Libations

The Sarasota Beer Fest has come and gone, but I’ve still got some of the beers rolling around in my brain. The 2nd great beer I had was…wait for it… Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale.

This is a product of  the Southern Tier Brewing Company. They use North American Barley, whole hops and crystal filtered artesian water. It’s an American style pale ale that goes down ridiculously smooth. Most beer snobs would probably say that this is just okay, but for us common folk… it’s perfect! Easy to drink, nice amount of flavor and very versatile. Are you watching the big game with the buddies your wife hates, but you still like them because they’re the only people on the planet who still refer to you as…”Boomer”?! Bring it over! Got a boss who says,” I only drink good beer” (i.e. I really prefer sparkling water, but I don’t want to look like a total wuss!) It’s a perfect Birthday present! I took some over to my friend Tom Cruise’s house (his compound is a perfect replica of the smurf village…blue is his color!).

Give it a try…Phin and Matt might become two of your best buddies.

As most of you well know, flavored vodkas are INSANELY popular in the world of booze. Soon after they began to flood the market, flavored rums began to enter the market as well. So you know it was only a matter of time before the brown liquors were going to follow suit. Anyone for acai flavored Johnnie Walker…umm sounds delish!

I have been a bourbon drinker for some years now and I have very fond memories of sitting on my Uncle Tom’s back porch sipping green label Jack Daniels. It was a right of passage for me and it taught me to “respect the bourbon”. So when I found out Jim Beam was coming out with a black cherry flavored bourbon… I was a little hesitant. “You’re trying to tell me, Mr. Jimmy Beam is up in Kentucky harvesting black cherries?”, I said to myself. “Well I’ll bet my left black cherry, that he’s not!” (Partially that line is courtesy of Dennis Leary…LOVE HIM!)

Jim Beam Red Stag really kinda blew my mind! I have to apologize to Mr. J.B., this is a very versatile spirit. It’s very rare when you can mix a brown liquor with a myriad of juices, sodas, teas or just on the rocks. The black cherry flavor isn’t overwhelming…it’s just right. You still get the nice bourbon flavor that Jim Beam is known for, but there is no bite on the back end. Usually this “bite” is what attracts you or repels you from a nice bourbon. Red Stag really is a product I think anyone, bourbon drinker or not, will really enjoy.

Play with some recipes, see what your crazy little mind can come up with. I’m letting you know now R.O.T.R. readers, I wanted to “mount up”  and put the Red Stag in my cross hairs (I even took my good friend Tom Cruise hunting with me…he looked adorable riding his Shetland pony!). But I have to tell you, I think the Red Stag shot me…and it felt good!

Here’s a recipe to get you started. ENJOY!

O Deer Me

1 1/4oz Jim Beam Red Stag

1/2 oz chambord

2oz orange juice

2oz lemonade

Shake, strain over ice

Top with Sprite

As promised I’m going to start posting what I felt were the beer highlights at the 1st Annual Sarasota Beer Festival. Can you hear that?! It’s my good friend Tom Cruise giving me a drum roll on his tiny snare drum.The best beer I had at this years Sarasota Beer Fest is… Amadeus!

It’s kind of funny but I seem to have an affection for French beer. I’m also a fan of Kronenbourg 1664 which is also French. Actually come to think of it, I like a lot of French things. French fries, French bread, French dressing and the French foreign exchange student from the 80’s classic “Better Off Dead” (I’m sorry your mom blew up Ricky).

Amadeus is indeed imported from France and is an unfiltered wheat beer. I went back for MANY samples of this beer. It is crisp, well balanced and could really be paired with almost any meal or occasion. You can find this tasty beer at your local Total Wine (God’s gift to us all). It is a little pricey, but well worth every penny. Keep an eye out for it R.O.T.R readers and, as always, you’ll toast me later!

This past Saturday I attended the 1st Annual Sarasota Beer Festival. Let me tell you R.O.T.R. readers, I was so excited I damn near stormed the entrance of Robards Arena “William Wallace” style. Nothing does my heart better than good beer and LOTS of it! That being said…do you want the good news or the bad news?

Bad news first it is! This place was one hot mess when I showed up. There was one line over here. There was one line over there. Not one sign was up letting you know where to get tickets,where to go if you had tickets… Most people in line started getting real frustrated (pissed!). When I finally got in I was almost immediately met by my good friend, Don Juan Gian Luca. The first words out of the Don’s mouth was, “This place sucks!”. There were no instructions on where things were, beer and food vendors were all kind of jumbled together. Without a good map or layout of a venue ,  it doesn’t allow the patron to form a good plan of attack. It was like teasing a bunch of caged rabid Peruvian spider monkeys and then letting them out of the cage. Let the ultra violence begin!

Now the good news. They were presenting some fantastic beer! Here are my top five in no particular order.

1. Amadeus

2. Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale

3.  Jomo Lager

4. Wacko Summer Seasonal

5. Stockholm Premium Lager

All of these beers are fantastic! We’ll get a little deeper into flavor profiles and what breweries they are all represented by in some upcoming posts. I was also impressed by some of the food being passed out. I had never eaten a beer battered hot dog before, who knew?!  I now realize this ridiculous treasure is something I won’t be able to live without for the rest of my life. Those dogs were courtesy of my good friends at The Old Salty Dog.

All in all I had a great time. The beer was good, there was plenty of it. Once everyone got settled there was a great vibe in the air. Even Don Jun Gian Luca ended up having a good time.  This was more evident later on in the night when his smedium shirt came off and was being twirled over his head. The Don and my good friend, Tom Cruise, love the smedium size shirts. They purchase these at Gap Kids. That way they can get some shopping done and hit on all the hot moms!

Next year, if you get the chance swing by the 2nd Annual Sarasota Beer Festival. I’m sure they’ll have all the kinks worked out. The food was good, the beer selection was great and the people are real down to earth. Make sure you put it on your 2011 calender and as always… you’ll toast me later!

One of biggest trends in the world of liquor for the past ten years has been flavored vodkas. Vodka itself is  the top selling liquor on a worldwide level. There is a flavored vodka for just about everyone. Pomegranate, apple, acai berry and even bubble gum. That’s right bubble gum. Somewhere tonight a drunk sorority girl will let out a technicolor yawn into her best friends toilet and its gonna smell like juicy fruit!

A big trend in the flavored vodka market as of late has been sweet tea vodka. Now, I’m not a fan of sweet tea. In fact my very southern mom has considered me a bit of a disappointment because of this. When I was a kid the rational went as follows… tea rhymes with pee and anything that rhymes with pee can’t taste good! But lately I’ve been feeling like a bit of an outsider. Every bar I go to this stuff is selling like crazy. So I took it upon myself to sample a few.

I gotta be honest R.O.T.R. readers,  I didn’t care for most of them, but then I tried Original Mothers Sweet Tea Vodka. This stuff is good! Very smooth, very crisp and very mixable. The only thing I can come up with is that because Mothers is 60 proof instead of 70 or 80 it just goes down better. You can mix this with darn near anything or just sip it on the rocks. My friend Tom Cruise puts it in a tiny thimble and gets his party on (Tom Cruise short jokes just keep flowing out of me!).

I’m gonna throw you a quick recipe, but definitely go pick yourself up some Mothers…you’ll be toasting me later.

Southern Hospitality:

1 part Original Mothers Sweet Tea Vodka

2 parts Lemonade

Splash of Soda Water or sparkling water

Put it over ice and enjoy!