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.

Bear Republic Racer X Double IPA

There's a fun beer app that I've got on my phone called Untappd. It's got some social networking aspects, but mostly I use it to keep track of beers that I've had. You can also get little accomplishments, called badges, for things like drinking a certain number of Irish beers having a beer in a particular place. There's a "special" category of badges which are only available for a limited time. There was one for Racer X at the end of October. When I saw it at the grocery store, I picked it up, but when I checked the app, it looked like that was the last day to get the badge, and I wasn't really in the mood for beer, so I stuck it in the fridge to enjoy later. When I decided to have it a few days later, I checked into the beer on Untappd and I was happy to see that the badge was still available, so it all worked out.

Actually, it really did all work out. This is my kind of double IPA. There's a strong malt backbone with caramel notes topped off with lots of hops. It's very well balanced, and that's perfect for me. Too bad it's seasonal because I think I like this better than the standard (and really easy to find) Racer 5 IPA.

Is it a coincidence that great wine-making regions are also great at making beer? There's Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, and in and around Sonoma County, there are three amazing breweries with Bear Republic in Healdsburg, Russian River in Santa Rosa, and Lagunitas in Petaluma. My next trip to Sonoma I plan to go to Lagunitas, which we skipped before, and I need to plan a trip further up to Anderson Valley to check out both their wine and their beer in person.

Crios Malbec red blend 2012

I'm not very familiar with either wine from Argentina or Malbec, so tasting this was a little outside of what I usually have. I have had some Malbec before, either from Argentina or California, but I haven't had enough of it to really form an opinion about it. I was interested in this bottle because in addition to 40% Malbec, it also has 40% Bonarda (plus 15% Tannat and 5% Syrah). I did a little research and I discovered that the grape called Bonarda in Argentina is known as Charbono in the US, where it's fairly uncommon. However, I have had Charbono before, at Sarah's Vineyard in Gilroy, and I really liked it.  This wine only cost about $14 at my local wine shop, so I thought it was worth a try, and it definitely wasn't a mistake.

The wine pours a pretty dark purple color, with a very fruity nose of stewed strawberries, vanilla, and orange peel. The nose made me think it would be bold and fruit forward, which is exactly right. The taste was fruity but not jammy. The wine is young, and it was pretty tannic, and there was a slightly bitter aftertaste. I had another glass after about an hour, but I couldn't tell that it opened up much, so I think you just get what you get from this wine. It was still very pleasant and easy to drink. I had it with beef tacos and it worked out well, and I'd guess this wine can be enjoyed with just about any meal.

My research on the varieties in this wine turned up that Malbec ("bad mouth" in French) is so-named because in its native Bordeaux, where it is one of the 5 permitted red varietals, it doesn't actually taste very good and so is grown in only very small amounts. It's not really known why Malbec was planted in Argentina, but it's good thing that a grape that doesn't get much love at home has become such an important part of wine growing in other parts of the world.

Talbott Logan Chardonnay 2012

I went to the Talbott tasting room when we went wine tasting in Carmel Valley earlier this year. It had a huge 3-sided bar in the middle of the room, with antique cars and motorcycles along the walls. It was a beautiful day outside, so we spent the tasting out on the ample patio, only venturing back in for the next taste on the list. Talbott really only makes two varietals - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We didn't buy anything that day at the tasting room, mostly because you can find their lower end wines at stores pretty easily, and their higher end wines, while delicious, are pricy.

The Logan Chardonnay is sort of the mid-range. It's not as inexpensive as the lowest end, the Kali Hart, but at $20 at Bay Area grocery stores, it's still very reasonable. The higher end, Sleepy Hollow, is usually around $35, and there are some that are even higher than that. At the tasting room, where we got to compare them all side by side, I thought the Logan was by far the best bang for the buck.  It pours a lovely light golden color. The nose is bright, you just want to dive right in. Really nice and floral, with honeysuckle notes, and fruity with pear and kiwi. The taste is tangy with a long finish. It reminds me of lemon meringue pie. This is one of my favorite Chardonnays, especially given that it's not expensive and is easy to find.

Completely unrelated - I was planning on writing a blog post about New Zealand pinot noir today, since I had one a few weeks ago that was excellent and I was really excited about them. But then I had one that was nothing special, and I had one yesterday that I found basically undrinkable. So now I'm wondering if the first one was a fluke, or if the other two were just duds. The one I liked was Villa Maria 2008. 

Samuel Adams Third Voyage Double IPA

The Boston Beer Company (aka "Sam Adams") is a great beer company. They are, by definition, the largest craft beer company in the United States. However big they get, that's how big the biggest craft beer company is. The other craft beer companies agree to this status because Sam Adams does so much to help out the smaller guys. Similar to Sierra Nevada and other big beer companies, they use their flagship Boston lager to make lots of money so they can release small batches of other things. Now, I like Sam Adams as a company and respect what they do, but I'm not always blown away by their beers. I think they can be a little boring.

Fortunately, this Third Voyage Double IPA is not boring at all, and it's actually pretty good. I bought it in a 4-pack of 22 oz bottles at Costco. The other three were gose, imperial white, and honey beer. I thought the imperial wit was good, but I didn't care for the other two. The Third Voyage pours reddish-pale, a little darker than most double IPAs, with a 2-finger head. It's not too hoppy on the nose, just a hint of citrus, but more notes of caramel. The taste is hoppier, with a bright citrus and faint pine notes, but a really big malty backbone of caramel and toffee.

As far as double IPAs go, this is the kind I like, with some structure that's not just hops dialed up to eleven. I'm not sure if you can get it outside the 4-pack, but if I saw it on its own, I'd buy another bottle of it. If I saw the imperial white on its own, I'd definitely buy it.

Since the holiday season is coming up, Sam Adams will soon be releasing their holiday variety pack, if it's not been released already. For the past few years it has included some beers that I liked a lot. One is the Old Fezziwig Ale. The other is Chocolate Bock. I don't really like either the Boston lager or the standard seasonal winter lager, but the variety pack is worth buying just for these two, if they are in it this year.

Creekview Melodious 2009

I think it was while I was drinking wine from Creekview that I realized there are a lot of kinds of wine out there, and while someone might personally enjoy some more than others, they can all be appreciated. The first time I went to Creekview, I tasted a bunch of wines - at least 7 or 8. And I enjoyed every single one of them. I went back again a while later, and even though the wines weren't all the same, I had the same sort of experience. Both times they had a Bordeaux blend that really knocked it out of the park. They're still doing it with Melodious.

As I've mentioned before, a Bordeaux blend is a mix of the traditional varietals of the Bordeaux region in France. The St. Francis wine that I reviewed before was mainly petit verdot and malbec. This one is a little more standard, with more cabernet sauvignon than anything else, but there's no single varietal that dominates. I like that there's at least 10% of each of the 5 grapes. I've heard it said that a Bordeaux blend shouldn't be "just another Cab" and I agree. Blends are great because they can really have a synergy going and let the winemaker express something interesting.

This one has a beautiful nose, it's smoky and oaky and has a lot of black cherry. It fills the mouth really well, no holes anywhere. There's some vanilla and almond and it's nicely tannic. I'm having it with cheese and crackers, and the tanginess of the cheese is bringing out something that tastes a little like toast and jam, but the wine isn't jammy at all. 

Creekview is in St. Martin, on the south end of the Santa Clara Valley. Before Prohibition, the whole valley was a big area for vineyards, but now pretty much the only ones left are around Gilroy. The winery has a beautiful patio area with walkways through the vineyard. They're only open the 3rd weekend of each month, and you're almost guaranteed to meet the winemakers since they operate the winery behind their house.  You can do an afternoon of wine tasting in this area less than an hour's drive from San Jose, and some of the wineries are really top notch. Others in the area that I like are Sarah's, Aver, and Sycamore Creek.

Dawn's Dream Carmel Valley Pinot Noir 2010

The wineries around Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands are known for Burgundy-style wines of pinot noir and chardonnay. The tasting list at Dawn's Dream included 5 different pinots. They started out very light and fruity and gradually became more full-bodied and complex. The Carmel Valley 2010 was the 4th of the 5 we tasted that day. They were all very good, but this one really jumped out at us.

It pours a pretty color, not super dark but not as light as you see with some pinots. The nose is strawberries, canteloupe, and roses. The floral note is fairly subtle but adds a nice elegance. The taste is really silky with a long finish especially in the mid-palate. There's a touch of spice and tobacco, and lots of strawberry and some cranberry. It's not a delicate pinot, but it hits all the right notes for me with elegance, the medium body, and the long finish. We had this wine with roasted chicken and it was a nice pairing.

When we went wine tasting in Carmel Valley, there were only a few wineries we had planned to visit in advance. The town is really small, and there are a lot of wineries basically next door to each other all the way down the road. We got a recommendation from one place to go to Joyce, and at Joyce they recommended Dawn's Dream. Both were really nice, and I liked that they had different styles. Joyce had a pinot noir as well (it's got to be on the list for wineries there), but they also had a good Riesling and a good Merlot. Then it was nice to head to Dawn's Dream to see what different kinds of style you can get even within the same varietal. Learning what different winemakers like to do is something I really enjoy about visiting small wineries like these.

Regional Wine Week - South Bay area

October 6-12 is Regional Wine Week, and it seems like a good time to highlight some of what I love so much about the local wineries here in the South Bay area. You may be thinking, "Come on, it's still California, that's not very 'regional.'" Well, I disagree--not that it's California, that's true enough, but it certainly is regional. When I bring up a wine tasting trip with friends, they often think that means driving up to Napa Valley, as if that's the only place worth talking about. Here are a few reasons why wineries in the San Jose vicinity deserve some consideration.

First, they're really close to home! Sure, I can drive 2+ hours to get to Sonoma, Napa, or Paso Robles, but I can drive less than an hour to get great wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley. There are wineries and tasting rooms in Saratoga, Sunol, San Martin, Los Gatos (among many others) and even downtown San Jose. If you want to get away from it all, there's no shortage of wineries to visit out in the hills at the end of long winding roads where chances are pretty good you won't have mobile service.

Second, there are options for all tastes. You like delicate pinot noir? Try Hallcrest (they have a pinot-only wine club option). Maybe big juicy zinfandels are more up your alley. Satori Cellars has some very nice ones. Perhaps you are interested in something a little different. Check out the pinotage at Loma Prieta or the charbono at Sarah's Vineyard. And let's not forget the whites--the area produces excellent chardonnay, such as those at Cinnabar and Creekview, and MJA has some of the best sauvignon blancs I've ever had.

Third, you don't have to break the bank. It seems like the more well-known a region is, the more they charge for the wine, or even just the tasting experience. There are a ton of South Bay wineries that offer a tasting for $5, which is usually waived with a purchase. And the wines themselves are very reasonable. Some of my local favorites are under $20. I'm also a lot more tempted to join the wine club of a local winery. I can go to pick up my wines in person, so I don't have to pay shipping costs, plus it gives me an excuse to visit on a regular basis.

Fourth, there are some famous names here, and they help lift up the little guys. Ridge is a big winery, no doubt. Their most celebrated vineyard, Monte Bello, is at the top of a hill outside of Cupertino. If you go visit Ridge (and you should, the view is amazing), you have to drive past a couple of smaller ones on the way. Why not stop in for a tasting? Bonny Doon is a well-known name in Santa Cruz. They have a tasting room and restaurant in town that's in the same center as several other wineries. So go check out the famous players, but drop by the small wineries too. They'll be very glad to have you, and you might find a new favorite.

In short, if you live near San Jose, you love wine, you haven't tried any of the local wineries, what are you waiting for? Consider this your engraved invitation.

Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel 2011

When we went wine tasting in Sonoma County earlier this year, Seghesio Family Vineyards was a recommendation from some friends. Their tasting room is in Healdsburg. We didn't get there this year, but I noticed that Seghesio zinfandel is available by the glass just about everywhere in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, and it's not hard to find down here in the South Bay either. About a month ago I noticed this bottle at Costco for $20, so I decided to get it to see what all the fuss is about.

As it turns out, this wine is good if big fruity zins are your thing. For $20, it wasn't much of a risk. The color is dark, but not deep dark. It was promising. The nose is really fruity, full of plums, ripe berries, and vanilla. The taste follows through on all of this - it's a fruit bomb. Very bold and full-bodied, and the flavor coats the tongue. This is a good example of this style. It's not subtle. The fruitiness is in-your-face, but it's not at all unpleasant. It went well with homemade pizza.

I've had a number of California zinfandels, and more often than not, they feature the big fruity notes. I like that, and I think the Seghesio avoids falling into so fruity it's jammy, which is just a little too far for me. Compared to other zins that are very similar, $20 is a really good price. If you see it at Costco, or you're in Healdsburg, give them a try.

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #94 Black IPA

Black IPA is a trendy sort of beer style. Before a few years ago, they were more experimental and something interesting for brewers to play around with, but with the explosion in popularity of IPAs in particular and craft beer in general, they're becoming something that many breweries offer. I've reviewed a couple of other black IPAs before (Wookey Jack and Back in Black), let's see how this one compares.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is best known for their pale ale, which is a great example of the taste of cascade hops. Sierra Nevada pale ale is easy to find, and even at the saddest convenience stores you can often find it beside the Coors Light and Corona. I should do another post one of these days on the standby craft beers. Anyway, Sierra Nevada is still an innovative craft brewery, and the success of their flagship beer allows them to have limited release brews for beer fans to try. Every year they release a handful in the Beer Camp series, mostly on draught, but with some available in 22 oz. bottles. I got this one at Costco, and the label says "Belgian-Style Black IPA".

The beer pours very dark with a big foamy head. The nose is pleasant and fruity. I'd know it was Belgian-style from that alone. There's nothing that screams out IPA or stout to me. First sip - big taste, again, fruity, and not really bitter or roasty at all. At the finish, the hops come through a bit, and it's a little bitter on the tongue at the end. It's very nicely balanced and super drinkable. I wish I had more bottles of it.

How does it compare to the others? Well, I thought Wookey Jack was too hoppy and not anything else. Back in Black is a great beer with a good blend of piney hops and coffee notes. The Beer Camp #94 is something different. It's not really very hoppy, nor is it very roasty. It's more like a Belgian-style strong ale, and I think that's a great style and relatively hard to find (and when you can find it, the bottles are usually expensive). At 7.7% it does have the higher alcohol content of beers these days, but what are you going to do?  I suggest you sit back, pour a glass of this beer, and enjoy.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

My local beer store sometimes holds drawings for the opportunity to buy rare beers. Last week, they had a drawing for the Rose de Gambrinus, a raspberry lambic from Belgium. I like sour beers and lambics, so I thought, why not?  A few days later I got an email that I'd been selected, so I went down to the store to pick it up, and I was a little astounded that it cost $15.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. Of course I went ahead and bought it. I'm used to sour beers costing more than other types, but this is a little ridiculous. I guess it's for the novelty of the thing, and how hard it is to get.

The bottle came both with a cap and a cork. The cork was a little tough to extract. I almost broke the cork while I was pulling it out, but I managed. The beer pours pink and fizzy. It looks more like strawberry soda than beer. It has a super fruity nose, like raspberries, but with a citric note too.

The taste is really tart. Super tart. But in a mouth-watering sort of way. It reminds me of the way a tart lemonade leaves you a little thirsty, so you drink more. Lambic is made by letting the cooled wort (basically, the unfermented beer) stay open in the brewery and ferment from whatever yeast or bacteria happen along. The raspberry flavor is from fruit or syrup that's added to the brew. I didn't actually detect a lot of fruitiness in the taste, but the nose is beautiful.

I'm glad I got a chance to try this. I think this is only the 2rd or 3rd time I've had a true lambic, and it was interesting to get to compare to other types of sour beers that I've tried more recently. It compares very favorably. At $16, it's a little steep to go for again very soon (and I probably wouldn't get the chance anyway, considering how I got this bottle), but it's always worth it to me to try something new. If you want to try a sour beer that's a little cheaper and easier to come by, try Duchesse de Bourgogne. If you ever see a Russian River sour beer in the bottle at the store, definitely buy one.

Campari Cocktails

Even though I haven't blogged much about cocktails, I do enjoy drinking them. I also enjoy reading about cocktails and what's in style at any given time. My tastes have evolved over the years and I've found that keeping an open mind about cocktails has helped me find new things to enjoy. For instance, I used to like apple martinis, and I ordered them pretty frequently. I've still got some apple vodka from those days. But at some point I started finding them too sweet and not at all complex, so I moved on to the dark and stormy and old fashioned, drinks I'd read about and once I finally tried them, found that I liked them quite a lot. Today I'm exploring some cocktails with a bitter component. Bitter is a flavor that people sometimes need to get used to, but there is a whole world of bitter ingredients out there once you're open to trying them.

Campari is a bitter Italian liqueur. It has a bright pink color, so it looks like it should be sweet and syrupy. It is a little syrupy, but there is a bracing bitterness that you don't expect. There are two well-known cocktails where Campari has a starring role - the Americano and the Negroni.

Americano

The American is equal portions Campari and sweet vermouth, topped up with club soda. Today I'm using San Pellegrino. Apparently in the James Bond novels, this was Bond's favorite cocktail before he became a vodka martini man. The cocktail is a very pretty color - pink at the bottom with a nice gradient to clear at the top. There's no nose at all. The first sip I had before stirring, and it just tasted like the San Pellegrino. After stirring, it's different. Bittersweet, like grapefruit juice. Bright and refreshing. It tastes rather sophisticated but it's a simple drink to make with the right ingredients. Most recipes call for a twist or a slice of orange, but I don't have one, so I'm doing without. 

Negroni

The Negroni is equal portions Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin. It should be served with an orange twist but again, I don't have one, so I'll just have to imagine what orange rind would be bringing to the party. It looks like a vodka and cranberry. It doesn't taste like one. The nose is all gin pineyness. Maybe that's because of the gin I'm using, Tanqueray, but I'm not sure. The taste is similar to the Americano, but with the evergreen notes from the gin. It's a stronger drink, and a little sweeter. 

Of the two, I prefer the Americano, and I'd drink it again. I don't really like gin, but I thought I'd give the Negroni a chance. I can see why people like it. It's a very adult sort of beverage. I like that the Americano isn't that strong. It seems like a nice drink when you don't want to get wasted, but you still want to enjoy what you're drinking. It's not like when I have a gin and tonic, which is something I order when I don't really want to drink at all, but I also don't want people constantly bothering me for not having anything. My tastes will continue to evolve, and while I don't know where they are headed, the Negroni is something I will revisit again someday, maybe with a different gin.

Red Branch Hard Lemonade

There is a very unassuming little bar in Sunnyvale called Rabbit's Food Meadery. I first went there about a year ago with some coworkers because I read the outstanding reviews on Yelp and we were curious what all the fuss was about. They offer a tasting of a few different meads, beers, and hard ciders for about $5, so we all tried that. Everything they had was good, but what really blew us away was the cider. They usually have 2 or 3 different ciders on tap and they sell 500 ml bottles. My husband has never even been to the bar, but he's hooked on the hard apple cider, which they sell at Jane's Beer Store and Savvy Cellar in downtown Mountain View.

I was at the bar last week with coworkers again, and I had the last of the peach cider on tap. I also took a few bottles to go, including the hard lemonade. Today we opened it up and if the only hard lemonade you ever had was Mike's, you are in for a treat. There is a base of apple cider, which provides fruitiness and a little sweetness. Then there's a tart lemon flavor on top of it. Red Branch cider is already one of the less sweet ciders I've had, which is something I really like about it, but this extra tartness in the lemonade is really nice.

They make these ciders with honey, and they are able to make them stronger than you might think, around 7%. The problem is, they don't taste like they have that much alcohol in them. They go down like juice, actually, so you have to be thinking about that when you drink them. Otherwise you'll get into trouble. If you live in the area, check out the meadery, taste everything they have, then buy Red Branch cider whenever you see it. This is great local stuff.

Hook & Ladder Estate Sangiovese 2010

In April we decided to do something we hadn't really done before - go wine tasting in Sonoma. Crazy, huh? We often go to wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains and the Santa Clara valley, those are basically our backyard. We've been to Paso Robles and Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands, but aside from stopping at St. Francis, Sonoma wasn't a place we'd ever gotten around to. Preparing for a tasting trip in Sonoma is daunting. There are tens, if not hundreds, of wineries you can visit, either that are open on weekends or you can call ahead for an appointment. I asked some friends for advice, and they suggested a place in Russian River Valley. We weren't really impressed with it, but I'd seen good reviews for Hook & Ladder, which was right down the street, so we decided to go there next.

One really nice thing about Hook & Ladder is that they offer free tastings. They had several wines available, and they were happy to let us try as many of them as we wanted. That's pretty rare these days, when tastings can sometimes cost $10 or $15 and they only let you try 3 or 4 wines. The tasting room is decorated with firefighter t-shirts from around the world. We met a couple on vacation from Florida who came to this winery specifically because one of them was a firefighter.

The Hook & Ladder Sangiovese is good.  The nose is just lovely, like a new leather wallet. Also some smoke and fruit that reminded me of darkness. The taste was a little jammy at first but that softened up after a while. On the heavy bodied side for the varietal, but with a short finish. Sangiovese is an Italian varietal, so we had it with spaghetti and it was a nice pairing. Before every sip of this wine, I continued to really enjoy that nose. This is a nice table wine. I think we paid about $25 per bottle.

As for Sonoma, we went to a few places in the Russian River Valley and Dry Creek Valley, and here's a list of some we liked the most:

• Iron Horse - they specialize in sparkling wine
• Truett Hurst - we really enjoyed their wine and they have a lovely garden and creek view
• Russian River Vineyards - good pinot noir, they offered a lot of wines to taste