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.

Epcot: Beer!

This year we were far more impressed by the beer than by the wine. I think we tried every beer available at the various booths, particularly Germany’s biergarten and the special 15 Beers for 15 Years booth. At both booths, you could order beer flights, so trying every beer (in a much smaller pour)  probably isn’t as much of an accomplishment as it sounds. The video below is Kevin with two of the tasty selection, this time from the Sam Adams-focused booth in Epcot’s “USA”.

Epcot: Dessert & Champagne

My favorite booth at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival is the Dessert and Champagne booth. It always has Moet & Chandon bubbly and some interesting desserts. This year, they offered a dessert trio, meaning I didn’t have to choose between the pastries.

(Video embedded below.)

Epcot Tasting: Achaval Ferrer Winery

We kicked off our Epcot Food & Wine Festival adventures with a special wine tasting given by Achaval Ferrer Winery of Mendoza, Argentina.

Achaval Ferrer produces low-yield wines, consistently rated in the 90+ in both Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. They produce around 15,000 cases per year, 85% of which is exported (25% of that to the U.S.). The winery was launched 10 years ago by 5 friends and they purchased land near the Andes mountains with vines that average around 80 years old.

The winemaker takes an interesting tactic, spending more time with the wood in the barrels and in the field than worrying about the actual blends. In fact, the wine ferments in extremely warm temperatures in concrete vats for 5-6 days – other wineries take months, not days, before moving to the barrel.

We tried three wines at this tasting. Prices listed are what I call “Disney prices,” so in many cases you’ll want to drop $5-$10 from the cost of the bottle.

2009 Malbec Mendoza ($29.95):  The winery specializes in Malbec. This one has a lot of big fruit on the nose, as well as violets. There are also a lot of big fruits up front on the palette. I found this wine to be a little hot, and the presenters mentioned that while it is drinkable now, it is a little young. Lay it down for at least a year, I think, and some of that alcohol hotness will burn off (14.5% abv). My rating:

2008 Quimera ($54.95): This blend is named for the mythical beast Chimera, which is a blend of different animals. This wine includes 40% malbec, 22% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, 14% cabernet franc, and 4% petit verdot. Interestingly, the winemaker chose to blend this wine right after picking – no fermenting first. The petit verdot and the cabernet sauvignon lended a lot of structure to this wine, as well as a long finish. The middle of the palate though was all malbec. This wasn’t my kind of wine – the fruit was just too big and I still felt like it was a little too hot for me. But if you love the big fruit monsters, you’ll enjoy the Quimera. My rating:

2007 Finca Mirador ($142.95): The Finca Mirador is one of three separate single vineyard wines produced by Achaval Ferrer. Each one of these showcases malbec from a specific elevation, really emphasizing altitude, terroir, and soil. The Finca Mirador Malbec is grown at 2400 feet, and the other two single vineyard wines are grown at even higher elevations. This wine is pricey, but it tastes like it. I loved it. There was a lot of “dirt” in this wine, with dried cherries and dried fruits.  There was a lot of complexity and structure to this wine, reminding me of a really wonderful bordeaux. My rating:

Achaval Ferrer is imported by TGIC. The rep was pretty sure you can pick it up at either The Party Source or Cork n Bottle.

Portobello at Downtown Disney

We’re in Disney!

Ahead of the Disney Epcot Food and Wine festival, Michelle and I stopped for dinner at Portobello in Downtown Disney. The past few years, we’ve kicked off our trip with Irish pub Raglan Road, but we decided to switch things up a little.

Eating at the bar allows for a choice of 4 different speciality meatballs. The beef, pork, or chicken meatballs are 1.95 each add a dollar for the salmon. You can also get a selection of 3 for 5.00 (6.00 if you pick salmon). Each type of meat is paired with a single spice to drive the pairing: Chicken with Sage, Salmon with Tarragon. My favorites were the spicy pork and beef meatballs, while Michelle enjoyed the chicken.

I was also able to try two beers from Orlando Brewing which is an organic brewery located not surprisingly in Orlando. I started with the EPA (English Pale Ale) which had a fantasic amount of malt to help balance the hops. There was almost a caramel flavor at the end right before the bitterness came in. It was a nice and round flavored beer that went really well with the Spicy Pork and Beef meatballs. The sage and the hops didn’t match as well.

For dessert, I tried a bottle of the Blackwater Porter, also from Orlando Brewing. Nice rich coffe flavor and a deeper color than I expected in a porter. The flavor was nice and paired well with one of the signature desserts, the Beerimisu. Michelle ordered this in order to keep her streak of trying Tiramisu deserts as often as possible.

Instead of an expresso, they added the same porter that I tried in order to get the roasted coffee flavor. It was a great switch that had us wondering if we could switch our tiramisu recipe at home to use a stout or porter. Nice and creamy with the light hint of coffee that Michelle prefers.

A great time the first night at the Meatball bar at Portobello in Downtown Disney.