Drink the Bottles

  An Evening with Dave Specter and the Story Behind One of Oregon's Most Personal Winery Experiences One of the best parts of what we do at Drink The Bottles is connecting with the people behind the wines. While nothing quite replaces standing in a vineyard with a glass in hand, virtual tastings have become one of our favorite ways to discover exceptional wineries from across the country. What began as a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into something much more. Today, virtual tastings allow wine lovers to connect directly with winery owners and winemakers from the comfort of their own homes, often creating conversations that are every bit as personal as an in-person visit. There is something special about gathering friends around the table, opening the same bottles, and sharing an evening with the person who crafted them. That was exactly our experience during a recent one-hour virtual tasting with Bells Up Winery co-owner and winemaker Dave Specter. By the time...

  While we can't say for certain that the 2024 release of William Larue Weller is the best BTAC bottle, it sure put a smile on our face and made us really take notice.  It's not often that we get to taste the hard-to-find releases from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, but this was very exciting for us and we had heard grumblings from several sources that this year's expression was delicious.  They weren't wrong. At just over 12 years, this bourbon aged in barrels on the lower levels of the rickhouse after entering at 114 proof before the long and important nap.  Fruit basket, floral notes with oak and homemade caramel candies on the nose.  "Wow" was the first thing that Mutt said and he picked up shoe leather, toffee, spice and sweet tobacco.  Jeff called this a fruit bomb with caramel and a nice lingering spice along with chocolate covered candies.  Honeysuckle, orange rind and chocolate nose.  Both guys agreed that the orange marmalade and...

  Hold on to your hats for this one, folks!   This is the 2024 Yellowstone Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey .  This creation is a blend of seven and seventeen year Kentucky bourbons from Master Distiller Stephen Beam and it is tracking to become one of our favorite limited-edition releases of the year!   We visited this bottle on three separate occasions - a "pop and pour" (see video below), a more formal tasting the next day, and a re-visit about 10 days later - all neat and all from a Glencairn.  As we describe in the video link below, we know that most folks buy a bottle and then go home and immediately taste it right away.  We knew there was something very special about this bottle which is why we tasted it multiple times and the results were so varied and incredible. Our first impression (remember, pop-and pour) was an inviting, dusty funkness that was reminiscent of a box of old baseball cards and a sweet cigar wrapper....