Category: Spirits, Wine & Cider

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RTD Reviews – Rod & Hammer

SLO + Whiskey + RTD craze = a taste test of California Whiskey cocktails from Rod & Hammer. Mule vs Mai Tai.

The Whiskey Mule is spicy first and foremost. Strong and good ginger ale used here. But it does not have three Bourbon notes that I expect. No oak. No vanilla. No coconut. It doesn’t taste alcoholic either which is sneaky because this is 11%.

The Whiskey Mai Tai had a nice Tiki flavor start. Almost baked pineapple. There was a fruit punch aroma to this though that the kid in me liked. Whiskey was discernible this time but still really a background player.

I do like the word centric labels and the rough hewn colors and feel an even with a lack of Whiskey flavors coming through, I would be interested in trying their distilled spirits.

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Wilderton

Tucked between Ferment and pFriem on the Hood River waterfront is Wilderton Botanical Spirits. The Non-Alcoholic distiller opened their tasting room at the beginning of July with three products, Lustre (gin), Earthen (whiskey) and Bittersweet Apertivo.

I had both a taster of the three as well as one of their two seasonal mocktails to see what was what.

The Apertivo was my least favorite but I am not on the bandwagon for the spirit in either version. Weirdly bitter and tasted of beets. Earthen seemed a really pale comparison to whiskey. No oak or vanilla or coconut, it just sort of sat there. The faux gin was easily the best of the bunch. Botanicals just fit with gin.

The genius bit of the tasting was that each of the three N/A spirits had a sample cocktail. Tonic for Lustre, ginger ale for Earthen both really worked because the Fever Tree drinks are top notch. The G&T could have fooled people.

It is a small but welcoming space and a fantastic diversion from the beer and cider in Hood River.

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RTD Day – Acting

File this under, “Maybe you do not need to sign everything your manager gives you.”  Both Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively, who are not drinkers now have RTD’s.  Lopez with Delola and Lively with Betty Booze.

Why they couldn’t just do N/A cocktails is better left to the philosophers I guess cause I sure don’t understand. Celebrity beer, spirits or RTD’s might be super good but you have to get behind the curtain of why it is being made and then if the celebrity won’t even drink it, then that is another hurdle to jump.

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RTD Day – In the Garden

Still not understanding the hatred of vowels in business and brand names but setting that aside, Three Weavers is launching an RTD line-up called GRDN PRTY.  These are cocktail-inspired flavored malt beverages.  No spirits here.  The cans started into distribution on July 17 but you can head to their taproom in Inglewood to get any or all the three flavors, which are: Pineapple Sage, Lemonade, Grapefruit Guava Rosemary and Juniper Lemon Cucumber.

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Rye State of Mind

I am a sucker for documentaries, especially beverage documentaries such as Fire Water and Grain – Empire Rye where we “meet a group of renegade craft distillers, farmers, entrepreneurs, historians, and policymakers as they band together to celebrate the past, present, and future of Rye Whiskey and what it means to the people of the state that made it famous.”

It doesn’t appear to be “free” streaming from what I can see but you can buy via whichever platform you use.

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New Roses

Some quick bourbon news: Four Roses has done a refresh of their brand imaging and along with that they are releasing a limited edition Ten Recipe Tasting Experience.  The set “will feature each of the ten unique bourbon recipes that make up Four Roses’ bourbons. It’s these ten signature recipes that set the brand’s bourbons apart, and gives the liquid in each bottle its distinctive characteristic. The kit will include 50ml bottles of each recipe for bourbon enthusiasts to get a taste of where the brand’s offerings originate. A QR code on the box will lead to a guided tasting video with Master Distiller Brent Elliott for a more immersive experience.”

Sounds like deal for suggested retail price of about $130.00 and some should make their way to California too.

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Cocktail book G-I

Here is my favorite entry in the G-H-I section of the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails….

Hors d’age or beyond age is just a cool term that I wish would come back into vogue.  It is just so classy.

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Fruit and Staves

Not all cider is apple centered and not all cider is just light and sparkling. Tieton Cider has a pair of bourbon barrel ciders that focus on other fruits to pair with that note of bourbon, they have a peach version as well as …..

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FWIBF – Paso Distilled

It is not really a trip to Paso Robles without visiting at least one distillery.

First up was CalWise Spirits just down Ramada Drive from Firestone Walker. That is important because they get their wash from them. CalWise does gin, rum, whiskey and liqueurs. I tasted a little bit of everything. Most impressive to me were the gins. Their flagship and their blood orange worked well for me. And I bought a bottle of their Vermut for cocktail use at home. Distiller and tasting tour guide Leo gave a lot of info about the distillery and what they liked and even played the new Ben Folds album was I was sipping.

Second was Bethel Rd. Distilling next to Castoro Cellars and Peachy Canyon. It is a lovely indoor / outdoor space with grapevine views. All of their spirits come from grapes and brandy is their forte. I sample three brandies from neutral to flagship to VSOP. I was quite surprised by the first, expecting a harsh vodka bite but it was delicate. The VSOP was another winner. The gin was great as well, enough for me to buy a bottle.

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Orangin

Paso Robles is not just wine and Firestone Walker beer. There is a thriving distilling scene as well which leads of course to Ireland. One of the gins that I have taken a shine to in my mini-dive into this spirit is Drumshanbo from Ireland which is made with oriental botanicals and gunpowder tea. But they now have a California connection with a CA citrus-ized version….

They must have put a lot in to turn it that color unless they aged it in wood barrels of some sort. Might be an interesting experiment.