I enjoy walking down the lesser traveled aisles of the local liquor store. There’s always some unique options, and more often than not I can find a surprisingly cheap and delicious spirit that’s a little off the beaten path. On a recent trip, I spotted Cascade Blonde American Whiskey and I knew that I needed to try it out.
Read More
I like the Evan Williams line of bourbon. It’s one of my favorite budget priced spirits, a great balance of taste and affordability. But what happens when you try to elevate a bottom-shelf whiskey? Will it be something like a single barrel bottling of hand selected vintages? That’s what we’re looking at today, asking ourselves if it’s worth the price tag.
Read More
With fall in full swing and the holiday season fast approaching, its time to start thinking festive cocktails. Since my holidays are spent in New York, I decided that this drink should pay homage to their crazy delicious apples, so naturally that meant using apple cider. I also decided to use Tuthilltown’s delicious Manhattan Rye to use a local spirit, as well. After a solid afternoon of tinkering, a perfect fall cocktail took shape: the Apple Cider Manhattan.
Read More
I love whiskey. (In case you couldn’t tell from the fact that I run a whiskey blog.) So when I visit a new city and I find a bar that styles itself as a ‘whiskey bar’, I get excited and immediately make plans to visit. Sometimes I fall in love, but other times I leave confused and disappointed. So what exactly makes the difference?
Read More
Zippo lighters are damn near ubiquitous, and the attractive design can be customized to meet any style. All of which makes them popular among smokers, but because the lighter fluid used in their standard mechanism can easily taint the flavor of a cigar, they have remained basically unusable for us cigar smokers. There are aftermarket inserts available to convert Zippo lighters to use clean and tasteless butane, but Zippo itself has never offered them as an option. Until now.
Read More
Scotch whisky tends to have a specific “fingerprint”, or flavor profile that defines the genre. The presence of a smokey aroma from the peat-fueled ovens tends to be that defining feature, and yet the best selling single malt scotch whisky in Scotland doesn’t follow suit. Instead, Glenmorangie seems to be chasing its own vision of what a scotch whisky should taste like.
Read More
Now that my parents are nearing retirement, they’re getting ready to move to their house in Cape Cod full time. On the one hand, that makes it significantly more difficult to get home and see them, what with the hour long drive from Boston or the expensive hop to Provincetown… but it does have one silver lining: it means I get more opportunities to head to Truro Vineyards and stock up on their delicious spiced rum.
Read More
Balcones Distilling recently had its first Bourbon Fest and, like moths to a flame, Texas-based whiskey drinkers (myself included) made the pilgrimage to Waco, Texas to check it out. One of the things that they were selling was the latest bottling of their Texas Pot Still Bourbon and I couldn’t resist bringing a bottle home to test out.
Read More
I’m not made of money, and not every night is a Lagavulin night. Sometimes I just need something that I can mix in a cocktail without feeling regret about wasting a “good” spirit. But I’m also not interested in something bland or poor quality, either. To fill this void of a reasonably priced yet consistently delicious scotch whisky, one of my go-to brands has been Lismore.
Read More
If there’s one thing that really disagrees with my taste buds, it’s cinnamon flavored whiskey. But what about when that whiskey isn’t even whiskey, but instead a “fortified wine” with some cinnamon added, and which is commonly sold at convenience stores? Well… that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Read More