On Wednesday morning, I’ll be winging my way down to Louisville and Lynchburg for distillery tours, talk to master distillers, and basically, as it was put to me, swim in bourbon.
I’m so looking forward to this trip, it’s not even funny! Maker’s Mark, Heaven Hill and Jim Beam on the Thursday, and Jack Daniels on Saturday.
If you were on the trip, is there anything you’d ask the master distillers?  I’ll make sure to ask your question if you leave one in the comments. I’ll be taking a ton of pictures, and will report back with my findings.  (image source, Maker’s …read more

I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for versatile spirits, and Tuaca (pronounced Two-aww-ka) fits that bill perfectly. It’s also one of the most difficult spirits to describe. In fact, I’ve gone as far as pulling the bottle out of the fridge, read the back of the bottle and also looked through all the literature I have on it. I’m still not exactly sure how to explain it.
There’s notes of vanilla, orange, brandy, and citrus, and it sometimes has been described as a Grand Marnier type spirit.
Let’s just put it this way, Tuaca is really good.
Legend has it that …read more

When I was in Seattle recently meeting Gary Vaynerchuk, I got to talking to my bartender. We talked cocktails, as is my wont, and he told me about this little place that I’d never heard of before. Called the ZigZag Cafe, it was apparently the place in Seattle for cocktails.
He told the story that these two young bartenders opened this place so that their friend, this older, rockstar bartender would have a place to shine. He told me that the ZigZag Cafe had, hands down, the most well stocked bar in the city.
I stopped in to check them out, and …read more