Review: Old Elk Straight Rye Whiskey and Straight Wheat Whiskey (2019)
Former MGP master distiller Greg Metze’s Old Elk Distillery came out of the gate with a unique blended bourbon a couple of years ago, and now the line is expanding with two new expressions, a straight rye and a wheat whiskey. Like Old Elk Bourbon, both are sourced, their actual origins undisclosed. The company explained…
Tasting Report: Wines of the 1849 Wine Company, 2019 Releases
1849 Wine Company is a newish negociant brand, snapping up wines from smaller producers, labeling them under its own banner, and selling them off, typically as one-off releases. You’ll find them at various retailers, including wine.com and Total Wine, but these bottlings may well vanish once their stock runs out — or evolve into something…
Review: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch B519 (May 2019)
Elijah Craig’s second release of its Barrel Proof series has arrived, coded as batch B519. As always, it’s 12 year old straight bourbon, bottled at cask strength — though considerably cooler than the 135 proof monster that was batch A119. The nose of B519 is classic Elijah Craig, a burly, lightly smoky monster that’s loaded…
Review: Infuse Spirits Grapefruit Vodka
We originally encountered Infuse back in 2014 and 2015, when the company was just a producer of flavored vodkas, distinguished by its inclusion of copious amounts of solid botanicals like long lemon peels and dried peach slices placed directly in the bottle. Since then, just about everything about Infuse has changed. The company has a…
Perfect Pairings: Wine and a Surprising Type of Chocolate
This will hurt some people’s feelings, so I’m just going to come right out and say it: dark chocolate does not pair well with wine. After a meal, nothing is classier than setting out some dark chocolate alongside a glass of 20 year-old tawny port. But the fact is that the dark chocolate and the…
Review: Backpack (Canned) Wine (2019)
When I first reviewed Backpack Wine — a line of wines packaged in single-serve cans — my comments were, for the most part, not so positive. I recently heard from the company, and its response to that review was quite a surprise. I’ll paste a portion of it here: The review was fairly negative and to…
Review: Eifel German Single Malt Whisky and Rye Whisky
German whisky is a rarely seen thing in the U.S., but even if you aren’t considering sipping on the stuff, you owe it to yourself to check out Eifel Whiskey’s website (link at the bottom of the page), which is the most German website ever. Based in the city of Koblenz, in western Germany, Eifel…
Tasting the Wines of Navarra, 2019 Releases
Navarra can be found on the northern edge of Spain, along the French border and near the Bay of Biscay. (The city of Pamplona, famed for the running of the bulls, can be found here.) While Navarra used to be known for little more than rose wine, improved farming techniques and technology have allowed this…
