New Flying Dog...

In stock now at Forsyth...

Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine....$8.49 / 6pk

10.2% ABV

"By far the biggest dog in the yard... Horn Dog Barley Wine is a dark and malty English-style Barely Wine that is aged for a minimum of three months before being packaged. Like a fine wine, this beer will only get better with age when stored at optimum conditions." -- brewery

Horn Dog Goes Well With:
Dried fruits
Sweet desserts
Blue Cheeses (especially smelly ones)

Petrus -- The Key to Heaven

Belgian -- Bavik-De Brabandere
Petrus The Key To Heaven $22.99 / 6 bottles
At this point these beers are only sold in this mixed 6 pack. It includes one bottle of each of the following beers.
(Available at TWCP Forsyth and Provisions Gourmet Market)


Petrus Blond Ale
Petrus Blond Ale is a top-fermented beer. Brewed with pure spring water and carefully selected hops and malts. This blond beer with its soft and full flavour is preferably served cool.

Petrus Speciale Ale
Petrus Special is an amber-coloured top-fermented beer. This beer's characteristic aroma is a result of the specially selected malt and hop varieties. Petrus Special is brewed according to an age-old recipe

Petrus Aged Pale Grand Reserve
"Aged "? Many beers have a long maturation, but this one has 24-30 months, in wood. "Pale "? This beer has an "old gold "to bronze color, rather than the Burgundy more common in the breweries of West Flanders.It is a pale version of the traditional local style (which has no name, but for which I have used terms like Sweet and Sour Flemish Red Ale).This beer is made only with pale malts, and is unblended. It has 24-30 months in wood, and emerges with an oaky aroma; hints of sherry (a Palo Cortado nuttiness?) and fruit, among a depth of flavors; the classic sourness in the finish; and an intentionally low carbonation. Its alcohol content is 7.3 ABV.


Perus Oud Bruin
Dark ruby red, as red wine. The style is also called the Burgundy of Flanders, and is a very typical and common beer in West Flanders. A sour-sweet balance is discovered, set off by the underlying bitterness of the hops. Light in alcohol, the alcohol doesn’t hide or overpower the exciting flavors and tastes in this unique beer. Although cold serving is recommended, taking your time to drink it will release more aromas and exciting wooden flavors towards the end of your glass.Wooden flavors? Indeed, Old Brown beer is aged for over two years in huge oak casks. During this aging process, just like in wine, lactic acids develop. These acids are responsible for the sour part in the taste. Only tasting on a regular basis can tell the brewer when the beer is ready to come out of the oak barrels and to be blended with fresh brewed beer. This blend of beer is then bottled. The dark red color comes from the type of barley malts that are used, in combination with the aging in oak. Fine beer tasters recognize the "oak" and the "old", which are defining the complexity of this beer. PETRUS Old Brown may remind you of Port Wine.
FOOD COMBINATIONS: PETRUS Old Brown is an excellent thirst quencher thanks to its light sourness. It is an excellent beer to marinate fish or meat in it, or to steam shrimp. Richer meat dishes, or heavy pasta dishes where the light sourness of PETRUS is looked for to offset the sweetness of the sauce. Look at the PETRUS as an aoky better red wine, and you have an excellent food companion.

Petrus Gouden Tripel
Triple Style, which means that the brewer used three times the normal amount of malt to brew this higher alcohol ale. Pale in color, as a true triple is supposed to be, this mild and easygoing beer offers a flowery hoppy taste with a soft alcohol punch. The balance between the hop-bitterness and the malt-sweetness is perfect and leaves a smooth mouthfeel. The creamy head absorbs never ending bubbles from the deep golden colored body of the beer. PETRUS is of course the Latin name for Saint Peter. As with so many Belgian beers, the name of an Abbey or a Saint is used. People honored the Saints with a good beer. In fact, the Abbeys brewed beer for the surrounding village and named the beer after the patron Saint of their church. Priests and monks have always promoted good beer to save the people from the diseases looming in drinking water. Triples were mostly reserved for the Abbots and the Bishops. They knew what was good, and kept the best for themselves. Today, Triples are available for everybody with a taste for the best.
FOOD COMBINATIONS: PETRUS Triple can be savored as an aperitif before any meal, or as dessert. You can drink the PETRUS triple with the better Entrees, be it fish, meat or vegetarian. The flavors and aromas of the finest gourmet creations will be accentuated by this smooth rich golden beer. Cheers.

Petrus Dubbel Bruin
Petrus Dubbel Bruin Ale is a top-fermented dark beer. Brewed with pure spring water and carefully selected hops and malts. This dark beer with its subtle and slightly caramelized flavour is preferably served cool.

Info taken from the importers website.

Beer Tasting

We will get back to normal now. We will have our Friday beer tasting this week. I will post it tomorrow.

We will start our wine and beer specials back up on Monday.


Happy 2010!!!

Bargain Napa Cabernet

We are starting to see prices come down...

Available online also

2006 Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon....$19.99

$28 at Buehler Vineyards

"Comprised of 100% cabernet sauvignon, our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is crafted from grapes grown on our estate hillside vineyards (30%) in conjunction with grapes from other mature, high-quality, low-yielding Napa Valley cabernet vineyards located on the valley floor. We've found the resulting blend to produce a wine that displays a broad spectrum of aromas, flavors, and textures that cabernet can show in the Napa Valley. The wine is brimming with fruit aromas and flavors biased to the black fruit end of the cabernet spectrum: plums, blackberry, black currant. Rich and full-bodied on the palate, this cabernet drinks well on release but will soften and develop with additional age. $28 /bottle" -- winery

Great Burg from 2005!!!

A great 2005 just arrived at an amazing price!!!

Available online now

2005 Frederic Magnien Premier Cru

Morey St. Denis Clos Baulet....$49.99

Compare to $69.99 at Brown Derby on Wine Searcher
"A silky texture highlights this supple red, whose cherry and blackberry aromas and flavors soar. The vibrant structure lends support, with ripe tannins on the finish. Has lovely balance and length. Best from 2010 through 2022. –BS"

Rated 92/100 The Wine Spectator

Top 100 Wines! More here...

Two more wines from The Wine Spectator Top 100 just arrived at Forsyth.

They are both available online along with other top 100 wines -- click here

2007 Brancaia "Tre" Toscana....$17.99

#10 on the Top 100 Wines of the Year 2009

"There's wonderful intensity of fruit in this wine, with crushed raspberry and blackberry and hints of coffee and fresh flowers. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a long, soft-textured finish that shows loads of fruit. Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best after 2010. 25,000 cases made. –JS"
Rated 93/100 The Wine Spectator

2006 Felsina Fontalloro....$45.99
#13 on Top 100 Wines of the Year of 2009
"Chocolate, blackberry and black cherry aromas lead to a full-bodied palate, with velvety tannins and a deep concentration of fruit. Powerfully rich and polished. Big and structured. A blockbuster Sangiovese. Best after 2012. 3,300 cases made. –JS"

Rated 95/100 The Wine Spectator
"The 2006 Fontalloro is much more sweet and open than the firmer Rancia. Enticing, expressive aromatics lead to an expansive core of fruit. Round, finessed tannins give the wine an additional level of polish. Today the Fontalloro is fleshier and more ready than the Rancia. There is superb purity to the fruit and wonderful overall balance. Tar, smoke, licorice, and grilled herbs come to life on the finish. Fontalloro is made from vineyards in both the Chianti Classico and Chianti Colli Senesi appellations. Simply put, this is a great, majestic Fontalloro. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2018."
Rated 94/100 The Wine Advocate

Bell's Hopslam pre-arrival

Pre-Arrival -- WAITING LIST!!
It has become a tradition to start taking reservations for Hopslam after Christmas before the New Year.

Bells Hopslam....$16.99 / 6pk

ATTENTION PLEASE READ
-- we are taking a WAITING LIST. Request as much as you are intrested in and we will get you as much as we can when it arrives. We will not charge your credit card until the HOPSLAM arrives. Scheduled to arrive in January 2011. I am told maybe early January this time.

Add the Hopslam to your cart and "Check out" and submit the order. You will not be charged at this time.

.

I stopped the waiting list as I was getting nervous about the number of reservations -- check back on Friday 1/5/11 hopefully I will have a better idea on what we are getting. Hopslam will be released next week 1/10/11
.
Any questions...
paul@wineandcheeseplace.com

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When it arrives, we will have a Bells Party. We will taste the Hopslam and other Bells Beers.
To find out the fastest when it arrives:
Watch our blog.
Follow us on our TWCP Beer Twitter
Or become a fan/friend on TWCP Facebook

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Blended Scotch

A great article from Dave Nelson of Beer Wine and Whisky on the blended scotch....





In Praise of Blended Scotch
From Beer Wine and Whisky

"I was going to title this post “In defense of blended Scotch” but when you look at the sales figures at least, blended Scotch needs no defense from me as blends make up 90% or so of the Scotch sold in the world. But, when it comes to folks who style themselves “serious” about Scotch whisky, blends are ignored, if not downright reviled.
Personally, I love a good blend. In fact, my consumption is probably at least 2:1 blends to single malts. So in the interest of getting other malt fans to give them a shot, here are a few of the things I love about a good blend, as well as some recommended blends to try.
One of my favorite things about a good blend is the “bite” it has. This is particularly true of young blends, which is what I tend to favor because they have this punchy element. A good young blend is the whisky equivalent of an extremely hoppy beer, or tannic red wine - there is just so much vitality there that it’s hard for me not to get excited. I think this character is generally the result of the relative youth of the whiskies used to make most blends, and as someone whose palate skews away from oak influence, young whisky is something I tend to prefer.
The other main selling point about blends for me is the complexity that’s possible. Sure, a fine Springbank or Glenmorangie is a complex whisky, but the sheer variety of whiskies available to blenders opens up a staggering potential, and allows the use of malt whiskies that might not be compelling on their own to add a much-needed voice to a choir.
So, what do I drink when it comes to blends? Here are a few favorites.
For the Islay lover, I highly recommend getting your hands on Islay Mist. This blend features a hearty dose of young Laphroaig, in all of its peaty loveliness, but with very little oak influence at all due to its youth. Backing this up is a rich, plush bed of grain whisky that wraps the Laphroaig in a velvety, long, lingering finish. It’s a great ride, and I drink more of this than any other whisky. It costs all of $18 a bottle.
Another favorite is Teacher’s. This is a more Highland-style, though it does have an underlying smokiness from a healthy dose of Ardmore. It is much more of a malt bomb than Islay Mist, but a firm backbone of grain whisky keeps it from getting diffuse in the mouth. Amazing length, and criminally under-priced at about $15 a bottle.
Less ubiquitous than Teacher’s, but almost as compelling is White Horse. This is another Islay-led blend that used to employ Lagavulin as its signature malt, but since the popularity of Lagavulin went through the roof (and maybe before . . .), the oily richness of Caol Ila has been the star here, though some Lagavulin still makes it into the blend. Firm grain again gives steel to this blend, and makes for a long, busy finish. A lot of fun for $15 a bottle.
Finally, the least surprising rec on this list and the one most malt drinkers are likely to admit to having on their shelf is Johnny Walker Black label. This is a truly seamless but busy blend where starring malts are not apparent, yet the whole is much more than the sum of its components. It is an incredibly complex drink, and I haven’t had too many single malts that I enjoy as much as a good bottle of JWB. About $28 a bottle.
As you probably noted, though I think of it more as a bonus than anything, blends are bargains compared to single malts. I find the best stand on their own as great whiskies, but when you compare them to single malts on the basis of value it’s no contest at all." -- Dave Nelson, Beer Wine and Whisky

Bitter Lemon

In stock at Forsyth now...
Stirrings Bitter Lemon....$5.69 / 4pk

Bitter Lemon
Stirrings all-natural Bitter Lemon is made with lemon essence, triple-filtered water, and infused with “champagne” carbonation. The result is a cleaner, crisper, lighter and brighter soda that makes cocktails taste better.
Did you know: Our Bitter Lemon is simply a blend of our delicious Tonic Water with lemon? It is the quinine (from the Tonic Water) that gives this drink its bitter taste.