Review: Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana and Menagerie
Compass Box, as Chris already observed in his review last fall, seems to always be adding new spirits while also revamping their old ones, often for special releases and the like. Case in point: Peat Monster Arcana which hit shelves late in 2020 and Menagerie, which arrived not long after in early 2021. Always in…
Review: Bowmore Core Lineup – 12, 15, 18, and 25 Years Old (2022)
We’ve dabbled with all many Bowmore releases in the past — having started with the entry level 12 year old way back in 2009 and, most recently, checking out the new 30 year old bottling, with plenty of special editions in between. What we haven’t done is a full look at the Bowmore core lineup,…
Review: 6 Stirrings Mixers
Stirrings makes a bazillion mixers, and the company recently sent us a ton of stuff — all in response to missing out on our grenadine roundup — so we figured it was best to put it all here in one mixed roundup. Note that all the products in this roundup are non-alcoholic despite the “bitters”…
Review: Barrell Gold Label Bourbon
Barrell has lately been finding lots of different ways to show off its stocks of older Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee bourbons. For starters, some has been finding its way into their standard Batch blends, which has likely contributed to the consistently high quality of that line in recent years. The introduction of the Gray Labels in…
Review: 8 Beers from Sun King Brewery (Late 2021 Releases)
Indiana-based Sun King dropped a heap of beers on us just before Christmas, and it’s taken us a while to get through them all. Why? Almost all are well over 10% abv, the kind of winter-themed brews that pair best with ski slopes and fireplaces. Clearly, some moderation has been in order. Below please find…
Review: Mezan Chiriqui Moscatel Cask Rum
Mezan produces a range of rums from all of over the Caribbean and Latin America, and its latest is this offering born in Panama, which starts with column-distilled molasses that is aged in second-fill American white oak casks, then finished in Portuguese Moscatel wine casks. No sugar is added. Rich and earthy on the nose,…
Review: 2019 Vurria Di Giovanna DOC
Sicily is an important wine region in Italy, producing mostly red wines with substantial body and flavors. The region has a Mediterranean wine climate, with long, warm and sunny days and an overall dry growing season. Nero d’Avola is the dominant black grape in Sicily and is cultivated throughout the entire island. This grape is apt…
Review: Breckenridge Buddy Pass – Imperial Oatmeal Stout and Stout Finished Whiskey Batch 1
It’s hard to believe but Breckenridge Brewery and Breckenridge Distillery are not owned by the same company. (Breckenridge Brewery is actually part of Anheuser-Busch, while the distillery is still independently owned.) Buddy Pass is nonetheless a natural collaboration between the two operations, a barrel exchange in which Breckenridge Brewery brewed an Imperial Oatmeal Stout which…
