A fresh alternative to chardonnay, the new 2008 KJ Summation is blended from Loire and Rhone varieties; predominantly made up of Sauvignon Blanc, followed up with chardonnay, semillion, viogner and others.
A refreshingly tart wine, heavy on the fruit character of apricot and pears, a citrus component and bit of spice. The Summation has a creamy character in the mouth.
An easy pairing with poultry. But, we had our bottle with a variety of grilled fair, brats, blue cheese burgers and chicken satay and worked pretty well together with the exception of the burgers. The blue cheese was a little strong for the wine to hold up against.
Best of all, an affordable entry. On my local wine shop’s shelf for $11.
The United Steaks rating: B+
Living in the Midwest, I’ve been around Boulevard Brewing for so long that I often tend to overlook them as a large commercial brewer.
Obviously, that isn’t the case, but their Smokestack Series of 750ml brews succeed in bringing back their craft brew image in my mind.
I had the chance to sample Tank 7 off the tap at the brewery a couple months ago and was happily surprised to see the 750ml bottles at the local liquor store.
Off the tap, Tank 7 represents the saison class well. A nice aroma of lemon, earth, grass and hops. The taste delivers much the same with a nice peppery finish. Tank 7 hides the 8.0% ABV well something a lot of saisons don’t do well.
Out of the bottle, the lemon and pepper is a bit muted, but still a vibrant brew.
One thing I do know, I’ve stocked up a half-dozen bottles to get me in to football season 
The United Steaks rating: A
Visit on the web: Boulevard Brewing
Joss Vodka, from Solas Distillery – the first micro-distiller* in Nebraska. Made from 100% Nebraska-grown organic wheat with water trucked in from a Sandhill’s aquifer near Ogallala, NE.
Distilled multiple times in a unique distillation column designed by Zac Triemert.
As for the vodka its self, one word to describe it Smooth – almost to a fault. The smoothness comes with a minor fault in my opinion in drowning out any character. Still, it makes a solid sipping vodka or martini, and holds it own with national/international players – something to be proud of coming from my home state.
Targeted as a top-shelf premium, the packaging was recently awarded a Double Gold from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. An award they are quick to mention without the category which has caught a bit of angst from the liquor purists. In the tasting competition, they walked away with a Bronze and last time I checked, Double Gold packaging doesn’t improve what is in the bottle.
Despite that, Joss Vodka is a solid product and paves the way for their rum which is due out in Fall 2010, and whiskey – currently in the aging process and due in late-2012 I believe.
*There is a bit of controversy over the claim on first distillery in Nebraska. Near-as-I-can-tell, Solas Distillery has the paperwork in as the first legal distillery in the state of Nebraska, but another micro-distillery lays claim to the first shipping product or federal licensing approval, vodka-producer Cooper’s Chase Distillery (product review coming soon).
The United Steaks rating: B+
Visit on the web: Joss Vodka
Before it was New York, it was New Amsterdam. That is the marketing message of New Amsterdam Gin; wanting you to think the city that never sleeps. However it has no relation to New York. This gin is mass produced in California, Modesto to be specific.
I bought a bottle this past week after ignoring it for a few months simply due to the low price. I found the taste a bit lacking as the juniper was heavily muted – almost to the point of non-existence. In fact, if this were a blind taste test you could easily find yourself calling it a citrus-infused vodka. I can easily how this transfers into their message that it is “so smooth you can drink it straight.” For most folks, straight gin is an acquired taste, the muted juniper and heavy citrus overtones easily approach the straight-up drinkability of flavored vodka.
Gin & Tonic: Not a good combo. The subtleness of the juniper allows the tonic to dominate.
Martini: Depends upon your accompaniment. If you are an olive or pearl onion aficionado, you’ll be put off. If you are of the citrus fruit rind, you’ll be right at home. Straight-up, probably off if you are a traditional martini drinker; but right in the ballpark if you are of the vodka martini persuasion.
Gin & Lemonade: I made a pseudo Tom Collins with some lemonade and New Amsterdam. Score. The heat index was 106 yesterday when I made this after work. I could have easily continued with these.
In a nutshell, I think New Amsterdam Gin is catering to the vodka crowd and finds its place as a crossover. It shines as a mixer, especially with its compliment to citrus, but I knock it down on the flavor profile of a gin.
The price is attractive and will aid its appeal. The United Steaks ranking: B-
Visit on the web: New Amsterdam Gin
3.5 years without a blog post. This site began its life as beerandpizza.org. Then moved to TheUnitedSteaks.com one winter when we though .com was better than .org (we still have both URLs). When we set our tagline as “a poorly updated food blog,” I don’t think we ever expected it to be that poorly updated. We will try to change that soon.
In the meantime, here are some classic drink recipes for you: Special Sauce.
Posted in Drinks, General
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My local wine retailer handed me a $20 bottle of Smith & Hook Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon on Friday, while pointing out that one might not expect a Cab of this quality to come from Monterey.
Here’s how the Hahn family describes their product:
The Smith & Hook Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is crafted from the finest of the Hahn Family’s estate vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands Appellation, a wine region proving to become one of the crown jewels of California viticulture.
The Smith Vineyard and the Hook Vineyard are east facing slopes with the vines between 400 and 1200 feet in elevation in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation. These grapes are truly mountain grown. The final blend of our Grand Reserve Cabernet is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc for mid-palate, 5% Petite Verdot for bright berries and spice, and 2% Malbec for color and to tie everything together.
Aromas of blackberries, currant, leather, and tobacco. A warm rush of cherries and plum start at the fore-palate before fading to chocolate and toffee with a hint of mint towards the back. The tannins are firm, smooth, and polished, leaving a silky and supple texture in the mouth, supported by a subtle seam of acidity. Our Enologist, Greg Freeman, describes the wine as “a warm cedar chest at Grandma’s house.”
That’s an interesting way to descibe wine, but I know what he means.
We dabbled in delicious wines over the Christmas weekend. Mostly from Oregon. One stood out from the pack. Rockblock from Domaine Serene—a syrah from the southern part of the state, hundreds of miles from the Willamette Valley.
Grapes for Rockblock are sourced entirely from Del Rio Vineyard in the Rogue Valley appellation of southern Oregon, just north of Medford, overlooking the Rogue River. The vineyard is planted to the Noir clone on 101-14 and SO4 rootstocks. Soils are rocky clay loam, very well drained and planted 1088 vines per acre.
We found it on the wine list at Bateaux on Lady’s Island and ordered two bottles. Now, I’m going to have to ask Claude, our local wine retailer, to bring it in for us.
Need Proof?
Yahoo! recently launched a dedicated portal to food: food.yahoo.com. Recipes, Restaurants, Wine, Entertaining, and Cooks.
