An Island Retreat: Lambay Whiskey

There's so much to see all over the globe and sometimes we wish we could get see it all.  Do our schedules, finances and responsibilities even permit that?  For most of us the answer is no, but we try our darndest anyway.  For those of us who relish in the idea of sneaking away every week or perhaps even every evening after a hard day, how comforting that we can rely on food & drink, scents and imagery to transport us temporarily to where our passports are unable to at the moment.  With food and drink being the most powerful of the trio, it's always interesting to discover the flavors that are tied to and distinct to a land and its borders making it all the more intriguing.

Some of the best places on earth haven't been heavily disturbed by man and his footprint.  Lambay Island is one of those places.  Lying just a mere three miles off the coast of Dublin, Lambay Island  boasts a diverse ecosystem free from the trampling of an overabundance of people in lieu of the presence of unique wildlife, clean water and foliage kissed by the Irish sea air.  This environ set the perfect tone for the infamous French family, Maison Camus, to add a unique pair of Irish whiskies to their already renowned cognacs.  Alexander Baring, 7th Baron Revelstoke and 5th generation Camus member, Cyril Camus joined forces to take the beauty of Baring's ancestral home and merge it with the spirit-craftsmanship of the Maison Camus and have come up with Lambay Irish Whiskey.  

Just as quaint and seasoned as the cycle of life on Lambay are the curation of these whiskies.  There are two varieties, Lambay Whiskey Single Malt and Lambay Whiskey Small Batch Blend.  The Single Malt rests in oak cognac casks shipped from the Maison Camus and are exposed to the maritime winds and oceanic essences bathing Lambay.  The Small Batch Blend, matured in bourbon casks with a cognac cask finish, is truly small batch, not with a big production undertaking, ensuring a full balanced flavor profile for each bottle.  Lambay Island Trinity well water, the unique ocean spray with notes of seaweed, iodine and salt and fresh island botanicals all conspire to give the whiskies a uniquely smooth texture.  The fuller-colored, lower rye content Single Malt lingers with an green fruit herbal & floral sweetness while the triple-distilled Small Batch Blend offers up a lighter-colored nutty, spicy and floral balanced flavor profile. 

Now I'm not saying that people are bad news, but when I can find puffins, seals, a bevy of seabirds and even wallabies unaffected by the harrowing overabundance of man, I'd be very likely to trust their presence to keep the sanctity of an environ purer than any human.  That is what is characteristic to Lambay Island.  It's purity together with the tradition of humans that respect the land have given birth to a pair of noteworthy Irish whiskies.  It's a true tale of honoring the land so that it gives you its best.  

Lambay Whiskies are available now at your finer wine, alcohol and spirit retailers and as always, please remember to enjoy Lambay responsibly.

www.LambayWhiskey.com

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Dave White

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A Rosa Blooms (And Sparkles Too): Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Red Wine

For those days when you need something stronger than juice but without the weight of, say, gin, there's Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine.  For those days when you want to sneak a little appropriately naughty in with your questionable nice day, there Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine.  For those days when you need the excitement of a bottle without the full size commitment of one, there's Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine.  

Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine is a semi-sweet sparkling red wine with a flavor profile of strawberries and rose petals.  It's delicate and refreshing and the sparkling element creates a nice effervescence that works as a nice pick me up on its own or as a nice topper to cocktails.  It's great as a sparkling alternative to cloying dessert wines and goes well with seafood-based dinners and after-dinner usuals like rich desserts and cheeses.  What's especially nice is that it comes in a delightfully sleek and compact 8.5 ounce aluminum bottle that has the outfitting of a grown and sexy soda with the flavor of a satisying and pleasant sparkling wine.  

Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine is a fun, easy and very handy sparkling wine to complete your meal or complete your hard day.  After all, don't we often need a little something beautiful and pleasant to end off our often ugly days?  Stella Rosa Pink Sparkling Wine is available now at your finer wine and spirit retailers and to find specific locations near you, check out their website here.

www.StellaRosaWines.com

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Dave White

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Peace Of Mind, Just Encased: Catalyst Cases

As someone who always prides himself on dotting his i's and crossing his t's, I unfortunately do find myself caught out there sometimes.  When frazzled, I sometimes come undone and forget the checks and balances that makes my life easier as opposed to harder.  For example, just this weekend I was frantically searching around the check-out counter at the grocery thinking I had lost my wallet only to realize that my over-efficiency caused me to pack it into my grocery bag along with my okra and avocados.  For that brief moment I had that fear that many of us do.  What if I lost my wallet?  Others include, 'What do I do if I misplace my keys outside of home?' and the dreaded 'What happens if my phone becomes incapacitated?'    

The last one tends to freak us out a lot as many of us can & do pay, search, talk, schedule, capture and escape with the aid of our phones nowadays.  Protection for those rectangular-shaped digital extensions of our lives go far beyond the "Find My Phone" feature.  I, like many, couldn't bare for my phone to descend to the floor and become reminiscent of a cracked dry river bed just as much as I don't think I could bare with my phone flatlining after being mistakenly submerged in water.  So as the Spring/Summer seasons roll back around for many of us and our days may find us at the pool or beach with the need to capture our lives and keep our digital besties in tow, we need protection.  Sunblock for me and the amazing protection of Catalyst cases for my iPhone.

Catalyst offers up two great cases for your iPhone that I find to be so handy and a very protective wardrobe for my  'significant other'.  The Catalyst Impact Protection Case is drop proof for up to 9.9 feet while keeping your iPhone light and manageable.  The impact truss system inside is specially formulated to handle bumps and jostles while protecting the glassy-beauty of your iPhone.  This is perfect if you are accident-prone or just have the tendency to juggle more things than your iPhone in your hands at once.  Then the Catalyst Waterproof Case is just like a spraying your phone with Scotchguard™.  This case fits your phone snugly to protect it from not only the daily unfortunate bumps and bruises but also protects your iPhone in up 33 feet of water with an air tight encasing that leaves it still sensitive enough to allow you to utilize your phone as though there were no case on it at all.  I tested it out myself (see my video above) and not one drop of water got inside the case and I was still able to use all the features of my phone while my hands were still submerged with it.

We kind of have to be fussy about the things in our life that make our lives easier.  However, we don't want to be continually fussy about them.  We kind of want a 'set it and forget it' mentally for our device's protection.  Catalyst Cases offer that peace of mind without making your iPhone resemble a VCR or boom box.  Peace of mind!  A welcome nowadays so you can focus on other things, like where you left your glasses or where you misplaced your Metrocard.

The Catalyst Impact Resistant Case and The Catalyst Waterproof Case are both available now at their website CatalystCase.com.

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Dave White

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Not Quite Done Being Naughty Or Nice: POM Wonderful®

With the start of Spring being in less than a month, has the guilt set in yet?  It's long been known that Winter is comfort food season and with the preponderances of baked-this and holiday-that quite possibly your time was spent more in front of the fridge than in front of the weight rack.  Understandably so.  No judgements here.  Really!  Some of us don't have a schedule much less a life that makes daily or frequent treks to the gym foreseeable.  Many of us choose to chase the chaos of our daily grinds away with a cocktail rather than a dumbbell and that's ok.  Balance is the key to being the best you and the equations in achieving that balance differs for everyone.  

It takes work to find that balance and it also takes patience.  So in the meantime while one figures out when to enjoy or refuse that cocktail, appetizer or dessert also how to lift weights, resistance train or implement cardio, balance can come in the form of walks through a little nice and a little naughty.  Enter the niceness of POM Wonderful®.  Certainly not a new beverage but definitely one that is not fully understood for it value, POM has been around since 2002 and takes the juice of about 4 California grown non-GMO verified pomegranates to create that shapely bottle of goodness.  It's not pomegranate drink mixed with pear, cherry or words unpronounceable.  POM Wonderful® is 100% juice and gives you the tart little refreshing kick together with the satisfying sweetness of this delicious superfood.  With antioxidant-building and a host of health benefits linked to the pomegranate like cholesterol-lowering, the nice factor is definitely qualified with POM.  

Now depending on your perspective, the naughty temptation to your pomegranate juice wonder lies in a spirit.  Be it vodka, rum, gin or tequila, POM gives a little bit of welcomed redemption to the savory sinful nature of aperitifs and digestifs.  So just how do you get naughty with it?  I've presented you with the niceness but my impish side couldn't leave you without a lesson in balancing with the naughty.  Please check out my signature cocktail featuring POM Wonderful® which I have appropriately entitled "POM's Garden of Good & Evil".

POM's Garden Of Good & Evil

4 ounces          POM Wonderful®
1 1/2 ounces    Tommy Rotter Gin
1/2                   Fresh Lime
1 tsp                Pomegranate Molasses
1 tsp                Fresh cut Ginger Root
3 leaves           Fresh Basil
1 sprig             Fresh Mint
1/2 tsp             Fresh Parsley
1/2 tsp             Fresh Thyme

Add lime juice, pomegranate molasses, ginger, basil and mint to a shaker and muddle for about 30 seconds until the lime juice changes color.  Then add the POM Wonderful® juice and gently stir for about 10 seconds.  Next pour the shaker contents into a rocks glass filled with ice then add the gin and stir for about 5-10 seconds.  Finally, garnish the cocktail with parsley, thyme and a lime wedge.

This is a great drink to make with gin as the juniper berry notes work nicely with the sweet/tart pomegranate and together with the muddled fresh ingredients add a nice verdant garden fresh herbal flavor profile with a dash of sharpness from the ginger.  You've now been presented with the nice and the naughty.  The decision is yours!

POM Wonderful@ Juice and its antioxidant refreshment can be found at your local grocer and supermarkets.

www.POMWonderful.com

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Dave White

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