A may be a WINO, but I love Beer!
Joining me this week is Patrick Dawson with his new book “Vintage Beer – A Tasters Guide to Brews that Improve Over Time.”
Like good wine, certain beers can be aged under the right conditions, a process that enhances and changes their flavors in interesting and delicious ways. Good candidates for aging are high-alcohol brews, bottle-conditioned beers with yeast in the bottle, barleywines, lambics, and winter ales. Patrick Dawson explains how to identify a cellar-worthy beer, how to plan and set up a beer cellar, what to look for when tasting vintage beers, and the fascinating science behind the aging process. He also includes a comprehensive buying guide to help you select already-aged beers (from the readily available to the tantalizingly rare) to enjoy as your own collection is aging.
Patrick Dawson
Patrick Dawson is certified as a judge through the Beer Judge Certification Program. He travels the United States and Europe collecting beers worthy of aging. His personal cellar, in Colorado, is an evolving collection of hundreds of vintage treasures. Visit his webiste: www.pdawson.com
In the second half I’ll be talking to Dave Lobo from Verizon about there new Application for your cell phone Visual 411. If you travel it’s a must, but it’s also handy for finding local businesses and more that offer savings coupons.
Then Washington Wine Month continues with a couple of great wine of the week bottles.
Joining me to talk about these two wines is Steele Wines & Shooting Star Proprietor and world-renowned winemaker Jed Steele. With 45 years experience in the California wine business, not many can share in the success and impact that Mr. Steele has had. It was in the mid-eighties after returning from 7 years in Europe, when on a sailboat, watching the sunset I had my first taste of Kendall-Jackson’s Grand Reserve Chardonnay…a bench mark of quality and taste that I still hold in high regard today.
Good Life Guy’s Wine of The Week:
2012 Shooting Star Aligot
Our aligoté is barrel fermented, but we use older oak barrels rather than the 30% new oak that we typically use for chardonnay. The wine is crisp and clean, a wine with a nice balance of fruit and acidity. Flinty, mineral elements mix with a light floral hint on the nose, followed with the suggestion of tart/sweet apple on the palette, making it a wonderful, versatile food wine.
2011 Shooting Star Blue Franc
The wine is clean, crisp, and unpretentious with tons of fruit, including warm berry pie, complementing the traces of pepper, almond, cherry and cinnamon. Our Shooting Star Blue Franc has soft tannins, medium body, great color and is the perfect red wine to enjoy over the summer with any festive occasion. It is excellent with appetizers, cheeses, BBQ, and picnics. Recently we had the opportunity to try the Blue Franc on the deck with a toasted sandwich of smoked chicken, grilled onion, and avocado – quintessentially quaffable!
You can taste both these Washington Wines and more on Saturday March 22 between 2-5:00 p.m. at Jacob Liquor Exchange on North Rock Road. Learn more about Washington Wine Month at www.jacobliquor.com