Category: Beer and Wine

Some recent wines

  • Someone mentioned that viogniers go well with turkey, so I brought this to Thanksgiving. It was delicious!
I brought this to a Lebanese dinner on 11/23. A really good wine for about $17.
Enjoyed this at Marcelle’s house on 11/23. A thinner, lighter French wine.
Some cheap finds from NH Liquor store. Both around $5, and very drinkable. The Veo is Chilean, the other French.

Drinking

Have decided  to take another break from alcohol. I don’t know how long this will last, but I felt the need after over-indulging a bit during the past week … a few too many DIPAs left my mind feeling cloudy, and my cheeks looking a little more ruddy than I would like.

Last night at Pat Phillips’ party, it was easier than I might have imagined to drink Poland Spring seltzer rather than beer. I had a nice time, and didn’t have to worry about what to say if I had by chance been pulled over on way home.

Vermont brews

Discovered some absolutely delicious beers on my trip to Burlington. All of those illustrated were excellent. The overexposed can at the far right is “Destroyed by Hippie Powers – Lemongrass” from Burlington Beer Co., which is unusual and very tasty. I loved Heady Topper, and the Cone Head is a really nice lower alcohol brew.

Burlington

My trip to Burlington, VT this past week, for work, threw me off completely. I’m not a good traveler anymore, and the driving, new setting, the strange reality of meeting in person the folks that I’d only met virtually theretofore (via WebEx), the noisy hotel, adjustment to new eating and drinking patterns, lack of exercise, all sent me for a loop.

I stayed at the DoubleTree Hilton. It was big, impersonal, expensive, and I had noisy neighbors both nights (they quieted down without protest, however, when I pounded on their door, both nights). The free breakfast was some small compensation for these annoyances.

The first night, on my own, needing to get away from the hotel, I went off in search of some VT microbrews, and found an impressive beer store, Beverage Warehouse, up the road in Winooski. I consulted with a clerk and another customer, and bought a half dozen IPAs (they sell singles, happily), including a couple of the storied Heady Topper.

Then, taking a tip from a different clerk, I went for Thai food at Tiny Thai. I got red curry to go, and enjoyed it mightily, accompanied by a Hazy Camper, one of the purchased IPAs.

On the second evening, following a day of meetings, Rick took us out to the Great Northern, a restaurant near downtown. Food was excellent … dirty fries that we all shared, and cod with steamers and octopus. I had a couple of the local brews … I had a Bing Bing from Zero Gravity (which is right next door to Great Northern), and then the Hill Farmstead Edward. Neither blew me away. Very fun time.

Day three I felt tired, fat, and ready to go home. I was liberated by 4:30, and made it back to Dover by 8.

A Great Inexpensive Wine (24)

This one was recommended to me by Patrick. When the first sips hit my tongue I realized that wine appreciation doesn’t have to be an arcane art. I can actually tell a good wine from a bad one. This Brazilian red is, I think, amazingly good for a $10 bottle. The word I think of when I drink it is “soft.” It’s gentle but certainly not insipid. Whereas some I’ve drunk recently have been a struggle (the Australian), this is so gentle, even subtle, so beguiling, that I think I would certainly be capable of downing the entire bottle at a sitting, though I’ve shown more restraint than that, consuming it as I have in the middle of a work week.

Alcohol

The job at the liquor store has afforded me proximity to alcohol on a regular basis, which has created a new familiarity with wines and spirits. So far it has not contributed to an increase in consumption, simply a diversification in what I drink: occasionally I’ll try some Buffalo Trace or Weller (I’ve had both the Green and the Old 107 (Red), and prefer the Green, with its less aggressive bite and lower alcohol content). Having learned how desirable it is, I bought a bottle of Blanton’s at one point, which I have yet to open. These bourbons are a step up from my old standby, Jim Beam, and I’ve learned to appreciate the difference.

On the wine front, I’m exploring reds at the lower end of the price range. I’m staying away from the California reds, even though my love of the movie Sideways attracted me to the cult of the CA pinot noir. My aversion has to do with a neurotic belief that Roundup and other chemicals are more widely used in the U.S. than in other countries. And something about the overwhelming popularity (as evidenced by what people buy at the store) of brands like Apothic (actually a Gallo brand, I discovered), Meiomi,  Coppola, and Josh wines make them less interesting to me.

Instead I’ve decided to try South American and French wines. I just bought a $9.99 Brazilian wine that Patrick recommended (yet to be tried), and I found the organic Argentinian malbec Bousquet, pictured below, to be a really nice tasting buy at a little over $10. The French Chateau Du Bois de la Garde was recommended by a Frenchman I struck up a conversation with and was, predictably(!), quite nice.

 

The other two pictured below, one French, one Argentinian, were borderline undrinkable, for me, at about the same price point. The French was more like $7 or $8. Harsh … bitter …. unsubtle. I was surprised about the Alamos, since it seems to sell well.