Slide Ridge Honey Wine Vinegar

Slide Ridge's honey wine vinegars are not technically drinking vinegars–but they taste so good, you might want to drink them straight up.

Made from the family-owned Utah beekeeping operation's honey, the vinegars, are a labor of love: The two-step process, which involves making honey into wine and then fermenting it with bacteria, took years of tinkering. Start to finish, a bottle takes 18 months to produce.

The golden Nature's Honey variety ($21 for 8.5 ounces) is more viscous than other vinegars we've tried. Its sweetness lends itself to dressing bitter greens, or brushing on pineapple or peaches before grilling.

Seven varieties of apple are added to the winemaking process for the more tart Harvest Apple ($21 for 8.5 ounces). Add it to a pork-chop marinade to tenderize the meat; a splash would also add bite to barbecue sauces and the like.

Because each honey crop is different, each batch of vinegar has its own unique characteristics, too.

You may want to make your order a double.