steve- we actually took a tour of the fall creek winery in tow a few years. we go to lake buchanan at least twice a year, and we decided to go on up to tow and have a look. it was pretty cool to see the whole process from beginning to end. very nice people and definitely worth a looksee if you are in the area with a few hours to kill.

bigjohn

Yeah, I admit my comment was a little tongue in cheek. When I visited mwc last year, he sent me home with a few bottles of Texas wine. I wasn't expecting much, but they were definitely easy to drink.

Never had any wine from Texas, but I had a couple bottles of pricey Viognier from Virginy a while back. They were good, well worth the $0 that I paid for them.

Next time you visit soCal you could stay here:

http://www.pechanga.com/contact/contact.asp

It's a very nice hotel, it's about 5 minutes from the Temecula wine country, great temperatures even in the summer, about 1 1/2 hour drive from Disneyland, Sea World, and San Diego.
The casino table minimums are a little high and they don't comp drinks, so... BYOB.

Some of the Temecula wines were very good, and the wine tasting is always a blast.

Oh! So you did drink them. I often wondered if you drank them or just poured them down the drain thinking they would be an abomination compared to all that great California wine.

Well I must say that today was a good day of brew findings. Here is what's in the fridge (-1)




My brew for the evening was the Duchesse De Bourgogne. It's my first Flemish sour ale and my impression is HOLY CRAP MY MOUTH IS IN LOVE. I can honestly say that I've never tasted anything like it. Distinctly sour (duh) at first that fades to the incrible, sweet complexity underneath. I can't even begin to say what all I was tasting, but I know that my mouth was very happy. I will DEFINITLY pick this one up again.

Also, the local shop is getting in Rochefort 8 and 10 this week so I'll add those to the fridge. (to join the 6) The owner said that he had to special order them and that they would only be there for a couple of days. Likely, this is the only time I could ever be lucky enough to find all 3 Rochefort brews.

I want to come over to your house! That pic makes me want to go the liquor store NOW.

I'm in Boston this week and walked by a "Fine Wines and Rare Beers" store on my way back to the hotel from dinner. I might have to step inside tomorrow and see what they have. Your post has be salivating.

[Homer] Mmmmmm.....Belgians [/Homer] I can't wait to pick up the other 2 Rocheforts (8 and 10)tomorrow. I'm thinking of breaking open a couple 10's for Thanksgiving.

In reply to:

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I am in the process of trying to finish my first bottle of Anchor Brewing's 2004 winter seasonal ale: "Our Special Ale" (Yes, I realize it's not even noon yet on Sunday. )

Yechhh! It pours like a porter/stout and even has the roasty aromas of one, but flavorwise, it has no center. By this I mean it has plenty of foretaste (aroma) and aftertaste (which is metallic and bitter), but not much in between.

I had my brother try it to make sure I wasn't crazy. He agreed that it wasn't worth buying, especially since a sixer cost me $8.39.

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Time for me to flip-flop. I'm drinking one of these right now - and actually, I like it! Right after it's opened it is pretty unpleasant, but I've had it sitting in the glass (even cracked out the special beer glasses) for a while and it really is quite nice. It's not all about the bitter finish now - the center has filled out a bit and balances the finish with a nice, smooth sweetness. One might even say it has a nice caramel center to counteract the spicey finish, if one felt so inclined. Actually, the finish mellows quite a bit after sitting for a while, too.

Is my beer..... breaking in?

I've been meaning to post a follow up to this beer as well. It needs to be had at or near room temperature for all the flavor layers to be evident. It's been growing on me. Still, there are better seasonals.