This is a review of alcohol. Please keep in mind that you must be of legal drinking age in your area to purchase and /or enjoy these types of beverages!
As you all have gathered by now I think my favorite things to review are kitchen goodies, foods and wine and Alcohol related things! Of course I love reviewing almost anything (no books, no apps) but these seem to be the things I am always on the lookout for and that really make me excited when I get a pitch for them!
A little while back I was looking for some alcohol of sorts to wind down my Holiday Gift Guide and transition me back into “regular” reviews. However, I got sent such an assortment I had to postpone the review a little bit so I cold get to try everything! Nothing wrong with that, the girl that I am working with was totally fine with that- especially with it being the Holidays and everything to boot!
Anyways I had this awesome gal out of Charlotte (How Crazy is that?) that I got into contact with who offered me not only some wine, but some actual “real stuff” as well to review! She sent me a 2 wines from Woodwork Wines and a few sample sized bottles of Blade and Bow and IW Harper. Now as always the best way to break down these types of things is to just give each different thing it’s own little paragraph and give you the information and tell you what I thought!
Woodwork Wines: Chardonnay & Pinot Noir
Wood Work Wines Chardonnay: Ok, I have to admit I have NEVER had Chardonay until I had this one – I am generally a red wine person. I have to say though- I was very much pleasantly surprised! I thought it would be one of those bitter wines *shudder* you know the ones? This one was from 2013 which was a great year for it, because they had a warm and mild growing season which encouraged all the different aromas and flavors. This wine was aged for 5 months in oak as well. I also love that the winemaker for this wine is a woman! Oh and was made out of california grapes!
The highlights for the wine include a balance of tropical fruit and oak. There are the scents of pineapple (how unusual- for me lol) and also caramel and vanilla. The flavors that you taste are a variety including apple, pear and even shortbread and baking spice! It pairs well with Chicken/Grilled Fish/Pasta and I really wish I would have had this the night that I had made my chicken thighs and pasta because I could totally see it would have went well with that!
Woodwork Wines Pinot Noir: This was also a 2013 wine, and a red one! You would laugh at me because for some reason I thought that Pinot wines were all white- but I guess I should have figured that Noir would have made it a darker one- but I didn’t! I actually had to google it before I opened it because I wasn’t sure! This one is also a 2013 vintage, also with the same growing season as the Chardonnay, aged in oak and all of that!
Some of the descriptions for this wine are that it smells like coffee and cocoa, and the tastes really come from the oak but it also has cranberry and plum. However- I would consider this a very bitter wine- at least for my tastes and it wasn’t an easy drink for me- it was kinda very sip-sip and I usually am not a sip-sip person! I didn’t totally hate it , it just wasn’t my favorite!
I.W Harper
this image was found at whiskey.underthelabel.com
I.W Harper Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, is proud to be reintroduced in the U.S after 20 years! Their brand is 142 years old! They went to the asian market, and ceased distributing in the U.S. They are returning with two new kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys!
THe I.W. Harper is 82 proof (41%ABV) available in your standard 750 ml size and sells for around $35 price point. The mash that they make it from is about 73% corn, 18% rye and 9% barley. I find things like that interesting because I am just weird like that 🙂
This particular whiskey bourbon has traces of caramel, and vanilla but also wood and spice.These blend together really great and it has a very smooth taste that I could have likely enjoyed as a “shot” or a plain drink, even though ya’ll know I always say I am not a shot kind of girl and I have never drank anything plain or over the rocks or whatever, but now this one I think I could have got on board with!
Blade & Bow Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
Image VIA (PRNewsFoto/Diageo)
Blade & Bow Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, is named after the two parts of a skeleton key. At the distellery there is a symbol called the Five keys, and this is part of that. There are 5 of these throughout the distillery and they repersent the 5 steps of crafting bourbon, which are: grains, yeast,fermentation,distillation and aging. I think that is a really neat history!
The tasting notes on this one is that this one is more of a fruit taste whiskey bourbon, and I have to agree. It has more of a apricot/pear that kind of mingles in the roasted grain kind of taste, and then you have some notes of charred oak and winter spices. It is available in your standard 750 ml size as well but with a higher price point of 49.99. It is also a higher alcohol volume, and believe me I could tell that even if I hadn’t have known! It is 91 proof (45.5%abv).
With this one being a bit more strong, I don’t think I could be a shot/plain gal on this one but I really did like the kick and the darkness of it! I mixed it with cola and it was great, and I would def. pick it up if I happened to be out at the ABC store and saw it!
