Review Posts

Vietnamese Rice Wine Liqueurs at Pho Restaurant

A guest post from my wife Kavey, author of Kavey Eats. I know very little about rice wines and had certainly never heard of Vietnamese rice wine liqueurs until invited to try them at Pho restaurant. Unlike (grape) wine, made by fermenting the juice of grapes, rice wine is made by fermenting the starch in ...

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

This week's review is something of a last minute rush, as I left everything to the last minute (as usual!) and then found myself in an excellent pub instead of at home with my beer supply. Happily, The Bull has a wonderful beer list, including plenty of tasty monsters. And so, with apologies to ...

Woodford Reserve

After mentioning it in last week's post, it only seems right to give the bottle that re-introduced me to bourbon a post of it's own. A couple of years ago we were on holiday with a friend who had spent some time in the States and on noticing this in the local supermarket, ...

Barbar & Barbar Bok

What's better than a monster Belgian beer? Two Belgian beers, obviously! This week I have a pair of beers from Brasserie Lefebvre, a family brewery in Quenast which is currently in it's sixth generation. They have quite a selection of big beers in their traditionally Belgian range and the bottles I have are both honey ...

Old Fitzgerald 1849

Another step in my exploration of international whiskies takes me to the US, home of bourbon. I have to confess that my introduction to bourbon was about as rocky as my introduction to scotch – in this instance it was a miniature of Jim Beam in a fresher's pack at university. I obviously drank ...

Duvel

Since I started this series, it's become a bit of an obsession of mine. Every time I walk into a shop that sells beer I find myself scouring the shelves looking for any offering that crosses that magical 7.5% ABV barrier. Specialist beer shops are definitely my Achilles' Heel but just occasionally I ...

Nikka Pure Malt Red

Continuing the Japanese theme, we move on to the other major producer – Nikka. Nikka was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, one of the team who helped set up Suntory's first distillery in Yamazaki so it appears that the Japanese whisky industry is as incestuous as the Scottish! This is the Nikka Pure Malt Red, ...

Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

After missing last week's Monster Beer due to the curse of a head cold I wanted to find something a bit special to get back on course, so I dug to the very back of my cupboard and came out with a deliciously huge bottle from the Great Divide Brewing Company of Colorado. As ...

The Yamazaki 18 Year Old

We recently booked a holiday to Japan for later this year, and this is my first proper exploration into their whisky in preparation for the trip - and courtesy of some friends with excellent taste in Christmas presents. I know very little about the Japanese whisky scene, so any hints and tips will ...

Ardbeg Supernova 2010

It seemed appropriate to try something a bit special for Burns Night, so I've dug into my dram collection to find something suitable. And what could be better than the enormous Supernova - Jim Murray awarded it Whisky of the Year when it was released in 2010, and who am I to argue with ...