Review: Amrut Peated Single Malt Whisky and Cask Strength Peated Single Malt Whisky
Amrut put Indian single malt on the map way back in 2004, and since that time they’ve built up quite the whisky portfolio (along with other spirits like rum). We recently reviewed Amrut Fusion, which is perhaps their best-known bottle in the U.S. That whisky is a marriage of 75% unpeated Indian barley and 25%…
Gift Idea: Fusion Flasks Dual Chambered Hip Flask
Variety is the spice of life, and now it seems there’s a flask for that. Fusion Flasks attempts to address the age-old problem of alcohol indecision by offering folks the ability to travel with two different spirits in the same, dual chambered hip flask. “Hip” flask might be pushing it, though. This is not a…
Review: 2018 Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir Woodford Reserve Barrel Finished
OK, not gonna lie here: Most bourbon-barrel finished wines are barely drinkable — and those are mostly cabernets, which can stand up to the punch of the whiskey barrel. What then to make of more upscale producer Sonoma-Cutrer putting a pinot noir in Woodford Reserve barrels for 4 months, its first whiskey-barreled release? Both operations share…
Review: Rhum Barbancourt 15 Years Old
Haiti’s oldest distillery – actually, one of its oldest companies – happens to be Société du Rhum Barbancourt, makers of Rhum Barbancourt. Opened in 1862, the distillery is currently helmed by the fifth generation of the founding family. This rum is aged in limousin oak and made from sugar cane juice in the style of…
Review: 2015 Dow’s Late Bottled Vintage Port
It’s been four years since we saw an LBV bottling from Dow’s, with the 2011 vintage. 2015 was not a declared vintage for most Port houses, though Dow’s had a notable small release from a single vineyard. As for this Late Bottled Vintage offering, it’s decidedly approachable, with unusual elements of fig jam and cola…
Review: Coit Spirits Gins and Bourbon
Coit Spirits traces a path from Australia vineyards to Sonoma, California, courtesy of winemaker Gerry Rowland, who has of late turned his eyes to the hard stuff. (That’s San Francisco’s Coit Tower on the bottle.) The company’s first product, an Earl Grey-infused gin, arrived a few years ago, and the company’s distilling operation has expanded…
Recipe: Bramble
Here’s a great recipe for summer sipping. The Bramble was created by legendary bartender Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in London in the 1980s. As with many cocktails, it’s exceptionally simple but the better the ingredients, the better the drink (including the crushed ice). Use a dry gin to complement the blackberry, not something overly…
Review: 2016 Gamble Family Vineyards Paramount
I spent a solid five minutes chipping the wax off the neck of Gamble’s Paramount — a process which should be enough to cue you in to the fact that this is one of Gamble’s most prized bottlings. Paramount is a blend of 32% cabernet sauvignon, 32% cabernet franc, 30% merlot, and 6% petit verdot.…