Unbottled – Bonnet-Ponson Seconde Nature Millesime 2016
As we could not include this bottle of champagne in our natural wine tasting in March, I opened it as an aperitif at Easter. Suffice to say, the bottle did not disappoint.
4 lions
Unbottled – Wagner Stempel Sylvaner Reserve
Finally, I am continuing with my German wine region series. Today we visit Rhine Hesse and enjoy a Sylvaner from Wagner Stempel. Some say that Rhine Hesse makes the better Silvaners compared to Franconia. Well, we will see about that and I also have a cliché pairing with asparagus for you.
Vallecito – Del Maguey Vida Puebla
Since a few years there is another Vida bottling from Del Maguey. I had to chance to compare both neat and in cocktails. Apart from that, I came up with a spiced Margarita variation using Piment d’Espelette liqueur.
Spirited News 03/2026 – Laphroaig 12 Years
I have to face it, my first love when it comes to spirits were whiskies. There is just no hiding the fact. This is why, I will try to feature a bit more of them on the blog. A new bottling which I could not stay away from was the Laphroaig 12 Years.
Touch the Sky – Reisetbauer Wild Cherry
In this case, Reisetbauer did not get wild cherries for their eau de vie for six years. However, the wild cherry eau de vie is now back in very limited quantities! I am very lucky to have a bottle on hand.
St. Patrick’s Day 2026 – Fairlies
Bushmills is the oldest, licenced whiskey distillery in the world and this year they are doing a lot of events around St. Patrick’s Day. I thought I would give the 14-year-old bottling a go neat and in a cocktail. Basically, I came up with an Old-Fashioned variation with a bit of extra sherry.
Spirited News 01/2026: Mezcal Amarás
It has been a while since I sipped Mezcal neat. However, when Kirsch Whisky asked me to join the Amarás tasting, I did not hesitate. Afterall, I took part in a Mezcal Amores tasting over ten years ago in Munich. The brand now is called Amarás due to trademark reasons.
Unbottled – Peter Jakob Kuehn Hendelberg Riesling
The Rheingau region accounts for just 3 % of Germany’s total vineyard area. However, it has the highest percentage of Riesling, at around 78%. For this tasting, I have selected a Riesling from Peter Jakob Kühn, a pioneer of biodynamic farming.
Tropical Month – Palisades/Storm
I discovered the Scaramanga Rhum through my fellow bloggers from Zucker & Zeste. They interviewed Sven Sudeck who now promotes the Rhum. The Scaramanga is intended as an introduction to the relatively unknown category of Rhum Agricole. In this case, the sugarcane juice distillates come from three producers in Guadeloupe. After distillation the Rhum spends […]
Tropical Month – Hurricane Variation
I guess I am not the first to throw in a little passion fruit liqueur into a Hurricane cocktail. However, I also took the chance and am presenting the Planteray Mr Fogg Navy Rum to you. This rum just seemed as the perfect fit in this recipe.