American Whiskey Port Blend Syrah United States In-Store or Curbside pickup

The United States of America is a country of great cultural diversity, influenced by migrating nations from across the world. As such, its whiskey industry is a fascinating and complex one, which represents the range of regional differences found there.

The Irish were the original pioneers of American whiskey, and when they emigrated in their thousands from the old country, they brought their skills, knowledge and distillation techniques with them, to give them something to remind each other of home in the New World. This is why American whiskey goes by the Irish spelling, with the additional ‘e’, and why many traditional American whiskies closely resemble the original Irish style.

Today, there are several different types of American whiskey, and the styles and production techniques are now set out in US federal law, cementing a set of characteristics and production methods to preserve and protect the industry.

Corn whiskey, which is made from a minimum 80% corn in the mash and aged for a short period, is probably the most historic of the American whiskey styles, but others like rye whiskey, which is made from a minimum of 51% rye and aged in charred barrels, are growing in popularity among a new generation of drinkers looking for something unique, interesting and independently produced. Alongside these styles, we find Tennessee whiskey, which uses maple charcoal for sweeter notes, the softer wheat whiskies, the world-dominating Bourbon whiskies, and others which are peculiar to specific states and regions.

Port wine is Portugal’s great gift to the world. Coming from the ancient harbour capital city of Porto and the surrounding Douro Valley region, Port wine has been made by Portuguese vintners for at least four hundred years, although viticulture has been continually happening in the area for well over two thousand years. Port is a fortified wine, meaning it is a wine which has been bolstered by the addition of grape brandy. Originally, this was used as a method of preservation, allowing the delicate Portuguese wines to survive the journey by sea to trading partners in the UK and France. However, the wonderful taste and unique character the fortification process lends to the wine soon became massively popular, and before long, this new wine style was a hit all across Europe.


Unlike some other fortified wines, Port is made by adding brandy before the wine itself has completed its fermentation. The result of this is that plenty of the grapes’ natural sweetness is maintained in the barrel, meaning it is exceptionally smooth and rounded on the palate. Port comes in many different styles - Tawny Port wines are prized for their richness and mellow character, Reserve and Late Bottled Ports are full of fruit flavor. Vintage Port is a complex, wonderful thing - capable of standing up to some of the finest wines in the world when it comes to depth of flavor and fascinating features.

Known as Syrah in most countries around the world, and Shiraz in Australia and certain other regions of the New World, this grape varietal has proven over the centuries to be one of the most powerful and flavorful red wine grapes there is. It is now one of the planet's most widely grown grapes, and is a favorite with wineries as a result of its robustness and versatility. It isn't easy to identify many characteristics of this particular varietal, due to the fact that it is highly versatile and shows significant differences in flavor and character depending on the terroir it is grown in, and the climatic conditions of the region. However, Syrah is most widely associated with full bodied, strong and loud red wines, packed full of fruity and spicy flavors, held in a beautifully deep red liquid.

Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.