Review: 2022 Lagar de Cervera Albarino
Lagar de Cervera is part of a La Rioja Alta operation that produces white wines — particularly albarino. This wine is sourced from plots in the O Rosal and O Salnés sub-zones, which are part of Rias Baixas, the premiere albarino-producing region in Spain. It’s a slightly sweeter style of albarino than is typical from…
Review: Still Austin Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon 2023
Still Austin iterates again this year with a new bourbon, made with red corn and bottled in bond. It’s the first in a line of four bonded whiskeys that will roll out over the next year, this one made with a mashbill of 36% Jimmy Red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye, and 5% malted…
Review: 2021 Frescobaldi Castiglioni Chianti DOCG
If you can find a better value in Chianti than this, particularly a DOCG expression, I’d love to hear about it. Tart with notes of cherry and a light layer of rhubarb, this wine exudes the most iconic essence of sangiovese, lightly herbal with a slightly balsamic edge that gives the wine a bracing, mouth-puckering…
Review: Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Red Wine Cask Batch 5 (2023)
It’s time for another experimental, Distillery Exclusive release from Stranahan’s. As always, this starts with Colorado single malt, this time finished for at least three years in red wine casks — a mix of Bordeaux and pinot noir. Total aging time is seven years in barrel, the first four years spent in a Level 4…
Review: Social Hour Dickel Bourbon Smash
Social Hour is back with another canned cocktail made with high-end ingredients. Like its previous Harvest Whiskey Sour, the new Dickel Bourbon Smash is made with age-statemented George Dickel Tennessee whiskey, this time 8 years old instead of the monster 13 year old last time around. This “slow-sipping” bourbon cocktail is described as “a classic…
Review: Ezra Brooks 99 Straight Rye and Bourbon Cream (2023)
Lux Row’s Ezra Brooks brand is getting the glow-up treatment, with new and reformulated versions of two of its entry-level products, Ezra Brooks Straight Rye and Bourbon Cream. Both are changing proof, recipes, bottles, and labels, so let’s dig in and see if these changes are for the better. Ezra Brooks 99 Straight Rye (2023)…
Review: Maraska Nocelino Chocolate Green Walnut Liqueur
Croatia’s Maraska, best known for its Slivovitz but also the producer of my #1 maraschino liqueur, has dropped a slightly odd new product which takes a distillate of macerated green walnuts and infuses it with natural chocolate. Nocelino Chocolate includes no artificial coloring or flavorings and can be used on its own or in place…
Review: 2019 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Louis M. Martini produces a number of excellent Cabernet Sauvignons from a variety of California regions and at various price points, and every year we’re delighted to see a new vintage of their Napa Valley offering. The 2019 vintage displays much of the character that we enjoy and have come to expect. It pours dark…