The Whinery

Beer, Beer, Beer and, Well, More Beer

2011-11-24T16:30:00.001-05:00

I am sad this blog has languished. And unless someone picks up the ball, it will certainly languish once more after the start of the new year as I will be alcohol-free. Might as well call me mr. big o'doul's. Heaven help me. But, while I still have the opportunity to share with you some brews I have been imbibing, I will do so.

I know what you're saying: How the hell can I remember what I've been drinking? Easy. I've been using an app called Untappd. Nope this is not a pitch for them. I'm not being compensated by them nor receiving any special perks. I just thought that some of you out there who enjoy craft and microbrews might like some way of keeping track of what you have enjoyed and what you wouldn't drink again even if your life depended on it. I know when I'm standing in front of a vast array of beers I'm not always sure what I've had let alone if I enjoyed it or not. So, I have Untappd to remind me and also suggest other beers I might enjoy based on what I've had in the past. Just a little tidbit - I'm writing this post based on what I've kept track of using Untappd.

Just a warning: this will be a fairly long list so there won't be any lengthy descriptions. I will, however, add a rating to each on a scale of 1-5 stars (★★★★★) - I think we're all familiar with how that works so I won't go into it. We all good? Well then, let's get to the beers shall we?

As I write this post, I'm enjoying an Abita Amber. It's smooth, somewhat malty but very low on the ABV scale at 4.5%. It strikes me as a very versatile beer that could be paired with virtually anything. (★★★)

The other night at Buffalo Wild Wings, I had two beers. Well, wait, that's not really right. I had more than two beers, but I tried two different beers. Yeah, that's what I mean. The first was a Tallgrass IPA. (★★★★) Tallgrass is not available in the Northeast so it was nice to have something different. It's not overly hoppy like some IPAs (not that I mind that), but it's a well-balanced beer that goes down easily. Methinks a bit too easily.

The other beer was from a brewery I hadn't had in a very long time. A quick note: Atlanta Brewing Company (now formally known as Red Brick Brewing Company) was founded by my former babysitter when I was but a wee, lower case dubya. He opened the Brewery in 1993 and the first beer that left the building was the Red Brick Ale. Well, the other night, after finishing a Tallgrass, I had the Red Brick Brewing Pale Ale. (★★★½) I must say it was pretty nice. It was hoppy without being overly bitter and went down quite smoothly. I definitely wish I could get it back home.

Before I left for Mississippi, the family and I went to one of our favorite pizza places, Flatbread Company in Canton, CT. It has great clay oven pizza made with organic ingredients from local farms and a very laid-back atmosphere - the kids like to sit on the futon couches. Anyway, they always have good beers on tap and this night was no different. I was happy to see they had Cisco Brewers Whale's Tail Pale Ale (★★★★) as one of their offerings an I ordered without hesitation. It's a solid pale ale and not overly hoppy, that is to say, not too, too bitter at all. If you can pick some up somewhere, I suggest you do so. It's a very nice, drinkable pale ale.

I'm going to wrap this post up with some beers I've had recently at Backstage Eat. Drink. Live. Backstage opened a little over a year ago in Torrington, CT. Thankfully, they love craft brews and usually have 20 or more on tap and another 60+ in bottles. They even have special nights where a brewery comes in and takes over the taps. We were fortunate to be there when there were Dogfish Head and Brooklyn Brewery takeovers. I started off the Dogfish Head night with the Namaste (★★★½), a Belgian-style White beer that really set the tone for the night. I followed that by going to the other end of the spectrum and had the tried and true 90-Minute IPA, (★★★★★) the beer di tutti beers. For those of you who have had this you know I can't say anything more about it - it's about as perfect a beer as you can get. And if you haven't had it, you are doing your palate a great disservice - shame on you. Finally, I took a chance and gave the Theobroma (★★★½) a try. Part of their Ancient Ale Series, Theobroma is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, honey, chilis and annatto seeds. The chocolate and honey are certainly noticeable, but what it gives it its character is the slight burn/heat on the finish from the chilis. A nice offering from a brewer that never ceases to surprise.

At Brooklyn's takeover, I was all over the map. I started the night with the East India Pale Ale (★★★½). Dry-hopped but not a terribly hoppy beer as is common in most Pale Ales. Predominantly malty flavors are balanced with a faint bitterness and the finish is very clean - certainly a worthy session beer. I quickly followed the Pale Ale with a Pennant Ale '55 (★★★) - a "lighter" beer than I usually drink, but a decent one nonetheless. It's a nice ale that goes down easy and would be a nice introduction for someone interested in English-style craft ales. I finished the night with the Brooklyn Pilsner (★★★), their attempt at capturing the pre-prohibition German lagers. Although I usually pass over pilsners, I gave this one a shot and I wasn't disappointed. This offering is slightly more malty than its Bavarian brethren which was a welcome surprise. It's definitely not one I'd turn my nose up at.

My apologies about the banner - damn photo-sharing sites. But I'll get that fixed sometime. Also, I have some Barleywine-style beers at home that I'll be giving a go hopefully around Christmas. So, look for those reviews some time too.

I Think My Muse Has a Problem

2010-10-18T19:45:00.002-05:00

Do you want to know what's worse than talking about not being able to write? Writing about not being able to write. Look at my blog, ask my DadCentric buds, check out CultureBrats, hell, just look here - they'll all tell you that I have been an utter #FAIL as a writer as of late. But, that's changed. My muse, who has been on extended leave until recently, has returned (however briefly we'll soon find out) looking like she spent a year in Vegas. And what, you might ask, has inspired me so? Beer, of course. That and my brief Thoreau-like walk ~~around the pond~~ in the apple orchard. But mostly beer.

Friday night I stopped into a new packie in the area. Great store: big, clean, friendly. The only problem is that they are still pretty thin in the micro/craft brew area. The ubiquitous names are all there, but it is lacking some of the local faves. Anyway, I grabbed some Sam Adams Octoberfest and the Latitude 48 IPA. Not sure how I'd missed the latter, but I had. According to the Sam Adams Web site: Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA is a unique IPA brewed with a select blend of hops from top German, English, and American growing regions all located close to the 48th latitude within the “hop belt” of the Northern Hemisphere. The combination of hops in this beer creates a distinctive but not overpowering hop character. The beer is dry hopped with Ahtanum, Simcoe, and East Kent Goldings hops for a powerful citrus and earthy aroma. The hop character is balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the malt blend. Hmmm, hop belt - who knew? Well, color me intrigued. It does have a distinctive hops character, but it isn't the full hoppy mouthfeel and bitterness of Sierra Nevada's Torpedo (but really, what is?). As far as IPAs go, this offering is on the lighter side, which I imagine, is what Sam Adams was hoping for. It has that nice fresh pine and floral aroma and taste one expects from an IPA, which is complemented by a nice malty/bready backbone to give it some decent body. All-in-all it's a nice British-style IPA and certainly a good one to try if you're not all that familiar with IPAs or have been hesitant about hoppy ales.

Saturday found us in Massachusetts at Nashoba Valley Winery for some apple pickin'. This might come as a shock to some of my Mass. homies, but I had never been apple picking until this day. I know. But I'm willing to try anything when there's a brewery involved. Or single malt whiskey. Or both. So, who knew there were some many different varieties of apples? Ok, ok, put your hands down you kiss-asses, that was a rhetorical question. Anyway, after walking the rows of the orchard we made our way up to the shop where they have their wines, beers and spirits available for purchase. I was tempted to pay the $3 for a shot of the whiskey but deferred considering I had driving to do. I grabbed a six-pack of the Nashoba Valley Winery IPA - you're surprised, no? We made our way back to the porch where I took the opportunity to try this American-style IPA. I noticed that earthy pine I've come relish almost immediately after opening. There was the distinct bitterness on the first sip, but it quickly dissipated which came as a bit of a disappointment. It finished somewhat watery and that's unfortunate because it had a good hoppy body to it - or so I thought. It does have a nice balance to it - there were some sweet malts underlying the hops, but it didn't finish. I was left wanting more. Maybe it will be borne out in subsequent bottles - I did rush this one more than I would have usually. I hope so.

Let's hope my muse has decided to stay around for awhile. Maybe I just have to give it more beer.

Girls Night Out

2010-02-02T12:14:00.005-05:00

So, my closest girlfriends & I have vowed to do a quarterly night out. With our hectic schedules, kids, careers, family..... life in general.... we just weren't seeing enough of each other -- so we had our first one last July...... and then we had our second one on Saturday night. Yes, you are a very smart reader if you noticed that 6 months (almost 2 full quarters) had elapsed between nights out..... but hey, we are trying.

Anyway, two of my girlfriends, my sister (Aunt P) and I went out in Boston on Saturday night. We went to the totally hip Eastern Standard. Apparently, this is where the "who's who" go to "see and be seen" in Boston. Honestly, I typically do not frequent "hip joints".... no, I'm more of a RedRobin or Chili's girl -- but, this place was suggested and well, I went with it -- boy am I glad I did.

My college roommate (I'll call her Barbie) made our reservation weeks and weeks ago, and so when we arrived we weren't subjected to the 2+ hour wait that those who didn't plan ahead had to endure....

The drinks menu was expansive -- but I wasn't feeling that adventurous, so Aunt P, Barbie & I decided to share a bottle of wine. After perusing the wine list and determining that I couldn't afford 75% of the bottles listed, we slected a bottle of Merlot -- and here's the review:

First, a photo .... taken with my iPhone

The 2007 Osso Anna Merlot was very, very nice. The flavors were sublte, but deep.... chocolate, vanilla, a slight hint of oak. The smoothness was remarkable -- the gentle flavors lingered -- there was nothing acidic about it. The restaurant charged $40 for the bottle -- I've seen in listed from $19-$23 online, so although it's slightly higher than the typical wine reviewed here -- it was too good not to mention.

The food was simply amazing. I'm not even going to say any more about it for fear I might salivate on my keyboard just remembering how good it was.

After dinner we did the obligatory drinks -- I had an absolutely delicious Hot Buttered Rum -- which, apparently for my own protection, doesn't seem to be included on their online menu.

I'd write more, but as I had to share the bottle..... I simply can't -- but we will be doing more girls nights and there will be more wine, so stay tuned :)

Opera not-so Prima

2010-01-23T16:12:00.005-05:00

So, we picked up a bottle of 2007 Opera Prima Merlot based solely on the bottle.... I thought it was pretty. This isn't exactly what it looked like, but close enough.... picture a big '07 instead of the '08 and well, that's pretty much what it looked like.

I opened it while I waited for Mr Big Dubya to come home from work, I poured a glass and began to sip...... it was acidic -- not very pleasing.

Let it breath, I told myself -- maybe this is one that will benefit from some breathing.

So I set my glass down and resumed yelling at my children.

Mr Big Dubya arrived home and poured himself a glass. Unremarkable and pedestrian is how he described it -- bland, slightly acidic but more so just blah.

We finished the bottle, but weren't wishing we had picked up another -- and probably wouldn't bother getting it again.

Holidays, Hops and Malts

2010-01-06T14:53:00.001-05:00

I love the holiday season. And by "holiday season" I mean mid-October until, well, April when it starts to warm up a bit. It's a time for big, heavy and hardy beers; spiced beers; and beers that just warm you all over. Yes, I know beers are cold and thus not conducive to warmth, work with me here and just enjoy the vision and sentiments. Anyway, I have been doing a lot of tasting recently so you don't have to. I know, I'm a giver like that. At least that's what I tell myself when I step on the scale. Note to self, if you're gonna drink like it's 7, 7 n-n-n-o tomorrow, get to a gym once in a while. So, like I just mentioned, I've been trying a lot of beers the past several weeks and I figure now might be a good time to share. Yes, I realize I might have done this before all the parties and all, but where's the fun in that? Here's a reason to go out and celebrate Little Christmas - just my little inconsequential gift to you. No, no need to thank me. No, really.

River Horse Variety Pack: I'm a big fan of variety packs - something about spice and life or something like that. I love them because it gives me the opportunity to enjoy what that brewer believes might be a good combo for beer drinkers or some brews they're introducing. Or I just buy them because they come in a really cool box. Dude, there's a hippopotamus on the box. A hippopotamus! How could I not buy it? In this particular 12-pack were Hop Hazard Pale Ale, Special Ale, Lager and (my favorite just for its name) Hop-A-Lot-Amus. I'm not reviewing each beer, but let's say it's not a pack that you'll find much wrong with. All-in-all, these are very solid offerings, none of which disappointed. But, let's go back to my favorite, Hop-A-Lot-Amus. This is an unfiltered Double IPA. Repeat after me: UN-FIL-TERED(uh). There is a lot of sediment floating around this beer so if that's not your bag, baby, you might want to avoid this one. As far as aroma goes, there's some malts up front, but the hops do fight for your attention, eventually winning out and you will detect a piney, citrusy aroma. The bitterness of the hops really does mask its 8.5% ABV which may make for awkward situations (read: falling on the floor) if you're knocking back a few while seated. I think it's a pretty good Double IPA and won't disappoint you drinkers with a penchant (that's French for hankerin') for hoppy beers.

Berkshire Brewing Company Cabin Fever: Last year, The Dubyas were invited to a party in early December. On tap at this particular party was Cabin Fever. It was a 1/3 barrel, a "log" as it's known in liquor store parlance. And damn was it ever good. Flash forward two weeks later and you would have found another Cabin Fever log at Casa Dubya. Flash forward once again to this most recent Thanksgiving and you would have heard me squee like a schoolgirl when I found a few bottles at our local "packie." And, of course, at our most recent holiday open house, another log just happened to find its way to our humble abode. I really can't say enough good things about this seasonal. It opens with a nice maltiness with hints of caramel and some spices. The hops only add to this complex aroma with some bold fruitiness. There's a noticeable hoppiness on the tongue, but not overpowering, which is tempered by the nice breadiness of the malts. There's no outright spiciness like that found in other winter warmer-style ales, but there is a faint, sweet candy-like quality on the finish. Honestly, I haven't been disappointed by a Berkshire Brewing offering yet - Gold Spike, Steel Rail, Berkshire Ale, Lost Sailor - have all been great brews and ones that I find myself going back to often.

Woodstock Inn Brewery Red Rack Ale: Back in September I wrote about Woodstock Inn's Pemi Pale Ale. I mentioned that this beer intrigued me and I was anxiously looking forward to popping into the Inn during our trip to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving. Well, we did visit...twice. Unfortunately, I wasn't in an all too adventurous mood and stuck to the Red Rack Ale. Sort of a "I know what I'm gonna get" mentality. And, well, I'm at the brewery dammit. Anyway, it's a solid amber, but I think it could use a little more fullness. That is, some of the flavor you'd expect from a quality craft beer are washed out. It has a nice floral hops scent with malty, bready undertones. It maintained a pretty consistent yellow-tan head throughout. But when it came to the taste, I feel like it was lacking; like they missed an opportunity to give it something more. Now, that's not to say I won't try it again, but after the Pemi Pale Ale, it was a little disappointing.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale: Oh, Sierra Nevada, how quickly you have become my favorite. Can you open an east coast brewery so I can come and bow to your greatness? Huh? Was that out loud? That's internal monologue...internal! Well, what can I say about Sierra Nevada beers that I haven't already? Not much really. Celebration Ale is not what you'd expect of a winter offering. Why? One word: hoppy. Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy. Not spicy, not mulled, um, er, mulled-y and definitely not malty. No, this is another great pale ale offering from Sierra Nevada. It smells piney and citrusy so you know you'll get a mouthful of hop flavor. There is an ever-so-slight malty aroma but that quickly has its ass kicked and sent on its way. It has a medium mouthfeel and well-balanced carbonation which makes it easy to drink - if you don't have plans to drive it could easily be a great session beer. I must go buy some more of this. Allow me to reiterate: you can not, I repeat, can not go wrong with a Sierra Nevada beer.

Harviestoun Brewery Old Engine Oil: Now, c'mon and be honest, wouldn't you just want to drink this beer because of its name? Old Engine Oil: Viscous, Chocolatey, Bitter. Sounds good to me, sign me up. I had this beer over the weekend at J. Timothy's, which, if you live in this area or are ever visiting or lost, you should stop in and give it a try. Anyway, Old Engine Oil pours much like you think it would: thick and black and right off the bat you get hit with chocolate and coffee ~~making it the perfect substitute for breakfast~~. There is a slight hoppy aroma but not overwhelming by any stretch. You will notice the chocolate taste right away followed closely by coffee. There is a slight fruitiness to it but the malt is much more prevalent, very much like one would expect in a stout. It is definitely a filling beer but with an easy drinkability and some kick to it. It is the type of beer that makes me want to look for more Harviestoun varieties. In fact, I'd love to find the Ola Dubh - that looks really good.

Beers that I still need to drink that are just sitting in the fridge waiting: Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadrupel and Barrington Brewery Yule Fuel.

Molly Who???

2010-01-02T09:25:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know, I know.... I've been a sucky blogger lately -- and it's not because I haven't been drinking.... oh no, I've been drinking a plenty -- just haven't been writing about my indulgences.

So, once again I am recommitting myself to this space -- I will share with you the joy (or disappointments) of the wines I try and I hope you'll do the same.

First up -- a friend recently mentioned a wine she fell in love with.... I just had to try it. So, I sent Mr Big Dubya an email and told him he'd be wise to pick up a bottle on his way home from work -- at $27.99 a bottle, it is a little more expensive than our typical selection -- but sometimes you just gotta splurge. The label alone is enough to make me love this wine -- so, I have a feeling it won't disappoint.

Will be diving into this bottle tonight, and will hopefully have plenty to say about it afterwards -- in the meantime -- Cheers to 2010!

Compre este vino

2009-12-13T17:39:00.006-05:00

I think it’s happening again. A couple of years ago, Sue and I picked up a Spanish rioja at a really great price (about $12) that we loved. It became one of our go-to wines. Today, the Marqués de Cárceres rioja sells for closer to $20.

A couple of weeks ago, we picked up another Spanish red, a 2006 Sabor Real Toro, for $9.99. We both thought it was so good that I kept the bottle around to remind me to write a review (even if telling people about it will drive up the price).

The 2006 Sabor Real Toro is made from 100% Tempranillo grapes. Toro is the name of the wine, the name of the Spanish region that wine comes from, and the name of the Denominación de origen under which the wine is classified. (The Spanish are conservative with names like that; but for those in the know, the naming system quickly lets you know specifically where a wine is from.)

As I’ve written before, I’m terrible at telling you why I like a wine. But I can tell you that since Sue and I both liked it, that means it’s not too light and not too heavy, not too fruity and not too spicy, not too sweet and not too dry. I also know that we’re not the only people who have discovered that the 2006 Sabor Real Toro is an outstanding value. Just Google it and see what I mean.

If you find this wine—especially if it’s still about $10 a bottle—give it a try. And let me know if you agree.

P.S. Sue and I just joined the Zagat Wine Club. Have any of you tried this?

The Non-Reviews

2009-11-16T20:12:00.003-05:00

So, over the weekend I hosted a partylite party. One of our daycare teachers is a college student and she became a partylite consultant to make a few extra bucks. I'm not really the candle-party-type, but I figured what the hell..... I'll open a bottle of wine and the consultant will do the rest.

Well, that was a great plan -- except..... not too many guests were able to make it (damn flu!) which made me anxious.... one glass of wine, led to another, to another -- bottle number two, bottle number three.......

So, I'm here to tell you that I had three really good bottles of wine on Saturday night and I can't tell you anything about any of them.

I think I'm going to go re-buy them

Sarah and Shafer Sitting in a Tree...

2009-10-27T12:02:00.001-05:00

Last week my husband and I went to wine country. Please excuse the fact that there isn't a bottle of wine for sale at this place that falls within the price range of the average Whiney requirement. Hell, there isn't a varietal for sale at this place that you can buy for three times the under $15 suggested price, but I have to tell you about the best wine I drank when I was in California.

Shafer.

Let me start by saying that when I called Shafer for an appointment about five weeks before my trip the person who answered the phone laughed at me. She said they were booked up for over two months. I got on the waiting list for three different days.

That isn't how I got in.

I don't want to give away all the details but I will say that we completely got lucky. I was at another vineyard doing a tasting and by chance the guy who was doing the tasting happened to be married to someone who just so happened to work at Shafer. It was our very last day in California.

I begged, I groveled.

I told them I was a wine blogger.

THAT is how I got in.

That is also the exact minute I stopped being embarrassed to tell people that I blogged for a living.

People told me that Cakebread was the #1 place not to miss. I moved my appointment at Cakebread to go to Shafer.

I was not disappointed.

This is the tasting room.

As beautiful as this photograph is (my husband took this picture) it doesn't even do the room justice. The place was breath taking and the vineyard is 100% solar powered.

They gave us this:

That is five of their wines: the Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, the 2007 Merlot, the 2006 One Point Five Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2006 Relentless (a Syrah and Petit Syrah blend) and the 2005 Hillside Select® Cabernet Sauvignon.

I know Chardonnay gets a bad rap as a shitty grape (we even saw t-shirts at Honig that said "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Chardonnay") but this was the absolute best Chardonnay I've ever had.

And every glass of wine we tasted there was better than the last one.

Everything was exquisitely balanced.

Listen, we were in California for a week. The lowest end winery we hit was Sterling. We ate at The French Laundry and Cyrus and drank what was recommended to us. I drank a lot of wine last week and this wine was superior to every other thing I tasted.

I don't mean to gush, but DAMN!

If you ever want to buy a bottle of wine for a special occasion and you have $50 I highly recommend the Shafer Chardonnay or Merlot. I am not generally a fan of Merlot but in this case I make an exception. I would give up an entire week of football for this wine.

If you ever want to buy a bottle of wine for a special occasion and you have $70 the One Point Five and The Relentless are outstanding. I would wear a Rams t-shirt for the One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon. I would wear a Kurt Warner jersey for a bottle of the Relentless.

For a bottle of the Hillside Select I would do unspeakable things.

Unspeakable.

I am talking about things that involve rooting for the Yankees.

The Shafer Hillside Select retails for $215 a bottle, assuming you can find it in a store. You might have to join the club to even have a chance to buy a bottle.

I joined the wine club. Hell, if there were some sort of Shafer cult I would have joined that too.

The wine was that good.

- GSS

I bought it for the label....

2009-10-14T18:37:00.003-05:00

C'mon, look at this guy..... you'd want to bring him home with you too, right?

Okay, well if not the guy... unleash your inner 6-year old and buy a bottle of The Bastard!

I got this quite some time ago and wasn't really sure what to expect. This 2007 bottle of Il Bastardo Sangiovese Rosso di Toscana was really my first foray into Sangioveses.

A little history....the Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape most commonly use in making Tuscan Chianti. The grapes themselves are said to be fruity like strawberries, but with a hint of spiciness and take on a distinct oakiness when aged in barrels.

The Il Bastardo winery is located in the Rufina area of Tuscany just outside Florence in the Sieve River Valley -- this is said to be the best area for Sangiovese grapes.

The Big Dubya opened the bottle and poured two healthy glasses -- I took my first sip and was very pleased. It was extremely mild -- fruity, sweet, but not sticky sweet. I didn't detect any strawberries -- but there was a hint of blackberry for sure. The flavors weren't terribly deep, but that was okay because they were comfortable -- complex in it's simpleness. The finish was pleasant and very smooth -- there was no bite at all. This is the kind of wine you could drink a lot of and not feel weighed down or heavy.

I found myself wishing I'd picked up more and at less than $10 a bottle -- I'll keep an eye out for this one.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Ales: A Comparative Study, Part 1

2009-10-04T20:58:00.009-05:00

Welcome to October, my friends — the most wonderful time of the beer. It's the month that inspired U2's great song/album October, the month that moved the Germans to devote an entire 30-day stretch of the calendar to the celebration of beer... and the month that transforms happy little orange gourds into fearsome jack'o'lanterns across North America. It's a glorious month, and while Oktoberfest beers are a wonder in and of themselves, the sudden and simultaneous proliferation of similarly seasonal Pumpkin Ales is one of the great, consistent joys of my life.

Dozens of great microbreweries nationwide have taken to brewing Pumpkin Ales; as it happens, the wares of three of them made it into my fridge - and, subsequently, into my mouth - over the past week. Shall we review, I ask the crowd? "Oh, yes," you say. "We shall."

Win the crowd, and you win your freedom.

1. Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale
I've been a bigbigbig fan of Smuttynose for quite some time now. Brewing out of beautiful Portsmouth, NH, they produce a wide range of generally quite good beers that are available across New England and - if you happen to be in Portsmouth proper - in the truly wonderful Portsmouth Brewery. So it was with great joy that I found myself face-to-six-pack last week with a six of Smutty's Pumpkin Ale at one of my local fine purveyors of hopped goodness.

Unfortunately... I've gotta admit: I was less-than-thrilled with the result. Overall, the brew has a lovely amber color and very subtle spicing for the genre, but there's a kind of lasting bitterness that arises in the aftertaste that ultimately overwhelms the mellow pleasures of the beer itself. This is the part where I should probably go into some kind of long-winded explanation of how that's a function of the hops and blahblahblah... but really, the fact of the matter is this: the beer was okay, but the aftertaste was bitter enough that after TheWife and I had both downed one (well, alright... it was two for me) we looked at each other and said, "This isn't actually all that good."

I won't hesitate to try other Smutty seasonals, but going forward I'm thinking this is one I'll be avoiding.

2. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
Great googly moogly — now THIS is how you do a pumpkin beer. The spicing is clearly present but also extremely well-balanced: the pumpkin, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg add wonderful layers to the rich brown ale rather than overwhelming it, which is always the risk you face with spiced beers. It's a rich, full flavor but not so rich that it's too-filling... we actually found it to be a very adept accompaniment to food that actually added to our enjoyment of it, rather than competing with it as so many other spiced or heavy beers may do.

My one complaint: four-packs! It's like the packaging is custom-designed to build you up to a nice little happy place, ready for reach for another one... only to discover THEY'RE GONE. Of course, this is something that Dogfish likes to do with many of their seasonal or über-artisinal beers, so I suppose that's the price you pay for delving into the Dogfish world. But as is true of just about everything they brew... they do it right, and even though you're paying a premium for fewer beers, you're getting a legitimate, top-quality product for your money.

You rarely regret going Dogfish Head, and the Punkin Ale is no exception. Outstanding.

3. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
This is the first Weyerbacher I've ever tried, and it's very, very impressive. I'll have to admit that going into it, I had a couple of reasons for trepidation. First off... this was another four-pack, and one even more expensive than the Dogfish Head I'd enjoyed so heartily earlier in the week. I think it was something like $12 for the four-pack, plus deposit — which it's hard not to admit is a rather hefty investment. Secondly, I've had mixed feelings about Imperial Ales in the past. TheWife is a big fan, but I tend to find myself a bit overwhelmed by the intensity of the Imperial hops. Our divergence over Harpoon's Leviathan Imperial IPA this summer was a case in point; I found it ultra-hoppy to the point of being almost unbearably bitter, whereas she went completely head-over-heels for it.

Nevertheless, I forked over my fortune-for-a-four-pack (and you're most welcome for that crafty bit of alliteration, btw), and brought the pumpkin-headed beast back home with me. It sat waiting in my fridge for nearly a full day until this afternoon, as I sat down to watch the Pats take on (and ultimately defeat) the Baltimore Ravens... when I felt the need come upon me, so during a timeout I repaired to the kitchen and opened a bottle.

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the result was clearly very, very pleasing. The Imperial hops are a strong presence, but not one nearly as overwhelming as I feared — in fact, they worked in symphony with the delicate spicing (which included cardimom and clove) to create something very balanced, flavorful and entirely enjoyable. I'd say that overall it's a less-spiced animal than the Dogfish Head, but the spices are still a tangible enough presence that they add character and depth to the brew. It's an interesting contrast to the Dogfish - which, honestly, I'd presumed would be the best Pumpkin beer I'd taste this year - and a drinking experience pleasurable enough that if I had to choose one over another... honestly, I'm not sure which way I'd go.

But really? It's a win-win. Check 'em both out. And then, let me know: what else do I need to taste?

September/October Assignment

2009-09-25T18:47:00.002-05:00

Okay, yeah I know... I'm late -- but, it's not like everyone jumped on the last couple of assignments...

So, here's a two-fer -- September & October rolled into one.

I'd like you all to review/recommend/experiment with a fall cocktail. It doesn't have to be wine -- it can be your favorite fall cocktail, Oktoberfest beer, cider, wine, recipe..... c'mon the rules are loose here at The Whinery -- have a ball with it.

Cheers!

Something berry this way come....

2009-09-20T13:04:00.005-05:00

It all began with my company's summer outing..... a summer picnic on September 17th.... yes, our summer picnic was in the late part of September..... I don't know, just accept it and move on, okay -- I have.... well, sorta.

Because it was a "summer" outing, I really wanted a summer beer -- so I went to the local Mom & Pop package store to see if they might have something left. It's one of those hole-in-the wall kind of places that totally overcharges, but... if they have what you want -- you'll suck up a few extra bucks.

Low and behold, they had one six-pack of Harpoon Summer left -- SOLD! But, I can't walk into my summer outing with a six-pack.... I'd NEVER hear the end of that -- it would be the stuff of workplace-urban-legend..... "Remember the time MrsBigDubya showed up with a six pack..... how cheap is she??? " -- so I scanned around to see if anything else caught my eye and I saw Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier..... hmmm.... I'm intrigued..... blackberries are summer-esque, right? so yeah -- it works for me.

Of course, I've had berry beers before.... raspberry beers tend to be too sweet, blueberries seem to crave balance -- they are usually either too much blueberry or well, not enough -- and cranberry..... just tastes weird. I was honestly not expecting much from a blackberry beer -- figured I'd have one -- either like it or not and then move on to the guy who brought a case of Corona.

Thing is -- I actually liked it. The scent was more sugary than the taste -- the flavor was crisp, sweet -- but not sticky sweet, there was a hint of orange so the tang of the citrus offset the sweetness of the blackberries nicely -- and, it still tastes like beer, unlike Sam's Cherry Wheat which I found to be so sweet that it lost it's "beer-ness"

Beer Advocate only rates this beer a B-. I'm not a beer connoisseur by any stretch, but I know what I like and I think B- is a bit unfair -- I'd say B+ and other sites I've looked at have been quite a bit kinder in their commentary.

Let's put it this way.... all twelve of my beers were gone when I left.... and I picked up another six of the Blackberries to enjoy while I watched the Patriots/RedSox games on Sunday.

Bottom line -- I'd say that you should give Sam's Blackberry Witbier a whirl.

Beer-stravaganza

2009-09-16T11:44:00.001-05:00

My brother once commented that people are going to think all I do is drink. My reply? I do it for the readers. I'm punishing my liver and adding to the girth around my middle so you don't have to. I'm out there, on the front line, trying beers and equally bettering and battering my tastebuds so you can go into your local packie well-informed, ready to make a decision on what adult beverage to take home and enjoy. I'm doing it for Johnny, man! (RIP Darrell Curtis). I'm selfless like that.

And since my last beer review in July...JULY!?!...man, this post is gonna be loaded (pun most certainly intended). Anyway, since my last review in July, I have been a busy, busy man. Oh sure, I've had favorites in the fridge at all times: Torpedo (if I turned you on to this fantastic Extra IPA, I'll expect some sort of thank you in the comments), Sam Summer, Harpoons of varying style, and so on. But I've also been trying out some other micros and regional offerings. So, let's get to it, shall we?

Woodstock Inn, Pemi Pale Ale: I've taken to trusting the recommendations of the clerk at the liquor store at the bottom of the hill from our house. He has noticed that I like the hoppier brews on the market and, if I'm appearing undecided on a particular Saturday afternoon, he will make some suggestions. Recently, he mentioned Pemi Pale Ale from Woodstock Inn Brewery. The Brewery is part of the Woodstock Inn Station & Brewery in North Woodstock, NH. The Brewery also offers brewers weekends during which you get hands-on instruction in the fine art of beer making. Anyway, I thought this a good opportunity to try out one of their many offerings - we will be in that area for Thanksgiving - before we visit. The description on the web site is rather thin: Best Pale Ale in the Northeast and second overall in the Country at the United States Beer Tasting Championships. Pale amber in color with O.G. 1.057 / 56.4 IBUs / 5.7%abv. Um...ok...guess I'll just have rely on my own description. The Pemi pours a deep amber, bordering on red, color and has a full head that dissipates rather quickly however. It has an aroma that is citrusy with a hint of pine. The hops are also present and there is a faint odor of malt; somewhat bready but not a prominent or powerful aroma by any means. The fruity/citrussy qualities are again present in the first sip, but they are blunted by the presence of hops and their bitterness that immediately follow. Malt is there as well, but only subtly and is entirely gone on the finish. It's nowhere near has hoppy as the Torpedo or some other bolder IPAs (that's evident in its IBU of 56.4), but it is a solid offering nonetheless. I can say that this beer intrigued me and I am looking forward to popping into the brewery in November - their newest brew, Through Hiker Double Rye Pale Ale, has peaked (ha! get it? hiker...peaked? yeah, I know.) my interest.

Newport Storm, Kim (Cyclone Series): I see Newport Storm everywhere and, yet, have never tried it. As the breweries roll out their fall/Octoberfest offerings, I figured I would give this Märzen style a try. During this time of year, if you were to open the "beer fridge," you would find Sam Octoberfest or Harpoon's offering of the same name lining the shelves. Honestly, as far as beer seasons go, I am in my glory now. This is the time of year for heavier, bolder choices - a time of year when crisp and refreshing are supplanted by warming and comforting. Kim does not disappoint. Dark orange, sort of rusty color with an off-white head, Kim appears to retain some of its yeastiness near the bottom of the glass - it gets hazier the lower you go in the glass. It has aromas of malt (natch) and caramel. There is also a nuttiness that is faint but present, as well as a mild hoppiness - I don't get as much on the hops side as other reviewers have, though. I can taste the malts right away which is to be expected - it is a Märzen after all. But I was surprised by a taste that was hoppier than expected. Not that I mind. It's fuller, breadier, in the mouth and that tones down the 7.9% ABV meaning no "alcohol burn" going down. Overall a very nice lager - if you see in a store near you, pick it up - it won't be around very long.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis: For fans of authentic (read: German) hefeweiss (hefeweizen, Hefeweißbier), you usually have to search far and wide for a decent liquor store that stocks offerings with -brauerei on the label. I've tried enough American offerings to feel comfortable saying, "Meh, they're okay, but they didn't wow me." Not anymore. Sierra Nevada (which is quickly becoming my brewery di tutti breweries) has unleashed upon the world Kellerweis "the only American Hefeweizen made using the traditional Bavarian style of open fermentation." Well, slap me on the ass and call me Shirley. Thank. God. The Kellerweis pours a big yellow to orangey color with a nice, frothy head. Be sure and follow the directions on this one: pour 2/3 into a glass, swirl and pour remainder - that way you are sure to get every bit of yeasty goodness. The aroma always takes me back to Capo's in Neu Ulm where I had my first hefe: bananas, spices (cloves in particular), yeast, malts and citrus. Taste is nearly the same but with a faint note of hops as well. This is a complex brew, make no mistake about it. All-in-all an admirable weißbier entry from Sierra Nevada - certainly among the best (if not the best) American offerings.

Another Lost Angel

2009-09-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

"Oh, Lord why doesn't this come in a bigger bottle?"
--- Honest first words upon sipping a glass of Lost Angel 2006 Petite Syrah

It's been a while since we killed this bottle of Lost Angel. I can't remember what we had for dinner or even if we had dinner. It might have been a wine entree night. But when I took my first sip of this petite syrah, I was hooked. I wanted another. I wanted it intravenously. Scratch that. Intravenously would not allow me to taste it. I wanted to funnel it. It needed it to come in a barrel so I could do keg stands. Wait. Do wine drinkers DO keg stands?

I don't claim any sort of wine snobbery. I'm a beer drinker by birth - I believe there are still trace elements of Schlitz coursing through my veins or attached to my DNA (thanks, Dad!). I say this as a matter of disclaimer. Just because I like a particular bottle of wine (or beer for that matter) does not necessarily mean that you will like it or even that it's a good bottle of wine. You should never take my reviews as gospel. I've been known to drink Boone's Farm out of a paper bag and to have chanted "What's the word?" "THUNDERBIRD!" Oof, just disclosed my inner monologue...moving along now.

All that being said, I do like the Lost Angel 2006 Petite Syrah (Sirah). According to the tasting notes, the varietal was harvested in September 2006 and aged for 12 months in neutral oak barrels. One good whiff is all it takes to identify the raspberries and cherries as well as some floral notes. But it was its taste that got to me. I could taste the cherries and raspberries, but there were some richer, darker elements as well, chocolate primary among them. I half-expected to have this wine disappoint me on the finish - there's gonna be some acidic aftertaste or it's gonna burn all the way down. I was so happy this wine dope slapped my cynical nature. It had a medium finish wherein there were some subtle spices and tobacco and a slight earthy flavor just like the tasting notes mentioned would be there.

In short, I like this wine and for the $11 I think you should go out, find a bottle and give it a try. It's a nice casual wine that can be opened any time. Hopefully, you too will wish it came in a bigger bottle.

So we bought a box of Bota Box

2009-08-14T18:38:00.005-05:00

In keeping with the August Assignment, the Big Dubya went out and bought-a-box of Bota Box Shiraz (2008) (sorry, couldn't help myself).

It was really hot this afternoon and after a day chasing kids and catching up on housework, the thought of firing up the stove or even the grill was more than I could bear.... so the Big Dubya agreed to grab a couple of pizzas on his way home and what better Friday-night pizza cocktail than a good old glass of red wine.... in this case, a 2008 Shiraz.

The Big Dubya and I agree that we were both pleasantly surprised by the first glass. It didn't taste like what I would expect a boxed-wine to taste like. It was full flavored, not over powering -- there were distinctive fruit undertones.... the tannins weren't at all severe. The Big Dubya noticed a definite cherry influence, whereas I thought the oak flavor was more present. It paired well with pizza, I think it would also stand up well to steak or a grilled dinner.

The typical bottle of wine is supposed to yield 5 glasses -- we usually get 2 glasses each (4 glasses). The box is supposed to yield the equivalent of 4 bottles/20 glasses (well, 16 in the Dubya house) and I'd say at this point we are probably ¼ of the way through it...... the night is still young!

Bottom line, I think this is a decent (and fairly versatile) table wine. The Big Dubya seemed to like it a little more than I did -- I wouldn't rush out and buy it again, but I wouldn't caution anybody against it either -- at $20ish for 16-20 glasses, it's certainly a good value.

Too Hot, Too Cold--Am I Goldie Locks?

2009-08-08T09:42:00.007-05:00

We made friends with the guy who orders wines and beers at our local shop—his card reads “Wine & Spirit Educator”—but let’s just call him Ken. He called the other day to say that a wine that we requested was in, and I said “No Torpedo though, huh?” “The customer comes first,” he muttered and confessed that he had five bottles—not quite a six-pack. I said I’d be there that afternoon to pick it up. Score! We brought home four bottles and gave Ken the fifth. Apparently, he’s yet to enjoy a Sierra Nevada Torpedo himself—they can’t keep it on the shelf long enough for him to get to it.

In any case, along with the Torpedo, a bottle of Strong Arms Shiraz 2007 came home with us, too. It's a screw top from South Australia which I will be reviewing for this month’s assignment a bit later. Before I do, however, I wanted to share a little something about wine temperature. I am not a wine snob, I mean, I drink wine from a box, so I can’t be, can I? A few years back, my husband and I decided to sign up for a single evening wine class at the wine shop, and the one thing that has stuck with me from the two hours of trying all kinds of wine (we’re lucky I retained anything useful from the evening!) is that temperature matters. White wine should be served chilled, but not at 38 degrees, as I had previously thought. White wine is best served a bit warmer than right out the fridge, say, about 20 minutes warmer. Red wine, on the other hand, should be served cooler than room temperature, about 20 minutes in the fridge cooler. Why does it matter? I asked that very same question. My answer to you is to try it. Get two identical bottles of wine and try one as you normally would--fresh out of the fridge for a white or straight from the wine rack for a red, and the other, pour it a bit chilled or warmed, depending on the color. Try both side-by-side and I promise you'll notice a difference in taste. In fact, you might even question that both glasses contain the same exact wine.

I tried this myself, with a red wine I quite like, but don’t love. Even a wiff of the stuff at room temperature smelled off to me. It smelled “dirty” according to my husband and that's a fitting description. It had a strong alcohol odor, as well as a strong alcohol taste. The chilled red wine, however, smelled fruity and tasted nothing like the warm wine, and had alcohol burn on the back of my tongue. In the room temperature glass I couldn't find a hint of the cherries I tasted in the cooled wine.

Generally, a white that’s served too cold or a red served too warm can cause certain unsavory aspects of a wine to overpower more favorable characteristics. Now, if I were a real wine snob, I might be able to tell you that your chardonnay should be enjoyed at 48 degrees Fahrenheit, but your sparkling wine could stand to be a bit cooler and I won’t tell you that port should be served closer to room temperature, unless it’s vintage. I don’t test the temperature of my wine before I drink it, but I do drink my reds a bit colder than most folks I know, and if I happen to have a white, I generally drink that a bit warmer. Give it a try and tell me how it works out.

The Perfect "10"?

2009-08-08T09:16:00.005-05:00

The other night my hubby and I stopped at a local eatery for a quick bite to eat after a movie. I had wanted to try this particular restaurant because they tout themselves as a haven for localvores—which I try to be—and I was not disappointed. Even the draft beer was local. I ordered my first Ten Penny Ale, the debut brew of the Olde Burnside Brewing Company in East Hartford, Connecticut. I've just recently returned to Connecticut after a 20-year-long hiatus, so if you have already discovered the gold-mine that is Ten Penny or any of the other brews from Olde Burnside, please just bear with me.

I did not even finish reading the beer descriptions on the menu before I made my selection. I chose this particular beer because I am pretty familiar with Burnside Avenue in East Hartford. My mom is from East Hartford and my uncle still lives in the house that they grew up in, which is not far from Burnside Avenue. My sentimentality took over and I’m glad it did.

The beer arrived and although I did not take a lot of time to admire how it looked, it did display a short, fairly dense head and a strong amber hue. It looked good enough to drink—so I did—the first word that came to mind with my first sip of Ten Penny was clean. This is not a light beer, however. It has a good malty body and a smooth caramelized taste. The menu description categorized it as a Scottish ale, but it’s not quite a full Scottish ale in my opinion, but still quite tasty. Not surprisingly, Ten Penny’s ABV is 5.5%, which accounts for some of its smoothness.

In preparation of writing this review, I visited the Burnside Brewing Company’s website. You’d think I stole my review from them: Ten Penny “is a smooth, amber-hued mellow version of a Scottish Ale.” But then again, how many words are there to describe a good beer—and Ten Penny is a straight forward beer—it does not have tremendous depth, but it is neither flat nor thin. It paired perfectly with our tomato pizza with mozzarella, roasted garlic and basil pesto.

Ten Penny and several of Burnside’s other brews, including Dirty Penny Ale, are sold only in growlers at your local (if you’re in Connecticut) liquor store. You can’t buy a six, but the ½ gallon gives you enough to share with a friend or two. It’ll run you a bit more than a six, but you're paying for local and it’s worth it.

August Asssignment

2009-07-30T18:25:00.003-05:00

Swheeze hit upon it in her inaugural post earlier this week -- I've got myself convinced that wine that comes in a box is crap...... screw top wine too (I know, I've got some issues), but for now, let's stick to wine in a box.

Cognitively, I know that boxed wine is perfectly fine -- some of it is high quality, even expensive -- yet I can't seem to bring myself to pull the trigger and buy a box. I walk by them, read the labels.... and then saunter back over to the traditional bottles.

After some reflection, I think it's because once upon a time, my mother drank Riunite and her best friend drank Paul Masson.... from what I recall, both of these wines were both simply awful. My Mom's friend switched to wine-in-a-box, I can't remember what kind it was -- just that it was terrible and took up half a shelf in her fridge.

Anyway, it's time to get past this boxed-wine-phobia I have -- so, join me won't you?

August's assignment is to try and review wine that comes in a box (or some alternative packaging).

If you are dead-set against the boxed wine idea..... how about a wine with a screw top, although I've had them and it appears to be the "wave of the future"-- I'm still skeptical about that too.

Thinking Inside the Box

2009-07-28T10:15:00.003-05:00

Perhaps it is not a great idea to have my very first post be about something as taboo as boxed wine, but it’s what’s on my mind right now.

Boxed wine has a not so nice reputation, with good reason. If you have ever tried Franzia, you know why. I do recall our local wine seller talking about the idea of boxed wine actually being a good one—you open the wine but it never has contact with air so it stays “fresh” for much longer than an open bottle of wine. He also explained that in France and Australia, boxed wine did not have the same reputation that it does in the U.S. and that boxed wine was widely accepted and there were currently several very good options on the market. I noted that he did not have any boxed wine for sale, we laughed, and that was the end of that.

Until now. My father-in-law has consumed boxed wine for several years. I think he started out with Almaden in a box—it was not very good. He’s now moved to Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon. He has a glass every day with lunch for his health—seriously, I think a doctor recommended it. Of course we have all heard that red wine, in moderation, is good for you. Apparently, there are beneficial anti-oxidants in the skin of the grapes—not to mention, sitting down with a glass of wine to unwind has its benefits, as well. So, for those who drink wine for their health, wine becomes almost like a medication, and therefore the wine box is just the “easy open cap” version.

I noticed this year that there was more and more boxed wine to choose from at our local liquor store. I had to walk right by it on my way to the beer cooler in the back. Then my husband noticed it, too. We bought a box. I think we went with Black Box. It was fine. Really. I mean, nothing special, but it was a far cry from the Franzia or Almaden crap that was served at neighborhood parties when I was a kid. (Or, as Mr. Big Dubya noted in November, the kind of wine that woo-girls drink.)

Okay, so my point is, boxed wine might be worth some exploration. I have done some myself. I really like Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel—I like bolder flavors in my wine and this one in particular stands up to spicier and heavier foods. It is surprisingly complex. I’ve tried the Bota Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and the Shiraz. All are pretty good and are worth a try. Amazingly enough, Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel, along with all the others I mentioned, also fits with July’s tasting assignment—it’s made it the U.S.—Cali, of course.

Boxed wines are not what they used to be. I am curious to know if anyone else has tried boxed wines and found some hits? I am seriously considering have a tasting with only boxed wines and sharing the results here, but, that’s a lot of wine (most boxes are equivalent to three to four 750ml bottles—or about 20 glasses of wine). I’d need to have a lot of guests, not to mention a lot of glasses. I’ll keep thinking about this. In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on boxed wine.

Welcome Swheeze!

2009-07-27T19:42:00.003-05:00

I am so excited to announce our newest contributor..... the gorgeous Swheeze (don't let the name fool you!)

Not only is she a career woman -- she's also a great friend, a fabulous cook and a lover of wine.... actually, she loves all kinds of adult beverages.

I'm confident that she and Mr Swheeze will not only be sharing their wine reviews, but will also be injecting their fabulous humor into our little wine club.

Please join me in welcoming Swheeze!

Sangria Anyone?

2009-07-26T18:04:00.005-05:00

Recently, a friend of ours posted his sangria recipe on Facebook and I'll confess, I was immediately intrigued.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably offer two points of information

1. I am not a sangria drinker -- have maybe had it once or twice in my life..... if at all -- so I honestly have no frame of reference whatsoever.

2. This friend is, like myself, insanely competitive. He would never post a recipe as his own unless it was tried & true and in his opinion.... damn near perfect. This is a "go big or go home" kind of guy, he plays to win.

I think it was the latter point that put me on a mission..... a mission to try this baby out.

The recipe:
1 Bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 Lemon cut into wedges
1 Orange cut into wedges
1 Lime cut into wedges
2 Tbsp sugar (use more sugar if using a Cab or Shiraz)
Splash of orange juice or lemonade
2 Shots of gin
1 Cup of raspberries or strawberries (may use thawed or frozen)
1 Small can of diced pineapples (with juice)
4 Cups ginger ale
Chill overnight

So, last Friday I went and grabbed all the necessaries and set about assembling a big ole pitcher of Sangria. I went with a bottle of Little Penguin Merlot we already had on the wine rack (not bottom of the barrel, but good enough to drink -- should work okay, right?) I used orange juice (not lemonade) and raspberries (not strawberries).

We ended up having a few beers that evening, so the sangria would have to wait.... and wait, and wait some more. On Thursday night we put the kids to bed and poured a couple of glasses. The Big Dubya thought it was good -- but there was some underlying flavor that was distracting him -- he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. I asked -- is it the lime? maybe.... the lemon? maybe..... the gin -- yeah, that's it!

I found my glass a bit too strong for me -- I added some more ginger ale to see if that helped -- but it was still just really strong, I was tired and not in the mood to experiment. We kind of walked away a little unsure of whether or not we liked it..... but, neither of us was ready to discount it either.

On Saturday night we had a small dinner party and, as is par for the course at casa Dubya, the cocktails were flowing. I pulled out the pitcher of sangria and everybody tried some. We got some mixed reviews.... one fellow came looking for another glass saying that he couldn't say that he loved it -- but did find it oddly compelling. Another fellow coined the term gin-gria, noting that the gin was most certainly a detectable undertone.

In fairness, the above recipe is a little loosey-goosey so it's entirely possible that I screwed it up. The size of the fruits, the definition of a splash.... all subject to interpretation.

Bottom line, this is a good solid base-recipe that I'll probably tweak a bit to make it more my own.... but I'm interested to hear -- anybody got a good sangria recipe they'd like to share?

I Got the Blues

2009-07-17T20:35:00.005-05:00

Since Mr. Big Dubya opened up the door to beer reviews on this site, I'll toss one in too.

I went out today to pick up Sierra Nevada's Torpedo that Dubya posted about last month. No luck. I learned instead that the IPA has become so popular (due solely to this website's review I'm sure) that it quickly sold out. I also learned that the brewery used some hard-to-find hops and has to wait for more to grow before it can brew more.

I was out to buy a new beer though, so I did pick up something I hadn't tried before.

I have had blueberry beers, and I've liked them. I'm usually a fan of dark beers and stout, but I occassionally like something sweeter too. The time seemed right for a blueberry beer.

Wild Blue blueberry lager from Blue Dawg Brewing in upstate New York seemed worth a shot. I hadn't heard of the brewery before, but I'm sure there are hundreds of great breweries I haven't heard of. I wasn't going to let that stop me.

I poured the beer to check out the look of it too. It was bluish red in color with a foamy purplish pink head. "My daughter would like this color," I thought. Still, I didn't let the look of it stop me; it wasn't really surprising from a blueberry lager anyway.

Then I tasted it.

Crap. Seriously. Crap. And I don't use that word lightly. It tasted like someone poured fake blueberry flavoring and artificial sweetener into a bad beer. And the color was probably fake too.

Only then did I do a little Googling to learn that my Blue Dawg Brewery was actually Anheuser-Busch. I don't have anything against that company (although I don't normally buy their beer), but their name isn't even on the damn bottle. If it were, I would have picked a different blueberry beer.

According to the Anheuser-Busch press release about Wild Blue, it's a full-bodied beer "not suited for timid or reserved beer drinkers." I don't think it's suited for anyone. Not even the dog on the bottle.

Has anyone else tried this? Anyone else been tricked by a major brewer? Now, I'm off to try a new beer from Magic Hat. At least I know where those really come from.

Welcome Mrs Gnu!

2009-07-16T19:11:00.002-05:00

We have a new contributor!!!

I'm so excited to have Mrs Gnu in our little group -- not only is she simply lovely, but she loves wine with reckless abandon!

Wife, mother, successful career woman, a fabulous hostess and... she's been known to get tipsy at wine tastings and order bottles & bottles of wine unbeknownst to Mr Gnu!

Cheers!

Eye of the Hawk Select Ale

2009-07-13T09:38:00.000-05:00

I have been touting Sierra Nevada's Torpedo to anyone who will listen lately. Apparently, it's in short supply so I must not be far off the mark. Anyway, I picked up another six-pack a few days back and while I was doing some shopping, I decided to grab something else to review. This particular liquor store has a vast array of micros and independent breweries - enough to satisfy the most discriminate drinker like yours truly. However, with so many to choose from, it's not hard to begin feeling like a stoner in the snack aisle. Decisions, decisions. I opted for Medocino Brewing Company's Eye of the Hawk Select Ale.

Eye of the Hawk can be categorized as an American Strong Ale, those ales which come in at greater than 7.0% ABV (alcohol by volume). This offering pours a rich amber with little head - this is something I am really not that much of a stickler for: lacing, heavy lacing, light lacing, it's not a deal breaker for me. Anyway, the aroma is sweet and bready and faintly malty - can I add any more -y's? There is also a good dose of fruits - some have said raisins, but I'm not sure that's it. The taste is definitely of malts and yeast which is to be expected given that it is bottle conditioned, a process which introduces actively fermenting yeast to the mature beer right before bottling. There is a slight taste of hops, but this should not be confused with a "hopbomb." The 8.0% ABV is barely noticeable, which makes it a rather devious and dangerous beer: tasty enough to enjoy a few at a sitting, but be careful when you stand up as you may have lost the use of your legs.

All-in-all, this beer did not disappoint, nor did it break the bank as I picked up this six-pack for $7.49 - a great value for a good to great beer.

The Devil is in the Details

2009-07-13T08:21:00.002-05:00

If you were to judge this wine by its label (which I never, ever do...ever), you wouldn't be faulted for instantly thinking about the generic products in the supermarket or on television with their austere black and white labels marked "Beer" or "Rice". No, it looks like someone booted Microsoft Publisher and got all minimalist on the oenophiles of the world. However, to say the Velvet Devil Merlot is generic or minimalist is to do it a great disservice.

Vinted and bottled by Charles Smith Wines (I guess it's a tad less generic than John Smith Wines, although he is anything but), this Columbia Valley Merlot pours a nice, deep ruby red in the glass and has a rich nose of spice, plums, smoke and cocoa. I must say, however, my first sip or two were not favorable. The tannins were a bit overwhelming and masked and overpowered the flavors I should have been tasting - I chalk this up to mixing poorly with the acidity of the tomato sauce on the pizza we were enjoying and maybe not breathing enough. But, with subsequent sips, I found the "velvet" in the name was more than accurate and not misrepresentation. It was bold and proved to be very smooth and robust - I could taste the plums and a hint of cedar with every mouthful. After a rather underwhelming start, this wine really did come through and, you know what? We are all the better for it.

Mrs. Big Dubya picked up this particular bottle (as well as the Kung Fu Girl Riesling) at bin ends for about $12. I suggest you go grab a bottle or two. As they say, "The Devil you know..."

Stem, No Stem, -- Decanter, No Decanter

2009-07-10T04:30:00.005-05:00

A friend & I were chatting about making good on our promise to go for a glass of wine after work some night soon and she suggested a place near the office that sounds fabulous. I don't see it on the menu, but apparently they have something called truffle fries..... hand cut steak fries drizzled with a blue cheese sauce of some description -- my God, I'd be in heaven.

Anyway, my friend mentioned that the only downside to this place was they serve the wine in stemless glasses -- her feeling is that she drinks the wine too fast in this type of glass, as opposed to the traditional wine glass. I actually like the stemless glasses.... but the set I have came with a decanter and I mentioned that I have never actually used a decanter..... do people actually do that? Maybe it's that my budget wines don't call for a decanter.

Thoughts?

Pink Truck

2009-07-06T10:46:00.003-05:00

I drink the wine, I just don’t usually post. Lazy I guess. And I hadn’t even checked the website for the July assignment when, luckily for me, Clare picked out this wine when we were at the package store. (What? You don’t let your seven year old choose your wine? I won’t judge). Since she’s a girly girl, she chose a pink wine. Pink Truck wine to be exact. The wine sells for $8.99 on the website, and I paid $9.99 at the package store.

Now Darren and I like the other truck wines (Red Truck and White Truck), so we had high expectations for the Pink Truck. Cline Vineyard is the originator of the Truck wines (they’ve since sold the brand to the current owners – check out the website for more info) and the Red and White Truck wines have been pretty consistent in their appeal and value.

As I said, high expectations. This will come back to haunt us. I placed the Pink Truck in the refrigerator to chill and we opened it the night of 4th of July while watching fireworks on tv (first from DC, then NYC). The wine’s color is reminiscent of pink Hi-C lemonade in the glass…and the smell was fruity. Zinfandel, Grenache and Mourverde are blended to make this wine.

The Red Truck website describes the Pink Truck wine as “a classic wine with a very sophisticated twist. This exceptional blend exhibits berry and citrus aromas and strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate flavors that tantalize the palate. Juicy orange notes make for a delicious, bright finish - a refreshingly complex wine crafted in a balanced off-dry style.”

Fruity smell – check. First sip (still pretty chilled at this point) similar to Bartles and Jaymes (those of you in college in the 80’s with me will know of what I speak). Not entirely bad – we’re thinking this could be a nice picnic wine; definitely summery.

However, as the wine warms, things take a turn for the worse. Cough medicine might be one way to describe it – very heavy and syrupy. I couldn’t finish my glass of wine (yes, I will be confessing this sin next time I go), and Darren actually dumped the rest of the bottle down the drain. This is one truck we won’t be picking up again (but do try the Red or White Trucks).

Motherhood, Applepie & Wine.....

2009-07-01T16:04:00.004-05:00

In honor of the 4th of July, this month's assignment is to select a wine (red, white, something-in-between) from the good old USA.

The United States has plenty of quality wines to choose from -- and no, not just from California -- so, I know this will be an easy one.

For extra credit.... write a post about your favorite wine shop (shoppe for those of you who are pretentious). Tell us why you like it -- link to it if you want to give them some props.

Cheers!

Hopping along the...beer trail

2009-06-29T12:42:00.000-05:00

I've made no secret of my love for hoppy beer. Saranac, Stoudt's, Red Hook - these will always have a home here. I'm also a big fan of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale and picked up a 12-pack last weekend. While at the counter, one of the employees asked if I had tried the Torpedo yet. Huh? What's that? Torpedo? "It's a newer offering from Sierra Nevada...pretty hoppy. Good stuff." How hoppy, I asked. 90-minute IPA hoppy? "No, not quite, but still up there." A mental note was made to pick up some on the next run.

I mentioned the clerk's recommendation to Mrs. Big Dubya and lo and behold! she arrived home with a six-pack a day or two later. God bless that woman. The following evening I poured a bottle of the Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra Pale Ale into my favorite glass (thanks Boston Beer Works!) and admired its coppery, bordering on brown, color. I give it a good whiff and I'm encouraged by a pleasant citrusy, piney, hoppy aroma. There's also a faint odor of malt which blends nicely. And, what do you know, its taste did not disappoint. It is, again, hoppy with a faint malt taste - quite similar to the initial smell. It is a bit bitter from start to finish but that is to be expected. However, the bitterness is not quite as overpowering as some of the big IPAs and Pale Ales out there. The Torpedo's 7.2% ABV is also noticeable, there is a slight burn, but it is blunted by the hops.

All-in-all a very solid beer from a solid brewery. Don't be turned off by its IPA label, either. This fine offering could easily be a great summer beer if you want to avoid the lemon-, lime- and seasonings-infused beverages marketed by other brewers.

I screwed up half the assignment, but the half that I didn't screw up was delicious

2009-06-28T17:55:00.005-05:00

Okay: once again, I've failed. I've failed The Whinery, I've failed Mrs. Big Dubya, I've failed the American people... and I've failed you, gentle reader. The form of my failure: I did not complete the June assignment whilst complying with all the holy tenets of The Whinery — namely, the "keep it under $15" guideline.

Again.

See, here's the thing: I kinda suck at following the letter of the law. The people at Burger King once told me that sometimes, you've just gotta break the rules — and frankly, I'm in no position to question the good people at Burger King. With that in mind, I've embarked on a life of gentle crime: producing hopelessly verbose responses to assignments with little regard for the actual wishes and goals of those who... uh... assigned the assignment in the first place. I'm sure there's some deep-set, subconscious authority issues hidden within my psyche that enable this charming character trait, but really mine is not to question why: mine is but to drink and write.

And thus, I offer you a shining and delicious example of this month's assigned varietal: pinot noir. I've been a tremendous fan of pinot noir for years - ever since I read The Heartbreak Grape and was utterly fascinated by the idea that any wine could be that subtle and complex, that difficult to grow, that easy to ruin and that sublime to taste - and in the years since have sampled more than my fair share of California, Oregon and New Zealand pinots. I still think one of the best I've ever sampled is one of the first I ever tried, the spectacular Rex Hill Reserve... but this weekend we enjoyed another Oregonian that's well worth seeking out.

Here's the name you need to learn: Patricia Green. She produces tiny amounts of spectacular pinot noir that gets very little distribution beyond the Pacific Northwest (or so I've been told by people far more well-informed than me), but once in a blue moon my favorite local wine spot manages to get a case or two... and the owner parcels it out, bottle by bottle, to a selected few afficionados much in the same way that a distant and terrible father might parcel out hugs or kind words to a child.

I generally end up with two or three bottles of Patricia Green a year... and this weekend, we opened one. The 2006 Willamette Valley Reserve, to be specific. I paid $36 for it, which puts me well over The Whinery's specified limits. However, insofar as that it's a foregone conclusion at this point that Mrs. Big Dubya is going to kneecap me, I'm throwing caution to the wind and talking about it here. And you, gentle reader? You can either join me in a virtual glass... or grab yourself a crowbar. The choice is yours.

But enough idle chatter: the wine! The wine! The wine wine wine wine wine! (Say it like the Grinch, and it'll make sense.) It is, in truth, a thing of beauty. Just... elegant, quiet layers of flavor that build upon one another to create the kind of gentle, sublime experience that makes a great pinot such a thing of rare wonder. Ours was paired with a pair of especially thick and well-marinated pork chops and a handful of crackers with a gouda/sun-dried tomato spread, and it tasted a bit like heaven in a glass.

The point of all this? As is true with most things I do, there is no point. But should you find yourself in the market for an upscale bottle of pinot noir, and should you find yourself in the presence of virtually anything Patricia Green has ever created... splurge. She's worth it — and what's more, you're worth it.

Cheers.

It's Crafty

2009-06-19T17:28:00.004-05:00

Picked up this bottle of 2004 Craftsman Cabernet Franc at BinEnds last week -- it lists for $14.909 -- I got it for $11.20.

The label's description isn't very informative -- "This wonderfully balanced and easy-to-drink red has been aged 6 months in new Hungarian oak barriques, as well as large oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. Faithful to its European pedigree, it will age beautifully. Lovingly crafted by winemaker Akos Kamocsay."

I wasn't really sure what to expect -- I've never had a Hungarian wine before. But, I was making a quick pasta-toss for dinner and needed a splash of wine to add some depth..... well, that and maybe a glass or two for me too.

I opened the bottle and it smelled nice -- it poured nice too. As I incorporated it into my sauce, I suspected I had a winner. It wasn't over powering -- but was definitely going to add some richness to the dish.

It had a smooth, fruity flavor -- medium body -- gentle finish. It complimented the dinner really well -- didn't add too much, didn't take anything away.

This seemed like a good wine to have on hand -- versatile enough to go with pasta, pizza, grilled food -- whatever you are having. It was good value for the price and I'd certainly buy it again.

Cheers!

Should you bother? Non-alcoholic wine...

2009-06-14T11:40:00.004-05:00

I've been reading the recent reviews and have been envious of all the tasty sampling that has been going on lately. So why not join in the fun you may ask? Well I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical from drinking - a 9 or 10 month ( depending on how you track things) sabbatical to be exact.

Now before this gets out of hand, I know people tend to have very strong views on whether drinking a 1/2 glass or glass of wine or beer now and then while pregnant is acceptable or not. This isn't the place to discuss that topic and that being said I will not be reviewing any alcoholic wines or beers while pregnant. I will however be taking a tour of some non-alcoholic wines that I come across to see if they are worth the effort. (And before you get started, I know that non-alcoholic wines and beers do contain some alcohol - less 1/2 of 1 percent in most -- so flame away if you must) I have my first victim in sight. In fact I tried a glass the other evening, but I'm going to give it another chance with a more suitable food pairing. But first...

Where to find non-alcoholic wines? Well it's not as easy as one might think. My first attempt, a small, but great, wine shop in the center of my town, came up dry. They usually keep a couple of bottles in stock but at the moment they were out Next stop was to a much larger liquor store that is close to where I work. Jackpot! (Julio's never let's me down!) While the selection was small there were a handful of whites, reds and sparklings to choose from. To start with I chose a Cabernet Sauvignon. Stay tuned for the review in the next couple of days.

If anyone has had success with non-alcoholic wines, please let me know. Recommendations are definitely welcome!

-AuntP

Bin Ends

2009-06-13T10:22:00.003-05:00

I happened to be back in my hometown earier this week and while I was there I popped into BinEnds. It's a non-traditional wine shop a little bit off the beaten path -- I've been following them on Facebook and Twitter, I really like their story -- I thought they might be worth a visit.

It's been around for just over a year, but when you walk in it still smells and feels new.

It's easy to navigate -- nice & spacious -- I hate feeling claustrophobic when I shop for wine.... narrow aisles just make me feel like I'm going to turn around too quick and break something. Bin Ends is huge..... and at first it felt kind of empty -- but, no -- there's plenty there it's just nice & spacious.

They offer free tastings, and unlike most wine shops I've been to -- you don't have to chase them down and beg them for a taste like some deranged alchoholic -- they come right out and offer.... don't mind if I do, thank you very much.

While I was perusing the wines, a gentleman (one of the owners) came over and introduced himself -- gave me a brief history of the store, explained that they are in the process of restocking (the do this on Thursdays) and welcomed me to ask any questions. There was no pressure or hard sell -- just a guy thanking me for coming in. Here's the kicker.... I think everybody gets this VIP treatment -- NICE!

BinEnds takes advantage of overstocks, closeouts, inventory reductions, etc. in order to offer fine wines to people like me.... people who like good wine but don't like to pay fine wine prices. They typically have between 200-400 wines to select from, and they have this amazing automatic mark-down system -- so you can get some real steals (up to 45% off)! Some of the wines were a bit out of my budget -- but many were priced just right.

The downside (or maybe it's an upside) is that their selection is constantly changing -- you may find a bottle you love, and then never see it again -- eh, c'est la vie -- they have more wines to try, right?

I picked up three bottles in the $11-$12 range, based on my internet research I saved a couple of bucks a bottle. Everybody else in the shop had at least 10-12 bottles in their cart, so I believe it when they say their inventory turns over every week.

If you live in the Boston area, I say -- go check 'em out -- if you don't.... don't fret -- they offer shipping!!!!

I just don't think I'm ready, are you?

2009-06-10T06:27:00.004-05:00

In the wine shop (okay, so it was really the Liquor Depot... whatevah!) last week.... perusing some pinots for this month's "assignment" and I came across this contraption.....

Now, I know wine-in-a-box has come a long way since it was first introduced, but this.... I'm just not sure I'm ready. Although, it definitely looks like a great idea for picnics, tailgating, etc.

Please feel free to share you thoughts and/or experiences.

Vacation Whining

2009-06-06T21:54:00.008-05:00

It’s been months since I’ve posted here on The Whinery. So I should probably slip back in, write a low-key post on this month’s assignment, and pretend that I’ve been here all along.

But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to skip the assignment, break the “guidelines,” and whine about it while I’m at it.

Last month, Sue (the wife) and I went to Disney World with Clare (our seven year-old daughter). We’d originally waited a year for a reservation at the Beach Club Villas, had to change dates and lost that reservation last year, and waited another year to go back. The hotel was fantastic. Unfortunately, it rained five out of our seven days there. The rain was bad. Biblical bad. There was about two feet of rain in central Florida in a few days time.

So what did we do? Apart from staying out of the pool, we went on as usual. We went to the parks, enjoyed the shorter than normal lines, and had fun despite the weather. We also lingered a little longer than usual in some great restaurants (and even got a last minute reservation at one of Disney’s best) and enjoyed a few bottles of overpriced wine. Thinking ahead, Sue jotted down the names of each wine. Not thinking at all, I tossed out the envelope Sue’s notes were written on when we got home. Here’s what we remember.

Our first Disney wine, at bluezoo in the Dolphin, was a 2007 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. (I guess that is the assignment—although we drank it in May.) We both had fish, and it paired really well. It wasn’t too dry, and it wasn’t too fruity. (The restaurant overall was really fantastic too—even Clare liked it.)

Our second wine of the week was a Paolo Masi Chianti Reserva at the Yachtsman. We both liked it. We both had steak, and again it paired really well. That’s all we remember. Knowing us, that probably means that it wasn’t too heavy and it wasn’t too light. Chianti usually gets two thumbs up from us. (This is another great restaurant that we all liked too.)

Out third and last bottle of wine (we went with mixed drinks and beer some other nights) was a California Merlot at California Grill at the top of the Contemporary. This is the reservation that we snagged at the last minute, which is unusual since it’s the prime place to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks (especially when it’s raining). The wine? We know we liked it, but we don’t really remember any specifics at all. This isn’t much of a wine review, is it?

Here’s what I’m interested in though. Have you ever ordered a bottle at a restaurant (we probably paid $50-60 for $20 bottles of wine) and then bought a bottle to try out again at home? Did it live up to expectations? If we try it with these three (well the two we remember the names of at least) we’ll let you know.

June's Assignment

2009-06-03T04:38:00.002-05:00

I know some are still working on May's assignment, but..... onto June!

Some like Reds..... Some like Whites...... So this month's assignments is to try a wine that you've never tried before that begins with "Pinot".

This can be a Pinot Blanc (Pinot Bianco), a Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio), a Pinot Noir.... whatever tickles your fancy.

Cheers!

Drinking Our Way Through Disney

2009-05-28T19:42:00.008-05:00

So, the Big Dubya & I are on vacation in Walt Disney World -- we are having a fabulous time and are dreading the prospect of tomorrow's flight home (have I mentioned that we have 3, yes 3 children under 4, yes under 4?).

Although the trip has been chock full of fun and adventure, there has been a certain amount of angst & strife.... and how do the Dubyas deal with strife? Yes, my friends.... we drink our way through it.

Let us begin..... our resort has an awesome pool..... and what makes the pool so awesome? I'm glad you asked.... you ask very good questions. Well, in addition to a kick-ass waterslide, it has a kick-ass bar. Yes, dear friends we spent Monday (and part of today) drinking over-priced cocktails by the pool. On this trip, our drinks of choice were the Orange Dream (Skyy Orange Vodka and Monin Candied Orange blended with ice cream) and Poolside Lemonade (Bacardi O Rum, Bacardi Razz Rum, Sweet & Sour and Sprite with a splash of Grenadin) both of which were delicious, but let's face it -- Disney is no different than any other bar.... the bartender doing the mixing makes a big difference. The first bartender made us feel like we were getting our $7 worth (a.k.a stiff drinks) -- the subsequent ones..... ahhhh, no. But, all in all the drinks were still delicious and fully enjoyable.

On Tuesday, we went to Animal Kingdom -- and because, as my son kept reminding us, we were "in Africa", we opted for some beer from Kenya (Tusker Lager), South Africa (Windhoek Lager) and another faux African beer (Safari Amber)

The Tusker Lager was good -- light, but flavorful -- I can't say that I loved it, but it was refreshing and given the 85° weather, it hit the spot in a big way.

Bob, our Boston-bred bartender, told us that the Windhoek Lager was reminiscent of Heineken. Apparently he's never actually had Heineken, cuz.... uhm not-so-much. It had a little more flavor than the Tusker, but definitely not as hoppy as or edgy as Heineken. It was good -- but I wouldn't seek it out, and I certainly wouldn't mistake it for Heineken.

Safari Amber.... at the time, I thought I was drinking something from a far off land.... only now that I'm typing do I discover that I was bamboozled..... it's actually a product of St Louis, Missouri, as in Anhesuer Busch, St Louis, Missouri. It was much lighter than the typical amber, it had a red coloring, but like Kilian's it was really just a true Amber's weaker younger brother.

On Wednesday we stuck with what we know.... and we know Irish. We spent the morning in The Magic Kingdom (which is woefully dry) and wrapped up the day at Epcot where the Rose & Crown pours a decent Harp. You might ask why we weren't drinking Guinness.... well, it was 85° and in addition to not being all that refreshing....the last time I had Guinness at the Rose & Crown it was absolutely AWFUL, so we opted for Harp, which at least on this visit was decent.

I know reviews on this site are supposed to be of wine, but..... it's my site and I'll break the rules if I want to :)

A Review of a Wine I Can't Spell

2009-05-23T11:10:00.005-05:00

This assignment was hard for me. I have been struggling to find a good wine to pair with barbecue for three summers now. It seems to me like a good Carolina or Texas barbecue sauce will really kill a wine.

So, I did what any wino would do. I asked my wine guy.

I asked him what I should get to drink with a big Texas style barbecued brisket.

He suggested this.

He said it was a big red.

The problem is, this particular wine guy and I don't always agree on what is a good pairing.

And in this case I thought the barbecue killed the wine completely. I really couldn't taste it. I has to switch back to beer for the meal.

After the meal was over I went back to my glass of wine and surprise, surprise.

Still nothing.

It was a very mild, old world red. I believe it was a Grenache and Syrah blend. Those are two of my very favorite grapes. I love a big, bold, fruity wine.

But this wine (insert long French words here. Dude, I took a picture, I wasn't smart enough to write it down too) tasted watered down.

I think it was $12.99.

It wasn't gross, like the cheaper bottles of wine. It didn't have that paint thinner aftertaste, it was just completely meh.

And there you have it.

(Stay tuned for EVIL - the post where I buy a bottle of wine based soley on the label. Just like a girl.)

This post is brought to you by the letter "Y"

2009-05-21T10:36:00.005-05:00

That's right — it's your old pal TwoBusy, back for another exercise in suck. "But why," you ask. "Why would he do such a thing? Why, Santy Claus, why?" A reasonable question, my young Who friend. And I shall answer it thusly:

Because blogmistress Mrs. Big Dubya failed to break me off at the knees when I tried this last time. This'll learn her.
Because nobody else has bothered to fulfill the demands of this month's assignment. (That's right. Nobody. I'm looking at you... and you... and you.)
Because we happened to drink a bottle last night that met this month's requirements.
Because I haven't thought of anything to write for DadCentric this week. (Speaking of unfulfilled obligations.) But hey: don't let that stop you from heading over there! Here... read what this old guy had to say!

And that's why I'm here. Sitting on the other side of your screen. Staring at you. Always, always watching.

Um. What I meant to say was: we drank a bottle that meets the May requirements — less than $15/bottle, and appropriate for grilling. And now I'm gonna talk about it! The it, in this case, is a bottle of Australian white with the horrifyingly long name of Yalumba Unwooded Chardonnay "The Y Series" 2007. That's about six words too long, if you ask me, but nevertheless that's what's on the label.

Yalumba is - per their promotional materials - Australia's oldest family-owned winery. Which is cool. I've actually been familiar with them since the dawn of time and/or the moment when I first began to explore the world of wine and discover that it was, in fact, a potentially pleasurable pursuit even for an uncultured simp (not chimp, mind you) like me. To be specific: the Boston Wine Expo of 1995. If you've been to the Boston Wine Expo at any point in the past seven or eight years, you know what an overcrowded logistical nightmare it's become... but back in '95, when I was but a pup, it was a completely different experience.

I went at the behest of one of my roommates at the time, and brought along TheGirlfriend (who would subsequently become TheWife) for laughs... none of us knew jack about wine, but we'd heard second-hand that you paid an entrance fee, walked around, drank a bunch of stuff, and generally had a great time. Given that there's not a whole lot else to do in Boston in mid-February when you're two years out of college and living off of a luxurious $24k/year in salary, we decided to give it a go.

What a great decision that turned out to be. There were plenty of distributors and wineries there, eager to share their wares with connoisseurs, restaurateurs and feckless simpletons like us. And to be truthful, it wasn't an impressive crowd — we had the full run of the place, and weren't shy about stopping at every booth to sample a glass of this, a sip of that, a snort of something else. To be clear... we got pretty sauced. But even as we sauced like sauciers, we also found ourselves discovering that we actually had preferences: there were some things we enjoyed more than others, and some specific wine styles we were enjoying consistently from booth to booth.

It was a great experience, but my fondest memory of the whole thing is the Yalumba booth. I know they had some reds and whites, but what really made an impression on me was their Tawny Port – from my first sip, I was hooked. It was beyond delicious: just a sumptuous, rich, throat-coating and belly-warming glass of amber wonderful. I couldn't believe how good it tasted, and felt compelled to prove and re-prove to myself how good it was by visiting and revisiting the table multiple times.

When we finally stumbled... I mean, walked... out of the old World Trade Center in Southie and into a February snowstorm, there were two things I knew: 1) we needed to hail a cab; and 2) I needed to find and buy a bottle of Yalumba Tawny Port.

So. That was 1995. Now, it's 2009 and I'm ancient, decrepit, and far more well-versed in the ways of wine. Still, when TheWife and I stopped by our favorite wine shop in Boston's majestic MetroWest last weekend, and the owner suggested we take a look at a few of the cheaper bottles he had on display - all of which, he claimed, were far better than the price suggested - my eye was immediately caught by the Yalumba name. Granted, I've had a few of their wines over the years (to varying levels of good and indifferent), but when I saw the bottle of Chardonnay for $12 even... I had to give it a try.

Which leads us to last night. As a quick dinner, I grilled up some chorizo, cut a whole slew of slices off a block of Vermont cheddar, threw a ton of fresh strawberries and raspberries into a bowl... and pulled this Yalumba Chard out of the fridge.

I have to take a moment here to offer a disclaimer: we're not Chardonnay drinkers. As I noted in last week's award-winning Whinery post, we're not really white wine drinkers at all... but Chardonnay, in particular, has always been something we've made a point of avoiding. Why? Because Chardonnay is what you always get when you go to catered events and there are waitstaff walking around offering you wine, and your choices are reduced to "Red or white?" And the white is almost always a Chardonnay. And it's always bland. Just... dull. Lifeless. Boring. A semi-chilled alcohol delivery system, and nothing more.

Granted, we've had a few high-end Chards that were pretty amazing - Grgich Hills leaps to mind as one example - but whenever we've picked one up with a price in the teens or even low twenties... it's served as a reminder of why we avoid Chardonnay in the first place. In short, we'd come to the conclusion that in order to get a good one, you had to drop a bundle. And for us, it just wasn't worth it.

With this in mind, we opened and poured the Yalumba with a little apprehension. The good part, of course, was that if it sucked or had little/no flavor at all, we were only out $12. The bad part was that we had nothing else chilled and ready to roll if this was a flop.

Good news: not a flop. I won't go to the extent of claiming that the Yalumba Y Series Chardonnay was anything close to a match for a true, high-end Chardonnay... but it had legitimate flavor and character. The back label goes into all kinds of absurd levels of detail in describing what we were supposed to be tasting - "...rich aromas of melon, grapefruit and honey... fresh tropical fruit flavours of peach, pineapple and fig give this wine texture and palate weight" - but to be honest, I wouldn't recognize a fig outside of its natural newton habitat if one came up and bit me, so I can't truthfully say whether or not I pulled any of those specific flavours (to adopt the Aussie idiom) from my glass.

But. It was a decent bottle. There were legit fruit overtones to the wine, and what's more it offered a sense of subtlety and layering that I've never before tasted in a cheaper Chardonnay. I actually - to my surprise - found myself enjoying it. Does that mean I'll be foresaking my beloved NZ Sauv Blancs in favor of the Yalumba Y Series Chardonnay? Nope. For a couple of extra bucks, I can still pick up an Allan Scott Sauv Blanc that will blow this Chard out of the water. But that being said, I wouldn't be opposed to picking this up again. And if you've got more of a taste for Chardonnay than I do, I'd say it's well worth checking out.

Go back to your homes. Nothing to see here.

2009-05-14T19:39:00.003-05:00

Okay... so this is my first post for The Whinery, and I guarantee I'm going to screw it up on multiple levels. In fact, I'm going to flub this assignment so badly that I have little doubt Mrs. Big Dubya is going to break both of my knees in an act of great vengeance and fuuuuurious anger (and I have no doubt that she could do it, too. She scares the hell out of me.). Nevertheless, onward I press — guided by blind faith in the righteousness of my mission as well as my liver's ongoing attempt to metabolize half a bottle of white.

What? (you ask) Good question, you. Very perceptive that you should pick up on that incredibly subtle hint I just dropped. (If you missed it, feel free to go back and reread the previous paragraph. We'll wait here until you're ready. (Whistling) (losing patience) (Fuck it. They're dead to us anyhow. Let's move onward.) That's right! I drank half - well, okay; it was closer to 2/3 - of a bottle of white tonight, and as such I feel emboldened to reviewify it for Das Whinery!

Subsequently: I present to you... the 2006 Don Oligario Albariño.

Before we go any further, however, let's review the multiple levels of the assignment proper. First off, there's parameter #1: bottles should cost less that $15 apiece.

Well, terrific. We've already fucked up... but there's a caveat! According to the sticker on the back of the bottle, we paid $23 bucks for this particular bottle of Spanish white — and in fact, I recall precisely the conversation we had with the weird surfer dude at the cool little kitchen/wine shop in Portsmouth, NH where we bought it, in which the dude in question sold us on what a spectacular bottle this was. And you know what? As TheWife and I were drinking it tonight, and I glanced over and saw the $23 price tag staring back at me, I said to her, "If I told you this was an $11 bottle, what would you say?" Her response: "I don't think we need to spend $11 on it again." "Well, bad news: it cost $23." "Goddammit!"

(Please note that our unnatural number of children had vacated the dining area by this point to the living room, where they were knee-deep in a DVD viewing of Pinocchio and, therefore, unsullied by this particular burst of invective on the part of my wife. Just for the record.)

So yes: technically, this bottle shouldn't qualify for this site because it cost too much. But in spirit, we felt that at less than half the price it still wouldn't be worth the cost... so in some sense - quite possibly, in a very spiritual and elevated sense - it actually goes several steps beyond qualification. So there.

Onward. Element #2 of the May assignment claims that this is to be a bottle to be enjoyed with grilled food. Well, okay... here's the thing: we ate it with takeout Chinese. Granted, it was really, really good takeout Chinese - and, in fact, the takeout Chinese in question may have involved some grilling in the course of preparation - but technically, we did not drink the Don Olegario Albariño 2006 alongside food that I actually prepared on my grill.

But! But! Don't fret, Mrs. Big Dubya. Because once again, in the spirit of intent if not execution, we're right on target. The reason we bought this wine in the first place was so that we'd have something to drink as an accoutrement (that's right: I just busted out the French on yr ass. Take that.) to some nicely grilled & marinated chicken. As I noted here (go ahead, check it out: I'm fascinating) we've been drinking lots of NZ Sauvignon Blanc recently... and as this field of exploration had yielded so much unexpected pleasure, we figured we'd branch out and boldly explore the wide, wide world of whites. The Don Olegario was the first of these ventures... and, perhaps, the last.

But ya see? The bottle was purchased with the intent of being served with grillified poultry! That counts, right? (Good lord. She's grabbing a crowbar. I think she's gonna go Tonya Harding on me.)

Dammit. I suck.

Anyhow: the wine itself... well, in case you haven't picked up on the cues I've hidden so carefully throughout the length of this post: it was disappointing. Not terrible, but fully, wholly and completely unremarkable. Not much of an aroma to it at all, and the taste matched. It was an exercise in bland. It was, in fact, an abject reminder of why we generally avoid whites in the first place — the cheaper ones tend to suck. And this was a $23 bottle! Damn you, Don Olegario. Damn you straight to hell.

The truth is that despite having downed approximately 2/3 of a bottle, I can't even say that this wine left me with a healthy buzz. Just a vague sense of disappointment, and a wish that we'd opened something else instead.

How do you spell blecch?

2009-05-10T16:46:00.005-05:00

We weren't doing anything "special" for Mother's Day -- just some pizza with salad, so I thought something described as an " everyday red table wine" would fit the bill. I purchased this wine some time ago at a wine shop that I've always had great luck with. Good wine, good selection, good price -- haven't been let down yet -- well.... until today.

il vino del lunedi -- Biso Biso Rosso -- The name is Italian and translates into "Monday's Wine" -- well, I couldn't drink this wine on Monday, a Mother's Day or any other day for that matter. The Big Dubya took a sip and said.... hmmm, it's o-kay. I took a sip and thought that maybe it had interacted really badly with a peice of pepperoni. I tried a second sip and it only got worse. At this point, I asked him if he was going to finish his glass -- he said he was, but wouldn't be having a second. I asked what it was he didn't like about it and he said he couldn't put his finger on it -- the first sip was smooth enough, but it's been down hill since.

I took yet another sip and determined that not only would I not be having a second glass, but this glass was going to be poured down the drain.... something I do not do lightly.

The Big Dubya asked me what I thought -- I told him I felt like my toungue was getting a chemical peel -- he laughed and then laughed some more when I cracked a can of Guinness to cleanse my palate. He ended up dumping his glass too. I can't really begin to describe what it was I didn't like about it - there wasn't just one thing wrong with it -- it was just terrible on every level.

Bottom line -- this wine is a stinker -- steer clear!

Welcome Wine-O

2009-05-06T04:46:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled to welcome Wine-O as our newest contributor.

Wine-O is a fantastic addition to The Whinery.

New to the blogging world -- she's a wife, a mother, a successful marketing executive -- and she juggles it all effortlessly. Oh, and did I mention she's an amazing cook? I'm hoping she'll be writing about some of her fabulous recipes too.

Cheers!

Guinness 250th Anniversary Edition

2009-05-04T08:23:00.000-05:00

Did I expect fireworks and a little leprechaun to leap out of the bottle as soon as I removed the cap? No. But I did expect something spectacular to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the "dark stuff." And while it was definitely a good beer and worthy of the Guinness label, I was underwhelmed with the Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout.

It pours almost black, similar to the Draught. However, the head, a creamy white on the Draught, was a dirty white and didn't last very long on the Guinness Anniversary. One should expect a more robust head if poured like a Draught, but given this beer's carbonation (not nitrogenation) the pour is more in keeping with other beers - angled glass, pour slowly down the side. The maltiness is noticeable right from the start - it smells like a Guinness. I metioned Friday night when I tweeted my first impressions, the carbonation really does take you by surprise, however, it does mellow in subsequent sips. You can taste the malt and some sweet dark chocolate, as well as some dark fruity undertones, but the triple hops are definitely evident as is this beer's higher alcohol content. Don't get confused, however, this is not an IPA. It's more a watered-down Imperial Stout with less alcohol.

All in all it's a good beer, not a great beer, and left me feeling, "meh." I had hoped for (and expected) something truly kick ass for such a significant anniversary, but was disappointed. I'm not sure I'll pay the $10 for another six-pack of 11.2 oz. bottles - I'd rather pay the $13 for a 8-pack of the Draught cans. And, why 11.2 oz.? Can someone explain this to me? I have pint glasses. Pint. 16 oz. I gave up pony bottles around the same time I gave up drinking Bud. Read: a long, loooong time ago. Note to Guinness: please consider adding another few ounces please. It's only neighborly.

Great Wine, Great Price!

2009-04-29T07:51:00.004-05:00

So, I found a website that's right up The Whinery's alley.

They specialize in wines that are under $19.99 -- many under $9.99 -- and some, as low as $4.99!

How do they do it? Great Question --

It's simple really -- they deal in huge volume, and they buy a lot of close-outs. So, although some of their wines may not be available for long.... their selection is always fresh and new.

And, did I mention that they ship all orders over $99.99 for free?

Click the button above (the pretty yellow one telling you Mom would love some wine for Mother's Day) and you can get 15% off your order.

Great wine, free shipping and a coupon -- what more could you ask for?

Cheers!

May's Assignment

2009-04-26T19:50:00.003-05:00

The warm weather is here..... and what goes hand-in-hand with summer??? You guessed it -- grillin'.

Whether you are grilling up some veggies, steaks, chicken, fish or just plain ole fashioned burgers & dogs..... this month's assignment is to post about a wine you chose to accompany food cooked on the grill. If you use wine to marinate.... by all means, mention that too -- recipes are always welcome!

If, like myself, you aren't quite sure what kind of wine best compliments grilled food -- don't be intimidated, take the opportunity to ask the personnel of your local wine shop -- in many cases he/she can make a fabulous recommendation.... they are just waiting to be asked.

Extra Credit:
If you are feeling particularly thirsty...... the extra credit assignment, in honor of Mother's Day, is LADIES CHOICE -- select a genre of wine that a lady in your life (wife, mother, daughter, girlfriend, sister) would enjoy -- try to select a label that you haven't tried before.

Cheers!

The Perfect Gift

2009-04-23T17:04:00.012-05:00

Mother's Day is coming.... Father's Day too, but let's talk about Mother's Day shall we?

I don't know about you, but I think wine would be the perfect gift.... wine, wine, wine. But, I suppose there may be something a little bit off about a young child(ren) giving the gift of wine -- let's just say... my mother, she absolutely wouldn't approve.

So, how about a wine-inspired gift?

You may remember, a few months back I posted about a cute 'lil company I read about on-line.

Founded by a thirty-something husband-wife team, Little Barrel makes the most adorable higher-end, wine inspired accessories. Neckties, headbands and scarf belts -- all with whimsical, yet still very subtle wine patterns -- and let's not forget their fantastic tote bags & purses -- stylish and functional (the larger size can accommodate 2 bottles of wine, yet not look bulky!).

This couple is so crazy about wine, that they've even started their own blog where they talk about all the fabulous vineyards they've had the opportunity to visit and all the wines they've gotten to try. If you are looking for some really cool wine destinations, great restaurants or even ways to find tastings on a budget -- it's definitely worth checking out -- and you can follow them on Twitter!

I think mothers everywhere (this one in particular) would be thrilled to have a Little Barrel Mother's Day.... and thanks to our fabulous friends at Little Barrel, readers of The Whinery will enjoy 15% off their purchase from now 'til May 11th -- just enter WHINERY at checkout.

Now, get on over there and pick up one of those cute headbands -- and while you are there, check out the ties.... Father's Day is coming and these fun ties will keep any Dad looking really sharp!

Cheers!

Let's Review

2009-04-21T10:29:00.005-05:00

Thought it might be a good idea to review our "rules" loose as they may be.

Each month, I post an "assignment" (sometimes I post an extra-credit one too!) suggesting a genre of wine. The idea is to get all of us trying wines that are out of our comfort zone -- expand our horizons. Then you write about it -- what you liked, what you didn't like and whether or not you'd buy it again.

We typically try to keep the wines in the $10ish neighborhood..... but splurges are okay too.

Some assignments may not be your cup of tea..... so, feel free to review something else.

It doesn't have to be a bottle -- can be a glass you had in a restaurant, or at a friend's house -- even a wine you used in a recipe (heck, include the recipe too!).

Beer/Liquor/Cocktail reviews are welcome too.

We have a few couples reviewers -- so, feel free to do a he-said/she-said review!

So c'mon everybody.... get drinking!
Cheers

May's assignment will be posted in the next few days -- so, stay tuned!

Beer Glorious Beer

2009-04-19T12:25:00.005-05:00

Beer. I really do love beer. Beer, beer, beer. Yes, I'm very aware that this is a wine blog, but the same things we discuss when we talk about wine, are very similar to the qualities of a good beer. The two are not mutually exclusive. Beer is as complex (maybe even more so - take that oenophiles) as a good bottle of wine or a bottle of scotch. It shouldn't be looked at like it's alcohol's bastard stepson. Nor should drinkers of beer be seen as just a bunch of blue-collar shlubs. I don't wanna go all Breakfast Club, but drinkers of good beer come from all walks of life. But, then again, beer drinkers know that.

Anyway, I'm not reviewing anything today. I just wanted to stop by and tell you about some things that I'm looking forward to trying. First, Sam Adams is (or has) introducing an Imperial Series of beers to its lineup. For those who don't know, Imperials are usually referred to as "big" beers. They are usually higher in gravity and therefore have a higher alcohol content. Other terms associated with this style of beer are Double and Triple as in Double IPA or Triple Bock. According to the Sam Adams Web site:

With the Samuel Adams Imperial Series our brewers offer beer lovers intense versions of some of their favorite traditional beer styles by boosting the quantity of ingredients and testing the limits of each traditional style. With more robust and complex flavors and nearly twice the alcohol by volume of your average beer, each style in the Imperial Series is intended to be savored and appreciated like a fine wine.

Heh. In your face wine snobs - "...and appreciated like a fine wine." Enthusiasts really should give the Double Bock, Imperial Stout or Imperial White a go. Unfortunately, you readers in Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina and West Virginia will have to travel across state lines to pick these up.

250 years. Longer than the United States has been in existence. That's how long they've been brewing Guinness at St. James Gate. That means there's only...um... 8,750 years left on the original lease. Well for the first time in 20 some odd years, Guinness will offer a new, limited edition stout to commemorate the 250th anniversary of St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin. The new version of the "black stuff" will be fizzier, stronger and a single-pour version of its older, creamier sibling.

“This is more about refreshment and zing,” said Guinness master brewer Fergal Murray who created the new carbonated stout. “The stout has a different look and taste than anything our fans have ever experienced, but still retains the familiar character,” he said.

Guinness aficionados can grab the new stout starting April 24. I recommend stockpiling as the anniversary stout will only be available for six months.

Know of any new offerings or outstanding seasonals about to enter the market? Please let us know. We're always looking for something new to try. And, if you're a brewer, send your samples directly to me please...in large quantities...really large quantities.

Breathing New Life

2009-04-18T06:59:00.004-05:00

When I began this wine blog back in May of 2007, it was really going to be just a way to help me discover new wines. I'm an admitted wine novice, but I like a nice glass of affordable wine and I'm always looking for recommendations...... so that's where we began.

Here we are, a couple of years (and a couple of pregnancies) later -- and well..... I'm looking for some new recommendations -- thought it would be a good time to breath new life into the site.

In addition to our already stellar roster, we've added two new contributors -- Two Busy & Kemp, and we are looking for one or two more.

And you can now follow us on Twitter.

Keep an eye on the site over the next couple of weeks as we look to make some exciting changes and hopefully increase our following

Cheers!

Drinking alone.... no fun!

2009-04-17T08:17:00.005-05:00

So, a couple of months ago -- the Big Dubya got sick.... I mean really, really sick.

After spending the better part of a week in the hospital, he was sent home with some strict orders.... the harshest of which.... no alcohol for 6-8 weeks.

He told me to go ahead and indulge... he certainly did during while I abstained during all three of my pregnancies... but I've come to the conclusion -- I just don't like drinking alone.

Well, last night -- I got home after a really rough week.....dropped into the middle of a rough couple of months and well, I wanted a nice glass of wine and I'm thrilled to report that I got one!

2007 Trilogie de Fabre Montmayou Lujan De Cuyo Mendoza -- it's a red wine out of Argentina.

I can't find much on the internets about this wine... and I have no idea where I picked it up, I found it on the wine rack and it was either a gift..... or I bought it myself, in which case I know I wouldn't have spent more than $10-$12 on it.

It's a 70% Malbec, 15% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The bottle says

"The owner of the winery, born in Bordeaux-France, crated this typical 'assemblage' where the Malbec combined with the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon gives to this very elegant wine a great complexity. To be enjoyed every day!"

I can honestly say that the thing that struck me was it's smooth quality -- it was soft and simple, yet the underlying flavor was complex and deep.

I wish I knew where I picked this one up..... I'd happily buy it again!

Tastefully Simple!

2009-02-03T09:48:00.005-05:00

A couple of months ago, I was invited to a Tastefully Simple party.

Normally, I'm not too enthused about such things.... you know how they can be -- you feel pressured to go, pressured to buy things you don't want, don't need and in some cases can't afford. The stuff gets delivered to you and then sits in the pantry 'til it expires and you throw it out. But, the hostess was kind enough to invite me and an evening out with the girls is rare these days -- so, I coerced my sister to come along and we went.

The girls -- really nice.

The food was good!

The drinks.... even better!

There was plenty of wine and snacks -- and then came time to order. And my sister's even more of an impulse buyer than I am, so the two of us were doomed!

I ordered a tub-o-chocolatini because it was delicious at the party -- now that I've got it at home.... 'eh -- it's just okay.

Would I buy it again?

Uhm probably not just for myself -- but for a party? -- it's handy and novel and yeah, sure why not? Some of the girls suggested embellishing it -- adding some half 'n half or other liqueurs.... maybe Bailey's or Frangelico hm... maybe I'll try that, see if my opinion changes.

I also ordered a box of the Bountiful Beer Bread. At the party I thought it was just okay -- I think the hostess said she had made it with Labatt's Blue -- the Tastefully Simple Rep said that the beer you used could make a big difference (translation: duh, don't use Miller Lite, stupid!). I say it was "okay" but that didn't stop me from slathering all kinds of insanely good and fatty dips all over it -- but honestly, I just wasn't sure if beer bread was for me.

For Superbowl Sunday, I made the bread at home with Berkshire Brewing Company's Gold Spike and HOLY CRAP is this bread good. I mean really, really good -- I mean, so good that I had a piece with my dinner last night and now I wish I'd brought a piece to have with my lunch today kind of good.

So, here's my question -- do you cook with beer?

I cook with wine all the time, and I've made Guinness beef stew once -- but, for some reason I felt kind of funny pouring beer into my bread mix (which, by the way is insanely easy to make....)

I got the fever....

2009-01-04T07:57:00.003-05:00

Normally, I'm a "light" beer person.

I don't mean that to say that all I drink is Coors Light, but other than our dietary staple Guinness -- I tend to lean to the lighter brews.

Well, a few weeks ago we were invited to a holiday party where Berkshire Brewing Company's Cabin Fever was on tap -- I have one word for you..... YUM!

Cabin Fever is one of their "Holidales" and so it's only available this time of year, and while supplies last. It's really flavorful.... yet surprisingly it's not heavy. It just tastes like the holidays -- I never thought that a beer could remind me of gingerbread and nutmeg and still be...... well.... beer, but this one does.

Get your hands on some if you can

The Three Days of Sam Adams' Christmas: Days Two and Three

2008-12-29T12:52:00.003-05:00

Ah, the holidays, when one's hopes tend to be shattered by the inability of others to give worthy gifts. Fortunately, my fam hooked me up with some lovely stuff; I fulfilled a years-old dream to go to a Christmas Day Lakers game, and I got a kickass new coffee maker, a stainless steel monster by Cuisinart that should keep me in a jittery state for years to come. The flip side: Sam Adams failed on most counts.

As the 23rd drew to a close, Beth and I decided to uncap a bottle of the Sam Adams Cream Stout and Holiday Porter. The Cream Stout was awful; the "cream" taste was there, but it was overpowered by a horrific twist on the coffee flavor touted on the bottle's label. Yes, it tasted like coffee - coffee that's been sitting in the pot for a day. The finish was sour and stale. The Holiday Porter fared a little better; much more drinkable than the Cream Stout, it was decent, with a mellow chocolate scent and taste, and a slight hint of honey at the finish. Still, nothing about the Holiday Porter was special - one expects a little bit of holiday magic from a holiday release, and the Holiday Porter was good, but not great.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a blur, thanks in no small part to the drinking. I was lucky enough to score a bottle of Samichlaus for Christmas Eve. Wow. Too good. It's like Beer Crack. It's a good argument against the "I wish everyday was Christmas" sentiment, in that we'd a have a ton of Samichlaus addicts on our hands. When we got home on the 26th, Beth and I split a bottle of Adams' Limited Edition Chocolate Bock. This was a winner. Made with Swiss chocolate, it delivered on the taste; lightly hopped, with a rich, malty flavor. It was like Yoohoo for grownups.

Finally, I should mention Adams' Winter Lager. Eh, actually, it's not worth a mention. It's surprisingly lifeless, failing to deliver on the spiciness promised on the bottle. The flavors in general were underwhelming; I'd have liked to have tasted a bit more citrus, or cinnamon, or anything, really. Again, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable, and the Winter Lager is further proof that Samuel Adams is no longer a "microbrewery"; there's something artificial and manufactured about this particular beer.

So while we're still in holiday mode - there's a couple more days left in The Season - I'm gonna venture out and see what other festive beers I can find. Have a safe and happy New Year! Prost!

The Three Days of Sam Adams' Christmas: Day One

2008-12-22T23:09:00.004-05:00

It's possible that I could have come up with a more awkward title for this, my first The Whinery post. Give it time, folks. Anyway, hi, glad to be here. A few things about me, alcoholically speaking: I love good beer. I am, in fact, a Beer Snob. So my focus here will be on beer. Hooray beer! (Boo Red Stripe!)

For Beer People, there really is no better time of the year than Christmastime. For starters, we now have an excuse (as if we need one) to drink beer! And Christmastime is that magical time of year when brewmasters around the world release their seasonal offerings. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he loves him some caramel and chocolate malts and festive spices. This year, my wife Beth and I hit up the BevMo - hooray BevMo! - in search of yuletide brew. The selection was somewhat daunting, so I grabbed the Samuel Adams Winter Sampler box (containing 2 of the following: Cranberry Lambic, Old Fezziwig Ale, Cream Stout, Winter Lager, Holiday Porter, and their boring old Boston Lager) and a 750 ml bottle (1 pint, 9.4 ozs - close enough) of Sam's Chocolate Bock. I'm a highly efficient holiday shopper, I am. But you don't care about that part. You wanna know how the stuff tastes. Alrighty then.

Tonight I started with the Cranberry Lambic. I will tell you that along with my love of stouts, porters, amber ales and lagers - the heavy stuff - I do like a good fruity beer. The Germans and Belgians excel at these, and the Cranberry Lambic was heavy on the cranberry. As in, it tastes like an Ocean Spray Shandy. This was a bit off-putting - I like my beers to taste like beer, not Fanta - and the Cranberry Lambic suffers from the same overpowering fruit flavor that marks Sam Adams' Cherry Wheat. Sweet with a very tart finish, light despite the deep reddish and amber hue, it didn't strike me as a winter brew - this would be ideal on a hot summer day.

Next up: the Old Fezziwig Ale. Now this is a Christmas ale! Very complex, with strong caramel notes, and the flavor of mulled cider - orange, cinnamon, and ginger. I didn't get the bitter hoppiness that I found with the much less interesting Winter Lager. The dark brown color and relatively low carbonation scream "heavy", and indeed it was. Highly recommend this one; serve it before or after Christmas dinner, as the spices might be a bit much for the meal itself. I will say that a beer like this almost demands a higher alcohol content; both the Cranberry Lambic and the Old Fezziwig Ale have a 5.9%.

On tap for tomorrow: the Cream Stout and the Holiday Porter.

Welcome

2008-12-19T20:48:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to Welcome our newest contributor.

And a reminder to share any new adult beverages you enjoy over your various holiday celebrations.

Cheers!

Drinking Barefoot

2008-11-19T08:54:00.001-05:00

You know what's better than wine? Free wine. Actually, free wine that comes in a gigundo-sized bottle. Allow me to explain. The other night I had event at work. When we do these types of things, we usually get some food to nosh on and a few bottles of wine (yes, since you asked, I do love my job). Well, I picked up some puff pastries (similar to calzones, but made with, what else, puff pastry) from the Gourmet Kitchen and my boss brought two large bottles of Barefoot Wines - a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay. We had a decent turn-out but we had plenty of leftovers and, surprise, surprise a nearly full bottle of the Cabernet. Needless to say, I didn't feel right just leaving it there, so home with me it came.

I have to admit that I have a bit of a wine snobbery streak in me. I look at large bottles of wine almost like I do the ubiquitous box-o-vino and they both invoke a similar image: a bunch of woo-girls sitting around, drinking wine with ice cubes as they ready themselves for a night of clubbin'. Thankfully, with this particular bottle of Barefoot, I have put my prejudice aside and welcomed the fact that the bottle seemed never-ending. It is very fruity and I was able to taste the raspberry and blackberry flavors. I also found the tannins to be well-balanced - it didn't leave much of a bite on the back of my throat, but it wasn't like drinking a fruit punch either. As far as value wines go, I don't think you'd be disappointed in this choice.

Wear it proudly

2008-10-28T10:31:00.003-05:00

Two posts in one day.... I know, can you believe it?

I was just reading some news, and stumbled on this article -- about this nifty little company -- they make all kids of cool wine apparel -- neck ties, scarves, tote bags, headbands.... all with subtle, tasteful wine designs.

Check 'em out!

Not exactly wine, but.....

2008-10-28T09:22:00.004-05:00

I've posted here before (or, well.... I think I have) that I'm a big fan of Bailey's Irish Cream. Last year, a co-worker recommended using the new caramel variety Bailey's to spike egg nogg. I was pregnant last year, so I didn't take her up on the recommendation (although I probably will try it this year) but I posted it here for you guys to try..... did anybody try it?

Anyway, this year Baileys has come out with a new flavor Bailey's -- it's Bailey's with a hint of coffee. At first, I'll admit it -- I thought this was kind of silly because..... that's generally what I use Bailey's for ... to amp up my coffee. What's this going to do for me? Coffee flavored coffee?

But, I was curious enough to get a bottle and Yum! I just had it on the rocks and it was a lovely sipper --

Give it a try!

Buen Vino de la Argentina - Si!

2008-10-23T19:30:00.001-05:00

So, now that we're on Twitter, I figure it's probably a good time to get back in here and do some reviews. It's been a while since I wrote about any wines we've enjoyed (or not), but I'm not alone - look at that list of contributors - seen any of them lately? No, neither have I. I hope they know I'm just kidding. I am you know. Really. Anyway.

Last week we decided to give another Malbec a try. In the rack we had a Bodega Norton Malbec 2007 (you'll excuse me if I hear Jackie Gleason's voice in my head right now) that we decided would be a good match for some pasta we were having. I opened the bottle, poured two glasses and let them sit for bit. I took a sip a few minutes later and was a bit overwhelmed by tannins and some acidity. I'll admit, I was more than a little nervous that this a poor choice. However, after letting it sit a while longer, eating some dinner, I picked up the glass again and was pleasantly surprised by how it had mellowed and accented the pasta quite well. It is a fairly fruity wine with plum and cherry accents and a hint of currant. It should definitely be given ample breathing time to bring out its more subtle notes and allow its character to develop.

It lists anywhere between $7.29 and $9.99 and is quite a good bargain. Quick story: I went into a closet where we have more wine stored (the rack is full) looking for another bottle for this evening and grabbed another bottle of the very same Norton 2007. This was bought two weeks ago and about five days before we enjoyed the reviewed bottle. Apparently the wine gods influenced this purchase knowing we would find one we would like.

24

2008-10-21T14:25:00.005-05:00

Being the wine and football freak that I am (and I really am, normally I don't discuss both of these things in the same place but I know you guys are cool.)

I haven't tried it yet, but as soon as I can track down a bottle I will be reporting back to you.

I mean seriously, it is a Stags Leap Napa Valley Cabernet. What is not to love?

Well, assuming it isn't $129 per bottle.

Has anyone else tried this yet?*

* Never mind that last part. According to the TwentyFour website it won't be released until November.

We're Twitter Tweeple

2008-10-18T20:29:00.001-05:00

We've gone social! You can now find The Whinery on Twitter: twitter.com/thewhinery. Posts here will automatically feed to Twitter as well - we're all about increasing readership. Thanks for stopping by and tweet ya later.

C'mon, Can I get a Woop Woop?

2008-10-16T19:34:00.005-05:00

Ah yes.... to commemorate our 10 years together, the Big Dubya and I opened a bottle of Woop Woop Shiraz.

Yes, I know..... Darren & Sue already reviewed Woop Woop a month or so ago, but we had it on the old wine rack, so.... we thought this would be a good time to see just how wine-compatible we all were. As I recall, Darren liked the Woop Woop (yeah, I'm going to keep writing it 'cause saying Woop Woop over and over again makes me giggle) and Sue thought it was a bit on the heavy side.

Now, it could be that different years have different attributes and textures, but the Big Dubya and I really liked the 2006 we had this evening (Darren & Sue had the 2004).

Wine.com has the following winemakers notes:

It is deep in colour and the nose is inviting. With oodles of rich, opulent Shiraz fruit the palate delivers a lush mouthfeel, bursting with blackberry fruit juice, blueberry jam and licorice - chock full of quintessential Aussie character.

I tend to like wines that complement, rather than over power. I tend to like subtle flavors -- rather than bold..... and I really enjoyed this bottle. I found it to have a nice roundness and a flavor that was full and rich -- without being heavy.... perhaps it was because "The wine is matured with the light use of French and American oak."

The Big Dubya thought it was "satisfying" -- fruity -- and complimented the pasta we had for dinner... not conflicting with the acidity of the tomato sauce at all.

We both agreed that it was light on the tannins and that we agreed that we wished we had a second bottle.... Wine.com has it listed as $10.79 -- that sounds like roughly what we paid.

Bottom line -- It's a nice glass, would definitely buy again.
Cheers!

Mr. October

2008-10-11T20:38:00.006-05:00

Even though baseball season is over... What? It's not over? Hold on.

Nope. I checked. It's over.

Even though baseball season is over, Sue and I picked up a bottle of Longball Cellars Jorge Cabernet named for New York Yankees' catcher Jorge Posada. Can you guess I've been waiting to post this one?

If you haven't seen these wines, Longball Cellars is a division of Charity Wines which partners with athletes and celebrities to market wines that raise money for charities. Last year, Mr. Big Dubya posted about a Charity Wines Cabernet named for a player on some other ball club.

In the case of Jorge Cabernet, a portion of the proceeds benefit the Jorge Posada Foundation which supports children and families affected by craniosynostosis. Posada and his wife have a son who was born with this condition.

As for the wine, it was a bit surprising. We expected a subpar novelty wine. Instead, we both enjoyed it. It was certainly no great wine or amazing find, but like a catcher batting .330 or hitting 30 home runs in a season—that's Posada—this wine delivered. It was lighter than the average Cabernet, but not too light. It lived up to its description of a warm fruity wine with a "firm tannin on the finish."

There are quite a few other Charity Wines and, based on this one, I'd try another. What else have we got to do this month anyway?

Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot, for one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot.

2008-10-01T16:15:00.010-05:00

Tell me, did you ever buy a wine because it looked interesting and then go home only to find that you must have already found that wine interesting...... because it's already on your wine rack? Yeah, uhm me either.

Okay, so.... maybe it's just a case of Mommy-brain, but -- a couple of weekends ago I went to our local wine shop (that's just fancy Connecticut talk for liquor store) and decided to pick up a few bottles of wine -- maybe breath some life into this site.

While browsing the reds, I saw this 2002 Merlot with a little star-shaped sign that said "Ray's Pick -- Great Value". Now, Ray's just a dude that works there, so don't get too excited -- but for $6.99, "great value" seemed right up my alley, so -- into the basket it went.

My job is investment-related and although it's only Wednesday..... all this upping-and-downing of the markets has made for a really long week, so I decided a glass of wine was in order..... and Camelot seemed like a good mid-week choice.

The bottle's label doesn't offer much in the way of a description, and their website only mentions the 2003 Merlot, which has won some awards -- but wine.com includes the following winemakers notes for the 2002:

"Appealing cherry aromas carry onto the palate with deep plum richness and a subtle herbal distinction. Well balanced throughout, this wine has soft, round tannins without angular distraction. Delicate vanilla oak accents are apparent in a rich and complex finish."

I'd say that I agree with the majority of that -- this wine was very mild and as I was drinking it I said to the Big Dubya that it would be a perfect wine to just have on hand -- it's mild and unassuming enough that it would work with pizza or even something more involved -- and then I joked that it was a decent "table wine".

Bottom line --Ray was right -- for $6.99, it is good value. I probably wouldn't serve it to company, but it's perfect for a middle-of the week glass, to cook with or to accompany a casual dinner...... and, lucky me -- I've got another bottle.

Summer Abroad

2008-09-20T19:39:00.009-05:00

If you wonder why I haven’t posted here lately it’s because I’ve been traveling. A trip around the world can take a lot out of a guy. That’s right, I said around the world. Five continents and at least six different countries. You didn’t know I was gone? Neither did my wife—and she was with me.

Okay, you called my bluff. We actually didn't leave the country—or go further than about one hundred miles from home—all summer. But we have had a few wines from around the world and I’ve been saving up the reviews. (You can read that as too lazy to write and post them.) I think we had a South American wine over the summer, but I don’t remember it and didn’t save the bottle or the website as I did with the others. We’ve had a couple of American wines recently too, but Sue reviewed one (Jarhead Red) and the others are some favorite ones (like Red Truck) that we’ve already reviewed. Here—from Australia, Europe and Africa—are what we remember. All of them were in the range of ten to fifteen dollars.

I’ll admit that we bought an Australian 2004 Woop Woop Shiraz only because of its name. Woop Woop describes this Shiraz as “deep in colour with great intensity, bursting with blackberry fruit juice, blueberry jam and masses of clean varietal Shiraz fruit” and “well balanced with black liquorice, pepper and spice giving tremendous flavour and length.” I’d say that it was true to that description. If that sounds a little dark and heavy, you’re right. And if you’ve been following Sue’s tastes and mine, you can guess that I liked this one and she didn’t. So that would be one thumb up from us.

We’re no experts with French wine and know next to nothing about how to choose one. So, I can’t really tell you how or why we picked a French 2006 Vieille Ferme Blanc. Vieille Ferme describes this blend of Viognier, Vermentino (called Rolle in southern France), and a few other grapes as having “lots of peach and pear fruit backed by a round, creamy finish.” It was a light type of fruity wine—which is exactly what I don’t like. In this case though, Sue and I agreed that we didn’t care for it much. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a good wine—it just wasn’t for us.

Our South African 2005 Fleur du Cap Pinotage was forgettable. And by that I mean that neither Sue nor I can remember too much about it. We didn’t hate it, but we didn’t love it enough to want to remember to buy it again either. Fleur du Cap describes this one as having a “dark ruby colour with purplish edges,” “ample berry fruit aromas dominated by plum and sweetish mulberry flavours,” and “rich and ripe plum flavours…supported by a good tannic structure.” Like the dark Australian Shiraz, it’s one that I liked and Sue didn’t so much. Another one thumb up.

Sue and I have almost always agreed on liking Spanish red wines and a 2006 Tapeña Tempranillo was no exception. Spanish riojas and tempranillos are often dark enough for my liking, but light enough for Sue. Tapeña describes this Spanish red as a “rich, bold blend of fruit, earth and structure, rounded out by a deliciously soft mouthfeel. We think of this Tempranillo as something like Pinot Noir in blue jeans.” A Pinot Noir in blue jeans? I’m not sure we would have come up with that, but we can agree that the wine has a hint of “luscious red cherry fruit wrapped around an earthy, intense center” with a finish “long and layered with a hint of coffee and chocolate and a pinch of spice.” Actually, we wouldn’t have come up with any of those words either. But we do give it two thumbs up and we’re buying more.

So, without leaving home, we made it around the world this summer. I don’t think any of these are strictly summer wines though. Let us know if you try them too.

Vacation

2008-09-06T16:30:00.003-05:00

Chef Mickey

So, I just got back from vacation and while I was away I decided to try some new cocktails. I don't typically drink hard-alcohol, but I decided to dabble a bit..... rather than just sticking with the typical beer & wine..... it was vacation after all.

Although this is "The Whinery"..... I thought I'd share a few of the tasty concoctions that I enjoyed on my trip.

At the Big River Grille, I tried a Raspberry Ice Pick (Stoli Raz, Tangueray, Captain Morgan's, Chambord and a splash of Sprite) and it was lovely. Smooth, refreshing and despite all the booze -- very mild -- this is one that could sneak up on you and knock you off your nut!

I also tried (on a different evening of course) Big River's Chai Latte Martini (Voyant Chai Cream Liqueur, Kahlua and chilled coffee), which was also lovely -- but didn't taste like there was much "power" in it.... just like a $9.00 glass of chocolate milk in a pretty glass.

While at the Leaping Horse Libations, I was able to try a Poolside Lemonade (Bacardi O, Bacardi Raz and Sweet & Sour) -- yum! The only problem is that when you are poolside, these go down like lemonade -- and they are far more potent than that. They are cool and refreshing, but will catch up to you in no time.

At Chef Mickey's (Contemporary Hotel) I had a Mudslide Martini (Bailey's, Vanilla Stoli, Kahlua, vanilla ice cream) and it was delicious. It was lovely and rich, but again, it tasted like an expensive chocolate milk in a fancy glass (decorated with chocolate syrup)-- but it did have a bit of a kick.

I may try to recreate some of these at home.

OOO RAH!

2008-09-03T20:10:00.004-05:00

So a couple weeks ago Darren, Clare and I were in the wine store trying to chose a wine for that evening (well, not so much Clare - she just has to touch everything and make me nervous because she's attracted to the most expensive bottles for some reason). I saw this red and with Darren's former college roommate being a Marine and all, we decided to try it.

Jarhead Red is "a wine made by Marines, for Marines (ed. note: I didn't know Marines drank wine, but you learn something new every day I guess), on California’s Central Coast. Net proceeds from the sale of this wine benefit the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, which provides educational assistance to children of U.S. Marines, with special attention given to children of fallen Marines". So far so good - red wine (always good) and a good cause.

Upon opening the bottle, the first sniff made me a bit nervous. The wine smelled a bit acidic and I was afraid it would be vinegary. The first sip was very light, and while the Jarhead Red website states: "Jarhead Red is a robust, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged in French oak barrels for eight months. It offers flavors of plum, cassis and black currant with fine tannins on the finish" it took awhile for any flavor to begin to show up after sipping.

The wine definitely improved after being in the glass a bit - if you were to get this wine, I'd recommend opening the bottle and letting the wine breathe a bit before taking the first sip. I think we paid about ten dollars for the bottle, and if you're looking for something that supports a good cause and could be a conversation piece, if you can find this wine it would be a good choice.

This is posted in honor of Lt. Col. Brian P. O'Keefe USMC, currently serving our country in Kuwait.

So the dingo ate your baby, huh?

2008-08-02T17:58:00.003-05:00

I just couldn't face the stove tonight, so we got take-out from a local Italian place. The food's just okay -- but it's cheap and easy and I didn't have to cook it. As the Big Dubya left to pick up our order, I suggested.... how 'bout I open a bottle of wine -- he accused me of talking dirty and then said he'd be back shortly.

I went to the wine rack and grabbed a bottle of 2005 Jim Jim Shiraz. I know very little about this wine, but it was purchased at a wine shop in the Berkshires which described it as "Big" (there was a sticker on the bottle).

There was no price tag on this bottle.... I know the wine shop specializes in good wines that are less than $15 and these guys have it listed for $10.99, so.... I'll say it's in the $10-$12 range.

I put the bottle on the kitchen table, grabbed some glasses and the corkscrew...... then I noticed the bottle's a screw top. I know screw tops are all the rage these days and that lots of reputable, high-end wines are moving in the screw top direction..... but I'm just not there yet -- I immediately thought "Ugh, we're screwed".

I opened the bottle and waited for dinner to arrive. The big guy thought that the acidity of his marinara conflicted with the wine and accentuated the tannins in a less than complimentary fashion. His feeling was that this wine probably would have been better had it been paired with steak, as he enjoyed his after-dinner glass more than his during-dinner glass.

The Big Dubya and I agreed that we wouldn't have classified it as "Big"..... we were thinking more "Medium". He was able to appreciate the berry flavors at times and he called it subtle whereas I didn't really find it to be very fruity.

I'd be more apt to describe it as mellow and almost a little flat -- there wasn't a ton of flavor which isn't meant to be a criticism..... it almost adds to it's versatility -- this is a wine that might work well with a buffet -- it wouldn't interfere with most foods.

Bottom line -- good, not great -- I'd buy it again if it were on sale.

D'Vine Wine

2008-07-27T17:28:00.005-05:00

Lone Star Chardonnay

A close friend of mine, who lives in Texas, sent me a wonderful care package after I had surgery back in March. In that care package was a bottle of wine from D'Vine Wine of Texas. This white wine was from their Vintner's Select Wines and was called "Lone Star Chardonnay." According to the website, it has a peach flavor. Last night, my husband and I finally got around to popping the cork and giving it a try.

Why did it take so long? Because I am not a huge fan of Chardonnay. I normally find them to be too dry for my taste. But my husband needed a white wine to cook with so he opened this one up and we imbibed on the rest with dinner.

The first sip was actually quite delightful - very fruity and light - not dry at all. Unfortunately, the delight didn't last long for me - I thought the aftertaste was a tad bitter, though my husband thought it was fine. Would I buy this one again? Probably not, but it was a nice change from the usual Chardonnay.

3 out of 5 grapes.

Summer, Summer, Summertime....

2008-07-25T11:28:00.003-05:00

I'm a red wine girl.... I like a nice glass of red wine on a chilly evening.

Problem is.... it's July -- and although the humidity has finally broken here in CT, it's still in the mid-80s. I'm not complaining -- believe me, I'm not complaining -- but..... a glass of rich red wine that warms your insides just doesn't call to me this time of year -- so what does that leave? white wine. I know nothing about white wine.

We have some friends coming for a visit this weekend and so, I asked the Big Dubya to pick me up a bottle of wine. He asked what I wanted..... and I struggled.... I just honestly don't know.

I hemmed and hawed and came up with pinot grigio.... I wanted light and sweet -- something cold that that I could sip leisurely.....

Anyone want to suggest a good white?

Talk me into (or out of) giving Yellow Tail another try

2008-07-17T08:15:00.003-05:00

Several years ago, a guy at work told me that Yellow Tail was a terrific affordable (a.k.a. cheap) wine. So, when I saw it on sale.... I picked up 3 bottles (it was something like 3 for $20).

One night, the Big Dubya and I decided a glass of wine would be nice and we busted open a bottle of the yellow tail -- I want to say it was Merlot, but I can't be sure.

It was disgusting -- I would have preferred to drink a glass of Robitussin. We didn't even finish the glasses -- we poured them down the sink, followed by the rest of the bottle. If I recall, the Big Dubya noticed something suspicious about the cork and so we deduced that it was probably just a defective bottle -- those who'd recommended it had never steered us wrong before.... we must have just gotten unlucky.

Well here we are..... it must be 4 or 5 years later, the other two bottles are still on my wine rack. Not sure why I haven't either opened them or thrown them out -- but, I haven't.

Do any of you have an opinion of Yellow Tail that you'd like to share?

Doing Time

2008-07-11T20:20:00.004-05:00

“We need to write a wine review,” I told Sue.

“What do we have?” she asked.

“We have Red Truck, but we reviewed it already. And we have this,” I said, holding up a bottle of 2004 Big House Red, a California blend of Carignane, Sangiovese and Charbono.

I grabbed two glasses and the corkscrew from the kitchen gadget drawer. Then I noticed something.

“I’m not so sure I want to review this one,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“This is why.” And I unscrewed the cap.

“A lot of good wines are going to screw tops now,” she told me.

I’m still not sure if that’s true or she was making something up as she sometimes does. But you couldn’t prove it with this bottle of wine.

Neither of us liked it.

According to the website, Big House Red has “lush tannins” and is “criminally rich—a riot of blackberry, raspberry & black pepper.” Hardy har har.

I got the tannins. I think I got the blackberry and raspberry. I even got the black pepper—in the bottom of my glass. I usually like dark heavy reds, but this one was just off. Sue liked it even less.

Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator both supposedly liked it. Maybe it just wasn’t our thing. Anybody else ever done time with Big House?

Maine to Mannheim

2008-07-02T20:37:00.001-05:00

You don't think that just because Mrs. Big Dubya was pregnant I gave up drinking, do you? Bite your collective tongues. Someone has to take up the slack when one member goes down. I do it for Johnny, man! I do it for Johnny!

So, yes, I have been drinking; expanding my horizons; and developing (and treating) my palate. First up is the Saranac Imperial IPA. I've been on a hoppy kick for a while now, so when I buy some beer, there will usually be one or two IPAs or something similar in the mix. I've always liked Saranac's offerings - the Pale Ale is good as is the Adirondack Lager - so when I saw the Imperial IPA I thought it would be a nice diversion. I tried an Imperial Stout which pleasantly surprised me so the Saranac seemed a logical choice - Imperial + IPA = must be good. And you know what? It is. Saranac boasts that this beer uses 10 different hops and 10 different malts to brew this complex beer. I was not overwhelmed by the aroma of hops upon my first sip - something that surprised me given the amount of hops in this brew. It sports an IBU of 85 (up there on the bitter scale) but you wouldn't know it by the nose. It pours a nice amber color and has a nice medium mouth feel. It comes in at a healthy 8.5% ABV which doesn't make it a "pound these all night" sort of beer. It is a seasonal so unless you can find it on your retailer's shelf, you might be out of luck.

Since this is spring/summer and baseball is in full-swing, I opted for the Stone Coast Knuckleball Bock. I must admit not having been a bock aficionado - it's never been one I've been drawn to or one I have sought out when I do my beer shopping. I've seen the Knuckleball a few times and decided I would give it a go. Last summer, I gave Stone Coast's 420 IPA a whirl and found it to be very tasty so I was hoping the same would be true for the Bock. After being on a hoppy kick for a while, this was quite different. The bock is a malty beer and that comes across in the first whiff. It pours a nice dark amber/brown with an off-white head. The first sip caught me a bit off guard but pleasantly so - it was malty followed by some hoppy bitterness which added a nice balance. All in all, a nice beer and at 5% ABV, not an ass-kicker so you shouldn't feel compelled to stop after 9 or 10.

One more. I love me some hefeweizen (Hefeweißbier). As far as beer goes, hefe and Guinness are the creme de la creme; tutti di tutti beer - for me anyway. But it has to be German for it to be really good. I've drunk Harpoon UFO, Widmer Bros., etc. but none of them have ever matched the goodness I found in Ulmer Munster, Gold Ochsen or many others. Hefeweizen is an unfiltered wheat beer and, in contrast to what I've been digging lately, is low on the hops - usually only about 15-20 IBUs. One of my favorites that I can get around here is Julius Echter which pours a pale gold color with a nice white head that remians throughout. I've noticed distinct clove aromas as well as a hint of banana and vanilla. It has a very high carbonation level which is a signature characteristic of the hefeweizen. If you're not afraid of unfiltered wheat beers, you should really try and find the Julius Echter. If you can't find this one, find a Tucher or Paulaner - you can't go wrong.

The choice of Dr. Frank-n-Furter

2008-07-02T19:55:00.001-05:00

Ok, honestly, when you look at the label you say, "Look, a novelty wine." But, I'm here to tell you, it's no novelty. It's actually pretty good. Good enough that it will be added to the list of "buy agains." That is if I had a list of "buy agains."

Mrs. Big Dubya got this bottle as a gift at her office baby shower. Yes, a baby shower for a third child. These work people of hers just like their parties. Anyway. So, we enjoyed the Vampire Merlot 2004 this evening. Well, Mrs. Big Dubya had one glass. I had...well...more than one. Maybe the rest of the bottle. I'll never tell. Don't judge me. Once you get past the kitschy vampire references on the label - "favorite among the nocturnal elite"..."Sip the blood of the Vine" - you'll learn that it has am "intense dark plum bouquet" and that it can "take on the biggest chargrilled steaks and barbecued meats." The wine is a deep, ruby red bordering on dark purple and you can taste some plum as well as some black cherry on the palate. It is also mild on the tannins which I find particularly nice. As with any Merlot, there is an oakiness to it, but not as intense or as distinctive as most - if you like that deep, oaky smoky flavor, you might not like the Vampire. The Merlot is also blended with Cabernet (8%) and Zinfandel (8%) which add to its complex nature.

For the price ($7-$11 depending on retailer) you really can't go wrong. I give it two fangs up. I'm sorry. Drink it. You won't be cross. I'll stake my reputation on it. Someone please stop me

Where do you buy your wine?

2008-06-20T07:21:00.002-05:00

Just wondering -- where do you buy your wine?

I know in some cities/towns/states, you are able to purchase wine in the supermarket. Where I grew up, our town didn't allow it -- but a few neighboring towns did.... this seemed really cool.

As I became more interested in wine, I realized that "supermarket wines" were typically limited to the Riunites of the world -- but, in recent years some of the supermarket chains have really expanded their wine offerings.

Wine shops aren't as predominant in some areas as in others -- although some liquor stores have wine shops within.....

So, I'm wondering -- where do you buy your wine?

Supermarket ?

Specialty Wine Shop?

Internet?

Liquor Store?

Summer Sippers

2008-06-13T05:33:00.001-05:00

I may try to find a couple of these.....

I'm Baaaaaaack

2008-06-11T09:19:00.005-05:00

No, this is not my child

That's right friends..... I'm back.

My gorgeous son was born happy and healthy last week -- and now that I've stopped taking the pain meds.... I've been ceremoniously drop kicked off the wagon and I'm ready to start talking about wines, beers....... or booze of any description.

For some people, giving up alcohol during pregnancy is difficult..... I have to be honest -- it's never been a problem for me. It seems like the minute I get pregnant the scent (or even the sight) of wine, beer or liquor just turns my stomach -- so, abstaining is no problem at all.... but I'm glad to be back in the land of adult beverages.

It seems that traffic here has been light as of late, so I'm hoping to give the group a jump start and get us drinking again........ so, the new assignment is:

Share your favorite summertime cocktail..... it can be wine -- or, if you prefer...... it can be beer or a mixed drink..... whatever you enjoy during the dog-days-of-summer or as we say here in New England dawg-days-of-summah

I have lots of favorite summer cocktails -- but one that is super refreshing and simple -- Malibu Rum and Pineapple Juice. I caution you against putting this concoction into the blender.... my friend and I tried this in an intoxicated state and it forms a meringue of sorts. I like this cocktail because it's light and refreshing but not too strong.

Cheers!

It’s Juuust Right…or Is It?

2008-02-10T13:48:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons that Sue and I don’t post here too frequently is probably that we don’t really know what we’re talking about when it comes to wine. We know what we like when we taste it, but when it comes to using words like balance, body, bouquet, nose or finish, we’re little at a loss. Instead, our discussions of wine often go something like this:

“You like it?”

“It’s not bad, you?”

“Eh.”

We drink it anyway.

Sue and I drink reds more than whites and, usually, one of us likes a wine more than the other. Sue favors lighter Merlots and Pinot Noirs; I usually like heavier Cabernets or Zinfandels. Sometimes, of course, we both really like a wine. This seems to happen most often with Italian Chiantis or Spanish Riojas. When we find one we both like, we usually buy it again.

A few weeks ago, we tried a 2003 Chianti Classico from Castello di Gabbiano that Sue picked up for $12.00. According to Cellar 360, Castello di Gabbiano’s sales partner, the Chianti Classico has “delicate floral aromas of violets and soft scents of fruity blackberry [that] mark the nose. The dry, medium-bodied palate is filled with robust tannins and flavors of black pepper, sweet spices, and a touch of light, toasted oak. The finish is long and dry.” Like I said, I never could have come up with the description myself. I could agree with it though—except for the violets, I’m not so sure I tasted violets.

A couple weeks later, we picked up another bottle specifically for the purpose of reviewing it here. (Yeah, that’s the only reason we bought it.) Same wine, same price, same store even. This time though, we didn’t really like it. It tasted more acidic and a little vinegary. We were hoping we could recommend this one, but now we’re not so sure.

Has anyone else had a bad second experience with a wine they liked the first time?

Abominable Snowman and the Man-in-the-Moon

2008-01-24T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hey there! How are you? Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that you find yourself motivated and energized in this new year. Ha! I actually wrote that with a straight face. Let's just say I hope you're able to stay awake late enough in the evening that you can enjoy a fine glass of wine or a nice cold beer or, hell, two fingers of your favorite single malt.

So, since this is only January, I am still abstaining from wine until Mrs. Big Dubya is able to, once again, knock back a bottle or two in a sitting with me. So, beer it is until then. I know, I know, can't you just sense the disappointment in my voice? It's just soooo hard. Anyway, let me tell you about what I've recently had worth trying:

Great Divide, Yeti Imperial Stout: Now, those of you who know me know of my affinity for Guinness. I loves me some Guinness. This is the stout I know and the one I compare all stouts to. Big mistake. Who knew that when I started reviewing beers here I would learn so much? Guinness is an Irish stout (huh, go figure). Imperial Stout, aka Russian Imperial Stout or Imperial Russian Stout, is decidedly not an Irish stout. Imperial Stout was first brewed in London by Thrale's Brewery for export to the Czar of Russia and was known as Thrale's Entire Porter. You're saying to yourself, "How the hell did we get on to porters?" We haven't - porter is just an alternative name for stout. Ok, getting back to the review. Holy crap I wasn't ready for that first sip. Remember what I said about Guinness? Yeah, this is not Guinness. In the glass it looked very much like stouts I've had before - deep, rich black with a medium-to-dark-brown, foamy head. The aroma was malty with hints of coffee. On the tongue it was full of flavor - the malt and coffee with some chocolate thrown in and also hints of some fruit and a touch of spiciness - but those had their asses kicked by the malt and coffee. The alcohol is also very evident, but mellowed by the richness of the flavors. I also appreciated the generous amount of hops which gave it a nice IPA quality (though not quite and I hope I'm not being sacrilegious at all by saying so). Overall it was a very nice beer that warmed the cockles of my heart and made my feet all tingly.

Victory, Old Horizontal Barleywine Style Ale: Note to self: beware a beer whose label shows the moon sleeping horizontally - could be taken as an omen and not a good one at that. It had been a while since I've had a barleywine - I believe I had a tasting of some at Barrington Brewery and that about knocked me out of my socks. I figured that since it was the New Year, might as well give something good and strong a go. For those of you who don't know, a barleywine is a strong ale which originated in England. It's called barleywine because it can be as strong as wine, but since it is made with grain - not fruit - it is indeed a beer. In the US, barleywines are required to be called "barleywine-style ale." In keeping with Victory, I chose to use a smaller font for STYLE in this header - much like they do on their label. This is what I would call a "fine, sippin' beer." This is a not a quench your thirst on a hot summer's day beer at all. It pours a deep-red/purple bordering on black. The aroma is full and fruity - there's grape and cherry - with hints of anise. In the mouth you can taste the grape and cherry - it is very sweet, but that sweetness is nicely balanced with a hoppy bitterness. It does have a strong alcohol content and will kick your ass if you're not careful. I recommend this one for after dinner - it makes for a very nice dessert beer or for sitting around a fire with a nice cigar.

Post-Script: Did you know that if you drink a White Russian followed by a Bloody Mary (or two) and then drink Ipswich IPAs, you will find yourself remarkably warm at the AFC Championship? You'll also find yourself eating Italian sausages covered in mustard, but you'll be warm.

Ahead of the curve?

2008-01-23T08:33:00.001-05:00

Who knew?

Hope all is well.... I'm counting the months 'til I can resume the joys of wine exploration.... until then, I'm living through all of you, so -- please fill us in on what you've been drinking... even if it's not wine.

Cheers

Happy Holi-Beers

2007-12-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

Beer, glorious beer! My apologies to Lionel Bart, but I believe Oliver! and his friends, had they been of drinking age, would have been singing the praises of hops and malt rather than sausage and mustard and cold jelly and custard.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that since we are, once again, in the family way, wine drinking will be shelved and I will turn my attention to providing some beer reviews. Beer. It's not just for breakfast anymore. No, that's not what I meant to say. Life is too short for crappy beer. Yes, that's better. Because, honestly, a good beer is just as good as a nice bottle of wine and should be enjoyed and appreciated similarly.

Smuttynose Winter Ale: At the suggestion of TwoBusy, I grabbed this seasonal offering. FYI: all reviews in this post are winter offerings. According to the Smuttynose site, the Winter Ale "is a full-bodied, amber beer brewed with a special Trappist ale yeast. Stylistically reminiscent of a Belgian Abbey Double, it features fruity aromas and flavor, balanced by soft Crystal hops." Yeah, this description just tells me that I have some learnin' to do. I will say that TwoBusy's recommendation was spot-on and it is a very fine beer and great winter brew for holiday parties or just sitting fireside watching the snow fall. It will certainly help you forget the twelve inches of snow in your driveway and the cookie sheet and broomstick you call a shovel waiting for you.

Ipswich Winter Ale: This one I picked up because of the strong showing of the Ipswich IPA, which is quite yummy. Yes, that's beer talk - yummy = more gooder. Yes, more beer jargon. Looks like you need some learnin' too. Anyway, it pours a rich medium brown with a nice head to it. It has a distinct malty aroma and taste and a nice dose of hops, but not overly so. Initial taste is sweet and the finish is a tad bitter, but not off-putting. Another enjoyable beer for this time of year.

Great Divide Hibernation Ale: I've heard great things about Great Divide Brewing, but have never taken the plunge and purchased anything from them. Something about being old and set in ways. But I decided I would allow them the opportunity to introduce themselves to me through their Hibernation Ale. What a great first impression. It's a strong ale that pours a deep red bordering on murky brown. The initial taste was a nice balance of malt and hops. I found that balance quite nice but would have enjoyed a little more hoppiness, but that's just me. That takes nothing away from this beer's goodness. Hibernation is an award-winning beer that also ages very well. Yes, I guess, much like wine, beer can be aged as well, which allows it to develop different character traits over time. See, you learn something new every day. This is not, however, a beer to be taken lightly or shotgunned as it comes in at 8.1% ABV - not too shabby. A very good sippin' beer.

Cup of Holiday Cheer

2007-12-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

Long time no see..... yeah, I know -- I'm a big disappointment.

Well, I do have a good excuse -- I'm on the wagon..... until mid-May.... and then God help me, I'll have three-under-three and will probably need to turn from wine to tequila.

Anywho, I was chatting with a co-worker this morning and she mentioned her holiday cocktail of choice -- it sounded quite yummy, so I thought I'd pass it along seeing that I can't partake myself.

She spikes her vanilla eggnog with Baileys (she uses the Caramel variety, but I think the original would be just fine too)..... I have to admit, it's the first time in weeks I was actually tempted by alcohol --

She uses store-bought eggnog..... whereas, I make homemade every year -- check out the recipe here -- don't get me wrong, it's a jug full of heart-attack, but -- it's very yummy.

Would anyone else like to share their holiday concoctions?

Act Now...or Don't

2007-12-16T21:02:00.000-05:00

Like we’ve done for the past few years, Sue and I picked up a bottle of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais nouveau. This is the French red wine that is fermented for just a few weeks and comes out annually on the third Thursday of November—Beaujolais Day—and is best drunk lightly chilled. It’s also best not to let this wine age more than a few weeks or months at most.

Usually, we’ve enjoyed the Beaujolais. We never expect anything great from it—it’s cheap, light and pretty unexceptional, but it’s usually fun and a decent fruity wine. This year though we couldn’t even finish it. It was too light and tasted like watered-down sour grape juice.

I looked for some other reviews to see if Sue and I were alone in our opinion here. We weren’t—I found some pretty terrible reviews of the 2007 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais nouveau. I also found some reviewers who enjoyed it for what it was. If I were in the habit of trying this wine every year (which I guess I am), I’d probably still pick up a bottle. Just don’t expect much.

Does anyone else have a good holiday wine for review? Maybe a wine you’ve given or received as a gift? Let us know and post a review.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Drinkin' Is Drinkin', Right?

2007-11-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

Haven't been around these parts in a dog's age. Yeah, I don't know what that means either, but let's just say I haven't posted here in a looooong time. July? Holy crap, I suck. I'd say I have an excuse, but not two month's worth of them. I have an excuse ~~now~~ I can make public for not drinking much wine, but I really have shirked my responsibilities as a member of this fine site. Anyway....

This is not a wine post. For reasons mentioned above, we haven't been drinking any wine and I'm not one to go opening bottles and finishing them off myself. Well, not anymore. Let's leave the past in the past, shall we? Great. Moving on. I've been drinking more microbrews. That's not to say that I've been flogging my palate with Bud talls or Mich Lights and have only recently seen the light and the errors of my ways. Nooooooo. I've just been branching out and trying breweries with which I'm not all that familiar. I could extol the virtues of Sam Adams Octoberfest until the cows come home, but I thought I'd share some of the others I'm enjoying.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Oh, Lord has there ever been a better tasting IPA? I like hoppy beer. Scratch that - I have grown to love hoppy beer. There was a time when I was all about blondes and reds and "crispy" beers. No more. I'm all about the hops now. Dogfish is one of those brews I never paid any mind to - it's rare you find it on draft anywhere and when confronted by a slew of other offerings, I'm always tempted to stay with what I know: Hooker, Red Hook, Harpoon, etc. But, TwoBusy posted about a particular Dogfish a while back so I was intrigued. I grabbed this offering (a four-pack), encouraged as I was by the quote: Esquire Magazine calls our 90 Minute I.P.A., “perhaps the best I.P.A. in America.” Well, color me curious. You know what? It's good. Really good. But if you're not a fan of hops, you might want to stay away as it's up there on the International Bitterness Units clocking in at a 90 (for comparison: Guinness is in the 45-60 range and typical IPA is 40 and above). It also has an ABV of 9.0% - not quite the potency of EKU 28, but up there nonetheless. In short, well worth the purchase and added to the "buy again" list.

Magic Hat #9
I had my first Magic Hat #9 about seven or eight years ago. I remember I thought it was good, but didn't pay it much mind after that. Fast forward to this summer. I purchased the Magic Hat Variety Pack which offered Fat Angel, Circus Boy, Hocus Pocus and #9. A very good selection of beers, but I fell in love with the #9. The #9 is "not quite a pale ale" of the English Ale variety. It's malty and sweet and finishes both hoppy and fruity. See, Magic Hat adds apricot. But this is no fruit beer a la Dogfish's ApriHop - it's just a little extra flavor that if you concentrated hard enough you'd notice, but neither overpowers nor defines this great beer. Along with Fat Angel, goes on the "buy again" list.

I might start drinking some wine by myself for the next few months to maintain some posts here from the Dubyas, but I might also throw in some beer reviews from time-to-time as well, if you all don't mind.

Ol' Reliable

2007-11-24T14:50:00.000-05:00

We’ve actually had a few bottles of wine since I’ve last posted. But none of those bottles have made it through to a review. I’m guessing that all of us get a little busier as the holidays get closer and posting wine reviews is one of the first things to go.

There are a few standby wines that we buy when we want to be sure we’re getting something good—a favorite Rioja or Chianti or any one of a few California wines. A great, moderately-priced and interesting red blend that we love is Red Truck.

Red Truck is a Sonoma blend that we’ve had many times. Recently though, Sue found a Red Truck Pinot Noir. I also learned from their website that Red Truck makes a Merlot and Cabernet. There’s also a White Truck blend, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and a Pink Truck. (All of the “Truck” wines are a division of Cline Cellars.)

As claimed, the 2006 Red Truck Pinot Noir was smooth with a mix of fruity and spicy tastes. I actually could make out the cherries that the label said were in there too. Sue and I both enjoyed this wine and, although we’re not great at describing tastes in detail, we recommend it. All of the Truck wines we’ve tried have been good and they always seem popular at our local wine stores too—even though the Red Truck name has only been used since 2002. The website seems fun too and you can sign up to become a “Friend of Red Truck.” I sent in my email address. If I get anything good, I’ll let you all know.

Club Proposal

2007-10-31T07:21:00.001-05:00

It seems like we've all taken a little break from drinking/reviewing.

So, unless someone objects -- we'll leave October's assignment up for November too.

Cheers!

Sofia Sparkling Wine

2007-10-30T16:43:00.000-05:00

The other night I was looking for a good wine to go with the baby back ribs I slow cooked in a ginger-y Asian sauce. Though I normally don't drink a lot of white wines, I was thinking I wanted something a little fun and fruity. So for just a shade over $15, I grabbed a bottle of Niebaum Coppola's Sofia Blanc de Blancs.

Billed as a wine that pairs well with chicken or pork, it had smooth citrus and melon notes that were a perfect complement for the hoisin sauce-based marinade I had slathered all over the ribs. What's more, for someone who has been slacking since joining this esteemed collection of drinkers, I am proud to report that it counted for three-in-one research: It's a California wine, it's a sparkling wine and it's a wine I'd give as a gift or serve during the holidays.

And just look at this packaging (captured poorly with my cell phone's camera):

Cute pink plastic! A delicate floral label! You know you want to grab a few bottles of this and get the girls together for a mani-pedi (and drinking a ton of this) night! You'll also find this sold in smart red cans (each of them with their own straw), a perfect solution for serving guests at holiday parties. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Zind

2007-10-29T00:04:00.000-05:00

Hello fellow wine enthusiasts! My name is Joe and I am a stay at home dad. Along with rearing my 3 daughters I enjoy wine and have worked in the wine industry either for retailers or importers for a number of years. I have also worked in fine dining restaurants as a server through my college years where I learned the impact of wine on food choices. I am pleased to give my first of surely several (hundred?) reviews with my latest and greatest find.

I was fortunate enough to pick up a bottle of Zind-Humbrect Zind this weekend and I was very thankful that I did so. Ok, lets start from the top. First, this wine is from is from Alsace. For all of you in the "know" you will recognize that region of France as a large producer of intense and highly acidic (see freaking awesome) Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, and Pinot Gris's. The climate of this region is cold and the most northern of all the growing regions in France. It is renown for producing wines, generally known for their hint of sweetness, in a bone dry and intense fashion. Because the growing season in Alsace is often cut short due to preemptive winters some of the wines are chaptilized. This is the process where sugar is added to the juice so that during fermentation there will be enough sugar to produce enough alcohol in return or you would have an out of balance wack job of a wine. That being said, one grape that is often overlooked or not included in the "Alsace hype" per say is Chardonnay. Taking that a step further, another grape overlooked is "Auxerrois." For all of you who don't know, Auxerrois is a close cousin of Chardonnay and recent DNA tests have proven that both grapes hale from the same lineage. Auxerrois is not to be confused with another name for the Malbec grape which is used in other regions of France. This grape is white, full-bodied and full of character.

"Auxerrois is a close cousin
of Chardonnay
and recent DNA tests have proven
that both grapes hale from the same lineage."

Ok, wow, where am I? Let's see. Who I am. Check. The region. Check. Ok, the wine. HOLY CRAP! This wine was through the roof! I enjoy new tastes sensations as much as the next wine nerd, but this one is something special. Let me take it from the top. Ok. <----So excited! First, price point. This wine retails around $25 a bottle. Not your everyday wine, but something you get for yourself instead of renting a movie and buying microwavable popcorn. Instead of having a night filled with regrettable calories or a lackluster movie and you want a treat...try this. Period! Now that I made justifying it clear, here are the details. First, like any very good wine from that region, you will notice the nose right away. As you pour the honeyed colored wine (see great sign) into your glass, you will begin to notice the aromas of petrol (slight but awesome) and some floral notes as well. The wine is 50% Auxerrois, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Blanc. For all intents and purposes the wine is a Chardonnay (Auxerrois being basically a Chardonnay and Chardonnay being Chardonnay we only have a 15% remainder of Pinot Blanc another close relative of the Chard family), however it is listed as a white table wine. The flavor of the wine.....wow! First, when you drink wine remember to allow your entire tongue to take part. The tip of your tongue is where you will pick up and enjoy the refreshingly crisp acidity of this wine. It has the bubbly effervescence of acidity that screams "spicy foods!" like a blackened shrimp alfredo perhaps as a paring. Second, it has the flavor profile of a typical Chard consisting of Pear, Grapefruit and Lychees, but you get some other atypical flavors like peaches/apricots and nutmeg along with a honied butter mouth feel in the prolonged finish. Overall, a wonderful wine to experience on its own or with a nice meal. Suggestions include, blackened chicken alfredo or a cajun seafood dish. Enjoy!

New Contributor

2007-10-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor.

Cheers!

Menage a Trois

2007-09-27T10:55:00.000-05:00

The September assignment was to try a California wine. I scoured the aisles of our local Farm Fresh for an interesting label and ran across this gem. And at $10.46, the price was right so I picked it up. My mom and I tried it on Sunday with a pork dish I made and my husband and I tried it last night with Mexican take-out.

I didn't know what to expect - normally my wine consumption is limited to Rieslings and sweeter dessert wine (one reason I joined this group - to broaden my horizons). I really liked this wine. It was pleasantly fruity without being overpowering. There was a touch of sweetness that kept it balanced rather than dry or acidic. It paired nicely with both meals, as well as alone later in the evening! I would definitely purchase this one again.

Note: The name refers to the three wines that were mixed to make this smooth concoction: Chardonnay, Muscat and Chenin Blanc.

It's October already

2007-09-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

Well, it's almost October already.

I've posted the October assignment a little bit early, so I'll leave both September
and August up for a while longer.

Cheers!

Beringer Sparkling White Zinfandel

2007-09-24T20:42:00.001-05:00

Darren doesn't want me to blog this. I bought a Beringer sparkling white zinfandel for the extra credit assignment, and we drank it last weekend. He made fun of it's pink color and asked if we would be drinking it from a shoe, and did he need a smoking jacket?

This is a non-vintage sparkling wine (can't call it Champagne because it's not from the Champagne region of France). It was pink, and bubbly. The cork had the fun "pop" action of all sparkling wine/champagne bottles - it felt celebratory even though we weren't really celebrating anything.

It was difficult to find a sparkling wine/champagne within the price guide here (ok, maybe I'm just a Champagne snob). This one was $9.99 and yes I did buy it because it was pink. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

For an "everyday" celebration this would be a perfectly acceptable sparkling wine. It was dry, and not sweet or overly "fruity" (as say, an Asti would be). But if you're celebrating something special, I'd spring for a bottle of the real Champagne.

2005 Hess Chardonnay

2007-09-24T20:25:00.000-05:00

I picked up this 2005 California chardonnay (Hess Vineyards website is down tonight otherwise I'd link to it) because it was:

a. cheap (about $9.99 or so); and
b. Californian

We enjoyed it with an assortment of pickings (or tapas, depending on how formal you want to be!). After being in the fridge for about a month or so, the first very cold sip was nondescript - really I couldn't detect any taste. So we popped in the first of two John Cusack dvds (One Crazy Summer, followed by Sixteen Candles (look carefully, he's one of Farmer Ted's friends!)).

Once the wine warmed slightly, there still wasn't much to write or blog about. It was crisp, and dry, with no detectable fruit flavors. Really, it was very disappointing. Sure, we drank the whole bottle but when followed by an Australian chardonnay, the difference between the two was very noticable (the Australian was much better!). I can't see us buying this one again.

Extra Curricular

2007-09-14T19:20:00.000-05:00

As I sit at home watching the RedSox Yankees game, I decided to treat myself to a glass of wine. I typically have beer with baseball (isn't that the American way?) but, the Big Duyba's at a work function and..... having a glass of wine alone seems slightly less alcoholic than having a few beers (I'm not so good at having a (one) beer.... I can have a (one) glass of wine)

So, I went upstairs to the wine rack to see if there was anything that tickled my fancy -- I came across a bottle of 2002 Danzante Merlot -- this is an Italian (the website says Danzante is Italian for Dancing) wine and the price tag said $8.99.
The label reads:

"Intense violet-red in color, with aromas of black currants, blueberries and soft spices. Danzante Merlot is the result of a meticulous search by Tim Mondavi and Lamberto Frescobaldi for quality vineyards in southern Italy. Grapes were hand-harvested from vines in Sicily's historic Agrigento province, an area where wine growing dates back to the 8th Century B.C."

The color is a very deep, dark red -- and the aromas are nice -- not too strong, but not overpowering. The flavor is velvety and the flavors are subtle and tasty - the tannins really bothered me in the beginning -- the first two or three sips were lovely, followed by that "back-of-the-throat-smack" that I hate in tannin-heavy wines..... but suddenly it's gone and it's enjoyable beginning to end.

I can't say that I love it, but..... for just under $9 it's a decent glass of wine.

Did Joe, in fact, Blow?

2007-09-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie to you: I'm a drinker. But I am not the sort of drinker who can write with a sommelier's genius about a wine's nose or residual sugars or whatever else it is that reduces me to sticking with the same bottles again and again and again.

And so it was that I sent the man of the house out with orders to get something -- anything -- from California, and just for fun make sure the anything in question had an interesting label.

He scratched his head, shrugged his shoulders and headed out the door with this ill-defined directive ringing in his ears. When he returned, he had a bottle of Joe Blow Red (I will not even waste your time on the other bottle he scored -- Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin. Sipping it made me sad).

Joe Blow Red ($10) is a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. Billed as a serious wine with a none-too-serious label, you definitely get a lot of fun, fruity taste (I'm guessing that's from the Syrah and Zin, maybe?) with a hint of Cab kick. One wine writer suggested chilling it for 20 minutes to make it more refreshing in the warm weather, but me, I'm more of a room temperature red kind of girl, just on principle. Though it took me a while to warm up to it, it's not a bad wine; it's something I could see drinking with a grilled pork tenderloin or barbecued chicken breast, but it wouldn't stand up too well to a nice New York strip steak. And I would bet (just a hunch here) that this would be a perfect base for a homemade sangria.

Just a hunch.

If you try it, let me know what you think.

Vote Early, Vote Often

2007-09-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Thoughts on this poll?

Moo-vad, or How Many Times Can I Call It Dark?

2007-09-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

To be fair, the reviews were mixed on this one. I thought that the 2005 Mourvèdre from Cline Cellars in Sonoma was dark, heavy and a little acidic. Sue thought that the wine was dark, heavy and a little acidic. For the same reasons, I liked it and Sue didn’t so much.

Mourvèdre is a grape that I hadn’t heard of before. The description on the back of the bottle explains that it’s an ancient, somewhat uncommon grape:

Mourvèdre is an exotic grape found in the Rhône and Provence regions of France, Spain and Australia. It is a key component in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and has a starring role in Bandol. Once widely planted in California (where it is often called Mataro), today only a tiny amount exists and Cline owns many of the historic ancient vines that remain. Redolent of dark plum and chocolate with a hint of oak, this juicy Ancient Vines Mourvèdre is delicious now and will age for well over a decade. A perfect complement to herb-roasted meats, grilled pork tenderloin or dark chocolate.

We didn’t have the wine with herb-roasted meat, grilled pork tenderloin or dark chocolate. (Do people really have much wine with chocolate?) We just opened the bottle at night and had it with some cheese. Both Sue and I got the dark fruit taste, but the chocolate undertone wasn’t so obvious. I guess liking this wine (as with almost any food or drink) is a matter of taste. If you like dark, fruity flavors, you may like it. Or you might find it too dark and heavy. If anyone else tries it (or has already), I’d really be interested in hearing what others think.

Cline Cellars’ website lists this wine at $18.00 retail, but I picked it up on a recommendation from the store clerk for $12.99.

Sterling Vinter's Collection Merlot -- 2004, from California's Central Coast

2007-09-07T18:14:00.000-05:00

Note: The Big Dubya was supposed to write this review, but he's got a head cold and just confessed that, despite being halfway through his glass, he still can't taste it..... so you are stuck with me.

Once again, we went to the ye ole wine rack for this bottle. According to www.wine.com it runs for about $19.99 -- I must have gotten it on sale, because I know I didn't pay that much for it.

I chose this label because when I was in Vegas a couple of years ago, my cousin recommended it. He's become somewhat of a wine snob in the past few years and he mentioned that Sterling was a wine that you could count on -- good value for short money. Generally speaking he knows what he's talking about -- particularly when it comes to wine, so I took his recommendation and picked up this bottle.

The label didn't offer a whole lot of information -- but the winemakers notes listed on www.wine.com are as follows:

"Deep ruby red, color, with big blackberry and blackberry pie aromas, as well as toasty oak and vanilla. Complex, with more subtle cherry-cola notes. On the palate are mouth filling cherry-berry tannins, which are round yet offer nice mouth feel and a long finish. Drink this with beef dishes and other entrees with richer sauces".

This wine has a deep flavor and the oakiness of it is evident. I don't get a lot of blackberry flavor, just a hint. The description (blackberry pie, cherry-cola) would have made me expect a sweetness, but on the contrary..... it's got a tartiness to it -- an edge. The tannins caught me a little off guard as the first sip was smooth and it wasn't 'til the end that I got that subtle hit lingering at the back of my throat.

I started my glass and set it aside while I put the kids to bed and I definitely found it to be smoother and more mellow when I came back -- I'm thinking that this is a wine that benefits from a little time to breathe.

Bottom line.... if it were on sale, I'd buy it again.

Beaten to the Punch

2007-09-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

We haven't tried it yet, but with a name like that, I couldn't resist.

2005 Italian -- Pinot Grigio or Rosso Primitivo. At $10.99, I figured, what the heck?

More to come once the cork is popped! ;)

But I see Sue and Darren beat us to the punch on this one. I figure we'll weigh in anyway -- with a name like that, they've got a good marketing niche!