Last Saturday a local home brewing and beer tasting group, the Fredericksburg Area Brewing and Tasting Society took part in an attempt to break the record for the world’s largest toast. The event was sponsored by the Campaign for Real Ale, a group based in the UK. I was a witness along with an employee as Guiness requires two witnesses to validate. It will take some time to figure out if the record was actually broken, we’ll let you know. If so this will be the first world record broken at a kybecca location. Click here to read the story in the Free Lance Star.

If anybody else needs a venue to break a world record our function room at our Plank Road store is available for hire.

a foggy stroll…

April was our 4th installment of Big Beers. I think we finally finished all the Strong beers. We also had a special toast at 2pm to coincide with the CAMRA Cask Ale Week. A reporter and photographer were there from the Free Lance Star to document th…

We got a few new things in this week. First, not a new beer but new to Virginia is Stone Levitation Ale. This is one of their standard beers along with the Pale Ale and IPA, but for some reason hadn’t made its way to Virginia until now. It’s an Amber Ale, not super-hopped like many of their beers are. It’s meant to be more easy drinking. I thought it was quite good, the flavor is dominated by fruity malts.

Next is the third incarnation of this once-per-year release from Dogfish Head, the Black and Blue. This is a Belgian-style Ale brewed with blackberry and blueberry puree. Unlike other fruit beers in which the fruit juice is added after fermentation, this beer is fermented with the puree. That means it’s not as sweet as fruit beers usually are and the fruit flavors mesh with the other flavors better. This is one of my personal favorites from Dogfish Head.

I also have two new beers at the Plank Road store (next to Ukrops) only. Why are they only there? These beers are so difficult to obtain and the quantity was so limited I was only offered one case and forced to choose which store it would go to. Sorry downtowners, you’re going to have to come see me to find out about it. One of them is a returning beer from Dogfish Head that if you’re a fan of the brewery you’ve probably been looking for to no avail. The second you’ll just have to ask me about, but it’s made by a well known American brewery and you’ve almost certainly never had it before. I promise nobody else in the area has these. Okay, Capital Ale House probably does, but no other retail spots do.

Passed Chengdu’s Wangjiang Tower Bamboo Garden during my morning bike ride, stopped in to wander around.

Spring is in the air… the end of lent approaches and preparations for the holiday Easter table begin. What wines to pair with Easter fare? Let kybecca help!

On the table – Roasted ham with honey or fruit glaze.
Perfect pairing – J. Fritsch Riesling 2006. Lovely white flowers and citrus fruit flavors tantalize the nose while the palate boasts fresh peach and apricot, along with creamy key-lime. This is a long-standing, traditional pairing because it works in perfect harmony – the fresh, ripe stone fruits and balancing acidity bring out the best in this traditional Easter dish.

On the table – Roast leg of spring lamb
Perfect pairing – Puzelat Touraine Pinot Noir. Lusty red raspberries, bing cherries and thyme give this wine classic pinot noir appeal. The freshly crushed berries and herbs, along with the perfect zip of acidity really make this dish sing.

On the table – Carrots, spring peas and asparagus
Perfect pairing – Waldschutz Kamptal Aturo Gruner Veltliner. Crisp citrus, tart golden apples and brisk minerality give these veggies delicious finesse!

On the table – Chocolate bunnies
Perfect pairing – Leo Sundowner Eiswein Rosé 2007. This is a rare gem, made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. The intense, concentrated fruits make a luscious, mouthwatering splash on the palate. Strawberry syrup and candied raspberry compliment this Easter confection to perfection!

On the table – Marshmallow Peeps
Perfect pairing – Torbreck “The Bothie” Muscat Blanc 2007. A lovely nosegay of rose water, honeydew melon and lime with pure honeyed sweetness and balanced tartness play off the subtle flavor of the marshmallow.

The view from my brother’s apartment in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. I’m slowly getting in the swing of things…finally met my wonderful sister-in-law and enjoying being out and about.

I watched the movie Bottle Shock on DVD the other day. If you’re not familiar, this is the movie that’s meant to be about the Judgment of Paris wine competition of 1976, where the California producers beat the French producers in a blind tasting, putting California wine on the international map from that point on. In fact, the movie is more about Chateau Montelena, who won in the white wine category (Stag’s Leap, who won the more important red wine category, barely gets a mention). The movie portrays Napa Valley at that time as a hardscrabble kind of place where simple farmers made wine, and the place had a small town feel to it where everybody knew each other. Let me assure you it’s not like that today, but never mind. Basically the story goes that Chateau Montelena was about to go under financially, attempting to sell their Chardonnay for $6.00 a bottle until an Englishman named Steven Spurrier came along and organized the Judgement of Paris. Montelena wins, everybody wants their wine after that, Napa Valley becomes one of the most highly regarded wine regions in the world, and so on.

My impression is that this movie took a lot of dramatic license with the real events, but I guess that’s what Hollywood does. The script is just okay, inserting the obligatory love story that goes nowhere and has nothing to do with the plot. The highlight is Alan Rickman, who plays Steven Spurrier. His acting outshines everybody else. The French characters, where they have any dialogue at all, are portrayed as snobs. Overall I’d give it a B-, probably worth watching if you’re interested in the story.

And now an aside on the contest itself. The contest was not the blowout for California wines that many people think it was. For starters, any tasting like this is highly subjective, and the scoring method used was statistically insignificant. Also, take a look at the Wikipedia entry for this event, which shows individual scores of each judge. The winner, Stag’s Leap, was the number 1 pick for only one judge. You could make a good argument, a really good argument, that Chateau Montrose should have won. There were also 6 California wines versus 4 French wines, which I don’t understand. But then again everybody expected the French wines to completely crush the California wines, so that they did this well is pretty remarkable. It also made French winemakers realize they needed to step up their game if they wanted to maintain their reputation, which resulted in higher quality Bordeaux in the years after.

I thought we had a good meeting last night with about 14 in attendance (not counting the speakers). Of course with our City Council representative in attendance, much of the focus was on the current budget deliberations and how the City was going to ad…

I never thought I would be saying this, but the ABC laws in Virginia are looking pretty progressive these days. The New York Times has been following the discussion over New York State’s proposal to allow grocery stores to sell wine as a way to raise tax revenues.

“YOU can do it in 35 states — you can pretty much do it anywhere in the wine-producing world — but you cannot do it in New York. Do what? Stop at the grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread, some cheese and a bottle of wine.

Since Prohibition ended more than 75 years ago it has been illegal to retail wine in New York at any place other than a licensed liquor store or a winery. This strikes many people outside of New York, who can buy wine at outlets from Whole Foods Markets to gas stations, as curious if not downright quaint.”

It’s complicated up there, because wine shops are not allowed to sell beer or food (what?!?!), and Governor Paterson’s proposed changes at present do not include leveling the playing field for wine shops. So his plan is not so good, and should at the very least be altered to allow New Yorkers the great feeling of walking out of a wine shop with a lovely cheese and a splendid bottle.

And, of course, simply allowing grocers to sell wine does not magically bestow upon them the priceless benefits found in great wine shops — hands on personal service, knowledgeable staff, carefully selected inventory (vs. grocery stores’ devotion to mass market brands). But you already knew all this, you’re reading the kybecca blog!