Category: food and drink

Nuts + Ale = A fine drinking experience

Until recently, I only took a slight interest in what I call artisan beers. My boyfriend is a former homebrewer of beer and a real fan of your more independent and smaller beers. To me, beer had always been a beverage that I drank with meals or quickly in order to get properly fucked to the curb. And while it tasted good, I was more interested in getting it down my gullet and into my tummy efficiently as opposed to pleasurably. That being said, I’ve had a change of heart! I now truly enjoy drinking beer for its taste and the atmosphere that I enjoy in its presence.

Our in-house Sommellier, Julius P. Johnston, IV, answers our readers’ questions about fine wines in a continuing series…

Question: Are there any good online wine shops?

Answer: Yes.

Oh, should I elaborate? Ok.

Our resident sommelier, Julius P. Johnson IV, answers your questions on wine as part of our monthly series…

Dear Sir: I want to surprise a wine-freak friend of mine with a really crazy bottle from a distant land. Not Chile, Argentina, USA, France, Spain, Australia, South Africa, or Italy– get the picture? But it’s got to taste great.

Good question. OK, gas up the G-V, let’s go trekking to the “birthplace” of wine: Hungary. Which reminds me of a hilarious saying, “if you are hungry – drink”. It is funny because it is true.

Ibn-Rostech, the Arabian writer mentions Hungarian vine growing already in its Xth century chronicle. Vine growing and wine production after the Original Settlement of the Magyars was based upon three things: the Greek-Celtic tradition, the Roman tradition, and the knowledge that the Hungarians brought along from the East.

Our resident sommelier, Julius P. Johnson IV, answers your questions on wine as part of our monthly series…

I’m looking for a good wine that I can buy by the case, so I’ve always got something really drinkable on hand. I don’t want to spend more then $20 a bottle. Can you help?

But of course! That’s one of my favorite categories: the mass quantity drinkablenobility. Instead of benchmarking bottle cost, let’s talk case price (12bottle bushels) – at 60bucks I just found a new favorite friend from Australia… Kirralaa Bushvine Shiraz (pronounced with a salty-Oz accent “shee-RAZ”)

Our resident sommelier, Julius P. Johnson IV, answers your questions on wine as part of our monthly series…

Q: Everyone thinks they’re like a wine expert these days because they saw “Sideways”, so everyone’s all down on Merlot. Well I want to shake things up and wipe the smug smiles of those idiots faces. What’s a really good Merlot?

A: Duckhorn, bitch (pronounced “bee-atch”)! Yes, the Duckhorn, Three Palms Vineyard, Merlot from Napa Valley will melt the smugness off those nuevopinotfile faces faster than a lacrosse player can chug keg beer out of a hot sweaty boot. The ’97 vintage is ready to roll now and for the next 20 years.

The days are now shorter and the nights a bit nippy. The twinkling white lights are out in front of the shops and city bistros. The holiday season is in full force marking the annual phenomenon of massive consumerism and “permissible” indulgence.

What an appropriate time of year to drink wine. Is there a bad time of year? Not really. But I personally enjoy warming up with a big meaty red wine that soothes my insides and pounds my chest like a gorilla. Ah yes, the pleasures of the vine…

The other day a ladyfriend, red with fury, screamed at me: “Do you really think life is all about long hair, hard rock, trans ‘ams, and beer?!” I paused for a second in deep thought, then threw back my mane, took a swig of my brew, pressed play, and left her in a cloud of dust and guitar wails as my ‘am squealed its way across the parking lot and on to the open road.