Barrel House Brewing Co.
Orphan Barrel Whiskey Distilling Co.
Whoop & Holler Aged 28 Years American Whisky
28 years and oh sooo soft. What a great Friday afternoon treat!! Elegant and smooth — 8 years ago
A Sour Beer Co.
The Rare Barrel Soliloquy Golden Sour Beer 2016
This is fantastic! Huge amount of sour on first sips, but the flavors just keep evolving over 30 seconds. Rose and tropical fruit apparent. Definitely finishes with the loveliest touch of orange. One of the best sours I’ve ever had. — 8 years ago
Shady Oak Barrel House
Groovalistic
much like walking into a record store and picking up that album with the wild cover art that calls your attention, Fela Kuti + Saxophone + Beer = going home with me. Impulse buy turned raving fan. This beer fucks. Best beer I've had all year, hands down. Definitely now attuned to Shady Oak and their continued brewing — 9 years ago
Roots Wine Co.
The Barrel Project Scorched Earth Vineyard Grenache 2013
Barrel House Brewing Co.
Oatmeal Stout
One of my new local favorites...Really well made, perfect example of oatmeal stout. — 9 years ago
Calicraft Brewing Co.
Barrel Project Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel Sour Ale
delicious — 9 years ago
Amador Whiskey Co.
Napa Valley Double Barrel Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace Bourbon rectified in California. Tobacco and allspice. 300 Barres made. Finished in Napa Chardonnay. — 7 years ago
Bedrock Wine Co.
Old Vine Zinfandel 2015
Medium purplish red. Dark spices on the nose, bitter cocoa, oak barrel, some animal nuances, light cherries, a touch smoky and crushed gravel. Tight on the tannins (6.5/10) not yet rounded. Complex palate yet tight as well with notes of raw twigs, bramble berries, anise, spices, dried cherries, a touch of alcohol and pepper. Long finish with definite potential to improve once the palate rounds out. Drink till 2024. — 9 years ago
A Sour Beer Co.
The Rare Barrel Home, Sour Home Golden Sour Beer 2017
Peaches and vanilla. Great sour flavor. One of my favs from rare barrel, so much better than the one I had 2 years ago. More real peach flavor. — 9 years ago
Barrel House
Handmade California Cabernet Sauvignon
Crisp and delicious! Would definitely drink it again! — 9 years ago
New Holland Brewing Co.
Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout
The best creamy beer I've ever had. — 9 years ago
Bollinger
Special Cuvée Brut Champagne Blend
Always a favorite in our house. 60% pinot noir and 30% of it is aged in barrel. Its shows in the power of the wine, but there has been a turn towards a little more finesse in recent bottlings of this wine. This strikes a great balance. — 6 years ago
Roots Wine Co.
The Barrel Project Fairsing Vineyard Chardonnay 2013
Château Brane-Cantenac
Grand Cru Classé en 1855 Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 2005
I have a six-pack of this 05. I thought after 10 years in bottle, it would be interesting to check in on its evolution. While tasty, I’ll wait another 8-10 to open another. Even after 2-3 hours in the decanter, it’s still a very young adolescent. On the nose, slightly sour blackberries & dark cherries, dark currants, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, anise, whiff of spice, steeped tea, dry stones, dry crushed rocks with dry top soil, caramel, vanilla with fresh & dry red florals. The body is thick & full. Tannins are starting to round out. It’s velvety on the palate. The fruits are; bright, fresh & ripe and really show the greatness of the 05 vintage. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, baked strawberries, cherries, raspberries on the long set, dark spice, clay & loamy dry top soil with crushed rocks, dry stones, cigar with ash, graphite, dry stems, slight herbaceous character, mint, used leather, clove, caramel, vanilla, fresh & dry red florals with violets. The round acidity is about perfect. The structure and length are still strong. The balance is in harmony. As for the long finish, it’s lush, ruby, rich and well polished. Photos of; Chateau Brane Cantenac, large wood vats, Henri Lurton and Estate vines. Producer notes and history...Chateau Brane Cantenac began in the early 17th century. At the time, the estate was known as Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Even that far back, wine was produced from the property. In fact, the wine was so highly regarded it was one of the more expensive wines in Bordeaux. It sold for almost as much money as Brane Mouton. This is interesting because of who went on to buy the vineyard in the 1800’s. The Baron of Brane, also known as “Napoleon of the Vineyards”, purchased the Chateau in 1833. At the time of the sale, the estate was called Chateau Gorce-Guy. To get the funds needed to purchase the Margaux vineyard, the Baron sold what is now called Mouton Rothschild, which was at the time of the sale, known as Chateau Brane-Mouton. Not such a good move with hundreds of years in hindsight! In 1838, the Baron renamed property taking his name and the name of the sector where the vineyards were located and called it Chateau Brane Cantenac. The Chateau later passed to the Roy family, who were well-known in the Margaux appellation in those days, as they owned Chateau d’issan. Moving ahead to 1920, the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a group of merchants and growers that owned several chateaux located in the Medoc including; Chateau Margaux, Chateau Giscours, and Chateau Lagrange in St. Julien, purchased Chateau Brane Cantenac. Five years later, M. Recapet and his son-in-law, François Lurton, took over Brane Cantenac along with Chateau Margaux. Lucien Lurton (the son of François Lurton) inherited Brane Cantenac in 1956. Today, the estate is still in the hands of the Lurton family. Brane Cantenac is owned and run by Henri Lurton. After being given the responsibility of managing Brane Cantenac, it was under the direction of Henri Lurton that large portions of the vineyard were replanted. Vine densities were increased, the drainage systems were improved and the plantings were also, slowly changed. The vineyard of Brane Cantenac is planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and .5% Carmenere. Carmenere was used for the first time in the 2011 vintage. The only other Chateau I know that still uses Carmenere is Clerc Milon. The 75 hectare Left Bank vineyard of Brane Cantenac is essentially unchanged since it earned Second Growth status in the 1855 Classification. At least that is the case with the 45 hectares used to produce the Grand Vin of Brane Cantenac. Those 45 hectares are planted surrounding the Chateau. Those vines are located just in front of the Cantenac plateau and are the best terroir that Brane Cantenac owns. They have other parcels, which are further inland and much of those grapes are placed into their second wine, Le Baron de Brane. Those additional hectares can be divided into 3 main sections. Behind the Chateau, they have 15 hectares of vines on gravel and sand, 10 hectares across the road with sand, gravel and iron and a 13 hectare parcel with gravel called Notton, which is used for their second wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,666 vines per hectare on the plateau and up to 8,000 vines per hectare for the vines located behind chateau, in their sandier soils. The higher levels of vine density are always found in the newer plantings. The terroir of Brane Cantenac consists of deep gravel, sand and clay soil. Experiments in the vineyards are currently looking at becoming more organic in their vineyard management. Today, more than 25% of Brane Cantenac is farmed using organic farming techniques. It is expected that over time, the amount of hectares farmed with organic methods will be increased. Brane Cantenac has gone through 2 relatively recent modernization’s in 1999, when they added began adding the first of their smaller vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification and then again in 2015 when they completed a much more complete renovation of their cellars and vat rooms. While Brane Cantenac is a traditional producer, they are no stranger to technology as they were one of the first estates to embrace optical grape sorting machines. In very wet vintages, they can also use reverse osmosis. To produce the wine of Chateau Brane Cantenac, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled, traditional, 22 oak vats, 18 concrete tanks and 20 stainless steel vats that vary in size from 40 hectoliters all the way up to 200 hectoliters, which allows for parcel by parcel vinification. 40% of the fermentation takes place in the oak vats. The oldest vines are vinified in vats that are selected to allow for separate parcel by parcel vinification. The younger vines are vinified more often together in the same vats. However, the Carmenere is entirely micro-vinified, meaning that those grapes were completely vinified in barrel, using micro-vinification techniques. This can also happen because the amount of grapes produced is so small. Some vats can be co-inoculated, meaning they go through alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation simultaneously. At Chateau Brane Cantenac, malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak tanks and barrels. The wine of Brane Cantenac is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. The initial 2 months of aging is done with the wine on its lees, which adds more depth to the wine. There second wine is Le Baron de Brane. Le Baron de Brane is not new. In fact, previously, the second wine went under the name of Chateau Notton, which took its name from one of the main parcels where the grapes were planted. During the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s, having a second wine was important as the estate declassified 3 vintages, due to extremely poor, weather conditions in 1956, 1960 and 1963. Production of Chateau Brane Cantenac is about 11,000 cases per year. — 8 years ago
Brandon Boesch
Very nice. I get a ton of floral notes and herbs. Hint of lemon and peppercorns. Very dry but with an obvious hop funk on the finish. — 6 years ago