Tasting the Wines of Vega Sicilia with Winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga de Juan
There are cult wines and there are cult wines. You can probably name a dozen of these most prized wine brands, and I’m willing to bet that Vega Sicilia is among them. In over 20 years of writing about wine, I’d never had the chance to taste Unico, Vega Sicilia’s top-level bottling — until I…
Review: Blue Note Special Reserve Bourbon 2025
Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Blue Note has been a steady presence in bourbon’s blending scene for the past several years. While many of their releases have featured whiskey sourced from both Tennessee and Kentucky, they currently have a partnership with Bardstown Bourbon Company, so we’re likely to see more of that contract-distilled liquid come of…
Review: Heaven’s Door Bootleg Series Vol. VI
Heaven’s Door’s annual Bootleg Series arrives with edition #6, and as always there are plenty of twists in store from the Bob Dylan-operated brand. This whiskey is hardly a complete unknown, but rather a well-known quantity, featuring a blend of 12-, 13-, and 14-year-old wheated bourbons finished in “Limousin cigar barrels” and bottled in a…
Review: Guinness Fonio Stout
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Ready for something a little off the beaten path? Rather than trying to Split the G with your traditional Guinness Stout, check out this special edition, a collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery that is made with the inclusion of fonio, a West African grain similar to quinoa. (This was technically a late…
Review: Belle of Dayton Detrick Rye Single Barrel
Time flies when you’re having fun. It often seems like just yesterday that craft distilleries were popping up everywhere and pushing rough whiskey aged for around 2 years at $60. Almost as if we went through a time warp, we’re now living in a universe where those small distilleries dealing in expensive harsh whiskey are…
Review: Wenzel Sherry Cask Bourbon
Located in Covington, Kentucky, Wenzel Distillery is likely an unknown name to most whiskey enthusiasts. Wenzel currently offers a unique experience where visitors can taste and blend their own whiskey from stock sourced from Kentucky, Louisiana, and Indiana. At the moment, Wenzel operates as a rectifier of whiskey, but in 2022, Wenzel acquired distilling equipment…
Review: TX Bourbon and Blended Whiskey (2025)
The state of Texas is quickly picking up steam in the whiskey world. Fort Worth has been home to TX Whiskey since 2012. No longer owned by Firestone & Robertson, the current distillery’s name is Whiskey Ranch, though both are likely much less familiar to consumers than the TX Whiskey branding. Several Texas distilleries have…
Review: Port Askaig 17 Years Old
It has been a minute since we last looked in on Port Askaig, an independently bottled blend of Islay single malts named for the small village on the island’s northern coast (the lesser used of two ferry ports on the island). Apparently, quite a bit has changed, as the brand now boasts an entirely new…