The Friday Fermentable
terrasig | December 28, 2007If you're a scientist who still finds yourself employed, you might head out this weekend to pick up a celebratory bottle of your favorite $30 New Year's bubbly only to find it priced at $35 or even $40. The declining value of the US dollar has certainly rendered champagne (French sparkling wine from the Champagne region) even more of a luxury than usual.
Perhaps you're a grad student or postdoc wondering how you might afford something reasonable, maybe a couple of bottles of California sparkling wine - what should you pick without finding your purchase to be insipid swill?
Well, I've been…
terrasig | December 7, 2007Yesterday, 6 December was the feast day of Saint Nicholas and that can only mean one thing: the newest batch was Samichlaus bier was brewed in Austria. Samichlaus - Swiss-German for 'Santa Claus' - is recognized widely as one of the world's rarest, finest, and strongest bottom-fermented, or lager, beers. Indeed, it weighs in at a heroic 14% alcohol by volume (ABV). But the special attributes of the beer come from how it is brewed.
The selection you are viewing here was brewed on 6 December 2006 and bottled in October (that's tea in my mug, not Sami, as this picture was taken this morning…
terrasig | November 30, 2007My colleague and guest wine blogger, Erleichda, wrote previously on his birthday trip to New Zealand's wine destinations. I accidentally posted his writings in reverse, with his description of wines of the Marlborough district here. Below was intended to be the first of the two columns.
Another Wine Escapade: New Zealand's Central Otago Region
by Erleichda
Having reached another even decade of aging, I decided to celebrate by visiting a destination I had wanted to experience, New Zealand (NZ). (I could have chosen Tahiti, but I'm saving that one for when the prospect of climbing onto…
terrasig | November 23, 2007I'm a little late today with The Friday Fermentable. I wanted to be able to report back from a local beer tasting event called Black Friday Beer Fest. In deference to today's major shopping day in the US (named Black Friday to denote that many businesses come out of the "red" due to the brisk sales the day after Thanksgiving), NC's Pop The Cap organization conceived a tasting of dark beers (local, national, and even Polish) to welcome in the holiday season and provide an alternative to hunting for parking spaces at the local mall (Tagline above: "We'd Rather Drink Beer.").
Attendees were…
terrasig | November 16, 2007Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!
Yes, the 15th of November has arrived as have thousands of cases of a fresh, fruity wine, the Beaujolais Nouveaux. Grapes that were on the vine just a few short months ago have been heroically converted into a wine that has traditionally been rushed to Paris, and around the world, from the Beaujolais appellation of France, part of Burgundy. Made from a variety of grape known as Gamay (or 'Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc' to purists), this tradition has spread far and wide with some California wineries getting into the act.
The most famous, and largest producer/…
terrasig | November 2, 2007For new readers, The Friday Fermentable is our fun end-of-week feature devoted to the fruits of biochemical processes: wine and beer. I am fortunate to have a senior and more well-traveled colleague, Erleichda, who shares with us his wine escapades as accompanied by his beloved Sweetpea. Everytime Erleichda posts, I put another pin on my world map of places I need to visit. The New Zealand Marlborough Valley is no exception. In fact, annotating his post with the winery websites showed me the incredibly beautiful country in which these wines were tasted. Enjoy!
Another Wine Experience:…
terrasig | September 28, 2007Beer is good for you, especially at this time of year. If I had my druthers (or knew what druthers were), I would be in Munich/München for the annual Oktoberfest celebration. This two week festival (22 Sept - 10 Oct this year) hosts over six million visitors and is a celebration of the Bavarian capital and its storied culture.
But why does Oktoberfest begin in September? From the Oktoberfest blog:
The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved…
terrasig | September 7, 2007This week has seen an outpouring of sentiments in the wake of the death of famed beer and spirits writer, Michael Jackson.
Therefore, we dedicate this edition of The Friday Fermentable to the memory of this remarkable gentleman and writer.
A post at Michael's Beer Hunter website details a series of resources that celebrate Michael's life and mourn his passing.
Among the links are to Michael's last article, written for All About Beer Magazine, and a video of his last interview on 7 August. The muscle rigidity and jerky movements due to his Parkinson's disease are clearly evident but, like…
terrasig | August 31, 2007Another Wine Experience: Châteauneuf du Pape Tastings
By Erleichda
Another twosome of Jim's Disciples, not to mention their also being members of the "Hiking Group", celebrated one of those even decade important birthdays. Well, important enough to justify spending a little extra celebrating the milestone. Those of us attending the party, dedicated to toasting the couple with Châteauneuf du Pape (CdP) wines, were appreciative of the opportunity to help usher in their next 50 years. [Wikipedia has a brief but informative history of the Châteauneuf du Pape, literally, "New House of the Pope…
terrasig | August 24, 2007Another Wine Experience: Little Known or Under Publicized Grape Varieties
by Erleichda
It was my turn again to name a theme for the almost monthly get together of our wine dinner group, "Jim's Disciples". I thought to push the envelope a bit by asking everyone to bring a wine that used a grape variety they hadn't heard of before, and which represented at least 70% of the wine in the bottle. There were no other restrictions or guidelines. Unfortunately, only about half my tasting notes survived the evening, and so I can only relate a portion of what occurred.
I also chose a BYO Italian…
terrasig | August 17, 2007The irregular frequency of The Friday Fermentable has been due mostly to my focus on two cases of a (inexpensive) private label wine that has kept my summer drinking variety to a bare minimum. Thankfully, my guest blogger, Erleichda, has often come to the rescue with fabulous descriptions of his group wine dinners.
The focus this time is instead a very interesting research letter published in this week's (16 August 2007) New England Journal of Medicine entitled, "Wine-Induced Anaphylaxis and and Sensitization to Hymenoptera Venom." The full text is currently available freely. Two Spanish…
terrasig | July 20, 2007Another Wine Experience - South American Reds
By Erleichda
The wine dinner group known as Jim's Disciples met at another of the area's BYOB restaurants. The theme selected for the evening's repast was "South American Reds", which translated into red wines from Chile and Argentina. In selecting my own bottles to contribute to the mix, I sought to avoid malbecs, as I figured there'd be plenty of those in attendance, and wound up buying a syrah and a pinot noir, just so as to try something I hadn't had before from the region.
The first wine tasted was from Lapostolle Vineyards in the Alexander…
terrasig | June 7, 2007Another Wine Escapade - "Some Old World vs. New"
by Erleichda
Our wine and dinner group known as Jim's Disciples met recently at a BYOB neighborhood Italian-American restaurant. It wasn't my neighborhood, as there is nothing close by to the woods where we reside, but the sort of place a neighborhood would be proud to call its own, a gem of a place, tucked away on a darkened side street. The organizer for this evening's entertainment thought we might scrutinize old world versus new, of whatever grape varieties we felt like comparing. And, to make it interesting, each pair of wines brought…
terrasig | May 4, 2007In a fitting end to what became simple math week here at Terra Sig, an article by Tara Parker-Pope in the Wall Street Journal addresses the issue of supersized alcohol portions. A subscription is required so I'll quote heavily.
Considerable data has accumulated to suggest that there are health benefits from one alcoholic drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men. But Parker-Pope notes that as stemware has grown bigger bowls to fully experience the aromas from swirling wines, we are pouring wine servings that cause us to border on binge drinking.
Binge drinking is defined by the…
terrasig | April 20, 2007If you've been to Aspen, Colorado, for a scientific conference you have no doubt made the bike ride down valley to the venerable Woody Creek Tavern for margaritas and such. (The ride back to town is a wee bit more challenging, by the way.) The Aspen Times now reports that the Tavern is up for sale:
The Woody Creek Tavern is located along Upper River Road, adjacent to the Woody Creek Trailer Park. It has been a local hangout for about 27 years. It also has provided liquid refreshment, food, gossip and political cover to many diverse and famous personalities, including the late writer Hunter…
terrasig | March 30, 2007No real wine column this week, although you may care (or not) that I am enjoying a glass of 2003 Thorpe McLaren Vale Shiraz Reserve while writing. Australian winemaker Linda Domas is highly favored at my local wine wholesaler and this intense but nicely balanced Shiraz is made even more lucscious by the fact I paid about $20 for a wine that now retails at $35-45.
But I digress.
I've wanted to share with readers my love for The Week, digest of the best of US and international media that has been published for about five years. If I can't get around to reading my local paper, The Week does a…
terrasig | March 23, 2007I must extend hearty apologies to my colleague, wine and research mentor, and guest blogger Erleichda for overlooking a great wine column he wrote for Terra Sig back in November. November! How could I overlook a post whose third paragraph begins, "The evening began with three different champagnes..."?!? As The Friday Fermentable has been running on-and-off, I should be more grateful to him for keeping this Friday fun feature alive. So, here ya go - cheers!
Recent Wine Experiences : A Pinot Noir Revelation
By Erleichda
I grew up with limited exposure to wine, primarily my father's…
terrasig | February 23, 2007Do you have some ancient bottle of wine someone gave as a gift and you are waiting for that "special night" to open it? Well, tomorrow night is "that" night.
We all seem to accumulate bottles of wine as souvenirs or gifts from overseas trips, weddings, birthdays, etc. and always think we need some special occasion to open them. Unfortunately, too many of these bottles go way past their prime waiting for that special occasion. We rarely give ourselves license to open those bottles.
As a remedy to this situation Wall Street Journal wine writers, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, established…
terrasig | February 16, 2007The Friday Fermentable has been the unfortunate victim of my aim to lose some weight by cutting alcohol out of my diet. Since mid-November, I have lost 14 pounds but am now permitting myself two glasses of wine on each weekend evening. Hence, I am choosing carefully.
(I should note, for the record, that a dear cancer research colleague of mine remarked upon hearing of my new "diet," that "it is irrational for any scientist to intentionally remain sober, especially in this funding climate.)
So, in easing back in, The Friday Fermentable shall be short and will derive from today's "Tastings"…
terrasig | December 16, 2006This is too late for The Friday Fermentable, but the NYT has a great travel article yoga and wine retreats to be offered at DeLoach Vineyards in California's Sonoma Valley (one of my favorite zinfandel producers).
Of course, this Americanization of an Eastern practice is not without its detractors:
"Kundalini does things to balance your nervous system," Ms. Elkes said. "And then for you to go do something that changes that? It's going to affect your nervous system after you've done all this work to balance yourself. You'll soon find out that drinking and Kundalini don't go well together."…