Russian River Rejection and Damnation

Hard to believe it's been almost year since we last visited Sonoma County and the bounties of wine and beer that can be enjoyed there. Last week I decided we needed to get away for a few days, so we booked a room in Sebastopol and left the house by 10 so we could get to the Russian River Brewing Company before it got too crowded. We got there around 11:50am and still had to wait about 15 minutes for a table, but all things considered, I'm guessing that's about as chill as the place ever gets. There were many more people waiting on the front patio by the time we left.

As always, they had about 16 beers on tap, divided between California-style and Belgian-style (very loose categories). My favorite beer here is Row 2 Hill 56, a single-hop Simcoe pale ale, and I think the sours are amazing as well, but I wanted to try something different. First up was Rejection, a Belgian-style black ale (almost all of the Belgian-style beers end in "tion"). It's very dark with nice lacing on the glass. The nose is yeasty and fruity and very mild, but the taste, to my surprise, was much more roasty and even a little bitter. If the nose reminded me of Belgian beers, the taste mostly reminded me of a stout. It had a pleasant, creamy mouth feel. Definitely a sipping beer.

Next up was Damnation, a strong golden ale. It's a dark straw color, with again the yeasty and fruity nose typical of Belgian-style beers, but with a mildly fruity taste as well. This beer goes down really easy, especially with the pizza and beer bites we ordered. Scarily easy, in fact, at 7% ABV. If you find yourself unable to make a decision about what to order here, well, if you like IPAs, you should order Pliny the Elder. But otherwise Damnation is a fine beer to start with.

Russian River is such an iconic brewery, and while some of the beers show up on tap elsewhere in the Bay Area, it requires good timing. I highly recommend stopping by if you're in Santa Rosa, at lunch on a weekday if you can since I think evenings and weekends are always crazy. If you don't care about getting a table (and you should, the pizza is delicious), you can always grab a beer at the bar.

Unibroue Ephemere

Unibroue is a brewery in Chambly, Quebec, that produces some great Belgian-style beers. In fact, these were some of the first beers I really learned to appreciate. I'm looking forward to July when we'll be in the neighborhood and hopefully have a chance to pay a visit to the source. They're not particularly hard to find. Many grocery stores carry their flagship tripel-style, La Fin du Monde, and lately we've seen 750 ml and variety packs at Costco for a good price, but I almost always see them at better liquor stores.

Ephemere is a fruit beer made with apples, but unlike most fruit beers, it's not sweet or more like apple juice than beer. It pours a very pale color without much of a head. It has that fruity and yeasty aroma typical of Belgian brews. It's a very nice taste, mostly of a pale ale, but with a refreshing apple note.

According to Unibroue's website there are other fruit varieties of Ephemere, but I've never seen them. Maybe they're easier to find in other parts of the country or in Canada. It also lists Noire de Chambly, which is a dark ale, on their classics list, but I haven't been able to find it in many years. Of all their beers which I can get hold of, I think La Fin du Monde and Maudite are my favorites, but you can't really go wrong with any of them. They're a little pricier than many American craft beers, but cheaper than most of the ones from Belgium.

Russian River Vineyards Estate Merlot 2009

When we were wine tasting in Sonoma last year, I had a coupon for a free tasting at Russian River Vineyards. It was down the road from another we wanted to go to, but I didn't know anything about it before going there. It turned out that they were basically pinot noir specialists, with several very good ones, but they were a little above our price range. Then they also had this merlot that surprised us with both how good it was, and how inexpensive (at least compared to their other wines), I think it was around $25.

We often find merlot kind of boring. Not really anything wrong with it, just sort of cabernet sauvignon's less interesting sibling. But this one is pretty good. A nice nose with berries, leather, vanilla, and something that just makes me think "warmth".  The first taste is a blast of sweet strawberries, but then that fades to a spicy orangy taste. It's a little acidic in the back.  It felt a little tamer as we worked our way through the bottle.

This sort of wine is one that really illustrates to me that you don't know if you'll like something until you try it, and if you go to wineries for tastings, get as many things as you can (don't be afraid to pour out the rest of your glass, especially if you don't care for something) so you are more likely to find one that suits your taste and your wallet. Sonoma isn't really known for merlot (or even cabernet) but I'm happy to drink ones I like from wherever they may come.

Speakeasy Black Hand Milk Stout

Sorry for the long stretch without a new post. We spent the last 2 weeks in Spain on vacation, and then spent the 2 weeks after that drying out.  I'll post something later about our drinking adventures on vacation. For now, I want to talk about my first drink in 2 weeks (and when was the last time I went that long without a drink?  I think it was probably in 2009 when I was preparing for a martial arts test). I broke my fast with a Speakeasy Black Hand, a milk chocolate stout I picked up at Costco for $4 last weekend.

It pours a very dark, opaque black with just a touch of red at the bottom of the glass. Thin head, just about 1 finger and it disappeared quickly. The nose is dark chocolate with some hard to guess spices in the background. It doesn't really smell like beer. Then the taste is super dark chocolatey. It's pretty good, very smooth. The finish is like a bittersweet chocolate bar. It's a little thinner than I expected with the mouthfeel.

I like sweeter stouts better than dryer ones, but I'm not sure this is an example that really floats my boat. Last year we went to the Speakeasy tap room and tried all 15 beers they had on tap in a sample size, and this was one of them. I think it must be a seasonal release. Speakeasy Prohibition red ale, and Big Daddy and Double Daddy IPAs are easy to find (at least in the Bay Area), and their seasonal Scarlett red rye is one of my husband's favorite beers of all time. They're a great local brewery to visit if you get a chance.

Kennedy Point Pinot Noir 2009

This is another New Zealand Pinot Noir, recommended by the guy at the wine shop when I told him I liked the Villa Maria. They cost about the same, this one might be a few dollars cheaper at $20, but I think anything in the $20s is good value for good pinot.

There's a subtle nose at first but it opens upon the next swirl and sniff. A little earthy, like wet leaves and mowed grass, but then sweet and floral. The taste is earthy again, almost like mushrooms. Not a lot of big fruit, but there's some blueberry. It's a touch sour, but pleasantly so, like a sour beer (but not nearly that sour). I wouldn't quite call it elegant, but sort of roughly charming.

It lingers on the palate in a savory way. It went extremely well with a one-pot chicken and rice dish I made. It would make a nice pairing for Valentine's dinner for two.

Kirkland Sonoma County Old Vines Zinfandel 2011

Hey Merry Drinkers! Long time no blog, I know. There was a lot going on over the holidays then January was also kind of crazy. It's not that I was drinking (perish the thought!), I was just not often in a position to take notes about what I was having.

So, back to it. I like wine that has a good value, but I've found that a lot of wine that costs less than $10 is at best boring and at worst not at all to my taste. There are some exceptions, but finding the diamonds in the rough takes time, and I've found that I'm a lot likelier to enjoy a $20 bottle that is more or less randomly chosen.  But sometimes I like to try something I usually wouldn't. I was at Costco the other day and saw this Kirkland Zinfandel for around $10. Sonoma County is well-known for its Zinfandel, and I haven't had a lot

of bad old vine Zinfandel, so I thought it was worth trying, and it was.

The nose has dark chocolate covered cherry and strawberry with some white pepper in the background. Very pleasant. It tastes deep and dark and is really enjoyable. I've had worse wine for $40.  It really lights up the whole palate. I had some chocolates with cherry liqueur and they went wonderfully together.

I might have to go back to Costco and get a case of this stuff, just to use as an everyday table wine.

As far as the holidays go - I did have some really nice drinks. I recommend all of these:

• Ridge Three Valleys 2011 - Zin blend, pretty darn good
• Aver Family Heritage Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 - excellent
• Domaine de la Casenove 2009 - French Rhone blend, $15 at Costco
• Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
• Dogfish Head American Beauty Pale Ale
• Sam Adams Old Fezziwig (I got one without buying the pack!)

Villa Maria Marlborough Pinot Noir 2006

I picked this wine up fairly randomly at the local wine store. I've been reading some books, and I keep seeing how good and reasonably priced New Zealand wines can be, so I thought I should give it a shot. The store had 4 or 5 pinot noirs from NZ, and this one was priced in the middle, at $22.

The color is a standard pinot pale purple, quite nice to look at it.
Really nice nose, with ripe fruitiness of cherries and plums and some tart cranberry (very seasonal). There's also some smokiness in the background.

The taste is tart but not at all sour, and very pleasant. Sour cherries, a little cola taste. Really elegant. The word "zippy" comes to mind too.

We had this with pizza, which maybe pushed the wine a little too much to the tart side, but on its own and with the salad it was delicious. This is a beautiful wine. I went back to the wine store and bought a few more bottles, just to have on hand.

I actually mentioned this one in another post but there I thought it was from 2008. I asked at the wine store what they'd had from this producer and they said they only had 2006, so I must have been mistaken. As far as NZ wine goes, what they are really known for is sauvignon blanc, but that's not my favorite varietal. I've also heard that chardonnay from NZ can be amazing, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.