Author: Bruno Donaggio

Taste The East End

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On Sunday this past Memorial Day weekend I attended the 2nd annual Taste The East End. It’s an event showcasing over 40 East End local restaurants, breweries and vineyards serving their signature dishes with beer, cider, wine and spirits to accompany them.

The event was held at the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center located on 431 Main Street in Riverhead which sits at the beginning of Long Island wine country. That’s about an hour and a half drive as the crow flies East of Manhattan.

A portion of the event was held in the aquarium which makes for an out of the ordinary experience, walking around with a glass of wine in hand with various sea creatures swimming around in the background.

The incoming rain held back and I was able to make it in to the event at the start time. This was before the crowds poured in and was able to sample some of the food and wine (the pork belly dish from Jedediah Hawks Inn was outstanding) before the lines became impossibly long.

 

 

Speed Rack

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This past Sunday evening I attended the Speed Rack season 5 National finals. Speed Rack is an organization that promotes women bartenders, this event is a multi city contest to find the nations fastest women bartender and crown her Ms Speed Rack 2016.

The competition featured eight wild card contestants who participated in timed heats of rounds of cocktails to be judged by cocktail celebrities.

The event that evening also raised money for breast cancer research, so pink was the color of choice throughout the venue including the speed rack logos on the t-shirts, which some might say was a double entendre.

The event was held at the over 100 year old nightclub, concert venue and event space, Webster Hall located at 125 East 11th Street in the East Village, Manhattan. To accompany the competition, two levels of the club were filled with spirit companies serving their products and assorted cocktails.

I stopped by the Luxardo table whose claim to fame is a two century old liquor made from Maraschino cherries, and tried some of their other products which included Aperitivo, an herb and citrus based liquor, and the Fernet Amaro, another dark, intense herb based liquor.

 

Some of the cocktails I sampled:

 

St-Germain Cocktail: Processco, St-Germain, club soda.

Lady Reign: Bacardi Maestro, Bacardi 8, apricot brandy, pineapple juice, lime juice, angostura bitters.

Four Roses Cooler: Four Roses bourbon, honey syrup, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, angostura bitters.

Welcome Home: Beefeater gin, apple juice, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, yellow Chartreuse, velvet Falernum.

English Channel Collins: Plymouth gin, Lillet rouge, fresh lemon juice.

Paradise City: Absolute vodka, spiced Aperol, fresh lemon juice, soda.

Moscow Mule: Absolute vodka, ginger beer, fresh lemon juice.

Exonoration: Singani 63, perfect purée prickly pear, ginger syrup, lime juice, Perrier.

The Grand Life Punch: Kappa pisco, Grand Marnier raspberry peach, lemon juice, bubbles, berries.

Double Dr Punch: Highwest double rye, pomegranate juice, date syrup, lemon juice, orange flower water, mint.

Do Lally Ditty: Jameson Black Barrel, honey, sauvignon blanc, apple juice, fresh lime juice, mango green tea.

 

 

Boco Resort Cocktail Party

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This past Sunday afternoon, the Bowery Collective which holds cocktail themed events during the year, held their first annual Boco Resort cocktail festival featuring over 50 types of Summertime cocktails. In preparation for Summer drinking they wanted us “to rethink the margarita and show how brown spirits can work in the sun” using brown spirits in cocktails that traditionally use white spirits such as rum, tequila and vodka. Works for me. The event which was held at the ever trendy Bowery Hotel on 335 Bowery in Manhattan and was held on the second floor terrace event space. I’ve been to many cocktail and wine events at this space and with an outdoor terrace and a hunting lodge motif, makes for a fun event space

There were many booths featuring brown as well as white spirits with mixologists creating various incarnations of Summer cocktails including fruity drinks with umbrellas!. Out in the terrace there was a guy with a buzz saw slicing (empty) rum bottles. It seems that Monkey Rum designs its bottles so that they can be reused as a drinking glass.

After a glass of Fernet Branca to start the day, I sampled many cocktails and whiskeys. With a reggae band playing in the background, followed by a DJ spinning tunes, a good time was had by all.

 

 

 

Wine On The High Seas

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Just got back from a cruise vacation. I took a week off and ended up at the port of Miami boarding the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship the “Escape” for a week long cruise that took me to the  U. S. and British Virgin Island and Nassau, Bahamas.  The Escape is a state of the art mega-ship launched last year, at over a 1,000 feet long with 4,000+ passengers and a 1,700+ crew, it’s a mini city on water. To accommodate all of those guests are 28 Bars and Restaurants including a wine bar. That wine bar is  “The Cellars” a Michael Mondavi family wine bar. It’s a small nook on the bar floor of the ship where I spent some time chatting with Rodrigo, the Wine Steward while drinking some juice. They also had one of those wine pouring machines in the café if you wanted a glass of wine with your buffet.

 

Some of what I drank during my cruise:

2014 Marques de Riscal Verdejo (Rueda)

2010 Godelia Mencia (Bierzo). Dark red with a purple robe, roasted meat and bacon with camphor on the end, concentrated with slate notes on the fruit and chewy tannin.

2013 Estancia Pinot Noir (Monterey). Medium red, strawberry jam and black cherry on the nose with some earth notes, strawberry fruit with crisp acidity.

2013 Estancia Meritage (Paso Robles). A Bordeaux blend, dark red to amber with a perfume of crushed dark berries and camphor, silky mint notes on the fruit with firm acidity.

 

I attended a seminar on Riedel glasses and how wines are enhanced with the proper glass.

Pinot Noir glass served with the 2012 Louis Jadot Pinot Noir (Burgundy)

Syrah glass served with the 2013 Spellbound Petite Sirah (California)

Cabernet Sauvignon glass served with the 2013 Wente Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon “Southern Hills” . (Livermore Valley).

 

 

 

Bacon, Beer & Baseball

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This past Friday and  Saturday the Beer and Bacon Classic festival was held in New York City. Another one of the many craft beer fests that are held throughout the year in the city. This one is a traveling beer and bacon fest that tours baseball fields around the country. Here in New York it was held at Citi Field stadium (the former Shea Stadium) at 123-01 Roosevelt Avenue in Corona, Queens and is the home of the New York Mets baseball team.

It featured over 40 local restaurants serving bacon infused dishes and over 40 breweries and cideries pouring their craft products.

I attended the Saturday evening session. I have to admit it was a great venue to have an event, it gave me the opportunity to see the new stadium which is a much more interesting event space than some of the other beer venues.

I generally like the dark beers such as  stouts, porters and cream ales, but since this was a spring time event, not much of the heavier beers were poured but I did find a few ciders. I was lucky to get in to the event before general admission and was able to sample some of the food, when they opened the flood gates at the general admission start times, the lines at the food stands became impossibly long.

 

Some of what I sampled:

Ciders

Bad Seed Cider Co. With 0gms of sugar, about as bone dry as you can get.

Downeast Cider House: Flagship original and summer blend.

Doc’s Draft: Hard pear cider and original.

Strongbow Hard Cider

Northern Spy Hard Cider

Original Sin Hard Cider

McKenzie’s Cider Co.: Seasonal reserve and black cherry.

Ace Cider Co.: Pineapple Cider.

 

Jonas Bronk Beer Co.: One of the few stouts served, nice and creamy.

 

 

 

The Bloody Mary Festival

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This past Sunday I attended The Bloody Mary Festival,  a multi-city event that was advertised as “a celebration of our beloved brunch cocktail and the largest event of its kind”.

It was an afternoon of sampling Bloody Marys  prepared by local bars and restaurants along with food trucks and a DJ.

This year the event was held at the Grand Prospect Hall at 263 Prospect Avenue in Park Slope Brooklyn. It’s a 100+ year old oak paneled beer hall event space that someone described as “Disney-does-Hapsburg”.

This time around the vodka sponsor was Bleu Storm vodka, an ultra premium French vodka made from whole wheat.

A few of the Bloodys and the restaurants/bars that serve them:

 

Bloody Mary Liberation Party The Prospect Park

Lucky Luna (Greenpoint) Kimchi and Nori Bloody Mary

Esme (Greenpoint) Esme Bloody Mary

Syndicated (Bushwick) Blood For Dracula

Travel Bar (Carrol Gardens) The Well Traveled

706 (Prospect Heights) The 706

Hunter’s (Cobble Hill) Hunter’s Saigon Mary

Skylark (Park Slope) The Skylark

Talde (Park Slope) Talde Bloody Mary

Catfish (Crown Heights) Creole Bloody Mary

 

 

Craft Distillers Festival

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This past Saturday I attended the annual New York City Craft Distillers Festival. A pre-prohibition themed event of over 60 craft spirits with a live jazz style band.

A century ago New York States breweries and distilleries produced oceans of spirits made from local ingredients. The Volstead Act changed all that and Prohibition shut down most of those distilleries and breweries. The industry began to recover in the early 21st Century when the State laws regulating distilling were loosen which resulted in the explosion of local micro-distilleries and breweries. There are about 30 craft distillers and counting in New York State with some in Queens, Brooklyn and The Bronx.

The event was held at the hip Bowery Hotel at 335 Bowery in Manhattan,  a castle-like venue. There were plenty of local whiskeys, gins, vodkas, tequilas, fruit-based eau di vie and even some absinthe.

With live music and people enjoying unlimited spirits, it was a party.

Some of the Distillers I sampled from:

Orange County Distillery

Cooperstown Distillery

Catskill Distilling Co.

Standard Spirit

Tres Papalote Mezcal

Black Button Distillery

Hillrock Distillery

Valentine Distilling Co.

Widow Jane

Tirado Distillery

 

 

Bad-Ass Reds

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New York Vintners is a wine shop on 21 Warren Street in downtown Manhattan, a stones throw away from the Trade Center memorial. It’s a very small wine shop that has an event space and kitchen in the back room. They put that back room to good use hosting many wine and food themed events. On Sunday I attended the Bad-Ass Reds wine class which was a sit down tasting of seven wines. The house Sommelier was on hand to discuss the wines.

2015 Manique Rosé of Pinot Noir (Argentina). Not one of the bad-ass reds but the aperitif wine, salmon in color with green herbs and damp earth on the nose, tart red cherry fruit.

2014 Castello di Verduno “Basadone” (Piedmont). Made from the obscure Pelaverga grape varietal, red amber, closed nose of tree bark with more fruit than the color would suggest, silky fruit with earth notes with silky tannin and moderate acids at the end. Different but tasty.

2014 Sean Minor Pinot Noir (Central Coast). Dark red, red cherry jam on the nose, juicy with mint and toast notes on the nose, crisp and balanced finish.

2006 Chateau Clairefont (Margaux). Black with an amber robe, violets, dried leaf on the nose, chunky, mint notes, balanced tannin and acids on the finish.

2005 Calabretta “Nerello Masalese” (Sicily). Dark red with an amber robe, crushed red fruit and slate on the nose, stewed fruit notes, silky tannin and black licorice on the finish.

2013 My Essential Red Blend (Santa Ynez). Black with a purple robe, crushed dark fruit and crushed rocks on the nose, chunky, chewy with dill notes on the juicy and jammy finish.

2013 Tikal “Patriota” (Argentina). A blend of Malbec and Bonarda, black with a purple robe, dark chocolate and anise on the nose, chunky and chewy with firm tannin and acids at the finish.

 

 

Cabernet Franc On Long Island

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Cabernet Franc is one of the varietals used in the classic Bordeaux blend and of Chinon in the Loire Valley. It’s a thinner skinned and earlier ripening relative of Cabernet Sauvignon. At one time on Long Island there was talk around that Cabernet Franc was going to be the varietal that was going to put the region on the map. It was said that the cooler, maritime conditions of the North Fork were perfect for the grape. Alas, it was not to be, Cabernet Franc was never able to dethrone Merlot as the primary grape in the region and wine makers have begun experimenting with other red varietals such as Syrah and Malbec. Cabernet Franc is still used in the Bordeaux blends that the North Fork wineries bottle and is still bottled on its own though some wineries aren’t growing it anymore or  bottling  it as a single varietal.

 

2013 Roanoke Vineyards Cabernet Franc (North Fork LI). Had this at their Love Lane tasting room since the winery tasting room is for members only. Dark red in color, opaque, slate,  and black cherry on the nose with stewed prune notes as the wine opened up in the glass, dense and chunky with black cherry fruit, nice balance.

 

2013 Clovis Point Vineyards Cabernet Franc (North Fork LI). Relatively new winery, began with land purchased in 2001. Dark red to black in color with a purple robe, crushed rocks and dried herbs on the nose with crushed black fruit, chewy with firm tannin on the juicy, dark chocolate finish.

 

2012 Palmer Vineyards Cabernet Franc “Proprietor’s Reserve” (North Fork LI). One of North Fork’s original wineries. Dark amber with a brick robe and cloudy, red licorice on the nose, juicy, red fruit with notes of sour cherry, tart with some green notes on the finish.

 

 

Wine Riot Spring 2016

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This past weekend was the Spring time version of the biannual Second Glass Wine Riot fest which was held at the 69th Regiment Lexington Amory event space on 68 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. It’s a multicity, twice a year wine party.

The booths were separated into wine regions and into wine varietals of mid-range wines that the large crowd of mostly young wine drinkers were soon swarming over.

There were lectures and food booths scattered about.

 

Some of what I sampled:

Doff & Irion Brut Rosé

The Chook Sparking Shiraz

Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve

2014 Dashe Cellars Grenache Blanc

2014 Ramsay Chardonnay

2014 Demoiselles De Castelnau PicPoul

2014 Domaine Michael Buraud Macon-Villages

2013 LaFond Pinot Noir

2013 Lioco Carignan

2014 Valravn Zinfandel

2014 Slingshot Cabernet Sauvignon

2013 J. Lohr Los Osos Merlot

2013 Di Georgio Family Shiraz

2012 Famiglie Merlot

2014 Ca ‘Momi Rosso

2013 Ca “Momi Cabernet Sauvignon