Drinking to Extremes

No, I did not get blind drunk. You don't recover from that like you did when you were 25. This has to do with drinking beer at the extremes of taste. For the first time I tasted the 90 minute Indian Pale Ale from Dogfish Head, a regional brewery in Delaware with a very progressive philosophy. The "90 minute" in the name refers to the fact that the beer is continuously hopped during brewing (I believe) for 90 minutes. This makes for an unbelievably strong hop aroma and taste in the beer. This strong hop bitterness is balanced by a sweet and heavy malt flavor. This is no doubt a high gravity beer, and as such is probably a meal in a bottle, calorwise. The large amount of hops and grains used makes this an expensive beer as well; about $14 for four-pack in our area. The 90 minute IPA is a very complex beer with many aromas and flavors to take in, and overall I liked it very much (sorry Ken). It's one of those beers though that I can only drink one at a time, so it is more of a sipping beer than a drinking one.

Here comes the extreme part. The next day I attended a bonfire at a friend's home. Don't get me wrong, I like these people very much, but they don't really care what they are drinking. All that was available was Coors Light. The only thing I can say is that it tasted like slightly sweetened water in comparison to the 90 minute IPA. My tastebuds almost jumped off my tongue and left. Sorry if I sound like a snob...

Update on my wines: I am racking both the merlot and the sauvignon blanc this weekend. A couple more months left until bottling. I will be receiving some cabernet sauvignon juice from Chile at the end of April. My plan is to reserve some of this wine and the merlot and do some blending.

An Unexpected Tasting.

The other day my wife and I were both off from work, and after a nice lunch we stopped at a local orchard (Frecon Orchard) for some fresh fruit and vegetables. Upon entering I was suprised to see that they had a tasting room in which they feature wine and mead from two local vineyards. We first tasted a mead named "Blueberry Melomel" from Stonekeep Meadery. (FYI, mead is an alcoholic beverage using honey as the sugar source for fermentation.) Mead, especially the homeade type, has a bad reputation with regard to taste. This blueberry-favored mead was unexpectedly good, tasting much like a port or sherry. We next tasted two wines from Blair Vineyards. The first was a Pinot Gris, a semi-dry white, which was forgettable for the most part. The other was a dry red named "Wedding Cuvee", a blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. As before, I had nothing with which to take notes, but I recall blackberry flavors with moderate tannins. Overall quite good; good enough in fact that I bought a bottle. I also intend to visit the winery some time soon.

If you're ever in Durham, North Carolina,...

...check out the restaurant "Revolution." I was in Durham on business this past week, and a group of us ate there to celebrate the completion of a project we had been working on for the past two years. The food was excellent, but more importantly, they had a lengthy wine list. One of our team members considers himself to be a wine expert, so he immediately grabbed the list and started ordering. First up was a 2007 Fillaboa Rias Baixas. This is a white wine made from albarino grapes, which are grown in Spain. It was a good wine; a fruity aroma with a crisp taste. The wine paired well with my seared scallops and white beans appetizer.

In the future I must remember to bring something along with which to take notes, because two more wines were served, and I don't have the information I should have to pass on (I also can't find them on the restaurant's website). One was a white Alsatian-style wine, which I did not care for very much. I know it was barrel-fermented and I didn't like some of the flavors I was getting. The final wine was a Nebbiolo, an Italian wine from the Piedmont region. This red was the best wine of the night. Smoky, complex, with berry flavors; despite being a red, it went well with my entree of grilled swordfish and fava bean risotto. I definitely suggest picking up a Nebbiolo some time. In the future, I promise to be better about taking notes.