Charlotte Wine, Liquor and Beer News!
25 Feb, 16 / 
Hey there boozefans, when I was a young man people always told me “you will calm down when you get older, these things you care about now will be less important to you”. I have not in fact calmed down. I will not go gently into the night! Sure, instead of getting furious about Hue Hollins totally blowing the call against Scottie Pippen in the 1994 Conference championships, I am now furious at much greater injustices in the world (like social injustice, the poisoning of the water supply, and the closing of my favorite restaurant!). However, I have also learned how to appreciate those sweet little moments in life. This first came to me when reading Milosz’s The Captive Mind, when he described watching a family behaving in a loving in normal way with turmoil all around them. I did not comprehend it then but that idea stayed in my mind until years later someone asked me what I did for fun. I thought about it and realized that in my life, just place yourself with good people, have an open mind, and then fun just happens. Seeing that smile of recognition when someone takes a bite of some yummy food that you have prepared, the delight in sharing a fantastic bottle with people, telling a joke that makes your friends laugh until they hurt. Those are the moments that should and do keep us all going. When I open a tremendous bottle of something, I want someone there with me to share that experience. People ask me “why is this so expensive”. Well sometimes it is because of marketing and hype, but at this store it is more often because this was a quality product made with art, passion, and excellence, and quite frankly that is a often an expensive process. However, if you can taste that excellence, the passion and art of what they were trying to accomplish, then it is worth it. We have all had hundreds of mediocre bottles that we cannot even remember trying, but the best ones, well those stay with you.
ATTENTION YELLOW ROSE TASTERS FROM LAST WEEK!!!!
The bottle of Yellow Rose Outlaw Bourbon that we began the tasting with was tainted. Every once in a great while a bottle will suffer from oxidization due to an error during the bottling. We replaced that bottle with one from the very same batch and it was absolutely delicious and the sales afterwards proved that. I apologize for the mistake and promise to taste all bottles before serving them. Shame on me for not doing so last week! Please give this very tasty bourbon another chance!
TASTINGS: FRIDAY WINE TASTING 4:00-6:00 ANDREW WILL!
You folks are in for a treat! The Andrew Will winery out of Washington is a favorite of mine. We are talking about some extremely sophisticated, complex, and delicious wines. The type of wines that the Orin Swift guy could only dream of making! Instead of a hammer to the head these are right bank Bordeaux styled wines that are good now and will continue to improve.
RAVENTOS BLANC: The only way to improve such a tasting is with some bubbly! How about one from Spain? That is right, good bubbly comes from all over the place, and the Segura is not the only Cava. This comes from one of the most widely respected families in Spain.
SATURDAY MUDDY RIVER 2:00-5:00
We welcome with open arms this fine local distillery. You guys were on me about bringing these guys in for a long time, and now they are here and here to pour! Three different rumsStill working on getting the spiced rum in (it is fantastic), but we have the rest of the lineup. Our favorite tastings are always the ones run by the people that make the product and I know you guys love those too!
KEITH’S CABINET: What Keith is drinking now.
YELLOW ROSE BLENDED: Smooth, light, tasty, and fun! This little fella from Texas is well made and well priced.
CLEOPATRA: Oh yes, I bought this! She was as beautiful as I remembered. You can taste why she is so expensive and she is worth every penny!
POLI BLUEBERRY: My roommate bought this amazing liqueur and after drinking some straight, that is right we made the best Blueberry Margarita in the world! My best friend said “that is not a very high bar” This might be true, but that does not change the fact that it was delicious.
ANDREW WILL: CIEL DU CHEVAL– I loved everything about this wine. Full bodied without overstaying its welcome. Great nose, lots of twists and turns, and very well balanced.
TAGLIATELLA: Is it an Amaro, is it a Brandy, a liqueur? No need to put this into a box, lets call it fascinating and leave it at that. How can you describe a choose your own adventure beverage?
NEW ARRIVALS:
LAGAVULIN 12: Cask strength Lagavulin? Yes please! I am enjoying this cask strength movement in Scotch.
KIRK AND SWEENEY 18: I have had this lovely lady and she is sweet, and gentle, and a must have for any serious rum drinker.
KIRK AND SWEENEY 23: I have not yet got to try this one, but that will be happening very soon! It is supposed to be even better than the 18!
ZWACK: The return of the Hungarian answer to Jagermeister, but a much better quality. Or if you prefer the Hungarian answer to Fernet Branca.
DUBLINER WHISKEY: Another Irish whiskey just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
R & R APPLE: Have you wondered if all of these distilleries are sharing the same brain? Hey everyone is making an Apple “whiskey”, we should make one too! I would fire the person in the meeting that suggested that! Is that enough of an endorsement for you? Just kidding this stuff is amazzzing!
Spotlight of the week: Deep Sea Seafood Market
Have an awesome lunch and buy some fantastic fish to take home too!
(In case anyone is wondering, these are free advertisements for places that I have tried and love. They d
o not know I am doing this, no one has asked me. I just appreciate quality in all areas.)
RECIPE OF THE WEEK:
PALOMA1.5 OZ OF SILVER TEQUILA or REPOSADO (El charro works very well)
4 OZ OF GRAPEFRUIT SODA (I like to use the Schoffenhofer grapefruit beer, but you can use Fresca or Squirt. Or you can use grapefruit juice and club soda.
2 lime wedges or .25oz of lime juice.
