Corque

Vino

noreply@blogger.com (C) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 05:56:00 +0000

Paso Robles is quite diff from expected.

Hrm. Ok that was a lie. Cuz i had little (if any) expectations.

Met a few dogs big n small

Drank a few bottles.

Not sure if I'm liking it just yet.

Vacay is spectacular nevertheless. No one complains about being away. Right?

- posted. on. the. road.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER... or Mavea Water Filter

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Announcing our THREE winners of the Mavea Elemaris water filter giveaway contest!!

Kitchen Runway
Oliver
GandCDurst

Claim your prize by emailing your mailing address to: hello (at) corque.com

Thanks everyone for entering!!!

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Giveaway - Mavea Elemaris Water Filtration Pitcher

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:27:00 +0000

We are hosting our first giveaway on our blog! How exciting and great! The good people of Mavea gave me and Chris each a Mavea Elemaris (5 glass) pitcher of our own to try out before we offer it to you. I got the black one, as pictured below, and Chris has an eggplant one! (Retail value approx $30 each)

I like to offer my guests plenty of beverages, including freshly filtered cold water alongside all their wine or beer flights. You have to have a palate cleanser in between tastings or food.

What I really like about the Mavea is that it's not a clunky looking pitcher. It actually looks like something that I would put on my dinner table as part of the service equipment.

Cool features:

Digital reader that tells you the life span of the filter on the top

Fill top spout, so you don't have to remove the cover each time

Slim design that doesn't take a lot of space in the fridge or table

Grippy rubber bottom so it won't get knocked over easily

Recyceable filters through the company

BPA-Free plastics!

Mavea writes InspiredWater.org a blog that supports sustainable water usage

Now the CONTEST!

We are giving away THREE of the Mavea Elemaris in Black or Eggplant! We are selecting three lucky winners to get one of these sent to you for your own enjoyment.

Rules

Write a comment in this post about why you want it

Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter!

Do all three and share this giveaway to get extra entries!!

Contest closes midnight PST May 23, 2011. We'll announce the winner that week. US entries only please.

Thanks for entering!!

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Hello again

noreply@blogger.com (C) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:58:00 +0000

I was going to say that it's been a little hectic lately, such was the excuse I was about the use for the lack of blogging. Then, I had a second thought: this is our blog, a place where we were supposed to be completely honest and forthcoming.

So here it is, the reason ..

I've been very, very, lazy.

and then..worse.. I lost my camera.

Lack of motivation + missing equipment = not much to blog about.

A little sad..

But I'll be back to the routine soon enough.. there's been much going on and it's time we write 'em all down :)

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I'm Planning a trip to France for WINE

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:02:00 +0000

I've been to Paris before, but never to wine towns in Burgundy, Chablis, Bordeaux, and Champagne. It's been a long time dream to head back to France again to explore beyond the major city of Paris. I wanted to see the old world wine making with my own eyes, and really immerse us in the experience.

I think with my husband's pinot noir coming along, it's really time to make a trip to see some of the families of the Burgundy area. The hard part seems to be finding which places to go see, and how to get around with a car or train.

I'm using these two websites right now to read up on the how to's. I'm seriously so thankful for blogs for just about everything, including these that focus on French wine trips.

http://www.burgundytoday.com/
http://www.burgundyeye.com/

There is SO much to see and so much to do. I really don't know how we'll end up getting to all the areas of wine in one short trip. Where to start, where to focus...feeling a little bit lost. I'd love to see everything in France in one trip, but I hardly think that's possible.

Do you have experience in Burgundy, Chablis, or Champagne? We would really appreciate your recommendations and tips!

As planning goes on, I'll be sure to share what I find out with you too!

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$1 to Japan Relief Red Cross for each new friend on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 04:48:00 +0000

The Wan Fiore Project and Corque are joining forces to donate our cash to the Japan Earthquake relief for each new friend we add to our Facebook pages! (Up to $500).

Add us or add Wan Fiore Project, or add us both! It's worth $1!

Click on the buttons for our respective Facebook pages. Thanks in advance for your support!

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Been on a hiatus ... Bossa Nova Juice

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 04:24:00 +0000

Yeah ...so it's been quite a while since I last posted. Sorry to everyone for the unexpected vacation from blogging. Ever since the new year started, it's been the usual New Year's resolution bit with getting healthy and eating / drinking better.

This year's resolution is primarily focused around my parents getting healthier, so as a way to support them, I've also signed up for the healthy 2011.

I received a box of Bossa Nova Superfruit juices in January. What great timing for the healthy resolution 2011. I know lots of those vitamin waters and juices out there are more convenience products than healthful, but I can get behind these varieties of juices because of the natural ingredients and the amazing fruits that are used.

The Bossa Nova juice company uses antioxidant rich fruits such as acai, dragonfruit, mangosteen, passionfruit, and blueberries. Organic agave sweetener helps to enhance the fruits and mellow out any kind of tartness. The juice is really flavorful and satisfying compared to just having a glass of orange juice. I actually like to dilute it a bit with water to make it the thinner consistency that I prefer. It's great for a morning drink or an afternoon refresher that quenches a thirst.

I see these at the supermarket, if you want to try the juices.

Now the main question is...how will it taste when spiked?! (evil laugh)

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Know what goes in a Russian Mule?

noreply@blogger.com (C) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 05:51:00 +0000

My recent obsession.

- posted. on. the. road.

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Wine Flight with Dinner? Yes, please

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Over the holidays, my husband and I decided to do an overnight stay at Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. With all of our family time going on, we needed just a couple days of rest and relaxation by ourselves.

We decided to really take it easy and just dine at the resort restaurants so we could have a leisure trip and not worry about driving back and forth to dinner off site.

At dinner, I ordered a themed white wine flight to go with my fish main course. I got this printed out flight sheet and the glasses rested on top of it. It was going to be my personal wine tasting during our date night meal.

The cool thing about this wine flight for me was the ability to compare these three wines side by side, and with and without food. I know that at wine tasting rooms sometimes there are food pairings that tag along with cheese and bread. Those are usually strategically put together for optimal taste of the wine, you are after all sitting in a tasting room at a vineyard.

This particular wine flight wasn't paired for me at dinner, rather, I just picked it because it sounded like a fun interactive thing to do during the meal. I also thought it'd be awesome to figure out which wine would go best, which one the least, and which one would be good alone.

Surprisingly, or not depending on how you look at it - my favorite wine was the Santa Ynez Valley Albarino by Vino V. It was the only California domestic made wine of the three flights. Do I have a palate for California wines? Or is it that I just really like Albarino?

I feel like more restaurants should offer these fun flights during dinner. I know there are plenty of wine pairings with courses, but wouldn't it be great to let your guests figure out which goes well with their palate instead?

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Special Event: Recap of Pinot Days - Los Angeles

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:26:00 +0000

Pinot Days was the highlight for me after the Christmas and New Year Holidays. It seemed less dreary that it was back to reality after the New Year, because we had this great event to look forward to attending!

Pinot Days - Los Angeles was held on Saturday, January 15 at the Santa Monica Airport Barker Hanger. This was the second annual event for Lisa and Steven Rigisich, the producers of Bay Area Wine Project and the Pinot Days event.

The whole day is about appreciating Pinot Noir producers from up and down the West Coast. There are wines that come from Oregon, Napa, Sonoma, Central Coast, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz; gathering in one large airplane hanger to pour their great wines for people to taste.

This was also my second year going to the event, and I have to say that Pinot Days did not disappoint! I had learned a couple of new tricks for myself to get through the 100+ exhibitors without getting wine fatigue. For one, I really had to spit majority of the wine I was drinking so that I wouldn't get drunk. In the previous year, I would say that I didn't really do that and sort of just lost interest about 2 hours into tastings. The other thing was taking breaks and having bread and water.

I attended the event with Wan Fiore Project winemakers (Ray and Rob), along with Rob's wife aka my sister in law. As new winemakers, you could tell that Ray and Rob were approaching the event differently. They were eager to meet more seasoned winemakers on the other side of the table, who were mostly very friendly and informative. It almost seems like there's a collaborative of winemakers who have a bond with you when you can understand and appreciate their work. There were still some tables of vineyards that just sent their less involved sales representatives and the reception was less warm and fuzzy. Oh well, you can't win them all.

It was so great to see winemakers we knew or have met before: Wes Hagen (Clos Pepe), Ken Brown, James MacPhail (MacPhail), Loring Wine Co, Norm of Flying Goat, and Peter Cargasacci; just to name a few greats.

In addition, we were introduced to many new winemakers as a result of this event. We got to meet Sokol Blosser, who we follow on Twitter. In addition, we tasted some fine Pinot Noir from Donum Estate, Dunstan Wines, Olivia Brion, Scherrer Winery, Thomas Fogarty, Three Sticks, Zotovich, and many many more.

The wines were amazing and the event itself is very worthwhile. In lots of these large events it's usually very difficult to get in and to speak with the people behind the tables, but this event seems like the crowd is just the right size, and while it is busy, you can still get your face time with the wineries. Some winemakers (Wes Hagen) were like rock stars of the event! Their table had people 3 rows deep waiting to meet and talk to them. Pretty awesome to get that kind of recognition. By the way Wes, were you signing autographs or something? ;)

The best part was getting a chance to compare Pinot Noir from Oregon all the way down to Santa Barbara, CA. It was such a wide range of flavors and tastes, but all with the same base of grape (but often different clones). I just learned a lot more about just this one varietal of grape in the course of one afternoon.

If you missed out on Pinot Days in LA, you can catch this event in two more cities in 2011. The San Francisco event will be held on June 18th, and the Chicago event will be held on November 12.

Did you go to Pinot Days this year? Tell us what you thought about the event!

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A Visit with Pourtal a Wine Bar - Santa Monica, CA

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:23:00 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure to meet with Stephen Abronson, owner of Pourtal Wine Bar. As another treat, I also had a chance to meet with Rachel Bryan, the wine director for the wine bar.

Pourtal the Wine Tasting Bar is located in a prime area of Santa Monica. It's just steps from Ocean Ave and the Pacific Ocean, and also one block away from the famous Third Street Promenade. Take a seat on the outdoor patio to watch the sun setting off the ocean, while enjoying some of their wines and delicious small plates.

About three years ago, Stephen Abronson had an interesting idea for a wine bar. He wanted to have a coffee house type of wine bar, where patrons would be able to come in for a glass of wine and sit for a while to read a book, use their laptops and iPads, and to just hang out for a while. This type of uninterrupted leisure time did not exist in other wine bars he'd visited, so Stephen decided to create that environment on his own.

To me, that is a fresh concept on the wine tasting bar. How often do you hear about wine bar owners wanting people to stick around for hours on end to study or to have some alone time? I love it, and in fact, I was there alone for about an hour and a half before my sister and my friends arrived to join me. It was so peaceful and quiet. I normally don't find myself in wine bars alone, but this suited me just fine.

Stephen's wine bar is a certified Santa Monica Green Business. They use reclaimed wood for many of their table top surfaces, recycled glass counter tops, sustainable soy stained cement flooring, 100% recycled paper for printing, and low water flow usage throughout. When I asked him about his inspiration for the green business, his young daughter was the first on his mind. Stephen said that he wanted "a world for my daughter to live in, and that we have to do this; its the right thing to do."

As though Stephen's environmentally responsible principles aren't enough, there is also an ongoing fundraising activity during happy hour! This program, called Angel Shares, is the way for Pourtal to give back to their local community through sales of food and wine. Whether you know it or not, when guests go to the wine bar during happy hour, 15% of your check will go to one of the selected charities within the Greater LA area. Isn't that something to smile about?! Read more about it on their website under Angel Shares.

The wine bar features a monthly rotating section that is carefully curated by Rachel Bryan, the wine director, who tastes many wines prior to putting them out on the floor for guests to sample. For each of the wines selected, you'll find a sheet of tasting notes that are written exclusively by Rachel. This way you know that the wine director has a personal taste and experience relative to all the wines found in the tasting bar. Here you'll taste wines from the old world and new world, and many that you have never seen before. On my trip to the wine bar, I tried wines from Israel, Bosnia, Alsace, Bordeaux, and California.

Inside the wine bar, you'll find the themed tasting tours along the wall 3 walls. In the center island, you'll find familiar California small production wines along side some unfamiliar producers from around the world. Rachel and Stephen pride themselves in finding smaller producers who farm their crop sustainably, organically, and as natural as possible.

With the advent of technology in the wine world, Pourtal has adopted the self-serve Enomatic machines to dispense perfect 1 oz tasters of a wine. The tasting prices are determined by Rachel and Stephen, with a price point to fit every budget. Some tastings can be less than $1.50 each!

Pourtal is also host to several themed events throughout the year. The best way to stay informed is by getting on their mailing list. There are a couple of good ones coming up in the next weeks and months:

Visit with Malibu Winemakers - January 12 from 7-9PM
An Evening with Semler Estate - January 27 at 7PM

This was my first trip to Pourtal, but I promise it won't be my last!

Pourtal
104 Santa Monica Bl
Santa Monica, CA

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Corque and Pinot Days Offering 10% off Pinot Days LA - January 15, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:46:00 +0000

Corque.com is Offering You a Special
Discount on Tickets to All the Festivities!

Corque.com and Pinot Days have partnered to offer our members a 10% discount on all of the festival's spectacular events. Just like our Facebook Fan Page, and use the discount code on the page, when ordering tickets from the Pinot Days web site and you will receive an immediate 10% discount on all events. This year's Pinot Days Grand Festival is Saturday, January 15th from 2-6pm at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.

It is difficult to find a better time for the price; $60 covers entry to the event and a complimentary Burgundy-style glass you can take home. So please mark your calendars and please, forward this to your friends who might not know what they are missing; this will be our best event to date. There is no other wine industry niche that has as strong a community as ours – our pinot producers are accessible and actually desire to chum around with you, and our consumers (you) are passionate, looking beyond simply tasting the wines to the compelling stories behind each of them. And finally we have a grape, a noble grape, that is versatile, finicky, fascinating and, most importantly, absolutely delicious, more so with each vintage.

Click to join our Facebook Fan Page to get the discount code!

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Merry Christmas from Corque!

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:52:00 +0000

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas to you and yours! Have a safe and healthy holiday and share in all the joy that this time brings to you. Enjoy some great wine, beer and food together!

We're thankful for family and great friends. Since there is no tree at my house this year, I will leave you with a photo of my holly branches.

Happy Holidays!

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Pairing Wines with Traditional Christmas Meals

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:28:00 +0000

What are you having for Christmas dinner this year? I know there are a few traditional dishes that many families serve, such as prime rib or ham. I will personally be cooking prime rib for a multi-family gathering with 24+ guests!

I started thinking about what wines or beverages I could pair with the dishes we're serving. Here's the menu:

Appetizers

Vegetable platter with tzatiki dip
Gouda, Truffle cheese, Peppered Salami with crackers
Turkey meatballs
Chicken Satay

Main

Prime Rib of Beef
Rotisserie Roasted Chicken
Simple Grilled Salmon

Sides

Mixed Green Salad
Roasted cauliflower
Corn and Spinach fusilli with truffle cheese
Braised lentils with turkey sausage

With all of these different food items making it to the dinner table this year - the whole wine and drinks business was about to get really complicated. Not only that - our families aren't wine or drinks connoisseurs, they are EATERS! You put the food out and everyone goes to town. It's not really an elegant affair. Knowing this information I knew I had to keep it simple and not offer too many options.

For the appetizer courses:
I feel that a Sauvignon Blanc and or Chenin Blanc will go with the various courses that we're serving. Here I've found the Ojai Vineyard 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, and the 2009 Foxen Chenin Blanc. Both have minerally mouth feel and medium dryness to go with the offerings.

Main Course:

For the prime rib, a cabernet or red burgundy is a good call. Pinot Noir would also be an ok choice too, if you want to provide a single red wine option, as it would be fine with the chicken and fish too. If you don't want to buy a separate white wine for the main courses, then just get more of the appetizer wines and reuse it again during the main meal. Don't stress about every item needing a pairing.

Here I have a moderately priced Cabernet by Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Napa. On the right you see a series of Ken Brown Wines - a go to option for Pinot Noir.

Hopefully these wines will be tasty for our guests. For your meals at home, if you can find similar wines in your stores of the same varietal, try it out and see if you like it. Maybe you'll discover a new wine you like that you've never heard of before this time.

As always, we recommend that you head to your local wine store for their recommendations too. We try to support local as much as possible. If you're in LA - try our friends Wine Expo, Friends of the Vine, or Rosso Wine Shop

Merry Christmas to you all!

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Christmas Wish List - Wine Theme!

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:31:00 +0000

All I want for Christmas...is a bunch of wine gadgets and goodies so I can enjoy my wine that much better! Here are some of the top things that I want and maybe someone in your life will want it too?

If you are really a last minute shopper - I found most of these items on Amazon.com, Wine Enthusiast, and Napa Style - they ship overnight for Christmas delivery. If all else fails, gift certificates are handy too! *Hint to my family and friends*

The wine cork trivet kit. I have lots of wine corks collected in a vase, and I would love to form it into a trivet that makes the corks now useful. This is a fun little activity and you can always look back at the wines you've had at recent dinners.
These wine themed appetizer plates are so cute! I can see a dinner party now with some cheese, antipasto on these plates, while guests are sipping on some amazing wine. These would be such an upgrade from plain white plates.
The wine chicken cooker - the wine lover's answer to the beer's version of beer can chicken. This is a sophisticated version made of durable and nice looking material. It's supposed to make some juicy chicken. Great for foodie and wine lovers!

Riedel personalized stemless glasses are great for housewarming parties, newlyweds, and people who want some personalized stuff.

I've been seeing these everywhere! The GoVino unbreakable wine glasses with the cute thumb print in it. They are great for the evening picnics at an outdoor concert, and I'd love to have these readily available for summer dinners on the patio.

If you are traditional and don't like unbreakable stemless glassware, then you can look at getting these stemmed shatterproof wine glasses. They look pretty good and they last so you can use them during your at home parties, and not have to break out the real crystal glasses.

This is for the person who loves me the most! The EuroCave SoWine Home Wine Bar basically is a fancy contraption to help store opened bottles of wine at the right temperature for several days. No more leaving these open bottles on the kitchen counter or forcing yourself to drink it all in one sitting.

Merry Christmas to you and all your wine lover friends! I really hope that some of these will be under the tree for me!

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Pinot Days Los Angeles - January 15, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:55:00 +0000

I know we are all gearing up for the holidays this week, but something great is coming to town in January. It's the second annual Pinot Days festival in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Barker Hanger. Tickets are on sale now! Go to the Pinot Days website to buy your tickets before they sell out!

Here is a partial list of vineyards that will be pouring their awesome Pinot Noir:

Clos Pepe
Cargasacci
Domaine Serene
Flying Goat
Ken Brown
MacPhail
Melville

The website has the entire list of exhibitors.

I'll be there...will I see you there?

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Bottling the First Vintage of Wan Fiore Project Pinot Noir

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:22:00 +0000

The Wan Fiore Project bottled their 2009 vintage of Pinot Noir a couple weekends ago! It was such an amazing experience to go through the hand bottling process. This was old school as you can get! I posted a link to a video of a Sonoma winemaker who still does the hand bottling process. You really have to respect someone who will do it this way, especially after I've had to experience it for myself. The process for one barrel took nearly 9 hours to complete and we all had sore backs, arms, legs, etc from doing all this heavy lifting.

It was a super proud moment and day to accomplish this year and a half long project to get wine bottled! I documented much of the process throughout the day and wanted to share it all with our awesome readers! Detailed post with still photos to follow soon!

That just about sums up the process in a nutshell. It was repeated over and over for many hours until we bottled, corked, and labeled every last bottle of wine. We celebrated by having a nice meal and then going to sleep rather early.

Congratulations again to the Wan Fiore Project for their first production of wine!

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Alone time

noreply@blogger.com (C) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:20:00 +0000

Ahh. Holidays.
Where time seems to fly by so quickly that you can't seem to catch up to it.

Work's been a bit crazed.. So much so that I've almost forgotten to bring my camera when we took a weekend trip to San Diego, and we've barely tasted any wine. Plenty of cocktails, mind you, which I will happily post in a later post next week.

The hubby is out on a business trip and, on my way home tonight, I popped in our local Trader Joe's looking for the Chavelier but it seemed as if they had run out. (Thanks to our post, perhaps?) Nevermind, I thought to myself, I'll just pick whatever catch my eye; after all, the best part about wine shopping at Trader Joe's is that no matter what you end up taking home, it will not hurt your wallet nearly as much as other places.

Check out Trader Joe's 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon reserve from Alexander Valley, California.
promotional sale for $9.99

Tasting notes:

to the Naked eye: Ruby red, with a scent of light cherries, ripe pomegranate, a hint of smokiness. Ripe red fruits without the tartness.

Upon tasting: the earthiness definitely shines through a lot more on the palate. Long, smooth finish without over bearing tannins. Stone fruit (mostly flesh) will come through after the wine has been aerated.

I enjoyed the wine w/ some toasted almonds, salt & (blk) pepper chips, and eventually, alone on its own. Which, surprisingly, is the best way to have this bottle.

What a beautiful bottle of wine :)

Every once in a blue moon, I enjoy my alone time. Where nothing is more important than me, and my glass of wine. IN this case, I have the blog to help me document it fully..~

My bottle, my glass, and my fantastic computer ~ everything that makes me enjoy my alone time :)

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Corque Guest Blog: Brian Mulnix on the Home Brew Beer Process Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Here is part 2 of Brian's Home Brew Beer Process! If you missed part 1, you can see it here

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Once you have a kettle ready you’ll go through a variety of steps as you make your beer. One of the staff will walk you through the experience, but you’ll be doing most of the heavy lifting. You will have to: find, measure, and grind your grains (be sure to ask for fresh bread made from the spent grains when prompted – it’s very, very tasty, and the expense is negligible), add them to the kettle, add extracts (think super-sticky molasses-like liquids, used to add flavor and color – I strongly recommend you *not* spill any on yourself), stirstirstir, add hops, stir some more, heat things up, add finishing hops, drain your kettle and then add yeast before your beer goes into storage for the next 2-3 weeks.

Average time for first-time brewing is probably close to three hours, with the exact amount dependent on your recipe and how busy the place is. There is plenty of down-time baked in; when your recipe calls for 35 minutes of uninterrupted slow heating in the kettle you’ll have the opportunity to grab a beer and chat with Dennis, the owner who is perpetually behind the bar and happy to talk. Also take the time to order any number of baked goods – the Bavarian-style pretzels are not-to-be-missed, and the fresh cheddar jalapeno bread is super tasty. They also do a variety of pizzas and other breads to order.

LABELS

Remember where I mentioned that the walls are covered with custom labels? When you’re done bottling one of those labels should be yours. You can create your own labels and email them to Brewbakers to have them printed for you (for a nominal fee) or base them off of templates available on-site. Personally I favor creating my own, for that personalized look, but Brewbakers has a good variety to choose from. Note that if you are submitting your own you need to pay attention to the dimensions – our first set of labels looked really bad because I didn’t think to set the length::width ratio correctly. If you have a decent color printer at home I actually recommend creating the labels on your own without using Brewbakers – it gives you more time to experiment with your design, and if the printed colors aren’t what you expected you can change them.

BOTTLING

As mentioned above, you bottle 2-3 weeks after you brew. The staff says it doesn’t make much of a difference in terms of completing the fermentation, but I’ve always gone for 3 weeks. Seems safer somehow. Show up with your receipt from the first session (makes it easier to find your beer) and they will hook your barrel up to one of their bottling stations. You can bring your own bottles, if you happen to have them handy (what? You don’t collect empty 22oz. beer bottles? Weird.), but if you plan to label the bottles be sure to do it before you fill them with beer, or after the beer has had time to warm to room temperature. If the bottles are moist when you attach the labels the adhesive is less-likely to work and the labels may bubble a bit.

The bottling stations can handle two bottles at a time, with seals preventing you from spilling much of your precious, precious beer. In my experience it’s best to have two people on bottling detail – one to handle filling the bottles and one to handle capping them. One person could certainly do it all, but it’s faster with two. Oh and a best practice is to get a glass ahead of time, and keep one full bottle uncapped – fill your glass from the bottle and refill the bottle as-needed! That’s all there is to it – all you need to do is take your beer home and start drinking!

If it isn’t obvious from the fact that I’ve been there to brew seven different beers, I am definitely a fan of Brewbakers. It’s not like a typical bar or restaurant, and that’s to its credit – I find spending a few hours there to brew beer to be flat-out fun, and judging by the number of regulars I’m starting to recognize, I’m not alone. If you have a few hours free you could do much worse than to spend them at Brewbakers.
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Many thanks to Brian for your guest post! Hope that you all enjoyed reading about the home brew experience!

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Corque Guest Blog: Brian Mulnix on the Home Brew Beer Process

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:37:00 +0000

One of our friends, Brian Mulnix, shared a story about his home brew beer hobby. He calls it kinda-sorta brewing your own beer, since he makes it on site at a brewery.
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Thanks to Betty for giving me the opportunity to offer Corque a little guest content! I am a beer enthusiast – more the drinking than the making – but after reading some of the posts on here I recalled a place that I think fits in perfectly with what the ladies are trying to do.

Brewbakers in Huntington Beach, CA, is a brew-on-premises operation. Think of this as a halfway point between buying beer in a grocery store and actually making it in your kitchen. Located in a quiet strip mall (next to Purple Feet, where you can make your own wine), Brewbakers is easily identified by the delivery van (or van-like vehicle, anyway) parked out front. Walking inside the you’ll notice are the six bronze kettles where all the brewing is done, the central island where you’ll measure grains, eat pizza and set beer, and the years of custom labels that cover the walls (note that many of the designs feature cursing and pictorial references to various parts of the male and female anatomy… many of us feel this adds to the ambience, but I suppose it’s not for everyone). Don’t be surprised if you see girl or boy scouts making pretzels and rootbeer, and if you’re there on a weekend be prepared for the place to be busy – most Saturdays it’s positively bustling.

If you book a session they will walk you through the process of making your own beer, from measuring out the variety of grains to adding extracts, hops and, eventually, yeast (a critical component if you want your beer to taste like, well, beer). Brewbakers offers ~100 recipes for various types of beers, ranging from extremely light pilsners to thick imperial stouts to ridiculously alcoholic barleywine. For those without a ton of beer experience they have a helpful comparison chart, i.e. if you like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, recipe #31 is similar, if you like Sam Adam’s Costal Wheat you should try… you get the point. In the seven times I’ve made beer at Brewbakers we’ve made:

A pale ale
Two amber ales
A stout
A red ale
One IPA
A golden ale

Each of these beers has had a distinct flavor, and my wife and I have enjoyed all of them. Thus far we haven’t made anything that can compete with some of our favorite microbrews, but then I wouldn’t expect a 3-hour brewing session by non-experts to yield something on the level of a Stone Ruination or Pizza Port Hop-15. Brewbakers aims to offer a fun, unusual experience that lets you make your own beer the way you see fit, without having to clean up the mess afterwards, and it succeeds at all of this.

When making an appointment (not required, but a good idea, particularly if you’re going on a weekend or holiday), it’s important to note that you have to go twice – once to make the beer, then again in 2-3 weeks to bottle it. If you can make it on a weekday it’s likely to be less crowded, and the staff will have a bit more time to dedicate to your experience (also it tends to be cooler… a lot of people combined with multiple kettles boiling can lead to a stuffy atmosphere in the summer! Fortunately you can take a drink outside where there are a few first-come-first-serve seats available).

So here’s how it all works:

BREWING

You’ll need to decide what kind of beer you want and how much want to make. In regards to quantity, you can do a half-batch (36 22oz. bottles) for $149, or a full batch (72 22oz. bottles) for $249. Generally I’d recommend the half-batch, as it’s less overwhelming from a storage perspective and easier to work through if (you aren’t a heavy drinker) your friends are out of town. You can also do a single 12-bottle case on Thursday nights for $50.

To identify what kind of beer you want to make you can offer an example of what you’re looking for to the knowledgable staff, or flip through their recipe book, or sample some of their on-tap offering (worth doing as they frequently have off-menu recipes on tap). They also have bottles of various prior brews, which are another good way to check out the type of beer you want before committing to it. Figure out what you want, get yourself something to drink, and let the staff get your kettle ready. In our case we decided on a Golden Ale they had on tap, relatively light with minimal bitterness, not terribly malty, and with a hint of honey at the end. Seemed like a good autumn beer, and it was time for us to try a new recipe.

Here is a close up of an awesome label Brian created for his beer!

Click here for part 2 of Brian's home brewed beer post!

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The Process to Hand Bottle Wine

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 04:35:00 +0000

Thanks to Ray of Wan Fiore Project for sending this link! I'm so excited for them to hand bottle their 2009 vintage of Pinot Noir in the coming days! Enjoy the video! It totally makes me think about the old days and process to produce wine.

Video by In Wine Country

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Corque Says: Trader Joe's Holiday Wine Buys

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:51:00 +0000

We've been asked on a number of occasions to start creating our list of wine buys for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas. There are so many great ones to choose from but for a start, I'm going to go with the wines that I could find at the local Trader Joe's.

I just happened to have gone to Trader Joe's last night for Thanksgiving grocery shopping, so this is where the inspiration comes from...

Part of the reason why Trader Joe's is a good place to start is because it seems to be a store that is readily accessible to people across the nation. Of course, if you happen to have some speciality wine stores in your neighborhood, by all means, go in and talk to the shop owner for some recommendations.

One thing you won't find on our list is the infamous Two Buck Chuck aka Charles Shaw for $1.99. I can't stomach it and I hope that you opt to find something of a bit more quality at the store instead.

Prosecco - I saw a bottle of it for $13.99 at my store. It was well stocked and definitely think its the affordable cousin to the French and even California made sparklers. The bottle says Prosecco on the label, you can't miss it
Chateau Chevalier Sauvignon Blanc - Priced around $10-12 a bottle. This wine is an easy drinker and has the beautiful and delicate fruit flavors typical of a Napa / Spring Mountain Sauvignon Blanc but without the price tag. Wine is made by some famous and much more expensive wine labels up in Spring Mountain.
Castoro Cellars Voignier - Set us back a cool $9.99 a bottle. Our recent trip to Paso Robles really opened our eyes to trying some labels from there. It'll be a great accompaniment to our Thanksgiving menu. They also have a few red wine options too that you can mull over, and try to see if you like it.
Chateau Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon - Priced at $14.99 for the steal! I can't get over how you can get an amazing Cabernet from Napa at this price. If you consider their sister winery and what they charge - you should stock up on this wine for meal time. You don't sacrifice taste for the value in this case. It's a very nice Cabernet from California.

Hopefully this gives you some options besides two buck chuck the next time you go shop at Trader Joe's.

That is all for now. I will continue to work on my wine recommendations and then will also start doing the beer portion as well.

By the way - if you are Los Angeles area residents, check out the links on the left of the page to "Corque Friends" where we listed out a couple of great wine stores in the greater LA city.

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Paso Robles Exclusive Announcement: Chef's Cooking Class

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Our wonderful friends at the Orchard Hill Bed and Breakfast sent us some news to share with our readers! If you remember our post about the bed and breakfast in Paso Robles, you'll know that we absolutely adored the house, the experience, and the innkeepers.

Deborah and Doug, the lovely innkeepers of Orchard Hill B&B are offering up two events this holiday season! If you are looking for some unique and fun things to do on your time off, just take a look at these two things coming up (December 16, 2010)! The kitchen is spacious, but there will be a limited number of participants.

December 16 - 3:30PM at Orchard Hill Farms B&B: French chef Hazel Young, a graduate of Beaune Culinary Institute and owner of Canals of France will be teaching a cooking class at Orchard Hill Farm. She will be preparing a Moroccan Tajine...a favorite one pot dish. Students will enjoy the cooking class, wine pairing by Per Cazo Cellars followed by the meal. Students will take home the chef's cookbook and an apron. Cost is $100. If this class fills we will offer a second class on the 15th.

December 16 - 10AM to 3PM in Paso Robles: There will also be a morning tour offered the same day, with Wine Glass Tours. The group will go to Pasolivo Olive Oil, Windrose Farms for a tour with a picnic, finally stop at Nature's Touch to purchase some items for our class. Cost is $100.

Contact Deborah to book either event: 805 239 9680

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Our favorite things~ corkscrew

noreply@blogger.com (C) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Yes. Christmas is nearing as we prepare ourselves for Thursday's Thanksgiving feast. We thought we'd start talking about some gadgets that we find extremely useful in our kitchen/ bar area that we think you may find useful for yourself or for a friend.

Corkscrew:
Unless you feel like drinking out of a box (gasp!) or a can, the first thing you should have in your house is a good corkscrew. We own all the corkscrews listed below and can vouch that they all serve its purpose of opening a bottle of our favored beverage.

Most favor the Rabbit because of its ease & design. It makes for a great gift for someone who desires both aesthetic & function. I love the Rabbit because it is probably the easiest thing you'll ever need to open a bottle of wine. The Rabbit itself, however, is substantial in size and therefore makes it hard to carry around. And unless you have a special wine/bar area, the rabbit takes up a lot of space in the kitchen drawer.

If you just want something inexpensive that is easy to use and doesn't make a lot of fuss, then perhaps a winged corkscrew is something you could pick up at a local market. I've often given this type of corkscrew for friends who've just begun to drink wine casually. Its design makes one feel more secure when trying to open a bottle w/out fear of breaking the cork inside.

My favorite, however, would have the be the waiter-style corkscrew. I prefer it because it is easiest to travel with and takes up the least amount of space in the house. The retractor cuts foil easily and I (not so secretively) pride myself in being able to open our bottles like a pro!

If you are more cautious and feel like that you need more leverage, the double-hinged style is a great alternative as well. Both style are relatively inexpensive and doubles as a beer bottle opener as well!

Here are a couple that I would like to put on the wish list this year~

A friend recently dared me with a "Man vs. Machine" competition to prove how much he loves his new electric push button corkscrew. We never got around it because we were already 3 bottles into the evening. Having read the reviews online amongst consumers, it seems that the electric opener makes things even easier than the Rabbit since all you have to do is to PUSH A BUTTON!

The Laguiole has been my "holy grail" of corkscrew for as long as I can remember. My first encounter with famed Laguiole corkscrew was when I was a little girl while visiting family friends. No one could convince me to put down the shiny, beautifully crafted object. I later learned that the mesmerizing handle was made from an antelope's horn, which sort of take the romance out of the object quite a bit. But I believe if I ever cross path with a Laguiole in an antique market, I would have no trouble taking it home. Even if the Laguiole may not be nearly as functional as the other ones listed above.

Did we miss any of your favorites? Tell us about it if we did!!
and stay tuned for our next favorite thing when it comes to wine & beer next week!

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Winter Beef Stew Recipe - add Wine

noreply@blogger.com (B) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:08:00 +0000

My favorite winter dish to make is a hearty, comforting beef stew. I love to make it when the weather gets cooler outside. I can't really say cold because I do live in LA, but there are evenings when it chills a bit, and stew sounds great. I just made it tonight for tomorrow's dinner. Plan ahead and it'll taste so much better after waiting a day.

This recipe has red wine! If you need help picking a good red wine, refer to our previous post about cooking with wine.

Ingredients:

1 lb stew beef, cubed
1 bay leaf
1 medium onion diced
2 carrots diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
3 medium fresh tomatoes rough cubes (or 1 15oz can)
2 cups water
1 cup red wine (Cabernet)
Salt and pepper to season

Recipe:

Heat up a dutch oven with olive oil over medium heat
Season the beef with salt and pepper
Place the beef in the dutch oven for browning
Remove the beef and drain out the fat
Add onion to the dutch oven to brown
Add the beef back with the onion
Add carrot, tomato, thyme, basil, bay leaf, garlic powder
Cook for 1-2 minutes
Add wine and cook for another 2-3 minutes
Add water and let liquid come to a boil
Turn the heat to low or simmer and let cook for 2.5 hours
Serve over rice and enjoy with your favorite glass of red wine

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