Dec 31 – This Week’s Show

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Guy

Back in the studio Saturday December 31 with a great show about “Boozy Botanicals” a local Kansas City company producing organic premium flavored simple syrups.  My guest is owner Cheryl Bisbee, we’ll talk about how to use her creative elixirs to make crafty cocktails, and more! www.boozybotanicals.com

About Boozy Botanicals:
Boozy Botanical syrups are an easy way to create tasty unique craft cocktails in your own home.  Each syrup is handmade in small batches and designed to be paired with all types of spirits. These infused syrups will take your home bar to another level –  by adding just a touch of Boozy, you can elevate your favorite cocktail with new flavor or put a unique twist on a classic cocktail.  Boozy is not just for your bar, you can use it into the kitchen too! They add delicious flavor to sparkling  water, club soda, tonic, lemonade, tea and coffee. You can also add Boozy to yogurt, ice cream and fresh fruit – an ideal addition to your favorite smoothie.  Use Boozy in marinades, salad dressings, sautées and baked goods to add unique flavor profiles to your favorite recipes.

About Me:
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase – “Do what you love, love what you do.”  Boozy Botanicals was born from two of my passions – creating unique and delicious cocktails with fresh, handmade infusions and doing it right here in the heart of America – Kansas City. I love the Midwest, the generosity, creativity, and vitality of the people who live and work in “fly over country” is second to none. I also love my syrups. Boozy syrups are infused with the best ingredients I can find and sourced as much as possible from local shops, farmers and other business owners.  Experimenting with distinctive combinations to create tastes that are both unusual and delightful is my art, my craft and my expression of “doing what I love and loving what I do”.

Later in the show I’ll tell you all about KOVAL Distillery in Chicago and especially their Cranberry Gin.  Learn more here!

KOVAL Distillery crafts a line of whiskey, gin, and specialty spirits using unique organic grains and signature “heart cut” techniques
with only the absolute best quality distillate. Known around the world for its bright, approachable flavors and unprecedented creativity and design, KOVAL has been the recipient of over 100 international awards.

Founded in 2008 by husband-and-wife team, Dr. Robert Birnecker and Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart,
KOVAL began as thefirst distillery to open in Chicago since the mid-1800s. Prior to starting the distillery, Sonat and Robert had established careers in government and academia,but chose to forge a new path together. Their goal with KOVAL was to marry centuries of tradition from Robert’s Austrian distilling heritage with state-of-the-art modern technologies – all with the aim of bringing heightened levels of consistency and creativity to the world of spirits.

Good Life Guy’s Spirit of the Week:  KOVAL Cranberry Gin Liquor
KOVAL Cranberry Gin Liqueur offers an enticing blend of fruit-forward and bittersweet flavors, surrounded by the crisp, well-rounded notes of KOVAL Gin’s signature 13 botanicals. An homage to aperitif culture, it is an excellent base for easy, enticing cocktails for all seasons – simply mix with a splash of Prosecco or any sparkling water, and a signature spritz is born! Made from all-natural ingredients sourced directly from local, organic Midwestern farmers. 60 Proof

Try some of these drink recipes for your New Years Eve Party!

Posted in Other | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Dec 31 – This Week’s Show

Dec 17 & 24 Preempted for NFL football

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Guy

The next two weeks it’s all about FOOTBALL on KNSS.

Good Life Guy will be back on Saturday December 31 with a great show about “Boozy Botanicals”  a local Kansas City company producing organic premium flavored simple syrups.  My guest is owner Cheryl Bisbee, we’ll talk about how to use her creative elixirs to make crafty cocktails, and more! www.boozybotanicals.com

Posted in Other | Comments Off on Dec 17 & 24 Preempted for NFL football

Dec 10 – On Champagne!

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Guy

My guest this week is Susan Keevil, LIVE from the UK with her new book On Champagne: A tapestry of tales to celebrate the greatest sparkling wine of all. This great book is from the Academie du Vin Library, (https://academieduvinlibrary.com) a great source for exceptional wine writing! 

In On Champagne the thoughts, opinions and conclusions of the world’s finest champagne writers gather to reveal this wine’s action-packed trajectory from the myth of its accidental discovery – not in France, we find, but in the cider cellars of England – to the development of a high-tech champagne fit for space travel. It’s a journey that starts and ends with capturing that sparkle in a bottle and along the way beguiles us with the nuances of its chalky terrain, the determination of rebels from Ambonnay to Avize, and the mystery of a champagne cellar under the sea. We meet the pioneers who created the great champagnes of the past and the personalities who are ‘greening’ this landscape, nurturing it through climate change to shape the exquisite champagnes of the future.

  • Get set, go! The revolutionary growers who stood up to the grandes marques and won!
  • A Menace to Society… the hazards of serving this most explosive of drinks
  • With or without bubbles? Champagne physicist Gérard Liger-Belair explains how bubbles make this wine better
  • Flutes or Coupes? Magnums or Jeroboams? The perfect glass and the best bottle size revealed
  • Champagne and the future: which vintages and styles will we drink next?
  • Homage to the Widow: we meet the women (past and present) who transform champagne
  • Includes: Moët & Chandon, Krug, Bollinger’s ‘Vieilles Vignes Françaises’, Pol Roger, Dom Pérignon, Domaine Ruinart, Roederer, Veuve Clicquot and more…
  • Contributions from top champagne writers: Tom Stevenson, Essi Avellan MW, Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe MW, Peter Liem, Tyson Stelzer and Robert Walters – with the ‘modern era’ welcomed in by Evelyn Waugh

Get a copy NOW!

Champagne is never a simple glass of fizz… As soon as the cork flies, the first sip reveals a wine of fascinating complexity. For even the most modest non-vintage cuvée, a bevy of blending decisions, multi layers of history and the incalculable climate of this northern corner of France all come into play.

Susan Keevil started her life in wine as a ‘cellar rat’ cooling Chardonnays in Australia’s Hunter Valley, none of which prepared her for the world of book publishing back in the UK where she honed her wine knowledge working with Hugh Johnson on six editions of his international best-seller, the Pocket Wine Book. Susan then landed her dream job as editor of Decanter magazine (the path to many worldwide wine adventures) and later became author of the Which? Guide to Wine as well as a regular magazine columnist and contributor. The launch of the Académie du Vin Library in 2019 saw a return to specialist wine books for which Susan is a writer and editor-in-chief.

….

Wine of the Week: NV Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut
Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut epitomizes the heritage of Maison Perrier-Jouët. Perpetuating the House’s tradition of brut champagnes, it is a vibrant, stylish cuvée in which the elegance of Chardonnay (20%) is perfectly complemented by Champagne’s two red grape varieties, Pinot Noir (40%) and Meunier (40%). Though crisp and light, it combines freshness with a lingeringly rich, generous finish, preserving its distinctive balance and harmony to the very end.

The Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut is delicate, elegant, and balanced. The striking freshness and vivacity of the floral and fruity fragrances (yellow fruits and fresh fruits) take root, before giving way to subtle notes of vanilla and butter, lending the wine a fruity and consistent character.

The notes of cherry plum, lemon, and bergamot orange emerge first, then make way for the flowers of fruit trees, such as lime and honeysuckle. These are followed by notes of butter, madeleine cakes, and vanilla sugar. Lingering notes of grapefruit, white peaches, green pears, apple trees, and green hazelnuts round off the taste. ABV12%

WS90 Wine Spectator
Lemon oil, smoke and thyme aromatics lace the poached pear, toasted brioche and dried apricot flavors in this balanced Champagne, with crunchy mousse and a creamy finish. Drink now.
WE90 Wine Enthusiast
With a high proportion of the two Pinots in the blend, this cuvée is a ripe and floral Champagne. This bottling has some age which has produced a touch of toast to add to the crisp, dry texture. It’s an attractive, fruity and mature Champagne, ready to drink now.
Posted in Other | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Dec 10 – On Champagne!

Dec 3 – Beef…it’s what’s for Dinner

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Guy

This show is all about BEEF, it is after all “What’s for Dinner!”  

First up is Flint Hills cattle rancher Arlan Stackley and his son David.  The Stackley’s have been raising cattle for many years and have been innovators who are dedicated to sending the finest cattle to market.  While the independent rancher numbers are fewer than in the past, here in Kansas it’s still great to find family farmers raising the bar on raising cattle.

I had the pleasure of meeting Arlan at the Butler Community College Donors Dinner last month and we probably should have been scolded for talking so much during the presentations.  Mr. Stackly is an interesting man with some great stories and I look forward to sharing his story with you.

Later in the show we’ll keep the BEEF theme and talk to Justin Everhart of Sig’s Gourmet Meats in Derby.  I met Justin’s Dad, Sig, in the early 90’s at Picadilly Market and Grill where he was the master of the Gourmet meat counter.  Always with a smile and always helpful, I learned a lot from Sig Everhart!  He was more than a talented butcher, he always had recipe suggestions and tips on seasoning and preparing the top quality meats he sold.

After leaving Piccadilly Sig opened Sig’s Gourmet Meat in Derby in the former Pizza Hut building at the South end of town off K-15 at 300 South Baltimore Avenue. Family owned and operated for over four generations, they proudly provide farm fresh quality pork and poultry, premium choice Angus beef, and more. At Sig’s, their choice Angus beef is aged to perfection. They allow their beef to age longer, providing a richer more satisfying taste and tenderness.

The meat from Sig’s is leaner, has less waste and healthier for your family. Your dollar goes further at Sig’s because you’re paying only for quality cut meat, not the undesirables. You can also get helpful advice on everything from preparation, special rubs and sauces, to the correct way to achieve a rich and smoky flavor. Follow Sig’s on Facebook.

A family owned & operated Old Fashion Butcher Shop offering a great selection of premium meats hand cut and ready for your kitchen or grill.  For special orders and requests call 316 788-9494.  Open Monday thru Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  Justin and wife Ann continue Sig’s legacy!

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week: Something Fun and tasty to go with BEEF 🙂
2018 Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Rich aromas of ripe black cherry, Mission fig, and dark chocolate mingle with a spice box of clove and nutmeg. The palate is filled with flavors of juicy blackberry and boysenberry that are enveloped in silky tannins, showing complexity beyond its years. Enticing flavors of fresh vanilla bean and hazelnut carry through a velvety richness that lingers on the finish. Enjoy now after decanting for 45 minutes or cellar through 2038.  Blend: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec ABV13.6%

Critical Acclaim
WW92  Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2018 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon is focused, stylish, and lovely from start to finish. The wine’s soft yet persistent tannins give it a good elevation on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of red and blue fruits. Its berry nuances are balanced nicely with suggestions of subtle oak. Pair it with slow-roasted garlic and rosemary-infused leg of lamb. (Tasted; September 3, 2022, San Francisco, CA)

WE90 Wine Enthusiast
Blending in 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, this elegant wine displays the great conditions of the vintage, allowing blackberry fruit, fig, cedar and a note of dark chocolate to mingle over a medium-bodied palate of refined tannin and oak.
Posted in Other | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dec 3 – Beef…it’s what’s for Dinner

Nov 28 – David Coors & Five Trail Whiskey

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Guy

My guest this week is David Coors…yes, that Coors!  We won’t be talking about beer that much, but we will talk about the family history, the brewery but more importantly the latest venture; “The Coors Whiskey Company.” Had a chance to meet David Coors here in Wichita a few weeks ago and to taste Five Trail Whiskey, their new Blended American Whiskey.

An Intentional Blend — Purposefully made and intentionally sourced, Five Trail is a perfectly balanced and elegant blended American whiskey.

Coors gathered a uniquely talented team of whiskey experts, distillers, and brewers with the intent to craft an exceptional and unprecedented blend of four distinct whiskies, proofed with pure Rocky Mountain water. The result is a true American blended whiskey, proving the adage that the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.

From utilizing Coors malt made in Golden, Colorado from local barley, to partnering with the renowned Bardstown Bourbon Company, to
meticulously perfecting every aspect of our blending process, we’ve honed each step of the production of Five Trail. We believe that quality is determined in the details, which is why we’ve pulled out all the stops to ensure the whiskey that you pour into your glass meets our high expectations and is exactly as we intended it to be.

Gallery Grid bafckground

Five Trail is a blended whiskey, meaning that because Coors does not have its own distillery, the company purchased several already-made liquors that it mixed together to create an original flavor profile. The blend is 45% wheated bourbon from Indiana; 35% four-grain bourbon from Kentucky; 15% Colorado single malt distilled from Coors’ own barley; and 5% 13-year-old bourbon from Kentucky.

There are four Five Trail blends; Flagship Blend (featured below), Barrel Proof, Cask Finished, and Small Batch.

Five Trail Flagship Blend
This whiskey has a wonderful nose with caramel, vanilla toasted oak.  It’s soft and semi-sweet on the palate with toffee, brown sugar and a balanced barrel tinged lingering finish with hints of maple syrup warmth.

Relatively new to Kansas but available to any retail spirits store!
…
Learn more about Five Trail Whiskey here!
Posted in Other | Comments Off on Nov 28 – David Coors & Five Trail Whiskey