Category: Drink

Rediscover the wines of Germany and Austria

German and Austrian wines are often “forgotten wines,” wines that are not typically a “first choice” among those selecting wines, and that is unfortunate. The New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets carry a paltry inventory of these wines. My wife and I gather with a group for a monthly wine tasting. It is both a social event and a lesson in exploring lesser-known wines. When we decided to try out German and Austrian wines, we had to travel to the Boston area for a more expansive inventory of what is available here in New England. The wines offered in this column are two of the more readily available wines to be found in New Hampshire.

Our first wine, the 2020 Landhaus Mayer Grüner Veltliner (originally priced at $13.99 and reduced to $11.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets until Feb. 27), is a good example of an Austrian white wine from Wien (Vienna), Lower Austria. Some critics of wine coming from this part of Austria consider the residents and tourists of this area to be undemanding of their wine, leading to “sloppiness” in its quality and production. Landhaus Mayer is a winery that runs counter to this perception. It has established a cooperative with the vineyard owners of this region to properly care for and cultivate their vineyards from pruning to the optimal harvest time. Gerhard J. Lobner, production manager of Landhaus Mayer, is a force in the production of quality wines, including riesling, rosé, zweigelt, and, of course, grüner veltliner.

This is a medium-bodied wine with elegant spicy aromas. It is refreshing and is perfect for pairing with dishes, including grilled chicken or pork, or to enjoy with a snack or sandwich. The color is light straw and to the nose there are notes of grapefruit. To the tongue there is a pleasant citric acidity with some herbal spiciness. It should be served cooled and would be perfect with Wiener schnitzel as its citric notes will complement the butter and lemon in the dish. This wine is a young wine and as such lacks aging potential. It should be consumed within two years of its vintage. Therefore, in purchasing this wine to serve at your next dinner party of Austrian cuisine, plan early, as this 2020 vintage is at its prime today.

Our second wine, the 2020 Valckenberg Gewürztraminer (also originally priced at $13.99 and reduced to $11.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets until Feb. 27), hails from Westhofen, along the Rhine River Valley, in the Palatinate region of Germany. Westhofen is known for its vineyards, with almost 2,000 acres planted, 69 percent in red wine varieties and 31 percent in white wine varieties. It is Germany’s fourth-biggest wine-growing region after Worms, Nierstein and Azey, all located along the Rhine. The soils of this region are gravelly limestone, which add a trace of minerality to the grapes.

For over 230 years P.J. Valckenberg has acted as an ambassador for wines of this region; that is, they purchase wines from 33 of the best vineyards of the Rhine and Mosel River regions. They provide these small vineyards, mostly consisting of well under 100 acres each, a worldwide market for their fine vintages.

This wine had a dry growing season from start to finish resulting in a near perfect grape to create a near perfect wine. With its light straw color and floral notes to the nose, it comes to the tongue with notes of pear and peaches. It is slightly sweet with just the right finish. It is ideally suited to pairing with pork or rich fish such as salmon or tuna, and its slight sweetness is ideal as an accompaniment to spicy foods. This wine is a great value and because of its semi-sweetness it can be cellared for up to five years.

These are two decidedly different wines worthy of exploration. Broadening our palates with new and different varietals and wines will not only lead us to new experiences but may spur the industry to expand inventories to satisfy our curiosity and expanded knowledge of wine.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

You know those people who look at an ultra-modern piece of art and get legitimately angry about it?

“That’s not Art! My 5-year-old could paint that!”

Aside from the implication that young children can’t produce real art, I’m always struck by the irony of the situation. Good art is supposed to elicit an emotional reaction. The rage those viewers express is a pretty good indication that the art they are looking at is working on some level.

Consider the paintings in hotel rooms or bank lobbies. They are designed to be as inoffensive and unobtrusive as possible. Some of them are easy on the eyes, but how artistic are they?

Then, there’s something like “Amateur Opossum Actress” by Rebecca Kriz.

I contend — hear me out on this — that this painting ranks up there with a Norman Rockwell illustration in terms of striking an emotional chord of recognition. I suspect this opossum and my mother might have a long and fruitful exchange of ideas. Or, alternatively, a long, uncomfortable lunch, blanketed in sullen silence.

Imagine walking through a gallery, looking at impenetrable paintings of storm-wracked beaches or girls in black crying in the rain, and discussing ridiculous things like artists’ use of metaphor in a post-Marxist emotional landscape, then finding yourself in front of this opossum painting.

You would almost certainly laugh out loud.

Never mind the opossum; this painting expresses such a relatable human emotion that you’d have to be a very bitter person to not love it.

And what should you drink while you stand admiring it? Complimentary gallery chardonnay and cheese cubes don’t quite capture the spirit of this piece.

The title is “Amateur Opossum Actress,” which gives us a little bit of context. We want something that, while appealing, tries a little too hard. It should carry a little bit of the sweetness of a picture of an opossum, combined with a touch of the bracing experience of facing an actual opossum.

I suggest this:

The Amateur Actress

Ingredients

• 2 ounces dry gin — I’m still enthusiastic about Death’s Door.
• ½ ounce orange curaçao — Grand Marnier or Cointreau would work well here, too.
• ½ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
• ¼ ounce grenadine (pomegranate syrup)

Shake all ingredients thoroughly.

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The twin keys to this cocktail are the use of an overly fancy glass, and drinking it skull-shrinkingly cold. After testing several different methods of chilling glasses, my go-to is rinsing a glass, then putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes. This works especially well in the summer, when humid air will condense into a thin layer of frost on the outside of the glass.

This is a take on a classic drink called a Pink Palace, and the color is definitely part of its appeal. The lime juice provides a good sour bridge from the sweetness of the orange liqueur to the crispness of the gin.

Sweet, like an amateur actress.

Icy, like her rage with her pretty understudy. (A hamster.)

More of this artist’s work can be found on her website at rebeccakriz.com or at inprnt.com/gallery/rebecca_kriz/amateur-opossum-actress.

Featured photo: The Amateur Actress. John Fladd photo.

Three beers for a game you don’t really care about

It was kind of surreal when Tom Brady retired.

It shouldn’t have been shocking that a 44-year-old who had accomplished more than anyone else in the history of the sport decided to call it a career as he quite literally had nothing left to prove, but it was stunning all the same.

I suppose we all took it for granted that he’d, I don’t know, just keep playing. That’s what he said he was going to do after all. I believe his quote was — I’m paraphrasing — that he would keep playing until he sucked. And he never sucked.

I loved that he just retired without the farewell tour that’s becoming all too common these days across sports. He caught us all off guard and just called it quits. And good for him.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, Brady’s retiring just made me think about how for the first time in what feels like a really long time, New England sports fans really don’t have a vested interest in this Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Patriots didn’t make it and neither did Brady’s Buccaneers. And it’s not like either of the participants is a longtime Patriots nemesis either.

Do you have strong feelings about who wins between the transplanted Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals? I sure don’t, though I suppose I’ll technically be rooting for the Bengals as it feels like L.A. has just won enough in general.

But who cares? Let’s drink some beers and eat some wings and all get heartburn together and not stress about the game itself. We’ve earned this.

So let’s embrace how care-free the Super Bowl can be if you don’t really care who wins. Here are three New Hampshire beers to help you do just that.

Team of Rivals Mango New England IPA by Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. (Merrimack) in collaboration with Backyard Brewery (Manchester)

This beer makes you go “woah.” (Or is it “whoa?”) [Editor’s note: It’s “whoa.”] It’s delightfully fruity but not overpoweringly sweet. When someone says New England-style IPA, to me, this is what the style is all about: hazy, juicy and exploding with flavor. IPAs can sort of overpower your tastebuds so I might suggest grabbing this to open your festivities and just enjoying the tropical deliciousness. That said, if you were to enjoy this with some spicy wings, I don’t think you’d regret that move.

North Beach Mexican Lager by Great Rhythm Brewing Co. (Portsmouth)

Why am I suggesting a Mexican lager during the most American of sporting events? Well, because your belly is full of IPA and chicken wings and your body is craving something lighter, something easier. This is perfectly light, crisp and yet plenty flavorful. Have this with some chili or maybe a pulled pork sandwich, or honestly, anything.

RVP (Robust Vanilla Porter) by Great North Aleworks (Manchester)

At this point, between the wings, the chili, and the pulled pork sandwiches, and who knows what else — not to mention the beer — you’ve probably consumed your fair share of calories for the week. It’s hard to believe just a few hours ago you were inputting your breakfast calories into your trusty calorie-counting app as if that was a worthwhile endeavor for Super Bowl Sunday. Also, there was probably some kind of dip you ate too much of. But maybe now you need something with just a touch of sweetness, you know, to balance out all the savory stuff. Enter RVP. It has a little sweetness from the vanilla and a little richness from the malt, but it’s also surprisingly dry and drinkable. My mom always made whoopie pies for my dad’s Super Bowl parties. Have an RVP with a whoopie pie as you close out the fourth quarter of this game you don’t really care about.

What’s in My Fridge

Plush Double IPA by Frost Beer Works (Hinesburg, Vermont) This is a delicious New England-style IPA featuring big notes of citrus, including orange and grapefruit and plenty of pine, too, along with minimal bitterness. This beer doesn’t taste like it’s 8 percent ABV, but it is, so be careful. Cheers!

Featured photo: North Beach Lager by Great Rhythm Brewing Company. Courtesy photo.

Fancy up the traditional dessert

In the fall of 2020 I wrote a column about port wine varieties and their pairings with s’mores. The article spoke to evenings, gathered around the campfire, savoring fine port wines and how they can pair to the welcoming warmth of both the fire and the gooey s’mores.

It is winter and the crisp air and snow are to be enjoyed. So get out and strap on those touring skis or snowshoes. Break out those skates and take a spin on the pond. After your “walk in the woods,” gather around a warm fire and break out the s’mores. But this time try a different spin on the s’mores. Ramp up with a few changes to the mainstay of graham crackers and marshmallow and pair those new s’mores to different wines.

For the traditionalist who likes their s’mores the way they have always had them, I offer the 2019 Sixth Sense Syrah, by Michael David (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $17.99). This wine hails from their Lodi, California, winery and vineyards planted in 1982. With a color of dark violet and nose of black cherry, plum and espresso, it is a perfect complement to the toast of the brown, melted marshmallow. Flavors of ripe raspberry and licorice, along with a bit of spice, carry through to the finish, pairing nicely with the dark chocolate in the s’mores. This is a real treat for the child that still remains in our adult bodies.

Time for a change-up? Add a little chocolate-covered bacon to the marshmallow, and you get that salty smokiness we all love. What to pair with this combo? The 2019 Cline Cellars Ancient Vines Zinfandel (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $17.99) brings the fruit-forward experience of the wine to the fore. With notes of strawberry, along with coffee and chocolate, there is a full mouth feel to the experience. The wine was aged on new and used oak, which brings notes of leather and vanilla to the mix. Coming from ancient vines planted in Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco Bay, this wine can be enjoyed now or in future outings for another five years.

Looking to resurrect that child wonderment still within you? How about baking a batch of snickerdoodle cookies and replacing those store-bought graham crackers with the cookies in your s’more? Any of your favorite homemade cookies will do, sugar or chocolate chip, but the cinnamon in the snickerdoodles complements the fruit in the riesling I suggest here. The 2019 Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard Dry Riesling (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $17.99) is a perfect match! Estate bottled, from grapes grown on the west bank of Seneca Lake, New York, it is true to an old-world Riesling. With a 300-year family history of winemaking in the Mosel region of Germany, Hermann Wiemer came to New York in the 1960’s and found the cool climate and gravel soils of the western shore of Seneca Lake to be like that of the Mosel Valley. The layers of citric and other tropical fruit, along with a slight minerality, complements the sugar and cinnamon of the snickerdoodles.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, a romantic, snowy afternoon outing must end at a fire pit with s’mores made with chocolate-covered strawberries, paired with a sparkling rosé wine. Mumm Napa Méthode Traditionnelle Brut Rosé (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $22.99) is the perfect complement to those lush strawberries. It has a beautiful pink color with rich fruit flavors that culminate in an elegant finish. A blend of 80 percent pinot noir and 20 percent chardonnay, it has aromas of black cherries, raspberries, along with citrus. It has a delightful full mouth feel as it bubbles over your tongue. As the label states, this sparkling wine is produced the same way as classic Champagne, that is with a double fermentation, and with a minimum of 18 months of yeast aging.

So release that inner youthfulness and play in the snow and on the ice. And after that, kick back over some adult-themed s’mores, made all the more interesting by changing up the recipes and pairing those new discoveries to different wines.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

I know you’ve had a lot going on in your life lately — it’s the start of another pandemic year, your children are listening to strange music that references coconuts?, and there’s been that haunting, moaning sound coming from the basement — so it’s totally forgivable that it’s slipped your mind that February is National Grapefruit Month.

The good news is that you still have three weeks or so to put up the decorations and plan a Fresca™ party.

In the meantime, let’s make a grapefruit cocktail.

Citrus is a family.

Oranges are the mom — sweet, with the merest hint of bitterness, like a sigh of regret; the backbone of the family.

Lemons are the sexy aunt who makes a lot of important life decisions based on alcohol.

Limes are the workhorse of the family. They hold down 15 jobs and still manage to tackle the hard songs at karaoke.

Grapefruit is the cousin who, while having a very good heart deep down, is the one you call when you need something shady. Grapefruit knows a guy who knows a guy. He never hides in the background. Expect him at a wedding in a loud plaid suit and wingtips. He’ll tip the minister with a Benjamin in a handshake while telling an off-color joke.

When you make a cocktail with grapefruit, the bitterness isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. You have to embrace it. Even if, like me, you prefer cocktails a little on the sweet side, be aware that grapefruit will refuse to be covered up.

Perhaps the most classic grapefruit drink is a Greyhound, a spin on a Screwdriver; gin or vodka — sometimes rum — with the orange juice replaced with grapefruit juice. There are really only two ingredients, so the flavor tends to be very straightforward. I’ve tweaked this particular recipe to add a little more complexity.

Greyhound

(slightly modified)

Ingredients

2 2-inch slices of grapefruit rind (Just the thin outer layer. The grapefruit will bring enough bitterness without using any of the white pith under the surface.)

1½ ounces good gin — I like Death’s Door.

1 ounce St. Germain, an elderflower liqueur

2 ounces unsweetened ruby grapefruit juice

Muddle the grapefruit peel thoroughly in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. This will release citrus oil and add an extra layer of grapefruitiness to the finished drink. Feel free to really smash the peel.

Add the other ingredients and four or five ice cubes to the shaker, and shake thoroughly.

Strain over ice in a rocks glass.

Grapefruit is the dominant flavor in this cocktail. The St. Germain takes a tiny bit off the edge of the bitterness and adds a hint of — floralness? Florality? Gin has enough character to go head-to-head with the grapefruit. This is a classic drink that you’ve probably never taken for a test drive. I think this will be a bit of a revelation.

I remember hearing a country song when I was little. I was very young and I’ve never — then or since — been much of a country music fan, but you accept Art where you find it, and the lyrics have stayed with me for 50 years.

The singer — I think it was Roy Clark — sang about the sad realization that love has died between him and his woman. He watches her pack her bag with tears in his eyes, then drives her to the bus station. He watches her get on the bus, and then, in words that have haunted me for more than half a century:

…Now we’re here at the station

And you’re getting on

And all I can think of is

Thank God and Greyhound you’re gone!

Featured photo: Greyhound. Photo by John Fladd.

Spoiler alert: Winter is long and cold

“I have the winter blues,” my wife said to me many years ago.

At the time, the phrase and concept was new to me and I was perplexed and largely unsympathetic.

“You’re sad because it’s cold?” I said.

Turns out that might not have been the best response. A hug may have been a better move.

I get it now though. Winter doesn’t really bother me in that it’s cold. Cold is OK by me. But while spring, summer and fall seem especially fleeting, winter just seems to carry on longer than it should, comparatively speaking. When you get to late January, not even the biggest ski bum on the planet could convince me they don’t think about warmer weather when scraping the ice off their windshield or taking the trash out on a bitter cold night.

That is quite enough complaining about the weather. The fact is winter is cold and long, and beer is the only cure.

During the coldest nights, I tend to find myself turning to higher-alcohol brews, big beers I can sip and savor as I let the alcohol warm me up from the inside out. Imperial stouts, barrel-aged brews and barleywines are just what the doctor ordered.

These are beers with layers of complex flavors that deserve your attention, and with plenty of alcohol to numb your senses to the cold.

I should add that these big beers are perfect for sharing. A whole pint of a 13-percent ABV brew is a lot, so find a friend who needs help with the winter blues, too.

Here are five big beers from New Hampshire to help you through the coldest stretches of the winter.

Erastus by Schilling Beer Co. (Littleton)

This Belgian-style tripel is just wonderful stuff, boasting a little peppery spice, some interesting fruit notes and a deliciously dry finish. This complex brew is one of my all-time favorites and I would drink this any time of the year but it’s perfect on a cold winter night. Erastus gives you plenty to consider as you sip. The fruitiness, coupled with the spice, is tasty and unique.

Fat Alberta by Throwback Brewery (North Hampton)

This is a chocolate peanut butter Russian imperial stout. Full stop. This is dessert in a glass with big notes of, you guessed it, chocolate and peanut butter. It’s so rich and so warming thanks to the 11 percent ABV — deliciously decadent. Enjoy this by the fire with or without a couple peanut butter cups.

Barrel-Aged RIS 2015 by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington)

This is another Russian imperial stout but this one is aged in bourbon barrels, which adds notes of oak and vanilla to an already flavorful and complex brew. At 9.5 percent ABV, the brew packs a punch but it’s still approachable compared to other bourbon barrel-aged brews that can exceed 14 percent ABV.

Quadracalabasia by Lithermans Limited (Concord)

This limited-release brew is a Belgian quadrupel that is brewed with roasted pumpkins and graham crackers. I haven’t had the pleasure of trying this incredible-sounding brew but I look forward to it. The brewery says the beer is “medium bodied and deeply complex with notes of plum, dark fruits and molasses.”

Ironside Barleywine by Kelsen Brewing Co. (Derry)

When it comes to big beers, Kelsen has cornered the market. Ironside is an English-style barleywine aged in brandy barrels for 18 months. The brewery describes it as “boozy and complex with notes of caramel, toffee, oak, vanilla and Werther’s candies.” Hello. This is exactly what I’m looking for when I’m completely sick of winter.

What’s in My Fridge

Modernism by Schilling Beer Co. (Littleton)

This Czech-style dark lager is tremendous, featuring notes of chocolate and coffee and a smooth, extremely easy-drinking package. The beer is a perfect example of how dark beers don’t have to be heavy. You’ll want another. Cheers!

Featured photo: Fat Alberta Chocolate Peanut Butter Russian Imperial Stout by Throwback Brewery. Courtesy photo.