Spirits Review: Lunazul Reposado Tequila

I needed an inexpensive tequila for a party and choose the Lunazul Reposado ($21) - 100% Blue Agave. Being a reposado, the tequila rested between two and twelve months in oak. In this case used bourbon barrels. Lunazul was founded by Francisco Beckmann, a seventh generation descendent of Jose Antonio de Cuervo. In 1992 he sold his stake in the family dynasty but kept his share of agave fields in order to start Tierra de Agaves estate and the Lunazul (Blue Moon) label. Today the distillery is controlled by his son Jorge who grew up working all phases of the operation - from harvest to distillation. The master distiller is Francisco Quijano who's distillation philosophy is to keep things simple. The Lunazul Reposado has a light flavor profile; oily texture with some vanilla and caramel with a smoky burn. This is a very serviceable tequila, at the price, a perfect mixer and if tasting straight go neat or just a drop of water. Over ice gets too diluted. Cheers.

The Wine of the Smokies - Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Moonshine isn't the only game in town in East Tennessee. Wine has gained traction west of the Smokies with over a dozen operating east of Knoxville. There's even The Rocky Top Wine Trail to guide you to five of these; although we still prefer the theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App. During a recent trip I was able to sample wine from three Tennessee wineries and yes, a majority of them are sweet. There's plenty of fruit wines, muscadine wines, hybrids, labrusca, and blends of all kinds. When vinifera did surface, the wine was usually made from left coast grapes -- although there was one wine that included locally grown Viognier. In general, the wines I sampled were well made and included several pleasant surprises.

Three wineries operate in the tourist mecca of Gatlinburg. We visited two starting with Tennessee Homemade Wines. As the name suggests, the family has been making homemade wines for over 100 years and the current batch consists of fruit, muscadine, and the world's most popular white labrusca grape Niagara. This wine wasn't bad, well made, just too much muskiness for my tastes. When in doubt, the Strawberry Stomp is excellent - comes across light and dry - and could pass for a dry rose. Well, maybe not completely - but close enough.

Sugarland Cellars was the second Gatlinburg winery on our agenda and provides a more traditional wine tasting experience with tours of the winery's operation. There's a plethora of unique choices from blended muscadine to fruit wines to sparkling Cayuga-Niagara - the Bliss. For fruit wines there's a sweet Cherry – Kee, but you have to try the Loganberry - a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry. And tasty.  The Century White was my favorite - a blend of local Seyval and Viognier, blended with Washington state Riesling and more Viognier from California.

Townsend is another entry point into the Smokey Mountains - about 20 miles west of Gatlinburg. Cades Cove Cellars is a nice post park excursion since alcoholic beverages are not allowed into the national park. Overall this was my favorite winery stop with all the wines getting positive reviews from our party. For whites, they produce a nice Riesling using Washington State grapes and a Seyval based Nature Excellence Bliss Adams Fall White.  Our companions enjoyed the muscadine based Rustic Cabin Red and we all enjoyed their dessert offerings - particularly the excellent Red Raspberry.

The Spirits of the Smokies - Gatlinburg, Tennessee

We had planned a trip to the Tennessee side of the Smokey Mountains not realizing that one of the entrances, Gatlinburg, is the equivalent of a seaside boardwalk. The main street includes a rather intriguing aquarium, miniature golf,  sweet shops, stores, tourist traps and plenty of distilleries. Many times I heard the phrase "Disney for Adults". Unlike the Commonwealth there are no limits to shine tastings and each distillery provides a bit of entertainment - from the comical tasting staff to live music. These distilleries are all withing walking distance and more importantly distill their products on site; and in most you can see the shine or whiskey being distilled.

The Doc Collier Moonshine Distillery is based on the moonshine legend William "Doc" Collier's corn and sugar shine recipe. They claim to be the only Certified Craft Distillery in town and promote the pure English Mountain spring water. The spirits are only single distilled and the flavored shines utilize strictly juices and no artificial flavors and extracts. Thus, the straight shines were rather harsh - spicy with plenty of burn. Yet the flavored were quite good - even though I normally shy away from that style. The produce the always popular Apple Pie, Sweet Tea, Blackberry, Peach, Cherry, and Firecracker. The Peach and Blackberry were excellent with the former perhaps the best flavored shine I've tasted.

 I had the best experience at Sugarlands Distilling Company with James leading our group through a hilarious tasting. The distillery produces over a dozen mostly flavored shines many based off recipes from the Discovery Channel's Moonshiners series. For instance, there's Tickle’s Dynamite Cinnamon, Mark Rogers American Peach, Mark & Digger's Rye Apple, and Jim Tom Hedrick’s Unaged Rye. In addition, their Appalachian Apple Pie is probably the best offering. I went home with Jim Tom's shine - basically being a fan of the series.

Ole Smoky Moonshine operates two distilleries in Gatlinburg, "The Holler" and the Ole Smokey Barrelhouse - where the Ole Smoky Whiskey is made and laid to age. They claim that the Holler is America's most visited distillery and you've probably seen the distillery's television commercials. The staff was friendly and entertaining at both locations and at the Holler we listened to live music when tasting. Ole Smoky produces a plethora of flavored moonshine and whiskey - many that are only available at the distillery. I wasn't particularly a fan of most of these with the exception of the Mountain Java. For some reason that one spoke to me. I was also pleased with their straight shines, the Original (100 proof) and Blue Flame (128 proof), both clean and smooth at such high alcohol content.

#VABreweryChallenge - Bristol Virginia

I've been attending the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion annually for the past few years and have always wondered when the Virginia craft beer movement (#VABreweryChallenge) would hit that city. Two years ago I saw signs of an awakening and it looks like there are now two breweries operating within the festival's parameter.  On Piedmont Street adjacent to the festival's Piedmont stage, Bristol Brewery (#33) operates a 10 barrel brewing system.  On this visit there were 12 beers on tap, eight standard and four seasonal. My sampler included the Piedmont Pilsner, Barefoot Blonde, Helle Raiser Lager, Double Loco IPA, and Holiday Porter. The last was a little too holiday spicy for me, but the remainder were solid beers. The pilsner, blonde, and lager were all fresh and clean with a nice balance of hops and when appropriate salty minerals. The Double IPA was smooth - not overbearing with hops. My companion preferred the Sunset IPA (clean and citrus hoppy) and that's what we chose to fill the brewery's jug-like growler. Looking forward to hanging out at the brewery's outdoor patio during BRRR performances.

In recent festivals the organizers have expanded the festival grounds to include Cumberland Square Park where Studio Brew (#34) is now located. Their motto is "Beer is an Art" and is filled with an art - photo studio theme.  The beer styles are more aggressive and experimental but I started with a basic - the Das Pils. This is a nicely made beer - one of my favorites - with balanced minerals, salt, and hops. My sampler also included the Mexican Backfire, a lager augmented with agave, but the agave is very subtle - wishing there was a little more. The King's Porter is a standard light toffee porter and the IRA Hop Bomb a clean hoppy IPA. The most aggressive beer was the Dancing Monk Barrel, a Belgium Specialty Ale aged in used bourbon barrels. The bourbon's presence is noticeable throughout from the aroma to the burn at the finish. This is easily the most bourbon infused beer I've tasted - drink last because all other beers will taste weak and dull afterwards. Cheers to Beer as Art.