Category: Drink

The ultimate day of indulgence requires the appropriate brew

Thanksgiving is the ultimate day of indulgence — savory gravy, delicious stuffing, buttery potatoes and vegetables, sweet and rich yams and flavorful roast turkey followed by a spread of sweet, rich desserts.

And you can’t just sip any old beer on the ultimate day of indulgence.

I sort of teeter back and forth when it comes to beer on Thanksgiving. On the one hand, the food of the day is so rich, so decadent and so carb-heavy that it’s almost a challenge to try to add a similarly rich and decadent brew into the mix — but richer, maltier brews work so well with the sweet, buttery foods that dominate the day. We’ve got ourselves a predicament.

On the other hand, I find that crisp, clean brews like Pilsners or bright, tart sours can cut through the fat a bit better, and that allows you to really focus in on the food you’re eating — nothing wrong with that either.

But you don’t want to feel like you held back on Thanksgiving, so how should we handle this dilemma? That is the question and I don’t have the answer because I’ve gone back and forth on what the best move is from holiday to holiday, and sometimes even from brew to brew.

With respect to these two competing narratives, I’d like to offer a few suggestions from both lines of thought to help you drink your way through Thanksgiving.

Carry On Bohemian Style Pilsner by Great Rhythm Brewing Co. (Portsmouth)

This is crisp, clean, light and so, so easy to drink. You can enjoy this without really having to think about it. This would be a nice choice during appetizers, or honestly, really at any moment on Thanksgiving day.

Georg Munich-Style Dark Lager by Schilling Beer Co. (Littleton)

While this is rich and offers layers of complexity, what stands out to me is that it’s quite dry and easy to drink. I think you get some notes of toasted caramel that would do very well alongside a piece of warm apple or pumpkin pie.

Rye IPA by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington)

I haven’t tried this one but I’m intrigued by this brew, in particular because I think the bitterness and the earthiness from the rye would really cut through the richness of the day. The brewery indicates this beer is “bold and malty,” which is a bit different than your typical IPA. This one seems like a good choice on turkey day.

Pandora’s Kettle #4 by Concord Craft Brewing (Concord)

This Berliner weisse is tart, bright, and quite refreshing. Brewed with apple and cranberry, this is perfectly seasonal—and a great choice to sip with the meal or right after when you’re trying to give your belly a bit of a break. At 3.7 percent ABV, you can have more than one.

Vendel Imperial Stout by Kelsen Brewing Co. (Derry)

This is the one you grab when you just decide to go all in on Thanksgiving. This beer holds nothing back. It’s incredibly rich and creamy with big notes of chocolate and coffee. Savor this one slowly on the big day.

Working Man’s Porter by Henniker Brewing Co. (Henniker)

This is dry and robust but it’s also very, very drinkable, making it a nice choice when you’re embracing the decadence of the day but not trying to go too overboard. It’s that dry complexity that I think pairs quite well with Thanksgiving fare.

What’s in My Fridge
DDH Pulp Daddy by Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. (Worcester, Mass.) Wow. This one comes at you with hop ferocity. The brewery states that it is its hoppiest beer — double the hops of its little brother, Pulp Daddy (which is also quite hoppy, as is the youngest brother, Pulp). This is a hop-lover’s dream: a tropical juice bomb that pulls no punches. The dry hops adds another layer of complexity and freshness that really allows this beer to stand out. Cheers!

Featured photo: Happy Thanksgiving. Courtesy photo.

Give the world’s oldest fine wine a chance

Whenever I think of sherry, the fortified wine, I cannot help thinking of Frankie Vallee singing “Sherry, Baby” in that Jersey Boys falsetto voice. Wait, I may have said too much, and yes, I occasionally tune into “60’s on 6” on Sirius radio!

Sherry (the wine) has a bad reputation, linked to proper ladies drinking ever so politely from little glasses. However, it should not have such a limited audience. It is more than a beverage option for tea, served with small sandwiches and polite fruit creams. It should be served chilled and enjoyed along a fireside, wrapped in a blanket.

Sherry has a long and storied past. At about 2,000 years old, it is the world’s oldest fine wine, made principally from the palomino grape, along with a couple of others in Jerez, Andalucia, Spain. It has been imitated in other regions, but never with any success outside of Jerez. In fact, the EU has dictated the name can only apply to wines from Jerez. It can range from the driest, most delicate fino to the richest, most pungent oloroso. The wine is made in a traditional manner. The grapes are harvested and the wine is made in exactly the same manner as any other dry white wine, but in the following year the wine is fortified with alcohol and other wine to raise the strength to 14.5 percent. A skin of naturally occurring yeast, called flor, forms along the surface of the wine, which makes a barrier between the surface of the wine and the air within the cask, preventing the wine from oxidizing and imparting that “nutty” character sherry has. The amount of flor on the wine determines the direction the sherry will take, from fino, which is fortified to 15.5 percent, to oloroso, 17.5 percent.

On the bottle labels you may find the term “solera system.” One might call this “quality control.” It is a system of mixing young wines with older wines to ensure consistency, but it is more than that. Typically, there are four tiers to the stand of oak barrels sherry is stored in. Each year two thirds of the wine of the oldest in the tier will be blended with one third of the wine of the following year’s vintage. The wine is tapped off from each successive barrel, allowing new wine to be replenished in the top level. The fino soleras are emptied periodically to maintain the freshness of the wine. A good fino has spent five years rotating through these barrels. The oloroso soleras, however, may not be completely emptied.

Sherry comes in a variety of styles. Fino is the palest and driest of the Jerez styles. It has a citric quality to it. Amontillado is aged beyond five years and has a light shade of almond to it. It is still dry but more complex, rich and spicy. Oloroso sherries spend about 10 years in the solera and while still dry are mixed with other sweet wines to produce “cream sherries.” Sometimes sherries are made from other grapes, such as muscatel or Pedro Ximénez, a grape dried in the sun to produce extremely sweet wine. Sherries can be dated but dating them follows a complex formula because of the mixing of vintages, and sometimes there are individual vintages from single casks, but these are rare and can be pricey.

So, what sherries are available in New Hampshire? Sadly, the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets have somewhat meager offerings. Of the 76 stores only four varieties of sherries are offered in many of the stores. This is unfortunate because there is a wealth of types of sherries to explore. Our first is Dry Sack Medium Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $13.49 per bottle. This wine is the color of weak tea and has a dry “nutty” character to it.

Our next sherry is Savory & James Fino Deluxe Dry Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $9.99 per bottle. The color of this sherry is a very pale straw. To the nose and mouth it is a very dry, light sherry with strong citric notes. One can compare this to a dry vermouth.

Our last sherry is Harveys Bristol Cream Solera Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $13.99 per bottle. Perhaps the standard by which all other sherries are compared, it is a rich, smooth, full sherry with creamy notes, as its name defines.

Pick up a bottle or two to enjoy by the fire as the weather gets cooler. And remember, you don’t have to invite Grandma to enjoy new experiences with this fine fortified wine.

Sylvester Graham would hate this article. For the purposes of this week’s cocktails, here’s what you need to know about Graham, who died in 1851:

• He didn’t invent the graham cracker — he encouraged people to grind their own flour (he said white bread was made from “tortured wheat”). Some mills started producing a rougher-ground, whole-grain flour that they called Graham flour. Graham crackers were made using this flour.

• He was horrified by alcohol.

• He was very impatient; he couldn’t understand why Americans didn’t just listen to him and change their lifestyles instantly (he basically thought pleasure and anything that gave you pleasure — alcohol, meat, sex — is bad for you).

So, here’s our first tie-in with Sylvester Graham: What’s with all the exotic ingredients, Cocktail Boy?

I’ve been looking back at the last several cocktails I’ve written about and I’m pretty sure some of you have been thinking to yourself, “OK, this drink sounds very interesting, but do I really need Nepalese orchid pollen to make it?” The most exotic ingredients in today’s drinks are cocoa nibs and grapefruit juice. (No, not together.)

The bad news is that Cocktail No. 1 will take you a week to make.

Cocktail No. 1 – The S’mores Martini

After making chocolate vodka last month, I decided to see if I could make graham cracker vodka (Sylvester Graham connection No. 2).

I’ll spare you the experimental methodology, but in short, it works.

Graham Cracker Vodka

1 sleeve (135 grams) graham crackers

3 cups 80 proof inexpensive vodka

Combine graham crackers and vodka in a blender. Blend at whatever speed pleases you for one minute. Feel free to chuckle evilly as the graham crackers meet their fate.

Pour into a wide-mouthed, airtight jar.

Store in a warm, dark place for a week, shaking twice daily.

(And this is really important) On Day 7, DO NOT SHAKE THE JAR.

Gently pour the clear liquid through a fine-meshed strainer, then through a coffee filter, into a labeled bottle.

Strain the remaining graham cracker glop overnight, then filter and add to your bottle.

S’mores Martini

2 oz. chocolate vodka

2 oz. graham cracker vodka

3-4 miniature marshmallows, for garnish.

In a mixing glass (see below), pour equal amounts of chocolate and graham cracker vodka over ice.

Stir gently but thoroughly.

Pour off, into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with toasted miniature marshmallows, much like you would a conventional martini, with olives.

Some bartenders make standard, conventional martinis by pouring an ounce or so of vermouth over the ice in the mixing glass, stirring it around, then pouring it out. The vermouth-washed ice adds just enough vermouthiness to the gin to make a solid dry martini. I suspect that if one were to wash the ice in this drink with creme de cacao before mixing in the chocolate and graham cracker vodkas, it would deepen the flavor even more. That would stretch the boundaries of Sylvester Graham-like simplicity and humble ingredients, though.

Observation No. 1 – Is this idea a bit cutesy and Food Networky?

Yes, but if you find yourself with chocolate and graham cracker vodkas, the Universe sort of demands that you do it.

Observation No. 2 – Shaken versus Stirred

For years, I’ve heard martini snobs sneering at the whole James Bond, shaken-not-stirred concept. But for the sake of … um, I’m not actually sure what … I decided to make two different versions of this martini, one shaken brutally in a Boston shaker (the kind with two halves) and one stirred in a mixing glass.

Shockingly, there was a real difference, and not a small one. The shaken martini had a different look, a different mouth-feel and even a different taste than the silkier one made in the mixing glass. By comparison, it seemed like it was made in a frat house. The stirred one was delightful and civilized.

Does this mean that you’ll have to invest in a special mixing glass and long spirally bar spoon? I did, but I suspect you could do just as well with a glass measuring cup and the blunt end of a butter knife. But let’s say you suffer from a Sylvester Graham-like impatience. Try this instead:

Featured photo: S’mores martini. Photo by John Fladd.

The right beer can enhance any meal

Pairing beer with food shouldn’t be that hard — but sometimes it is.

You can get as in-depth with pairing beer with food as you can with wine. I don’t, personally, but similar to wine, the right brew can elevate the overall eating experience. But it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Especially as our palates turn to richer fare, comfort food and homestyle staples, you do want to think about your beer choices and how they might impact your taste buds. For example, I wouldn’t opt for a rich coffee stout with pizza and I wouldn’t choose a juicy New England-style IPA with apple pie.

I suggest spending a minute to think about what you’re going to be eating and what you’d like to drink. I don’t think you’ll need a chef or a sommelier to break it down for you. You’ve got this.

You want to think about what you want the beer to do for your experience. Do you want it to complement the flavor profiles of the foods you’re eating or do you want it to stand on its own?

Aside from Thanksgiving, which, wow, is just three weeks away, you’re probably eating a lot of chicken wings and chili while you watch football and you’re probably enjoying more roasts and stews as the weather has cooled. Thinking about chili and wings, both of which tend to have a little (or a lot of) spice, you’ve got a few options.

IPAs, in general, such as the Hazy Rotation New England IPA by Great North Aleworks in Manchester or the Damn Sure Double IPA by Henniker Brewing, tend to stand up to spicy food, without completely overpowering your palate. IPAs tend to be able to stand on their own more than other brews, but if the food you’re eating is more subtly flavored, IPAs can take over, so be careful.

Saisons can be a versatile choice for pairing with food — they’re often fruity and spicy on their own. They also vary greatly from brew to brew — just something to keep in mind.

Pilsners and lighter brews are just fine too, but I do tend to think you’ll lose their nuanced flavor in the face of spicier foods.

With a beef stew, I tend to move toward drier stouts, such as Irish stouts or American stouts, like Stout #3 by Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, that offer complex layers of flavor but without much sweetness. I’ll save sweeter stouts with notes of chocolate, fruit and coffee, such as the Black Cat Stout by Portsmouth Brewery or Stoneface Brewing Co.’s Porter with Chocolate & Cherries, for pairing with dessert.

Brown ales, like the Paradigm Brown Ale by Kelsen Brewing Co., are another nice choice for pairing with stews and roasted meats.

Thinking about Thanksgiving, you know the fare is going to be rich, sweet and slathered in gravy. With that in mind, I’m looking for something a little lighter, like a Pilsner or a fruity wheat beer, both of which allow you to appreciate the buttery goodness of mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and mounds of stuffing — and also turkey. Another interesting option for Thanksgiving is to explore the world of sours — the tartness from sours can cut right through rich, fatty foods.

If you really want to get it right, ask the brewer or the beer expert at your local store. They’ll be able to tell you exactly what kinds of foods pair well with their beers.

What’s in My Fridge
Relic Twenty-8 Imperial Stout by Bent Water Brewing Co. (Lynn, Mass.) I’ve been loving the stouts by Bent Water over the past few weeks, and the Relic Twenty-8 is another tremendous choice from this brewery. This is a perfect imperial stout that is rich, fruity and complex. A seasonal offering for the holidays, Bent Water makes this with toasted coconut and blackberries and those two flavors balance each other quite well. But I’m also picking up notes of dark chocolate and maybe a little coffee, too. This is decadent and, at nearly 12 percent ABV, a brew best savored during a quiet afternoon or evening by the fire. Cheers!

Featured photo: Kelsen Brewing Company’s Paradigm Brown Ale pairs well with richer foods. Courtesy photo.

A look at two very different wines

France is unarguably and immediately associated with food and superbly diverse beverages. It is the third largest country in Europe, surpassed only by Russia and Ukraine, and it has a climate as broad as its size. From the mountainous Alps, where the Rhône River originates, to the low flat countryside abutting Belgium where beer is the preferred beverage, to the cool air along the shores of Normandy, with its orchards producing Cidre de Normandie, and to the warm tropical sun of the Mediterranean, where hearty red wines abound, there are 307 wine designations (called AOP or Appellation d’Origine Protégée) and each can allow for several different types of wine (red, rosé, sparkling, etc.). When you put it all into perspective, France delivers approximately 2,900 different wines, not considering the many thousands of wineries.

So it comes as no surprise we can sample two very different wines that hail from the central region of France in Burgundy and the warm climate of the lower Rhone River valley, wines made from grapes grown a little more than 200 miles apart.

Our first wine is light and bright and hails from Beaune in the southern reaches of Burgundy. Louis Jadot 2019 Beaujolais-Villages (priced at $12.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets) is a wine from the region that is known for its pinot noirs. However, this is a wine made exclusively from the gamay grape. Beaujolais are among the wines with lower alcoholic content at 13 percent and became popular decades ago as a selection in the bistros of Paris. This wine can be considered a “middle ground” between Beaujolais Nouveau, which must be consumed within a year of its vinification, and Beaujolais Cru, made from superior grapes to cellar for a few years.

Louis Jadot, founded in 1859, produces its Beaujolais by adding grapes from 10 famed Beaujolais Cru villages of a total of 38 villages about the walled town of Beaune in the Cote d’Or region of Burgundy. The area’s granite and sandy subsoils contain a high percentage of manganese, which produces an especially deep and rich expression of gamay. The wine has a fruit-forward aroma of strawberries and black cherries that carries through on the tongue. It is medium-bodied with a fresh, juicy character, with good weight to the palate. This is a young wine and should be drunk within five years of bottling.

Traveling just a little over 200 miles south along two of France’s major arteries, A6 and A7, linking Paris to Lyon, and farther along at Orange, known as the autoroutes du Soleil (Motorways of the Sun), we find ourselves not 40 miles from the Mediterranean coast. Château Beauchêne Côtes du Rhône Grande Réserve 2019 (priced at $13.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets) is a wine rich in history, variety and complexity.

Owned by Michel Bernard, Chateau Beauchene is in Piolenc, four miles north of Orange. His family has been here since the 17th century as tenant farmers who profited from the social upheavals of the French Revolution, purchasing their first vineyard in 1794. Today the Chateau is the home of the winemaking and cultivation of the family’s vineyards, now accounting for almost 175 acres. Chateau Beauchene produces four white and rose wines, three Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge wines and four Côtes du Rhône Rouge Wines. This Côtes du Rhône is a complex blend of 30 percent grenache, 35 percent syrah, 23 percent mourvèdre, 8 percent marselen, and 4 percent carignon, with an alcoholic content of 14.5 percent. It has an intense garnet red color and a nose of red, ripe plums and black currant, along with a hint of spice. Subtle tannins accompany the long finish. This is not a sipping wine but one to be enjoyed with beef carpaccio, lamb or hearty cheeses. Like the Beaujolais, this wine is to be drunk within five years.

These two young wines, generated about 200 miles apart, have extremely different styles, color, nose and taste. The Beaujolais can be sipped in the afternoon, while the Côtes du Rhône can be enjoyed later in the day, alongside a hearty dinner. The differences are immediately recognizable and are to be enjoyed.

Four beers to savor this fall

A few weeks back I sat dangerously close to a heat lamp in the beer garden at Loaded Question Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, sipping and truly savoring the brewery’s Coffee Tartan, a rich, aromatic coffee porter.

I sat with a couple friends and insisted they needed to try it too, offering my glass before remembering, you know, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and maybe sharing glasses isn’t the best idea.

The point is, I was excited about the beer, which featured huge notes of coffee and a silky smooth finish. Sometimes a stout or a porter features the subtle flavor of coffee, but this was closer to a cup of decadent coffee than it was to a beer — a true coffee lover’s brew. Loaded Question blends its standard Tartan porter with “specially made cold brew from Mule Kick beans.”

In addition to the Coffee Tartan, I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a number of extraordinary beers lately, and I would be awfully selfish if I just kept them to myself. For the greater good, here are four more beers I’ve enjoyed recently that I think you will too.

Farmhouse Noir with Raspberries by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington)

I must admit I stepped way out of my comfort zone on this brew, which is a lively dark saison featuring very tart raspberry flavor and a little dark chocolate too. This was just a really interesting, complex beer: pronounced tartness from the raspberries and a little funkiness coupled with more richness and decadence than I’m used to with a saison. You can sip this one slowly to appreciate its vibrance and its range of flavors.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milk Stout by Bent Water Brewing (Lynn, Mass.)

This is one of those beers where you take a sip and you have to ask, “Are you serious?” This is just a bomb of rich, luscious flavor. And this isn’t a case where you can just pick up the notes of chocolate and peanut butter; the peanut butter, especially, hits you right in the face both on the palate and on the nose. I could argue the coupling of chocolate and peanut butter is one of the best combinations ever created and I could point to this beer as exhibit A. This is your next dessert beer. Bent Water beers are sold in beer stores throughout New Hampshire.

Fresh Patch Pumpkin Ale by Wormtown Brewery (Worcester, Mass.)

I know, I complain about pumpkin beers every year, and now I have one on a list of beers I think you should try. On top of that, usually the pumpkin beers that I actually like tend to be stouts and porters and this one is anything but. And yet, I love this beer. It’s not super sweet but the pumpkin flavor does stand out in a good way, probably because they brew this with hundreds of pounds of local pumpkins. While they do add a spice mix to the brew, it is not overpowering like many other pumpkin beers, This is light, pumpkin-y and very, very easy to drink. This would be a great choice after an afternoon of yard work.

What’s in My Fridge
TEN FIDY Imperial Stout by Oskar Blues Brewing (Longmont, Colorado)
I really cannot say enough good things about this beer. This incredibly rich brew just overflows with flavors of chocolate, coffee and dark caramel. This is a big beer, coming in at 10.5 percent ABV, and it’s one you can slowly sip and savor hopefully next to a crackling fire on a chilly fall night. Come next month, Oskar Blues will release its coveted bourbon barrel-aged version of this brew, which just amps up the flavor another notch with warming bourbon and sweet vanilla. Cheers!

Featured photo: Boris is a decadent chocolate peanut butter milk stout by Bent Water Brewing Company. Courtesy photo.

Argument – There comes a time when a rational adult needs to set aside emotion and accept Reality.

Counter-Argument – What has Reality ever done for me?

OK, it’s October.

October, in a year that has been circling the flush-line since March and promises to circle even faster around the bowl before we give up on 2020 entirely and hope for something better next year. Summer is gone and we have to brace ourselves for a grim fall and a winter of — I don’t know — discontent?

That’s one way to look at it.

Another is to adopt, as P.G. Wodehouse put it, a campaign of stout denial. You know what I’m talking about — grown men wearing shorts, sandals and Santa hats in December. Women who wear white after Labor Day and meet your gaze with steely determination.

Whichever camp you fall into, you could probably use a drink.

Case No. 1 – “I Grudgingly Accept That Summer Is Over and Will Adopt a Serious, Adult Demeanor”

The cocktail for you:

Black Tie Cocktail
2 oz. dark rum, such as Myers
½ oz. triple sec
¼ oz. orgeat
½ teaspoon blackstrap molasses
½ oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup

Put all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with five or six ice cubes. Shake until you can feel the ice splintering (see below). Pour without straining into a rocks glass.

The Black Tie is a deceptive cocktail. On its surface it is dignified, sober (in an emotional sense) and entirely appropriate for the season.

On tasting it, though, you will be surprised. It has complex, playful flavors that come in stages — the molasses and lime play off each other unexpectedly well. It is a bit subversive.

Case No. 2 – “Fall Foliage Is Just Another Way of Describing Tiki Trees”

The cocktail for you :

Rum Runner
1½ oz. navy rum like Lamb’s or Pussers, or dark rum like Myers
½ oz. crème de mûre, or blackberry liqueur, or blackberry brandy (the kind you find sometimes in little single-portion bottles in the sale bin at the liquor store)
1 oz. crème de banana
1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
2 oz. pineapple juice
½ oz. grenadine (pomegranate syrup)

Again, put everything in a cocktail shaker with five or six ice cubes, then shake brutally, until you feel the ice shatter. Pour into a tall glass. Garnish – Several weeks ago I described the Jungle Bird as too serious a drink to garnish with frou-frou paper umbrellas or fruit. This drink is a defiant rebellion against the changing of the seasons. It calls for a minimum of two cocktail umbrellas, and as much fruit as you want to cram into it.

Just as the Black Tie is deceptively playful, this drink is deceptively sophisticated. The key ingredient here is the blackberry brandy, which insists on shining through all the other goofy ingredients.

A word on cocktail shakers
When you first start making serious, grown-up cocktails you will probably buy a cocktail shaker with a strainer built into its spout. “This looks easier,” you will say to yourself. You might even congratulate yourself on keeping your common touch and not buying into cocktail snobbery.
Eventually, you’ll start getting impatient with how long it takes to pour your entire drink into your glass through the built-in strainer. You will probably have to re-shake and re-strain your drink several times to get all of it out of the shaker.
The solution is what is called a Boston Shaker. It consists of one large steel canister, and a smaller one. It is what most professional bartenders use. You put your ingredients into the larger canister, turn the little one upside-down, wedge it firmly over the ingredients in the larger one, then shake.
It seems like it should leak. It doesn’t. It seems like it would be hard to strain drinks with. It isn’t. The drinks end up colder, somehow. As you shake, you can feel the ice cracking and splintering — which is profoundly satisfying — and you can pour your drink quickly and efficiently into your waiting glass, and shortly thereafter, into you.

Celebrating the grapes of the Iberian peninsula

Spain is Western Europe’s second-oldest wine producing country, but 3,000 years on, it is producing wines that are among the most modern in Europe.

Wine was made in Andalucia between 1,100 and 500 B.C., initially brought in trade by the Phoenicians and later cultivated by expatriate Greeks. Along came the Romans, who set about planting vineyards to export wine to quaff the thirst of their armies. The Moors invaded Spain in the year 700 and with the invasion came a notable reduction in winemaking, but by the 14th century sherry had become a major export across Europe. However, with this deep history, it wasn’t until the late 20th century and the return of democracy and investment that dramatic progress was made in the development of quality wine from well-controlled vinification.

There are many grape varieties and wine styles across the Iberian peninsula of Spain and Portugal, in part because of a variety of soil types, temperatures and rainfall. When we think of Spain we think of the classic red wine, Rioja, made from the tempranillo grape, with its strawberry-raspberry fruit flavor and toasty oak nuances, but there is more resulting from this late winemaking expansion with cabernet sauvignons and merlots, as well as wines produced from grenache and carignan grapes.

Our first wine is a white wine from Galicia, that part of Spain that is along the Atlantic and north of Portugal. Martin Códax 2019 Albarino Rias Baixas (originally priced at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $15.99 and on sale at $13.99) is a delicate and medium-bodied wine with a crisp, dry finish. On the palate, flavors of pear, apple, peach and lemon zest are framed by bright minerality and hints of spice. Attractive floral aromatics and brisk acidity make this a versatile, food-friendly wine. We enjoyed it with an appetizer of scallops wrapped in bacon. It was perfect for this dish.

Val do Salnés, a region of Galicia, is known as the birthplace of the Albariño grape in a region where 99 percent of all wine produced is white. The soil is granitic and rocky with alluvial topsoil. It is also the coolest and wettest sub-region with an average temperature of just 55 degrees F. Rías Baixas more closely resembles coastal Ireland than it does other parts of Spain. Known as “Green Spain,” the region is characterized by moderate year-round temperatures, ocean mists and an average annual rainfall that in some spots is nearly three times the national average. Some say you can taste the salt air in the wine. I beg to differ, but taste is a personal thing.

Our second wine can be considered a classic. Marqués de Cáceres 2012 Gran Reserva Rioja (originally priced at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $29.99 and on sale at $24.99) has a dark red color and leaves a hint of brick-red on the edge of the glass. This wine hails from the renowned region of La Rioja, of northern Spain. To the nose there are blackberries and some floral notes. The mouth is full and thick with mature plums, sweet spice, and slight tannins like roasted coffee beans or leather from its time in oak. There is a long dry finish, which was a perfect accompaniment to our wine-braised beef with vegetables and an array of mushrooms. This wine at eight years old is still fresh and promises great potential for aging for perhaps a decade. We opened the bottle a couple of hours before pouring and it continued to open in our glasses.

We enjoyed these wines with close friends on our patio, surrounded by gas heaters that not only warmed us but offered beautiful light to the occasion. The evening grew to be cool, but we were warmed by the company of good friends, hearty fare and the superb wines that paired so well with our courses. As the temperatures continue to dip and we want to spend time with friends and family, light up the heaters, fire up the backyard pits, and enjoy some wonderful Spanish wines that are affordable and need more attention from us.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Stouts, porters and brown ales are on the menu now

That first cool night in September triggers something in beer drinkers, something almost primal, instinctual, thirsting for deep, rich flavors.

OK, I’m just being dramatic.

What I’m trying to say is, when it gets cold out, beer drinkers shift from the lighter brews of summer to richer, more robust beers, like, for example, stouts, porters and brown ales. A big imperial stout that has been aged in bourbon barrels just doesn’t pair all that well with a 90-degree summer day. But it does pair remarkably well with a cool, even chilly, fall evening.

I do think now is the perfect time of year to explore darker beers, beers that might take you slightly out of your comfort zone if you’re used to lighter fare or if you’re usually more focused on IPAs.

Stouts and porters offer layers of complexity, robust flavors but oftentimes a very smooth, easy-drinking experience you might not expect from a jet black pour.

And there is so much brewers can do with the stout style. You can age it on bourbon barrels or rum barrels or maybe even wine barrels. You can add vanilla or spice or pumpkin or actual coffee to the brewing or aging process to impart even more complexity, flavor and character.

603 Brewery’s Session Stout would be a tremendous choice for someone looking to explore the stout style. This has low alcohol, features an extremely smooth and creamy texture thanks to the addition of oats, and boasts overtones of chocolate and rich malt. Really, what’s not to like?

On the other end of the spectrum is Kelsen Brewing Co.’s Vendel Imperial Stout, which is a luscious stout brewed with locally roasted coffee featuring big notes of coffee and bittersweet chocolate. At 9.4 percent ABV, this is a slow-sipper you can savor over the course of an evening by the fire. If you’re not sure, split this one with people you really, really like.

For a beer with closer to a medium body, try Henniker Brewing Co.’s Flap Jack Double Brown Ale, which is a hearty brown ale brewed with locally sourced maple syrup for just a touch of sweetness. This beer is the epitome of fall. Brown ales, in general, I tend to find just more approachable, maybe simply because visually they appear a little lighter. Nutty and roasty, brown ales are perfect for this time of year.

A little different but still quite appropriate for the time of year, Throwback Brewery in North Hampton recently released its own barleywine, which features big malt character and plenty of sweetness. Barleywines have lots of alcohol and this one comes in 10.5 percent ABV so be ready, but you’ll be rewarded with a brew featuring big notes of caramel, toffee, toasted bread and warming alcohol, says the brewery.

Honestly, I could go on and on — the list of quality darker beers in New Hampshire is a long one. With huge coffee flavor, look for The Roast from Henniker Brewing Co. later this winter. The Robust Vanilla Porter by Great North Aleworks is a perfect choice for someone trying to explore the style. Stoneface Brewing Co. in Newington features a Barleywine Roasted Almond with caramel, toffee and light chocolate notes — wow.

Be honest, your taste buds are ready to shake things up. Now is the time to grab something darker. You’ll be rewarded with a cascade of complexity and deliciousness. You’re welcome.

What’s in My Fridge
Cosmic Distortion Double IPA by Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. (Waltham, Mass.) This beer comes at you in a good way. This has aggressive hop character and it’s loaded with tropical fruit flavor and aroma. The pour is a beautiful, hazy, deep yellow (if that’s a thing) and I find that in spite of all the hops and the alcohol — 8-percent ABV — this finishes quite smooth with a pronounced sweetness on the finish. Like everything else I’ve ever had from Mighty Squirrel, this is tremendous. Cheers!

Featured photo: It’s the season for stouts. Courtesy photo.

Not all of these wines are buttery and oaky

“ABC: anything but chardonnay!” We have all heard it — a wine that is either loved or hated. But offer someone a glass of Champagne, and you get an entirely different response!

Grown in many different countries, the chardonnay grape may be considered the world’s most popular variety and perhaps the best and most versatile in terms of the array of wine produced. This grape produces a full-bodied, dry white wine, but its flavor varies dramatically from crisp and steely to intense and tropical, depending on where it is planted, and the wine-making techniques employed. The most intensely flavored examples come from California, Chile and Australia. In France, it is the main ingredient in the production of Champagne, and just south of the Champagne region, it becomes white Burgundy. France is known for Chablis, Meursault and Pouilly-Fuissé; in Austria, we find Morillon. It can be fermented briefly in stainless steel, oak and even in amphorae (clay, or concrete containers). In its various forms from still to bubbly, alone or paired to food it is consumed cooled, but not so cold as to lose its flavor. And, never ever with an ice cube unless it is poured into a punch!

Our first wine is a 2017 Silverado Chardonnay (originally priced at $34.99 and on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet at $19.99), an estate grown chardonnay from Los Carneros, a region just north of the San Pablo Bay that straddles Napa and Sonoma counties. The Carneros region benefits from hot days and cool nighttime breezes from the bay, producing this wine, a blend from two vineyards, that has complex citrus and tropical notes, along with apple and melon. The wine has a straw-yellow shade and is noted by the winery as 88 percent barrel-fermented in French oak and stainless steel before blending. This is a wine to be sipped or paired with chicken or fish.

Our second wine is from vineyards that are planted at 4,000+ feet high elevations in New Mexico. Gruet Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature (originally priced at $29.99 and on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet at $14.99) is a sparkling wine produced in the Méthode Champenoise manner, that is the same as how Champagne is made in France, a labor-intensive operation of double fermentation. Beyond the wonderful effervescence, the result is a wine that is completely opposite from the chardonnay discussed above. The color is the slightest of pale-yellow straw. To the nose it has notes of yeast, lemon and sweet toast. Across the tongue it is full with green apples and lemon zest. It pairs well with the fattiness of lobster and can double as a dessert wine.

Our next two wines are from France. The Maison Louis Latour 2018 Pouilly-Fuissé (originally priced at $24.99 and on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet at $20.99) is a Grand Vin de Bourgogne hailing from the south of Burgundy. Pouilly-Fuissé is the name of a village in the Mâconnais region producing this highly distinctive chardonnay borne from its limestone and clay fields. It has a green-gold color with aromas of melons and pears with the slightest hint of almonds. To the mouth it is full with dried apples along with a crisp acidity to the finish. This wine will pair well with shellfish and would do well alongside a charcuterie board.

The 2018 Domaine Séguinot-Bordet Chablis (originally priced at $29.99 and on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet at $26.99) is also a chardonnay, but from the Loire Valley in Burgundy, a region where the soils are chalky limestone and full of seashell fossils. These soils impart a minerality not found in the other chardonnays. The climate and the unique soils of this region produces a wine that cannot be produced anywhere else. Its color is yellow gold with a hint of green. The nose is bright and with citric and floral notes which carries through to the mouth. It has a refreshingly unique presence!

Thus, the chardonnay grape above many other grapes proves to be incredibly versatile and nothing short of a chameleon depending on where it is grown or how the winemaker uses it to produce a wide palette of flavors to tease our senses.

Featured photo: Courtesy photos