Review: Beers of Almanac, Holiday 2020
This quintet of beers is available as part of a Christmas-themed collection from Alameda, California-based Almanac Brewing, complete with holiday-friendly labels. We received five of the dozen brews for review, all tasted from 16 oz cans. Almanac Love Hazy IPA – I like my hazy IPAs to be hazy, and this super-juicy offering really does…
Review: 2019 Famille Perrin Nature Cotes du Rhone Blanc
This affordable Rhone Valley wine is a blend of grenache blanc, viognier, roussanne, and marsanne from vineyards in the Northern part of the region and is certified organic. Boldly fruity and floral at once, the wine bounces from notes of pears and lemon curd to coconut, sesame, and green figs. It’s slightly redolent of damp…
Review: El Tequileno Blanco
El Tequileno is an affordable brand founded by Don Jorge Salles Cuervo in 1959 that bills itself as “Mexico’s best-kept secret.” It’s made from blue agave from Los Altos de Jalisco (the Highlands) and volcanic spring water from El Volcan de Tequila. Unusually, this blanco (sometimes billed as Platinum on the label) is rested for…
Review: Cool Cat Citrus Wine Spritzer
In the fast-growing wine spritzer category, there’s another new kid on the block, Cool Cat. How cool you can actually look drinking it is a question I’ll let you, dear reader, answer on your own time, but there’s no denying that canned alcohol is here to stay, at least until we all start drinking marijuana…
Review: 2018 Gaia Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc
The Gaia collection is a brand from Domaine Bousquet’s estate vineyards in Tupungato, which can be found in Mendoza’s Uco Valley. Per the company, “The name references the ancient Greek goddess of the earth, and an inspiration for the Bousquet family from the outset, going back to the late 1990s when as visionaries and intrepid…
Review: Baileys Red Velvet
It’s perhaps the most ostentatious limited release of Baileys of all time: Baileys Red Velvet, which is produced in collaboration with the well-regarded confectioners at Georgetown Cupcake. You better believe it’s an honest-to-god liqueur version of red velvet cake, starting with the color, which is a somewhat horrifying shade of crimson that falls somewhere between…
Review: Veroni Aperitime Antipasto Trays
There’s no better happy hour snack than an tray full of charcuterie, cheese, crackers, and other snacks — but putting one together can be a real bear. Well, here’s a genius idea from Veroni, which makes a wide range of salumi and antipasto products in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. (Meats sold in the U.S.…
Review: 2016 Sweetzer Cellars Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
Hollywood expats Michael Fogelman and Lisa Liberati departed for the Santa Barbara area some years ago to make winemaking a full-time job. Here’s a look at two of Sweetzer’s current releases, both (surprisingly) from the 2016 vintage. 2016 Sweetzer Cellars Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley – This chardonnay is lively and vibrant on the whole, but…