Beerbrotha Sports Review: Bad Weekend to Stop Drinking

So I've decided to put beer and wine and whatnot on hold for a while until this cough is cleared up. It's sad because we even had a nice visit to Yardhouse in the CityCentre area and I could barely make it through half a glass of Chardon before I'm coughing up my kidneys. I got myself checked out and it's not Swine Flu or strep. My doctor thinks it's an allergy of some kind why I haven't been able to kick this cough.

So I've been drinking something called "fre" this alcohol free wine. I bought the "Merlot" and the "Chardonnay". The Merlot was basically bitter grape juice without the alcohol kick to make it worth it. It's like you expected it, and it didn't come through. How about a formal review of the "Chardonnay"

Beer Log: Right now

State: Ticked off with my football teams.

fre

It's spelled lowercase so it looks hip and trendy. Nose is like white grape juice and so is the color. Tastes rather fruity, like raspberry and grapes.

TOUCHDOWN JACKETS!!!!!!! GEORGIA TECH ON THE BIG RUN TO OPEN THE SECOND HALF.

Well I feel better now. This stuff ain't half bad. No legs obviously b/c of no alcohol, but it's just some overpriced grape juice that's not as sweet. Even has a pinch of carbonation.

Moving on...

So with the sports review, FAMU was not in action as we missed the D1 FCS playoffs, so our conference's hopes lied with South Carolina State, the team that beat FAMU a few weeks ago and basically ran away with the MEAC title. SCSU got the screw job and although they were undefeated in D1 FCS play (granted it was all Negro League teams), they had to go to Appalachian State. Again, I could give two craps about SCSU, but in this case we needed them to win this game, big time. Reason being, our conference commissioner is a strong advocate for reinstating segregation, and forcing the MEAC champion to forgo the playoffs to play the SWAC Champion for the Aunt Bessie May's Chitlins and Watermelon Black College Championship game. In case you haven't figured it out, I went FAMU, a Historically Black College, and am a huge supporter of HBCUs.

As you can guess I'm a booster at FAMU and have strongly believed that all Historically Black Colleges...

DAMMIT UGA GOT A BIG RUN RIGHT BACK, TOUCHDOWN FOR JIM CROW U err UGA.

You gotta wonder what the 12 black students that attended UGA (including my wife) think about UGA's slave owner diddies that is their fight song and whatnot. But I digress.

...all HBCU's should strive to be the best in all categories against all comers. That includes sports. If you play the sport, you should try to be the best in your Division. Our leaving the playoffs because our conference hasn't won a first round game in 10 years is not a good reason to just up and quit for what we already know is a poorly attended Black National Championship game. Focus on building up our programs to be National powers, don't take a step back.

Well GA Tech (my grad school) is down by 14 right now although we're the highest ranked 1 loss team in the country. We just gotta get by Univ of Georgia. Damn I hate the Dawgs. We're still smarting over the Texans blowing it against the Titans. We've got the Colts tomorrow and hopefully we can turn things around against them.

And I'm just getting plain ti'ied of of this Tim Tebow talk. Seems like a nice guy, maybe a little effeminate, but my irritation comes from the foolishness from the media. What is it about him and Brett Favre that makes grown men...

TOUCHDOWN JACKETS! GET SOME BABY! WE AIN'T GIVING UP!

Alright enough of this. I plan on getting back on the sauce some time around Christmas. So I'll just be emptying out the old notebook and getting ready for travel to the Maryland and New York during the holidays. I plan on hitting up Lafayette right on the New Year, so hopefully I can hit Zea again. They had a great amber lager and some nice bread pudding.

Texas Hill Country: Wine Reviews?

Yup. I'm expanding out, but only for the area. I am a huge homer and adore the local brewers in Texas with much love to Louisiana. But the wife and I will be spending our anniversary in the Texas Hill Country.

The original intent was to hit New Braunfels, Blanco, and Fredericksburg. For those not aware, there is a huge German influence in the Hill Country of Texas and all three of these towns used to boast of a microbrewery or a brewpub. Kind of a German Texas Beer tour.

But it turns out the brewery in New Braunfels ain't brewing at all, and the Real Ale Brewery in Blanco is not having tours. So we will stop and have lunch in New Braunfels at one of the German restaurants (and probably drink Shiner), and take a circuitious route to Fredericksburg. Some friends who live in the area have hipped me to the various vineyards that are in the Hill Country. I've never paid much attention to wine reviews but will give it a go. If nothing else, it's all about Texas pride. I imagine we'll be taking home lots of wine bottles. You see, SOMEBODY can sell alcoholic beverages out of the back door, just not the beer folks. Don't get me started again.

This should be a fun trip as we'll be staying at something called a "Bed and Brew" as opposed to a Bed and Breakfast. Since we'll be skipping a couple towns, we're going to wrap the trip up in Austin. I missed a couple spots last time we were there due to a biker rally with lots of Confederate flags. We bit the bullet and stayed downtown so we could party it up. I'm looking forward to hitting Lovejoys, the wifey won't tolerate our missing Uncle Bill's Brew and Que, and maybe I'll score a little Circle Beer....hmmm.

Look forward to it. Will let you know how it goes. Also, it's looking like I'll be beering on the solo in Toronto in July. My mother in Buffalo wants to spend time with the baby, so I'll leave the child with her while I smuggle beer across the Canadian border. Holla.

The Wine Brotha???

I'm selling out. No not that, or even that.



The company I work for has trimmed the budget on the big holiday parties, or Christmas parties if you're Bill O'reilly. It looks like every team is on its own, and our team did a lunch wine tasting at a great local french restaurant, Le Mistral. We had the ballroom to ourselves, got as much wine as we wanted, great food, and were NOT ALLOWED to go back to work since we would had been drinking. In fact, we were not even allowed back in the building.



There was a somalier from France as well. He would give these little powerpoint presentations on each wine we had, where it was from, and some of the history behind it. Even though I'm a beer man, I figured why not take a shot at some reviews. Don't worry, this won't be a habit.



Cue the music...



We started out with some lovely finger appertizers which consisted of a lovely Smoked Salmon Frillo Dough with lemon chives and creme fraiche. This appertizer was accompanied by a lovely little belgian endive leave topped with blue cheese mousse and carmalized pecans. The wine of choice:



Vouvray: Domaine De Vaugondy 2005 Demic-Sec, Style is Chemin Blanc

The boys...er... the gentlemen from the Loire Valley in France get us started with a very sweet and drinkable white wine. As good as my palette is, mine eyes simply see white wine that is tinged is clear with tinged yellow color. Although I used to consider myself a redman, I'm really enjoying the nice chill of this white wine. If I were to compare it to these neanderthal beer drinkers, I would hazard a guess that they stopped the fermentation to allow some of the sugars to up the sweetness factor.



Not to be outdown, they brought the quail breast rolled with bacon and plum, marinated in a nice port wine. I (peeled of the bacon), and enjoyed their



Chablis: Domaine de Long-Depaquit, Style is Chardonnay of 2006

Out of burgundy this one smells and tastes rather tangy and citrusy. There is a sourness in the middle of the palette. A stark chance from the Chemin, and not as tasty. A great match with the quail, but it does remind of a Saisson.



Onward to a nice salad de mistral, which sported the Mistral Blueberry balsamic dressing and pine nuts.



Oh the Pinot, lovely.

Pinot Noir: Albert Bichot 2005

One of my favorite wines, but I typically order it with a hearty steak, but a salad? This one smells like those red wines we know and love. The mouthfeel is dry and hearty, with some fruitiness. I'm getting something that makes me think of blood without the metal. A very thick wine that has plenty of legs on the glass. This one goes down very rapidly.



For the entree I wanted the sea bass filet, but they brought out the red wine anyway, which I did not get in a review.



Not bad. I never really tried to pick out flavors in wine and found many of the same techniques in beering translate to wine. I understand that unlike beer, wine is supposed to served a certain way from certain areas with certain foods. Beer on the otherhand, is meant to be experimented with.



Let's get a beer review before it's all said an done.



State: Chillin, playing with the baby, watching the SEC game

Beer Log: December 6, 2008



Arrogant Basted Ale OAKED
Oh I have been looking forward to this one. If you've been keeping score at home, I am back into hops. The layoff in fall (link) has done me some good. I now feel like I can enjoy those beers again. From the bottle to the wine glass. oh mahagony and malty. it's prolly 45 deg right now. almost ginger snaps sweet smell. It does the trick. Rather sweet and malty, but the hops are not there to balance it out. Reminds me of an imperial stout. Medium body and low carbo. Leaves hints of choco and twizzlers on your tongue, and maybe some grittiness. It's about 4PM right now, and maybe it's the day the time, or whatever, but I'm putting this as a low 3 Star. Lots of flavors and things going on there, and the hops are coming on stronger as it warms, but it is missing something. Perhaps some aging, but the flavors are not working for me.



10 minutes later, whoa is that banana and some sourness? not bad man.