Tastes from Oct 28th - Nov 3rd

As we approach 1000 tastes, we seem to be enjoying the tasting process more and more.  Now that we're so close, we are really trying to make sure the last 100 are excellent.

We'll start off with some foods:

908. Bruno' Gastro Truck - Gooey Brownie - This is their triple chocolate brownie covered in a homemade caramel sauce.  This is deliciously chewy, chocolatey, and the caramel sauce provides a nice complement.  Plan on sharing it unless you're feeling gluttonous or super hungry.
     
     
     
     
     
909. Stella Fontina - This was a cheese Megan didn't like much, but Brett liked quite a bit.  Fontina makes a better sauce than eating raw.  
910. French toast crockpot breakfast - Supposed to be similar to a stuffed french toast.  It was made with apples and walnuts, but it didn't turn out very well and we won't be making it again, so no recipe.
911. Kettle Chips - Sweet and Salty chips - These are, like the bag says, sweet and salty.  They are not amazing, but not bad.

On to the beers we tried:

912. Anchor Brewing - Small Beer - This is a traditional-style;  the beer is made by using the second sparging of grain used to make a barley wine with the first sparge.  It's the first time that Brett has had this style before and it tastes like a watered-down barley wine.  
913. Fuller's - London Brewing - This is Brett's favorite porter of all time.  Perfect.
914. Founders Brewing - Porter - This isn't Fuller's, but it is darn good and a very good alternative if you can't find a Fuller's.
915. Southern Tier - Pumking - This is renowned as a great pumpkin ale for the season, but at least the one we had was way too much clove.  The clove becomes more subtle as it sits, but it takes awhile.  The ale is clearly pumpkin and the sweetness of the pumpkin is apparent in every single sip. 
916. Hofbräu München - Oktoberfestbier - This is probably one of the worst märzens we've had all season.  It's not bad, but it's also not very good.

Finally, we went to two, count 'em, two different wine tastings over the weekend.  A new wine shop has opened in Fairlawn called Barrel Cave Wines and Saturday was their grand opening.  

917. NV - Marsuret Prosecco - Treviso - Extra Dry
918. 2011 - Quinta das Arcas - Conde Villar - Alvarinho
919. 2012 - Neudorf - Sauvignon Blanc
920. 2012 - West Cape Howe - Chardonnay - Unwooded
921. 2007 - Bodega O. Fournier - Ribera del Duero - Spiga
922. 2010 - Klein Constantia - Cabernet Sauvignon

After that we headed over to the regular Saturday tasting at Vintage Cellar.  We were lucky and got to taste a number of really, really excellent wines.  

923. 2012 - Cantina di Gambellara - Soave - i Basalti
924. 2013 - Viña Siegel - Sauvignon Blanc - Crucero
925. 2011 - Winzer von Erbach - Erbacher Honigberg - Riesling
926. 2011 - Charles Thomas - Côtes du Rhône
927. 2012 - Chakana - Malbec - Maipe Reserve
928. 2010 - Klinker Brick - Zinfandel
     
929. NV - Rinaldi - Red Dream
930. 2008 - Fratelli Alessandria - Barolo - Monvigliero - The first of our super tastes.  This was amazing and we gave this a 92.
931. 2007 - Saint-Cosme - Châteauneuf-du-Pape - The second super taste. We gave this a 97.  It was delicious, complex, and amazing.  
932. 2009 - M. Chapoutier - Shiraz - Domaine Tournon - Lady's Lane - This was very good, but paled compared to the rest, obviously so since we gave it only an 87.
933. 2012 - Chakana Estate Selection - This is a red blend with 60% Malbec, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Shiraz.  We gave this a 96 and left with two bottles.  This will get better with a few more years aging, but it's very very good now.
     
934. 2010 - Bodegas Alto Moncayo - Campo de Borja - This was our final taste and we gave it a 90.