New Beer Friday, Limited Edition Edition (Oct 6)

Preamble by Steve Siciliano

Each year Winexpert releases five super-premium kits from the world’s great wine regions that are not part of the company’s regular portfolio.

These kits are available only on a pre-order basis and are released during the first four months of the year. Each kit yields six gallons of wine which translates into thirty 750-ml bottles.

We are now taking orders for this year's Limited Edition offerings. Please note that we must receive pre-orders by Sunday, December 3, 2017, either by phone (616-453-9674), email (steve@sicilianosmkt.com) or in person at Siciliano's.

The following are descriptions of the individual varieties along with the respective pricing and release dates.

Petit Ruby Cabernet: Available January 2018 ($159.95)

In the Lower Murray oasis of south Australia you will find the Riverland. Spanning across Victoria and New South Wales, and basking in the continental climate, bountiful vineyards ripen during the sunny dry days of the season, while the Murray River winds through this unofficial “super zone” providing much needed irrigation.

A true gem, Petit Ruby Cabernet is a blend of Petit Verdot and Ruby Cabernet. The Ruby  Cabernet takes the best qualities of its parents, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan, creating a structured, robust wine with soft tannins, while the Petit Verdot brings intriguing flavors of dark berries and vanilla. Elegant fruit flavors of currant, juicy plum and dark berries complemented by notes of spicy ground black pepper with hints of herb and vanilla, make this medium full bodied wine a delight to enjoy with grilled meats. Try it with succulent rib eye steak for a wonderful weekend treat, or barbecue burgers for an equally delicious pairing. Having an Italian night and want to switch up the wine? Petit Ruby Cabernet is delicious with classics like meat lover’s pizza and spaghetti Bolognese.

Chardonnay Chenin Blanc: Available January 2018 ($153.95)

Permeating the white wine world, Chardonnay is refreshing to layer with lesser known varietals like Chenin Blanc, South Africa’s signature white. Grapes from the Rawsonville region, a small picturesque wine growing and farming community on the eastern flanks of the Du Toitskloof Mountains in the Western Cape province, make up this blend. The Mediterranean climate brings cool rainy winters and warm dry summers to the vineyards creating a fruit driven white wine with a high but pleasant natural acidity.

The thin skinned grapes soak in rays of sunshine to ripen and are carefully picked at just the right time to leave a crisp and bright juice. Carrying distinct cultivar characteristics, tropical fruit aromas marry with baked apple citrus zest and juicy peach. On the palate, the buttery complexity of Chardonnay is complemented by Chenin blanc's tart acidity to make a beautifully balanced wine. Delicious to sip on its own or to enjoy with food, this is a crowd pleasing and unique addition to any cellar. Enjoy with a variety of seafood dishes like grilled shellfish or salmon fish cakes. If feeling decadent, try chicken poached in a butter sauce, as the wine’s bright acidity and fruity character will complement the richness of the sauce wonderfully.

New Zealand Merlot: Available February 2018 ($159.95)

Hawke’s Bay is the oldest wine producing region in New Zealand. The diverse volcanic earth varies between gravel, sand and clay offering an ideal environment for the vineyards flooding the hillsides and banks along the five rivers winding through the landscape. Hawke’s Bay’s beautiful climate offers lots of sunshine and pleasant conditions year round. The result is a region that produces some of the finest wines in the country and Merlot contributes to this well earned reputation.

This popular and enduring varietal produces a soft yet rich and fruity juice that is pleasing to the palate. The Merlot grapes thrive in a long growing season, with flavors concentrating as the fruit develops.

Ripe fruit with spice and soft tannins take precedence in this Merlot. The lingering finish brings dark oaky spice, as well as hints of mocha and licorice. Treat yourself and enjoy with slow cooked beef and lamb dishes or a gorgeous Ossobuco. Roasted, slightly caramelized tomatoes on crostini drizzled with balsamic reduction is a simple starter that is impeccable with this wine. Looking for a cheese to pair? Try Gouda or smoked cheddar.

Spanish Milagro Blanco: Available March 2018 ($153.95)

Muscat, Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc are wonderful on their own but sing when blended together.
Muscat is fruity and crisp, Verdejo has mineral and citrus notes, and Sauvignon Blanc is herbaceous with pleasing acidity. When married, their unique elements create an off dry, soft, refreshing, fruit forward wine with a bright bouquet and a complex finish. Milagro Blanco carries notes of passion fruit and white flower on the nose, and is supported by juicy melon, peach, fresh lime and grass with a hint of honey on the palate.

La Mancha is steeped in history and is believed to have been producing wine since the Roman empire. A challenging place to grow grapes, the region is found in hot and dry central Spain, south east of Madrid where the rivers provide much needed water. Hard working vines planted in water  absorbing limestone and chalk sub soil produce grapes that boast concentrated flavors that burst on the palate. The fruity and floral character of this white wine pairs exquisitely with moderately spiced Szechuan, Thai and Vietnamese dishes. Lighter meats like chicken and white fish with green salad dressed in light vinaigrette are natural matches for a fresh, tantalizing meal.

Italian Negroamaro with Grape Skins: Available April 2018 ($184.95)

Bellissimo Italia...delightful wine, delicious food and stunning sun soaked landscapes. Apulia (or Puglia in native Italian) exemplifies all of these things and more. Explore Apulia, the heel of Italy’s boot and follow one of the longest coastlines of any wine region in the country. The Mediterranean Sea graces the region’s vineyards with cooling winds maintaining ideal temperatures for growing. Sunny, warm and dry with some of the most fertile soil in Italy, the area offers the perfect environment for ripening grapes as well as olive trees and wheat fields that coexist with vineyards in this agricultural centre.

Negroamaro is richly jewel hued, full bodied and a classic varietal in Apulia. Mild hints of wood and spice on the nose play with fruity notes for a complex aroma. On the palate, ripe berry is complemented by ground baking spice and silky tannins with a long finish. Negroamaro is hearty, versatile and evokes feelings of the beauty of its home. This wine couples well with many cuisines, but Italian, of course, is a flawless pairing. Choose an antipasto with spicy elements like salami or pepper marinated vegetables like eggplant. A simple but delicious peperonata can be enjoyed with crusty bread or as a side to roasted and grilled meat.

New and Returning Beer

• Brewery Vivant Lost Minds, $3.49/16oz - "Dry hopped with Citra and Amarillo, we kettle-sour this IPA to tease out different flavors from the hops and lend a refreshingly complex tart finish. A tart IPA? Have you lost your mind??" (source).
• Dark Horse Five High Harvest, $2.69/12oz - "A fragrant blend of super fresh Cascade, Chinook, and Challenger hops are brought to us from High Five Hop Farm just ten minutes down the road here in Marshall, Michigan. We take freshness seriously when it comes to our Harvest Ale and do our part by hand selecting the perfect blend of wet hops right down the street. Please do your part by enjoying this beer while it’s fresh" (source).
• Founders Breakfast Stout, $2.69/12oz - "The coffee lover’s consummate beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and two types of coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever" (source).
• Grand Armory Cloudy with a Chance of Hops, $2.49/12oz - "Cloudy With a Chance of Hops is a New England style IPA. We use oats and wheat to give a balanced body to this double IPA. Amarillo, Falconer's Flight, Centennial and Citra come together to produce a juicy, fruity hop aroma and flavor that is low on bitterness, and big on flavor" (source).
• North Pier Buckrider, $2.69/16oz - "This hop-forward Belgian/American hybrid is a burnt orange brew with high bitterness. American hops give off huge peach aromas and are backed by the fruity, apricot character of the Belgian yeast. This devilish blend is named after the Buckriders of Northern Belgium, a gang of ghosts that soar through the sky on the backs of flying goats" (source).
• North Pier Conjurer, $2.69/16oz - "Named after Belgium’s Morgana the Conjurer, the Belgian Golden Strong has a bright golden hue, light body, and low bitterness. Like our mischievous fairy, this beer will deceive your pallet and mask its strength" (source).
• North Pier Happy Guy, $2.69/16oz - "Happy Guy is a light bodied, crisp, golden pilsner that is dry hopped with Michigan hops to create a bright lemon-citrus aroma. Happy Guy is low in bitterness, refreshing, and extremely crushable" (source).
• Pilsner Urquell Lunchbox, $12.59/Lunchbox - "This edition of the classic beer is featured in an old school lunch box with 4 different classic looking cans" (source).
• Stone Enjoy by 10/31, $2.99/12oz, $8.99/22oz - "While freshness is a key component of many beers—especially big, citrusy, floral IPAs—we’ve taken it further, a lot further, in this line of devastatingly fresh IPAs. You see, not only did we brew this beer with over 10 different hops, we’ve also gone to extensive lengths to ensure that you’re getting this double IPA in your hands within an extraordinarily short window. That’s why the Enjoy By date isn’t randomly etched in tiny text somewhere on the bottle, to be overlooked by all but the most attentive. Instead, we’ve sent a clear message in the name of the beer itself—further proving that there is no better time than right NOW to enjoy this IPA" (source).
• Arcadia Morning Nightcap, $2.49/12oz - "The beer lover’s consummate coffee beer; brewed with oat malt, which lends a powerfully silky body, and a hint of nuttiness. Brewed with Papa New Guinea coffee from our neighbors at Kalamazoo Coffee Company, there are rich notes of dark chocolate, dark fruit and tons of refreshingly intense coffee flavor. Suggested apparel pairing is your choice of smoking jacket, or bathrobe and favorite slippers the next morning. When the day drags on and the night’s too long , pick up a Nightcap" (source).
• Elysian Dayglow, $1.99/12oz - "It drips with tropical, sunshiny Mosaic, and twinkles with touches of Eldorado and Centennial. A touch of wheat hazes the malt bill a bit around the edges and the IBUs are stuck in the mid-sixties" (source).
• UV Fresh Hop Kambucha Beer, $4.29/12oz - No commercial description.
• Boulevard Cranberry Radler, $1.69/12oz - "When Ginger Lemon Radler made its debut in the summer of 2014, it became immediately clear that we were on to something. Originally released as a Tasting Room beer in our Sample Twelve pack and on draft as a summer seasonal, Ginger Lemon Radler caught fire and became the summer beer of choice for #TeamRadler. In 2015, with the debut of our canned offerings, Ginger Lemon Radler was available on draft and in its own six-pack from April to August with that season expanding to be March through September for 2016. As fall approached, we found ourselves echoing the sentiment we were hearing from our fans, “We need more Radler!” To this end, our innovation team has been hard at work creating a Radler more suited to take over at the end of Ginger Lemon Radler season" (source).
• Lagunitas Nighttime, $4.79/22oz - "Kinda like Daytime's big, dark and scary sidekick, this ale is packed full of highly roasted malts then bitterly balanced with fistfuls of the dankest hops. Not for the lunch crowd or the faint of heart" (source).
• Lagunitas Brown Shugga, $1.99/12oz - "We believe this Special Ale is Something Unique. Feeding Brown Cane Sugar to otherwise Cultured Brewery Yeast is a'kin to feeding Raw Shark to your Gerbil. It is unlikely to ever occur in nature without Human Intervention. And it looks weird besides. But it has happened and now it's too Late" (source).
• Tallgrass Vanilla Buffalo Sweat, $1.69/12oz - "Years ago we started our cask beer program to experiment with new flavors. Our very first cask creation was Buffalo Sweat oatmeal cream stout infused with whole vanilla beans. It was so well-received at its debut at a firkin festival that it quickly evolved into our winter seasonal. This variety adds the silky sweetness of vanilla to the original Buffalo Sweat, creating a rich and creamy, medium-bodied well-balanced beer" (source).
• Tallgrass Strawberry Shortcake, $1.69/12oz - "With our second reach into The Goodie Bag, we find Strawberry Shortcake. A Wheat Ale with a beautiful aromatic strawberry flavor and a cake-like vanilla richness for a delicious experience with one of America’s favorite dessert treats" (source).
• Incline Explorer, $2.19/12oz - "On the drier end of the scale while remaining very smooth and well balanced. The Explorer Hopped Cider is produced from our blend of Yakima apples. A hearty dose of hops is added in to create a extremely balanced, complex, and refreshing cider. NO added sugar, no concentrates, nothing funky" (source).
• Incline Scout, $2.19/12oz - "On the dry end of the scale while still very balanced and smooth" (source).
• Incline Compass Rosé Hibiscus Cider, $2.19/12oz - "Slightly dry while balanced and refreshing" (source).
• Ballast Point Fathom IPA, $1.69/12oz - "Fathom IPA highlights our favorite characteristics of the west-coast IPA style. This crisp and clean brew features a touch of malt on the surface with an ocean of zesty orange and piney hops below. The result is a refreshing, easy drinking IPA with just the right amount of depth" (source).

Video of the Week | Shaded Pony Woodworks

The always-creative Darkhorse people put old barrels to good use.

Cheers!