Three Rivers Overflowing with Beer!

What do you get when you take a post-industrial city, fill it with students from six universities and give it a healthy dose of entrepreneurial drive?  Among many other things; a dramatic spike in craft brewing.  

There is a sense that Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is a strange bubble in which the normal laws of trends or progress do not necessarily apply.  The city was an industrial centre for over a hundred years, known for making steel, pushing the technological boundaries of production since the 1870’s but fast forward to the 1980’s and economic turmoil, Pittsburgh and other cities saw the mills close and ship off along with the jobs to Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.

Between the Allegheny and the Monongahela, forming the Ohio.

But fortunately for Pittsburgh, the spirit of enterprise remained and a new array of industries sprang up seemingly overnight as some of the best minds in the country set the city up as a centre of legal practice, advanced medicine and robotics (they designed the Mars rover thing, how cool is that?!).  And where do those high brow professionals turn for their end of day swill? Probably one of the many high quality craft brews from Pittsburgh (from here on I will use only local nicknames for the city).

Much like the tide of the steel industry; one skin sheds, a more suited skin emerges, the beer scene went the same way.  In 2009, as the local lager, Iron City picked up and left town for neighboring Latrobe (and tried to hide it, what gall!) the fiercely proud Yinzers of the Steel City were inspired to look closer to home.

As of September 2013 the brewing scene in the City of Bridges included a fair list of breweries producing some really exciting beers, filling every niche a beer lover could desire from classic Czech styled pilsner from Penn Brewery, to big dense IPA from Full Pint and Trappist styles from Draai Laag and hundreds others.  Here’s a look at some of the more established names in the ‘Burgh.

The Penn Brewery has been producing its eponymous Penn Pilsener for nearly 30 years out of the old E&O Brewery building in the the Deutschtown neighborhood and has become one of the go-to beers in the city.  Add to this a solid range including the top-notch Allegheny Pale Ale and the Kaiser Pils and this is the City of Champion’s answer to Samuel Adams: a craft brewery making great beer on a larger scale.

The Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville is perhaps the most recognizable brewery in the city.  Sited in a desanctified (did I invent this word?) Catholic Catholic church, this is a Pittsburgh institution and a religious experience for a beer-lover.  The altar is home to the tanks, the the bar is appropriately located at the confessional the pews are swapped for more sociable tables.  As this is more of a brew pub, it is a rare treat to find the beers in bottle, so this might require a visit to the Three River City.  A worthy pilgrimage!

Among the new upstarts are a selection of breweries quickly proving themselves.  Full Pint, Rivertowne and East End alongside the smaller operations of Hop-Farm, Copper Kettle and Roundabout ensure that there is always new beer to be had.  Forget your Sierra Nevadas, your Victory and your Brooklyn.  When your in the Burgh, you could have a different brew every day from one of a wide array of breweries.  Not even counting the Seasonals!

So the city between the Three Rivers is bursting it's banks with good beer.  It can only be so long before it flows into the world.

Much Love,

G

End of the River- The Douro Valley

Hey Everybody,

Tonight I've been packing for a trip to London and as I go I am enjoying a nice bottle of Portuguese red.  Specifically from the Douro Valley in the North of the country, along the same river known as the Duero in Spain.  Douro wine is mostly known on the international stage as the source of some of the world's most highly regarded wine: Port.  That fortified, sweet and long lived wine is the stuff of legend but in a valley so blessed with an abundance of old vines, a plethora of cultivars and prime vineyard space, it is ridiculous to assume that top quality table wine is not made there as well.

Fruit forward and full bodied, it is a wonder that Portuguese reds are not more widely known.  Perhaps they are suffering from some of the same malignancies that continuously frustrate German wine makers, with confusing terms, unfamiliar grape varieties and association with a stereotypical style.  Whereas Germany contends with the misconception that all wines are going to be sweet and sickly, it may be that Portugal has the ghost of sweet fortified Port wine looming over it.

Fortunately it does not take too long to get through the layers of retrograde pfaffery, and the winemakers are doing what they can to help.  I'm not saying that the wineries are doing what many of the Bordelaise producers have done and Parkerised (made their wines suitable for Robert Parker's palette), rather they have made an effort to be more engaging with modern style but unchanging class.  For example, Dirk Niepoort of the legendary Niepoort Port house has made a conscious effort to put more emphasis on table wines, rather than his easily respectable vintage ports.  He is putting forward excellent examples of dry table wines, such as his 'Redoma' range alongside the truly world class 'Batuta.'  Kitted out with classy but interesting labels and amazing quality it is a great first step to showing the world what Portugal is capable of.

Other Port houses are following suit with their own table wines, and really putting some good effort into what they are producing.  Quina do Portal, another well respected house is putting out an excellent dry red made from a blend of Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca that represents excellent value with a definite nod towards high quality.  Call it a sort of gateway wine into the world of excellent Douro.  Hopefully what this will lead to is the development of interest in other quality wines from the Douro.

Other producers like Quinta do Macedos are going so far as to adopt the practice of the second wine with their 'Lagar de Macedos' and in so doing they have developed a pair of excellent bottlings, both of which are remarkably capable of standing the test of time, developing into something exciting and providing us wine geeks with another means of enjoying old wine.  One of the greatest pleasures of wine is to track the development of a wine over the course of it's life.  I love Rhône wines, young or old, but truly they are different wines entirely.  The same bottle that was once deep, chunky and spicy, becomes leathery, briny and earthy.  These Douro wines are perfect for that as well.  They live for years and years and over time, the deep black fruit and intense body of youth becomes something different, refined and elegant.

So I borrowed this from Wikipedia.

Essentially, the Douro is one of those regions that stands at the top of wine.  Bordeaux, Rhône, Burgundy, Napa and Mosel are all known the world over for their ability to produce mind-blowingly delicious wine.  The Douro is right up there with the rest of them.  Hopefully soon enough the rest of the world will catch on.  Or hopefully they won't.  Just leaves more for us!

Much Love,
G

The Joy's of Being Rich

Hey Everybody,

You know, sometimes it's nice when a revitalised producer does something extraordinary and sticks to traditions all at the same time!  It has become the accepted norm that when a distillery reopens or rebrands itself, there follows a torrent of experimental bottlings of what can hardly be recognised as Single Malt Scotch Whisky. While exciting, it is always refreshing to see a distillery as comfortable in it's own identity as GlenDronach.  The whisky world must have been pleased to see the resurrection of this once proudly sherried Highland gem as it seemingly picked up just where it left off.

I first came across GlenDronach several years ago when all I wanted from a whisky was oily texture, smells of the sea and waves upon waves of peat-reek.  I decided that I had found myself in a rut and needed to find a way to branch out into the rest of the world of whisky and on the recommendation of a very helpful bartender in Edinburgh, I tried the 15 year-old and credit it with opening my tastes to the world!

With the benevolent new owners, BenRiach gently steering GlenDronach's revival, a range of stunningly beautiful whiskies have been created with a clear theme: no chill-filtration, no colouring and plenty of sherry richness.  The basic range of whiskies, the 12 year-old Original, the aptly named 15 year-old Revival, and the 18 year-old Allardice (named for the distillery's founder) have put a trio of essential whiskies on merchants' shelves.  

The 12 is a spicy, chocolatey and smooth dram at a reasonable price, while the 15 is an iconically rich, opulent whisky showing notes of Christmas cake and dried cocoa.  The 18 is nothing short of a masterclass in the application of Sherry barrels to whisky!  With it's dense, rich and comforting aromas of figs, cinnamon and clove, full body and long finish it is not a beginners whisky, but something for the experienced enthusiast with a good long time to spend savouring and appreciating the deep amber spirit in the glass.

As it helped me expand my tastes, I consider GlenDronach to be the perfect whisky for anyone looking to expand theirs.  Whether you like the peaty, smoky malts of Islay, or the lighter Speysides and Lowland malts, GlenDronach helps to break you into the richly opulent world of intensely Sherried whisky.  Suspend what you know about your preferences and enjoy something different!  Perfect for cold winter evenings around Christmas time, or to accompany rich chocolate dessert, any one of these bottlings would be an essential addition to a malt-lover's collection.

In an age of tremendous demand on the big brands of whisky, notably those in the Diageo stable, the most reassuring element of the trade is that there distilleries like GlenDronach putting forward such beautifully traditional, yet completely satisfying whiskies.  We can all take a page from GlenDronach's book and be proud of who we are!

Much Love,

G

What Happened Back Then?

Hi Everybody,

One of the most incredible aspects of the trade of wine and spirits it the history.  Of course, we know that Jefferson liked Hermitage, and Pepys loved Haut-Brion.  Shackleton had his legendary whisky to warm him to the south pole and Bonnie Prince Charlie invented Drambuie (for better or worse).  As the great boozy catalogue of history goes back in time we find bottles of wine and whisky that have become iconic despite their humble origins.

For instance, what was so auspicious about the distillation at Mortlach distillery on the 26th day of January 1957, that it has come down to this day so that I see what has become of it?  Probably nothing, to be perfectly fair.  In fact this is not the only Mortlach from the 1950's I've tasted, nor is it the oldest.  Basically it is a forgotten sherry cask from a distillery that produces a huge volume of whisky and consequently the result is a large amount of old, backlogged stock that can be bottled at an exceptionally old age.

But what does such old whisky taste like?  When I first put my nose in the glass I was reminded of my first visit to a 50-year-old Mortlach and was greeted by an intense wave of fiery booze.  Hugely alcoholic with hidden aromas of shoe polish, wood sealant and lemsip.  A bit of dry fruit found it's way through, but the 50 year contact with what I imagine was first-fill Oloroso left a hot, sticky mess of a whisky.

Unfortunately the 1953 distillation was not far removed from this effort.  It smelled of alcohol, almost as grainy as Glen's vodka and the flavour was dry and tannic, almost like a freshly cut sapling cured in pure ethanol.  In essence; unpleasant.

So why do bottles of whisky that are so old retain such a reputation for quality?  My thinking is that not enough people have tasted and criticised them.  I recall one day early in my career as a wine and whisky merchant selling a bottle of Mortlach 1936 (70 y-o) for £21,000 alongside a Glenfarclas 50 for £3,000 and a MacAllan 1940 for £2,000 all in one transaction to one collector.  All I can think is thank goodness someone bought it, and hopefully he will enjoy the way it looks on his mantlepiece as he tells his friend how much he paid for it all; because it sure as hell isn't going to taste very good!

I know I contradict myself when it comes to old whisky, because some of the best whisky I've ever had has been quite old (Brora 36, I'm talking about you!) but then again, it doesn't take an absurd age statement to be exceptional.  The youngest and sometimes cheapest in the lineup, Laphroaig Quarter Cask is far superior to the rest of the Laphraoig range (Up to the 25, after which I cannot say).  Likewise I prefer the 15 year-old offering from GlenDronach to the 18 though both are lovely.

But when you find a whisky that is exceptional just fo it's sheer age, it may well be that it was unremarkable for so long that the cask-manager thought they may as well leave it until they could sell it as a budget end 50 year old.  Because older is considered better for whisky, the market responds and the bottles are more expensive.  Consider this; Ardbeg Uigeadail is somewhere between 5 and 9 years old (technically) and it is consistently ranked as the best or among the best whiskies in the world.

There is a skewed sense of logic in the world of whisky and it is up to us, the dirnkers and the lovers of malt to seek out the gems.  I say we allow these ridiculously overpriced, overaged monstrosities to go up in price while we happily enjoy the balanced flavours of appropriately aged whiskies and live within the realms of reality.

Slainte Mhath,
G

Bordeaux Tasting

Hey Everyone!

Long while since I posted to this or any blog but I'm happy to be doing so again! Today I'm writing about a wee tasting I put on for a few friends of mine as they prepare for a high profile tasting competition at the Residence de France in London a fortnight from now. The theme of the evening is Left Bank Bordeaux, including Médoc, Graves, Sauternes and Barsac. I took part in this tasting last year and despite doing somewhat poorly (then having my spirits lifted by a stunning meal and lovely wine) I feel that the exercise of analysing Bordeaux from a blind tasting perspective was very enlightening.

When training for blind tasting, you always look at the general styles of grapes and regions in the following manner: Syrah tastes of violets, but is fruiter in Australia and more briny in the Rhône and so on. Basically you paint a region with a broad brush and Bordeaux is the same. There is a character to Bordeaux that makes it unique from wine anywhere else in the world. I am fairly confident I could pick out a Pomerol in a line up of Merlots from the rest of the world, but when it comes to picking apart the differences between the various cabernet-based communes of the Left Bank things get a bit tricky. So today's tasting was aimed at four appellations and three vintages.

1. Chateau Le Pey 2010 Médoc- The nose was creamy, sweet salted caramel and milk chocolate followed by cherry and crème de cassis. The colour was youthfully red; no traces of ageing yet lighter than some of the older wines showing the wine to be less concentrated. The palate agreed with lighter tannins, less intense flavours and acidity. A pleasant wine, but not the product of great grapes.

2. Chateau de Cardaillan 2007 Graves- Deeper colour but with some brickish hues showing the affects of ageing. 2007 is an early drinking vintage so it follows that maturity was reached quickly in comparison with the older Fourcas-Dupré. The nose was marred by a slight cork-taint but the character showed through in a perfumed fruit nose

3. Chateau Fourcas-Dupré 2004 Listrac-Médoc- This one was difficult to describe. There was not a whole lot to distinguish it from general Bordeaux wine. It lacked the cocoa powder of St-Estephe, the perfume of Margaux or the woody cedar of Saint-Julien. It was a good wine, but there really wasn't a whole lot to tell us what exactly a Listrac-Médoc was like. That said, it was a lovely bottle of wine!

4. Chateau Martinens 2007 Margaux- Classic to Margaux, the nose showed plenty of floral aromatics, perfume (almost like Campari smelled from a distance) and something along the lines of kirsch liquer. The palate showed fine grained tannins and an elegant finish. A really great wine and amongst this line up, I think it showed as an amazing wine.

Overall, I find the concept of blind tasting a highly invigorating experience, especially when put into such a singular context as Left Bank Bordeaux. It also shows what a versatile region Bordeaux is for wine production. It's not a tired region only good for putting out overrated and expensive wines. Rather it does offer some good value and quality across the board. Especially in an age where so many new world wineries boast of their high altitude or extreme conditions, Bordeaux is temperate by comparison and never more than a few metres above sea level.

For whatever reason, wine from Bordeaux is often overlooked by the casual drinker, but it should not be. It offers good quality, easy drinking and food friendly wine at a reasonable price point. These four bottles showed particularly well, but there are countless others like them.

Much Love,

George

 

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One Year On- A year of the Grape Press

 

Hey Everyone,

So I have now come to the first year anniversary (well a bit past it) since I first posted. A lot changes in a year; graduation, and amazing summer in St. Andrews and the United States, time spent working in New York City and helping set up a new company in the Auld Grey Toon. Visa problems for myself - and it seems most of my friends and now I am at new heights in my wine experience. It has certainly been an interesting year for the Grape Press and myself.

I have been in South Africa now for 8 days and my experiences have been tremendous. I have seen the most beautiful landscapes I've ever laid eyes on, I've tasted some amazing food and meat some amazing people. My objective; to explore the wines of this country has been well under way for some time, with some exciting results. I have meat young, ambitious and energetic wine makers, old hands with tremendous experience and plenty of other characters in and around this great town of Stellenbosch.

The enthusiasm that these people breathe is infectious, and if you come to a wine farm ambivalent to the product, you will leave an hour later as devoted to the wines as the winemaker himself. It is easy to get caught up in things here in Stellenbosch; because everything about the place is emotive. Every night there is a carnival atmosphere in the town and you can't help but have fun. Beyond the streets of town there is the countryside where the most striking landscapes imaginable can stun you without fail every single day.

I for one am finding myself increasingly devoted to South Africa's wines and the people behind the bottles. There are stories here that ring true with everything I want wine to be. There is romance and there is love for the land as well as artistry and awareness. I know that wine, unlike any other product has a penchant for getting passion from it's devotees but there is an intensity in South Africa that vindicates my devotion to the subject. There are themes that are beyond my ability to vocalise so I will not attempt to do them justice, but suffice to say that they are as great as the Helderberg Mountains and as complex as the country's past.

I hope over the past year you have enjoyed my writing and I look forward to continuing in 2013 and into the future. To see the huge changes over the course of the year, I am filled with great hope to know that just as much can happen in the coming year. Tonight find a glass of something nice, be it wine, beer, juice (whatever!) and enjoy it. I'll be doing the same!

(As always) Much Love,

G

 

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My Love Hate Relationship...

Hey Everyone,

Today I am writing about my most conflicted of feelings in the entire world of wine. It is the strange phenomenon of the head versus the heart and the knowledge of the former pitted against the uncompromising nature of the latter. The subject matter: Italy, the dilemma; I know it's good and that I like the styles of wine produced there, yet never will I choose a bottle of Chianti over a Rioja or Barolo over Bordeaux. I wrote a post last year about how much I like the rustic wines from appellations such as Chianti Rufina and Abruzzo, and I really enjoy a good bottle of Barbera with a bowl of pasta or a steak, but I fear that my consumption of Italian wine is somewhat forced.

A friend of mine, the proprietor of St. Andrews Wine Company is planning a dinner with a local restaurant which promises to be a truly inspiring experience with a well considered selection of wines to match each course. At first the theme for wines of the evening was said to be the Rhône Valley and I was ecstatic. I pictured a gorgeous dinner starting with duck liver pate and Condrieu or smoked fish and Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc followed by a braised beef with a spicy Cornas or Cote-Rotie, all to be washed down with a sweet Muscat Beaumes de Venise. Thats when someone suggested Italian wines and my dreams of a Rhône dinner were dashed.

Thats because interesting Italian wines are exciting for just about everyone except me. For some reason I like Italian wines to be simple and easy, not big and complex. I don't know exactly why, because I want this from every other wine I drink; perhaps it is a realm of refuge from the overly cerebral bottles I usually encounter. When it comes to beer, though I love interesting well crafted ales, I can get tired of 7% hoppy IPAs. It may be that Italian wine fulfills the same role for me that English bitter fulfills in respect to beer. It is an escape. That said I know that top flight Italian wine is amazing stuff and whenever I taste it I am happy to have done so, but I cannot say that I would ever choose it for myself.

For instance, last night in the wine shop, Peter opened a bottle of 2008 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It was massive, big bright black fruits reminiscent of Napa Cabernet with the alcohol to match. It was excellent stuff, better than most of the wines I've been drinking lately, and perhaps ironically, way better than the Crozes-Hermitage (from the Rhône I love so well) I had two nights ago.

I recognised long ago that loving wine is a growing process, with twists and turns. Where one thing is your passion at the moment and the other your passing fancy, these things may change any moment. There was a time when I wouldn't have even considered buying a bottle of Bordeaux over an American Cabernet, but my tastes have changed and tasting this beautiful Vino Nobile may well have changed my thoughts on what people call 'more interesting' Italian wines.

If there is something you are prejudiced against out there in the wine world, as I admit to myself, make a concerted effort to change your opinion or at least find out exactly why you feel that way. It could be an exciting revelation!

Much Love,

G.

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Wines of Christmas

Hey Everyone,

So the holiday season is thoroughly underway, with Christmas Day passed, New Years ahead and a long, long winter to come. One of my favourite parts of the holidays is the succession of family events where the dinner table assumes the role of centre stage. This is when the greatest, most heart warming meals of the year take place; when your favourite foods are cooked and the best wines are drunk.

this years, owing to the newly regular uncertainty of all my siblings' schedules we were able to miraculously pull off three incredible dinners and as we couldn't match last years Mouton '83 and Jarvis '97 for all of them, we had to improvise and that we did well. Christmas is different for everyone with small traditions here and there that make it so wonderful and unique. For us, we have a massive dinner for 30 immediate family members from my dad's side of the family over on Christmas day and serve up a massive rare roast fillet of beef for everyone with all sorts of trimmings and sweeties on the sides.

Seeing as this is a uniquely large family dinner we weren't about to willingly provide anything super costly so we rummaged around the cellar for something that might work nicely, recalling that we had a couple bottles of Indian Wells Cabernet that would do just fine. What. Came up with was a bit of a forgotten gem. Sitting mostly for decorative use on a barrel in the corner of the cellar was a magnum of 2001 Falcor Red. It had been standing upright for god knows how long so we had no way of knowing if it would still be good but we dug through the wax and my brother decanted it and we were happy to smell a wine that would serve well enough.

As the meal went on it became apparent that this Falcor was no simple Napa Cab. It was refined, elegant and very much like a 2003 from Bordeaux. It was big yes, but there was something restrained and backward about it for a California wine. The blend was about 50% Cabernet Franc with the rest about equal between Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot and it showed off its notes of autumnal leaves, toasty oak and sour forest fruits wonderfully and delivered with a composed balance I had not expected. Overall it was an awesome bottle of wine and though not a match made in heaven for the beef, it was excellent.

For my immediate family, however, the main event is always Christmas Eve and that is when we try to go all out with wine and food. This year we were unsure of when my brother could make it home, so we decided that we would have our usual Christmas Eve dinner on Boxing Day. Seeing as he arrived a bit earlier from New York than expected we were blessed with two beautiful dinners in very short succession. The choice of wines was therefore a bit improvised but proved to be excellent.

Alongside our dinner of seared duck breast with orange risotto on the 24th we had a nearly forgotten bottle of Cakebread Syrah 2004. Not generally intended to age long, this wine held up marvelously and showed a distinctly Rhone-like character and a great purity of blackberry and sour cherry alongside emerging hints of green olive and brine. This went along with an obscure 1997 Mercurey from Domaine Voarick, which was another wine bought long ago and more or less forgotten until we happened upon it the night of the dinner. Despite the cork crumbling into oblivion, it tasted great with a leathery farmyard profile and a lot of raspberries.

For dinner on Boxing Day we cooked up our traditional roasted rack of lamb. This meal lends itself so well to Bordeaux that I could not resist opening my 2004 Chateau Talbot. While it was clear that this wine has a long life ahead of it, perhaps as much as five or six years before it reaches it's peak, it was excellent in its richness, with chunky tannins, restrained, backwards fruit and searing acidity cutting through the oily fat of the lamb. I generally think that 2004 in Bordeaux is underrated and offers classic style and a good value for money, but in particular I believe that the classed growths of Saint-Julien are often great buys from this vintage.

So overall it was a great holiday for wine and with some bottles I may never find again coming into play I think it was a treat to try some of these. Year in and year out, Christmas never fails to bring out the best in my family and I was blessed not only with these wondrous meals and wines but first and compost with the company of those who surround the table.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

G

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