Let's chat about wine and beer

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I have been quite busy the last few weeks with work and family-related commitments.  As such, I have not been posting that much recently.  Moving forward, I hope to write as often as possible, although I now realize that I will have to scale back my blogging ambitions.  (My initial hope was to publish a post a day, which I now see is not realistic).

That being said, the plan is to continue chronicling the local blogosphere.  Together with my Tour de blogosphere columns for Apartment613, I want to use this site to feature and highlight the thousands of bloggers in our city.  With that in mind, here are some alcohol-friendly posts that I have recently come across.

Wine

Some local bloggers are more than happy to suggest different wines that vino lovers can try.  Case in point: TBBs highly recommends Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.  Food Gypsy, meanwhile, raves about Hartley-Ostini, Hitching Post’s pinot noirs, which is bottled in Santa Barbara County in California. Rounding things off, wine out loud gives two thumbs up to Five Mile White, a bottle produced by Ontario's Coyote's Run winery, which is located on Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Beer

Local beer connoisseur Ross Brown has several reviews on his great site Beer O'Clock.  His latest forays into the world of hops, barley and other brewski delights led Ross to sample some U.S. beers while on a road trip to the Big Apple.  Recent reviews include posts on the Brooklyn, New York-brewed Sweet Action, another Brooklyn beer called Silver Anniversary Lager, and several other Yankee beers. 

For its part, the Ottawa Beer Club recently posted a positive review of Cameron's Rye Pale Ale.  Cider drinkers, meanwhile, should check out this review of Waupoos Cider.

Finally, Ottawa Citizen blogger Ron Eade has a post on the first batch of Turtle Island Brewing Company.

Cocktail recipes, beer reviews and wine recommendations

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I am not sure if it's the feeling of spring in the air, and/or if it's me who is delighted about being reacquainted with the sun, but a lot of drinking-related, patio-friendly posts seem to be coming across my NewsBlur feed recently.  (Since Google Reader will soon be kaput, I have moved over to NewsBlur).  Anyhow, below are some beer, wine and cocktail-related posts from the local blogosphere.

Recipes

Martinis for Breaksfast has posted a couple of cocktail recipes online.  The first is for a Manhattan, while the second is for a Cuba Libre, both of which you can drink while watching Mad Men.

Beer Reviews and wine recommendations

Beer O'Clock has posted recent reviews on the following beers:

• Amber Ale (5% ABV) from the Old Credit Brewing Company, which was rated 2.5 out of 5.
• Pompous Ass English Pale Ale (4.2% ABV) from Great Lakes Brewery that merited a 4 ouf of 5.
• Corne du diable (The Devil's Horn; 6.5% ABV) from Quebec's Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!  The review scored this beer 3.5 out of 5.
• Milk Stout (5.7% ABV) from The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, in Farmville, North Carolina, that got a perfect 5 out of 5.
• IPA Américaine (7% ABV) from Quebec's Microbrasserie Pit Caribou, which scored 4 out of 5.

Closing things off, Second Ferment recommends some California wines.

Upcoming beer events, wine suggestions and a breakfast cocktail recipe

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Upcoming Events

Barley's Angels has announced two events that they are planning.  The first is a taste of Cassel Brewery's new Maple Rye, scheduled for April 27 from 5 pm to 7 pm. Tickets are $25 and can be bought via Eventbrite.  The second is a tasting of Quebec beers at Bières du Monde in Gatineau on May 4.  Tickets are $10, include samples and snacks, and can also be bought at Eventbrite.

News

Ron Eade of the Ottawa Citizen has a story about the historic Cheshire Cat pub in Carp, which burned down due to a fire and which is scheduled to reopen this fall.

Reviews / Recommendations

Beer O'Clock reviews Sorachi Ace (7.6% ABV) from Brooklyn Brewery in New York State, and gives it a score of 3.5 out of 5.

TBBs recommends two bottles of wine.  The first is Ménage à Trois from California, while the second is Kingston Estate Petit Verdot from South Australia.  For its part, wine out loud suggests the Chenin Blanc 2012 from KWV.

Recipes

The blog wine out loud describes how to make a breakfast cocktail, albeit a "late" breakfast from 11 am onwards.

Blog Review: Beer O'Clock

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If you like to try different beers then the blog Beer O'Clock is for you.  Created by Ross Brown, this local site specialises in reviewing a wide range of beers.  In the last three weeks alone, the site has looked at such brands as:

• The German smoke beer Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier;
• Rosée d'Hibiscus from Quebec's Brasserie Dieu du Ciel;
• The Red Sashes, another beer from Quebec;
• Péché Mortel, a popular brand from Brasserie Dieu du Ciel;
• The scary sounding Dead Guy Ale from the brewery Rogue Ales in Oregon,
• The Screamin' Beaver from the Vankleek, Ontario-based Beau's All Natural Brewing Company;
• Patio Saison, also from Beau's; and
• Matt's Sleepy Time, another Beau brand.

Each review contains a description of the beer's appearance, smell, taste and overall impression, before receiving a score out of 5. The variety of beers sampled is pretty wide, so if you want to expand your brew menu this blog is a goldmine of information.

While this blog contains primarily beer reviews, you can also find posts on local beer-related events, such as the WinterBrewed Festival on Sparks Street that took place earlier this year. Overall, this is an ideal site for the beer lover and connaisseur, who likes to think of beer as a wonderful joy that needs to be savoured.

The weather is getting warmer; thoughts turn to sitting on patios and drinks

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I have recently come across several beer and cocktail-related blogs, which are a perfect compliment to the wine blogs that I was already following.  The result of this tasty blogging mix is that my drink-friendly posts will now contain a much larger selection of information.

Local News

Ron Eade of the Ottawa Citizen reports that local brewers Beyond the Pale Brewing Company are expanding, following their remarkable success since opening in November of last year.  Located at 5 Hamilton Ave. North, the owners have now taken on another 1,000 square feet of space.

Barley's Angels Ottawa, a new group for female craft beer lovers, has successfully launched.  "Over 40 women showed up to the first ever Barley's Angels meet up at Kichesippi Beer Co.," says the group's blog.  Details for the next event are being finalized.

Finally, Capital Wine published a recent post about meeting Italian wine Speri Viticoltori, who was visiting Ottawa.

Reviews

Ross Brown of the blog Beer O'Clock has recently published the following three beer reviews:

• Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Smoke beer; 5.1% ABV), a German beer that Brown says can easily be enjoyed at breakfast, and which got a rating of 4 out 5.
• Rosée d'Hibiscus Spiced Strong Beer with Hibiscus (5.9% ABV), from Quebec brewery Dieu du Ciel.  The review calls this a girly beer and gives it 3 out of 5.
• The Red Sashes 2012 Rye Wine (11% ABV), also from Quebec, and which was rated 4 out of 5.

Turning to wine, Food Gypsy sings the praises of Troublemaker, a wine from the Napa Valley in California.

Beer Tourism

Sheltered Girl Meets World, a great blog that I reviewed in March, has a very interesting post about the growing trend of people driving to visit beer breweries. Listing a dozen different local beer makers, the post offers suggestions for trips to breweries in Gatineau, Quebec, as well as the Ontario cities/towns of Beckwith, Vankleek Hill, Ottawa and Casselman.  Read the full story for the complete list.

Cocktail Recipes

Martinis for Breakfast, another good blog that I reviewed in March, explains how to make The Gypsy, a vodka-based cocktail with Bénédictine, a dash of Angostura Bitters and ice.

The Gouda Life, meanwhile, provides a recipe for a tasty sounding Ginger-Cilantro Margaritas.

Upcoming Events

Sheltered Girl Meets World reports that over 13 wineries from Prince Edward County are coming to Ottawa on Thursday, April 18, for Savvy Company's taste and buy event County in the City.  Tickets are $45 but only until April 7, after which they will cost $65.

Right on cue, the blog wine out loud offers readers a chance to win two free tickets to County in the City.  Details for the contest can be found here and the draw is on April 10.

Talking about wine, whisky, beer and Irish mojitos - oh my!

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Mostly wine (but also some whisky)

Wine lovers have been known to be romantics and dreamers.  So it makes sense that Second Ferment is pushing for a special event at the Mayfair Theatre, in which a triple bill of wine-related movies, accompanied by a wine tasting, is shown.  While nothing has been scheduled, the idea has been proposed to the Mayfair, so we will see where things go.

With spring in the air, wine out loud notes that the California Wine Fair is coming to town.  The event takes place on April 5 at the Westin Hotel, 11 Colonel By Drive, from 7:00 to 9:30 pm.  Cost is $70 or $65 for wine club members.

If you are looking for recommendations on whisky, wine and sparkling wine, the blog sip. sit. savour offers a great list of suggestions.  An earlier post has further wine recommendations.

Beer

Barley's Angels is a growing network of chapters from around the world for women who love craft beer.  The first meeting of the Ottawa Chapter is taking place on April 2 at Kichesippi Brewery. (See the bottom of this post from sip. sit. savour. for more details).  The Ottawa Chapter's web site is here, while here is the link to their Facebook group, although you will likely need to log into your FB account first.  If you don't use Facebook you can subscribe to their mailing list.

Irish Mojito

St. Patty's Day has come and gone but the dreams and memories (and hangovers?) live on.  Which is why if you think you will have the luck of the Irish with you on a future day, you should read this post from Martinis for Breakfast about how you can turn the Cuban Mojito into a more Irish-like drink.  I recently reviewed this blog and highly recommend reading it.

Blog Review: Sheltered Girl Meets World

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I really like this blog.  Since first discovering it this past fall, I have enjoyed reading the various posts on beer, travel and food-related topics.  Recent posts include:

• A fun "what's in your fridge" photo contest, in which readers sent in photographs of the inside of their refrigerator, with the winner receiving a $25 LCBO gift card;
• A post on Sheltered Girl's beer glass collection;
• Food and beer hot spots in New York City following a long weekend trip to the Big Apple;
• Descriptions of a Beau's beer brunch;
• Highlights from WinterBrewed 2013;
• Tips on making a dulce de leche ice cream beer float; and
• Many other posts ranging from restaurant reviews to brewery tours.

Originally I classified this blog in the foodie section of the blogroll.  After noting all of the beer-related posts, however, I moved it into the Wine and Drinks section, although this site also arguably does not belong there either.  With its great range of beer, food and travel commentary this blog covers many topics to please your senses, so if you like to drink, eat and travel then I would recommend this site.

Blog Review: Martinis for Breakfast

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If you like to drink cocktails then this blog is for you.  A resident of Ottawa, Jen is a married mother of two who was trained as an epidemiologist in public health. Whenever she's blogging, however, she is the girl with a flask.  According to the site's bio, Martinis for Breakfast started in August 2010 at five in the morning, after numerous friends encouraged her to start a blog.  While freely admitting that she has no formal bartending experience, Jen states that she loves to mix drinks and admires bartending, so she decide to create a site where she could write about cocktails and other musings.

This site was dormant between June 2012 and January 2013.  Luckily for drink-lovers, it came back online in February, which is great news as the writing on this site is excellent.  I found the posts to be funny, witty and informative.  Recent posts include a discussion on the war on vodka (apparently The Wall Street Journal called this iconic Russian/Polish treasure passé in 2009) and guidelines for singing Karaoke.  Earlier posts from the spring of 2012 include thought experiments on what special alcoholic drink you would buy if you came into money, cocktail recipes and how to build a kickass home bar.

Sipping a Glass of Wine (or two) in the Ottawa Blogosphere

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One of the great things about poking through the Ottawa blogosphere is that you run into sites that you would never have imagined.  For instance, unknown to me, the National Capital Region is home to several blogs that are dedicated to wine.  How cool is that!

Local wine agent Andrew Rastapkevicius runs Capital Wine blog, with his most recent post providing an update on the Pinot Noir 2013 conference in New Zealand.  Andrew reports on a talk at the conference called Can Atheists Make Great Pinot Noir, which looked at the religious nature of monks in France and their wine production.

Grayson McDiarmid, the general manager and wine director at Gezellig at 337 Richmond Road in Westboro, is responsible for the blog Grayson Drinks.  A recent post discusses the founding family behind the Italian wine maker Brunello di Montalcino.

The blog Second Ferment, meanwhile, praises Hatfield's Fuse, a white blend from the Okanagan region in British Columbia, while the fantastically named site "sit. sip. savour" provides a good list of wine recommendations.  So the next time you log onto the Ottawa blogosphere remember, an excellent glass of wine may only be a mouse click away.