Jefferson’s Presidential Select Batch #4 1991 Vintage 17-Year
This bourbon created quite a stir when it hit the market last year, which was somewhat surprising, given that it comes from McLain & Kyne, distillers of Jefferson’s Reserve. Not that they’re a bad distillery, just that their flagship product is a solid, if generally unexceptional whiskey. But the Jefferson’s Presidential Select began making waves the moment that it hit the shelves.
The reason is due to the provenance of the whiskey in the bottle. This 17-year old bourbon was not distilled by McLain & Kyne, but was bottled by them. They purchased several barrels of whiskey distilled from no less than the famed Stitzel-Weller Distillery of Louisville, Kentucky, the same distillery renowned as the place where the oldest bottles of Pappy Van Winkle whiskies were distilled. Along with the 15-, 20-, and 23-year old Pappy Van Winkles, previously available bottlings of W.L. Weller bourbon also came from this distillery. Needless to say, that’s a heck of a pedigree…. (read more)
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Goose Island Brewing Co. Sofie
Sofie was introduced by Goose Island Brewing last year as the newest member of a series of special edition Belgian-style beers, joining Matilda, Pere Jacques, Juliet, and Fleur. Each beer in the lineup is either Belgian-inspired or brewed to (however loosely) resemble a specific Belgian-style of beer. Pere Jacques is an abbey ale similar to a Belgian dubbel, Matilda is similar to a Flanders red, albeit more sweet than tart. Sofie lies somewhere between a tripel and a saison, although the method they use to produce it is distinctly American in its approach.
The beer itself starts fairly simply, brewed with a blend of pilsner and wheat malts and Amarillo hops. But it’s at this point that things begin to get interesting. The yeast used includes some brettanomyces, and 20% of the beer is aged in Chardonnay wine barrels. They add orange zest from 20 pounds of oranges to the barrels as well. The combination of the… (read more)
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Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen
Several years ago I spent part of a summer studying in Mainz, Germany. All in all, an incredible experience. It was the first significant amount of time that I spent outside of the US, and what better place than Mainz, a university town with a mix of historical old buildings and city center, and more modern, contemporary architecture around the university itself.
One of my most distinct memories is of the beer gardens along the Rhine River. Mainz is located in central-western Germany, and the Rhine runs right along its eastern boundary. I quite clearly remember evenings spent sitting at the long picnic tables in these beer gardens, listening to the conversation and trying desperately to figure out what the heck people were saying. I mean, let’s face it, my German wasn’t the greatest, and drinking beer didn’t really help. Although, I definitely remember feeling more fluent after a couple glasses.
The beer left its impression too. Each beer… (read more)
Alexander Valley Vineyards “Sin Zin” Alexander Valley Zinfandel 2007
The strength of my interests tends to take place in waves. One month I’ll be preoccupied with whiskey, tasting several and reading all I can about it, the next week my attention will turn to beer, perhaps blisteringly hoppy IPAs, then on to coffee, followed by scotch, followed by…you get the picture. Because my interest in these various delectable beverages is driven as much by intellectual curiosity as sheer enjoyment, what I end up tasting is very often driven by what I’m enjoying reading about at any given moment.
Recently, the pendulum has swung towards wine, and zinfandel in particular. This is due in part to my love of the zinfandel from Nalle Winery (whose mailer I received recently, and I have to say that it’s very well done and a great enticement to purchase some of their wines! Darn shipping laws!). Recently, I learned that this year they’ve bottled separately the wine made from grapes grown… (read more)
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Rare Wine Co. Boston Bual Madeira
When Eric Asimov wrote an article about Madeira several months ago, two forces combined. On the one hand, my curiosity was piqued by his description of this style of wine, once all the rage and now soundly out of fashion. On the other, the fact that dessert wines are one of my favorite styles, one I’m always excited to venture further into.
And so, not too long after his article, I found myself face-to-face with a bottle of one of the Madeiras that he had discussed, the Boston Bual Special Reserve from The Rare Wine Company. I was the lucky recipient of a bottle as a gift, and we wasted little time diving into its contents to see what all the fuss was about.
The Rare Wine Company was founded in 1989 by Mannie Berk, and has since risen in stature to become a highly respected wine importer. Their reputation regarding Madeira is unparalleled, as demonstrated by a recent… (read more)