TOPO Piedmont Gin Chapel Hill, NC ABV 46% I have mentioned this gin before on this blog, when I took a tour of the distillery. But this is the first TOPO spirit I’ve had my hands on a bottle of and thanks go to Esteban, TOPO’s spirit guide, for the parting gift at my farewell
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Buffalo Trace Bourbon Kentucky When tasting bourbon, I generally get a smell from it that I call “bourbon.” Fancy, I know. So from this point on, I think I’ll only comment when a new bourbon has a smell element to it beyond that distinctive bourboness. And Buffalo Trace does: a little bit of citrus that
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Col di Sasso Cabernet Sauvignon & Sangiovese Blend 2009 No photo this time! It was a casualty of my trigger finger. It smells mildly of fig and tastes of fig, too, with plum notes also. Besides the healthy portion of fruit, it’s dry, leathery, a bit bitter, and abundant in allspice.  Overall, it was too
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VINTJS Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Napa Valley, CA A pleasant wine with a good amount of flavors mingling together–the spices are in one corner and the fruits in another. Boysenberry, lots of boysenberry, with a little currant to give it a kick. The spice flavors swirl through it like a cinnamon roll, consisting of cinnamon (who
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