Review: A Duo of Sebastiani Cabernets, 2020 Releases
A pair of new cabernet sauvignon releases from Sonoma’s venerable Sebastiani (now part of the Foley empire): 2017 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon North Coast – A straightforward cab (with grapes from both Sonoma and Lake Counties), this wine is youthful and focused more on fruit than wood. “Juicy” is an understatement, with aggressive fruit tempering and…
Review: Glen Moray Elgin Classic Cabernet Cask Finish and 21 Years Old Portwood Finish
Perennially underrated Glen Moray recently dropped two new single malt expressions, one a cabernet sauvignon wine barrel-finished version of its NAS Elgin Classic, the other an ultra-high-end 21 year old, finished in Port pipes. Let’s give them a spin, each in turn. Glen Moray Elgin Classic Cabernet Cask Finish – The follow up to last…
Review: 2016 Adobe Road Shift Sonoma County Red Wine
Like cars? Check out Adobe Road’s Shift, a wine with a gearshift knob on top and a five-speed shifter — etched metal with carbon fiber underneath — that serves as a label. Clearly a ton of money has been spent on the bottle, but what about what’s inside, which is a Sonoma-born blend of…
Review: Amass Dry Gin
Amass is a new gin distilled and bottled in downtown Los Angeles, with a whopping 29 botanicals in the mix. (The company also makes a vodka… in Copenhagen, Denmark.) The Amass Gin botanical list is right on front of the otherwise spare label, and it’s a doozy: Juniper, Coriander, Cedar Berries and Bark, Angelica, Orris…
Best 10 Signature Wedding Cocktails
ADVERTISEMENT Thinking about organizing your wedding bar? Here’s a collection of fun and delicious signature wedding cocktails that are sure to be a hit on your big day. One important aspect of your wedding planning should be the drinks to be served at your wedding reception. And one of the best wedding ideas for wedding…
Tasting the Wines of Carinena, Spain, 2020 Releases
Cariñena can be found in northeast Spain, about midway between Midrid and Barcelona. One of the oldest operating wine regions in the world, the region is considered the origin of the carignan grape, hence its name. (In Spain, however, carignan is more commonly known as mazuelo.) That said, a whole lot of wine varieties are…
Review: Balcones “1” Peated and Rumble Cask Reserve (2019)
Waco-based Balcones recently dropped two special releases, both twists on two of its mainline whiskeys — “1” Single Malt and Rumble. “1” Peated is, as the name suggests, a peated version of the “1” Single Malt. Rumble Cask Reserve is an update/rebranding of Rumble, completely revamped and bottled at cask strength. Let’s dig in. Balcones…
Review: Stella Artois Midnight Lager
The venerable Stella Artois recently put out a limited-edition winter seasonal: Midnight Lager, described as “a black lager with notes of Belgian dark chocolate and freshly brewed espresso.” (It isn’t brewed with any of these things, though — just dark malts to give it an inky brown color.) And… it’s fine. It’s a lager at…
