It's over 900!!! Tastes for Oct 21st - 27th

We have now hit 900 tastes!  A bit over two months to go and we only need just under 100 new tastes. This week we have new foods, new beers, and new wines.  We'll start with the foods.

865. Chuao - Potato chip bar - This is a milk chocolate bar with crisp kettle cooked potato chips and a touch of sea salt.  This is a very complex milk chocolate and tastes almost like dark chocolate. It is very, very good. If you like Late Night Snack by Ben and Jerry's, you'll like this a lot.  
     
866. Liberte - Lemon Greek Yogurt - Brett loves greek yogurt and sour/tart foods and drinks.  He had never had lemon yogurt before (with real lemon juice and pulp), but it is delicious. 
867. Pepperidge Farm - Caramel Apple Pie cookies - Typical Pepperidge Farm style cookies, but this is a limited fall edition.  They taste like apple pie in cookie form with a moderate number of caramel chips.
868. Dairy Vale - Vintage Cheddar Cheese - This was surprisingly not very sharp.  It was nutty and pretty good, but would like it a bit more sharp.
869. Hennings - Garlic and Dill Cheddar - Brett likes this a lot and thinks the dill is reasonable and well-balanced with the sharpness of the cheddar and the garlic.  Megan doesn't like dill that much and doesn't agree about the well-balanced part.  To each their own!  :-)
870. Calbee - Shrimp Chips - These are shaped like Cheetos, but they taste like shrimp and leave no orange stains on your fingers.  Megan didn't try these and Brett thought they were okay, but that shrimp-flavored corn crisps are pretty weird.  
     
871. Gruyere and Horseradish Cheese Spread - This was from Kroger's deli.  Neither of us really like horseradish that much, but try it we did.  Oh my, it was like ALL horseradish.  We couldn't taste the gruyere at all.
872. Kroger - Yogurt & Berries mini rice cakes - These are much like the Quaker rice cakes that have been out for awhile now.  These were surprisingly berry tasting and pretty darn good.

Vintage Cellar had a huge closeout tasting on Wednesday.  Unfortunately, Brett has lab until 5, then has to ride home, and after all that we headed over.  By the time we got there, a lot of the wines were gone.  At some point, we'll also learn to go straight to the red wines instead of stopping and doing the whites first, even though they are right there when you walk in.  Since we generally prefer reds, you would think we'd know this by now, but apparently we're slow learners.

873. NV - Heidsieck & Co. - Monopole Champagne - Green Top Demi-Sec - This is really good.  Looking for an excellent champagne for New Year's Eve?  This would be an excellent choice.
874. NV - Heidsieck & Co. - Monopole Champagne - Rosé Top Brut
875. 2011 - Weingut Steininger - Riesling
876. 2009 - Louis Latour - Montagny 1er Cru La Grande Roche
877. 2008 - Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils - Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons - Other people really really like this, but we didn't find this very impressive for some reason.  
878. 2010 - Doña Paula - Torrontés Estate
879. 2006 - Sonoma-Cutrer - Chardonnay Founders Reserve
880. 2009 - Sbragia Family - Chardonnay - Gamble Ranch
881. 2011 - Artesa - Chardonnay - Carneros
882. 2009 - Torii Mor - Chardonnay
883. 2011 - Tolosa Winery - Roussanne - Edna Ranch
884. 2009 - Rosenblum Cellars - Viognier - Kathy's Cuvée
885. 2010 - Altavins Viticoltors - Terra Alta - Domus Pensi
886. 2009 - Ogier Caves des Papes - Côtes du Rhône - Heritages - Blanc
887. 2010 - J. Vidal-Fleury - Côtes du Rhône - Blanc
888. 2010 - Mollydooker - Verdelho - The Violinist
889. 2011 - Don Cristóbal - 1492 - Chardonnay/Viognier/Chenin blend 
890. 2008 - Philippe Delesvaux - Coteaux du Layon - St. Aubin - This bottle was flawed.  Mostly it tasted musty, dusty, and like mothballs.  
891. 2007 - Santa Ema - Cabernet Sauvignon - Amplus
892. 2006 - Beni di Batasiolo - Barbaresco
893. 2008 - Achával-Ferrer - Malbec - Finca Bella Vista - Wow wow wow - we gave this a 95 and it's very, very good.
894. NV - Cantine Pellegrino - Marsala Superiore Sweet

We also went over for the Saturday wine tasting.  

895. 2012 - Domaine de la Grenaudière - Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie - Brett liked this more than Megan (although she also liked it).  The "sur lie" means it was aged for some time on the lees which is the yeast and other particulates that precipitate out during the fermentation (and fining).  This was crisp, tart, and citrus and very refreshing.  
896. 2012 - Jean-Paul Thibert - Mâcon-Fuissé 
897. 2012 - Avantis Estate - Evia - Greece - You don't see a lot of Greek wine being praised, but this was quite good and refreshing.  
898. 2009 - Château de Chamilly - Bourgogne
899. 2011 - Clos du Mont-Olivet - Côtes du Rhône - Vieilles Vignes Montueil la Levade - We didn't like this at all and would say maybe the bottle was flawed, but other people at the tasting thought it was great so...  
900. 2009 - Quinta das Liceiras - Douro - Made in Portugal from the same grapes that make port. This was pretty interesting and you can really taste what we guess could be called "adolescent" port.  
901. 2010 - Bodegas Volver - Monastrell - Tarima Hill - This is very good and reasonably priced (as is the 2012 if you can find it).
902. 2006 - Long Shadows Wineries - Cabernet Sauvignon - Feather - Also very excellent, but definitely not an everyday kind of wine at around $40 - $50 a bottle.  

Last, but not least, we tried a number of new beers this week.

903. Sierra Nevada - Tumbler - Autumn Brown Ale
904. Bells - Special Double Cream Stout
905. Maine Beer Company - MO - This is an excellent American Pale Ale.  It's unfortunately going to be hard for some people to find as they have fairly limited distribution.
906. Sixpoint  Brewery - Autumnation (2013) - First wet hop beer for the season that we've been able to try.  This year, Sixpoint used Mosaic hops and it was quite interesting.  
907. Left Hand Brewing - Nitro Milk Stout - This is an absolutely delicious milk stout.  If you like milk stout as a style, be sure to give this one a try.

And that is all for the week.  We can't believe we've made it to over 900 already and are really looking forward to finishing up!  

Tastes from Oct 14th - 20th

We had a fun week of tastes throughout the week.  While we didn't get a huge number of tastes, those we did get were really good.  First off, we bought a piece of fruit we'd never had before from The Fresh Market.

850. Red plumicot - A cross between a plum and apricot, this was not uniformly ripe.  One side was slightly tart with a lot of sweetness and juicy.  The other side was not quite as sweet and a bit more pulpy.  They also had black and yellow plumicots, but we didn't buy one of those.  Those would be interesting to try.

We also had a few new beers at the house as well.

851. New Belgium Brewing - La Folie - A wonderful Belgian-style sour brown ale, typical examples come from the Flanders region.  This of course comes from Ft. Collins, Colorado.  
852. Weyerbacher Brewing - Imperial Pumpkin Ale - In this case, imperial means a bit too much spicing in our opinion.    

We tried a number of beers and wines at Vintage Cellar this week on Friday.

853. Foothills Brewing - Barrel Aged People's Porter
854. The Bruery - Autumn Maple
855. 2007 - Nuschese Wines - Irpinia Cassius
856. 2011 - Nuschese Wines - Pinot Grigio delle Venezie
857. 2009 - Nuschese Wines - La Pietra
858. 2008 - Il Paggio - Chianti Classico Riserva

On Saturday, we went to GoFest in Roanoke.  Last year, we camped and stayed the whole day, but this year we decided to just go down on Saturday.  There were a lot of fun things to do again and some wonderful food and beer available as well.

859. Starr Hill Brewing - Boxcarr Pumpkin Porter - This was an underwhelming pumpkin porter - the porter part was good, but the pumpkin sweetness and spice was so subtle, it was hard to notice it was there.
860. Starr Hill Brewing - The Love - This was a pretty good local hefeweizen.  Brett liked this a lot.
861. Parkway Brewing - Get Bent Mountain IPA - A fairly typical west coast-style IPA.
862. Bruno's GastroTruck - The Royale with Cheese - This is a Kobe beef burger with braised pork belly, farm egg, bacon jam, cheddar, arugula, tomato, sriracha mayo, challah bun, and chips.  Oh my lord that was good.   It was possibly the best burger Brett has ever had.  Seriously - bacon jam AND braised pork belly?!?!  The perfectly fried egg on top really adds something.
     
863.  Noke Food truck - taco plate - There were three kinds of tacos, chicken, beef, pork.  Unfortunately the meat was only slightly spiced and most of the additional flavor was from the salsa which was filled with cilantro.  Megan hates cilantro so this made her lunch not so good.
864. Toasted by Casey - Trippple Threat - This is a grilled cheese sandwich, but not like any other grilled cheese you've ever seen.  It includes cheddar slice, swiss slice, cheese sticks (yes, you read that right), and marinara sauce.  This was delicious, but we both thought it would be better if the marinara was a dipping sauce instead of on the sandwich. 

Tastes from Oct 7th - 13th

Just a few tastes this week.  First off we had some new chips and a snack.

835. Riceworks - Wild Rice Crisps - These are tasty, but not the best crisps we've ever had.  
836. Sahale Snacks - Pecan Cashew Nut Crisp (with cinnamon, apples, and peaches) - These are delicious and addictive!

We also had a really phenomenal beer tasting at Vintage Cellar.  The Ommegang/Duvel rep was there and brought a variety to taste from their holdings.

837. Peak Organic Brewing - Fall Summit Ale - This was an old bottle we found in the cellar and it showed.  This did not age well.
838. Timmermans - Pumpkin Lambic - This was very good.  Brett liked it more than Megan.  This was nicely spiced, a bit sweet from added Belgian candy, and hints of pumpkin and typical lambic farmhouse funk.  
839. Duvel Moortgat - Duvel - Delicious - spicy, yeasty, malty, and a beautiful golden color.  
840. Ommegang Duvel Rustica - Like the original Duvel, but bottle-conditioning is done with the Ommegang yeast.  The result is similar to regular Duvel, but less spicy and a bit more fruity esters.  
841. Duvel - Tripel Hop (Sorachi Ace) - This is very hoppy on the nose, but very well balanced and complex on the palate.  
842. Brasserie d’Achouffe - Mc Chouffe - A nice Belgian strong ale, malty and fruity.  Should be delicious with food.

We had a few other beers through the week as well.

843. Samuel Adams - Octoberfest - This is an okay märzen, but nothing very special. 
844. St. George Brewing - Oktoberfest - This is also a year old and it shows.  Not very malty or märzen-like. 

Lastly we had two different wine tastes, but didn't write much down so we haven't done very extensive notes.  

844. 2009 - Icaria - Alexander Valley Cabernet - This was very delicious and fruity.
845. 2009 - Argiolas Perdera - Isola del Nuraghi

Thanks for reading and we'll be back next week with more new tastes!

Tastes for October 1st - 6th

We had a number of new tastes this week. We'll start off with the food then continue from there.

793. Kettle Brand Chips - Maple Bacon Chips - These are deliciously tasty - the initial sweetness of the maple follows with a finish of bacon and the crunch of the chip.  These are even more addictive than regular chips.
794. Lemon Blueberry Oatmeal muffins - These are very healthy and nearly gluten-free, but because of that, they are a bit bland.  A small bit of butter on them makes them much better.
795. Grandma's Apple Carrot Cake - Megan made this for Brandy's birthday.  It's filling and delicious and excellent with vanilla ice cream.
796. Spanish Chicken Rice Bake - Megan made this for dinner over the weekend.  This was really good - hearty, delicious, spicy but not hot spicy.  This is going to be a great meal for cool fall or cold winter days.
797. Nancy's - Butterscotch Fudge - Not normally a fan of butterscotch, this was actually pretty good.
798. Nancy's - Chocolate Raspberry Fudge - This was very good with layers of chocolate and raspberry flavored fudges.  
799. Nancy's - Milk Chocolate-covered Sponge Candy
800. Palmetto honey - This was at the Floyd Craft Festival
801. Adirondack Beverages - Vanilla Cream Ale

We went to Villa Appalaccia as they had their All Things Olive event.  They have a number of different olives, olive oils, and balsamic vinegars to taste, in addition their wine.  We headed there after going to the Floyd Craft Festival and tried all of the above, plus a full tasting of their wines.  Megan doesn't really like olives, so most of the comments below are from Brett.  A note about the wine reviews - currently CellarTracker is down and so the list below is just the list of what we tasted.  We'll udpate with formal reviews when CellarTracker is back online.

802. Castelvetrano olives - These are a meaty bright green olive - one of Brett's favorites.
803. Sicilian olives - These were pretty bitter.
804. Provencal olives - These have been cured with herbs of provence and were too herby for Brett's taste.
805. Nyon olives - These are a black olive and are more earthy tasting like most black olives.
806. Morocco olives - These are a black olive and they are cured with rosemary.
807. Cerignalo olives - These are a green olive and fairly meaty but not very bitter.
808. Gaeta olives - These are a purplish olive and are buttery and rich.  These were Brett's favorite olive.
809. Calamata olives - Your standard run of the mill calamata.
810. Alfonso olives - These are cured partially in red wine.  The grape is apparent in the taste and very interesting and quite unusual for an olive.  This was also quite good and one of Brett's favorites.
811. Olive Garden Olive Oil - This was used as a reference oil for all of the others that would come after.
812. Badia a Coltibuono - This is from Gaiole in Chianti and Brett has ridden his bike through this small picturesque town.  This was quite good and typically Tuscan in flavor.
813. Librandi - Another olive oil from Italy, this was a bit sharper with pepper flavor.  
814. Colli Etruschi - "Etruschi" is etruscan and this was also from Tuscany.  
815. Frantoio del Castello di Poppiano - Another Tuscan olive oil - probably Brett's favorite.
816. Olio Beato Demarco 
817. A L'oviere - A French olive oil - more buttery than Italian olive oils.
818. Dalla Terra Black Truffle oil - The olive oil here is pretty bland to allow the truffle to show through.  
819. Invecchiato 10 year old Balsamic - A bit older than a typical grocery store balsamic (usually 7 years).  Still a typical vinegar bite, but mellower than your typical balsamic.
820. Invecchiato 15 year old Balsamic - This is much less sour than 10 year old balsamic, being more rounded and fruit flavors present.
821. Invecchiato 28 year old Balsamic - This is as little like regular balsamic vinegar as apple juice is to hard apple cider.  Soft, supple, fruity with notes of raisins and fig.  Smooth, round, and utterly delicious.  
822. 2011 - Villa Appalaccia - Vermentino 
823. 2010 - Villa Appalaccia - Rosa
824. NV - Villa Appalaccia - Simpatico
825. 2008 - Villa Appalaccia - Toscanello
826. 2009 - Villa Appalaccia - Primitivo
827. 2007 - Villa Appalaccia - Cabernet Franc
828. 2011 - Villa Appalaccia - Aglianico
829. 2009 - Villa Appalaccia - Corvina
830. NV - Villa Appalaccia - Raspberry-Cab

We also had a dip for our picnic on the Parkway, but we've had it before.  It is however very good, so we wanted to link the recipe here for others who might like to try it:  Roasted Red Pepper and Cannellini Bean Dip.

We have tried a few beers this week as well.  It's October so that means lots of märzen and pumpkin beers.

831. Breckenridge Brewery - Vanilla Porter - The bottle we had was flawed.  We'll have to try this again with a bottle that's not bad.
832. Devil's Backbone Brewing - O'Fest - This was an okay märzen, but hasn't been the best we've had this season.
833. Ayinger - Oktober Fest-Märzen - This has been, by far, the best märzen of the season so far - highly recommended.
834. Dogfish Head - Punkin Ale - This is one of our favorite pumpkin beers this season.  It's close between this and the New Belgium Pumpkick we tried earlier.