Review: Sagrantino Wines of Messina Hof, 2026 Releases
Sagrantino is a grape that genuinely humbles. Not in a pretentious, wine-clown kind of way, but more like the way a long hike in midday July heat humbles: you think you’re prepared, and then somewhere around mile three, there’s an epiphany that in no way do you have business being out there. That’s Sagrantino: dense,…
Review: El Tequileno Reposado Gran Reserva
What makes a reposado and reposado gran reserva? El Tequileno‘s latest repo is aged for at least 8 months in American oak and is blended with a small amount of anejo. That’s distinguished from the distillery’s standard reposado, which is aged for 3 months, and its Reposado Rare bottling, which spends 6 years in a…
Review: FreeAF NA Espresso Martini
On a surface level, FreeAF Espresso Martini can be interpreted as either a promise or a dare. Freedom from alcohol, but also from whatever joyful, slightly disreputable physics making the real thing such a classic cocktail. This is a drink that, in its original form, rests squarely at the center of need and impulse: a…
Review: Talisker Magma 47 Years Old
The use of barrels toasted with hot volcanic rocks are, believe it or not, not a new idea, as Dewar’s dropped a magma-toasted barrel bottling last year. That’s not going to dull our enthusiasm for this release from Talisker, though, which at 47 years of age is the oldest distillery release to date and one…
Review: This Life Wines, 2024 Vintage
There is a version of celebrity wine, and celebrity anything really, existing purely as a licensing deal: a label slapped onto something bulk-produced and mildly unremarkable. It is the vineyard equivalent of a perfume “partnership”, with the celebrity’s name performing the heavy marketing lift while the liquid inside does as little as possible. You, savvy…
Review: Wild Turkey Austin Nichols Archives Collection Gold Foil Edition
Bourbon nerds love to wax poetic about a specific release of Wild Turkey from the 1980s and ’90s, affectionately called “Cheesy Gold Foil” because of its gaudy gold label, one which was clearly trying much too hard for an otherwise straightforward 12 year old release. (That said, Eddie Russell has reportedly stated that the release…
Review: Royal Ranthambore Indian Whisky
In a recent review, we noted that Rampur Indian Whisky was starting to expand their offerings. Introducing Royal Ranthambore. This new whisky is distilled and distributed by Radico Khaitan, which is the new name for what was previously the Rampur Distillery. Royal Ranthambore is unusual in that it is a blended whiskey that includes neutral…
Review: Cedar Ridge Quintessential Pete & Sherri Married 2nd Anniversary
Out of Iowa’s Cedar Ridge comes another edition of “Pete & Sherri Married,” a single malt blend meant to capture the best of the distillery’s peated and sherried liquid streams. The series initially launched in 2019 and returned later with a 1st Anniversary bottling. This latest 2026 version is titled “2nd Anniversary,” a 114.4 proof…