According to Louise Kiernan from the Chicago Tribune, you shouldn’t be reading this. At the opening session for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, Kiernan suggested that bloggers and writers step away from the screen and go out and have a life, and meet people (drinking wine optional but encouraged). Her presentation encompassed things to do less (work, write and make assumptions) and things to do more (ask questions – the harder the better and learn how to search court documents and doing FOIA requests, read and surf). Although some of this is a bit contradictory, it’s common sense. Reading other wine blogs has taught me things I have stolen and used and things I would never do even if water boarded. Among those soaking up this advice included Eric Asimov of the New York Times, Tyler Colman, author of “Wine Politics” and Alder Yarrow of Vinography.
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The fine people at Dos Lunas Tequila sent me a sample of their silver tequila, and I must say it is quite delicious. I’m waiting to try the Anejo and Reposado versions before I write too much about the tequila itself. My contact at “DLT” told me to check out some worthwhile cocktail recipes on the Dos Lunas site, which I can only describe as America: The Website. Imagine a marriage of America and Flash graphics taken way too far, coupled with shredding Guitar Hero music, all leading up to a silhouette of a wolf howling at the moon, and you can start to grasp the epic-ness of this website. If I was in charge of the website I’d keep the America theme, but make the music Ennio Morricone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and instead of a wolf howling at the moon, I’d have an intense video of a wolf battling a grizzly bear for forest turf. Yes, that is how I would do the website. Did I mention that Dos Lunas is the Official Tequila of the Miami Dolphins? Yes, these people are for real. Continue Reading »
Today is not a good day to be an Oregon brewer, because today Oregon brewers are asking themselves how they are going to remain competitive with their elected officials looking to raise the excise tax on the state’s brewers by nearly 2,000%. Continue Reading »
We have all heard about the drugs and cat fighting involved in the shady underworld of supermodel fame. The bitchy attitudes and sense of entitlement that runs rampant in this elitist career never seems to wither. Well one of the high priestesses of supermodel stardom is back in the news and this time she apparently thought it was a good idea to pound some beers during make-up and snub her fellow model. Continue Reading »
It has been years since I had a Hornsby’s Hard Cider. To be honest I really thought that I just wasn’t cut out to enjoy hard cider, my palate responds to savory much better than sweet. All that said, I am willing to give almost anything a second chance so I opened a Hornsby’s Crisp Apple and poured it into a beer chalice. The moment I put my nose to the glass I knew this was a cider for me. It smells like an orchard of warm ripe apples basking in the sun the sweet scent wafting through the trees. The smell is great, but the taste is even better; super crisp, lots of apple flavor and yet very light on the palate with none of the stickiness that I usually associate with cider. The sweetness is balanced by what tastes like bitterness from the skin of the apple and works very well. Overall I would say I was very impressed with the quality of Hornsby’s Crisp Apple and would recommend it to anyone as a change from the norm.
Emily Bryson York and Jeremy Mullman of Advertising Age are reporting that “Premium java giant Starbucks is venturing into what some would consider lowbrow territory with a soluble-coffee product called Via, according to three executives familiar with the matter”. Lowbrow territory is not unfamiliar to Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz, who wrote the textbook on lowbrow moves by selling the Seattle Sonics basketball team to a cold-blooded ownership group from Oklahoma, who, to the surprise of no one, moved the Seattle team to Oklahoma (who are currently enjoying a dismal 13-40 season).
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No, this is not Prince’s new album title, but rather an amalgamation of three killer events you should know about.
Looking very cool is Pike Chocofest at The Pike Brewing Co. in Seattle, which bills itself as a “romantic evening of chocolate paired with wine, mead, spirits, and beer” and “foreplay for [Valentine’s Day]”. Some of the chocolatiers involved include Fran Bigelow, Theo Chocolate, Carter’s Chocolates, Trevani Truffles, Claudio Corallo Chocolate, and BruCo Chocolate. For more information you should send an inappropriately seductive e-mail under the fake name “Naughty Nellie” to the fine people at Pike Brewing Co. Tickets are $25 per person.
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For chocoholics Valentine’s Day is the end all be all of holidays. For beer lovers this is a perfect opportunity to show just how well beer pairs with this holiday treat. The best pairings are with craft beers and good chocolate. Continue Reading »
