Category Archives: Spirits and More

“Whisky is liquid sunshine.” – George Bernard Shaw

A Taste of Bourbon: William Wolf Whiskey

2016-01-13 19.00.05I’m not a big fan of flavored liquors. But every once in a while something comes along that catches my eye. I follow some drinkers on Instagram and one day one of the accounts posted a glass of William Wolf with orange juice and shared some rave reviews of its quality. I find the concept of pecan and bourbon to be very intriguing (and other natural flavors) and made it a goal to find a bottle. Since then I’ve been hunting stalking liquor stores (like… a wolf?) in search of a bottle. It’s not particularly expensive – it’s just hard to find. But I kept searching for the elusive, pecan-infused booze.

Fast forward to today and I’m living in New York. I CAN SHIP MYSELF LIQUOR! So I looked online and found a distributor that sells William Wolf Whiskey. It did not take me long and a few days later, I had two bottles on my front door. A bottle will run you about $40 shipped (~$20-$23 in store – shipping is a bitch which is why I bought two). It comes in at 60 proof which is not a particularly strong drink. Now I had just come from the gym but couldn’t wait – I opened a bottle and served it up in my three standard forms: neat, rocks, and with a splash of water. Here are my thoughts on each: Continue reading

I Need a Beer: Appreciating Autumn

calvin_hobbesI’ve been asking a lot of people about what their favorite time of year. The almost unanimous response is autumn/fall. And you know what – I’m going to go on record saying that this time of year is underrated. autumn is fricken’ awesome:

  • Weather cools down but things don’t get dreary and rainy.
  • If you live in a place that has seasons, the colors blow your mind.
  • If you live in a place that has seasons, say bye-bye to humidity and bugs!
  • If you live in CA, the heat becomes more bearable.
  • It has my personal favorite holiday: Thanksgiving (You eat and you give thanks. How is this not more popular?).
  • You get the best sleep. It’s cold enough that you don’t have to remove the covers but not so cold that you’re shivering when you get in.
  • And the most important reason: NBA season begins!

I repeat. Autumn is amazing and underrated.

Another great thing about autumn. You get to start drinking heavier beers. Today I’m looking for what might be my favorite type of beer: the barley wine. Continue reading

A Taste of Bourbon: NBA Championship Edition

Golden-font-b-State-b-font-font-b-Warriors-b-font-National-Basketball-Associatio-Champions-FlagI don’t get to write about sports on this blog. Correction, I don’t get to write posts solely about sports on this blog. So when amazing things happen to my favorite sports franchise, the Golden State Warriors, I am encouraged to find a way to connect drinking or movies or TV to sports. If I were smarter or worked harder at this, I’d probably find creative solutions to the fact that I’m hamstrung to discuss the thing that I might love most in this world: basketball (Apologies to my dog and even more to my wife). Continue reading

I Need a Beer: The Frozen Dog

Frozen_dog_Wallpaper_vmhp2When I moved to Upstate NY and saw that I had a large pond in front of the home I would be living in, I thought it was awesome. Then I remembered I had a not-quite-two-years-old boxer who does whatever the fuck she wants. That’s when the nightmares started. It’s a cold, snowy day and Evie is running around outside and then crack-yelp-splash, she’s falling through the ice and I can’t get to her. I’d wake up freaked out and panicked only to realize that it was just a dream and Evie was in California.

Well, Evie is not in California any more. She’s here. And the first day I took her outside, she ran on top of the pond. Yup, it’s her world and she don’t care if I want her to be safe, she’s running where she wants. Fortunately it was cold as hell and the ice held. However, two days later, it was a balmy 60-degree day and we’re out for a walk. And that is how our story begins… Continue reading

A Taste of Bourbon: Booker’s

2014-11-27 09.44.15Every Thanksgiving I try to crack open a new bottle of bourbon. I open it when I start cooking and don’t stop until either the bottle is empty or the day is over. Considering I start cooking at about 9AM, it often ends up being a long day of drinking.

This year’s bourbon I’ve been anticipating for quite some time. I see it at whiskey bars and liquor stores but have not had the opportunity to take it for a spin. After so much delay, I was eager to pop the top on this bad boy and do some serious drinking. Without further ado, let’s chat Booker’s Bourbon (130.8 Proof)…

As with my previous review, I will provide my notes drinking the bourbon neat and on the rocks. You can find a bottle of this at Total Wine for about $60. Continue reading

Keen Reading: The Goldfinch

d3fecec5a9335b0e510f6a7067001571_r620x349The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt can be summed up very simply. It is a retrospective narrative of one Theodore “Theo” Decker, who by unfortunate happenstance, is violently removed from a familiar life with his mother, orphaned, and given possession of a priceless painting (the title’s inspiration piece, The Goldfinch). Everything about this story is a response to that event and as his tale unfolds, you can see the moment woven into the fabric of Theo’s life. Continue reading

A Taste of Bourbon: Chestnut Farms

IMAG0489In addition to beer, I am a lover of all things bourbon. Periodically I’ll be sharing some reviews on various bourbons I’ve had the opportunity to try. I will be basing my reviews not just on flavor but also the value of the bourbon based off of price and availability. For example, if I paid $100 for a rare bottle of Pappy Van Winkle (I wish!) and it ends up tasting no better than a bottle of Jim Beam, the Jim Beam would be rated higher because, hey, at least it’s cheap.

So let’s get started with our first bottle of bourbon: Chestnut Farms (90 Proof). Continue reading