Tasting Report: Loire Valley White Wines 2011
This recent, Loire Valley-focused event marks (I believe) the first time I’ve experienced a wine tasting without touching a red wine — rose sparkling wine doesn’t count, right? The Loire Valley is home to dozens of very affordable wines, heavy on Sauvignon Blanc (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, Reuilly), Chenin Blanc (Vouvray), and Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet) —…
Review: Tequila Don Julio 70 Anejo Claro
Take an anejo tequila and filter out the color, and what do you have? Don Julio 70, a new — clear — tequila with the character of an anejo. Don Julio claims that 70 is the world’s first anejo claro, and depending on how you look at it, that’s true: Maestro Dobel does the exact…
Review: Guinness Black Lager
Heresy? Guinness is launching a brand new brew that is a massive departure from its typical fare: a black lager with a far lighter style than its usual offerings. What’s a black lager? First off it is indeed just about black: a coffee-dark shade of deepest brown that blocks out all light. But it is…
Tasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2011
WhiskyFest remains the whiskey enthusiast’s festival to beat. With hundreds of whiskeys, it is a mad dash for all sorts of great stuff — if only you can find it in the scattered auditorium and muscle your way to the front of the line. Don’t worry, you can do it, and even though the 2011…
Review: High Liquors High Whiskey
High Liquors — not to be confused with High West — is as enigmatic as its imposing, monolith-shaped bottle. Pick it up and you’ll find few clues about its provenance… and fortunately we were lucky enough to talk to the company’s founders, Brad Wright and Chris Lawson, to figure out exactly where this whiskey came…
Review: Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon
Firefly’s Sweet Tea Vodka was a pioneer in the tea-flavored vodka space. The South Carolina-based company has since expanded with multiple varieties (peach, mint, lemon, low-cal)… and now there’s this: Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon. This category already exists (Jeremiah Weed has a stellar one), so the company has competition. Firefly’s version blend’s Buffalo Trace whiskey…
Halloween Cocktail Recipes
The time of year is upon us for cauldron’s full of bubbly and foul-looking stuff… designed to woo the grown-ups at the Halloween party instead of the kiddoes. These cocktail (the term is used loosely here) recipes come variously to us courtesy of Kanon Vodka and Shindigz. Kanon Vodka Witches Brew 2 parts Kanon Vodka…
Review: Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
Pama’s a brand that’s been around for years, but to my knowledge it is the only pomegranate liqueur on the market. Why no competition? Because the popular way to get pomegranate into a drink — overwhelmingly — is via that classic bar standby: Grenadine. Now the catch is this: Rose’s Grenadine, by far the most…
