This past Saturday (August 7, 2010) I attended “The Bistro’s 13th Annual IPA Festival” in Hayward, CA. The event was like most of the Bistro’s beer festivals over the past few years – which means well-organized with great energy and a fantastic selection of beers to try. The two-sided tasting sheet (reproduced below – click [...]
David Driscoll, the spirits buyer at K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City, just posted a good list of “Quick Facts” about Bourbon Whiskey, along with brief profiles of a few distilleries. It’s not a comprehensive overview or introduction – he doesn’t claim it is – but it’s worth bookmarking as a reference. I’ve conducted several [...]
On Saturday (February 6, 2010) I attended “The Bistro’s 10th Annual Double IPA Festival” in Hayward, CA. This was my fifth time attending what has become a predictably wonderful beer event. However, the DIPA Festival has also become quite expensive! This year’s tariff was $35 for a souvenir glass and just five small pours (4-5 [...]
Wheat whiskey is becoming quite the rage. Spokane’s Dry Fly Distilling does an excellent job of fueling the fire with their newly-released, excellent and very-hard-to-find “Washington Wheat Whiskey.” Going back a few years, in late 2005 big Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill released Bernheim Original Wheat Whiskey, which they (now incorrectly) call “The Only American Wheat [...]
The newly-released White Whiskey from Wisconsin’s Death’s Door Spirits is a great way to taste “white dog” (spirit fresh off the still, before it goes into barrel). It’s interesting and it’s very good, but it’s certainly not “whiskey” in the conventional sense. And it’s probably not worth $40 a bottle. I first heard about this [...]
I’ve tasted Scotch whisky from many types of glasses, including several designed specifically for Scotch. But my favorite is a casual wine glass from Riedel’s “O” series of stemless tumblers. The model I like is intended for Chardonnay. Scotch whisky – when served neat, with water, or on the rocks – often comes in a [...]
