White Wine or Red Wine?

Overall, when it comes to wine, i really prefer white wine. I know red wine has more health benefits, but for me the only upside is that its harder for me to drink, so i tend to take it slow and enjoy it more. White wine on the other hand, i can pretty much guzzle. 

While I was in Amherst this past weekend, I went to the weekly wine tasting at Amherst Wines and Spirits, a locally run wine shop. Every saturday they do a wine tasting of a different region or type, or both. This past weekend it was Spanish White Wines. While I hadn't heard of most of he varieties  i only ended up liking the first one i tried. I was a lighter, but not light dry white. I'll see if i can't think of what it was called. Amherst wines has a great selection of affordable bottles.

I picked up a 9 dollar italian white wine, since it looked so good. Its Ribolla Gialla, thats the type of grape, bye Ca' Stella. I liked it, and in only a few sittings I had knocked back the whole bottle. I would rate this a 5/5 for yumminess. I reallllly enjoyed it. It was light and refreshing, but not especially dry. 4.5/5 for value, since 9 is still pretty cheap for a bottle i really enjoyed.

When the white was kicked i found this 2003 Marques de Riscal Risevera Rioja. Honestly, i'm not so sure how good this wine is anymore, as in, it may have gone bad. The newer reviews of this spanish wine seem to say its ok, but i'm not so sure. Its mostly tempranillo grape mixed with graciano y manzuelo, and I'm not so sure what my track record is with those. I'm actually going to refrain from rating this one, just in case its a little past its prime. 

*note the cork crumbled when i tried to open it, which may be a sign that oxygen could reach the wine, causing chemical changes.

Cheers anyways!

Mini adventure, and No, i didn't burn the house down

What to do when you are certifiably going insane during your job hunt? Take off and drink some beer with friends. I've found that usually takes the stress off for a little while. Last weekend I headed down to CT for some skiing (only so so, plus i forgot to sharpen my skiis). I also was nice enough to bring my own beer for once, although it didn't last too long. I packed a 6 pack of Narragansett beer, one of my favorite "crap" beers. For very little money, i think about 5 or 6 bucks at my local Trader Joe's, I picked up a six pack of tall boys to bring over. I chose this beer because, one its cheep, and my CT friend really like cheep beer, and two, I like it, too. While it really has almost no flavor, its still better than bud or busch in my eyes. Its also great on fishing trips, if thats your thing. 

After making the guys some cake in CT and catching some stuff on fire in their kitchen (nothing irreplaceable or irreparably damaged) i made my way to western MA for some more cold weather shenanigans. Which ended up just been some events. More outdoorsing next time, i think. I am wayyyy too lazy. Jeremy had some Founder's Dirty Bastard Scottish Ale in his fridge, which i was really excited to try. It was a pretty decent hearty scottish ale that packed a pretty decent punch at i think 7 or 8% ABV. I brought up some Stockyard Oatmeal stout, also from my Trader Joe's shopping trip. This was a fairly well rounded cheep oatmeal stout. For about 8 or 9 bucks for this six pack, i'd pick it up again if i was in an oatmeal stout mood. Nothing overly impressive, though. 

The most exciting, yet disappointing part of the weekend, i'd have to say, was the half dozen donuts i got. Its my own fault, the cream filled always look so good, but its the classic cake donuts that are glazed that are the best. If you are over at the Donut Man in Hadly, try the chocolate donuts, I think that one was my favorite. Bavarian creme can suck it.

When stuck inside, why not enjoy a little red wine?

While I might not have stocked up as much booze to weather the Northeast's "Blizzard of 2013", I did have a new bottle of red wine on the ready. Just one. Last week with a little forethought i weathered (no pun intended) the traffic at the local Whole foods for some hipster goods. While there i picked up a nice 8 dollar bottle of Malbec from Argentina made by Callia Alta.

 Generally I like a Malbec. They aren't usually too sweet, and even on the cheap side, they may provide a nice bite. Sometimes. This impressed me by being more than one dimensional for 8 bucks. In snobby talk: the nose fell a little flat so I wasn't expecting much. But midway into the sip you get nice spicy bite of malbec. Good buy. I'll give it a 4.5/5 for flavor (nothing fancy, but i really liked it) and a 4/5 for value. If you are a wholefoods try it out for yourself. Its especially good when the world outside looks something like this:

Cheers!

When in Vermont, do as the Vermonters do

What to do when in one of the most beautiful places in the US? Drink awesome local beer, that's what. The weekend started with some chilled Long Trail Hibernater, an unfiltered malty Scottish Ale. The 12 pack lasted the three of us until about 3 am for a mini University reunion. The best part was drinking one of these outside on a cold Vermont evening. This inexpensive beer is a fairly impressive %6.00 without tasting very alcoholic. I'd give it a 4/5 for yumminess and the same for value. Go for it, its pretty darn good for an unpretentious, drinkable Vermont Ale. 

 While out at a local restaurant pub, I also picked up a Zero Gravity Narconaut Black IPA. While overall tasty enough, i'd only give this beer a 3/5 for yumminess. It fell a little flat and one dimensional, although it was malty and had a good amount of bitterness. The aftertaste underwhelmed. I can't rate for cost, since i picked it up for 6 bucks at the pub, which is about normal for the area and local beers (hurray, no LA 9 dollar beers!).

To round out the evening Joe pulled a happy surprise out of his beer fridge, some cold Ale8s, something not normally found out of the Kentucky area. If you can, try one, but remember, its got a ton of caffeine in it.
Enjoy!