Girl Meets Glass

When I tell you that Twitter brings people together?? I came across some tweets with Few Spirits out of Chicago (ChiTown Baby!!) and found out that they would be in town. I promptly joined the convo and I said I was crashing whatever event they were going to. That’s the correct approach, no? So, many tweets later I meet Paul at Graffiato.

We’re chatting, and drinking Few Spirits of course, and I ask ‘How long have you been with the company?” Paul: “I own it.” *crickets*

That’s pretty much the last thing I said for the evening. So here are a few pics from the night. After Graffiato, we had gin drinks made with Few Gin and Few barrel aged gin, we went to The Passenger, Paul had a Few whiskey neat, I had a whiskey sour with Few whiskey. Paul saw a friend of his at the bar who proceeded to take a bottle out of his back pocket and suggest we all taste it….

Ok fine #YOLO. Yes, it was good.

My sherry amour, lovely as a summer day…

Funny that it actually was a summer day when I stepped into Mockingbird Hill to taste a bit of sherry.

Mockingbird Hill is a new Sherry bar opened by the famous Derek Brown (of Passenger/Columbia Room fame). He opened this bar due to the love he and his wife share for Sherry (pun intended). They carry over 50 sherrys in this cute little Shaw neighborhood bar. Derek knows that people are pretty unfamiliar with sherry, or think it’s their grandmother’s drink. He and his wife hope to change that myth with Mockingbird Hill. And in that vein, every Tuesday at 5pm he’ll hold a free sherry class to educate the masses on the joys of sherry. Tuesday was the first class and of course, I was there.

Now I will admit I was hesitant to attend at first because with all the buzz about this new bar, I didn’t want to be crowded. Selfish I know, cuz I know Derek wouldn’t necessarily mind if we were standing on top of each other. But alas, I was worried for naught. I was actually one of the first people there, like before the doors opened. Derek opened the door and welcomed us in like we were walking into his home. Since the class starts at 5 and the bar opens at 5, we waited til about 5:12 to start in case of any stragglers. There were some anyway ;-) No worries, there was plenty of sherry to go around.

Some Sherry Basics

• Sherry is from Jerez., Spain
• Sherry is made from the Palomino grape
• Sherry has been around about 300 years
• There is one Sherry producer in America (they don’t call it sherry though, you know how the EU is about names, places, etc)
• The grapes are first fermented into wine and then fortified
• The key to sherry is the flor that forms on the top during aging and the solera that it’s aged and blended in
• Sherry is aged in barrels that average around 40 years old

The Tasting

Manzanilla

Pale yellow in color. Oyster shells and chamomile on the palate. Also a bit salty. Paired with olives, this sherry came alive! Also great with seafood.

Amontillado

Golden brown in color. Tastes of caramel and wood oils with a nutty finish. I ate olives with this too and enjoyed it. This actually ended up being my favorite of the entire tasting.

Oloroso

If flor doesn’t naturally develop in sherry, it’s fortified to 18-20% alcohol so it absolutely won’t develop. And that gives you Oloroso sherry.

Moscatel

Golden brown in color. Sweet and thick, almost like syrup. Rich flavors of honey, caramel, dates and figs on the palate. Paired with walnuts, the sherry didn’t seem as thick and heavy but still sweet. Then they brought out raspberries to try with the sherry as well. Listen here, i was already a sherry convert. But this was so pleasant! And I’m not really a heavy dessert wine type of girl. 2013 is just changing my wine game up all together. I’ve already had (and enjoyed) Port, Madeira and now Sherry. What’s next?? I could see pouring this over ice cream. Adult milkshake perhaps? But I digress.

Will I go back here again? Yes, they have a ham class on Wednesdays.

But in all seriousness, with different classes each Tuesday and all those sherrys to taste, that’s like a year’s worth of blogging!! Okay, so clearly I won’t get to them all, but I will definitely have fun trying them and blogging about them.

I drank my way through my first Manhattan Cocktail Classic 2013’s Industry Invitational for two days, just for you my dear readers. I try all these things so you don’t have to. Because, that is just the kind of person that I am…I’m here for you! Since I clearly can’t write about 40+ things (and I know you don’t want to even read that much) Here are a few things from MCC that I want to find in my market and drink again.

Greenhook Ginsmith’s Beach Plum Gin Liqueur

I’m so into gin right now, it’s not even funny. But then Greenhook Ginsmiths give me this?? Listen… They infuse the gin with locally harvested beach plums from Long Island. Put that in with their signature gin and some turbinado sugar, you have amazingness. Unfortunately, it’s not available in my market. But I will be ordering it online, believe that.

Sorel

The website says this: “The brightness of Brazilian clove. The warmth of Indonesian cassia. The heat of Nigerian ginger. The woody bottom of Indonesian nutmeg. The full, aromatic body of Moroccan hibiscus. Pure cane sugar.  The finest 100% organic grain alcohol.”  I couldn’t have said it better at all. I had this liqueur in a modified Negroni: Campari, gin, Sorel.

Pavan Liqueur

The French liqueur is made from muscat grapes from the famed AOC Frontignan. A hint of orange blossom is added to the finished liqueur for that extra something. This liqueur is so versatile! They had it mixed with gin, tequila, vodka, champagne… Not all at once, 4 diff drinks LOL!

Celtic Honey Liqueur

This recipe is a secret, kinda like the Coke recipe is a secret. But the recipe was inspired by a recipe that has been passed down from generations from the Celtic tribes in Ireland. The recipe uses 100% Irish ingredients.

Since this blog is for all things that can be found in a glass, it’s only natural that I touch on one of America’s favorite fermented beverages, beer.

I had the pleasure of attending a media tasting at Cordial Fine Wine in Union Market on celebration of American Craft Beer Week. With 6 beers on ice, they were ready for me! I’ll discuss a few of them.

21st Amendment

Brew Free or Die IPA - Hops up front, malt in the back. What does that mean? Means it has a clean finish with no bitter aftertaste.

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat - I’m a fan of wheat beers and this one is no exception. This starts as regular beer on the brewery, then it undergoes a 2nd fermentation with fresh watermelons. So what you get is a fresh, light taste of watermelon in the nose and on the palate.

Elysian Brewery

Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA - The smell on this alone had me!! I didn’t even know beer could do this. Extremely floral aroma (Duh, jasmine…) and some bite on the end. I’d suggest this to people that want to drink something other than Heineken.

Super fuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale - the way to get me to drink a beer, make it wheat or put fruit in it. This is a summer seasonal that has flavors of blood oranges of course, and Northwest hops. I could drink a bottle or 2 of this at a cookout, no problem.

No-Li Brewhouse

Crystal Bitter ESB - extra special bitter. Yeah, it was just that. I have to work my way up to this. Wrecking Ball Imperial Stout - bittersweet in flavor, it tasted like I was chewing chocolate-covered coffee beans. This is actually what a stout is supposed to taste like, think Guinness. Not quite my style and I’m okay with that.

So, what have we learned here?? That I don’t have a developed beer palate, nor beer vocabulary. And I’m gonna stick to my lighter style wheats, Hefeweizens, and the occasional IPA. You know what they say, drink what YOU like!

I’m actually already a member of the Wine Century Club and am loosely working on making it to 200. How could I have had so many different grapes you say? Italy! There are over 800 grape varieties in Italy, most of them never even make it to the US, Italy keeps them to itself. But since I had the pleasure of attending the Cividale sponsored trip to Friuli, I was able to taste a few new to me grapes.

Friulano — Originating in Friuli, this grape is white and produces a straw yellow colored wine with hints of green. An unmistakeable aroma of tart green apple and almonds fills the nose and the palate. Medium acidity and a long finish round out this wine Best drunk while young, if aged in wood, can sit for years.

Ramandolo — This ancient Friulian grape was the first in Friuli to receive the DOCG designation. Deep golden yellow in color with a distinct nose of honey. Full-bodied and semi-sweet in flavor, this white wine has a bit of a tannic bite.

Refosco — There are actually 5 families of Refosco as listed in the 1823 audit commissioned by Arch Duce Francesco Carlo of Austria of the varieties that were present at the time. Deep red in color when young, but turns more garnet with age. The nose on this wine gives you everything! Violets, roses, spice, coffee, blackberry, herbs all leading into an equally exciting and complex palate.

Ribolla Gialla — Another indigenous Friulian wine whose cultivation can traced back to the 14th century! Straw yellow in color, this white gives off a floral bouquet along with some nuttiness and oak. The zest on palate is surprising as it would seem that the flavors would be softer, creamier. But what this dry, zesty wine lacks in creaminess it packs in acidity and is quite pleasing.

Now here’s the thing, and don’t be mad at me, but I’m not sure how many of these you’ll be able to taste here in America. So….guess that means a trip to Friuli-Venezia-Giulia is in order!!