Review: Cardhu 11 Years Old Limited Edition 2020
Normally Diageo’s Special Releases — its annual release of ultra-rare cask strength Scotch whiskies — don’t arrive until Christmas or beyond. But now we’re in the time of Covid, so anything goes, I suppose. To be sure, we’re not looking this gift horse in the mouth — and neither should American Scotch fans, who are…
Review: 2017 Angove Shiraz Warboys Vineyard
This is a rare, single vineyard shiraz from Angove Family Winemakers, located in Australia’s McLaren Vale. The wine spends 10 months in French oak puncheons. The wine is a bit sweet at first blush, but some air helps the macerated currant and raspberry notes to find a more even footing, where notes of licorice, dark…
Review: Paul John Nirvana
Paul John, made in Goa, India, has launched a new single malt called Nirvana. It’s made from six-row barley grown in India and matured in ex-bourbon casks. Aside from the origins of the grain (and the spirit itself), the unique element here is the six-row barley, as the lower-protein/higher-starch two-row barley is more commonly used…
Review: Inchmoan 12 Year and 25 Years Old Single Malt (2017)
Western Highlands’ Loch Lomond has quite a few brands under its care. Aside from eponymous releases, the distillery serves as home Inchmurrin, Inchfad, Glen Douglas, Craiglodge, and Croftengea, amongst others. Over a dozen stills crafted in four different styles afford Loch Lomond the ability to be pretty versatile. Today’s consideration, Inchmoan, can be a bit…
Review: Expresiones del Corazon Barrel-Aged Tequila William Larue Weller Anejo 2020
This long-running collaboration between Corazon Tequila and Buffalo Trace — in which Corazon’s single-estate tequila is aged in a variety of Buffalo Trace whiskey casks — is always worth sampling. This year finds Buffalo Trace dropping three expressions, all anejos aged variously in William Larue Weller, Thomas H. Handy Sazerac, and George T. Stagg barrels. We…
Review: Signatory Vintage Dalmore 1992 27 Years Old
It should come as no surprise to long time readers of the site that we enjoy a sturdy Dalmore. With an average grade over the last decade of an A-, the Highland distillery consistently delivers on expectations of quality. So when a cask strength 27-year old arrives through the post, excitement and anticipation rivals the…
Review: Wines of Daou, 2020 Releases
Daou is a blue-chip family operation in California’s Paso Robles. This family operation, founded by sons of Lebanese refugees, produces a wide range of wines, but it’s its cabernet sauvignons that it hangs its hat on. It’s the chalky calcareous soil here, found virtually nowhere else in California, that winemaker Daniel Daou, leading a group…