It is session time everyone! We have not done a session in a long time (boo! hiss!), but this topic, graciously hosted by Mario from Brewed For Thought, is an important one to this blog and to me. I have always said that beer is my favorite beverages, but really all beverages are interesting to me. Even possibly more than food, they tell complicated stories and show the history of people. And on a more down to earth note – they taste great and have so many different combinations/types to try.

So, lately, when I am not drinking beer, I am trying a new wine. No, this is not wineatjoes.com  - but I have always enjoyed exploring the vast landscape of different wines to try. And out here on the west coast there are so many options just from west coast wines. Then add onto that the fact that the bay area is wine crazy overall, and you get a bunch of restaurants and shops carying wine from all over the world. You can see that I like wine, but lately I have been trying to learn and try even more mainly because I am actually working with a very cool wine related technology company called RealWineLists. And hey you got to understand your industry.

All this leads to a wine I want to talk about. This new years we indulged in a half bottle of Ruinart Rose NV champagne.  Ruinart is the oldest champagne house. They have been making champagne since 1729. Yup that long. And so I knew they would know a thing or two about making a sparkling rose. But this one really knocked me for a loop. We also tried the “regular” Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and it was great. Tasted like some of the best chardonay – with a good sparkle to it. They take some of the best fruit they can find to make these wines. The Rose is a blend of the Blanc de Blancs and Pinot Noir. And you could totally taste that. The second I tried it I recognized the other champagne we had. But with the pinot you had a deeper flavor that pretty much made me platz.

Here is a small blurb from wine spectator:

“A firm rosé, more about its elegant texture and streak of minerality than the flavors of wild strawberry, white cherry, grilled plum and graphite. Hints of spice and fleur de sel accent the finish. Drink now through 2020.”

I can say I totally agree with the elegant texture. And would add that it was really tasty. And this is not a very high priced champagne, a half bottle will cost you around $40. Perfect for a special night.

I know I will try many many great beers in 2012, but I am going to make sure I try a bunch of amazing wines too. And write about it on this blog of course.

I love things that take two great things and combine them into something bigger and better. Cheeseburgers. Rum cake. Slankets. Beer floats. (Not chocolate cheese though. I’ve never had chocolate cheese that was worth the cheese it was made out of.)
Last year on my birthday we made beer floats out of chocolate ice cream and Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merkin. It was tasty, but not perfect. Stouts seem like the best idea, but they have to be really rich and not at all bitter.
I wrote about Burger Bar’s beer floats two years ago, and I loved those.
A few days ago I tried a new combination and it was pretty fantastic: Three Twins vanilla chocolate chip ice cream with Northcoast Brewery’s Grand Cru. A friend recommended the Grand Cru because of the caramel taste it has, and it worked awesomely. It started to get a tad on the sweet side as the ice cream melted, but honestly no worse than your average root beer float. The caramel and the vanilla were super, the Grand Cru’s heavy hitting alcohol was toned down by the ice cream, and the mini chocolate chips make for a nice little surprise at the end.
I think I should do more tests. Three Twins has a lemon cookie flavor that everyone goes crazy over. Suggestions for a pairing to pour?

Last night we were lucky to try a few aged sakes from Corkage sake bar and shop.

You are probably asking  - Joe – ok I know sake but what is Autumn sake. Good question! I had never really heard of this either. I think this year it is being brought to America as a pretty big thing. And with it some great sakes.

From Beau Timken:

Most brewers will age a portion of this Nama production for roughly six months. Then in the autumn they will hit it with heat “pasteurize” it once as opposed to the typical two heatings and then bottle and release this style of sake. And therein rests the secret technique for making Hiyaoroshi sake.

So what did we have:

Sawanoi “Genrokugura Hiyaoroshi” – Fountain of Tokyo – a pretty great sake in my book. Rich and smooth but with a good yeasty taste. I could drink a lot of this one.

Wakatake Onikoroshi “Akino Ki-ippon” – Demon Slayer – not bad but not very memorable really. Rather light. I could spend more time with this one. I think I have had the regular Demon Slayer before – would be interesting to compare.

Urakasumi “Hiyaoroshi” – Misty Bay – I wonder if this one is traditional of this style – because it tasted different then most sake that I usually have. I think the fruity aged flavor came out a good amount. Not my favorite – but still interesting.

We also had some non Hiyaoroshi sake last night too – one was pretty nuts – it had a very noticeable stinky cheese, mushroom smell and taste to it. Very savory.  It is called Three Dots – Kamoizumi Shusen.

Fog, hills, ocean, and elks – oh my!  One of the best hikes I have ever done, the Tomales Point Trail along the Point Reyes National Seashore. Worth it just to see all the elk close up, let alone the great views.  A 9.5 mile hike there and back hike. Not too bad, with only a small amount of incline –  but still a pretty long hike for this crew. And so we have a beer and a sandwich at the halfway point (of course).  Check out our short moutainbeering video we made back in October:

And I know you all love the idea behind Mountainbeering – go to the source and check out a bunch more adventures from across the world.

Bourbon’s All-American Roar – NY Times