Omnivore Atlanta

BORN TO BE WILD: Roxy Rolles Amber Ale from Magic Hat

Magic Hat Brewing Company
Burlington, Vt.
5.1% ABV

I was introduced to this redhead in the Magic Hat Feast of Fools winter sampler pack and was hoping I could find it by itself in a sixer. Lo and behold, there it was, and I’ve been going back to it again and again. Billed as a hoppy amber ale, it’s very approachable and makes a great everyday drinking beer. Simcoe hops are added after fermentation, and their piney, grassy character is evident in the nose. There’s also some sweet, toasted malt and a bit of yeasty sourness that make a solid first impression. The taste is equally complex, with woody, herbal flavors nicely balanced by a slightly tart cherry and apple tang, and a soft caramel sweetness that gives way to a dry, citric finish. Roxy Rolles is proof that drinkability doesn’t have to equal banality.

(Photo by Jeff Holland)

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IT'S KOSHER: Steinbeck’s teams up with Shmaltz Brewing for a beer lunch, Sat., Jan. 17.

Your intrepid beer writer is recovering from an obscenely massive beer tasting, so you’ll have to be satisfied with some random tidbits of news and information this week.

Beer and Chocolate. Two great tastes that taste great together. Summits Wayside Taverns are having their annual Belgians, Barleywines & Bodacious Chocolates event this week, pairing the titular Belgians and barleywines, as well as some choice stouts and porters, with chocolates from Ghirardelli, Scharffen Berger, Lindt, El Rey, Valhrona and more. A full gourmet dinner is also included for $69.99 per person. Featured beers include Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock, Lindeman’s Peche Lambic, Sweetwater Happy Ending Stout, Rogue Old Crustacean, and Hebrew Jewbelation, among others. The event takes place 7 p.m. tonight (Mon., Jan 12) at the Cumming location; Tues., Jan 13, 7 p.m. at the Snellville location; and Thurs., Jan 15, 7 p.m. at the Woodstock location. Call the individual stores for more information. (more…)

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GAME ON: Most sports bars have a strong “no women allowed” vibe and truthfully aren’t the kind of place that women would want to set foot in anyway. This Buckhead hangout, however, is not your ordinary sports bar. Calling itself an “upscale sports restaurant,” the tasteful décor includes a lot of wood and televisions, as well as a see-through screen near the waitress stand that looks like something out of the Jetsons. Cigar aficionados will love the independently owned Buckhead Cigar Lounge featuring a 300ft Walk-in humidor, large flat-screen TV’s, leather sofas and dining area where you can enjoy Dantanna’s full menu.

DRINKING GAMES: Unlike other sports-centric establishments, Dantanna’s takes its wine seriously and has a 100 bottle list with 50 by the glass. If you opt for a mixed drink, go with something made with one of the freshly squeezed orange, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon and lime juices.

SURF AND “TURF”: Seafood and meat reign supreme. The menu showcases fresh seafood, organic and aged beef from Creekstone Farms, naturally raised Springer Mountain chicken and free-range Niman Ranch pork. The quality of the seafood could be better, so play it safe and order a beautiful filet with mashed potatoes, a bacon cheeseburger on a nice egg-based bun or an order of crispy buffalo wings served with blue cheese crumbles and dressing.

Dantanna’s, 3400 Around Lenox Road. 404-760-8873. Mon.-Sat., 11:30a.m.-2:30a.m.; Sun 12p.m.-2:30a.m. www.dantannas.com.

(Photo courtesy Dantanna’s)

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Divine: Lectio Divina from Saint Somewhere

Saint Somewhere Brewing Company
Tarpon Springs, FL
8% ABV

My hope is that breweries like this little upstart near Tampa are the wave of the beer future. They don’t even have a proper website! Still, the Saint Somewhere Brewing Company has managed to get its two Belgian-style ales distributed in Georgia, so they know how to work it.

Beautifully packaged in a 750-ml bottle with a cork-and-wire closure and Art Nouveau-style artwork, Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) is an amber ale that falls somewhere between a dubbel and a strong dark ale, with a bit of Flanders red tartness thrown in. Bottle-conditioned with a big, funky yeast, it should be decanted carefully to keep the yeast from overpowering the other flavors. There’s lots of caramel and candied sugar sweetness in the aroma, along with the  yeast’s distinctive, ripe banana ester.

The taste brings a more complex palate of orchard fruits, raisins and sour cherries, along with white pepper, clove, mace, and a spicy, yeasty tang. An active carbonation counters the slightly syrupy mouthfeel. As befits its humble origins, the flavors are a bit raw and sweet, and the alcohol gets a little boozy, but Lectio Divina is a distinctive ale that proves that there’s more to Florida beer than island lagers with a lime jammed in the neck. It pairs nicely with the nutty flavors of an asiago pressato and some Wheat Thins.

(Photo by Jeff Holland)

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OK, it’s New Year’s Eve so I have to do a sparkling wine I guess. Not that that’s a great burden – I love sparkling wine and think it’s a tragedy that people only drink it on special occasions. I drink it as an anti-depressant. That sounds bad…I don’t mean I drink my sorrows away, but when I’m feeling down nothing lifts my mood like a glass of bubbles.

My pick this week contains a history lesson. A little over a century before anyone ever produced sparkling wine in Champagne, some monks  in Limoux produced France’s first sparkling wine – blanquette de Limoux.

Saint-Hilaire Blanquette de Limoux

$15

Available at the Capital City Liquor Store on Howell Mill Road (I’ve also seen this for a few dollars less at the Kroger in the Edgewood Shopping Center)

While this wine lacks some of the elegance of Champagne (and those of you who really know your grapes will be able to tell that the climate this far south in France is a tiny bit too warm for truly great sparkling wine), for the money it’s one of the best values out there. Toasty and yeasty with a bunch of lemon and green apple on the finish, this beats anything else I’ve found for under $20.

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FRATERNAL FUN: “Real World” fans should remember Ace Amerson from the Paris season. The cast member was always throwing parties for his flatmates, which was fitting since he owned a bar back home in Statesboro, Georgia. Amerson recently moved to Atlanta, and (with the help of some buddies) opened Flip Flops in Midtown. The turquoise house contains a dizzying hodgepodge of colorful island decorations including bamboo walls, palm trees and fake grass. The upper deck opens later in the evening with a DJ for dancing, and the guys are working on a menu of classic bar food.

IN A DAIQUIRI DAZE: Don’t come here expecting high-falutin’ cocktails. You’re at the beach, remember? The centerpiece of the bar is a row of neon daiquiri and margarita machines spinning everything from your basic margarita to a concoction made with sweet tea vodka. If a brain-freeze is unappealing, a Patron margarita on the rocks only sets you back $6 and there is plenty of Kentucky Gentleman Bourbon.

SOUTHERN GENTS: The bartenders may seem like your average dudes slinging shots, but don’t be deceived. They’re easy on the eyes and have the uncanny knack of inserting themselves into your conversation at just the right moment. It’s easy to throw the hangout into the “aging frat boy” category, but the place actually has heart. Their mascot, an insanely adorable Golden Retriever, is a nice touch too.

Flip Flops, 1140 Crescent Avenue. 678-705-8555. Wed.-Fri., 5p.m.-2a.m.; Sat., 11a.m.-3a.m. www.myspace.com/flipflopsatl.

(Photo courtesy Flip Flops)

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BEST CELLAR: Adrian Dingle checks his cellar inventory

I suppose we all mellow with age, and it is no different for beer. While the value of aging wine and spirits has long been recognized, typical pale lagers are meant to be served fresh (as Budweiser will no doubt tell you), so most people never consider the possibilities of cellaring beer. However, with an increasing number of breweries producing high-alcohol beers, spiced seasonals and kitchen-sink anniversary ales, the opportunities are everywhere to sock some beers away for a year or two to mellow out the alcohol hotness, take some of the bite out of any harsh hop bitterness, and allow the complex flavors to comingle. (more…)

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Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn, NY

10% ABV

In keeping with this month’s somewhat accidental Beer Pick theme of thick, black, potent beers, this week’s pick is Brooklyn’s luscious take on the Russian Imperial Stout. Like the Baltic porters, these stouts were brewed in Britain for export to the Baltic states and Russia, where they were reportedly a favorite of Catherine the Great. As a woman of legendary appetites, she favored the strong roasted malt bitterness and alcoholic strength. This one knocked me back at first, and I struggled with the burnt flavors and astringent bitterness. However, I found that I had made a rookie mistake in not letting the beer warm up a bit. Straight from the fridge, the chocolate-y notes and pruney sweetness are muted, leaving only the bitter edge. Gradually the more complex notes of chocolate-covered espresso beans, licorice candy, soy, and molasses emerge. The obvious alcohol hits in the nose and in the dark rum-like finish, warding off the cold. Viscous and smooth on the tongue with a long lingering bitterness, this is a big beer that demands respect. For such a potent brew, it is also a relative bargain at $10.99 a six-pack, so if you think Guinness is for wussies, this one’s for you.

(photo by Jeff Holland)

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I had an interesting email exchange last week after posting my first wine find of the week. Our friend Hardy over at Dirty South Wine was horrified that I would send folks to the Tinder Box in Lenox Mall – he felt as though I should be promoting local, locally owned wine merchants rather than chains that have no connection to the community. Point taken, but part of my goal here is to give people all kinds of options from all kinds of retailers. I had to admit, as much as I’d love to get to the smaller shops for all my wine, I buy a lot of wine at the supermarket – I’m there already, it’s convenient, it’s on my way home. I think a lot of people shop like that.

It was not my intention to blaspheme even more outrageously this week, but it turns out the wine I decided to feature is only available in one spot in Atlanta right now – WalMart. I know – reprehensible (since when did WalMart sell booze, anyway?), but again, I think that’s part of the problem of writing about wine without a retail component. I didn’t buy this wine, I tasted it randomly, and I wanted to write about it. If it’s only available at WalMart I’d rather say that straight up than leave you with no way to find a bottle. Next week, a local retailer, I promise…

2006 Espiritu de Chile Carmenère

$11, Available at the Howell Mill Road WalMart

Wines from Chile are some of the best deals around these days, and this one is no exception. Carmenère is a grape traditionally used in Bordeaux blends, but on its own it makes for a meduim-bodied red with soft tannins. The Espiritu de Chile would make for a great Christmas wine because it’s round and fruity but also has enough black pepper and darker accents to keep it lively and balanced. At $11 this is one of the better deals I’ve come across recently.

(Photo courtesy Espiritu de Chile)

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It’s that time of year where we reflect on the past 12 months and consider what happened and whether it was good or bad. Oh, and we make a bunch of lists. Here are mine:

Best of 2008

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. Aged in a giant vat constructed of Palo Santo wood, a dense aromatic wood from Paraguay that is more commonly used for wine, this strong brown ale has a remarkable vanilla-oakiness and a deep, roasted malt character. Building the 10,000 gallon tank, the largest wooden beer vessel built in the United States since Prohibition, proved to be its own special challenge. Procuring such a large amount of the wood was difficult since there are few large pieces, and it is over three times as hard as oak, dulling saw blades and defying nails and screws. It’s an interesting story, but how does it taste? Terrific. Like a great single-malt whisky, it seems to draw out the earthy, woody essence of the roasted malt. Herbal elements of licorice, tobacco and coffee bean are held aloft by a raft of softly sweet vanilla, molasses and cherry. Warm without being boozy, and delightfully complex, it is a treat to have it in the regular rotation from Dogfish Head. (more…)

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If you have a beer aficionado on your gift list this year, be it your significant other, friend, or boss, you have lots of great gift options from the extravagant to the modest that will be sure to put a smile on his or her face. Here are some ideas to get you started.
(more…)

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Here’s what always annoys me about wine writing: babbling about floral notes and up-front fruit is all good and well, but for those of us who don’t have an encyclopedic memory, it very rarely matters – not because we don’t care, but because we aren’t likely to stumble upon the bottle in question. I’ve read about wines that sounded so good I wrote them down and kept my eye out for them, but that is not the norm. What I want to know is, what great, affordable wine should I be looking for at the nearest wine shop? Where can I actually find a wine worth buying?

In an effort to address that need, I’m launching “Wine find of the week,” a regular spot on the blog where I’ll tell you exactly where you can go to get a certain, decent bottle of wine. Because my budget is limited (as I’m assuming yours is – if not, bully for you), I’ll be keeping my finds in the under $20-range.

A couple of disclaimers before we get started: while I hope to cover a broad range of wines in this spot, the wine find of the week will reflect my personal tastes a bit, which come with some prejudices. I hope to challenge many of those prejudices – perhaps there is a huge, buttery California chardonnay that I’ll come to love (I doubt it). I’m a bit of a Francophile, so be forewarned. Very bold red wines with huge tannins give me migraine headaches. I’m talking, like, after one sip. So I probably won’t be covering too many of those here.

Beyond that, I’ll try to be as broad as possible. If you have tips for me – especially if you’ve found a fantastic bottle at a local store that you think I should feature here, please email me about it: besha.rodell@creativeloafing.com. And now to this week’s find:

Chateau Cantelaudette 2006 Graves – $16

Available at Tinderbox Vino 100 in the Lenox Mall

Lord, it’s mall season – I swear, every year I promise myself I’m not going to end up at the mall for holiday shopping, and every year I do. This year, I came across Vino 100, which is in the Tinderbox store (near Urban Outfitters). The store’s premise is that they have 100 wines for under $25. I didn’t find a whole lot there that excited me, but I did find this – a white Bordeaux that’s a blend of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. I was pretty surprised – this would be a wine to stump someone in a blind taste test. Big, tropical, almost over-ripe – it reminded me of some Australian Semillons – but then it finishes dry and almost smoky, without any unpleasant lingering oak. This is a fairly rich white, and would stand up to a lot of food, even some game dishes. If you get dragged to the mall this year, sneak away (”It’s a secret” actually works quite well this time of year) and grab a bottle.

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