Review: Kooper Family 100% Rye
Kooper Family Rye is a single-grain, 100% organic rye whiskey made by a small, family operation located in Dripping Springs, Texas — a small town near Austin. This distillate itself is actually sourced from Koval in Chicago. It is shipped unaged to Kooper, after which it spends two years in white oak barrels from Missouri…
Recipes: 2016 Cinco De Mayo Cocktails
Tired of the same old margies every year for Cinco De Mayo? Check out some of these bad boys to twist the holiday in a different direction. Mexican Martini Developed by Garrett Flanagan for El Original 1.5 oz. lime juice 1.5 oz. simple syrup 3 oz. tequila 0.5 oz. olive juice Shake with ice, pour…
Review: High West Light Whiskey 14 Years Old
Contrary to (and in fact the exact opposite of) what certain ill-informed websites will tell you, light whiskey is not distilled to a lower proof than regular whiskey. In fact, it is whiskey (made of unspecified grain) that is distilled to a higher proof — generally 80 to 95 percent alcohol. That puts it somewhere…
Review: Port Dundas Single Grain Whisky 12 Years Old and 18 Years Old
While the history of the distillery is complex, Diageo-owned Port Dundas has been producing single grain spirit since the mid-1800s, making it one of the oldest grain distilleries in Scotland. At least until 2010, when it was shuttered. The whisky that flowed from these Glasgow-based stills was used far and wide in blends like Johnnie…
Review: Moosehead Lager and Radler
Moosehead is Canada’s oldest independent distillery and the only remaining major distillery owned by Canadians. And it’s still turning out the same beer you remember from college. Or your dad remembers from college. The New Brunswick-based operation recently launched a new product, which we’ll get to in a second. First, let’s consider the original Moosehead……
Tasting Report: Whiskies of the World Expo San Francisco 2016
The 17th annual Whiskies of the World event wrapped this March in San Francisco, and it was as fun and chaotic as ever to wander three stories of the San Francisco Belle paddleboat, moored in the San Francisco Bay. This year I focused my attention primarily on independent bottlers of Scotch whiskies, with Alexander Murray…
Review: Barrell Bourbon Batch 6 and 7
Two new releases from our friends at Kentucky’s Barrell Bourbon, which take a variety of sourced whiskeys and release them at cask strength, one (often wildly different) batch at a time. Batch 6 and 7 are here, as are our thoughts. Barrell Bourbon Batch 006 – A close sibling to Batch 5, this is 70% corn, 26%…
Classic Book Reviews: The Home Bartender’s Guide and Song Book, American Bar, and Louis’ Mixed Drinks
Old timey cocktails are back, and so are old timey cocktail books. While cheap paperback reprints have been rampant in recent years, now these out of print tomes (originals can run up to $700 on Amazon) are being remade with fancy hardcovers and all the original detailing intact. Here’s a look at three, all recently republished…
