Archive for September, 2007

Gaujal de Saint Bon Picpout de Pinet

{ September 27, 2007 @ 7:21 pm } · { Wine }
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BOOZE TYPE: WINE
PRICE: $11.00 at Freshdirect.com
RATING: A-

Tonight I’m making poulet sautè aux herbes de Provence, and the major ingredient is white wine, so I picked up something French in my Freshdirect shoppings! Nearly half the bottle went into the pot, and the rest is going into a glass and into my belly.

This is very interesting and kind of complex. The scent has a fruity, floral hit at first, and then when I really stick my nose deep in the glass, I got the smell of apples. The first sip was explosive and odd; this has more alcohol content than most wines I’ve been drinking lately, so I can feel my tongue pucker from it. It’s really quite pleasing. Upfront it’s a little sweet and citrusy, but in the aftermath there’s some grassiness, something woody. …I feel like I’m just using all my wine words I know here, but this is a really interesting wine that keeps me sipping and going “Hmm. Hmm! Hmm.“

It was also very good in the chicken. I mean! Poulet!

BUY IT AGAIN: Yes, so I can drink a whole bottle and figure out these flavors.

Terre d’Alteni Moscato 2006

{ September 24, 2007 @ 6:44 pm } · { Wine }
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BOOZE TYPE: Sparkling Wine
PRICE: $11.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A

Astor Center has moved its Moscato d’Asti wines into its Cool Room (a lovely glassed-off room that’s kept at a chilly 57° at all times), or maybe they’ve always been there and the store is just now putting up signs saying that’s where they are. In any case, I’m grateful, because I could never find the stuff before. I think the first time I had it was as part of the ridiculous and wonderful tasting menu I had at the best dinner of my life at wd-50, where it appeared late in the courses, after many, many other glasses of wine. I think that’s what it was, at least. Like I said, many glasses of wine. Delightful and bubbly and sweet, just perfect for dessert.

My last experience with Moscato was with the Death in the Afternoon cocktails I was making with my bottle of Lucid Absinthe (which, I will report, was all drunk up in less than a week. ….I had help.) That was sweet and pleasant, but I wanted to try it on its own, so I picked up one of the lower priced bottles, that had a placard that talked about how it would be paired well with yellow cake. Presumably not uranium, but what do I know about wine pairings?

As I sipped this, nicely chilled and so very gently bubbly, I was delighted by how softly sweet it was, but spent a while being puzzled by what the fruity taste was. Apricot? I thought. Peach? And then I went, well, no, dumbass, what this tastes exactly like is Muscat Gummy (”Its translucent color so alluring and taste and aroma so gentle and mellow offer admiring feelings of a graceful lady. Enjoy soft and juicy Kasugai Muscat Gummy.”) Shocking, that something made of muscat grapes would taste like this candy. Shocking, indeed!

In any case, this wine is very pleasant, with a low alcohol content that keeps it light on the tongue and very sweet indeed.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yum, yes.

Monsanto Chianti Classico 2003

{ September 18, 2007 @ 6:30 pm } · { Wine }
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BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $17.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A

Weather has blissfully, beautifully cooled in New York City, and we’re rolling into my favorite time of year, which also means my favorite foods and beverages. I can put the whites away and get to enjoying red wine again without it making me sweat! (I am a fat Southerner, you see, so hot food and red wine make me break into a sweat.) Central Italian wines were on sale today, and I’m making tomato sauce, so off I went!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually had a chianti before, but this is definitely a good starting point. The back of the bottle recommended letting this open up some, so I poured a glass and then worked on prepping dinner. Coming back to it a half hour later, I’m finding it incredibly enjoyable. It’s got a rich, red scent that reminds me of a lot of other amazing wines I’ve had, and the scent automatically takes me back to good memories of being with my wine fiend friends in San Francisco. It’s rich in the mouth, tannic without being overwhelming, to make for a very smooth feel. On the tongue it has a nice acidity without too much sweetness, and my favorite part is the finish, which has a woody, smokey taste. Lovely for this weather, and it should go well with tomatoes.

BUY IT AGAIN: Quite possibly!

Lucid Absinthe Supérieure

{ September 18, 2007 @ 2:29 pm } · { Absinthe, Liquor }
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BOOZE TYPE: Absinthe!!
PRICE: $59.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A+

Since I was a ridiculous goth teenager, I have had wild fantasies about drinking absinthe. It’s very likely that these fantasies starred Gary Oldman, or possibly Trent Reznor. There was even a point in my life where I tried to make my own absinthe, sending a friend to pick up the right herbs, and stealing my mom’s vodka to seal the whole mess up in a mason jar. I was never brave enough to drink it, but the bonus of that experiences was that when my mom later drank that vodka (after I had filled it back up with water to cover up what I had stolen), she kept commenting on how smoooooth it was. Hilarity!

I’ve considered importing absinthe from other countries, at risk of it getting snatched by customs or being a terrible product, but now getting the green stuff is as simple as going down to my beloved corner liquor store, thanks to Lucid finding legal loopholes to bring absinthe back to the US for the first time in, what, 90 years?

First things first, no, absinthe doesn’t make you hallucinate. Or if it does, it has nothing to do with the wormwood or the amount of thujone. Any crazed effects are due to the fact that this stuff is a solid 62% alcohol, which is a serious kick in the drawers. I drank it in the classic fashion involving sugar and water, although since I lacked a traditional slotted absinthe spoon (they just don’t have them in the Martha Stewart Living collection at K-Mart, for some reason), I used a wire mesh tea ball that I inexplicably have. I poured around an ounce of absinthe into a wine glass, then put a sugar cube in the tea ball and dribbled icy cold SmartWater (because we all know that Oscar Wilde loved his SmartWater! I strive for accuracy) over it. I had been sort of doubtful that cold water would dissolve the sugar, but it most certainly did! And the absinthe in the glass became a beautiful milky green-white, and gave off a strong herbal absinthe smell.

I was bracing myself for a rough, bitter experience, and got nothing of the sort! Lucid consumed in this manner was sweet and lovely. Anise was the strongest flavor, naturally, and there were some other herbs that I couldn’t quite place, but they stirred some sort of nostalgia in me, probably for when I was a gothy teenager and always messing around with herbs. The sugar made it nicely sweet, and it was a little tongue-numbing, with just a twist of bitterness in the finish. I tried a little (very little; I just dipped my finger in the glass) of it straight, and I could still taste sweetness in it without the sugar-water dilution, but good god, it was far too strong to drink straight.

I also consumed Lucid in the form of Ernest Hemingway’s “Death in the Afternoon” cocktail: “Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.” I used a possibly too-sweet Moscato d’Asti, and only made it slowly through two, but it made a very nice combination. Bubbly absinthe! Delicious.

And finally, the effects. No, I did not hallucinate, but man, it was a drunkenness like no other. The brand name is very apt, since drinking a very small amount (the price point isn’t so painful when you consider how much of an incredible bang for the buck you’re getting) put me into this very clear, bright state of lucid drunkeness. I was hammered both nights I drank the absinthe, but I didn’t feel really hampered or clumsy or slow. I felt like a genius. I wanted to write novels! I had coherent conversations, and felt utterly fantastic. If possible, I would like to feel like I have two glasses of absinthe in me at all times. Is “Absinthe Fiend” still a valid profession? …no? Oh, rats.

Next up will be experimenting with more cocktails. I just have to see how this would mesh with some Hendrick’s Gin.

BUY IT AGAIN: As often as my budget allows. I will be making my budget allow for a lot of it.

A Peek into the Professional Life of Ms. McGuzzles

{ September 17, 2007 @ 7:06 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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I wrote up a little piece for the paycheck-place called 10 Sites for Boozehounds.

You know, other than this one! …I exercised self-restraint in not dropping the boozymcguzzles.com URL in the story itself, so I can’t keep myself from posting it here. I can only do so much!

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale

{ September 3, 2007 @ 9:19 pm } · { Beer }
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BOOZE TYPE: Beer
PRICE: $9.99 at the bodega across the street
RATING: A-

Yeah, I had all my ratatat about it not yet being the right weather for pumpkin ales in my last post, but then, after drinking off the rest of that Bluepoint IPA, I decided I needed more beer and staggered across the street to pick up something else. My boozing companion Arielle had mentioned that Blue Moon had a pumpkin brew, and when I saw it, I basically couldn’t resist.

However, Arielle had described it as tasting basically exactly like regular Blue Moon, and by gum, she’s right. It does have a very pleasant aftertaste of pumpkin spices, though. This actually made it a perfect choice for this not-quite-summer/not-quite-fall time of year. It’s still light enough on the tongue to not weight you down at the end of the summer heat, but it has a really great promise of fall. A perfect September beer.

BUY IT AGAIN: For another month, sure.

Bluepoint No Apologies Double IPA

{ September 1, 2007 @ 7:29 pm } · { Beer }
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BOOZE TYPE: Beer
PRICE: $9.99 for a growler at the Whole Foods Bowery Beer Room
RATING: B

My first growler refill! They were out of the one I wanted, the Kelso of Brooklyn Hop Lager, so I went for something else guaranteed to be pretty damn hoppy, the Bluepoint IPA. And boy, howdy, does it not disappoint on the hoppiness.

I sort of have to be in the right mood for an IPA. It’s a weird world right now, weather wise, trying to figure out what to drink. Light summery things are not entirely required right now, but you can’t quite go into the heavy red wines and pumpkin ales yet. Oh, how I eagerly await the first crisp day; autumnal drinks and foods are about my favorite things in the world.

So, an IPA seems one of those beverages that’s sort of on the edge right now. That said, though, the Bluepoint is a really good beer. As the name implies, it has no damn apologies about how hoppy it is. The Whole Foods description is, “Huge, earthy, dry hop aroma is followed by a pleasant caramel sweetness.” I’d recommend drinking this beer not so cold; you get more of the sweetness to balance out getting all hopped up in the face.

First day out of the growler, this had a great thick heavy head; 24 hours later, it still has bubbles, but doesn’t foam up much. I’d wager that you can probably get about two days max out of one of these, after you open it up for the first time.

BUY IT AGAIN?: Yeah, though probably moreso later in the month.