a Bourbon whiskey named after an old dude with initials for a first name? And this one’s a Colonel, people!

Funnin’ aside, Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., was a real guy — he introduced climate-controlled warehouses in Kentucky in the 1800s and patented his own sour mash technique — and Buffalo Trace is invoking his name for a new line of whiskeys hitting the market over the next few years. This is the first of them, a nine-year-old Bourbon, bottled in bond at 100 proof and created using a replica of Taylor’s custom sour mash technique.

Some say Taylor’s Bourbons were the finest of their day, but now E.H. has a lot more competition. It still stands up. This Bourbon is a ruddy orange color, rich with the nose of a traditional, old-school Bourbon. Sweet and woody aromas give way to a whiskey with a moderate body and a rich complexity. This is not a vanilla- and charred-wood-heavy Bourbon like so many on the market today. Rather it is a whiskey that invokes raisins and cinnamon, plums, and silky creme brulee. The nose and body are a bit at odds with each other — traditional in the nostrils, startling and unusual on the tongue — and that gives this whiskey a surprising and unique complexity. What’s even more amazing is how smooth and bite-free it is. I was stunned to find out this was bottled at 100 proof. It finishes nice and easy like a standard 80 proofer. Definitely one to hunt down.

Bring on more of Edmund’s best! Can’t wait.

A / $70 / buffalotrace.com

EHT OFSM bottle and package low res Review: Col. E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon

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Posted in Bourbon, Rated A, Reviews, Whiskey

Review: Cooranbong and Bombora Australian Vodka

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

No one loves grape vodkas more than the Australians. Today we look at not one but two such bottlings. (They share another kinship, as both are imported by the same company in the U.S.)

CooranBong Australian Vodka (Aborigine for “water over rocks,” we’re told) is a Barossa Valley grape vodka, distilled a whopping 10 times and bottled in what looks like a Gewurztraminer bottle. The results are mightily impressive: For fans of “smooth,” bite-free vodkas, CooranBong is killer. That ultra-distillation process clearly has done some magic. This vodka is one of the most neutral and taste-free vodkas I’ve ever encountered. That’s not a slight — vodka is supposed to be neutral, after all — but it may be a negative for fans of bigger, rounder vodkas with more character. CooranBong has a thin, easy body — no creamy, mouth-filling roundness here, a faint medicinal odor, and an almost spring water-like finish in the mouth. For mixing I can’t imagine a much better spirit. Straight drinkers are advised to use caution: This stuff goes down like water. Fitting. A- / $30 / cooranbong.com

Bombora Vodka (Aborigine for “reef”) is quite dissimilar to Cooranbong. Pungent on the nose, Bombora offers big notes of lemongrass, dried herbs, and bitter vegetation. Sounds nasty but imagine carrying a spinach pie through a field of heather. OK, that sounds gross, too. Bombora makes one struggle for words, but it is nothing if not a unique vodka, rich, funky, with an aftertaste that evokes the back room of a Moscow speakeasy. Maybe the floor of the back room. Something unique, with all the connotations that word brings. B- / $25 bomboravodka.com

bombora and cooranbong aussie vodka Review: Cooranbong and Bombora Australian Vodka


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Posted in Rated A-, Rated B-, Reviews, Vodka

Review: Vinturi Travel Wine Aerator

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Christopher Null| Leave a comment

Whoa. Someone just took a standard Vinturi Aerator and ran it over with a truck. This pint-sized version is just like the original… just slimmer.

The original Vinturi Wine Aerator is controversial enough: The idea is that you pour wine through this plastic tube, air gets sucked in, and the wine spits and dribbles out the bottom. It’s loud and a bit messy but it basically works: Tannic wines (or anything needing decanting for reasons other than heavy sediment) do benefit from a spin through the Vinturi. It’s a marginal improvement, but it’s an improvement nonetheless — and enough to merit giving a Vinturi as a gift to the wine nerd who has everything.

Now Vinturi has another idea up its sleeve. After a silly detour into white wine decanting (come on, people), the company has designed a Vinturi for travel use. That’s right, just slip it in your purse and boom, you can aerate away at The Olive Garden.

While the Vinturi Travel is basically just a shrunken version of the same product (though it looks like a resizing mistake, the photo below is accurate), it suffers from a few flaws that make it less purchase-worthy than the original. First, the size change leaves it with a tiny opening at the top. It’s tough to get a perfect pour into that opening without making a mess — though the Vinturi Travel is still plenty messy as it is.

It is also still quite loud, loud enough to turn heads from a table away as people wonder what the hell that slurping noise is. And yeah, that really is the rub: Is anyone really going to use this thing away from the comfort of their own home? Let me put it this way: The kind of wine you’d drink at an establishment where this would be acceptable wouldn’t be the kind of wine that needed aeration.

B / $36 / vinturi.com [BUY IT HERE]

vinturi travel Review: Vinturi Travel Wine Aerator

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Posted in Barware, Rated B, Reviews

Review: Hangover Gone (aka Hang On)

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Christopher Null| 2 Comments

I’m not saying I had a hangover, I’m just saying that perhaps the words “another bottle of Slovenian* wine” aren’t necessarily a good idea.

Another shot-based hangover remedy, Hangover Gone — “Powered by Cysteine” — claims to cure your hangover in “three phases.” First it helps to metabolize acetaldehyde, “alcohol’s main and most toxic byproduct.” Second it uses glucose to “provide the extra fuel needed for cellular metabolization.” And third it uses a blend of herbs and vitamins — milk thistle, artichoke, goji berry, and ginger extract, plus Vitamins, C, E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, B6, Folate, B12, Pantothenic Acid, and more — to “rid the body of harmful toxins.”

The delivery vehicle is the now-well-known 2 ounce shot, served at room temperature. The taste is unpalatable in the extreme, a dark (sour, it says) cherry cough syrup sweetened to within an inch of its life. I am baffled by this approach to hangover remedies: When you’re not feeling so great after a night out, the last thing I want to do is put an even worse taste in my mouth.

Sadly, Hangover Gone didn’t do much for my post-Eastern-bloc-originated wine flu. It wasn’t until I took some Advil that the situation started to improve but, as is always the case with products like this, individual mileage will likely vary considerably. For me, though, Hangover Gone just didn’t live up to its goals. Or its name.

* It could have been Estonian. I keep getting that wrong.

D / $3 per 2 oz. shot / hangonshot.com

hangover gone Review: Hangover Gone (aka Hang On)

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Posted in Hangover, Rated D/F, Reviews