Eat My Florida

Read over on Serious Eats that Starbucks will introduce a new line of “Vivannos” starting tomorrow. Don’t know what a Vivanno is? Time to add a word to your Starbucks lexicon of pseudo-Mediterranean new-speak: Vivanno = smoothie.

After years of not trying, those Seattle-ish coffee merchants are really scrambling, aren’t they? Heck, I’m all for it. Anything beats that left-in-the-oven-for-days flavor of the corporate giant’s burnt coffee.

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From our wine maven Taylor Eason comes inexpensive wines with our inexpensive menus (bolded wines will work for the whole menu, if you don’t want to go with course-by-course wines):

David Miller, Savant Fine Dining:
Sweet Potato Soup: Big Fire 2006 Pinot Gris, $15
Heirloom Tomato Salad: Columbia Crest 2007 Two Vines Rose, $10
Braised Lamb in Peach Gastrique with Sweet Potato Scallops and Baby Eggplant: Jaboulet 2005 “Parallele 45” Cotes du Rhone, $15

Fabrizio Schenardi, Pelagia Trattoria:
Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms: St. Francis 2004 Red, $12
Open-Faced Ravioli: Masi 2006 Masianco Venezie, $15
Seared Salmon with Green Beans: Beringer 2006 Pinot Noir, $20
Fruit Crepes: Banfi 2007 Rosa Regale, $18

Seble Gizaw, Queen of Sheba:
Mashed Potato Salad: Bonny Doon 2005 Le Cigare Blanc California, $20
Lentil Soup: 7 Deadly Zins 2004 Zinfandel, $13
Lamb Tibs: Onix 2006 Priorat, $12

Grass Root Tofu Scramble: Sokol Blosser Evolution #9 11^th Edition

Elements, vegetarian menu:
Mushroom Medley: whatever red wine you use in the recipe OR Campo Viejo 2004 Rioja Crianza, $12
Ravioli: S.A. Prum 2006 Riesling, $12

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This can only make the King Of Beers better, I imagine.

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Twelve cans of the stuff arrived to our office today from Mountain Dew headquarters, high in the mountains. We got four of each flavor. Our editor (at CL’s Sarasota paper) Jonathan Maziarz was the first to try it. He opened the bright blue can that’s Infused with Wild Berry Fruit Flavor and Ginseng. I overheard the following statements as he drank and worked on his important editor duties:

“There’s an interesting smell coming from the can… Hm. It’s not wholly offensive….Actually, there’s a really profoundly bad aftertaste…Ew, it’s like Newark in my mouth.”

I drop one off on arts writer Amanda Schurr’s desk, the pink can With a Blast of Strawberry Melon Flavor and Ginseng. “Thanks. Ew,” she says, upon looking at the can. “I can hardly wait.” Several minutes later I hear her open the flip top. “Oh, God,” she says. “Some little drops got on my finger and I actually tasted some of it.” She adds, “It tastes like fake strawberry and melon flavor and Mountain Dew, which is to say it tastes repulsive.”

I try the one in the black can, which is Charged With Raspberry Citrus Flavor and Ginseng. Mmm. It reminds me of popsicles from the ice cream man on my neighborhood street when I’d been working hard all day building forts and assaulting my younger brother. “Dew drinker designed,” it says on the can.

Food science is kind of scary that way when you think about it. So invasive is their market analysis, so powerful are they in commandeering our nostalgia, that they’ve managed to replicate the sensation of a tri-color Mr. Tasty Time popsicle from the mid-‘90s and package it in a little black can that they mail to my place of business. I’m trying to become a man, Mountain Dew, to live a brave and productive life without reverting to my helpless childhood. Don’t even try this shit. We are immune.

-Justin Richards 

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Free wi-fi, refills and syrups begins today at Starbucks. Only two hours a day for the internet, and you have to sign up for their rewards program and buy some stuff, but kudos. My local ‘bucks just went 24 hours, so maybe I’ll use the free stuff after my favorite locally-owned coffee joint closes for the night. Their wi-fi has always been free.

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Space beer, anyone?

A Japanese brewer is planning to brew beer using grain that descended from barley grown in space aboard the International Space Station.

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Rocky. Hoosiers. Hoop dreams. Now, there is another entrant in that epic genre of sports films. Last Cup profiles four young competitors seeking the ultimate title in the fierce world of Beer Pong. Yep, of course I’m talking about the World Series of Beer Pong held in Las Vegas, Nevada every January. You may have seen the finals replayed at 4 a.m. on the Ocho. This year’s winner was the unstoppable team called “Chauffeuring the Fat Kid”, who took home the $50,000 grand prize. If they’d had prizes like that when I was in college, I’d have considered going pro.

Here’s some footage of the winners in action:

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I’ll a steaming hot cup of corrections, with a soy shout out and a side of apology:

1. I mistakenly gave a wrong address for Kahwa Roaster’s new shop in last week’s paper. It’s on 2nd AVE. N, not 2nd St. N. My specific apologies go out to an irate woman who spent some pedal power trying to find the place on her bike. My bad.
2. That piece also prompted a letter from Anne Vela, owner of Cafe Hey. Here’s what she said:
   “Just to re-emphasize something I’m sure you know, an accepted localvore practice is to allow items that have been traded over the centuries from far distances, such as olive oil, some grains and also coffee. So Kahwa who yes trades its beans internationally, gets the seal of local approval.
   As a plug for my own shop, Cafe Hey (through which I go through much effort to purchase locally traded and produced items as well as organic and fairtrade foods whenever I can) serves Sweetwater Coffee roasted in Gainesville, FL. Being that they are located within 200 miles of Tampa, it also counts as locally produced! Sweetwater Roasters is also currently certified USDA Organic by QCS and Florida Organic Growers, certified FairTrade by Transfair USA, Rainforest Alliance Certified, a participant in the Eco Q system, is Smithsonian Bird Friendly AND lastly is certified by Utz Kapeh!!!
   They also roast some pretty damn fine coffee. Hope you’ll try it sometime.”
   I will, Anne.
   
3. Finally, in CL’s Urban Explorer issue a few weeks ago, I wrote the section on downtown St. Pete and referred to the Globe Coffee Shop as a “bohemian cafe.” Accurate, sure, but it’s also a tad inconsiderate to a little place a few blocks away called Cafe Bohemia (937 Central Ave., 727-895-4495). That shop also has an urban bohemian crowd, with good coffee, good beer and live music or DJs most weekend nights. Check it out and tell them I sent you to apologize for me.

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Joey Redner (no relation), local beer columnist for the St. Pete Times, just hired a head brewer for his new craft brewery.

According to Beer Advocate, Wayne Wambles will be brewing Cigar City Brewing’s first batches of beer, slated to be released in September of this year. Wambles recently worked for Foothill’s Brewing in  North Carolina.  According to the press release, Wambles makes a mean  strong scotch ale and is a fan of Belgians, while Redner loves him some stout and porter, so look for those to be in Cigar City’s early line-up. If they can find some hops.

Since he’s a writer as much as a beer entrepeneur, Redner has a blog chronicling his path towards craft brew success. You may also want to check out last year’s CL Beer Issue for the rags to brews success story of Bob Sylvester and Saint Somewhere.

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Last year, the news that there was a worldwide shortage of hops sent chills up my beery spine. The little flowers that add complexity, aroma and bitterness to beer are grown around the world, but some of the biggest producers experienced huge shortfalls in 2007. Hops that sold in previous years for a few dollars per pound skyrocketed to OPEC-style levels, many at $25 a pound or more. And even if brewers could afford the huge hit to their bottom line, through price increases that customers aren’t going to be happy with, they often couldn’t find enough hops to buy. (more…)

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Best headline of the month, thanks to the Scotsman. Apparently scientists have warned the Scotch whiskey industry that some of the best known distilleries are in danger from … global warming. Distilleries on the islands, especially my Islay faves Lagavulin and Laphroaig, are in danger due to rising sea levels that could swamp underground aging cellars.

I like the tang of brine in my Scotch, but that’s a little much.

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Finally, Maine’s official state soft drink is available here in Florida, thanks to the fine people at Sweetbay.

Moxie Soda has long had a cult-like following of evangelical fans, due both to its unusual flavor and small distribution area. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola Bottling of Northern New England purchased the brand and planned to expand sales of Moxie outside of its traditional Northeastern borders. Florida is the first test market.

Originally marketed as a medicine called “Moxie Nerve Food,” Moxie became a carbonated soda in 1884, claiming “to be the only harmless nerve food known that can recover brain and nervous exhaustion, loss of manhood, imbecility and helplessness.” That’s almost enough to compensate for a taste that is often described as a cross between cola and root beer, with a little extra medicinal zing from gentian root extract. “There’s nothing that tastes like it,” explains brand manager Justin Conroy.

Conroy has plans to expand distribution in Florida, although Sweetbay will be the only outlet in the short term. Six-pack cans of Moxie have been on the shelves for about a month, with Diet Moxie and Moxie Energy on the way.

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Dr. Vino has a new study that shows how much of an impact the wine we drink has on the environment. It’s a great study that deserves a serious read, but here’s what I’ve pulled out of it: drink wine from big bottles or bag-in-a-box, oak chips are better than oak barrels and wine from Europe is better than California if you live East of the Mississippi.

Sounds like the greenest choice may be plonk from France in a plastic jug.

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