Review: Griffo Distillery Still Waldos Single Malt Whiskey with Hops
Griffo Distillery can be found in Petaluma, California. Around the corner lies Lagunitas Brewing, one of the kings of the craft beer scene, especially on the west coast. Lagunitas’s most prized brew is The Waldos, a triple IPA that is released as a highly limited one-off each April. (I’ve had it once. It was delicious.)…
Tasting Report: Virginia Spirits Expo 2023
Now in its second year, the Virginia Spirits Expo is expanding to include four different events across the state. I attended the first of these in Charlottesville over the summer where more than two dozen Virginia distillers were on hand to share their labors of love. It was unseasonably warm at Ix Art Park that…
Review: Ports of Kopke, 2023 Colheitas
We seem to write about Kopke’s Port collection quite a bit, led by Robert Lublin’s coverage of multiple bottlings over the years. Today we’re taking a deeper dive into Kope’s Colheita Port wines. Colheita traditionally refers to vintage tawny Ports, but Kopke also uses it to refer to its vintage white Port. I recently received a…
Review: Rhum J.M Terroir Volcanique
Martinique’s Rhum J.M is out with a doozy of a new rum, “an homage to the distillery’s micro-climatic tropical milieu and breezy volcanic sugarcane fields” called Terroir Volcanique. The product is a blend of rums of at least 3 years aged in new American oak barrels with “two unique custom heavy toasts charred in the…
Review: Ron del Barrilito Rum 2 Stars
While the 3 Star expression might be the most readily available rum from Puerto Rico’s Ron del Barrilito, the brand actually offers impressively aged 4 and 5 Star offerings, as well as this bottle, the entry level 2 Star. Per Ron del Barrilito, this introductory expression has been aged “at least 3 to 5 years”…
Review: Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon 6 Years Old
Bib & Tucker is complementing its classic 6 year old bourbon (self-dubbed as the “classic 6,” a whiskey we’ve reviewed three times now) with a new Double Char release which was “inspired by the turn of the century, when food was cooked on the open flame.” The aim was to add a smoky appeal by…
Bar Reviews: Miss Carousel and Eight Row Flint East, Houston
Surging with newfound popularity, Houston’s EaDo (East Downtown) neighborhood has become a hotspot of top-shelf restaurants and bars, at least two of which are operated by the local Agricole Hospitality group, and which I had the good fortune to visit during a recent visit to this Texas metropolis with a few (adult) members of my…
Review: Firestone Walker Double DBA
California’s Firestone Walker Brewery was born, like so many craft breweries, in a garage. That was way, way back in 1996. The brewery didn’t even begin recording their batches until they moved to Paso Robles in 2001. 22 years and a whole lot of success later, the brewery is marking its 10,000th batch with a…