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Lula Harp

~ one girl's journey into cooking, crafting and self discovery

Lula Harp

Tag Archives: The Year of Drinking Adventurously

Toast Tuesday: la fin

27 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Cremant d'Alsace, life lessons, prossecco, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

This year’s drinking adventure has been an incredible learning experience about so many things, number one of which is spend wisely.  The rest do not fall in any particular order, but will be addressed.

Our guide

Our guide

This is week 52 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously and in the true calendar year.  A new year is upon us shortly.  Many of us will be celebrating the new year with some glass of bubbly wine, most common of which is champagne.  Champagne, which hails from the French region of Champagne, is very highly regulated.  Champagne is not the only region in France that makes a sparkling wine.  In the Alsace region, they make Cremant d’Alsace, which will give some of the finer champagnes a run for their money.

I’m a little disappointed to say, I have not yet completed this week’s assignment.  The holidays and travel got in the way, but in my defense, I have been drinking a lot of prosecco lately.  Prosecco is a sometimes sparkling wine from Italy.  I say sometimes because not all prosecco is sparkling; there is a still variety.  The ones I generally indulge in are bubbly, and cheap!  Part of their low price point is because a good portion of their fermentation occurs in steel tanks.

This leads me to one of the lessons from this year.  You must have balance in life and in flavors.  Prosecco can be sweet or dry, just like champagnes and life.  We have days where all we need is someone to be sweet to us and give us a hug.  Other days I just need you and everyone else to leave me the hell alone.  Headphones in, phone off, and a marathon of Midsommer Murders to get me back in balance.

The next life nugget I’ll share with you is mix a good cocktail.  There is nothing worse than something that tastes like… nothing.  Boring.  You should always keep your cocktails and your life in balance.  Back in 1948 at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy the Bellini was invented using prosecco and fresh peach puree.  A cocktail so lovely we still enjoy it at brunches all the time.  So, if you want to be invited back, you had better mix a good cocktail.

Now, we have all been guilty of this at some point, but don’t spend money just because the label is pretty.  This is a tough one, because it’s so fun to see a pretty label and buy the book, or bottle, just based on the cover.  Conversly, something being really expensive is no indication that the quality is any better than a bottle half the price.

I’m going to leave you with this final thought as we head off into a new adventure.  Life is to be savored.  There is something to be said for moderation.  The leisurely dinner, with lots of courses, is how we should be enjoying our lives.  Taste everything, leave no samples untouched, and keep an open mind.  You may find that the thing you thought you’d like the least, turns into your favorite.

Cheers to you all and to Meg who kep me company on this journey.  Let’s see what toasts our new year brings,  Here’s a brief look back at a few of this year’s drinks.

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a modern take on my old classic
a modern take on my old classic
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photo bombed cocktail kitty
the moderately well stocked bar
the moderately well stocked bar
Agavero Pom cocktail
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Toast Tuesday: Tiki

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beachbum Berry, latitude 29, rum, The Year of Drinking Adventurously, tiki

This is week 51 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously. On the home stretch. While it is 16° out, it seems like the perfect time to discuss tiki cocktails.

I have spent a good portion of this year really trying to embrace Tiki. I have not been very successful. What I have been successful in, is amassing an incredible collection of rum.

As I have lamented many times before, Memphis is a wasteland of quality spirits. Every time I travel, I explore new bars and new liquor stores looking for their gems that I cannot find it in my new home town.

Back in January, I spent an inordinate amount of time reading about the tiki culture, tiki cocktails, and the assorted and varied rums that are used to make up the elaborate cocktails. Never having tried many of these drinks in a bar, and not having access to the assorted rums that make up these drinks, I had to make some substitutions. I was not entirely thrilled with how some of my drinks turned out, but some were pretty tasty.


In August when I went to Chicago on my whirlwind booze trip for malort, I also went to a tiki bar. I ordered a mai tai, my first ever professionally prepared, and made the determination that I really did not care for this drink. I find it too sweet, and unbalanced. In my cocktail exploration I have come to find that I absolutely prefer classic cocktails that are nuanced and subtle. The mai tai was neither of these. I also ordered some other cocktail, one of their house specialties that was not terrible, but still not what my palate was looking for. I will absolutely grant you that tiki cocktails are truly some of the prettiest works of art in their assembly and delivery methods.


Jump ahead a few more months, to Thanksgiving and my recent trip to New Orleans. I intentionally sought out and made a point of going to Beachbum Berry’ Latitude 29. For those of you who don’t know Beachbum Berry is a legend in the tiki world. He has spent an incredible amount of his life researching and re-creating many of the original classic tiki cocktails that were lost by history. It was here at Latitude 29 that I develop a greater appreciation for what tiki can be.



I will continue my tiki exploration in the new year without the mai tai, but with lots of pretty flowers and very yummy rums. Let’s see how Meg did this week.

Cheers y’all!

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Toast Tuesday: Glogg

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

glogg, gluhwein, Shelby Farms Park, Starry Nights, The Punch Bowl, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

This is week 50 in my Year of Drinking Adventurously and my liver has almost had enough.  Almost.

Our guide

Our guide

Way back 48 weeks ago, I learned a very important lesson.  Read ahead and know what’s coming up next.  I soon added the week’s drinks to my calendar and added several reminders.  Before that happened, back in week 2, I accidently skipped ahead to week 50.  oops…

This week is glogg or gluhwein, which is akin to mulled, or spiced, wine, but with a kick.  Our author focuses a bit more on gluhwein, which hail from Germany since they are the inventor of the modern concept of Christmas.  Since I don’t really celebrate Christmas, that was of no interest to me in chosing what I drank.  I chose based on flavors I like.

For my birthday, way back in January, I had folks over and made glogg (sounds like glug).  Glogg is a Scandanavian fortified wine punch that typically has flavors of cardamon, clove, cinnamon, and very often will have raisins and almonds.  What’s better on a blustery cold night than a warm punch to take the chill off your bones?  A punch with some punch.

I turned to The Punch Bowl by Dan Searing.  This book has some beautiful photographs of antique punch bowls and tells the history behind the recipes.  He also helps you make a good punch that is balanced and good.  The recipe I made, and failed to take pictures of, called for raisins and almonds to go into the bottom of your punch cup.  You then pour your warm spiced wine over it.    It was quite tasty.

While some of these weeks were tougher than others, this wasn’t bad.  Let’s see how Meg did on her week’s drinking.   I’ve spent quite a few nights volunteering in the cold at Shelby Farms Starry Nights holiday light display.  Glogg is exactly what I’ve needed!

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Toast Tuesday: Ginger Beer

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

ginger beer, Lazy Magnolia, New Orleans, sweet potato beer, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

I’m going slightly off book this week in our Year of Drinking Adventurously.  I did not even crack the book, but will be revisiting this topic in the next few weeks.

I just got back from an awesome eat-a-thon trip to New Orleans. One of the members of our party, had never been with us on of our eating trips.  The uninitiated are always horrified and delighted with the amount we consume and the places we go.  Truly a gastronomic delight.

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On our way down to Nola, we stopped for a tasting at Lazy Magnolia Brewing in Kiln, Mississippi.  There are only two reasons why you would have ever heard of Kiln.
1.  Home of Brett Favre.
2.  Lazy Magnolia Brewing.
There is nothing else in this town.  When we missed one tour and the girl told us we had to wait an hour, I asked what else was in town for us to do.  She told us to go to the animal shelter and adopt a pet.

So, we hung out and played corn hole until we got to do the tour and tasting.  Mississippi has some messed up, ridiculous laws that say unless you see the production facility, you cannot do a tasting.  WTF?!  Once we finally got to do our tasting, we were not disappointed.  We got 6 generous tastings of beer and a tiny tasty of mead.  We shared and swapped samples, so we really got to try anything and everything we wanted.

Last week was sweet potato beer, and I was certain I had found one, but have no idea where it ended up.  Sure enough, as soon as I saw the label for Jefferson Stout, I knew I had gotten it.  Now to dig in the fridge to find it.  (how embarrassing)  It was a lovely stout, but I don’t think the sweet potato adds anything noticeable.  Mississippi grows a lot of them, so I can only guess the goal of using sweet potatoes was to use local products. 


Moving on down the road, to New Orleans.  We usually have lunch at Cochon Butcher just before we leave town so we can stock up on awesome charcuterie.  It was here I  attempted to make up another missed week of drinking and had Nola Tart of Steel.  According to the beer board, it is a Berliner Weisse, but now reading Nola Brewing’s website, I’m not convinced.  I’m still calling that week unfinished.


Now, onto ginger beer.  As I have started doing when I am in a different city, and certainly state that has liquor laws like Louisiana, I had to hit a few stores to check out the offerings.  I grabbed a couple different ginger beverages just for this week’s adventure.  I only cracked one open in time for the write-up.  I tried Hitachino Nest.

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The back of the label says they use real ginger root in the brewing process for some spice and balance with the sweet malt.  None of the ginger came through for me.  While this beer is good, it’s not one I will get again.  Slight hint of hops, with lots of malt and maybe some molasses.

Let’s see how Meg did with this week’s challenge.  We are on the home stretch in our adventure.  I’ll have to figure out what to do with the new year.  I’ve enjoyed having this weekly challenge to keep me on task.  There have certainly been weeks I did not want to write, and weeks my writing showed that, but overall, this has been great fun.

Have a Toasty Tuesday and a wonderful week y’all!

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Toast Tuesday: Giving Thanks for Good Booze

22 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Century Farms Winery, giving thanks, moonshine, Samuel T Bryant Distillery, thanksgiving, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

This is the week in the United States where we celebrate eating ourselves silly and marathon shopping.  This was not the original intent of the holiday of Thanksgiving.  As the name suggests, we should be giving thanks for all the bounty of goodness we have in our lives.

I have mentioned before what a rough transition I have had in Memphis.  So many things have factored into this, but when I stop and take a look, I really have so many blessings, almost too many to count.  I am thankful every day I have a job to go to, a roof over my head and warm, snuggly pets to welcome me home every afternoon.  I’ve made some incredible friends.  It is some of my new amazing friends I am going to tell you about today and not the sweet potato beer I was supposed to find.  I wonder how Meg did with this week’s assignment?

Ever since I moved, I’ve been lamenting the loss of my monthly dinners.  Well, I finally pulled the trigger and started a Meetup group of my own.  I need to get back to my monthly cooking and cocktails with other good folks who enjoy the same.  Our club has been up and running for a few months now and so far everyone who has joined has truly been interesting and offered something special to the event they attended.

This past Sunday, my new friends and I went for a short road trip to Jackson, Tennessee with the express intent of visiting a local distillery.  Since we drove an hour, we also had to hit the little winery down the road.  This was an amazing day and one I think everyone enjoyed.

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We started with lunch at Casey Jones Village and the Old Country Store to give our moonshine a soft place to land.  We spent a delicious hour or so with Sam of Samuel T Bryant Distillery.  Sam let us sample all sorts of good stuff including his two version of scotch, a grappa, an aged Tennessee moonshine (can’t be called a whiskey since it doesn’t follow all the “official” steps of a whiskey), an agave spirit (kinda like tequilla), some flavored moonshines and a coffee-shine.

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The grappa was delightfully smooth compared to some of the grappa I’ve had in the past.  The two scotches were quite smooth with different levels of peat.  The original moonshine was very sippable, with hints of rye coming through for a wonderful sweet finish.

From there, we went to the Century Farms Winery for an assortment of reds, whites, fruit wines, and a couple of ports.  I came home with a semi-sweet white that will be perfect whenever summer rolls around again, their cranberry wine, and a port.

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So much good stuff, it’s a wonder I have a liver left.  Everything in moderation, even the good times.  Here’s to hoping you and yours have a wonderful day of giving thanks, wherever the day may find you.

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Toast Tuesday: The Pickleback

15 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

hot monkey, peppermints, pickle juice, pickleback, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

In week 46 of our Year of Drinking Adventurously, we are experiencing the pickleback.  Let’s start by breaking this down… what is a “back”.  According to Food Republic, a back is “a shot served to brace up another potable.”  Our Author tells us to think about the pickleback and it’s pairing as a cocktail deconstructed.

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As a kid, I loved drinking picklejuice from the jar.  I even have a certain way I like to eat pickles so I get the most juice separate from the pickle.  I’ve told y’all about the snack cart we have been rolling at work to raise money.  What I may not have mentioned is our best selling item… pickles… and peppermints… Together. (shudder)

I’ve been told by my coworkers who enjoy this tasty treat, that this is the poor black equivelant of salted caramel.  Sweet and Salty.  I this may be the most vile combination I could imagine.  We have been selling like mad, so who am I to judge.  Tonight, my judging is over.  I’m stunned to say, it was wierdly not terrible.

Take a sour pickle and take a bite.  Your face puckers like you just sucked a lemon.  Now take a bite of the sour pickle with your peppermint.  Let it sit on your tongue for just a moment, then chew and wait, chew and wait… Oddly, the flavors balance and complement.  One friend I had try this said it had an odd finish like cough syrup.  Another friend agreed with me, the flavors somehow end up tasting like a sweet pickle with an odd kick, something you just can’t put your finger on.  Well, I can now cross this off my to-do list.

To take this week’s challenge one step further, I did have a pickleback.  One of my favorite spirits is New Deal’s Hot Monkey, a hot pepper infused vodka.  Great flavor and some serious heat.  The obvious choice is a bloody mary and as I mentioned last week, one of the best secret ingredients in a bloody is pickle juice.  So, I had a sipper of Hot Monkey with a little dill pickle back.  Yum!

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If you are so inclined to experiment and try the peppermint pickle or if have some childhood story about pickles, I’d love to hear it.  For now, see what Meg did this week.  I’m fairly certain she took a pass.

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In case you were wondering, last year we sold over 30 GALLONS of pickles.  This year is pacing to beat that.  Happy Tuesday!

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Toast Tuesday: the infusion continues

08 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

fresh herbs, infusion, kombucha, scoby, The Year of Drinking Adventurously, vinegar mother

This is week… I’ve lost count… in my Year of Drinking Dangerously, as one friend calls it.  I do know this week was supposed to be a beer I was looking forward to, but life got the better of me.

I’ve been the mad scientist lately with brewing kombucha, growing a vinegar mother, working on some infusions, and having fun at work.

I have been having fun at work the last couple of weeks.  Tis the season for the snack cart and flower pencils again.  My sneaky happiness campaign also includes 901Rocks! this year.


Coworker and I spent 3 hours painting happy rocks and selling them for $1 each.  I’m certain most of these ended up on the purchaser’s desk and not hidden around the building as we had hoped.  No matter.  The goal is to make someone smile and I am calling this a win.

I had brunch with some lady friends on Saturday and took a bottle of mango kombucha I had made.  I was certain this was going to get me one more eyeroll, but in fact, it got high praise.  Our hostess was convinced I was trying to kill her the week before when I had her taste some kombucha from the mother batch.  She liked the finished product so much, she kept the leftovers.  Huge win!

With it finally cooling off here, I’ve been making quite a few infusions to save my herbs before the frost.  I’ve made a lemon gin, lime tequila, lemongrass, lemon verbena, basil, sweet tea vodka, habanero honey whiskey, and have been playing with a chamomile fall flavored infusion.

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I’ve been encouraging a vinegar mother for quite some time.  Never before have I exercised so much patience on a project.  It’s only because it is on top of the fridge and out of my direct line of sight that this is possible.  Just the other day, I looked up and saw I was finally getting a lovely mother growing.  It looks like lace.

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Alright, enough about all my craziness.  Let’s see how Meg did on her homework.

Also, if anyone wants a kombucha scoby, I have plenty to share.  I’ve gone a little insane starting batches.

 

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Toast Tuesday: Bloody Mary

01 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

bloody mary, The Year of Drinking Adventurously

This being the day after Halloween, some folks may need a Bloody Mary. Maybe the folks with whom I was passing the time with last night need a Bloody Mary. I made a rather ominous concoction I dubbed the Blood Bath Punch, complete with eyeballs and hands crawling out of the bowl. I just realized I didn’t take any photos until the frozen hand was pliable enough to make obscene gestures.

This week in our Year of Drinking Adventurously, our author chose the Bloody Mary in honor of the spooky holiday we have just passed. What drink has a better Halloween name than the Bloody Mary? Well, maybe several of those classic tiki cocktails, but that’s for another day.  Everyone has heard some variation of the story of Bloody Mary and how saying her name three times gets some sort of vision in a mirror or some such crap. Pish posh.

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M and I went for lunch on Sunday to a local pub that has a build your own Bloody Mary bar. They have an assortment of spices, herbs, sauces, and vegetables all laid out for you. You wander over with your pint of ice and vodka and create your masterpiece. Little did I realize, you can mess these things up. If you don’t know the basic building blocks to start with, your drink may not be drinkable. In my mind a proper Bloody Mary is a mix of savory and spice with some freshness to wake things up.

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Savory:  Worcestershire sauce, smoked or roasted peppers, roasted garlic, smoked paprika…
Spice: cayenne pepper, jalapeño, Tabasco, horseradish, spicy paprika…
Fresh: fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley…

This is just a quick start, not even a moderately complete list.  It never occurred to me that you could make a bad Bloody, but M was not keen on his.  The balance was a bit off.  I tried to save it with my secret ingredient, dill pickle brine, but that didn’t even work.

Briefly, don’t limit your Bloody to just vodka.  The first time I had a gin Bloody Mary was a game changer for me.  Since that time, I will put whatever suits my mood for the day.  How about a fresh pepper infused tequila or a smoky whiskey?  Don’t even limit yourself to just tomato juice.  I once hosted brunch for St Paddy’s day and made a tomatillo Bloody.  Quite tasty.

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Go see what Meg drank this week and then run out and enjoy your Tuesday!  We are having the most wonderful fall.  I cannot believe it is November.  It feels more like spring with an expected high of 86 today.  Crazy!

One final reminder, in case you haven’t… Get off your ass and VOTE!

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Toast Tuesday: Vodka

25 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cocktails, infusion, The Year of Drinking Adventurously, vodka

This week in The Year of Drinking Adventurously, I’m going to briefly flashback to when I began my job several (seven as of last week, to be exact) years ago. Happy hour was the most glorious time of the day.  I’d get home and make myself a vodka martini. Shaken. Three olives.

a modern take on my old classic

a modern take on my old classic

I had a very simple drink and rarely did I waiver. Slowly but surely my palate for spirits evolved, I became more adventurous, and my drinks became more complex.  One thing remained fairly constant as I explored different different cocktails, I enjoyed the flexibility of vodka. It’s a chameleon.One of the great things about vodka is its purity and simplicity. With its colorless, odorless, tastelessness, you can mix vodka with just about anything. You can also infuse it with just about anything.29661325280_69c8a6aa9a_z

This week our author goes on a bit of a rant about how infusions took a turn for the worse in the early 2000’s, especially when they started infusing vodka with things like gummy bears. I agree, this is taking it a bit too far. I’m also horrified by the ridiculous flavors of glazed donut or cotton candy. Clearly these aren’t flavors that occur naturally.

My patio is full of herbs purely to be used in cooking and cocktails. This summer I made a lavender infused vodka. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it, but taking to the Google, I found a few ideas and here is what I did.

This was last summer. Now it’s a jungle
Ginger is sampling the harvest

 

Lavender & Sage Spritzer
2 ounces lavender infused vodka
Several small fresh sage leaves or 1 large fresh sage leaf
1/2-3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 ounce honey syrup (equal parts honey and water)

Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake hard for 20 seconds.
Double strain into rocks glass filled with ice and top with about 2 ounces club soda.

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I’ve tried in the past to work sage into my cocktails.  It is a strong flavor and can be overpowering. I used small, fresh leaves that came through, but did not overwhelm the drink. One of the drinks I made I slightly reduced the lemon and the sage was more pronounced, but not overwhelming or off-putting, just more savory. The lavender and sage worked well together, giving the drink a balance. Sometimes lavender in a cocktail can feel like you are drinking perfume.

Now run along and see what Meg did with her vodka. She’s more a fan of the dark spirits so I’m excited to see where her tasting took her.

Cheers to another tasty Tuesday!

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Toast Tuesday: Hopped Cider

18 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Anthem Cider, hopped cider, The Year of Drinking Adventurously, Tieton Cider Works

I’m mostly back on track this week, #42 in our Year of Drinking Adventurously.  I’ve had hopped cider before, even one that our author mentions in particular.

Our guide

Our guide

Somehow I managed to find a hopped cider here in Memphis.  It’s like the universe was looking out for me.  I love ciders, and as I suggested to Meg last week, the Pacific Northwest is producing some of the most amazing, flavorful ciders.  Which makes perfect sense; they are in apple country.

Our author points out that calling cider “hard cider” is an American thing.  Just one more thing we can thank prohibition for.  When producers weren’t able to make cider and began selling fresh, unfiltered apple juice as cider, the moniker stuck.  Even once prohibition ended.

This week, I had Tieton Cider Works Dry Hopped Cider.  According to their website, this is a dry cider, and I would almost agree.  I found the hops… unfindable.  There was really no discernable hop flavor that came through.  It had a flavor of granny smith apples with a hint of malt, and almost no lingering flavor.  It would be a good sipper for a hot summer day, even at 6.9%,  and paired very nicely with my spicy green coconut curry soup.

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Our author refers to Reverend Nat’s, which makes outstanding ciders.  A few of which even made the journey across the country with me and has since made it’s way into my belly.

I’m not generally a fan of hoppy beers, so when I had a hopped cider, this was a game changer.  The one that made me rethink hops was Anthem Hops.  It has a good hops flavor, and is a slightly dry cider.  It has been three years since I’ve had this cider and it has stuck with me.  If you can get your hands on any of Anthem’s ciders, do so.  They are wonderful.

As usual, since I did not do my homework far enough in advance, I missed an opportunity for another road trip.  I will be revisiting this chapter in the near future.  Please stay tuned.

Here is to another wonderful week of ciders and whatever the universe happens to put in your glass.

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A few of my favorite things

  • MAGDolls
  • New Deal Distillery
  • Pacific Pie Company
  • Shelby Farms Park
  • Take It Outside Fitness
  • The Meadow
  • The Orpheum Theatre
  • Theatre Memphis

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