Labels

Saturday, June 25, 2016

WRC - whiskey releases


Watch for Whiskey Reward Club Emails in the next few days for these limited releases

Emails sent on on these today, thanks very much.   People have 7 days to pick up.  Some extras might end up on the shelf at some point in the next few weeks (without warning)
  • Bookers Limited Edition Rye
  • Compass Box Enlightenment Scotch
  • Compass Box Circus
  • 1792 Full Proof Bourbon Whiskey

Friday, June 24, 2016

Saugatuck Mandarina IPA


Saugatuck Brewing Mandarina IPA....$9.49 / 6pk
An Imperial IPA with a great malty backbone and a huge hop flavor. Bright copper color and a medium to heavy mouth feel pair with a nice thick head. Hop aromas of sweet fruit with a tropical citrusy twist to it.
ABV:
8.0%

WhistlePig Rye 10 Year Old




WhistlePig 10 Year Rye 100 Proof...$69.99
WhistlePig produces a 100-proof, straight rye whiskey, aged for at least ten years through a unique double-barrel process.

WhistlePig was released in the summer of 2010 to great critical acclaim, earning 96 points from Wine Enthusiast, their highest rating ever for a rye whiskey, a “highest recommendation” from Spirits Journal, as well as accolades from The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Forbes, Maxim, Imbibe Magazine, and many others. As Master Distiller Dave Pickerell notes, these extraordinary honors both “humble and set a high bar” for the company.

WhistlePig embodies the perfect combination of proof, purity, and age — hitting “the sweet spot” in all three categories. In short: more rye, all the proof, and the perfect age. All in. Full stop.

"Real" Soy Sauce

We have been out for awhile, just arrived!





Fantastic artisanal Soy Sauce
Kishibori Shoyu Soy Sauce...$16.99 / 12oz
"The best stuff we’ve found is Kishibori Shoyu. "Commodity" soy sauce tastes like salt and not much else – but this soy sauce tastes like something you wouldn’t mind eating all on its own. When you pour it onto a spoon you can see that it has a much higher viscosity than the commercial stuff, along with a beautiful amber hue. The scent is floral with a nice bit of earthy porcini funk. Kishibori Shoyu is rich and brothy on the palate, with a saltiness that supports rather than overwhelms its many layers of flavor. It has a meatiness (read: umami) that’s reminiscent of the crust on a well-seared steak.

Kishibori Shoyu is produced by the Takesan Company which was founded by Yoshiji Takebe in at the turn of the 19th century. He chose the small island of Shodoshima for his shoyu company not only because of the ideal temperate climate for fermentation, but also for the regions long history of sea salt production. Today other Shoyu producers have followed suit, and Shodoshima Island has become Japan’s third largest Shoyu producing region.

The Takesan Company still makes their shoyu artisanally, using only the highest quality whole soybeans, toasted wheat, and artisanal sea salt from the surrounding Seto Inland Sea. The production of Kishibori Shoyu is similar to that of the legendary Balsamic vinegar, in that the Takesan Company uses American white oak barrels (some of which from when Yoshiji first started the company!) to age their shoyu. After the three ingredients go through the “mashing” phase, they are allowed to slowly ferment in the oak barrels for a year. The slow fermentation process creates organic acids that heighten the flavor of the soy sauce, and eliminate the need for the artificial preservatives and alcohols found in the commercial stuff. After a year of aging in the oak barrels, Kishibori shoyu is filtered, pasteurized, and bottled.

Because this soy sauce is so special, it should be treated a little bit differently. We’d recommend using it to finish a dish, or as a great dipping sauce with fresh chives and a bit of extra virgin sesame oil. It would take the super simple dinner of rice with a fried egg on top to the next level. While we recognize that the refrigerators of cooks are often overstocked with the condiments of the world – this is another one you shouldn’t have to live without." - importer






Interesting reading about the difference in "real" and "chemical" produced Soy Sauce


By Kaayla T. Daniel PhD, The Naughty Nutritionist

Soy sauce, also commonly known as shoyu, is the best known flavor enhancer in Asian cooking. Made the old-fashioned way — through a careful fermentation process that can take as long as 18 months — it’s a healthy and nourishing product.

The best quality, truly healthy soy sauce is not only fermented in a traditional manner but also unpasteurized to retain beneficial enzymes and nutritional cofactors.

The most common soy sauces sold in supermarkets and served at the majority of restaurants are made in two days or less. Here’s how they do it -- click to read the full article.

A cult wine from the Languedoc




A cult wine from the Languedoc.  
We have not seen it in the store for years.
2012 Domaine de la Grange des Peres...$117.99
40% Syrah 40% Mourvèdre 10% Cabernet Sauvignon 10% Counoise
Less than 3000 cases made
Attaining cult wine status is not an easy feat, and certainly not when the odds are stacked against you. Laurent Vaillé has achieved what others thought impossible. Having spent his early career training under such masters as Jean-François Coche-Dury (Meursault), Gérard Chave (Hermitage), and Eloi Durrbach (Domaine Trévallon, Provence), he settled in the l’Hérault of the Languedoc and purchased his own land in 1989, near Aniane. In this area of the region, where the limestone is hard and abundant and the soil poor, no one thought he would ever have any success planting a vineyard on his plot of choice. Though it took dynamite and bulldozing to clear twice the amount of limestone, boulders, and glacial scree that is found in neighboring vineyards, he found a great terroir for his grapes. He did not have to look far to find ideal bud wood, either. He sourced his Syrah, Marsanne, and Roussane cuttings from Gérard Chave and his Cabernet from Domaine Trévallon. Laurent’s South-facing vines get very low yields, normally from twenty to twenty-five hectoliters per hectare. All are pruned in the gobelet style. The simultaneous restraint and power of his wines makes them ideal for aging. As for the skeptics, they are currently eating their words. His area of the Languedoc has since become known to produce some of the greatest wines in the region, with the new appellation of Terrasses du Larzac, of which he is technically part, reaping attention and praise. In his words, “Nature gave us a partition of land. It is up to us to interpret it.”

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Woodwork Chardonnay bargain




2013 Woodwork Chardonnay Central Coast...$6.99
Was $14.99
Lowest price online is one place at $7.99 and everyone else at $9.99 or higher

Oak influence delivers flavors of caramel and butterscotch.  Striking balance of rich tropical fruit and fragrant oak spices.  Notes of juicy peach, crisp fuji apple and pear

WRC - limited Whiskey releases


Watch for Whiskey Reward Club Emails in the next few days for these limited releases

Emails sent on on these today, thanks very much.
  • Bookers Limited Edition Rye
  • Compass Box Enlightenment Scotch
  • Compass Box Circus
  • 1792 Full Proof Bourbon Whiskey

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Rex Hill Jacob Hart Pinot Noir


Rated 92/100 for the 2011 Vintage by The Wine Advocate
Rated 94/100 for the 2012 Vintage by The Wine Advocate
2013 not rated yet
2013 Rex Hill Jacob Hart Estate Pinot Noir...$54.99
The color of the 2013 REX HILL Jacob-Hart Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir is dark, saturated purple from center to rim offering primary aromas of dark cherries, black currants, huckleberries, cassis, rose petals and lavender. As the wine opens, more earthy aromas emerge of cinnamon, roasted black raspberries, wet stones, toasty oak and tobacco. The wine is structured on the palate with bright acidity and modest, ripe tannins, mirroring the aromatics with concentrated flavors of spice, blue and black fruits and minerals. True to form, this wine shows the balance and complexity of the Jacob-Hart Estate Vineyard as well as the ripe and concentrated nature of the 2013 vintage. The wine finishes with tremendous length confirming that this is a wine for the cellar that will age and become more complex over the next 15-20 years.

Beaux Freres - Robert Parker's Winery



2014 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir Willamette Valley..$57.99
Our Willamette Valley cuvée features fruit grown on select vineyard sites in the Northern Willamette Valley. The sites are farmed sustainably and managed to very low yields. We age the wine in the same French oak barrels used in our estate bottling, however the percentage of new oak is intentionally lower. This wine is not fined or filtered. This wine consists of fruit from the following vineyards: Gran Moraine 34%, Zena Crown 21%, Willakia 20%, Upper Terrace 10%, Roserock 6%, Hyland 3%, Saikkonen 3%.

2013 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir Zena Crown...$71.99
Supple, velvety and generous, layering blackberry, plum, licorice, pepper and floral flavors into an open-textured finish that lets the flavors keep singing harmoniously. Best from 2017 through 2023. 213 cases made.
Rated 92/100 Wine Spectator



2013 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir The Upper Terrace...$85.99
Intensely and seductively aromatic, billowing purple plum, blueberry, blackberry and espresso notes that resolve on the velvety palate. The tension between the fruity and savory character persists into the long and vivid finish. Drink now through 2023. 366 cases made.
Rated 96/100 Wine Spectator

Great Sancerre closeout






Great Sancerre Closeout!
2012 Domaine Vincent Delaporte Sancerre...$14.98
Lowest price on Wine Searcher $24.62!
89pts Wine Enthusiast
A totally fresh and herbaceous wine, this is very crisp and citrusy.
It does have some weight as well, a ripe character that comes from apple juice and pear flavors.
The wine is great to drink now but could age.

Our Price $14.98!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Odell Brewing Drumroll APA


Odell Brewing Drumroll APA...$17.99 / 12 pack cans
Drumroll is an unfiltered American Pale Ale. A bold, juicy, citrus-inspired and tropically hop forward APA that looks and tastes like pineapple, orange, mango, and grapefruit. The complex fruit character is the result of the careful combination of our favorite current crop year hops with no fruit or juice addition necessary.

New Belgium Tart Lychee



New Belgium Lips of Faith Tart Lychee...$11.99 / 22oz
According to Lauren, the imaginator of this pucker-pleasing ale, Lychee fruit is so insanely sweet and flavorful you almost can’t stand it alone. Sour to the rescue! Tart Lychee is brewed with exotic lychee fruit and cinnamon, and then blended with sour Felix from our wood cellar for a citrusy, tropical sip that attacks with an invigorating tart bite. Explore the tropics, but brace for the wild.

Stone Go To IPA 16oz CANS - 6 pack




Great deal for a 6 pack of 16oz cans
Stone Brewing to To IPA....$9.99 / 6pk 16oz CANS
Since Day One, we've been abundantly forthright and fully transparent about our lust for hops. It's led us to craft many an IPA, most of them imperial—some intense for their time and all timeless in their intensity. For Stone Go To IPA, we embrace our hop obsession in a new way, funneling an abundance of lupulin-borne bitterness into a session IPA that delivers all the fruity, piney character of a much bigger IPA. To accomplish this, we employ hop bursting, a technique wherein an irrational amount of hops is added during the final phase of the brewing process to bring out extreme flavors and aromas while also imparting a burst of desirably pleasant bitterness. The result is an alpha-acid-rich beer that fans can enjoy more of without missing out on the assertive hop character you, like us, crave. So, sit back and go two with your new everyday go-to IPA and bask along with us in the glory of the almighty hop.

Stone RuinTen IPA




Stone RuinTen IPA...$7.49 / 22oz
IBUs 110 ABV 10.8% 
We first released this decidedly indelicate beer in 2012, as Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our belovedly bitter Stone Ruination IPA. Stone RuinTen IPA uses the same recklessly hoppy recipe as the 2012 release; only the name has changed, as we plan to unleash this belligerently delicious hop monster upon the public annually from now on. We packed a whopping five pounds of hops into each barrel, and cranked up the ABV to stand up to the hop onslaught. The results are glorious, and we know you'll rejoice in tasting this audacious gem of hoppy splendor once again. You're welcome.
We brewed this beer using the same ingredients as in our classic Stone Ruination IPA, but bumped up the malt to achieve its elevated 10.8% abv. And of course we jacked up the hops as well–not just in the boil, but we doubled the dry-hop amount, using a 50/50 blend of Centennial and Citra. The combination is, dare I say, magic.

Key Lime Contact High




4 Hands Key Lime Contact High...$8.99 / 4pk 16oz Cans

New Contact High with Lime -more arrived


Schlafly Expo IPA




Schlafly Expo IPA...$9.99 / 6pk

Featuring 8 different hops
The name is a tribute to the St. Louis World's Fair Exposition from 1904.
An IPA made from 8 different hops from three continents in the spirit of the Word's Fair.
The IPA is made of citrus Australian hops, American hops and their piney aroma and clean, bitter UK/European hops.
Our personal relationships with hop farmers from around the world give us access to rare varieties chosen for their notable attributes, emphasized when blended with quality grains and water sourced from our unique confluence of rivers for an exceptional, distinguished, balanced beer.

2014 Caymus has arrived

In stock now!! Always a favorite! Another great year.



2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon...$64.98
The 2014 growing season was another great one in Napa Valley. Our Cabernets are a blend of wines from eight of the sixteen sub-appellations – a bottling that represents complexity through judicious blending. Deep red and opulent in color with the vibrant scent of dark cherry and blackberry, subtly layered with warm notes of vanilla. The palate is explosive, bright and balanced with cassis at the center, with flourishes of cocoa and sweet tobacco.--Winery Notes