Aside from the whiskey gift recommendations I made last week, I sampled a number of wonderful non-whiskey spirits this year that have great gift potential. Germain-Robin XO Alambic Brandy One of the best spirits I had all year, whiskey included, was...

It's holiday time again and what better gift to give than the gift of sweets. I tasted Colorado based Enstrom's toffee in my toffee smackdown last holiday season, and while it was good, it was bested by our local favorite, Littlejohns. While their...

There have been some great whiskeys released this year, for both the whiskey novice and expert. Unfortunately, many of the new releases are either extremely pricey, extremely hard to find or both. I've tried to offer some more reasonable choices here...

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Angelenos have LA Times writer C. Thi Nguyen to thank for showing them the way to Tea Habitat. Last summer, Nguyen wrote an amazing piece about a little known tea shop in a Rancho Palos Verdes mall. Tea Habitat specializes...

As you know if you read this blog around the holidays, I love egg nog. I drink store bought egg nog and I make my own. One thing I have not generally done is buy premixed egg nogs, as they are usually sickly sweet and full of low quality booze. ...