Drink the Bottles

  There are wineries in Napa Valley that have become destinations in their own right, with grand entrances, impressive tasting rooms and carefully constructed hospitality programs designed to introduce visitors to the Napa experience. Then there are wineries where the vineyard remains the center of the story, where the landscape, the farming and the people who have cared for the property for decades are inseparable from what ultimately appears in the bottle. Paloma Vineyard belongs firmly in the second category. High on Spring Mountain, overlooking Napa Valley, Paloma is a small, family-owned estate whose history is rooted in farming, patience and a remarkable commitment to a single piece of land. The Richards family purchased the property in 1983, long before Paloma became known nationally for its wines, and spent years developing what was then a rugged piece of mountain terrain into a vineyard capable of producing wines of extraordinary character. That work eventually paid off in...

Distillery Series #17 -  image from Jack Daniel Distillery When the Angel’s Share Becomes Part of the Story Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series Selection #17 is batch proof Tennessee Whiskey pulled from top floors of the distillery’s Coy Hill barrelhouses There are plenty of ways a whiskey distillery can experiment.   Change the grain bill. Try a different barrel. Finish the whiskey in something unexpected. Push the proof. Change the way the barrels are toasted or where they're stored.   Or, in the case of Jack Daniel’s latest Distillery Series release, you can put the whiskey in an unusually hot place, leave it alone for years, and see what happens. That is the story behind Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series Selection #17: High Angel’s Share Straight Tennessee Whiskey . And it is a pretty fascinating story. Jack Daniel’s began with traditional Tennessee Whiskey laid down in barrels in 2016. Those barrels were then placed on the top floor of Barrelhouse 1-13 on Coy Hil...

When most bourbon enthusiasts think about great whiskey, their minds immediately drift toward Kentucky. It's understandable. The Bluegrass State has earned its reputation as bourbon's spiritual home.  But every so often, a distillery outside Kentucky reminds us that exceptional whiskey can come from unexpected places.  Middle West Spirits has quietly become one of those distilleries. Located in Columbus, Ohio, Middle West has spent years building a reputation for producing grain-to-glass spirits with an emphasis on transparency, local agriculture, and meticulous craftsmanship. While many brands source whiskey from elsewhere and focus primarily on marketing, Middle West has invested heavily in making whiskey from the ground up. Their Michelone Reserve Straight Wheated Bourbon is a perfect example of what happens when a distillery takes its time and lets quality lead the conversation.  This isn't a bourbon trying to shock you with massive proof or extreme oak influence. In...

  Go ahead.  Chase the usual suspects.  Make yourself crazy trying to find the overhyped allocated bottles that are "show-off" toys for your shelves.   And leave the bottles like this  Sagamore Spirit 10-Year-Old Straight Rye Whiskey for us... all - day - long. We've tasted dozens of rye whiskey offerings over the years, but seldom do we have the opportunity to taste one with a ten year age statement.  This whiskey first hit the scene in the fall of 2025 in a very limited capacity.  We missed out on that but were thrilled to snag the re-release of this bottle that is available nationwide.   While it is still considered a limited bottling and part of the Reserve Series, you can find this  online at Sagamore's website. We're actually going to start with the packaging on this.  It's gorgeous and frankly, captivating.  This might be the heaviest whiskey bottle on the market and we've come to expect nothing less than top tier ...

  This is our third vintage of Flora Springs Trilogy to taste and review over the years, and it has always been a consistently delicious and top performer.  For the 2021 vintage (their 38th bottling), there is a new label design which is (in our opinion) more elegant and welcoming that previous offerings.  As most of you know, we do  take in consideration label design, or what we call shelf appeal, when scoring our wines and spirits. The 2021 Trilogy is comprised primarily of Cabernet Sauvignon (85%) but also includes Petit Verdot (10%) and Malbec (5%).  This flagship wine is incredibly silky-smooth throughout the entire tasting experience, offering up tannins that are glossy and fine.  A swarm of aromas that include ripe dark berries, graphite and cedar are introduced initially, but this isn't a fruit-bomb, in-your-face type of wine, which is extremely refreshing.  After some time in the glass, the cedar yields to more earthy style of aromas.  T...