Can I make it to 2000 views this year? Oh and beer.

I was hoping to make it to 2000 views this year. We shall see. I am a little further from my goal than I thought i would be. So sad. That and i can't count.
Anyways. The other night a few people came over to enjoy some delicious pumpkin pie betty stuff that I made from a kit i got for the holidays. Well Christmas since there are so few jews here. Anyways, very yummy. We had a beer with dinner at DT's. Their veggie burgers, while very yummy, are no where near as FAT as the rest of the food there. I left feeling full, but not ready to puke. It was a nice change. Anyways, after that we pulled out some beers at my place. I had my mixed winter 12 pack of Dundee, my go to cheap beer. I like this beer, oddly enough due to a douchey ex. Beyond STD's ex's can pass on their bad taste. But at least antibiotics can cure one of those problems :). I mean that in a joking way. Body condoms for everyone.

Anyways, Tyler brought Leinenkugel Sunset wheat. Usually I don't mind this beer, but i'm pretty sure this set was skunked. Normally a light and somewhat fresh tasting wheat beer, this one was a little fruity in the off way. If not skunked, definitely on its way there. Or just gross. Mass produced, Leinenkugel used to be independent. I wish big beer would try harder at maintaining the integrity and feel of the smaller breweries they buy. I'll stick to their much girlier summer shandy if anything. Or berry wiess (its like soda!). No rating, the beer was no longer good.

Holiday party red's

One of the best things about the holidays is that I get to try wine at other people's homes. Their pick, their price range. Most recently I was at the home of my department head. Her and her husband love to throw holiday parties and have been doing it forever. This was only one of three that I know they threw this year.
Anyways along with a ton of wine and some really good spiked cider (i should have asked for the recipe!) they had a whole bunch of open bottles of this red from Spain. Initially, I thought it was a blended red, however, it appears that Garnacha is its own type of grape. I was super impressed by this fruity, well balanced wine that had just enough acid. It was REALLY GOOD. I was even more impressed when I found out that it runs about 10 dollars a bottle. What? In my price range? How did this happen. Thank you Spain! This wine is also a little on the strong side at about 15.2% apv. 4.9/5 for flavor. Not quite perfect, but still freaking good. And 4.5/5 for value. Only 10 dollars! I shall need to find it!
If i wasn't so full I probably would have had more. The food, however, was amazing. This wine paired with blackberry pie......nomnomnomnom.
Check out the website if you don't believe anything i say. I'm not the only one that things this wine is great.
http://www.lasrocaswine.com/

Now that I am salivating again..... cheers!

Making Mulled Wine

While I'm not a real Hoilday-y type person, every once in a while I may try to get into the spirit of things. Last night I made my basically annual attempt as a snowy, windy, yucky, storm rolled through. Since i'm crashed at a friends place and I think the heat is at 60 or something thereabouts, I needed to warm up a bit. Good thing Tyler was still in town to share his work in progress recipe for mulled wine.
Our version:
half a giant bottle of wine (sweet red)
one sliced orange
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground nutmeg
2 cinnamon sticks

Simmer, or boil, whichever, and depends on how much alcohol you want in it. The first mug gave me a good buzz, the second mug was from the accidentally boiled batch and my buzz did not hold up. Smelled like holiday spirit, though :).
I think next time i'll try a real recipe.
Also, the wine we used was crap. It was a sweet red from Liberty creek, not something i would buy for anything but making cheap holiday punch. 4/5 for value (biiigggg bottle) and 1/5 for taste.

This recipe looks similar... but slightly more accurate: http://wine.about.com/od/holidayswithwine/r/MulledWines.htm

Cheers!

Flat 12 Kolsch... and Graduation

My parents were in this past weekend for my graduation, mmmm.... so much food. They feed me better than i feed myself when they come into town. When i go visit them i live off of veggie burgers and hummus, though. For our last meal as a family we headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings (don't judge me, we were near there and just wanted some appetizers). I ordered a Flat 12 porter (yum yum! See my previous post for that one) but they were out! Instead i got the Flat 12 kolsch. I haven't had a kolsch in quite a while and i forgot how fruity they are. While this isn't, by far, my favorite beer, it was pretty good. If you like a lighter colored, fruity beer, then try this. It doesn't smack you in the face with fruit like the Magic hat number 9. It is definitely light, though. No buzz.
I enjoyed it, i'd give it a 3/5 for yumminess. No word on cost. It was parentally subsidized.
Next  up! Mulled wine!
Cheers!

Graduation is upon us!

Ah, so much slackerdome. I must say that my drinking has actually been pretty lame.
Last night Kerri finished her last final! Congrats, girly! In celebration she bought herself a box of franzia white zinfindel. Holy sugar rush. I came over to join her on her bender and keep her from drinking alone. 6 sweet, sweet glasses later and it was time to pass out at her place. Ooof. Not my drink of choice.
When drinking franzia, or other super freaking cheap ass wine, i usually recommend to buy something that doesn't say its going to be sweet. Usually, especially with cheap boxed wines, it will be anyways, but it wont be as sweet as a zinfandel or a "sweet red". Then i recommend staying on the lighter side. The whites will always go down easier than the reds. Especially during a tour de franzia, if you have ever played (yea! 2011 champions!)
Next i recommend drinking it slowly and not binging on it. Headaches from all the sugar in the stuff will really get you down.

Franzia: 5/5 for value (look at the size of that bag!) 2/5 for flavor.
Also, thats not franzia in the picture, but damn, i want to be back in the mountains!