Beer
written by Michael Sweeney
The creator of stlhops.com and founder of St. Louis Craft
Beer Week, Michael Sweeney is also the craft beer manager
at Lohr Distributing.
Unibroue’s La Fin du Monde
Style: Tripel (9% abv)
Available At: Whole Foods Market, multiple locations, wholefoodsmarket.com; $10.99 (four-pack, 12-oz bottles)
Pairing: Tagliatelle with pistou • Triple cream Brie
Don’t let your guard down around a tripel beer. They tend to be extremely light and easy-to-drink beers, but if you’re not careful, their high alcohol content will catch up to you in no time. Unibroue’s version of this Belgian classic brew is sublime. The aroma is spicy due to Unibroue’s distinctive yeast strain, with a well-hidden alcohol burn. Just watch out – one too many of these hits hard before you know it.
Excel Bottling Co.’s Eastside IPA
Style: American IPA (7% abv)
Available At: Friar Tuck, multiple locations, friartuckonline.com; $9.99 (six-pack, 12-oz bottles)
Pairings: Deep-dish sausage pizza•Cheese curds
Forget the West Coast – some of the best IPAs are now being brewed in the Midwest. Excel Bottling Co., based in Breese, Ill., has produced
the soft drink Ski for years, but hired Rod Burguiere, previously of Stone Brewing Co., to craft some amazing beers for them, as well. This American IPA is beautifully bitter with just enough caramel malt to make it quite drinkable.
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.’s
Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA
Style: Cascadian Dark Ale (8.3% abv)
Available At: The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com; $5.99 (22-oz bottle)
Pairings: Spiced chocolate• Grilled rib-eye steak
There are certain styles of beer I like more than others, but I’ve never been a big fan of Cascadian dark ales (also known as Black IPAs). Still, I’m open to being proven wrong, and Firestone Walker has done just that with its Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA. This beer, while dark, has a subdued roasted flavor that allows the hops to come forward, keeping it from being a stout and more closely
resembling an IPA.
Spirits
written by Chad Michael George
Award-winning sommelier and mixologist Chad Michael George
is founder of Proof Academy, which covers everything from wine
and cocktail list consulting to spirits and mixology education.
Ransom Henry DuYore’s Bourbon
Provenance: Oregon (45.6% abv)
Available At: The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com; $33.99
Try It: On the rocks with a splash of water
Henry DuYore’s Straight Bourbon Whiskey is true Oregon bourbon, produced from a mash bill of 56 percent corn, 35 percent rye and 9 percent barley. This heavier-thanusual rye and barley percentage is very noticeable on the palate. The addition of French oak to American oak in the aging process also adds individuality to this bourbon. It is spicy and carries a very robust mouth feel
due to the large amount of barley. I would not expect this latest release from Ransom to replace any of your mainstay whiskeys, but this is no doubt a fun bottle to add to your home bar.
Jim Beam Rye Whiskey
Provenance: Kentucky (40% abv)
Available At: Randall’s Wine and Spirits, multiple locations, shoprandalls.com; $14.99
Try It: In a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned
Jim Beam Rye is not a new product, but with inflated rye whiskey prices, it is a bargain not to be overlooked. The Beam family produces many nice, upscale and wellrespected whiskeys, but the namesake of this distillery does not garner much respect amongst your average whiskey drinkers. Beam Rye deserves some respect. It is a simple, smooth and spicy rye whiskey, and it is worth
every penny. It is peppery with a soft and quick finish. I am not suggesting you pass over great small-batch and single-barrel productions, but when in need of a good rye, Beam will do right by your pocketbook and palate.
Colonel E.H. Taylor Rye
Provenance: Kentucky (50% abv)
Available At: The Wine Merchant, Ltd., 20 S.Hanley Road, Clayton, winemerchantltd.com; $69.99
Try It: On the rocks or neat with a splash of water
Last year the Buffalo Trace Distillery released a few whiskeys under the E.H. Taylor moniker. More are now coming into the mix, and this 100-proof rye might just be the jewel of the collection. The Taylor is all-rye grain and malted barley, which leads to an ultra peppery flavor with a touch of salty dill and citrus zest. It is incredibly balanced and the finish is dominated by caramel, vanilla and baking spice. Even at 100 proof, this rye is a pleasure to sip but also has the backbone to make a mean cocktail, especially simple classics.
Wine
written by Kyle Harsha
Kyle Harsha is a certified specialist of wine and certified
sommelier with over 20 years’ experience in the food and wine
industry. He drinks more wine than he probably ought to.
York Creek Meritage 2001
Provenance: Napa, Calif.
Available At: Parker’s Table, 7118 Oakland Ave., Richmond Heights, parkerstable.com; $34.99
Pairings: Grilled rib-eye steak• Wild game stew• Dark bittersweet chocolate
Every once in a while a winery reintroduces past vintages, making them available to a particular market. This is the case with these exceptional wines from Spring Mountain in Napa. Fritz Maytag (of the family famous for blue cheese and washers that don’t quit) has offered numerous vintages of his wines in Missouri. The 2001 is made with a base of Cabernet Sauvignon, and is dark, brooding and full of black fruit, cassis, leather and tobacco flavors. Watch the end of the cork, as it will stain anything it touches.
Scarpetta Pinot Grigio 2011
Provenance: Friuli, Italy
Available At: The Wine Merchant, Ltd., 20 S. Hanley Road, Clayton, winemerchantltd.com; $15.99
Pairings: Fried chicken• Mussels and frites• Prosciuttowrapped honeydew
What do you get when a very talented, award-winning chef who happened to go to high school in Clayton partners with a master sommelier to make wine? You get a Pinot Grigio that transcends most of the boring, ubiquitous white wines from Northern Italy. Lachlan Patterson and Bobby Stuckey work tirelessly to elicit the apricot, Asian pear and mineral notes that explode out of this Scarpetta.
This wine could very easily be described as a “Chardonnay drinker’s Pinot Grigio.”
Margerum M5 Red Blend 2011
Provenance: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Available At: Saint Louis Wine Market and Tasting Room, 164 Chesterfield Commons East Road, Chesterfield, stlwinemarket.com; $28
Pairings: Pecorino cheese• Roasted venison • Barbecued ribs
This wine’s name says it all. The “M” stands for Margerum, the “5” for the five grapes used to produce this wine: Shiraz, Grenache, Mourv่dre, Cinsaut and Counoise. Jason Barrette, rock-star winemaker for Penfolds in Australia, spends half of the year in California, crafting this smoky, juicy wine with hints of cranberry and red licorice, and just the right amount of oak. It’s sort of like
drinking an American version of Chโteauneuf without the weighty price tag.
