Review: Copper & Kings Brandy – A Song For You and Way Up West
The American brandy mavens at Copper & Kings have recently launched two new expressions, both in limited release. Thoughts on both bottlings follow. Copper & Kings A Song For You American Brandy – This limited, anniversary release comes from the distillery’s earliest sourced American brandies, dubbed “DNA1,” which were procured five years ago. Aged in…
Review: 2016 Hard Row to Hoe Burning Desire Cabernet Franc
Lake Chelan, Washington-based Hard Row to Hoe offers an interesting name for a vineyard. Burning Desire is an interesting name for a wine. A bed with flames erupting from it is an interesting image to put on your bottle. I had hoped therefore that Burning Desire would be an incredibly interesting wine, too, but as…
Review: Destillare Chocolat Liqueur and Cafe Liqueur
Destillare is a sub-brand of the increasingly busy Copper & Kings distillery in Louisville. While the primary brand focuses on brandy and gin, Destillare is where C&K is dropping its liqueurs, including this new duo, which feature chocolate and coffee. Both are aged brandy-based liqueurs, flavored with real ingredients and sweetened not with sugar but…
Review: Upshot 2018 White and 2017 Red Wine Blend
Upshot is an offshoot of Sonoma-based Rodney Strong Vineyards, a new brand focused on blending, well, all sorts of things. The results of the inaugural release of the wine — including a white and a red — show some promise to the concept. Let’s dive in. 2018 Upshot White Wine Blend California – A wild…
Review: Col. E.H. Taylor Amaranth Bourbon
Buffalo Trace’s tenth installment in the vaunted Colonel E. H. Taylor, Jr. line is here, and it’s perhaps the most unusual in the collection to date, using amaranth as a flavoring grain instead of rye. (The remainder of the mash is corn and barley, made in the same proportions as Buffalo Trace’s Mashbill #1, and…
Review: Founders Brewing Mas Agave
Drinking beer… but really wish you had a margarita? Well, the answer is here in the form of Founders’ Mas Agave, a hybrid margarita/beer if ever there was one. Allow them to describe: “We took an imperial gose brewed with agave, lime and sea salt and then aged it in tequila barrels for just the…
Review: Soggy Dollar Dark Rum and Spiced Rum
The Soggy Dollar Bar calls the British Virgin Islands its home, specifically the island of Jost Van Dyke, where the bar overlooks the picturesque White Bay. Soggy Dollar, like many a fine bar, recently decided to get into the booze business itself — what better to use with its own collection of cocktails — and…
Review: Blood Oath Bourbon Whiskey Pact No. 5 2019
Lux Row’s top-end whiskey release, Blood Oath, enters its fifth annual installment with Pact No. 5, and it’s the line’s strangest installment to date. Some back story: Pact No. 5 starts with an eight-year-old ryed bourbon rested in used dark Caribbean rum barrels for six months to add a touch of warm island spice. Once…
