Looking for a Citra Hop fix?
Well, I was. So I poured some Victory Headwaters Pale Ale. This is a newer release from this fine but lesser known brewery. What a pleasant surprise! Well balanced and does not feature an overpowering hop presence. Quite the sessionable Pale Ale for sure!!!!
Join us for a night of sparkling wine!
This Saturday, 6/18, we'll be sampling some of my favorite wines -- sparklers! We'll be featuring one or two wines from Friexenet from Spain, and then we'll go to Italy. We'll be pouring out some Gancia Prosecco, Banfi's Rosa Regale and Umberto Fiore moscato d'Asti. Hope you find a new favorite. Oh, and don't miss our pinot grigio tasting on 6/25. All tasting are from five to seven.
Stone IRS 2011 is here!
The Gargoyle is back and one of the best Imperial Russian Stouts made!
New Beer Releases
Sam Adams Lat 48 Deconstructed, Sierra Nevada Beer Camp and Founder's Old Curmudgeon now in...limited amounts
Limited Beer Releases
Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree and Plead the Fifth available soon....details should be announced next week on this blog, facebook and twitter.
New Wines at Wise Guys
Check out our new wines. We have Innocent Bystander Moscato from Australia. Think fizzy, strawberry soda for adults. This wine is quite popular right now. For blends we're serving up Tamarack Cellars Firehouse Red, a delicious, full-bodied treat from Columbia Valley, Washington. And we all know that I heart Washington wines. The Forefront Cabernet Sauvignon from Pine Ridge is one of my favorites, and Dave's digging it too. Also, check out our Molly Dooker wines. These are among Australia's best, in my opinion. Dave, Dan and I tried these today; and these wines were great. If you're not a fan of roses, you will be after you try the A to Z sangiovese rose from Oregon. We'll have that in the store on Friday. As always, come to the tastings: we're doing Irish mead this weekend. And please participate in the blog. We're trying to get some wine groupies.
French Wine Tastings
In the past two weeks, we've tasted Bordeaux and wines from Southern France. Bordeaux are among my favorite wines. Blends of cabernet sauvignon, caberbet franc, merlot, petit verdot and malbec, these red wines are big, dry, great food wines. The Chateau Bonnet was a big hit. Last week we toured wines from Southern France where they grow a lot of syrah and grenache. These were powerful, tannic wines that are inexpensive. And we introduced some folks to dry rose...a big hit, as well! Come to our tastings and share your favorites on this blog!
Italian Wine Tasting a Success. Give us your feedback!
Last night's Italian wine tasting was successful! I want to thank all who came out. My good friend Simon Barrios from Crossroad Vintners was there before the tasting to pour me and Dan some samples of some Italian wines from Gran Sasso, which we featured during the tasting, and some other samples of Oregon pinot noir and samples of Death's Door vodka and gin and Harrison's Bourbons from Indiana. They were awesome! From the wines we tried, the Gran Sasso Montepulciano d'Abruzzo stole the show. It was full-bodied with great blackberry fruit and soft tannins. The pinot grigio and sangiovese were great, as well. And the Banfi Chianti Classico was well-received. Next week we're doing a Bordeaux tasting. I heart Bordeaux, especially its right-bank wines from St. Emilion and Pomerol. We'll be featuring some Bordeaux AOC wines as well as an Haut Medoc. Come check it out and get turned on to French wine!
Wine Tastings at Wise Guys
My friends, we have wine tastings in the store every Saturday from five until seven. They're free and carry a different theme each week. We've done Washington state, dessert wines, Spain, Napa Valley and the midwest. We're going to Italy this weekend followed by Bordeaux and southern France in the next two weeks. The tastings are free and include between four and eight different wines. It's a time to expand your horizons and ask any wine-related questions. Hope to see you there! Tony
Wine Guy Turned on to Beer
As the Wine Guy of Wise Guys, I love wine but revel in a great beer at the same time. Right now it's Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale that's treating me right. It's malty with good hops. A delicious, bitter finish rounded out by the dark malts makes this beer almost number one in my book behind Dreadnaught from Three Floyds, which is my most favorite beer in all of my lifetime. This beer feels great to me. Go out and get it!