Bushmills Malt 10 Year

As some of you will remember I've already reviewed Bushmills Black Bush blend, but here's the first of their single malt line:

The nose of this is very different from the palate, it contains a honey that's somehow a mix that's difficult to separate from the slight alcohol zest and cut grass. You'd think that grass would be a negative aura but I find it enjoying and it makes me think of the amazing Irish landscape. The palate produces a soft vanilla and honey but the grass returns changed as hay and wooded. A crisp and drying aftertaste leaves the hay on your tongue.

It's hard to convince someone how great this whiskey is with the words used to describe it, but I think it's an A (excellent). I wouldn't recommend this Bushmills to anyone with an undeveloped palate for whiskey or scotch, but to those who do, it's a great value.

PKNT Carmenere '08

Have you ever heard of the wine grape Carmenere? I hadn't, and that's what drove me to try this. Apparently this grape had been thought extinct and was rediscovered in Chili, so it seems to be only available from Chilean wineries. I was a wee bit disappointed by this one, but the price point of this particular brand is about six dollars so I'm guessing I got what I paid for.

Now if I had to choose one word to describe this wine it would be pepper. After letting this wine decant I found the smell to make the ground table pepper obvious. The palate of the wine showed the pepper as well, but also had a tannin aftertaste that didn't complement the wine (sour-tart grape.) The aftertaste simply brought the pepper back, but thankfully not the tannin. I tried another glass along with a serving of pizza with spicy sausage and it was much easier to put down the wine.

After some thought I gave this wine a C (decent). I do recommend this to those who simply want a table wine to compliment a spicy Mexican meal. Due to the unique spice of this grape I plan on trying a different brand that might represent it better.

PKNT

Hansen's Green Tea Soda Pomegranate

I think this is the first product I've reviewed that crosses the line between categories. My fiance found this at Target in four packs for only two dollars so she picked up one for me to put on my blog (and for her to drink). Besides unusual Hansen's product it's also very healthy, with no ill components and EGCG (a green tea extract antioxidant).

For those who care about enjoying the drink as well as the health benefits, the pomegranate isn't as apparent as you'd hope. It smells of sweetened green tea and tastes of it as well with a crisp pomegranate overtone. It ends with a different sweetness of the cane sugar in it. A negative aspect in addition to not enough pomegranate is the carbonation. It is highly carbonated. I think it would help for Hansen to reduce this, because it's as fizzy as Sprite or Mountain Dew.

Due to the cost, I believe this drink will commonly be in our fridge. I don't believe it's a product you should go out of your way to try though, I rate it a B (good). This is an uncommon product and I think I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a carbonated alternative to other sodas.

Zhi Tea Coconut Assam

Today I review one of my favorite black teas; Zhi Coconut Assam. I'm sure anyone who's had or even smelled this tea would understand why. Some on Teaviews.com share my favoritism for this tea as well. But here's why I like it:

Even the scent of the tea before being brewed has impressions that have an amazing coordination. Bold assam tea and coconut, but not the coconut you'd expect. While brewing you have to be careful though, I've noticed this one "over-steeps" easily and can get bitter quick. When done properly though you'll experience a beginning, middle and end to this tea, like a well done wine. Once steeped the smell and initial taste of the tea are of just the bold, malty assam but once past the introduction coconut can be found. Towards the back of your tongue and throat coconut isn't of the sweet macaroons you'd think, it's the flavor of real fresh coconut without the extract or overly sweet that's common in all other products. After swallowing the assam kicks in again with an almost coffee bitterness. My last note on this tea is that the assam is the smell, palate and even aftertaste and the coconut is something higher that builds up in intensity as you go down your cup.

Despite only having two elements, I'm giving Zhi's tea an A (excellent) due to the equilibrium experienced. The Assam tea is strong and the coconut is delicate but still experienced somehow. Zhi Tea has a fine product.

P.S Assam teas are a great alternative to coffee in the morning.

maine root Sarsaparilla

My first thought when I saw this, looking for a soda to review, was: "What's sarsaparilla?" But I brought it home because I'd had products from maine root before, (I think they make the best ginger beer out there!) Once I came home I opened a bottle, poured it in a glass, and did a google search on sarsaparilla.

My search found out that sarsaparilla is the name of a plant that root beer was originally made from. My tasting found a "lighter root beer" though. It didn't create any head when poured and smelled of sweet birch (yes the tree). Upon entering the mouth I found the carbonation to have far less sizzle than any Pepsi or Coke products. The taste had another tree to it, evergreen, but I also found vanilla. It was not your typical vanilla extract though, vanilla root is the way to describe this. I think it works better with the birch and evergreen tree sweetness as well. Sarsaparilla ends with a light sweetness for an aftertaste, and you can tell it's not most soda's processed sugar. Upon visiting maine root's website I found out they use unprocessed cane sugar, and I believe it makes a difference.

I gave maine root's Sarsaparilla a solid B (good) due to not being too sweet and a rather unique tree palate. As I stated before I've had maine root's ginger beer as well and I'm a fan. That will probably be the next product of theirs I'll visit.

Harpoon Octoberfest

It was time for my first fall brew of the year. I had a hard time deicing which fall beer to choose, I'm not a big fan of octoberfests or pumpkin ales! I went with Harpoon because I had never tried theirs and I felt like staying away from the mainstream Samuel Adams Octoberfest or Shipyard Pumkinhead. (I'll probably try those later). So here's the Harpoon Octoberfest:

The head of this beer foams up a lot, so be ready to get your holding hand wet or sipping to keep up with it when poured. It soon settles down to a thin head and releases scents of malt and the familiar hops in their IPA. These same characters were in the palate but wheat was added. Then the beer finishes the same with little change of character, just the wheat and hops lingering on your tongue. This is a bitter beer but not like your typical IPA, the malt is bitter as well somehow.

I was a tad disappointed with this brew, but perhaps that's due to the high standards I've given Harpoon due to their IPA and Dark Munich. This beer is a B (good) by my standards. If you like other octoberfests give this one a try though.

Chandon Rosé

I'm not usually a fan of sparkling wines but I found this on sale for only $5 and I had a nice ham dinner planned for the night but nothing to pair it with, so I gave this a shot.

The nose of this wine puts the fruits of it at the front; apples, pears and strawberries. Once you take a sip the same fruits come up but the carbonation and dryness on the palate almost made me think there was a citrus part to it. After visiting Chandon's website I found that burt rosé wasn't the only grape in the bottle, pinot noir was also used. This gave me the conclusion that the crispness of pinot noir and the fruity notes of the rest were two separate things going on, not one citrus element. It finished more typically with a champagne dry that was perfectly clean.

My fiance enjoyed this wine more than me, but we both agreed that the sweet burt rose and pinot noir didn't mix well. This wine had some good parts to it like the clean finish and fruits but the "odd" dryness on the palate simply got to me and I didn't even finish my glass. C (decent)