Rachel Halpren

8 Hangover Cures That Work

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With the holidays coming up, we know that you might have a little too much fun or indulge too much. We certainly do! At Portland Cocktail Week, we took part in a very informative seminar on hangover cures and healthy drinking. Seriously, I love my life—can you imagine attending seminars on how to drink healthier? We thought that a list of proven hangover remedies might come in handy. Here is a list of eight time-tested … Read more

Death’s Door White Whisky Review

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We have a special review for you this Thanksgiving. I am reviewing the first bottle of spirits that I literally had to wrangle from its owner (and the first bottle that I have requested for review). To me, Thanksgiving is not only about giving thanks for the good things that have happened during the year, it’s also about harkening back to the first Thanksgiving and the founding of the nation. That might sound hokey to … Read more

Last Minute Wine Recommendations for Thanksgiving

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We know that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We also know that you might be freaking out if all of the wine shops and liquor stores have closed for the day and you haven’t been able to get wine for Thanksgiving dinner. In most states, you can head off to your local grocery store (if you live in a state where you have to buy from state-owned stores, there isn’t much we can do … Read more

5 Weird Italian Wines for Thanksgiving

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I have written of my love of Italian wines. I love that they have weird and wacky varietals, wines that you would never hear of unless you really dug deep. I love that the Italians continue to cultivate over 3,000 varieties of grapes and continue to bring back more that were almost extinct. I love that the Italians mix it up. They make sparkling, sweet and still wines out of tons of different varietals with … Read more

10 Great American Wines for Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. Since this is a quintessential American holiday, we thought that we would recommend ten American wines to drink this Thanksgiving. Some of these wines are from classic American or trailblazing wineries, a winemaker that helped put American wine on the map or are from American’s grape (Zinfandel).… Read more

Healthy Drinking for the Holidays

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The holidays are fast approaching! In our humble opinion, one of the best parts of the holiday season is gathering with friends and family. An integral part of the holiday is the drinks. It’s usually during this time of the year that I drink amazing sparkling wine (and a fair share of Champagne) and cocktails. I love going to a party and seeing an inviting punch bowl. The downside to the holidays is that I … Read more

High/Low Weekend – Oregon Pinot Noir

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We are launching a new series for your wine consuming pleasure! This new series is based on one of my favorite concepts – High/Low Wine. This will allow our readers to splurge on one wine while saving on the other. This originated in my wine tasting group where we had to bring two wines (once priced high and one priced low) that we blind tasting. It resulted in a number of surprising outcomes! Maybe we … Read more

What Does Your Favorite Vampire Drink?

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Vampire legends date back thousands of years and nearly every culture on the globe has at least one legend of these age-defying, blood-sucking creatures. Modern vampire lore began with Vlad the Impaler in Romania during the 15th century. Vlad was the inspiration for Dracula, arguably the most famous vampire. Since then, the vampire legend has only continued to grow. There are countless books, movies and TV shows that explore vampire culture for a number of … Read more

Highland Park 18 Year Old Scotch Review

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Highland Park Scotch is amazing and so is the story of the ownership of Highland Park (we only have so much space so we are focusing on Highland Park’s ownership). As many of you may know, a certain percentage of the Scots have never been happy about the unification of England and Scotland (Scotland finally became part of the United Kingdom when James VI of Scotland became James I of England upon the death of … Read more

Toad’s Hollow Erik’s the Red – Wine Wednesday

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We apologize that this week’s Wine Wednesday is more like a Wine Thursday.  We have a new writer that has taken over this column that has been having technical issues.  I am resuming this week’s Wine Wednesday and bringing you a mighty fine wine from California (it’s not from any particular region because the grapes are sourced all over California).

Toad’s Hollow was a winery started in 1993 by Rodney Strong (of the Rodney Strong … Read more