Old Thumper in the USA

My apologies.

I know it's been a long time since I blogged on 'Truffles', but there have been other calls on my time. I also know that The Hogget has an updated wine list, the result of much arduous work Vicki, Tom and I put in at the annual Bibendum wine tasting earlier in the year! But that will have to wait for another post, because however much I love wine, my first love (in the alcoholic beverage sense of course) was beer, and it's beer we'll be concentrating on today.

I miss 'The Hogget', I miss especially those laconic, halcyon spring and autumn lunchtimes drinking a pint or two of Ringwood Best with the regulars. Now owned by Marstons Brewery, Ringwood was founded in 1978 by the pioneering Peter Austin, widely regarded as a founding father of the British micro-brewing industry, and inventor of the Brick Kettle brew system featuring traditional open-top fermentation (with patented Ringwood yeast). But what I hadn't appreciated, up until Monday night that is, was that at least one of Ringwood's ales is brewed and sold in the US!

So, what's this about Monday night I hear you asking.

Lynda and I had driven across the San Mateo bridge to meet a colleague of hers at his hotel in Redwood City, home to the mighty Oracle Corporation on Redwood Shores. Lynda had done some research on Zagat, and we hit upon the 'Old Port Lobster Shack' for dinner. Outside, the Shack looks like any other US small town retail outlet, but inside, well, you could believe you were in any small seaside town beach cafe. We ordered chowder, lobster and blackened salmon and a bottle of Viognier (from the Clautiere winery in Paso Robles), and settled down to eat, drink and discuss matters of import. It was while discussing Cisco's use of the Oracle Project system, who has the most conference calls, and the daring 'shag, marry, jump of a cliff' game, that I espied an outsize version of an Old Thumper pump clip on the wall. I went over to the waitress who kindly poured me a sample. It's a keg beer, and came with a nice, tight, northern head, and slipped down in a creamy, malty, smokey gulp. Ahhhh! Some research on t'Interweb thingy led me to Alan Pugsley who, having worked at Ringwood in the early days, and being mentored by Peter Austin, crossed the Atlantic and eventually set up his own Shipyard Brewery in Portland, Maine, where he brews Old Thumper under license, and yes, using the aforementioned Brick Kettle brew system. He brews other beers of course, but Old Thumper is a the one closest to a British, or perhaps I should say, Scottish beer, and is available across the Northern American continent. Hooray I say!

I also say 'Hooray' for another Scottish beer, although this is brewed for the American market, but brewed, I believe, in its home town of Dunbar. I speak of course, of Belhaven and in particular Belhaven Scottish Ale.

You see, my local, The Hopyard in Pleasanton, has been serving Belhaven Scottish Ale since at least 1997, and I must say, a most beautiful glass it is. Exhibiting the same creamy, smoky and malty taste as Old Thumper. But, and here's the best, it's only 2 miles from our apartment! For the more curious readers, here are the tasting notes from the Beer Me! website when Belhaven Scottish Ale made its first appearance in Pleasanton.

Date: September 4, 1997 (#2168)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 20 points

Overall Impression
Copper-brown, clear, nice head. Smoky-earthy aroma. Smooth, sweet, lots of smoke. Finishes sweet and smoky. The prototypical Scottish Ale.

So although keg does reign supreme in the US, you can avail yourselves of most types of beer and ale in the American colonies, and only the most fussy and inward-looking of individuals will turn their nose up at the choice.

Until next time, Cheers!

Is Coke worse for you than alcohol?

This article from The Telegraph is interesting from several viewpoints:

1) We all know that alcohol can cause damage to liver, but fizzy drinks?

We found people who drink more than two cans of Coke a day have increased their chances for a fatty liver, and if left untreated their chances for heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver also increase...

The testers were in Israel, and Coke was the fizzy drink they tested.

2) Fructose does the damage.

The ingredient in fizzy drinks causing the damage is fructose, which is highly absorbable in the liver. It does not affect insulin production and goes straight to the liver where it is converted to fat.

That's probably true, but in the UK, Coke is made with sucrose not fructode, in fact about 6 spoonfuls of sugar goe into every can, so is Coke harmful to the liver in the UK? Probably not as much as in the US or Israel.

3) An curiously, in the US, Coca Cola make a special blend of Coke for the Jewish folk at Passover, and guess what? Yep, no fructose, they use sugar instead.

It really pays to check your facts these days, seems you can't trust anybody. Thank God for the web thingy.

Bye for now!

Pete, tasting wine in California so you don't have to.

Are English wines good enough?

I wouldn't get too excited yet, but experts are saying that due to global warming, by the end of the century, the Sussex Downs could enjoy the same climate as the Medoc in Bordeaux. This is causing increased enthusiasm among English winemakers in Sussex, who are now planting grapes that make up champagne (chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier) just 80 miles north of the Champagne region, on similar chalk soils.

Now, England's 416 winegrowers produce just three million bottles, compared to France's eight billion, so there's a long way to go. But according to winemaker Stephen Skelton MW the industry is expanding fast, with a 50 per cent increase in plantings over the last 20 years.

So, if we do grow many more grapes, will people buy the wines? In this year's two biggest wine competitions, the International Wine Challenge and Decanter Wine Awards, English wines scooped 24 medals – and two top prizes went to Cornish and Kent bubbles.

The award-winning Cornish bubbles comes from Camel Valley near Bodmin moor – from a vineyard set up by ex-RAF-pilot Bob Lindo in 1989. His winemaking son Sam Lindo is wowing critics.

So what do English wines taste like? Well, they're vividly acidic and aromatic with crunchy apple, grapefruit, elderflower cordial flavours and a distinct hedgerow herbaceousness.

Alongside fizz, aromatic whites show most potential – particularly Martin Fowke's wines from Three Choirs in Gloucestershire. Rosés are improving, but reds are limited. One of the biggest snags is the price, and just in case you're asking, that's the biggest reason that we at 'The Hogget' can't get hold of the wines from our suppliers. Do remember our 2 house fizzes though, at £15.30 a bottle you can't get better!

Cheers!
Pete in sunny California.

Alabama gets all sticky about a bike

We all know that prudes abound, and none more so than in local councils and government, in fact anywhere that 'the righteous' hold sway. In the USA, one story has caught the imagination of bloggers and main stream media alike. It's the story of a century-old logo for a French bicycle company (well, we all know about those bohemian Frenchies don't we?).

I'll let Jordan Mackay take up the story:

There's been much kerfuffle over a wine label. Evidently the Alabama state Beverage Control Board has banned the wine label of Cycles Gladiator, a bargain Cabernet Sauvignon from Monterey County. The label, named for an 1881 bicycle company, uses a belle-epoque-style advertising print that shows a nude nymph soaring along with a bike. This was evidently too hot for Alabamans, their government decided, so the label got the heave-ho. The wine is available in California in all its voluptuous glory for only $10. And, I'll have you know, it's quite a good wine for the money. And I'm sure all the sales in Alabama were not worth as much as the free publicity its getting from this story.

Of course, California winemakers would not be surprised at this feat of censorship. Talk to enough of them and you'll hear plenty of stories of the rigors of our own state's label approval board. And its not all just about nudity. In a famous case, Ralph Steadman's drawing of a wine-spattered clergyman for Bonny Doon's Cardinal Zin was banned in Ohio. Likewise, a nipple-depicting bottle of Australian Semillon was banned in 2001. And, famously, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the most important producers in france, changed a label with a Balthus nude on it because of protests from Napa prudes. Mouton released the wine in the US, but with a conspicuously blank label.

Now, we should know better than to be shocked about Alabama's state legislature. After all, it was just 2 months ago that it approved beer over 6% alcohol. Prior to that, it was impossible to get good Belgian beer and, well, many American craft brews. What's really shocking, though, is that the wines of Domaine Gangloff in France make it into this country at all. All the labels featured stylized paintings of full-frontals by the winemaker's brother and yet are somehow approved. Check out this photo of "La Sereine Noire"--a fabulous Cote Rotie, by the way--to see what I mean. Where's the pubic outcry over this?

Here's the label:

How rude!

Sauvignon Blanc - Superstar

"Sauvignon blanc is the perfect wine,'' says John Ash, a California wine country chef and cookbook author. "Every food is improved by a squeeze of lemon. And that's what this lively wine brings to the table.''

Sauvignon blanc is now the superstar grape, Why? No matter from where the wine emanates, SB quality is at an all time high. Most SB winemakers have figured out how to allow the wine's bright, refreshing acidity, savoury flavour and whistle-clean finish to shine through. And that's the key to its amazing compatibility with foods such as oysters, fusion cuisine, Thai curry, chicken, pork, salads, goat's cheese, tomatoes, and fish of all types, served almost in any style. The one choice on a restaurant wine list most likely to make a food match, Sauvignon blanc is The Hogget's must have wine.

Fortunately we have two excellent bottles, or three if you include the St Hallett Poachers Blend, a blend of SB, Chenin Blanc & Semillon.

• I've spoken of our house white before, but our St Etalon, produced by La Croix based near the ancient city of Carcasonne in the Langeudoc region of Southern France, is a steal at £12.30 a bottle, and exhibits all the qualities mentioned above. If you haven't tried it yet, do so soon, I'm sure it will become one your favourites, it certainly is one of mine.
• At the other end of the price scale, our Villa Maria Private Bin SB at £21.80, with that extra tartness on the palate and agression on the nose, is all a New Zealand SB should be. You'll probably want to keep this for those special occasions, and why not?, it won't disappoint even the most discerning palate.
• And don't forget my favourite of the three, the St Hallet Poachers Blend from the famous Barossa Valley in South Australia. Priced in between at £16.70 a bottle, and giving off not only citrus but also melon, pineapple and passionfruit flavours, this one will repay being drunk on its own or as an aperitif.

Here in Califonia's Livermore Valley, we have at least 15 wineries making excellent Sauvignon blanc wines. Rest assured that Lynda and I are planning to taste many of them over the coming months!

Until next week, Cheers!

Pete Russell, The Hogget's International Wine Sleuth.

A Few Words about Chardonnay

Let me tell you, an International Wine Sleuth's job is not all strawberries & cream. As I'm writing this blogpost, I'm sipping a Californian chardonnay, bought from my local Safeway store from a choice of over 200 chardonnays, whilst sitting in the den of our Dublin apartment lunching on a toasted bagel topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Once the most popular of white wine grapes, chardonnay suffered a backlash due its very popularity (in 2002 there were 54 British babies named Chardonnay and another 14 called Chardonay), and an over-production of well-oaked table wines, chiefly from the Californian Central Valley, and so the ABC (anything but chardonnay) movement was born.

It's time to rehabilitate this wine.

From my perspective there are 3 basic kinds of chardonnay wine:

• First up are the wines from Chablis, the northernmost wine district of the Burgundy region in France. You'll often hear the adjectives 'flinty' and 'steely' applied to Chablis, since the vines are grown in well-drained chalky and limestone districts and see vitually no oak in the making, being vinified in stainless steel tanks. So essentially a very dry wine.
• Secondly, at the other end of the scale, the wines from the Cote d'Or and specifically Meursault are grown in topsoil of up to 6ft on top of the limestone and sometimes aged in oak. The two adjectives often used to describe Meursault chardonnays are 'buttery' and 'full'.
• Thirdly, the New World Chardonnays. I think of these lying between the first two types, although this of course is a massive generalisation. In some cases the wines are matured in French or American Oak barrels to give a firmer, fuller flavour. Thankfully, most New World wine makers are now more subtle in their use of oak, producing anything from steely, flinty wines to those emulating the buttery and full Meursaults.

Just up the road from Dublin, CA is the Wente vineyard in Livermore. Now Wente developed the Chardonnay clone that was use to introduce the grape variety in Californian vineyards throughout the 1940s, so I was interested to taste their basic version. Wente's estate grown chardonnay is called Morning Fog, and was the perfect compliment to my lunch. It has aromas and flavors of green apple and tropical fruits, balanced by subtle oak, with a touch of cinnamon and vanilla from barrel aging. This wine retails at about £7 per bottle. My plan is to visit Wente soon, and you can be sure I'll report back with my finding.

At the Hogget we've selected four chardonnays for your enjoyment:

1. Concho Y Toro Chandonnay. 100% Chardonnay, gently oaked with a dry finish and tropical fruit aromas. Excellent with white fish, white meat, lightly-sauced shellfish and salmon.
2. Libertad Chardonnay/Chenin Blanc. Nicolas Catena has played the captain's role in modernisation and internationalisation of the Argentinean wine industry, and his Argento company produces this wine for the restaurant trade. Here you'll find a smooth wine with vibrant fruit flavours of peach and pear. A good table wine, but not typical of Chardonnay due to the partnering with Chenin Blanc.
3. Tyrrell's Old Winery Chardonnay. From the Hunter Valley region of Australia. Notice the stone fruit flavours with vanilla oak overtones. A medium bodied wine perfect with chicken, seafood and pasta.
4. Chablis Domaine Bois D'Yver. A light, fresh and very dry Chardonnay with the flinty, steely qualities typical of the Chablis area. Good fruit with a bright colour and excellent acidity. Particularly good with shellfish.

Just off for my afternoon nap, back with more sleuthing news next week.

Pete

Can alcohol be part of a healthy lifestyle?

Here at The Hogget, alcohol is a large part of our life. Our temperature controlled cellar is given over to the storing of beers, wines, sprits, and yes mixers and fruit juices too. Our cellar is there to deliver well kept beverages to your table for your maximum enjoyment.

But what of health? Is alcohol unremittingly bad for you? Research suggests that this is not so, and as more research comes in, the more we find that alcohol, in moderate amounts, is actually good for you. And the older you get, the better it gets. Let me explain.

Several research studies in the US have indicated that alcohol, and wine in particular, is one of the key five habits for a healthy lifestyle. For your interest, the others are: not smoking; at least 30 minutes of exercise daily; avoiding becoming obese; and following a healthy diet, rich in fruits, vegeatbles, grains and fish - all of which of course, you'll find on The Hogget's menu.

The conclusion of this research is that moderate alcohol consumption lowers the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, even for those with an already healthy lifestyle, and refutes the suggestion that moderate drinkers enjoy better health only because of they already have a healthy lifestyle.

Now, what about the geriatric angle? Numerous studies, from the US, Australia, China and the Mediterranean suggest that people over 60 who consume one or two alcoholic drinks daily are more likely to be in good health than non-drinkers. Dementia is shown to be reduced for light to moderate drinkers compared with non drinkers; cognitive function in Hispanics over 65 showed higher scores for moderate drinkers, and research has also showed that moderate consumption of red wine slows the symptoms of Alzheimers.

In a surprising result from a US study (look up Mukamel et al on Google) of US adults over 65, the lowest risk of strokes was in the heaviest drinking group, i.e. those drinking more than 14 drinks a week!

To balance this, the same study concluded that binge drinking, i.e. those consuming three or more drinks within 2 hours had a twofold risk of mortality compared to non binge drinkers.

The bottom lines appears to be that moderate drinking is more likely to be beneficiual than not, and that moderate drinking is more or less aligned to Her Majesty's Government's advice, which is:

The Department of Health advises that men should not drink more than three to four units of alcohol per day, and women should drink no more than two to three units of alcohol per day.

Based on the research presented above, I believe that drinking in moderation has many benefits, particularly for us older people, and where better to drink than The Hogget?

Cheers!

The Hogget's erstwhile sommelier prepares for the New World

The summer menu at The Hogget went live today, and I've only got 2 more weeks to propose wine matches for it, before I become the Hogget's Californian wine advisor.

I'll start with the ever reliable Stump Jump from d'Arenberg, this GSM (Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre) compliments our Roasted Rump of Lamb so well it'll seem that the match was made in a foodie's paradise. This Rhone blend is well known for its pairing with Lamb, Roasted Red meats, Charcuterie, Duck and Roasted or Grilled Pork, so it'll work well with our Sunday Roasts.

We also have another great blend from the d'Arenberg stable, the popular Hermit Crab. Another classic Rhone combination of Marsanne and Viognier, this will provide an ideal accompanimant for seafood salads, shellfish served with lemon and white fish dishes. So feel free to drink it with our Lobster, Lemon Sole or Crayfish Salad.

And don't forget our house wines, the best selling St Etalon Sauvignon Blanc, a deliciously dry Vin de Pays d'Oc, and the rustic Lamura Nero d'Avola, the Sicilian equivalent of a New World Shiraz. Both of these great value wines have their aficionados, and will soon find a place in your favourites list.

Until next time...

Pete