The Time is Now: Celebrate the Season with Your Favorite Winter Brew

By: Cresta

Although the temperature in Cincinnati has been all over the place, the first official day of winter is Thursday. If you haven’t already been partaking in seasonal brews, the time is now.

Fox News published a Best Holiday Brews article this week and it reminded me that these seasonal selections won’t be around forever. Although I don’t usually drink darker, heavier beers, they are great for warming you up on cold winter nights.

I have had – and do like – the top beer on this list: Great Lakes Brewing Co. Christmas Ale, a holiday beer brewed with honey and spiced with ginger and cinnamon. It’s medium-bodied, not too heavy, and a repeat World Beer Championship Gold Medal winner. My sister-in-law was nice enough to share her stash over Thanksgiving (Thanks, Laurie).

Not on this list, but a popular choice - Sierra Nevada Celebration. While Celebration tastes good for a change, I can’t drink many as it’s a very robust, rich ale. But it’s great for bringing along to your holiday parties and for toasting friends and family.  

Do you have a favorite winter beer? Leave a comment here and let me know what you like and what I should try before they all disappear.

Staying Safe This Holiday Season

by Michelle

With all the  holiday parties and excessive drinking to make it easier to hang out with relatives, I just wanted to post a reminder to stay safe.

I’m currently in San Francisco, where it’s fairly easy to find public transportation or catch a cab (or an Uber car). But there are cabs in Cincinnati too.

If you’ve got a smartphone, be it an Android, Blackberry, or iPhone (or anything else), there is most likely a taxi app for your phone. No kidding. Go to the iTunes store and search for “taxi.” It’s ridiculous the number of apps that are available.  I prefer to use Taxi Magic out here in San Francisco, and in Cincinnati, I always preferred Cab4Me.

The various taxi apps use your GPS or cell signal to figure out where you are, and then shows you a list of local cab companies. If you’re traveling, this is a godsend. After all, you might find yourself standing on a street corner  in a strange city, wondering where in the world all the cabs have gone. If that happens, it’s handy to have an app that will tell you not only what the nearest cab companies are, but where the nearest taxi stand is located.

According to the Cab4Me web site:

If a cab company is found in our database, you can get additional information like available car types or payment methods. If we do not have a cab company for your area, a local web search is performed. You will always get a result. In the Favorites tab you can quickly access your favorite companies and the recent tab shows companies you recently called.

Isn’t that great? You’ll even be able to request a minivan so that you and all of your slightly tipsy friends can pile into the same cab.

On New Year’s Eve, you can also generally call Care Cab, a joint venture between AAA and MADD.

Regardless of how you find a cab, just make sure you find one. It’s okay to enjoy yourself, and enjoy yourself a lot – just be safe about it.

After the jump, you’ll find a list of some cab companies in Cincinnati, in case you want to add some to your Contacts.  Read the rest of this entry »

Muahaha…How Fun are These!

By: Cresta

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love decking out the house with everything from pumpkins, gourds and mums to the creepy, scary stuff. I also take every opportunity to make treats like pumpkin cookies and the peanut/candy corn mixture.

While food and drink shopping for an upcoming party, I found several bottles of wine that I thought would be perfect for the occasion. This is just a preview. I plan to have at least a taste of each of these during the party this weekend so I’ll let you know if they taste as good (and festive) as they look. I found all of  these at Cork ‘N Bottle.

Spellbound 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon: A California wine that touts the taste of bold fruit with a hint of oak and spice. I love the moon on the label.  Cost: around $15.

Toad Hollow 2010 Mendocino County Chardonnay: An Unoaked Chardonnay and Toad Hollow’s top-selling wine. Toad Hollow is known for quality wines that are affordable. All of the Toad Hollow wines have whimsical labels similar to this one, and all are designed by their in-house artist.  Cost: around $13.

Casillero del Diablo Pinot Noir 2009: Translation: Cellar of the Devil. This is one of the brands produced by Concha y Toro, the largest wine producer in Chile. I can’t wait to try this wine, which boasts hints of chocolate and coffee.  Cost: around $10.

Elk Creek Vineyards makes Halloween wines as well – Ghostly White Chardonnay and Bone Dry Red, a Cabernet Sauvignon. Both the Florence and Crestview Hills Tasting Rooms were sold out when I called last week but they might have some in by now.

Note from the Editor: Elk Creek Vineyards, and specifically their Halloween wines, were a marketing client of my Write Technology business in Fall 2009. I have not worked for them since Spring 2010 and Cresta had no idea. However, I believe in full transparency. 
Cheers, Michelle

The Whiskey Pop for Father’s Day

As usual, I got some press releases espousing various drinks or cocktails for Father’s Day. But this one caught my eye. Okay, my Dad wouldn’t like it (he’s a rum & coke kinda guy), but I think I would. And I know a few dads who might enjoy this too.

I know … it’s using a sparkling pinot grigio. Before you get all snobby and roll your eyes, just remember that we’re adding all sorts of things to it – the sparkler is just a top off.

So, compliments of a press release from VOGA Sparkling Pinot Grigio, here’s a cocktail for Dad. Happy Father’s Day.

Whiskey Pop

- 1 cube of sugar

- 4 dashes of angostura aromatic bitters

- 1/2 shot of bourbon whisky

- Top up with VOGA Premium Sparkling Pinot Grigio

Coat the sugar cube with bitters and drop in to the glass. Pour bourbon whisky into chilled glass and top with VOGA Premium Sparkling Pinot Grigio

What are you doing New Year’s Eve?

So tonite is New Year’s Eve, ushering out the old year and decade and welcoming in the new. Tonite, we’re just having a low-key evening including dinner out with friends and maybe back to their place. At the moment, I’m just leaning towards Dick Clark / Ryan Seacrest and some tea at midnight. It’s been a crazy busy year, full of travel and change. I’m hoping if I usher in the new year calmly, then 2010 might reflect some of that calm.

What are you doing? There are a lot of options, and I’ll point you in the right direction to find lists of parties. Don’t forget, the new Mynt Martini is now open on Fountain Square. I expect the place to give Tonic a run for its money, although I’ll take vintage cocktails over creative martinis any day. Amazing location though! If anyone goes, I’d love for you to write me up a review!

On to festivities:

• MetroMix has compiled a pretty good listing of the larger New Year’s Eve celebrations.
• ZipScene is listing over 130 New Year’s events. You have no excuse for not finding something to do. Bootsy’s and Red are included on that list.
• The Wise Owl Wine Bar in West Chester (sorry, no web site yet) has a fairly low-key New Year’s Eve event. You can RSVP online or call them at 513.889.2500.
• CityBeat has everything listed, from parties, to hosting your own dinner party, to a worst-case scenario survival guide.

And in case you overindulge – hey, it happens! – you can count on a free taxi ride home. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is sponsoring free taxi rides home as long as you’re within the 275 loop. The number to call (write this down) is 513-768-FREE.

Image by Flickr User Waldo Jaquith
via Creative Commons