Review: Basil Hayden’s Rye 10 Years Old
Here’s a little surprise that recently hit the market. On the heels of a less-than-stellar rye — and three oddball variants — Beam-owned Basil Hayden’s has taken this horse upmarket, slapping the original, un-gimmicked version with a big 10 year old age statement. It’s actually the first rye in the lineup to have any age…
Review: 2019 Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio and Art of Earth Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
These two Italian wines are from the portfolio of Germany-based Mack & Schuhle, which focuses on importing affordable wines from Europe and other far-flung places. Let’s see what 12 bucks can get you! 2019 Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio IGT – Straightforward, floral, and fruity. Notes of mango and guava interplay with a fresh spray of…
Original Recipe: Mimmy’s Paloma
Hey folks, it’s another quarantine birthday cocktail, this one in honor of my mother, affectionately known as Mimmy to her grandkids. Mimmy is well known for her love of the color red (hence the grenadine), and since she’s a lifelong Texan, ruby red grapefruit from my home state had to be included in the recipe.…
Review: Corsair Dark Rye, Triple Smoke, and American Gin (2020)
At one point, Nashville-based Corsair had roughly 20 expressions of whiskey, gin, moonshine, and even absinthe on the market. To say that Corsair’s attentions were scattered might be a bit of an understatement. That changed this year when Corsair did a full-scale reboot, bringing their core product lineup down to just four: Two whiskeys, and…
Review: Merlet Creme de Poire Williams (2020)
Merlet continues to raise the bar on fruit liqueurs. Here’s a look at a rarity we last encountered in 2013: a liqueur de Poire Williams — pear liqueur, for the rest of us. Those unmistakable, lightly bitter but aromatic pear notes emerge immediately when the bottle is cracked, that vague apple-meets-camphor character rising promptly from…
Review: Milam & Greene Triple Cask Bourbon
With somewhere in the neighborhood of 150+ distilling permits issued since 2008, Texas has no shortage of craft distilleries. Provision Spirits is one of the newer additions to this crowd. Founded in 2017, the distillery kicked things off in typical fashion, bottling sourced stocks under the Ben Milam Whiskey label from the usual suspects in…
Recipe: Gold Rush Cocktail
A modern classic conceived in the early 2000s at New York’s Milk & Honey, the Gold Rush Cocktail is a simple libation that gives the whiskey sour a spin. With just three ingredients, it’s extremely simple to make with nothing but bar and kitchen standards. The Gold Rush is a forgiving cocktail that lets you…
Review: Black Tot Rum (2020)
Black Tot Day occurred on July 31, 1970, and it marks the final day when British sailors were issued a formal rum ration by the Royal Navy. The catch? The Navy still had rum that they hadn’t doled out, so they sold it off to private enterprise. Some of this stock reportedly dated back to…
