Category: Food

Add a fire pit and you have a party

The color of fall is all about us. The sun is bright and the sky is blue. This weather welcomes fall sports and backyard gatherings and tailgating. Yes, it is cool, and sometimes a bit blustery, but we still welcome the opportunity to relax for an afternoon or evening with friends and great barbecue fare paired to robust wines.

This last week we hosted a very small group of friends in our backyard to relax and exchange stories of happenings since our last get-together a month ago. We told them all to dress warmly as we will gather around the table, lit by an old Coleman propane camping light, adjacent to the fire pit. It was great.

So what is an appropriate menu for a fall backyard party? Something hearty like barbecued ribs with cornbread, along with sides of vegetable salads and pasta. Our recipe for ribs is a variation on the classic. In addition to the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce, we add ginger and lemon for a clean, tart flavor that is softened with the addition of orange juice. Our cornbread comes from a recipe of Blanchard’s Caribbean Cornbread a close friend found online. It is incredibly rich with butter, corn and cheese. This fare goes well beyond a summer barbecue menu. It is hearty and needs wines that will stand up to it: zinfandels and syrahs.

Our first wine is the 7 Deadly Zins, a 2017 old-vine vintage from Lodi, available at the New Hampshire Wine & Liquor Stores (originally priced at $18.99, reduced to $13.99). This wine is blended from seven Old Vine zinfandels. According to their website, the wine “was born from a Catholic school upbringing and the winemaker’s lust for a hedonistically seductive wine.” Seven specific vineyards were chosen for this wine, all located in the Lodi AVA (American Viticultural Area). The zinfandel grapes are blended with a touch of petite syrah, then aged in American oak for 11 months. The color is dark red to purple, with lots of rich, red berry fruit to the nose. The oak imparts a touch of leather or tannins to the tongue with layers of plum, currants and toffee, all ending in a long slightly spicy finish.

Lodi is in the northern reaches of the San Joaquin Valley, east of San Francisco. The AVA, of more than 500,000 acres, of which more than 100,000 acres are planted, is best known for its old vine zinfandel. However, with its warm “Mediterranean-like” climate of hot days and cool nights, Lodi also produces large quantities of merlot, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc.

Our second wine comes from “across the pond” in the Rhône River Valley of France. Jean-Luc Colombo 2016 Terres Brulées Cornas Syrah (available at the New Hampshire Wine & Liquor Stores, originally priced at $57.99, reduced to $29.99) has been given a rating of 95 points by Wine Enthusiast and 92 points by Wine Spectator. This is a wine that all but asks to be picked up now and cellared, because it will continue to improve for another five or more years. The color is a thick ruby black with purple hints. To the nose there is plenty of fruit that continues to the tongue with ripe cassis, or black currant, and black cherry notes. Just as with the nose, to the tongue the fruit is intense, a bit of vanilla, along with moderate tannins. This wine will age well into the future.

The winemaker team of Jean-Luc and Anne Colombo have a background in pharmaceutical science and a passion for the syrah grape. The wine is made from vines that are over 30 years old from 20 different vineyards. Aged for 21 months in oak barrels, the wine is fined with egg whites and bottled unfiltered.

So don’t put the yard furniture away just yet. We still have sunny days and plenty of opportunity to get together with family and friends to enjoy the cooler weather with hearty fare paired to rich, hearty wines. Grab a blanket and light that fire pit to enjoy the moment into the evening.

Featured photo: Photo by Fred Matuszewski.

There’s something about fall ball

“Are you OK?” my wife asked.

I was gripping — white-knuckling — our living room coffee table as the Red Sox clung to a slim lead in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the division round of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

I was not OK. While I’ve increasingly become a fair-weather Red Sox fan as the game has evolved to be (too) heavily focused on analytics, rather than the good old-fashioned eye test, this was still the playoffs and this was still the Red Sox.

I took a pretty hefty swallow of my beer, in this case a Patina Pale Ale by Austin Street Brewery in Portland, Maine, and took a deep breath. It didn’t help, as the Sox quickly gave up three straight hits to allow the Tampa Bay Rays to tie the game. By now you know the Sox ended up winning so all’s well that ends well. But you get it. Things were dicey in the moment.

There is something about the flow of a baseball game that lends itself to drinking. It’s actually not that complicated. In addition to inning breaks, there’s a little mini break after each pitch that begs for a sip of beer.

If you do like baseball, fair-weather fan or not, there is something truly special about October baseball. It is so intense. The game hangs in the balance on every pitch. Beer does help with calming the nerves for overly intense viewers like myself.

Now that said, in a close playoff game, you’re not going to be paying close attention to your beer. I don’t think pulling out the most coveted can or bottle in your beer fridge is a great move in the middle of the game — you’re just not going to be able to appreciate it as much as you should because your attention is going to be on the game. (Save it for the post-game celebration.)

That’s not to say I think you should drink something lousy either. I’m just suggesting you choose something you don’t have to think about as much.

Super-hoppy beers are great but they tend to be high in alcohol and I feel the need to remind you that baseball games can run very, very long. The team needs you there for the ninth inning.

Big stouts and porters can be a nice choice but I wouldn’t bother with overly complex brews — again, you’re just not going to be able to take the time to pay attention to layers of complexity.

For game time, I’m looking for something simple. I’m talking Pilsners, pale ales and dry stouts. Maybe toss in an amber ale or something along those lines. I still want the beer to taste good but I don’t want to contemplate its nuances.

Here are three New Hampshire beers that I think pair quite well with October baseball.

Auburn American Red Ale by Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. (Merrimack)

The pour on this is quite dark but don’t let that fool you: This is about as sessionable a beer as they come. The brewery describes it as “smooth, crisp and satisfying” and I can’t do better than that.

Hank’s Pale Ale by Throwback Brewery (North Hampton)

This has a nice backbone of grapefruit in a very crisp and dry package. You’ll want to have a couple of these, regardless of how the game is going.

Dirty Blonde Ale by Portsmouth Brewery (Portsmouth)

Take a sip, don’t think about it and repeat. This light-bodied ale is a perfect choice when you just want a beer that tastes like a beer.

What’s in My Fridge
Pale Ale by Navigation Brewing Co. (Lowell, Mass.)
First, we should talk about the fact that I love that this brewery just left the name as “Pale Ale.” I love the simplicity. I enjoyed the beer right in its taproom, which is a neat spot in an old mill building. The beer was fresh and clean and featured some light grapefruit notes — very sessionable. Cheers!

Featured photo: Beer and Red Sox playoff baseball. Courtesy photo.