Dave Van de Walle

Feb 02 2015

Not Your Fathers Root Beer

Whoa. Like, I think I found my new favorite…what IS this stuff, anyway?

It’s clever, this “Not Your Father’s Root Beer,” which we sampled for the first time yesterday – though, to be honest, it wasn’t the first time we had a “spiked” root beer, having sampled some last summer at a place called the Courthouse Pub in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. This stuff, BTW, is from Wisconsin, too – Small Town Brewery, LaCrosse, WI, – and it’s cool to see some things coming from the Dairy State that do not have the name New Glarus attached to them. (No offense.) Finally, we know that we have “Fathers” in the title without an apostrophe, and we did that for SEO purposes, so…well, it’s our website.

To the review!

Not Your Fathers Root Beer Review

Before we get into the whole “Taste,” “Profile,” “Value” thing, I need to address something. I gave up soda almost five years ago. You can learn more about that quest over at the 10KaYear blog. I want to tell you – er, rationalize – why this isn’t cheating, with these two reasons: (1) This particular “Root Beer” is not soda – I consider soda to be stuff like Coke and Pepsi, the traditional sugar water that is really bad for you. In fact, the bottle itself says “Ale.” Let’s go with it. (2) This was research. Just like I would have tonic water in a Vodka Tonic for tasting, or I would cave and have a splash of soda, or a Coke in Jim Beam and Coke or Rum and Coke, it’s part of the job.

Taste

Where this got me – really GOT me – was its non-traditional root-beer-y-ness. That is not a word, and I don’t care. It tasted like root beer at first, but wasn’t all foamy and frothy. Didn’t seem all that carbonated, either. The kicker was, well, the kicker – almost had a Jaegermeister feel on the finish. Not clean, bordering on medicinal. But oh, so good. Yes, I felt like I was drinking root beer – but from the stand root beer, not that crap from the can.

Profile

ABV of 5.9% – but there are limited editions with up to 19.5% alcohol. (Wait, WHAT?) Officially, according to the website, “Ale with the taste of spices.” Amazingly, oddly, puzzlingly…only available in draft in Illinois.

Value

$10.99 for a six pack has the potential to lower the overall Metasip Grade for this brew. At almost two bucks per bottle, it had better be darn close to amazing to get an “A.”

Metasip Grade: A.

I’m telling you, this is one of the most outstanding beers of any variety we have had anywhere. That good. Highly, highly recommended. Our highest rating. We can’t stop talking about how great this stuff is.

Feb 01 2015

Kinroo Blue Belgian White Ale

For the first time ever, the Aldi people actually talked this one up to me. Sorta. Here’s more…

No lion (see what I did there?), Kinroo Blue Belgian White Ale from Aldi is supposed to be just like Blue Moon. The namesake beer and the one that launched a rather successful brewery, Blue Moon is known for being the one you put an orange in when you serve it, I guess. Blue Moon is a Belgian White Ale. Belgium used to own a good chunk of Africa; Kinrooi is a place in Belgium; the imagery on the front of the box and bottle are rather Safari-esque; I have explained my joke with no less than three semi-colons.

Enough. To the review.

Kinroo Blue Belgian White Ale Review

I mentioned above that they talked this up at Aldi. Yup, I was at the checkout and, while the beer was being scanned, the Aldi person actually said “that’s our answer to Blue Moon.” So I don’t think they’re trying to hide that fact. The similarities are pretty obvious, no? Orange peel. Coriander. The word “Blue.” Belgian. (Except this one is actually imported from Belgium. Score one for Dave’s lineage!)

Taste

What’s crazy about this? Easiest thing to do is to share my notes from the Facebook page from a couple weeks ago. (Along with a friendly reminder that you should totally become a fan of Metasip on Facebook.)

Gee, I pretty much wrote the whole review, right?

A couple footnotes to that Facebook post: I’m not kidding, any sort of white ale gives me a headache. Blue Moon is notorious for doing so. But I enjoy it and I’ll go out on a limb and say I have an above-average “palate memory.” It’s a knock-off and that’s okay.

Profile

HOWEVER…I’m a little off when it comes to the ABV comparison – this one has a little less alcohol than Blue Moon. Kinroo Blue is 5% ABV, so you could technically drink more in a sitting than Blue Moon, whose 5.4% could be enough to knock you over the edge. (Maybe THAT’S the reason for my headaches?)

FYI, on the Untappd site, which we like, there are some reviews of Kinroo Blue, which is, indeed, brewed in Belgium by Brouwerij Martens in Bocholt, Belgium.

Value

See above – $6.99 for a six-pack. Works for me.

Metasip Grade: B+

Probably because Blue Moon is enjoyable – but not outstanding. And this beer is enjoyable and a better value than Blue Moon, and, if a shade more than a buck a beer is your speed for a Blue Moon, this is about right. Way above average, but not worthy of an “A” rating.

As always, let us know if you disagree.

Jan 05 2015

Four Vodkas For Your Bloody Marys

You can bet one of these vodkas is called “Three Olives” – not only because that would be clever (because it’s a post about “four” vodkas, not three), but because it’s the vodka Clive Owen drinks.

Format be darned – we’re in the business of sharing usable content with you, gentle reader! Also, we like those “whipsaw” posts – you know, the ones where we say things like “gentle reader” then we use an exclamation point! It would make total sense, then, to keep this listicle to something digestible, like Four Vodkas for Your Bloody Marys as opposed to “You Wouldn’t Believe What 11 Magic Ingredients We Added to the Bloody Mary!” (then with a subtitle like “Number 7 Will Make You Question Humanity!”). Clickbait is not our thing, yo.

Four Vodkas For Your Bloody Marys

Before we dive in, a word to the wise: “Bloody Marys” as we wrote it is grammatically correct. Shut the front door if you disagree.

Also, we plan on having something for every budget here, or at least some sort of range for you to choose from. And, we should have done the clickbait thing because Number One Will Shock You!

1. Sobieski (Metasip Grade: A)

Scene: Middle of the summer, downtown, suburban USA. Family walks to a cafe for a weekend brunch-type meal. Parent orders Bloody Mary and is struck by the tastiness of the vodka. Inquires of the waitstaff and is informed…”well, I don’t know. Let me find out.”

So the random well vodka, it turns out, was this stuff. Sobieski. Boomski. We’ll take it.

Didn’t realize that the Beverage Testing Institute (a) was such a thing and (2) rated these vodkas. Why not the others, too? Where’s Tito’s, which seems to be EVERYONE’S FAVORITE VODKA???

We’ve since had people tell us this is their go-to. Big bottle (1.75L) is under $20, and it’s the premium vodka of Poland. Gets an A in our book. Go get some.

Behance Grey Goose Ad — From Behance.net

2. Grey Goose (Metasip Grade: B+)

Stuff’s expensive, so, since our grading scale takes into account Taste, Profile, and VALUE, all three must be perfectly aligned. Still, some of y’all swear by Grey Goose and we don’t blame you if you want to splurge. So, go ahead, splurge! Get the Bloody with everything! Ask for twelve olives, a complete half-ham mortadella, twice-cured salame and maybe even real Amana Bleu Cheese.

I think the ad above is from a contest to design an ad for Grey Goose. An interesting formula for an ad, don’t ya think? Attractive woman, bottle of liquor, cold beverage. No wonder the ad industry is so successful.

BTW, by expensive, we mean $45-plus for a big bottle.

Kirkland Vodka — Official Vodka of Euchre

3. Kirkland Signature Vodka (Metasip Grade: A)

Our most popular post ever here at Metasip HQ was this one: Costco Alcohol Shopping or some such, I forgot the title. In it, we discussed a not-very-well-kept secret: that Kirkland Signature Vodka – the one that’s “Five-Times Distilled” (like Grey Goose) and “Imported from France” (like Grey Goose) might actually be…well…Grey Goose.

Also works well in the Vodka Tonic.

$30 for the bottle. THIRTY. DOLLARS.

Clive Owen for Three Olives — Thanks, 2luxury2.com

4. Three Olives Vodka (Metasip Grade: A-)

If you wake up in the morning and ask yourself “What vodka would Clive Owen drink?,” then your answer should be “Three Olives.” Your next step should be trying to figure out where Clive Owen has been lately; a quick jaunt over to IMDB tells us that he’s in a show called “The Knick” and that he recently turned 50. That last bit is a surprise.

His vodka is not a surprise – like him, I guess, in that it does the job, doesn’t muck things up, might amaze from time to time, but is really what you need in the Bloody Mary. You don’t want the vodka to say “Give me back my son!” or “I’ll be back!” or “Yippee Cayenne Muppet Trucker” or some other catch phrase. You just want it to add the little bit of vodkicity to the Bloody Mary and then go back into the freezer – or, in Clive’s case, back to Cinemax for another season. (Or was it Starz? NO, it was, definitely, Skinamax.)

We believe we paid around $20 for a 1L bottle back in the day – a year ago; it was the one we used up before buying the Kirkland. For THIRTY BUCKS.

What good would a Bloody Mary post be without a recipe?

Good question: we normally just go with a mix – srsly, what’s wrong with pulling mix out of a bottle and rolling with it? Well, in these days of craft cocktails and whatnot, you might want to take just a little extra time an go with this one – from people we plan on becoming friends with over at Liquor.com – because we have found (being fans of the classic Chicago hot dog) that celery salt makes everything better.

Four Vodkas for Your Bloody Marys…

There are more – this is not meant to be a definitive list, of course, since you could drive yourself nutso at the vodka aisle of the Walmart. But here are four to take a look at.

Drink up!

Jan 04 2015

All the beers from Destihl reviewed

(Not all of ’em. I’m not a lush.)

Still, Destihl is a small Midwestern microbrewery and restaurant. Let’s learn a little more.

On a recent trip to Central Illinois, I had the chance to sample enough of their beer to conclude that Destihl knows what the heck it is doing. While I couldn’t review all the beers from Destihl, the ones reviewed – five of them – were good enough to register four-plus stars, or at least a B+, on the Metasip scale. They have two locations, one in Normal and one in Champaign – both fine college towns, but only one with a playoff-bound football team. (Dig explained here: NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Bracket.)

So we’ll break format and waltz through five of the beers from this gastropub-slash-brewery and Bob’s your Uncle!

Normal Blonde Ale: B+

Normal IS the name of the town. Don’t poke fun – very livable city – and the state Normal School was founded there, thus the name. And thus the name of the blonde ale. 16 IBUs, 4.9% ABV, and mild in flavor. Good for those who want to have more than one – though the brewery serves 4-ounce sizes, too.

120 Schilling Scotch Ale: B+

Can’t find info online about this one, but my notes tell me it was strong – 9%+? – and had an overpowering flavor. But not a BAD overpowering flavor. Good job for a Scotch Ale, so we gave it a B+.

Nutty Brown Ale: A-

Higher in ABV at 5.6%, and higher in IBUs at 34. Right in my wheelhouse, too. The nuttiness put it over the top – we upgraded our rating from B+ to A- upon further review.

Belgian Pale Ale: A

This one also got an upgrade. Why? We helped down a growler later, then came back a few nights later and had more. Winner. Just a standout Pale Ale. I think the IBUs were probably around 40. I think the ABV was around 5. I don’t care, though, either way. This was the best beer we had in our trips there.

Sour Peach: A-

Not for everyone. Photo below – but I gotta tell ya, this was a sour beer that, really, if you’re into sour beer, wasn’t TOO peachy. And was quite tasty. I’d have it again, when I’m in the mood for sour beer – which I occasionally am – so I give this a good score.

All the Destihl beers reviewed?

Well, not all of them…but a good chunk. Well, five. Five of them.

Ever anywhere near Central Illinois, give these folks a try. You’ll be delighted.

Jan 03 2015

Artesa 2012 Cabernet Franc

There are rare times when a wine reminds you how much you missed a particular grape. This is that wine, and this is that grape.

Saying hello to the Artesa 2012 Cabernet Franc wasn’t a tough thing to do – it was the holidays, the libations were flowing, and Artesa had already provided a couple other bottles that were more than serviceable. In other words, while the stuff isn’t cheap – you can’t get it at Aldi, and it’s normally in the $30-$40 a bottle range – when there’s a bottle in front of me, well, why not?

However, the Cabernet Franc – a grape with, dare I say, bite – is probably more than a little maligned here in the States. We don’t see it all the time, and, while it gets blended occasionally, it’s just not mainstream, is it?

Sidebar – if you ever get a chance to have a Cab Franc from the Niagara Valley of Canada, DO IT. Do not delay.

Artesa 2012 Cabernet Franc Review

Taste

People of Earth, this is a serious wine! When we got this baby open on Christmas, we thought…WOW. This is an expensive bottle. (Evidence on the website – the 2011 sells for $32 a bottle – IF you are a member of their club. We’re not, but we know people who are. Without it, it’s $40. Here’s a link to the Artesa web page.)

Plus, those jammy, “wine with bite” undertones you would expect from a Cabernet Franc – those are here. Yes, a little tobacco, some blackberry too.

This is an outstanding wine.

Profile

For the 2011, ABV is 14.2%. Expect similar for 2012. Small release in 2011 – 950 cases.

Value

It’s not your everyday wine – it was Christmas, after all – but, having sampled from $100 bottles in the past, if you spent $40 on this, you got your money’s worth and then some.

Metasip Grade: A

We cut right to the chase with the photo – this wine earned an A and was the best-in-show (or breed, or class) among what we had over the Holidays. If you’re the type of person who drinks the good stuff, it’s probably worthwhile to get into their club; saving 20% on a bottle is highly worthwhile.

But even at $40, as we told ya, this is outstanding.