at Your Local Bogeda

I know, Sixpoint cans have been on the shelves for a while now so it’s no big scoop I am sharing with you. Still, we think it’s pretty great that we can crack open a Sweet Action at home.

When we attended a Murray’s cheese and Sixpoint beer tasting, the Sixpoint representative was quite the purist, doubting a day would come when they could stand behind a super market product. I am glad that day has come.

But beware! I’ve found the cost of these beauties fluctuates wildly.

See more: Drinks Beer

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on August 30, 2011

100 Frost St, Brooklyn

All you know about Sherry is wrong.

Or, scratch that, all you know about Sherry is right, it is syrupy, weird and usually can be found sitting for decades in a grandmother’s cabinet, BUT there’s so much more to Sherry than that as I found out at a recent Brooklyn Kitchen Sherry Tasting and Class.

Because of age old laws, only over turned in the 1990’s, Sherry makers didn’t have the right to bottle their own goods. Not shockingly these laws were written by distributors who would bottle all the Sherry, adding sugar and other junk and export it to England under names like Harvey’s Bristol Cream.

There’s a new crop of Sherries out there though, the ones we sampled coming from Gutierrez Colosia (and all available at Vine Wine on Lorimer) and they are complex and delicious. My favorite was Oloroso Sangre y Trabajedero (Blood and the Worker). It was the farthest of the bunch from the taste of wine and actually tasted more like a brandy, but not quite.

The room hushed and all were blissing out on the Bodega Cesar Florido Moscatel Especial, a sweet sherry that was heavenly with the gorgonzola dulce they offered.

Also passed around were spiced green olives, dates, more cheese, and buttery jamon from the shop. Mmmmmmmmm.

Most tastings I have been to try to make it a laid back experience, but Brooklyn Kitchen probably does it with the most ease. Black Sabbath was blasting downstairs and everyone in our small class was having a fun time.

I had originally used my generous gift card for a Breakfast Making Class (I was so super excited to learn how to make amazing eggs of all kinds) but it was canceled. I picked this Sherry class because it was something I knew nothing about. I’m glad I did.

See more: Drinks,Spend a Couple Hours Brooklyn Williamsburg

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on July 18, 2011

145 Bedford Ave

For months, nay years, we’ve been walking past the work in progress that has become Trix – deriding and speculating about what looked to be a most bizarre labor of love.

We’d spy an old guy hammering tin for weeks at a time, witnessed the sidewalk get caged in by bars, saw a stained glass window go in touting the words “go go”?

One day, sometime in year two, a small hand written sign appeared on store front eliciting help in typing a short story and we couldn’t help but wonder, what was going on with this place?

We saw innumerable places open, some even open and close by the time Trix was ready for the public and when that day finally came, we knew we had to stop in during a recent date night.

We were expecting it to be weird and it is – really weird. Like, can’t really be described weird.

It looks like an unfinished set inspired by cinema of the late 80’s and early 90’s (Beetlejuice and Cool World perhaps). There’s a mixture of the building’s history as a go-go club (hence the sign and stripper murals), art nouveau, and folksy crafts, all conjured up by the mind and artisan-ship of one particular and peculiar vision.

From a spider web sculpture above the bar to a creepy portrait of a woman that reminds me of the portrait of a dead wife one might find in a haunted house movie from the 70’s (see yawning Jim photo below), the decor is confused and bizarre.

We were thoroughly expecting to hate the place, honestly. I thought we’d share a joke about “Trix” and call it a night, but as strange as the place is, it’s also incredibly inviting, mellow, got an interesting cocktail (I had something with bison vodka and blackberries) and beer menu, and serves some of the finest, biggest oysters I’ve had in a while. Even our friends, Mike and Shaun, far harsher critics than we are enjoyed their visit.

Word is that all the food is good, and they serve brunch every single day – which is pretty genius in a neighborhood of the willfully unemployed.

The staff genuinely seems happy to be there and happy you’ve come in. To my utter surprise, I am looking forward to going back and maybe getting brunch next time.

Long live Trix! It took so long to come to the neighborhood, I hope more people discover it like I have so it sticks around. It’s not “cool” but it’s also not obnoxious like some “cool” places can get.

See more: Drinks Cocktails Williamsburg

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on June 25, 2011

Soda Re-Imagined

Innovation in American companies belongs to the little guys. While Pepsi and Coke are fighting the fact that soda is bad for us with lobbyists, rather than offering alternatives, Dry has re-imagined soda and made it better for you, better tasting, and all natural.

Like many of you, cutting soda out of my life  was an easy healthy step but if I were to indulge in a bubbly drink – and now that summer’s almost here, it does sound enticing – this low calorie Lavender Soda is perfect.

I’d love to try their other flavors as well: Lemongrass, Blood Orange, Rhubarb, Juniper Berry, Vanilla Bean and Cucumber. I can only imagine that these also make incredible cocktails.

I tried a bottle in Colorado but found that you can purchase several places in NY including Marlow and Sons, Fairway and Whole Foods.

See more: Drinks Soft Drinks

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on May 11, 2011

from Mitsuwa Marketplace

One of our funnest purchases during a recent Mitsuwa Market trip was the One Cup Ozeki Sake. Created in 1964 so that Japanese spectators could enjoy sake in the stands of the Summer Olympics, this is somewhat of a cultural icon but totally new to Jim and I.

It comes in a five pack and is pretty cheap at about $3 per can but unlike lots of cheap sake I have tried, it’s surprisingly good. A little harsher than the oh so smooth Wakatake, but considering that comes in at about $45 a bottle, the comparison is unfair.

Not sure how available these are closer to home, though it’s worth checking Sunrise Markets in the city. Fresh Direct also has a similar one cup type available called Chiyomusubi Kitaro but it’s 9.99 per one cup serving, which seems high to me (but doesn’t mean one of these days I won’t cave and try it out).

See more: Drinks Sake

Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on April 4, 2011