Daily Loaf

The World Series of Beer Pong — “the largest, longest-running organized beer pong (aka Beirut) tournament in the world, created by beer pong players, for beer pong players” according to the WSOBP website — will start in less than two months, on Jan. 1 at the Flamingo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

But you knew that, right? You’ve been single-mindedly training since 2008, when team Chauffering the Fat Kid managed to snatch the suds from an all-but-victorious  Iron Wizard Coalition by completing an amazing four straight sinks. Cinderella story? Yes. Biggest come-from-behind victory in the history of sports? Probably.

Don’t get the wrong impression about beer pong, though: it’s not all about beer consumption. Read the rest of this entry »

According to beer judging guidelines, brown ales should be a celebration of sweet dark grain. English style browns exhibit a heavier, dominant malt character with very little hops presence, while American browns tend to balance malt and hops flavors, sometimes with a modest degree of citrusy bitterness. Alcohol content of both types is usually moderate, somewhere between 3% and 5% ABV.

Jackie Brown, a noteworthy brown ale from Mikkeller, defies categorization under both English and American style. This specialty beer takes the generic base style of brown ales, with the signature appearance, aroma, and mouthfeel and adds a mountain of nugget, simcoe, and centennial hops, resulting in a brown beer that’s bitter as hell. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dalmore is a classic name in Scotch — located way up in north Scotland, just past Inverness and the Highlands — but one that has received little credit here in the colonies over the past decade or so. With a change from Jim Beam to a new marketing company, and an alliance with big daddy Southern Wine and Spirits for distribution, The Dalmore is trying to change its image here in the States.

Which is why I found fully-kilted Richard Patterson — Master Blender of The Dalmore’s parent company Whyte & Mackay — in my office, pouring much of The Dalmore’s line. Although most Scotch distilleries try to maintain a “house style” that’s consistent through the years and across different varieties, this was different. Each pour opened up a whole new range of textures and flavors, with a few subtle notes tying the line together.

Here’s the rundown: Read the rest of this entry »

If you didn’t know, Creative Loafing recently relocated its offices from Howard Ave. to Ybor, and staffers are psyched. No disrespect intended to SoHo, but our new digs are an easy walk from coffee, alcohol, food and music, not to mention the ample natural light and old-Florida brick architecture. It’s like waking up from a black-and-white dream.

But, like any large group of disparate individuals, the CL staff can’t settle on which bar should be our new home away from home (away from home). So you get to pick for us.

A few considerations before casting your vote: it has to be open by 5 p.m. at the latest, although earlier is better for those afternoon pick-us-ups; it has to be more a bar than a club — although live music is a plus; no cover charge.

Knowing that, where will you send us for our daily medicine? Vote after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale — Brewed in Portland, Maine by Shipyard Brewing Company, Pumpkinhead is easily the mildest, most accessible, and sessionable pumpkin beer. At 4.5% ABV, this institution in pumpkin ales pours a golden hue, emitting aromas of wheat grain with faint traces of baking spices. On the palate, nutmeg dominates; making it very pie like, yet the brew is light bodied and easy drinking. It’s a nice introduction to pumpkin beer, with all the quintessential flavors packed into a thin, light-tasting brew.

Wolaver’s, Dogfish Head, Weyerbacher and Terrapin after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

California will soon be host to the world’s smallest wine appellation, or legally designated wine region. The U.S. is already home to the largest appellation in the world, the ever-popular Upper Mississippi River Valley American Viticultural Area, which covers almost 30,000 square miles spread across four states, approved earlier this year by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Maybe they’re going for a Guinness Book of World Records spot?

The newly approved Happy Canyon AVA (happycanyonava.com), located inside California’s Santa Ynez Valley AVA and the huge Central Coast AVA, only encompasses eight vineyards, and only six of those — Cimarone, Grassini, Vogelzang, HCV, McGinley, and Star Lane — actually make wine. Why such a fiddling little designation, when the wineries involved could easily use the Santa Ynez Valley branding? Different micro-climate, different soil and, well, Happy Canyon sounds so much nicer than Santa Ynez, doesn’t it?

(Want to follow all of CL’s Food, Drink and Restaurant news? Bookmark the food section of the blog, add the CL Food RSS feed to your reader of choice, follow @BrianRies on Twitter, or check out the Food Section page multiple times daily.)

This time of year is ripe for ghosts, ghouls and scary tales, but don’t let witches brew distract you from great inexpensive wines. Halloween screams for some scary and spooktacular vino, and one of my all time favorites to drink on Halloween night is Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon. Vampire — like its counterpart, Dracula Wine — was at one time made in Transylvania, but has now moved operations to Paso Robles; that just bites, no pun intended.

Half the fun of drinking Vampire was the storied location where it was made. Thankfully, the change in venue has not resulted in ghastly juice.

I’m first enticed by the aromas of blood-red, ripe fruit. The scent calls to me and I can’t resist taking a small nibble, er, sip of the garnet colored liquid swirling in the glass. On the first taste I’m hit with a lip smacking, succulent flavor, with a finish leaving me wanting more. Just one thing to do: Read the rest of this entry »

Sierra Nevada 2009 Southern Hemisphere Fresh Hop Ale
6.7% ABV, 24-ounce bottle

Sierra Nevada has always been the safety date for craft brew lovers, when they’re forced by circumstance to buy beer at grocery and liquor stores with limited selections. Partly, that’s due to this brewery’s amazing success at penetrating the market — it’s ubiquitous at almost any retailer that branches out even a little from American mega-brews. Partly, that’s because Sierra Nevada has been able to maintain craft-brew style throughout its 29 years of business, even as the brewery’s production has risen over 800,000 barrels per year.

The Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale represents both Sierra Nevada’s small-batch quality and its ability to market a schtick. The brewery has been making fresh hop beers for over a decade, shipping in newly-picked flowers from Washington State every fall that haven’t been dried or pelletized like much of the hops used for beer. Theoretically, that means more pronounced floral and drying notes from the fresh oils and resins, resulting in an annual ale that’s bright and bitter and distinctly seasonal. Turns out, once a year isn’t enough.

In 2008, Sierra Nevada expanded its fresh hop line to the spring, sourcing the powerful buds from South American growers (with their opposite growing season) to produce a brother for fall’s fresh beer. With the brewery a few weeks away from releasing the latest domestic version, it seemed time to put a cap on the Southern Hemisphere variety. Or, well, pop a cap, I guess. Read the rest of this entry »

Not really sure how cult classics are born, but the ones who get it right seem to rocket to success quickly. Some have equally cult winemakers to aid them in their assent — Helen Turley (Colgin, Bryant Family), Heidi Barrett (Screaming Eagle) — but others have fabulously gorgeous wines which sell themselves. Bodega Achaval Ferrer, a ten-year-old winery in Argentina’s Mendoza region, is the latter.

Achaval Ferrer, founded by six friends with very little experience in the wine business, began as a labor of love. Of red wine.  Manuel Ferrer Minetti, whose card simply reads “Vice-President”, formerly practiced law and now pimps his company’s juice on American soil. I met with Manuel a few days ago and tasted through all his newly released wines. I was blown away by the quality and character of the juice, most of which is malbec-based.

Ten years ago, malbec was only a twinkle in the U.S. eye but these six men had vision — a vision that they could make an ultra high-quality Argentinean wine that would sell for $50 or more (Thankfully, they recently realized people might buy wines at the lower end as well). They did it by finding and purchasing existing vineyards — with the help of French winemaking consultant Michel Rolland — planted with vines averaging 80-years-old. One of the plots was even lying fallow, grown over with weeds yet still managing to produce fruit. Their Italian winemaker took these super-concentrated, ripe grapes and made wine. The first vintage scored a 91 rating from one of the glossy wine mags (can’t publicize those things in my blog) and they’ve been in the star-studded wine ranks ever since.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Read the rest of this entry »

Many articles try to correlate personalities with purchases: cars, pets, and clothes. Just for fun I’m going to correlate a person’s sexual personality with the type of wine they drink.

White Wines such as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris, Rieslings, Sauvignon Blancs can be sweet, dry, or somewhere in between.  Sex with a white wine drinker can range from missionary sex to an SNM scene. This person is full of surprises. Have fun and look out. Read the rest of this entry »

Ybor brewery Cigar City has rocked the beer world since its first release last year, with ratings on beer review sites that put some of its brews at the top of the heap, along with widespread critical acclaim. Now the local brewery can add another bauble to its trophy case.

In the annual Great American Beer Festival National Beer Competition, Cigar City’s Cedar-aged Humidor Series India Pale Ale took a gold medal for the Wood Aged Beer category. Here’s a quote from judge and UK beer writer Melissa Cole that sums up why: Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, craft and macro-brewers alike have seized upon a formula that’s worked for the greeting card industry and the Food Network for years now: holiday-themed product. It’s an easy sell for Hallmark and its ilk, and televised cooking shows have made a good go of showcasing cooking focused more on big holidays than seasonal ingredients. But beer? Shoehorning iconic flavors into brews — available for a limited time only! — seems more of a stretch.

Which brings us to the spate of pumpkin ales hitting the market right about … now. There are dozens available, with flavors derived from fresh pumpkin, pumpkin puree or the usual formula of scientifically-derived pumpkin essence. And, as usual, the better the ingredient, the better the beer.

Post Road Pumpkin Ale — from the exciting Brooklyn Brewery — and Wolaver’s Will Stevens’ Pumpkin Ale both go the all-natural route, using whole pumpkins blended directly into the mash. Read the rest of this entry »

My cabinets overflow with wine glasses of every shape and size. We manage to break one weekly, but the brimming collection strangely never dwindles. The cheap, logo-emblazoned ones are like indestructible cement, but the pricey ones regularly fall in battle. Unique to my house? I think not, because people often ask if the half-paycheck glasses are needed or if the $1.99 cheapies will suffice. The European Riedel and Spiegelau crystal manufacturers want you to believe that imbibing wine from their stemware results in an ethereal experience. Don’t believe all the hype. Read the rest of this entry »

(Part 2 of our Smorgasbord: IKEA series.)

Lingonberry and elderberry syrups take up a lot of space on the IKEA grocery shelves, for good reason. The tart, cranberry-like flavor of lingonberries is perfect when dropped into a glass of sparkling water, while the elderberry will produce a more fragrant, softer spritzer that’s sweeter and more delicate. Both are also incredible ingredients for cocktails. IKEA’s lingonberry syrup is powerful stuff, so works best with bland liquor like vodka, while elderberry’s subtle herbacious, floral perfume works best with gin (and some gins use elderberry as one of the botanicals that give that British quaff its flavor).

Experiment, but here are a few recipes to get you started at your next Swedish-themed happy hour or crayfish party:

The Allen Wrench
1 part lingonberry syrup
1 part vodka
Squeeze of lime
Soda water
This is a simple, refreshing quaff suitable for quenching the mighty thirst and incipient frustration that results from furniture assembly.

Bergman Royale
3 parts inexpensive Champagne or sparkling wine
1 part elderberry syrup
Like the actress, this cocktail is subtle, multi-faceted and will melt the hearts of even the most grizzled North African nightclub owner.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Read the rest of this entry »

This week, life threw a massive curve ball at Creative Loafing Media. Taken over by the NYC-based hedge fund to whom we owed a ton of money, each employee processed the news in a different way: sadness, optimism, relief. Me? I got shit-faced. On great wine. I figured if my family’s legacy is going down [my parents founded Creative Loafing and my brother was CEO until last Tuesday], I should consume voluminous amounts of quality juice. Fast. However, the questioned remained … which ones? So many choices, so little time to race and get to the promised land.

Obviously, I needed something high in alcohol. These sorts of wines emerge from hot areas, where the grapes grow fat with sugar and the resulting wine has more punch (sugar converts to alcohol in fermentation). Napa, Sonoma, Barossa Valley (Australia), Washington State (yes, there are areas where it isn’t miserably rainy), and a host of other delicious choices for the perfect Zen state of non-thought. Read the rest of this entry »

Folks who might not think twice about who has the best pizza or where to go for a splurge meal are passionate about the best places to stop by for a cold one after work. Where everybody knows your name. And, maybe, they’re always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same.

Where is that for you? See the frontrunners after the break — and the voting is damn close in this race — or just make your mark before voting ends on Monday! Read the rest of this entry »

I drink with abandon, but not hoping that my habit will make me healthier — wine is fun to drink. Years ago, it was bonus points to read that wine allegedly prevents heart disease and a litany of other ailments, from Alzheimer’s to obesity. But like all other shortcuts, it sounded too good to be true.

Yesterday, Michael Epstein, gastroenterologist (liver doctor) and wine writer, printed an excellent piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, ” There is no silver bullet…” He sheds light on the strength of evidence that says wine really is good for you.

Read the story.

Follow Taylor on Facebook and Twitter.

When I was a kid, I compared myself to everyone. One teacher called me “other-directed” and it wasn’t until my twenties that I realized that wasn’t a glowing compliment. I carried a bit of this into adulthood, and perhaps it shows up in my voyeuristic sneak peeks at what wine drinkers are sipping. As a wine writer, it’s good to have my sights on the scene, so I ask bars, restaurants and wine retail shops from time to time to reveal what you’re drinking.

It appears that you guys, after an Anything But Chardonnay run, are migrating back to this classic white. Rathbun’s in Atlanta sees plenty of action in its Edna Valley Chardonnay. But co-owner Cliff Bramble reports an educated price variance in what people are choosing – in the under-$40- per-bottle category, people order a “chardonnay,” whereas in the upper price tier, customers request selections from specific wine regions – aka AVAs – like Carneros or Russian River. Same goes for other varietals like pinot noir or malbec, as in the delicious Terrazas Malbec from Argentina they pour by the glass.

Vinocity Wine Bar in Atlanta constantly scours for quality, underpriced wines. Owner Ian Smith’s best sellers are Poppy Pinot Noir, Plungerhead Zin, Bloom Gewurztraminer and one of my favorites, Quivira Sauvignon Blanc. Looking pretty good there.

In Tampa, Bern’s Fine Wines and Spirits and Mise en Place Restaurant echo the chardonnay boon but Read the rest of this entry »

(The Stinky Drinkers are a band of runners in training for the Women’s Running Magazine Women’s Half Marathon in St. Pete November 22nd.  We love to run…we love beer…and when we’re done running, we love to toast our achievement with a pint!  We hope you’ll toast with us!)

Sunday’s early morning run turned out to be a Stinky Drinkers best by happy accident. First of all, none of us was really willing to rise with the sun on a weekend, but Luis, our new training buddy, insisted that our 8:30 a.m. start time was unacceptable. So, four “stinkers” rose at 7 a.m., grabbed a quick power bar from an open convenience store and busted tail to Demens Landing to meet our new 8 a.m. start time.

And where was Luis? Nowhere to be found. SD Lisa called him, and he answered, promising to meet us along our route, but alas…Luis never crossed our path. The morning was uncommonly cool, so the SDs in attendance grumbled that a later start time would not have meant battling extreme heat. However, in the early stages of our run, we could not have predicted how our new shotgun would benefit us as much as it eventually would…..after nearly 10 miles. Read the rest of this entry »

Sake was an acquired taste for me, mainly because most of what I tried sucked. But that opinion changed as I expanded my horizons into sparkling sakes and smoother, more approachable versions (and spent some money – cheap ones are the nastiest). Sake is often described as “rice wine,” but it’s actually a grain-fermented beverage like beer. However, it tastes closer to wine and most aren’t carbonated. (Click here for a sake primer).

Bamboozle Cafe in downtown Tampa, who recently (and thankfully) opened for dinner, serves an Asian twist on the popular, mint-infused rum mojito. It works… really well. They manage to make a sweet and tart sake cocktail that melds with the fragrant, earthy goodness that sake yields. Yum.

$6.50 per glass and worth every penny.

Looking to learn more about this beverage? Check out esake.com or sake-world.com.

(The Stinky Drinkers are merry runners who have all come together to train for the Women’s Running Magazine Women’s Half Marathon which will take place Sunday, November 22^nd in downtown St. Pete. They like running….they like beer…and they have gleaned quite a lot of wisdom from their journey thus far.)

After a Sunday spent “bonking” (desperately fading in latter miles) trying to keep up with our new running buddy, Luis, SD Lisa and I thought we would never successfully achieve more than 8.5 miles. Our heads ached. Our limbs wobbled like Jell-O, and both of us spent the better part of the afternoon sleeping off what felt very much like a mid-range hangover (the kind that causes thudding behind the eyes and extreme fatigue but no vomiting). In my last post, I mentioned that Luis attributed our downfall to lack of nourishment, but that wasn’t all. We were tackling high mileage without the juice of the gods — created by scientists at the University of Florida who were clearly under divine influence — none other than Gatorade. Read the rest of this entry »

With 15 years in the beer making game and distribution in several Southern states, Atlanta Brewing Company is the oldest operating brewery in Georgia. It all began with the malty brown Red Brick Ale – which won a gold medal at the 1998 World Beer Cup. In addition to Red Brick, the flagship brews include Peach Tree Pale Ale and a Blonde that took first place in the golden/ blonde ale category at the 2007 Great American Beer Fest. The 7.7% ABV Double Chocolate Oatmeal Porter, my favorite from the brewery’s lineup, started as a seasonal offering whose popularity eventually warranted year-round production. Read the rest of this entry »

A new study reported by dailymail.co gives wine drinkers another reason to act superior to the rest of us cheap beer guzzlers, and also provides bartenders another selling point for pushing a bottle over a glass. Women who drink two glasses of wine daily report better sex than those who drink one or none. While they may not actually be having better sex, the two glasses of wine may help these women believe they are. Read the rest of this entry »

(The Stinky Drinkers are a band of merry runners in training for the Women’s Running Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon on November 22^nd. These are their stories from the road…)

As the lightning flashed above, beyond and behind downtown St. Pete’s Vinoy Park, four runners sat in a Nissan discussing the science of conductivity. It was a very rainy Friday evening, and our 6:45 call time was being pushed ever backward as the thunder crashed around us.

“You know, if the car was struck by lightning, we would be sitting in a death trap,” Phylis told us. Read the rest of this entry »

I walk in the door with sweat still dewing my face, having just transitioned from goosebumpy temps at the office, walking through roasting heat, then into a baking sauna doubling as my dark-blue vehicle. In ninety-five degrees, the A/C has little hope of keeping up and it groans under the stress. I refocus on positive thoughts, the contents of my fridge: ribeye steaks, homemade Caesar salad fixings, and a few cold white wines. But wait, those two things don’t mesh, right — steak and white wine? Perhaps a red would fare better like traditional cabernet sauvignon, a burly merlot or a smoky Spanish number? But my pits still glisten, so even chilled red wine isn’t going to cut through this humid evening. (Read more about chilling red wines)

I sprinkle tart, savory Worcestershire sauce on the ribeyes, along with dry sherry, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, ancho chile powder and fresh black pepper…. geez, I’m salivating already. Not sure how vegetarians live without the bounty of beef. That would just suck – a jiggling slab of grilled tofu doesn’t reach the same level of toothsome culinary bliss. (Read about the best beef to buy) Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new phenomenon spreading around town: the growler. It’s essentially a big jug that can be filled and refilled with beer. A common storage and fermentation accessory used by homebrewers, this awesome artifact of beer culture is beginning to enjoy greater visibility and mainstream relevance. We’ve all been faced with the dilemma – the party must go on, but either the pub is closing or you can’t drink any more and then safely drive home. In places that are licensed to sell package alcohol, growlers resolve these predicaments. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, I attended a hash run last night. Let me start by saying that hashing is not for the meek, shy, conservative or anyone opposed to running through backyards and barbed wire. Hashing is also not really for those in training mode, unless you use it as a recovery run.

I heard that every hash group is different. Some place more emphasis on the beer and socializing aspect and some on the run. I think that it’s safe to say that the Jolly Roger Hash House Harriers in Tampa enjoy the beer and social aspect a wee bit more. This is not to say that we didn’t run, but more time was spent singing, joking, and drinking. Works for me.

When I arrived at the meet up spot I was a bit nervous. People were milling about wearing what I termed hasher flair. This flair consisted of necklaces with their hash names (Tie Me Down Dick, Fist Deep, Goo, Gay Rodeo Clown, Lost My Balls), shiggy socks (I’ll get to that), whistles, and sashes denoting the number of hashes participated in. Most of them also had their own cups.

Tie Me Down Dick

As soon as the beer truck pulled in, the drinking was on. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve expressed my disdain — if not actual dislike — for flavored drinks, and for vodka in general, so perhaps I’m not the ideal person to review this newish flavor from Finnish liquor company Finlandia. Or maybe my love for the hearty Fins and the frozen tundra they call home will counteract those ill feelings towards anything as silly and inappropriate as cramming aromatic nonsense into bland ethyl alcohol.

Oh, um, perhaps I betrayed my feelings there. It’s just difficult to have sympathy for any nation that can concoct a flavor as profoundly odd as the one that wafts from a glass of Finlandia Tangerine Fusion. The first whiff comes across as an orange scratch-and-sniff circa 1985, the kind of concentrated faux-citrus flavor that seems more appropriate, these days, for infomercial cleaning solutions or truck stop air fresheners.

But wait, Finlandia uses only natural flavors in its Tangerine Fusion. Of course, when they say natural flavors they’re likely talking about atoms stripped from plants and recombined by chemists in a lab, not a few pounds of tangerine run through a food processor.

With the first sip of the vodka, I immediately peg the flavor thanks to a long childhood of aches and pains: Read the rest of this entry »

Halfway through this rich, artfully written memoir, I began booking a trip to Tuscany. In Passion on the Vine, author Sergio Esposito put his Italian hook in my soul and it is yet to be removed. A Neapolitan wine importer and retailer from New York City, Esposito’s love letter to his native homeland gets to the heart of a wine and food culture little understood (although certainly appreciated) outside its gorgeous borders.

Esposito fluidly weaves together his endless trips through Italian wine country like a novel, as if he only made one trip. He writes of the intimate, family-like relationships he developed over 20 years with the most legendary names in Italian wine –Bartolo Mascarello, Franco Biondi Santi, Enrico Scavino, Gianfranco Soldera — with a surprising insight into what makes these great men great. (Read more about my love of Tuscany and its wines)

Throughout the memoir, he infuses charming, funny stories of the food and wine culture so crucial to the Italian outlook. He began eating fresh vegetables, pasta and cheeses and sipping watered-down sangiovese at an early age — encouraged by his family to savor the earth’s bounties. But it wasn’t all that easy. Read the rest of this entry »

Seven days of food and drink coverage, shortened to a series of pithy links. Eat it up.

Holley Sinn’s Stinky Drinkers combine alcohol and running!

Chef Gui improves your cooking with ten tips, then helps you with plating techniques!

CL’s Top Chef Masters podcast continues its obsession with sex! And food, I guess.

Lael Hazan loves Israel’s food and restaurant culture!, and relates a perfect day in Venice, Italy (with a recipe for fried zucchini blossoms from her husband Giuliano Hazan).

Rishi Ramkissoon eats and fights his way through Bangkok!

Chef Cristian Ferer tells you five things you may not know about food!

Taylor loves Argentinean malbec!

Bethany Sherwin reviews Avery’s Ellie’s Brown Ale and interviews the founder and brewmaster of Terrapin Brewing!

Erica Miller previews Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar!

Colleen Sachs makes locally-raised braised rabbit!

Hello, race fans!

The Stinky Drinkers have been hard at work this week, from building mileage to recruiting runners, and we haven’t stopped long enough to tie our shoes. Given the nature of our various day jobs, the SDs are most inclined to evening training sessions, a facet of our efforts which has led us to make several important observations about running. We would like to share them with you in the event you are secretly training with us: Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since I started running “professionally” I would hear whispers of a certain subculture of running, one  that involved booze, tawdry nicknames and running in dresses, red ones at that, worn by men. Redhead mentioned that she had heard of this underground running cult as well.

Although we are fond of both running and boozing, we were perplexed by the concept of putting the two together.

Upon further investigation I found out this subculture is called hashing. While it’s not as secretive as I thought, the hash groups can be pretty selective on who they let in.

So, The Redhead and I have decided to go into the seedy underbelly of hashing. You know, find out what makes it tick. Yup, just call us Cagney & Lacey.

These hashers all have nicknames chosen for them based on personality traits, quirks, or random events. For example I know of one in the area known as Fist Deep. And another known as Smells Like Fish. Hm. Do the Redhead and I really want to subject our delicate sensibilities to people like this? Of course we do:
Read the rest of this entry »

In the mountain town of Boulder, Colorado, Avery Brewing operates with imagination and a commitment to craft beer. The brewery’s website proudly asserts, “we brew what we like to drink — with utter disregard for what the market demands — and search out fans with equally eccentric palates.” They found me many years ago, and since then I have thoroughly enjoyed my fandom.

I think Adam Avery is the bees knees. Now president and brewmaster, he was once a homebrewer who became ambitious enough to start a commercial venture. And since the beginning, the beer produced by the brewery that bears his name has been consistently excellent, challenging the way I think about how beer should taste, how much alcohol it should have, and how large a dose of hops should be added.

Ellie’s Brown is one of my favorite examples of the brown ale style. The brew takes its name from Adam Avery’s former canine companion, a chocolate lab named Ellie (1992-2002) whose likeness is depicted on the label. Read the rest of this entry »

Forget the tango – malbec is fast becoming the beloved icon of Argentina. I wrote about this humble red grape back in 2006, when it was creeping into the spotlight, but since then its popularity has spread like the macarena at a redneck wedding. And no wonder – malbec is practically perfect.

This disrespected French grape originally hails from Bordeaux, where it slaves for the hallowed cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes. Winemakers use malbec to soften the often harsh tannins of its stout compatriots to create a balanced, heady blend. Bottled alone, it also fathers ferocious, robust reds in the obscure area of Cahors, under the alias “côt” (pronounced “co”). Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a video interview with Brian “Spike” Buckowski, founder and brewmaster of Terrapin Beer Company, from my trip to visit the brewery recently. We chatted about the new year-round Hopsecutioner IPA, Side Project Volume 7 — Maggie’s Farmhouse Ale, and the second release of Side Project Volume 3– Gamma Ray Wheatwine. Clip also features comical appearances by the brewery’s resident cat, Hops.