Porter and Stout Impress at Jailbreak Brewing Company

Since it's inception two years ago, Maryland's Jailbreak Brewing Company has quickly become a popular local option for craft beer. Their everyday canned lineup of Feed the Monkey Orange Hefeweizen, Welcome to Scoville Jalapeno IPA, and the Big Punisher Double IPA are distributed widely in the DC and Baltimore regions.  And at their spacious tasting room they offer many special releases and cask specials. With a flight scheduled out of BWI we stopped for a short visit where I had the Desserted Chocolate Coconut Porter and the Dark American Stout with Peanuts and Chocolate on cask. These two beers raised my appreciation for the brewery as the porter is on par with or even better than the Oskar Blues Brewery Death By Coconut. The stout on cask took a couple sips to get past the absence of carbonation, but that absence allowed the beer's peanuts and chocolate to dominate the palate. Much better than the DuClaw Brewing Company Sweet Baby Jesus.  Jailbreak will becoe a regular stop when visiting Columbia or heading to the airport. And as usual, theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App will guide you there. Cheers.

Sin City Brewing Co. Delivers With Three Las Vegas Locations on the Strip

Most casinos on the strip offer a range of craft beer - mostly California brewed and heavy on Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing Company, and Ballast Point Brewing Company.  All great options, but if you are looking for a local brew as well as a beer distributed exclusively in Las Vegas then Sin City Brewing Co. is an easy choice. The brewery was "launched by long-time Gordon Biersch Director of Brewing Operations Richard Johnson" and provides three microbrew bars on the strip: Sin City Brewing Co. - Harmon Corner, Sin City Brewing Co. - Planet Hollywood, and Sin City Brewing Co. - The Venetian.

The brewery produces five everyday beers and I was able to try a couple at the Venetian location. The Weisse is Nice (Hefeweizen) is a bready, citrusy beer with a bit of spice and the Never Pass Up A Blonde is your traditional lightly malted beer with a tad of saltiness. Both are not bad offerings. Also on the menu is the Say Hello to Amber, The Ale With A Tale (British IPA), and the The Dark Side of Sin (Stout). These will have to wait for next year's Super Bowl when I allocate more time. And as usual, theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App will guide you there. Cheers.

Central Otago's Loveblock Pinot Noir 2012

Located in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island, Central Otago is an inland oasis of Pinot Noir growing vineyards. The area is mountainous and the vineyards - the highest in New Zealand at between 650 and 1,300 feet above see level. It is also the world’s southernmost wine making region. Because of it's rugged landscape there are pockets of micro-climates with one if these being the Bendigo Loop Road - home of “Someone’s Darling” Vineyard. This block is owned by the Marlborough based Loveblock winery (owned by Erica and Kim Crawford) and is Sustainable Winegrowing (SWNZ) accredited. The days are long here with 18 hours of daylight during the summer months and the altitude allows for diurnal cooling at night. The region is dry with sandy soils to encourage water draining. According to the winery, "the climate and unique terroir combined make this area one of the best for producing premium Pinot Noir". And after sampling the Loveblock Pinot Noir 2012 ($37, 14%) I tend to agree. The wine drifts between savory sour cherries and dusty earth and finishes with dry and lingering tannins. This structured finish is what elevates this Pinot to that SRP. Cheers.

#WineStudio Online Session 32 with Tanaro River Imports Concludes with Tannins Galore

January's edition of #WineStudio featured George Tita and Tanaro River Imports, an importer specializing in small producers in northern Italy and France.  The first two segments covered excellent wines from Alsace as well as the Roero and Diano d'Alba regions of Italy's Piedmont.This week we finished with one more wine from the Piedmont as well as a Montefalco Rosso from Umbria.

Germano Angelo Azienda 2010 Nebbiolo d’Alba “Visette” Piemonte, Italy ($24, 14.5%) is "a Barolo without the price tag". Germano Angelo is the name of the winery's founder and a little more than a century later Davide Germano is now the winemaker. This is a baby Barolo as it is aged six months less than a traditional Barolo. The grapes are also sourced from three areas ( La Morra, Barolo and Monforte) where "Visette" is a name of a parcel in Monfort. And although once heavy farmed,  Nebbiolo now accounts for only 6% of Piedmont grape production. This Nebbiolo is a structured wine with many layers of dark black fruit, tobacco and dried figs. It finishes with long stringy tannins. At $24 this is a great value.


Azienda Agricola Romanelli 2012 Montefalco Rosso Umbria, Italy ($24, 15%) was made using the legacy Montefalco Rosso DOC regulations requireing 60-70% Sangiovese, 10-15% Sagrantino, 15-30% other authorized varietals. In this case Merlot and Cabernet. In 2015 these regulations were changed to remove the other varieties so that the final percentages must consist of 60-80% Sangiovese and 10-25% Sagrantino. The former grape is is indigenous to Umbria and is found only around the hilltop town of Montefalco and is tannic. And I mean tannic, the most tannic of all Italian varieties. Devis Romanelli is the young family winemaker and according to Tita is "doing important work on understanding terroir, skin contact, barrel use, etc. to push the quality of wine of Umbri". This wine shows plenty of structure starting with a leathery tobacco aroma, faint black cherry fruit, and very noticable dirty chewy tannins - finish is not harsh as in a Sagrantino di Montefalco. Pair with fatty meats.