Review: Redbreast Sherry Finish Lustau Edition Irish Whiskey
What a fun idea from Redbreast. For the tasting experience of Redbreast Sherry Finish Lustau Edition, the distillery sent out three bottles: A bottle of classic Redbreast 12 Years Old, a bottle of the new sherry-finished Redbreast Lustau, and a bottle of actual Lustau Oloroso Don Nuno sherry. In this way one can follow the…
Review: 2013 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG
Avignonesi’s latest 100% Sangiovese wine from the Montepulciano is very dry, almost dusty at times, with more balsamic on the body than I’d expect for a wine of this age. Pleasant enough with food but somewhat thin on its own, the core of dark cherries and blackberries is powerful enough at the start, but eventually it…
Review: Thorberg Five Hop Belgian IPA
Belgium’s Brouwerij Anders says the quest for the perfect Belgian IPA is over, and here it is: Thorberg Five Hop, which take Golding, Mosaic, Equinox, Willamette, and Citra hops and brews them up with Belgian techniques. The results are impressive, offering aromatic layers of citrusy and lightly piney hops that meld beautifully with the heavier, relatively malt-laden…
Book Review: Quench Your Own Thirst
Ever wonder how Jim Koch got Samuel Adams started? Now you can, in Koch’s memoir that is part business story, part insider guide to the booze trade. It’s a relatively straightforward work as Koch meanders from his first act as a management consultant to the founder of a scrappy brewing operation to the CEO of…
Tasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2016
WhiskyFest is always a great opportunity to get a look at new releases — and pre-sampling products I won’t be able to formally review for a few weeks or month is my favorite part of the show. WhiskyFest 2016 was shaping up to be a windfall for these kinds of releases, including Ardbeg Dark Cove,…
Review: Tequila Siete Leguas, Complete Lineup (2016)
Tequila Siete Leguas — then billed as 7 Leguas, before a label change — was an early review on Drinkhacker way back in 2008. I’ve felt odd about it for a long while, because Siete Leguas seems to be so beloved in bars, and it regularly appears on top shelf pour lists among the tequilarati.…
Review: 2011 Marina Cvetic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC
A companion red to Cvetic’s Abruzzo-based white, this is a 100% Montepulciano d’Abruzzo from the same region. It’s a big, burly wine with powerful balsamic notes up front, leading quickly to an astringent, almost sour finish. Notes of sour cherry, strong tea, licorice, and bitters give the wine some depth, and some soul, but on the…
Review: Beers of Riegele, 2016 Releases
Who is Riegele? Riegele is a 630 year old, family owned Bavarian brewery located in Augsburg, Germany which won the 2016 German Craft Beer of the Year, 2015 German Craft Brewery of the Year, World Beer Cup, and many other awards. Now imported into the U.S., Riegele is probably best known for collaborating with Sierra…
