We are a few days late wishing you this, but Happy New Year! We have much hope for this year and look forward to sharing more beverage related fun with all of you in 2021. We are going to kick off the New Year with our third Annual Traditional Viewer Appreciation Show or ATVAS, for short. Once a year, thanks to the loyal and generous support we receive from all of our subscribers and followers, we purchase an extra special bottle to try for a podcast. Our budget is more than what we would normally spend on something for ourselves as we use some of the money we receive from our subscribers to help subsidize the purchase. It gives us a chance to get together outside of the tasting room, have some dinner and go shopping! After we make our choice, we record the podcast and then watch it along with you live during one of our livestream recording sessions on Twitch. This year, the award of being the beverage chosen for our third Annual Traditional Viewer Appreciation Show goes to the Jura Tide 21 Year Single Malt Scotch. Bottled in 2020, this Scotch is aged in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and further finessed in virgin American white oak casks. Once again, our Total Wine Spirit Guide Scott was a part of the decision making process and we thank him for sharing his expertise with us. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

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Give It A Shot - Jura Tide 21 Year Single Malt Scotch

As this year draws to a close, we are filled with many emotions. This annual nostalgic time for reflection on the past and the creation of resolutions for the future is vastly different from other years. We have experienced unprecedented sadness on a variety of fronts, yet there have been moments of joy and triumph. We have been made even more acutely aware that tomorrow is promised to no one and to be grateful in the present. It boils down to the fact that we are all on this earth together and we need to find ways to bridge the distances between us. Kindness and a smile go a long way toward making this happen. As midnight on December 31st grows ever closer, we know that there will be celebrations to ring in the New Year. This will most certainly call for a toast with a delicious beverage of your choice. The most traditional option is something sparkling and that is what we will be featuring on this episode. We will be trying the Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma County Brut. The Platinum label is the most most expensive of the Trader Joe’s private label wines (there is a Diamond label, but that is an extremely rare find) and wines with this label would typically command a price in the $30-$35 price range if sold under the label of the winery where they were made. Join us as we raise a glass to 2021! What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Sonoma County Brut

This year has presented all of us with several “firsts.” No matter which ones you are thinking of and your perspective, there have been challenges to overcome. There have, however, been opportunities to grow as people, to come together and to love each other as we never have before. This is not always easy, but figuring out how to bridge any gap is well worth the effort. Getting back to the topic of firsts, one of the happier ones for us this year at About Beverages was that we tried Japanese whiskey. Back in August, we tried Kikori, which is made from locally grown rice. For this episode, we will try our second Japanese whiskey, as we bring to the tasting table the Meikakuna. This whiskey is a Trader Joe’s exclusive, and is a blend of Japanese whiskies, each aged for a minimum of three years. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Trader Joe's Meikakuna Japanese Whiskey

This week we will be trying the wine that we alluded to in last week's post. Unlike the previous items that we have been given (Humboldt Distillery Vodkas and Gray Whale Gin), this beverage comes from a place from which we have prior tasting experience. For this episode we will be trying the Josh Cellars Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. They start with their original Cabernet Sauvignon and age it for two months in bourbon barrels. We are always happy when we get to try something that brings two of our favorite beverage categories together so we were really excited to receive this bottle. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Josh Cellars 2018 Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon

Since we are big fans of gin, we are always excited when we find something new to try. Recently, we reached out to the person who had previously given us two vodkas from Humboldt Distillery to thank her and to let us know if we could be of any help to her in the future. Much to our happiness and surprise, she offered to send us two more samples! One of them is a wine that we will be featuring on a future podcast and the other is what we are trying today. For this episode we will be trying the Gray Whale Gin from Golden State Distillery. Every year the Gray Whale makes a 12,000 mile migration from the Baja Peninsula to the Arctic and this small batch gin celebrates that journey. It features ingredients that can be found at different locations in California along the journey, including limes from Baja and mint from Santa Cruz. Another cool thing is that a portion of the profits support Oceana, the largest organization in the world solely devoted to marine conservation. Also, it comes in a cool blue bottle. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Gray Whale Gin from Golden State Distillery

This week's episode was rushed to the front of the line for release since it features an item that is only available for a short period of time during the holidays. We have long been fans of egg nog on our show. We even podcasted on three of them back in 2010. One of them, the chocolate egg nog from Trader Joe’s, is something we still wax poetic about to this day. This episode also features an egg nog from Trader Joe’s, but unlike the other ones we have tried, this one has alcohol already in it. The beverage we will be trying is the Trader Joe’s Egg Nog Liqueur. Made with brandy, rum, cinnamon and real cream, this always sells out quickly so we knew we had to act fast. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Trader Joe's Egg Nog Liqueur

For many years, sours have been one of our favorite beer categories. That is a list that also includes IPAs and Stouts. Within those general categories we have an appreciation for all the many varied expressions that exist and look forward to the ones yet to be discovered. Back in 2012, on one of our podcasts we tried the Duchesse De Bourgogne Flemish sour red ale, more commonly known as the Duchesse. It’s flavor blew us away and is one of our favorites to this day. Recently, Andrew came across this favorite from the sour realm, but with a new twist. At least that twist was new for us, and we knew we had to share it with you. For this episode we will be trying the Duchesse De Bourgogne Cherry Flemish Red. Duchesse Cherry is a blend of 1 and 2 year-old Duchesse with local, sour cherries added to the maturing beer. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Duchesse De Bourgogne Cherry Flemish Red

Back in 2011, thanks to a very generous and knowledgeable friend of the show, Fitz, we began our foray into scotch. We had tried bourbon and other whiskeys both on podcasts and on our own, but scotch was still relatively unfamiliar territory. Back then we tried ten in all, split into two episodes (audio only) and those are available for you to listen to at our website. Fast forward 9 years and oh, how far we have come! We have tried numerous names and styles over the years and scotch has been the beverage of choice for our first two end of the year listener appreciation episodes. While one of us is more of a scotch fan than the other (spoiler alert, it’s Andrew) we always look forward to trying new styles and of course, revisiting old favorites. This episode features a little of both of those as we have a new twist on an old favorite. We will be trying the Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16 Year Single Malt scotch. The Highland Park 12 year was a part of that original podcast and has long been one of Andrew’s favorites. This scotch is matured in ex-bourbon casks and first-fill Rioja wine casks to give it extra depth and complexity. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16 Year Single Malt Scotch

Sometimes a beverage comes along that combines two of the things that we love. An example of one of our favorites is a beer that features a collaboration of two or more of our favorite breweries. Another one we enjoy is when two different beverage categories are somehow combined into one tasty offering. This is the type that we will be featuring on this episode as we try something that combines the wine and spirits worlds. The 2017 Apothic Inferno red wine blend. A recent listener poll winner, this is a red wine blend that is aged in whiskey barrels for 60 days. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Apothic Inferno Red Blend Aged in Toasted Whiskey Barrels

At long last, the weather is finally starting to show signs of cooling down in our part of the country. It only took until the last week of October, but we are sure happy to see some signs of autumn in the air. A dropping thermometer and the continued turning of the calendar both remind us that the holidays are on the way. Who knows exactly what that will mean this year, but one thing it does mean is that we will start focusing on beverages that pair well with both the holidays and the briskness that November and December bring. In the coming weeks we will feature episodes and live discussion on Twitch.tv/AboutBeverages with festive gatherings in mind. This week we will feature a type of beverage that we enjoy year round, but is especially at home in cocktails this time of year. For this episode we will be trying the Larceny Small Batch Bourbon from Heaven Hill Distillery. Larceny is a wheated bourbon with a value price of around $20. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Larceny Small Batch Bourbon from Heaven Hill Distillery

This year has certainly provided the world with a great deal of challenges, firsts, and opportunities to grow. For us, in addition to the obvious, it has also meant that we have expanded our horizons to try some beverage categories that have previously gone unexplored on any prior show in our 12 years at About Beverages. This week's episode features one of those topics as we begin our exploration into the world of mead. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with fruit, grains, spices, or hops. For this episode we will be trying two meads from Artivem Mead Co. in Bellingham, Washington. The first one is the Western Blue Bird, which is described as blueberry pie in a bottle, We will finish with the Red Tailed Hawk, which is a blend of raspberry and peanut butter. We found out about this company from one of our followers on Twitch.tv/AboutBeverages whose cousin is one of the owners. We appreciate the tip! What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Western Bluebird and Red Tailed Hawk Mead from Artivem Mead Co.

If you are at all familiar with our show, then you probably know that Keith works for Trader Joe’s. If you are at all familiar with Trader Joe’s, then you probably know that they have several products that have fervent, dare we say, cult-like followings. One of the products that has been high on the list of “must haves” (or at the very least “must tries) since its inception several years ago is Cookie Butter, which is a spread made from crushed spice cookies, among other things. Cookie butter has found its way into numerous other products such as cheesecake and ice cream, much to the delight of its fans. A few months back, Andrew mentioned to Keith that he had heard that a cookie butter beer was going to be released soon and that once it was available we had to try it for one of our shows. There were some delays in the beer actually getting to Arizona and once it did the quantities were limited, but we are happy to be able to have one that we are sharing with you. On this episode we will try the Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter Beer, which is an imperial ale. This beer has been in development for quite some time and initially was going to be a porter or stout, but ultimately it was decided that this style would be a better platform to showcase the flavor profile of cookie butter. Brewed in Richmond, Virginia by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, it checks in at 9.5% ABV. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter Imperial Ale

This is the week we finish what we started last week as we complete our pumpkin beer journey for 2020. This week we move to the darker side in search of seasonally inspired beer deliciousness. For this episode we will be trying the Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter and Clown Shoes Brewing Gordo Imperial Pumpkin Stout aged in Whistle Pig Rye Whiskey Barrels. Based on the descriptions and what we know about these breweries, we are hoping we saved the best for last. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Four Peaks Brewing Pumpkin Porter and Clown Shoes Brewing Gordo Imperial Pumpkin Stout Aged in WhistlePig Rye Whiskey Barrels

In our part of the country it certainly doesn’t feel like it, but when we look at the calendar we are reminded that it is fall. Leaves are beginning to change, the days are getting shorter, and of course, pumpkins are everywhere. In the beverage world that means pumpkin beer is everywhere. Over the years we have tried several of these seasonally inspired offerings, even dedicating entire shows to our pursuit of crowning a favorite for that particular year. While we haven't done that for a few years, pumpkin beer is still very much a part of our show during the fall. Over the next two episodes we will share four pumpkin beers with you. We kick things off with the Howling Gourds Pumpkin Ale from Trader Joe’s and O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Trader Joe's Howling Gourds Pumpkin Ale and O'Fallon Pumpkin Beer

Humbled by Humboldt. Those three words sum up quite succinctly the primary emotion of the many emotions we are feeling this week. To help you understand why we feel this way, let us back up a few weeks. Completely out of the blue, we received an email from someone who was representing Humboldt Distillery based in Fortuna, California. They wanted to gauge our interest in trying either of their vodkas and possibly even virtually hosting their founder and Master Distiller, Abe Stephens on one of our shows. We were surprised, and of course, extremely flattered. If you are at all familiar with our show then you know that vodka is something we have yet to develop a full appreciation for. We have sampled at least nine of them over the years with the most recent being within the past few months. We feel that a good vodka should most definitely be present in your home bar, but we are usually looking for our spirits to have more of a flavor profile. We wanted to be completely honest with Humboldt Distillery about our feelings on vodka and shared that with them in our response email. It turns out they had done their homework and were already aware of how we felt, which is the reason they reached out to us. They generously offered to send us a bottle of each of their vodkas and that is what we will be sharing with you on this episode. That is why we say we are humbled. We think that is so cool and can’t thank them enough! On this show we will be trying the Humboldt Organic Vodka and the Humboldt's Finest Hemp Infused Vodka. They are both made in small batches, slow carbon filtered at sea level and made from a sugar cane base. The Humboldt’s Finest is made with locally grown hemp and is THC and CBD free. What did we think? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or join us live on Thursday nights to give us your feedback while we are live streaming on Twitch.

Give It A Shot - Humboldt Distillery Organic Vodka & Humboldt's Finest Hemp Infused Vodka

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