melodic fermentables

2008 Mauta Valley Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

2009-09-15T21:02:00.005-04:00

So in my effort to become a master sommelier (joking? not joking?), I am on my 10th run through Karen MacNeil's "Wine Bible". In an early section, she refers to the concept of a wine's "expressiveness", or how clearly it exhibits it's characteristics (i.e. sharply vs. more muddled). Later in the same chapter, she recommends looking to a New Zealand sauvignon blanc for an example of an expressive wine. Being typically quite picky about sauvignon blancs, yet relatively unfamiliar with examples from New Zealand, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I stumbled across this one at the PLCB store. $8.99, marked down from $12.99. Decent looking label. Was a little wary, because the importer was not clearly marked... but hell, it was on sale. I was pleasantly surprised.

The color is typical sauvignon blanc light straw. On the nose it's fresh, clean tropical fruit and razorblades (in the best way possible). The drink is light, and it tastes of citrus, pineapple, and melon rinds. Though it's not overly complex, everything is well integrated and overall it is satisfying and refreshing.

Score: 7.953159851 out of 10.0000000000
Pair with: light meats, spicy Asian food.
Price: $8.99 at the PLCB.

2005 Montecillo Crianza Rioja, or "blahblahblahblah"

2009-02-04T19:22:00.006-05:00

Boring and uninspired, just like my day today.

We Heavy, Yo! at Earth Bread + Brewery

2009-01-29T09:25:00.004-05:00

My first visit to Earth Bread + Brewery (opening weekend!) was underwhelming - poor service, "meh" food, and most surprisingly ... uninspired beers.

Subsequent visits have been better. Service has improved dramatically - the bartender (John?) is The Man and knows his stuff re: good beer. I've discovered that the "traditional flatbread" (i.e. the margherita pizza) is quite tasty, though the widely-loved "seed" pizza is a bit of a garlic-overload for my liking. Most importantly, the beers have been a TON more interesting than they were opening weekend.

On one visit, I had (several of) "The Bradley Effect" (8.11 out of 10) - a cleverly-named, fresh-tasting porter released sometime before/around the inauguration. On my most recent visit, I had (only one of) "We Heavy, Yo!" (8.35 out of 10) - a revelation of a Scotch ale, a style I normally can't tolerate due to frequent heavy-handedness of sweet malts. The EBB rendition of the style however is indeed malty but perfectly balanced and INSANELY QUAFFABLE for an 8.8% ABV beverage. Try it before it kicks!

Earth Bread + Brewery
7136 Germantown Ave
Philly!

A new homebrew - the yet-unnamed Belgian/American pale ale

2009-01-28T15:32:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, I brewed an American pale ale using Cascade hops - but augmented the recipe with Orval and Saison Dupont yeast strains salvaged from dregs. I am hoping to get a bit of chalky, ester-y, and funky qualities from those rather assertive yeasts.

I need to think of an (offensive, to continue the tradition) name for this beer...

Women who drink Lindeman's Frambois...

2008-12-22T08:32:00.003-05:00

...are to be avoided.

2007 La Vis Dipinti Lagrein, and a fun new wine descriptor!

2008-12-18T23:05:00.005-05:00

There are some wines (particularly those of the Languedoc, for some reason) that exude a funky body-odor-y scent. I often love these wines, but I am sick and tired of people describing them as "sexy", "sensual", "erotic", or "earthy". Why not get right down to it? These wines are downright "crotchy"!

One prime example is the 2007 La Vis "Dipinti" Lagrein. Dark purple in appearance, full of leather, earth, and yes, crotch - it pairs well with pasta and a variety of meats. For my pre-birthday dinner tonight, we dined at Bindi where I indulged in some cardamommy lamb. This wine paired perfectly with this dish - able to cut through the spice yet still stand up strongly enough to complement the meat.

Lagrein itself is an underappreciated variety from the equally underappreciated Alto Adige region in north-eastern-ish Italy, bordering Austria. This particular grape is wildly tannic and sort of a bitch, so wines made strictly with this grape often taste like a plate full of bad vegetables soaked in rubbing alcohol and gym socks. There are exceptions however - the La Vis "Dipinti" being one.

Acquired: Columbus Blvd. PA State Store
Price: $12.something - great value, this one!
Most Appropriate Adjective: "crotchhhhhhhh"
Score: 8.260384 out of 10.000000

Yards Cocoa Porter

2008-12-18T16:00:00.006-05:00

Last night I had a chance to try a firkin (well, not the entire firkin) of a Yards one-off - the Cocoa Porter. It was delightful - a bit like the milk that remains after you've eaten a bowl of "Cocoa Puffs" - perhaps with a dry-er finish. Mouthfeel was a bit full for a porter, bordering on "stout", but it still drank light (i.e. I could drink a lot of it, if pressed).

I also noticed that their revamped (or devamped, original recipe) ESA is wayyyyy better than it had been over the past few years. I wasn't old enough to enjoy beer in 1995, but I hear this is close to what it tasted like back in the early days. Of course it was served too-cold from tap, so I can't wait to try this puppy served from cask.

Best of all, I had a chance to speak with Frank(?), one of the brewers at Yards. He's very sharp and has some sort of degree in microbiology - so I'm hoping he does some creative things with yeast variants. I'm also hoping that his involvement means their Saison gets a bit of much-needed funk to make it more interesting than the lemon-water it was before...

Giddiup Yards!

Radiohead - Camden @ the "i reallyreallyreally wish venues weren't named after banks" center - 08.12.08

2008-08-13T08:22:00.005-04:00

Solid show, and I had some surprisingly good seats thanks to some serious legwork by Hilary.

They played for two hours, which was fine for me but according to my friend is a bit short for one of their shows.

Glaring omissions: Paranoid Android, Karma Police. I'm an OK Computer fan.

It was an emotionally intense show for me - I have a lot of memories/mental associations with a lot of those songs.

Distrito

2008-08-03T15:24:00.003-04:00

For his birthday, I took my little brother to Distrito - the new Mexican spot from Jose Garces of Amada and Tinto (and Iron Chef) fame. It was one of the better meals I've had in recent memory. Here's why:

The decor was eccentric and fun, without being Stephen Starr-distracting.
The food was beyond good. I enjoyed it way more than Amada, primarily because the Mexican flavor palette is so much more vivacious than the relatively austere Andalusian flavors of Amada.
Until my visit to Distrito, nachos had never made me giggle in delight.
The spicy Hemingway margarita made the back of my throat burn - that's a good thing.
The service (including singer/guitar player) was perfect - pleasant but uninstrusive.

Just go.

3945 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA PA, 19104
Dinner was around $100 (before tip) for two.

Ladytron - Philadelphia @ The TLA - 06.26.08

2008-06-27T20:39:00.004-04:00

What the fuck was the "sound guy" thinking? I sort of want to stab him for what he did to their mix last night.

Quality Beer Weekend!

2008-05-25T10:08:00.008-04:00

This Memorial Day weekend has been an unusually fruitful one as far as tasting quality beer is concerned.

When I returned to Philadelphia on Friday from a business trip, Greg and I headed over to Nodding Head Brewpub where I had a chance to try their first attempt at a sour beer, called The Phunk.

Their description is below (courtesy Greg stealing the draft menu):
Amber in color*, rather dry and complex (5.5% abv)... inspired by the sour beers of Belgium... fermented using multiple yeast strains, lactobacillus and several types of brettanomyces... served unfiltered glasses only."

To my palate, it definitely has a nice "sour beer" flavor profile - Brett tartness with light lactobacillus / funky undertones. It was a bit cloudy due to the unfiltered-ness. The thing about this beer is that it doesn't have the weightiness of it's Belgian counterparts, which actually works well in it's favor. The result is a reasonably complex yet very easy-to-drink beer for the summer. Definitely my favorite beer from the very hit-or-miss Nodding Head.
Score: 7.811738 out of 10.000000

On Saturday, because it was such a lovely day, I found myself walking around randomly and doing a little shopping uptown. During my daytime adventure, I stopped into Tria for a quick beer and cheese pairing. I was surprised and delighted to find a beer from Hanssens that I hadn't tried before - their Mead the Geuze.

The beer is 70% funky gueuze and 30% mead. The bottle I had was about two years old because, as it turns out, Hanssens stopped making this beer sometime around 2006 due to too much inconsistency between batches.

On first sip, the immediately striking thing about this beer is how spritzy it is! The gueuze yeast must have had a hell of a time with the mead in that bottle. Beyond the spritzyness is the usual sour, funk, and citrus notes associated with a good Hanssens geuze. The neat thing about this beer is the seamless transition from funk in the middle to smooth honey notes from the mead on the finish - long and complex. I love this fucking beer - too bloody bad they don't make it anymore.

If you find a bottle of this, and I doubt you will, savor it - it's a real treat.
Score: 8.647208 out of 10.000000

Later in the evening on Saturday, I wandered into a to-remain-nameless bar where their to-remain-nameless beer curator (and acquaintance of mine) casually informed me that he had a few spare bottles of super-rare Westvleteren - in this case, the Westvleteren 8.

The beer poured quite dark and Belgian-y and, to my surprise, smelled like a bad piece of overcooked meat drizzled in soy sauce. The taste was slightly better, but not by much - and it seemed to me quite overcarbonated. Yucky.

I was really glad to have finally tried this beer, but I hope the 12 is better than the 8, because I was supremely underwhelmed.
Score: 5.429237 out of 10.000000

I wrapped up my weekend Monday night with a few of the Sly Fox Royal Weiss - undoubtedly the best local summer beer going, and infinitely better and more drinkable than many German rivals. I'll save my review of that for another day, because it deserves an entire page or two of praise.

2005 Bonny Doon Cardinal Zin or "The Nigella Lawson of Wine"

2008-02-27T22:09:00.004-05:00

At the end of a painful 45 minute session with the personal trainer at my gym, he said "Go home and eat something with a lot of protein." So I went home (the liquor store) and picked up something with a lot of protein (red wine). That wine was the 2005 Bonny Doon Cardinal Zin.

I chose this wine because it was favorably mentioned by the toothsome Ms. Karen Macneil in her magnum opus, "The Wine Bible". Additionally, I am in a constant quest for the Most Perfect Zinfandel (tm).

As you can see above, the label is deliciously unhinged. As I opened this bottle, I was hit first by the smell of earthy funkyness which soon gave way to dark fruit, jam, and a certain softness reminiscent of a woman's bosom.

Pouring, I noticed the wine wasn't as dark as I expected. I expected it to be hugely dark because of the eXtRe/\/\e label and 14% alcohol content, but instead the wine exuded a certain unexpected lightness and transparency.

Tasting this wine is akin to placing your face directly between Nigella Lawsons huge, ample breasts while she purrs approvingly in your ear. At first, you're struck by how soft and comfortable it seems. Then it warms you to the point where you shiver and thank God that you're alive.

That's where the comparison ends. While Nigella tastes much like vanilla and freshly baked bread, the flavors of this wine are more plum, blackberry, pomegranate, and boysenberry. Much like Nigella however, the wine feels lusty, busty, and full-bodied in the mouth. This wine's a BBW.

Acquired: 5th St. PA State Store
Price: $19.99
Most Appropriate Adjective: "supple"
Score: 8.072355 out of 10.000000
Link: bonny doon vineyard