Oz Winery – Report from Kansas

By Kevin

On the drive across Kansas, a state that seems to be roughly 12,000 miles across, Michelle and I noticed a billboard for the Oz Museum. With her love of the Wizard of Oz and my desire to not be in the car for a few minutes, we decided to make a small detour to Wamego, KS. Wamego was a very nice little town and in addition to having coffee at The Daily Grind, next door was the Oz Winery.

The winery offers free samples while they are open and this gave us a chance to try what they had to offer. The dry whites were tasty, especially the Poppy Fields, a balanced Pinot Gris. The wine was well made and we ended up with a few bottles.

Oz Winery is worth a stop for anyone on their way through the Sunflower State.

And if you want to know more about our cross-country road trip, from Cincinnati to San Francisco, you can follow along over on the Posterous Blog.

Schlafly Brewery

by Kevin

A quick post on one of our almost local breweries: Schlafly of St. Louis. Michelle and I had the chance to stop in here on our way through Missouri and enjoyed the visit. On tap were two cask conditioned alternate versions of the 80/- (80 Schilling) and the Golden Ale.

I sat down with the cask conditioned 80 schilling. Cask conditioning allows a secondary fermentation to occur within the storage container. In this case it added an extra layer of smokiness that I usually don’t find in the normal Schlafly offering. AbV was in line at 4.7 to create a very enjoyable drink.

I also tried a small sample of the Pumpkin Ale from draft and found a pumpkin-pie flavor along with a very noticeable sweetness. This was pumpkin pie filling with a touch of whipped cream. The 8% alcohol was not apparent.

The food was also impressive. I had a pulled pork sandwich along with a side of the Beer Cheese soup. Michelle had a ham and egg sandwich. We could have easily split either entree between the two of us. The portions were generous and the food itself was well prepared and matched the beer.

Overall, I would give a to the Schlafly brewery experience. We did not have time to take the tour at the Bottleworks location, but if any readers have been on that tour, let us know in the comments. For anyone visiting the St. Louis area, I recommend a quick stop by the brewery to split a meal and try something from their large selection.

You can always follow me on Untappd to see what I am enjoying.

Alternate Whiskeys

I was recently lucky enough to attend a tasting of a few new types of whiskey at Party Source. One of the nice features of the Party Source tasting classes is that in addition to educational aspect, there is the opportunity to try something new and this was a great varied tasting:

Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey (70.95) – Dry fly is a Washington distillery that is using 100% wheat aged for 2 years in a new charred barrel. This has a nice baked bread nose with straw finishing with a hint of mint and sweet. A whiskey that is 100% wheat  is rare, and this long finishing whiskey is  a great example of what can be done slightly differently using local ingredients.

Maker’s Mark 46 (33.99) – The “second great idea” from Maker’s Mark has an addition of toasted French oak into the final aging process. This makes a spicier version of the traditional Maker’s Mark that gives it a flavor that is closer to a Rye whiskey using wood instead of the grain to give the new flavors. A nice way to show what effect different types of wood or aging can have on a whiskey.

Party Source Buffalo Trace “Wheat on Rye” (59.99) – A collaboration between Party Source and the Buffalo Trace experimental team taking a traditional bourbon and performing a secondary aging in a used Rye barrel. This adds a spicy flavor while not overpowering the traditional softness of the wheat bourbon. The base was a barrel similar to Old Weller before the Rye aging and it did a really nice job of connecting the two different flavors into a single whiskey.

Rick Wasmund’s Kegs o’ Bourbon (Not Available) – The first of two different types of smoked bourbons. Rick smoked the grain over a nice soft wood combination (apple, cherry). This adds another level of flavor and was brought straight from the barrel to the tasting. I think this one needs a little more time to settle down and presented slightly confused on the flavors. I’d recommend it for anyone who wants to try a sweeter, fruitier whiskey.

MB Rowland Black Dog Corn Whiskey (31.99) and MB Rowland Black Dog Bourbon (Not Available) – The Black Dog is made using a “dark fire” the corn in our miniature tobacco barn, giving the product a smoky, sweet flavor. The bourbon version is then aged in the charred oak. this produces a bourbon that has distinct characteristics that are usually found in scotch. I thought this was a really interesting change and has potential for a lot of really nice applications.

Four Roses Small Batch Barrel Strength (74.99) – This is the new product replacing the Marriage line. The Marriage was limited to a combination of two of the Four Roses recipes and this allows for more options in the creation of the yearly release. This one was a nice traditional bourbon that was a great end to the tasting. A combination of 3 different recipes aged between 10 and 15 years makes this a very nice spicy bourbon. I will miss the story behind the Marriage, but this is a worthy successor.

New Tasting Schedule at DEPs

In the world of tastings, DEP’s is going to switch to only having wine tastings on Fridays. The good news is the Fort Thomas store is going to have a weekly beer tasting on Saturdays. In order to try all wines of the week, plan to hit both stores on Friday.

I got a chance to talk with Corey on Saturday during the first tasting this past weekend. The cost for the selection of beers will be $2. This week featured recent closeout acquisitions on sale for 11.99 a case or $1-3 for a 22 oz bottle. Overall a solid first outing for the new beer tasting format.

Upcoming Wine tastings can be seen over on the DEP’s tasting page. Beer tastings will be announced weekly.

It’s Not Thanksgiving without the Turkey

Michelle got a press release recently that tickled her fancy. It espoused the features of Wild Turkey bourbon and had the tagline, “It’s just isn’t Thanksgiving without the Turkey.” This made her laugh so much that she agreed to have a sample of Wild Turkey 101 sent our way ahead of the holiday.

The overall flavor has slightly more alcohol than most bourbons which are usually reduced to 80 to 90 proof with the addition of water at the distillery. The extra kick on the finish is one of the most noticeable differences.

I tried this on the rocks to help lower the alcohol levels and bring forward some of the other bourbon characteristics. The flavor has a touch less sweetness than other bourbons with an orange peel flavor. The oak is present on the initial flavor with vanilla and adds caramel in the middle. With the ice about halfway melted into the glass, the finish switches to a nice rye note. Overall it is a nice straight forward bourbon that has an extra kick on the finish. I’d recommend this with a touch of water or ice. I’m not sure how this would perform in a mixed drink as the amounts would need to be adjusted to keep the flavors aligned.

According to the press release, Wild Turkey is the perfect alternative to bringing wine to your Turkey Day table. “Wild Turkey Bourbon’s high proof and robust flavor make it the perfect digestif, an excellent accompaniment to a full stomach and good conversation.  Your oenophile friends will enjoy the strong notes of vanilla, caramel and spice along with the cool, full-bodied finish.  Plus it pairs great with pie and ice cream.”

Over on BourbonBlog.com, they’ve come up with some fun recipes for Wild Turkey Thanksgiving-themed cocktails, including this one:

Pass the Turkey

1.5 oz Wild Turkey 101
2 oz apple cider
1 tbs cranberry jelly
1 sprig fresh sage
1 sprig fresh thyme

Since 2009, Wild Turkey Bourbon has been part of the Campari group of liquor beverages and is mostly distributed in the US, Australia and Japan. They can be found on their fan page on Facebook as well as Twitter.

Happy Turkey Day!

– Kevin