Come to Southern Spirits for All of Your Wine, Beer and Liquor Needs!

12 May, 16 /  Uncategorized /  southernsc /  Comments Off on Come to Southern Spirits for All of Your Wine, Beer and Liquor Needs!

Hey booze fans, the human brain is a fascinating place (mine is more humorous and terrifying). We have these incredibly strong feelings on some things (in my case on almost everything) and we are often not even sure why. In my business I see this a lot where someone has this strong reaction to a brand or a type of spirits even though the inciting incident occurred twenty years ago! “Oh no, not gin, I drank gin at a slumber party and burned my friends parents house down!”   Well maybe in the last twenty years you have learned that mixing fire and booze is bad? You could probably wake up coma patients by mentioning items or events that trigger these kind of intense reactions. “I am sorry Mr. Smith we are going to pull the plug on your wife, we have done all that we can, a patient gave me this tequila maybe you could….” Wife pops up out of coma “I hate tequila!” Where was I going with this?   Right! I was making my way to this point, there is also the positive version of that effect. We remember the first time we had something amazing and special. I remember drinking vintage Champagne from a Magnum at an event. I was there with friends and we tasted many fine items that day, but that one is seared into my brain and just seeing a magnum of Champagne makes me smile. I remember trying Mount Eden Chardonnay moments after telling my friend Adam, “I don’t drink white wine.” and boom, my life was changed forever.   If you buy the most expensive bottle in the store every week, well then it really isn’t that special anymore. Then you have to find bottles that were lost at sea when they were stolen by pirates only to be recovered by James Cameron while filming Avatar 8 (Avatar vs Terminator) and now it is available but only four bottles survived the change in pressure, but no one knows which four!!!!   Okay this is getting out of control, so let me summarize. Your best bottle ever is probably the one that you enjoyed with friends or loved ones. I know mine sure are. The 1975 Highland Park might technically be the “best” bottle I have ever tasted, BUT since I was at a bar with strangers it does not resonate the same way as the first time I had Lagavulin 16 in the kitchen with Adam, or the Stronachie 18 on my most recent birthday with friends. I could not possibly remember all the bottles I have tried in my life but those ones, those ones I never forget.

TASTINGS  

FRIDAY WINE 4:00-6:00

CROSSBARN CHARDONNAY: Paul Hobbs has made this line of wines with class and style. Consistently good year after year. Mostly stainless steel, making it a good Chardonnay for the summer.

F ROSE: Orin Swift has a rose and because it is Orin Swift it is a 14.5 abv!!!   That is one big rose! Martha swears that you cannot tell that it is that big of a wine.

CHATEAU PUECH-HAUT-Despite the Bordeaux sounding title this wine is from the Languedoc the land of hidden French treasures. 93 points from Wine Advocate. A Grenache-Syrah blend aged in concrete tanks which often has the effect of letting the grapes run wild!

SIVAS-SONOMA – This “old vine” zinfandel is another of the reserve line from the folks at Sebastiani. So far these have been a considerable step up from the standard Sebastiani line.

KEITH’S EASY GUIDE FOR HOME TASTINGS

Want to do an easy spirits tasting at home?   Purchase four different bottles from the same genre. Gather four or more friends. Have a non participant mix the bottles up and pour a glass of each for each person. I recommend doing four different bourbons, four different scotches, or a whiskey from each country. Take some simple notes.

NOSE- rate the whiskey on how good or bad it smells. Try to write down three notes. Vanilla, cinnamon, burnt oak etc. rate the nose 1-5.

MOUTHFEEL- How does it feel in your mouth? Is it light and smooth, huge and heavy?

Rate that too.

COMPLEXITY- Does it feel like you’re having a conversation with it, or is just a one note dram.

TASTE- Does it taste sublime? Are you looking forward to your next sip? Are you not even sure you had a sip?

OVERALL- Is this a whiskey that you must have? Did you really enjoy the experience or would you prefer the distillery be destroyed immediately.

KEITH’S CABINET: What Keith is drinking now.

Uncle Val’s Restorative Gin: Love it in a gin and tonic and love it in a martini. California has put the world on notice, we make awesome gin!

CLEOPATRA: The most amazing grappa in the world! This stuff always makes me feel better and despite the twenty seven page long rant, I tend to drink this alone, but that is just because Salma Hayek won’t return my phone calls…anymore!

PELIGROSO ANEJO: This fantastically priced tequila made a return to my rotation this week when I discovered it at the back of my cabinet! Yummy.

GREENFLASH GREEN BULLET: A triple ipa? Why not? When the label has Green Flash on it, it tends to be awesome. Just like this beer!

MAINE BEER #2: Our beer buyer Summer, teases me about my love for well balanced beers, but I care not, because it is wonderful.

GAJA– This wine is aging well, like a fine wine!

NEW ARRIVALS:

GLENROTHES BOURBON CASK: Any time Glenrothes puts out a whisky I am interested.

GLENROTHES SHERRY CASK: ANYTIME Glenrothes puts out a whisky I am interested. Could not find very much on either of these releases but I am very much looking forward to trying them.

PLANTATION PINEAPPLE!!! IS BACK!!   The greatest Pineapple rum in the Universe has returned! I know what I am drinking the next few days!!   Before you roll your eyes this rum has to be tasted to be believed! It is not sweet, it is dry.

STRONACHIE 10 AND 18 ARE BACK!! One of my new favorite distilleries is back in stock, and this is great news for all Scotch lovers far and wide.

GARRISON BROTHERS WHISKEY: This was a customer request. Another Texas distillery heard from. Good news folks, people are making good whiskey all over. Wonderful time to be alive! I found the regular to be young but have a tasty finish, have not tried the single barrel. They are clearly very proud of their product and are doing it all themselves. They grow their own barley and buy the corn from local farms.

BOURBON UPDATE: Unlikely to be getting any Willet products anytime soon. We still have some of their tasty rye, AND we did not get any buffalo trace products in this week. I spoke to the main rep for the state today he wasn’t optimistic about any of this changing anytime soon. I highly encourage you to try some of our substitutes. Lots of great whiskey out there.   In the special release category, we just got a few bottles of Blood Oath Pact 2 and another case of IW Harper 15.   I am sorry but we can no longer take phone payments and we do not hold bottles.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

THE KINGS PINEAPPLE:

Ron and I came up with this majestic cocktail one lovely afternoon and I am proud to have had a hand in its creation. Once Ron retires I will take full credit for its invention!

1.5 ounces of KINGS GINGER (GIFFARD, DOMAINE DE CANTON)

1.5 ounces of Plantation Pineapple (no exceptions)

This makes more of a manhattan/old fashioned type drink. If you want to change it into a beach drink then just add 3 ounces of Fever Tree Ginger ale.