 KIM'S BEER REVIEW
By Kim Funari
New Belgium Somersault
Fort Collins, Colorado
Style: American Blonde Ale
with apricot and ginger
ABV: 5.2%
The Somersault is New Belgium's brand new Summer Seasonal. It's a bright golden color with lots of carbonation and a bright white head.
The scent is redolent of pale malts and spicy warm hints of apricot, banana, clove and ginger.
Flavor-wise, this beer starts with a very citrusy hop bite, somewhere in the grapefruit to navel orange range. The malts follow, pale and biscuity, run through with hints of honey and caramel. The beer isn't as sweet as this description makes it sound - it's well-balanced, quite dry with a lovely touch of bitterness from the hops.
The most interesting thing with this beer is right at the swallow and the aftertaste. The Somersault is brewed with apricot and ginger, but the apricot and ginger only make an appearance right at the end, where they help give the beer a touch of warm fruitiness. If I hadn't known about the apricot, I think I would have attributed the fruit to the malts and yeast - it's there, but it's faint, and it's blended in marvelously well.
Overall, this is an excellent beer for sitting on the deck and grilling on lazy Summer afternoons. It's cooling, fizzy, light and flavorful, without the sugary sweetness found in many other fruity beers. This is a great addition to New Belgium's catalog: enjoy!
Updated April 19, 2011 4:55 pm CDT
EMILY & JAMES' WINE REVIEW
By Emily & James Harrington * Raimat Viña 24 Albariño
Costa del Segre, Spain
For all of you world-weary wine “travelers” out there, get your hands on an Albariño today! Albariño wines are refreshing, zippy, and invigorating—a great alternative to Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. This grape variety is one of the most esteemed in Spain, where it is traditionally grown in the northwestern part of the country that borders Portugal. These are go-to wines when serving seafood, and also pair very well with poultry. We were very excited to find this wine, since many Albariños come from small producers, and are consequently a little more than we spend on a weeknight bottle of wine. The Raimat Albariño delivers lively citrus notes with the variety’s characteristic note of almond. This wine definitely benefitted from some warming, becoming fleshier and the flavors more multi-dimensional as the glasses sat out. James also hit the nail on the head when he described the aroma as, “a lemon bar with that Almond Joy combination of coconut and almond that comes through heavily on the nose.” This is one of the reasons that we like sharing wine with family and friends: by tasting and discussing with others, you encourage connections in your tasting memory that you may not have made on your own. When someone identifies an aroma or taste that you hadn’t thought of, it’s like a light bulb clicks on and you have that Ah-ha moment. This particular wine is also notable in that it comes from a region on the opposite side of the country called Costers del Segre, which is a small, but highly-regarded wine region near Barcelona. We really enjoyed it on a beautiful spring evening, a great way to relax after a hard day at work!
*Both James, a member of our Prairie Village team, and Emily, who is on the staff in Lenexa, are Certified Sommeliers as recognized by the Court of Master Sommeliers
Updated April 19, 2011 4:25 pm CDT
CAMPARI... What is it and what can I do with it?
What is it?
Campari is an Italian aperitif, known most for its strong, bitter flavor and vivid red color. Campari is made from chinotto, a bitter orange grown in several parts of Italy, and a secret combination of other herbs and fruits. The flavor is most strongly reminiscent of bitter orange peel with touches of sweetness. It has a syrupy mouthfeel and is most commonly mixed with soda or orange juice.
What can I do with it?
Campari and Soda:
1 part Campari
2 parts Soda
Pour into glass, garnish with orange slice
Garibaldi:
1.5 oz Campari
4 oz orange juice
Layer in a glass and garnish with orange peel
The Americano:
1 part Campari
1 part Sweet Vermouth
Pour Campari and Vermouth over ice, top with Club Soda
The Negroni:
1 part Gin
1 part Sweet Vermouth
1 part Campari
Stir together, pour over ice, garnish with orange peel
Updated April 7, 20116:32 pm CDT
 KIM'S BEER REVIEW
By Kim Funari
Odell Myrcenary
Fort Collins, Colorado
Style: Double/Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.3%
Myrcenary gets its name from myrcene, a chemical component in the essential oil of hop flowers. Odell chose the hop variety with the highest a mount of myrcene to ensure a bright, rich flavor. True to what you'd expect in a beer named after one of its most necessary chemical compounds, the hops get shown off to the best and highest of their capacities in this beer.
This brew has a bright, sunshiney, citrus-pine nose floating over a bright golden amber beer with an eggshell-colored head.
When drinking this beer, the hops hit in waves. They begin sharp, biting at the tongue, before moving into a more round, reinsous feeling. The flavor shifts from pine and resin to bright, grapefruit-y citrus and back into pine again. All of this flavor comes in strong, smooth mouthfeel. The malts come through in the feel of the beer alone
- they provide the backbone against which the hops can shine, but stay otherwise firmly out of the way.
Overall, this is a dedicated hophead's dream beer. The experts agree:
Beer Advocate gave it an A, and RateBeer has given it 97 points.
Updated April 7, 2011 3:00 pm CDT
EMILY & JAMES' WINE REVIEW
By Emily & James Harrington *
Montebuena Rioja 2009
If you are curious about Spanish wines or eager to try a new red wine, Rioja is a good place to start. This is THE iconic region of Spain, an area that has been producing wines of renown for centuries. This area is known mostly for its red wine production, relying heavily on the Tempranillo grape. This grape is a little hard to describe sometimes... a grape with the acidity and tart cherry flavors of Italy's Sangiovese, with some of the spice and propensity toward plushness when super-ripe that a red Zinfandel has. Like many other indigenous grapes of Spain, it is really in a class by itself, so you just need to try a few examples to get a hang of its character.
This wine is 100% Tempranillo and also demonstrates another characteristic that Spain has historically been known for: a tendency to use a lot of American oak in the winemaking process, which gives a pronounced oakiness and tannic structure. The aromas of this wine reminded us of a cigar box, with a peppery cedar foreground and subtle waves of tobacco and dark clove and cinnamon spice. A definite sour cherry fruit character was supported with light touches of herbs and lavender, with a lengthy finish drawn out by the spiciness and oak-imparted tannins. Overall, this was a good example of what wines of this region taste like. It would be great if paired with grilled or roasted lamb (a classic pairing for Rioja) or an aged cheese, like a Manchego from Spain or Parmesan or Peccorino from Italy.
*Both James, a member of our Prairie Village team, and Emily, who is on the staff in Lenexa, are Certified Sommeliers as recognized by the Court of Master Sommeliers
Updated April 1, 2011 8:10 pm CDT |
