Pretty good article on the history:
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For a pre-supper Sunday cocktail, I just made myself a rye old fashioned with green tea. Not bad!
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What a good site and a good choice for sending an alcohol gift to someone? (It’s a business/friend thank you). Assume I don’t know what he likes to drink but I think beer, wine or some spirits (particularly bourbon/whiskey) should be fine. Price range ~150.
Before you think about wine.com check the recent trustpilot reviews. They used to be great, (although overpriced without bonus codes), but have had massive problems recently.
You may need to share the state you plan to ship to as most places have limited distribution.
I like Ansonia wines out of MA quite a bit. They are a small importer specializing in French wines. They buy directly from the wineries, most of which are small and family operated. I think they ship to CT but not 100% sure. You can email them at [orders at ansoniawines dot com] and they will get back to you within 24 hours.
Some of these pairing pairs for $95 and free shipping look like nice deals.
And they will ship each order with little cards for each producer in the shipment. The backs of the cards have some info about the producer, tasting notes, and pairing suggestions. It’s a nice little touch, especially for a gift order.
I have no affiliation except for spending way too much money with them.
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Lots of CT package stores are doing home delivery. I haven’t used it but I’ve certainly seen signs advertising it in my neck of the woods. Could give a couple ones local to the person you want to give a gift to a call and explain what you’re looking for.
Thanks, good idea!
Normally, this is the time of year when I go nuts opening beers. It’s the Christmas season but, more importantly, it’s usually the time when I finish my main teaching for the year. This year is different, since one of my classes got moved to spring semester and I have to plan for it to be a hybrid of online and in-person, which is making for a less-relaxed time than normal.
So I haven’t really gone nuts. A couple of notable bottles:
Back in the day, Founders CBS was one of the hardest-to-get whales out there. Then they produced it on a pretty large scale, first in bombers and then in 12 oz bottles. The 12 oz bottle is perfect. I opened this beer a few nights after I opened a KBS and, surprisingly, this beer was substantially better. I didn’t have any desire to finish the KBS, but this was great. Super sweet, which is perfect for someone with a 12 year old’s palate, like me.
This was … fine. The first part of the description sounds great:
Imperial porter brewed with Dutched cocoa, Saigon cinnamon, and cayenne
Then the second part:
With 50% aged in bourbon and rum barrels.
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a beer aged in rum barrels. So you’ve got these two opposing forces going against each other. And they roughly cancel out. The cinnamon and cayenne aren’t overwhelming, but neither is the rum. Meh. I poured half the bomber one night, and drank about half of that portion. Then I poured the second half of the bomber the next night, and drank about half that portion. These anniversary beers have been really hit or miss with me.
From tonight:
One of my all-time favorite beers, from 2013. This used to be a well-carbonated masterpiece, but the last two bottles I’ve opened just poured flat. The taste is still fantastic, but the lack of carbonation means that it’s no longer god-tier.
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So apparently this year’s OG bourbon county has 4 variants. Look at the bottled on date and there will either be 2 letters at the end, or nothing.
Nothing = standard OG, same as every other year.
WT = aged exclusively in Wild Turkey barrels
BT = aged exclusively in Buffalo Trace barrels
HH = aged exclusively in Heaven Hill barrels
It’s confirmed true by GI.
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Variants are only in Chicago though, right?
Yes, and thanks. Totally forgot to include that.
BUT, prop is also supposed to be Chicago only and you hear about other places getting it all the time, so who knows.
I haven’t lived in Philadelphia since 2004, but for any Philly peeps who want to strengthen their lambic stash, Monk’s is selling off some of their Cantillon cellar:
But for real, if you wanted to drop several hundred dollars on high-quality lambic, you should just order directly from:
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Daaamn, I wish I’d known about this before! My wife loves 3F and Tilquin and one of those packs would have been a nice Christmas present.
We paid like $40/375ml at a local place last time she had one, so the packs are an incredible bargain.
ETA: I tried buying but they don’t ship beer to the US. Spider, do you know of ways to getting 3F or Tilquin shipped?
Yes, if you’re buying from the 3F webshop, you choose a proxy shipper. I use Etre Gourmet, which is a Belgian retail store from which you can buy various products from many different brewers directly (Etre Gourmet), and who also ships purchases made through 3F’s webshop.
So basically, you order from 3F’s webshop, using Etre Gourmet as the shipping address. Then Etre will notify you that you’ve got a package. They’ll charge you a packing/shipping fee to send to the U.S. It’s described in a little more detail here: Frequently Asked Questions – Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
All of that assumes that you really want the particular offerings from 3F’s webshop. An easier situation is if you just want beers that Etre is selling on their own. (They’ve got tons of 3F, but no Tilquin - Pierre Tilquin doesn’t allow European shops to sell his beer online to the U.S.) Then you just order everything directly from Etre and they ship to the U.S.
Looking back when I purchased 2 packs in July, I paid €85.20 for each pack plus €8.65 shipping for a total of €179.05 to 3F. Etre charged me €30 for packaging each order, then another €95 for shipping the combined order. So that’s altogether €334.05 to get those 24 375ml beers delivered to my door.
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Thank you so much for the info!
Balvenie was my first ever scotch. 12 year doublewood if I recall correctly. You’ll have to let us know how that one is, along with the Dalmore.
Of course everyone knows Laga 16 is incredible. Cheers!