I really like Rye Whiskey!

I'm your odd American guy that enjoys a fine rye from time to time. Usually my Canadian friends are synonymous with drinking this fine brew, but seeing that I was born in upstate New York I guess it's close enough that in some odd way I grew to like the tasty beverage myself.

In most bars, rye is a bottle near that back of or not so subtlety placed out of sight but recently rye whiskey has gained some popularity. Most of this popularity is due to the resurgence of good old fashioned cocktails, many of them containing rye. Most bars stock Old Overholt and Jim Beam Rye (which is pretty darn good for the price I might add) but of late because of the above stated resurgence of the art of cocktail making, other rye's are coming to the forefront.

One of the oldest if not the oldest rye in America is Sazarac. This rye which is made from the same family of distillers that produces Buffalo Trace Bourbon (yum) is a great example of what a rye should taste like. For info on about this rye and what is tastes like follow the following link.
http://www.greatbourbon.com/sazeracrye.aspx

This rye by the way is also a key ingredient with one of the oldest cocktails in America, The Sazarac Cocktail.
http://www.sazerac.com/cocktail.aspx

Recently I have also tried Michter's Rye at the Shady Lady Saloon (Sacramento, CA) and it was great! If you are looking for a place to explore the art of cocktail making with a great selection of spirits then I would highly recommend you take a trip over there because they know what they are doing and most importantly they know how to produce a mighty fine cocktail.
http://www.shadyladybar.com/

Our friends at Jim Beam also produce I higher end model of rye named, Ri which I love too.

I've saved the best for last though and it comes from a not so usual source, Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco, California. In 1993 Anchor started a distillery to compliment their fine brews. In addition to producing two types of whiskey and a great gin, they also produce the finest rye whiskey that I have tasted to date, Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey! Below is a link to their fine products and I'd recommend watching the video to get an idea of how the distillery came to fruition.
http://www.anchorbrewing.com/about_us/anchordistilling.htm

Cheers,
G

Anyone up for a hike?

I have always wanted to visit Kentucky for many reasons, but I have to admit that being able to tour the Bourbon trail has to be at the top of this list. I have a fondness for this distilled spirit and I am always on the look out for new ones such as Buffalo Trace which I tried for the first time last July in Dallas, Texas. I liked it so much that when I got home I went to BevMo to get a bottle and was pleasantly surprised that it was only $22! Then after doing more research I found that the same distillery produces some of my other favorites like Eagle Rare and Sazerac Rye! Even more import was discovery of the Bourbon Trail hence giving me the inspiration for this blog. I look forward to someday visiting the State of Kentucky to see the Derby, eat Hot Browns and of course trek the trail.

Cheers,
G

http://www.buffalotrace.com/home2.html

The Best Brewery in America

For the past couple of weeks I have been asking my friends what they thought was the best brewery in America was. I didn't want to pick a brewery owned by a foreign country or a brewpub(I love them too) but a decent sized brewery. While trying to figure out which one I would choose, I kept leaning toward Northern California and for good reason. The list of fine breweries in Northern California is arguably as good if not better than any place in this Country, even Portland. With Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, North Coast, Anderson Valley and Bear Republic (Racer 5 rocks!) as my main choices it was difficult to pick one singular one, but alas I have done just that. My pick, Sierra Nevada. I have always loved the Pale Ale (which tastes great in a Black & Tan by the way) and Celebration Ale but in the last year alone they have put out some really great beers. The Kellerweis is a great example of what a wheat beer should be, Their Estate Ale is fantastic (all of the products that went into brewing that beer came from their own well, Estate duh) the Anniversary Ale this year was amazing and I could go on and on. In addition to tasting great, their beers are very consistent which is no easy task. All of the above mentioned breweries could have easily been my pick and I encourage all of you to support all of these great breweries by buying their products. In addition I welcome your input on this topic and brewery suggestions.

Cheers,
G

http://www.sierranevada.com/index2.html

Session Type Beer

For those of you who would like to know what a "session" beer is, here is a link for Beer Advocate. I subscribe to their publication thanks to Mr. Radcliffe and if you are as much into everything beer like I am you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Cheers,
G.

http://beeradvocate.com/articles/653

Beer of the week

So my Wife and I were on a cruise that stopped in Ensenada, Mexico last week and I found a beer that I have never tasted ( I know odd, right?). Bohemia Obscura was my new discovery this time. I'll have to say that for Mexican style lagers, Bohemia is my favorite but when I saw this bottle I just had try it. I likened the taste to if a Newcastle Brown Ale and German Dunkel had been blended together. The easy drinking of the Newcastle ( from a bottle of course, which is the only way anyone should drink it by the way) and the really dark maltyness from the dunkel made a very good match and brought out the best worlds for me. My friends at Beer Advocate gave it a B+, which I think is a fair rating. I don't particularly think it's something I want to drink all day such as a session type of beer, but I do think it would be great with a meaty dish or even dessert. If you can find one I'd for sure say give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
G.

A new bottle of wine that I like

I'm not the one who will tell you about the complexities of a wine but rather what I observe in terms of taste. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of white wines but do drink them occasionally. With that being said, I'll start this blog off with a wine I enjoyed with my friend Randy over some pizza and a random discussion about the how we feel about Scrabble. Stephen Vincent 2007 "Crimson" is what we enjoyed last night. It's a red blend of 75% syrah and 25% Cab from the Central Coast of California according to the wine maker. I noted hints of berries but they were not too overpowering and jammy like some Amador County Zins or even syrahs can be and with a slight hint of licorice to balance the sweetness along with no notable grittiness from tannins I found this wine to be very smooth and definitely tasty . I should have know it would be good seeing how it was chosen by Corti Bros as one of their featured wines and I was not disappointed. The best part is that it only cost me $11! This will be a theme on this blog, seeing how I'm quite frugal in terms of my wine purchases usually. I also am of the opinion that California makes some of the best wine in the world and I'll do all I can to promote it.

Cheers,
G