19 February, 2015

Sipping Stones, TOPO Eight Oak Carolina Whiskey, and the Strawberry Glades

Posted in : Beverage, Cocktail Recipes, Product Reviews, Spirits, Whiskey / Whisky on February 19, 2015 by : The Gourmez

Tags: carolina whiskey, cocktails, dandelion chocolate, distillery, eight oak, frambroise, ice cubes, liquor, on the rocks, organic, recipe, review, salted cacao bitters, sipping stones, soapstone, strawberry glades, tasting notes, topo, vanilla, whisky, workhorse rye

I’m doing two reviews in one today! My friends over at TOPO Distillery have debuted their organic Eight Oak Whiskey, and they were kind enough to send me a bottle for review. This fortuitous gift also provided me with the perfect opportunity to test out a set of Sipping Stones, soapstone cubes designed to provide a
Read more

17 October, 2013

TOPO Piedmont Gin

Comments : 2 Posted in : Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Spirits on October 17, 2013 by : The Gourmez

Tags: allspice, chapel hill, cocktail recipe, gin, juniper, liqueur, organic, raspberry, review, royal rose, saffron, simple syrup, soft gin, sweet, syrups, tasting notes, topo

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
Read more

24 July, 2013

Fire in the Triangle: Battle Market vs. New Southern Kitchen

Posted in : Events, Restaurants, Spirits, Vodka on July 24, 2013 by : The Gourmez

Tags: basil gin syrup, battle, bloody mary sauce, chad mcintyre, chef, crab, distillery, fire in the triangle, gin, got to be nc, heirloom, heritage farms, judging, lobster, market restaurant, nc competition dining, new southern kitchen, north carolina, pork belly, raleigh, review, round 1, sheepshead, sokum slama, tilefish, tomato, tomato cheesecake, tomato chocolate pie, topo, whiteville, wral

I was thrilled to again judge a Fire in the Triangle battle, having judged my first last year when NC Competition Dining premiered in the Research Triangle. If you love food and live in the area, then you simply must make next year’s series—it’s too late for this year’s. All the battles have been sold
Read more

26 June, 2013

Bloggers’ Night at TOPO Distillery

Comments : 6 Posted in : Distillery, Events, Gin, Travel Sponsored Stays and Tours, Vodka, Whiskey / Whisky on June 26, 2013 by : The Gourmez

Tags: aged whiskey, angel's share, barrel, blogger, blueberry cocktail, chapel hill, charcoal, cocktail, comparison, distil, distillation process, distillery, drink, esteban mcmahan, floral, gin, local, north carolina, organic, pork banh mi, red winter wheat, scott maitland, soft, spirit, spirit guide, tasting, top of the hill, topo, tour, triangle, vesper, whiskey, whiskey aging, white whiskey

Back in the fall, I spent a few days at TOPO Distillery’s facilities as part of the Terra VITA Sustainable Classroom. It was a strange sort of torture being so close to their organic, 99.6% local (more on that later) array of spirits that includes white whiskey, vodka, and gin. So I asked Esteban McMahan,
Read more