2009 2Fly Vineyards - shiraz

This bottle was recommended to me by longtime friend (and wine guy) Charles Bissell of Charles Fine Wines in Glastonbury. The wine itself, a medium-bodied red, is imported from southern Australia by a company based right here in South Glastonbury.

The history of shiraz in Australia is, as wine goes, not very long. James Busby, an immigrant to Australia from England, brought Spanish and French vines over to Australia in 1831. Some of the vines were planted in the Sydney Botanical Gardens and later that decade some vines were imported to southern Australia, a region that today produces the majority of Australia's wine. I've had Yellow Tail shiraz before (as well as their chardonnay) and while I don't care for white wine, I found their shiraz to be OK. But most of the wines I drink / review are from Europe, so I was interested in delving right into a New World vintage.

So after pouring a splash out, recorking the bottle, volatizing it, and then pouring out my glass, I let it sit for 10 minutes and then gave it a shot. This was the best bottle of shiraz I have had in my life - it was deep and plummy but not overly tart or dry. The wine was fruity, but did not have the same fruit-forward punch that some of the jammier wines have (I'm looking at you, Grenache.) That's not to say I don't LIKE those kinds, but I wouldn't look for that in a shiraz. The nose wasn't sharp at all but very nuanced; plum was the biggest note I could identify. Plum and berry flavors play a huge role in this wine.  It was peppery and ripe but wasn't rough either on the initial glass or on the succeeding four glasses.

The color was positively purple.

The finish was smooth but the flavors did linger; I actually like that in this wine. It's a wine I will definitely seek out again and would pair very well with heavier dishes...I had mine with a very mild Indian meal of lamb saag, garlic naan, and jasmine rice. Hats off once again to Charles for recommending a winner - I believe this wine cost $15 for the bottle and was definitely worth it!

Rogue Brewing Co - Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale

I heard about this beer online a while back but had never seen it in the stores. The other day while browsing at Whole Foods I came across it and couldn't resist. From the bright pink Pepto-Bismol-colored bottle to the undeniable appeal of maple and bacon, I knew I had to give it a shot.

The beer itself is a 5.6% ABV brown ale, brewed with a laundry list of special ingredients such as maple syrup, real bacon, and several specialized kinds of hops and malts. Given both my New England heritage and my recent review of a maple beer, I looked forward to exploring even further the inclusion of maple syrup into beer.

I cracked open the beer and poured it into a chilled pint glass. It has a nice smoky amber color that is cloudy. The head was a yellowed-white color. The nose was pungent and slightly sweet. The pour was a little thick and syrupy, with minimal carbonation.

And, then we come to the taste. I can see what Rogue wanted to achieve here - a smoky mix of bacon and maple reminiscent of pancakes with syrup and crispy bacon - but sadly the actual taste does not meet that goal. Instead of a milky-smooth, flavorful brew, Rogue has succeeded in crafting a beer that is overwhelmed by a sickly-sweet alcoholic taste. The notes of maple and bacon I was expecting (and hoping for) are present, but vaguely so, and sadly overpowered by a harsh caustic burn. The aftertaste is one of dark, burnt malt.

So, I guess I can't recommend this ale in good faith. For $13, I was expecting something much more well-crafted and polished. Instead the beer falls flat as a drinkable beer. In their quest to make a crazy, unique, flavored beer, Rogue has forsaken all drinkability. It's not that I don't like maple or bacon - I very much enjoy both (especially bacon. Yeah, bacon) - but I feel that this beer simply did not combine these ingredients well into a beer. In my opinion, the primary goal of a brewmaster should be to make a beer that's drinkable, and work out from there. Perhaps Rogue needs to return to the drawing board and start over to make this beer work. 

Peak Organic - The Maple Collaboration

So I must confess: I love good beer, too. There's something about a nice hoppy IPA or a deep Belgian witbier or a delicious porter that really makes life worth living. And I've been spoiled: I've never lived anywhere that does not have easy access to a Whole Foods or a beer distributor, so I've had a chance to try dozens and dozens of tasty brews. Some not-so-tasty ones have crossed my pallette, but let's not talk about those. Let's talk about a tasty one.

So today I'm going to review Peak Organic's "The Maple Collaboration." Being from New England, sweet maple syrup is practically irresistible for me this time of year. Luckily, the Portland, ME-based Peak Organic Brewing Company delivers.

Their Maple Collaboration is made with Vermont maple syrup and a healthy dose of malt. Now, looking at this beer both in the bottle and in the glass...

...one might think it tastes sweet. Like maple candy. But it's actually not super sweet, but strikes a nice balance between malty and sweet. It tastes more like maple cotton candy in terms of sweetness - it's sweet, but the maple does not kick you in the teeth like maple candy does. It's very smooth, with notes of oat and maple sugar. The pour was easy, foamy, and has lots of carbonation. The beer has a nice sugared aftertaste. Some beers leave you gasping for air (or dealing with a harsh aftertaste - I'm looking directly at you, IPAs) but this beer simply invites you to have another taste. The cost was also a factor: it was just shy of $9 for the 22 oz.-bottle, so very affordable. I'd love to know how well it cellars, because if it's able to be bottle-conditioned I'd love to grab a half-dozen and hang on to them until next year.

So the verdict is that this beer is worth trying. If you like maple and the taste of fall, give it a spin. It's probably a dessert beer, though, because of the sweetness. Definitely worth a drink!

Drew Estate Liga Undercrown

So for my first cigar review, I'd like to take a look at a relatively new favorite: the Liga Undercrown. Drew Estates, the maker of this cigar, has made some pretty spectacular cigars and has a very popular line of flavored cigars. I first tried this cigar when I attended a rooftop congressional campaign event; one of the guests was a rep for Drew Estate and thrust a few of these in my hand. I ended up liking them so much I bought a few more come summer. I believe they were around $45 for 5.

This cigar has always impressed me with the depth of flavor. Unlike some smokes that are light on flavor (or worse yet, flavored with some stupid sugar casing like cherry or vanilla), this maduro leaf cigar has no problem providing some strong, dark flavor. The cigar itself, as evident by the dark leaves, was deep, lush, smoky, and sugary sweet. The wrapper itself is a Mexican tobacco, the binder a Connecticut Habano, and the filler a mix of Nicaraguan and Brazilian leaves. It lights up well (easy draw) and produces a heady white smoke and, as pictured below, a bright white ash.

It managed to survive most of the way down, maybe 3/4, before it started to burn a bit rough. Throughout the life of the cigar it maintained flavor, burned evenly, and did not fall apart.

Smoke this if you're looking for a nice maduro cigar that has some strength to it but still retains the nice sweetness. The cost may be a bit prohibitive for novice smokers, and certainly the strength of the cigar is also a bit much for novices, but this cigar is definitely worth giving a try. As with all my reviews, I am not paid or compensated in any way by these brands.  

"Broke Ass" Mendoza - malbec / syrah, 2010

Don't let this wine's stupid name fool you - it's actually a rather drinkable wine. My mother had picked this up a few months back when I visited her, and we had it over dinner. I'm back in Connecticut for Thanksgiving and we had it again tonight over a homemade chicken marsala.

The wine itself was pretty cheap but actually rather tasty. It's half malbec and half syrah from Argentina and has a nice garnet color right out of the bottle. The nose has a slightly caustic smell to it, indicative of cheap wine, but it has a surprisingly smooth and jammy taste. It tastes like berries and plums and grass and doesn't leave much of an aftertaste. You can definitely taste the malbec in this bottle. It doesn't burn or have any harsh notes, only berries, and one glass definitely invites another.

So I would seek this out if you're looking for a really cheap way to "get the job done." This doesn't stand up to some of the more refined bottles I own, but for the price it's a good deal. While I am generally not a fan of cheap wine, this bottle is rather good for the value. The varietal (malbec / syrah) is a nice mix and it pairs well with the chicken marsala we had. But this wine is also good for just drinking on its own, and it's definitely cheap enough to have as often as you like. I would not bring this out to impress your friends but if you want a good bottle for an everyday dinner, look no further.

2012 Chateau Moulin Favre - beaujolais nouveau

Last night I tried a fairly inexpensive bottle of Beaujolais along with dinner. A great part about this time of year is influx the relatively cheap Beaujolais Nouveau. Beaujolais is a type of red wine made (usually) from the Gamay grape in the French winemaking region of Beaujolais (but officially part of Burgundy.) Although some Beaujolais bottles are a cut above the rest (like the Cru Beaujolais - more on that later,) the Beaujolais Nouveaux are made by the millions of cases and are traditionally shipped and enjoyed in November.

The Gamay grape has a low amount of tannins, and as a result makes a lighter, fruity wine that I personally find very approachable. When opened and aerated, the wine foamed up a little bit and stayed that way throughout the short life of the bottle. It had a very fruity nose - as expected - and was rather sweet. It was unobtrusive, light, and airy. The color was a bright ruby red when held up to the light. I had this with a light pasta dish (pasta with peas, shallots, crumbled bacon, chives, cooked in a reduced chicken stock.) It would pair well with salads or lighter fare.

About four years ago I had a delicious bottle of 2005 Georges duBoeuf Cru Beaujolais from the village of Chenas, which is much different from the annual Beaujolais Nouveau deliveries. These types of Beaujolais - the Cru Beaujolais - are heavier in character and have a much longer cellar life than the Beaujolais Nouveaux. I let it cellar for five years and brought it to some friends' place and drank it with some delicious homemade pasta bolognese. As for a bottle of Nouveau, I would pretty much drink it immediately. The real attraction of this wine is that it is fruity and fresh and inexpensive enough to not feel guilty about having often. I would not cellar this wine for more than a year because in that time, it would lose the freshness that makes it interesting.