Mitch's Musings

Hope you all had a wonderful week! Here are a few snapshots by Mitch of the past few days.

1 - I readily admit my wife, Deb, is a far better chef than I. I'm more of a clean up kind of guy anyway. I do, however, have a few signature recipes. One of which is grilled pizza. Yes, grilled pizza! My sister taught me this trick/recipe a few years back and I've been perfecting it ever since. It's easier than you think. You can make your own pizza dough or go to your favorite local pizza shop and buy a couple of hunks of their dough. I've used "supermarket" dough and it works just as well. Okay, let's get to it! To stretch the dough, I use a rectangular cutting board. I don't roll the dough, I also don't add flour. I prefer the dough to be a little sticky. This helps the dough hold the shape of the cutting board. After the dough it stretched, cover the top side with a thin coat of olive oil. Now it's time to start the grill. To avoid burning your pie and sending it to pizza heaven, I suggest using the lowest setting. When the grill gets to the 350 degree mark, put the dough oil side down on the grill. This might take a bit of practice. I promise you'll get it by pizza number 4 or 5. Close the grill and let the pizza "cook" for 5-8 minutes. Err on the side of caution and check it at the 5 minute mark. The pizza should move freely on the grill thanks to the olive oil. Once the bottom (which will be the top) gets to your desired "crispiness", flip the pizza. The dough is usually cooked through enough so it won't stick to the grill. Now it's time to add your toppings (more on that below). Close the lid and wait until the toppings are heated through. That's it... easy-peazy-lemmon-squeazy.

1.5 - I love trying to create a pizza that will pair with a specific wines. The pizza pictured above had one section that was just plain "cheese" for my 10year old, but it could have easily been a whole half made with separate toppings for a second wine. On the other half of the pie I used a mix of sauteed mushrooms, sauteed spinach and Asiago cheese. The target wine was Joseph Swan's "Cuvee de Trois" 2011 Pinot Noir.  My idea was to take the earthiness  of the mushrooms and match it with the earthiness of the wine. The dark red fruit flavors of the Pinot would counter balance the sharp/rich flavors of the cheese. All in all, it was a pretty good pairing. Give pizza grilling a go and let me know what your favorite pizza pairing turns out to be.

2 - From time to time we get the opportunity to compare and contrast two wines that are almost identical but taste noticeably different. In this instance, we had the pleasure of comparing two white Burgundies from on of our favorite producer, Simon Bize. We tried his 2012 Les Perrieres Blanc next to his 2012 Les Champlains Blanc. These wines come from the same area (Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France), are made from the same single varietal (Chardonnay), vintage (2012) and producer (Simon Bize). The big  difference between the two is their specific vineyard sites.  Although they are separated by less than one kilometer, their aspects and soils are vastly different. This helps create two distinctly different wines.

Here are Codey's tasting notes:

"These vineyards sit on the edge of Savigny-les Beaune and although the sites are not classified as Premier Cru, the juice is almost always on par with Premier Cru White Burgundy. The 'Les Champlains' is the more elegant and feminine of the two, even though it is showing a little bit more French oak than 'Les Perrieres'.  A stunning profile of tight, flinty minerality that is hard to resist, wonderfully balanced. The "Les Perrieres" bottling certainly reaches well into the realm of Permier Cru quality. This wine is quite powerful, manifesting a masterful balance of fruit, oak, and that textbook, smoky Beaune minerality. This wine is remarkably structured and will no doubt perform well in the cellar even if it is just technically 'Bourgogne' level."

3 - Birth year wines.... my father was kind enough to buy (and save) a smattering of wines from 1966, my birth year.  When my two girls were born I stashed a few mixed cases of wine from their birth years (2004 and 2008) for later enjoyment. I still have a few bottle of '66 in my cellar and every once in a while I pull a cork. Most of the time the wine is well past it's prime, but I've found each one enjoyable nonetheless. Perhaps it's the over romantic thought of the grapes ripening at the same time that I was growing that somehow tricks my palate into enjoying the wine a little bit more.  It could also be the thought that my Dad went out of his way to collect and, more importantly, save the wines for me that makes each sip special. Either way, I'm glad he did it. And I'm hopeful that my daughters will be equally appreciative when they enjoy their birth year wines. Looking for birth-year wines? Let me know the years and I'll try to track down the best wines from that special time.

4 - Last week we announced our in-store tasting event that will feature beers made by Jack's Abby. This week we're happy to invite you all to an in-store tasting featuring beers made by Connecticut's own Overshores Brewing Company. Overshores is located in East Haven and specializes in Belgian style beers. The beer in the picture above is their flagship Triple Brun which I enjoyed the other day. This beer has a traditional focus towards rich malty flavors (toffee, caramel), the mouthfeel is lively enough to keep it from being cloying and flabby, the alcohol is 9% but well hidden... all in all, a very enjoyable! Click HERE to sign up for the Overshores tasting.

5 - Unicorn beer sighting! Had the pleasure of enjoying a glass of Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA (98 points Beer Advocate) the other night at the Little Pub. Sculpin is on my list of top 10 favorite beers but, unfortunately, it's in short supply. If you're a Beer Fanatic you should feel extremely blessed to be living during these extremely beer friendly times. I've been in this industry longer than I care to admit and watched as the mass-produced corporate beer's market share was chipped away by the first wave of "micro-beers". Now the "craft beer" movement in full boom there is no shortage of world class beers to be enjoyed. Browse our ever changing list of new brews HERE. Or better yet, swing by one of the stores and we'll personally guide you though our new discoveries. Who knows, you might walk away with a Unicorn of your very own.

6- My cousin found these old beer boxes while he was cleaning out the space next door. My family had a tradition of storing really important stuff in beer boxes. I can remember watching my Dad stock the beer cooler with 6-packs from these boxes... I told you I've been in this industry for a while!