New Age White

Wow! I don't know about where you are or when you read this, but it's defiantly summer here. Hot, humid, and sunny. After a good workout and discovering I didn't have a sauvignon blanc, I had to go to the local wine shop. My taste buds simply wouldn't compromise for a belgain white beer or half & half (iced tea & lemonade). Note: What I chose is only 10% sauvignon blanc and was shuffled in with South American crisp whites. Read on and you'll see why Quintessential Wines New Age White goes there.

The nose smells strongly of a yellow fruit salad (pineapple, mango, lemon) with a secondary clover honey-like sweetness. It tingles with the sparkle once in your mouth, which works fantastically with the super sweet notes that reappear from the aroma. It is a little citrus dry once swallowed, but this doesn't make it harder to drink at all and just helps keep a balance with the sweetness. Not the same crisp as sauvignon blanc but it covered the base I needed.

I've heard of this wine being served as something like cocktails, and I can't wait to try after the glass I'm working on to review the bottle: Poured over ice with a touch of lime. I'll let readers review that for themselves and leave the New Age White with a B (good) because it's easy to enjoy and not too sugary sweet. Great choice for a party.

Chimay Grande Réserve

Tonight's luxurious taste is from Chimay, a brewery that's been around for quite some time in a monastery in Belgium. They make fine cheeses as well but only their blue labeled Grande Réserve sits in front of me, waiting to be tasted. I'm sure monks making beer and cheese do their best to make it taste great, so lets see what they think makes a beer desirable.

It has a very foamy head that'll leave you with a mustache if you don't give it some time to settle, and like many Belgium ales it has a lot of yeast. In addition to the wheat scent there's a combination of clove, pepper, and dark fruits. On the tongue the fruit becomes a little more along the lines of apples though. Sweetened malts are strong on the tongue and mostly overlap any taste of the yeast. You can taste the crisp and dry aspect of the yeast though. It finishes with a dry "bite" (like some wines) and caramelized overtone that relates to the fruits on the nose and malts tasted.

It isn't the smoothest Belgium ale I've had, or even one with exclusive tastes, but I am impressed by it. This is because the order of the classic tastes and balance of them makes for a very enjoyable experience. I'm ok with it not being smooth to swallow because I want to keep it in my mouth until it's warm, not chug it. A (excellent).

Teavana Honeybush Vanilla

At the social tea parties I've been attending recently Teavana has been a very popular choice, and I noticed I haven't done any of their products in a long time! So tonight I've chosen to relax with and write about their Honeybush Vanilla herbal tea. I'd like to start by noting that my sense's attention was caught before water even touched the tea. It would make a fantastic potpourri.

Don't think the title labels the taste of this tea though because if you want a dessert level of sweetness you'll have to add some sweetener. The tea is actually quite malty and the vanilla isn't vanilla extract, but vanilla beans! This malty aspect has an overtone of walnuts and gives the body a round feel. There is a touch of sweetness to this tea in the taste of a clover honey. The sweetness and malty aspects are the same element in the taste, and the true vanilla is most sensed in the aura and aftertaste.

This is not what I would expect from a tea with such a name, but I doubt a honey and vanilla-extract tea would be best for a loose leaf tea. As a hot tea I'm grading it with C (decent), but cold brings out more of a balance with a stronger vanilla. And perhaps it could blend with others to taste as an A?

Katahdin Specialty Coffee Maine Whoopie Pie

It would be silly of someone to ask "where is this made?", even if it didn't say Maine. Katahdin and whoopie pie should give it away alone because one is a famous location in Maine, and the other is the official Maine treat! This morning I decided to sip Katahdin Specialty Coffee's Maine Whoopie Pie coffee because we just had a true nor'easter, another Maine trademark.

You can tell this isn't any typical coffee with just your nose. Something robust is happening, but not just a conventional coffee. Bringing this up to your lips fills you in on this secret: Chocolate, which is a major element in whoopie pies. There is some sweetener to this chocolate flavor, but not at the same level as many other flavored coffees. The coffee taste itself isn't a dark roast or some rare import, but probably Colombian. Balance in body and taste with little acidity. Good choice to match the chocolate.

This combo isn't your typical big-name chocolate flavored coffee because it's not sweet in the same sugary way either. This fit's Maine because Mainers are strong and sweet, but in an unorthodox way. I have to leave this with a C (decent) because it's a simple blend and if coffee is my focus of the morning I'd probably choose a bean with many more levels. (Like Katahdin's Baxter Blend). If it's an un-typical coffee occurrence, it could be best though. Example: with a desert or a coffee cake.

Bull Jagger Original No. 19 Baltic Porter

Bull Jagger has released their first opaque brew recently, the No. 19 Baltic Porter. It would seem like quite a jump in styles from their lager wouldn't it? Well I found out the process isn't as different as you would think, but I'm not writing about that. You can contact the brewer if you would like to know technical details of the process. I'm writing about the taste.

The first thing my tongue noticed is the sweetness of the malt, which a friend characterized as a "fruitiness". This is a good adjective for saying it has an upfront sweetness unlike like sugar. Don't think that there's any fruit notes on the palate though. The rest is quite perplexing but with some hard thought and slow sips (done with extreme enjoyment), I found wheat/yeast, rye, and barley which is a seasoning crisp for tastes. It works very well together. These notes of spice imperceptibly convey to the liquid body sensations of a citric dry that leaves a tingle. Despite all this extreme taste and an ABV of 8%, it's very smooth to drink.

This is not the type of beer you choose to compliment a robust beef stew, you choose your dinner recipe to compliment this beer. This is because it'll be the focus of your taste buds luxurious experience. Undoubtedly an A (excellent).

Maine Mead Works HoneyMaker Dry Hopped Mead

Hops is an ingredient that I usually relate to beers, but tonight I have a wine-aisle product with it. I've done a few other Maine Mead Works meads before this, lavender and apple cyser, but I think this'll be quite a different experience than the others because of the hops. Read on to find out.

Putting my nose up to my glass reminds me that hops is actually a herb instead of a strong citrus (unlike an IPA's accent). Bringing this liquid past your lips brings the crisp hues to your tongue as well though. The body is round but I wouldn't say bold, and this works very interestingly with the zest. The taste of honey exists here too, but it's along the lines of clover instead of bee's. A subtle sweet that makes it quite easy to drink. Think of certain white wine's sweet.

I wish I had thought of honey and hops, because they match so well in an unexpected way. It's an A (excellent) in my book because of the equilibrium created. It doesn't have a huge variety of tastes, but there are many 'levels' of them. Adding something would throw it all off. Don't change the recipe Maine Mead Works.

Martinshof Zweigelt 2009

Weingut Martinshof is an Austrian winery that's hard for me to pronounce. Today my review is for their 2009 zweigelt grape that's been sitting on my wine rack for awhile but have yet to try. I found a local specialty shop has this particular bottle on sale, so I decided I'd taste it for the first time before going back to get more bottles. Read on to see if it would be a good deal:

The lighter and less opaque color of this wine corresponded with how it acted on my tongue. Cherry and raspberry are the main focus with this drink on the palate, and the nose embraces the fruity theme as well. There aren't any layers of flavors or overtones though, and you're left with a strong acidic ending. It's also quite fizzy for a red wine.

It is quite easy to drink and there aren't any unlikable notes, but I'm leaving it with a C (decent) because I wouldn't chose this bottle to enjoy as the focus of my taste bud treat. It does supplement a pot luck dinner or social event with many different taste buds because of how easy it is to drink. I'll be going back to pick up a few for this.