I had their "Citrus and Piney" IPA. They describe it on the can as boasting "bold orange peel and honey aromas" followed by a "faint hint of bready malt." Alcohol is 8.5% abv and a four-pack of 16-ounce cans ran me about $15 at my neighborhood specialty market.
The hops are right out front, as they should be with an IPA. Six varieties of hops were used in this brew: Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, CTZ and Simcoe.
Looney Tunes Back in Action is a 2003 film directed by TFH chief guru Joe Dante. He refers to the making of the film as the longest year and a half of his life. Those who didn't grow up with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck may feel it was the longest hour and a half of theirs, since they will likely miss the charm found by the critics of the day, who applauded the movie. I mean, how can even the most hard-hearted critic pan Bugs Bunny?
A host of characters from the old Warner Bros cartoons get "rebranded" in the framework of a silly spy story. Not that anyone asked me, but I feel rebranding is generally not a good idea for things which already have a brand. Bugs and Daffy are the animated leads, of course, but it is somehow most satisfying to see Yosemite Sam as a Vegas casino owner. Marvin the Martian is a natural for the scenes set at Area 51.
Let's use Marvin as our wine pairing linchpin. Martian Ranch and Vineyard has a Mourvedre-based wine they call Retrograde Reserve. It's a $50 exploration into a grape that may be too heavy for cartoon characters, but feels just right for a rebranding effort.
1973's Heavy Traffic is Ralph Bakshi's big success, following his interpretation of R. Crumb's Fritz the Cat. The mix of live action and animation loses the talking animals in favor of humans. The tone is similar in nature to the freewheeling - and dirty - Fritz.
Napa Valley's Highway 29 is known as much for its heavy traffic as it is for the tasty wines being made near its jammed lanes. Trefethen Family Vineyards is a great stop whether you are north or southbound. Their Dragon's Tooth is hailed by professional drinkers as an exceptional $65 wine. And, hey, a dragon is an animal, right?
Dirty Duck is a 1974 adult cartoon, which means you can expect the worst and never be disappointed. Crudeness finds a new level in Dirty Duck, which has nothing to do, by the way, with the comic strip character of the same name. How was there not a lawsuit born out of that?
The film boasts that the duck in question is "madder than Daffy... dumber than Donald… more existential than Howard." Besides, he gives Fritz the Cat a run for his money on gratuitous sexual perversion. If you ever felt that you didn't get quite enough inane, immature sexual one-liners in high school, this is the film for you. On a brighter note, Dirty Duck features the voices of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, founding members of The Turtles, sometimes remembered as Flo & Eddie.
Lithuanian microbrewer Biržų Alus has a spiced, herbed ale that sounds almost as unappealing as the movie. Or, there is a cocktail called Duck Fart - if you must. Layer in some Bailey's, Kahlua and Crown Royal in a shot glass and let'er rip.
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I had the pleasure of attending a virtual event during National Prosecco Week, hosted by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, also known as the World Wine Guys. While presenting an overview of Prosecco's history, the pair identified what it is that attracts so many people to the bubbly wine: "Prosecco is fun."
There was much more to the event, but that's the takeaway, in a nutshell. They also mentioned that real Prosecco is identified by the blue seal on the neck of the bottle, and urged consumers to accept no substitutes.
Those of us tasting along with the World Wine Guys sampled six outstanding Proseccos, three brut styles and three rosés. We covered the pink ones in the previous article, now the non-rosé bottles.
The La Marca Prosecco DOC is made entirely from the expressive Glera grape, grown in the hillside vineyards of Italy's Prosecco capital of Treviso. The wine records an alcohol level of 11% abv and retails for $16.
This Italian bubbly produces a thick, festive foam. The nose brings a floral element to match up with lemon, lime and grapefruit aromas. On the palate, a nice apple flavor meets the citrus. It is a sweet taste and the finish follows the same way. Fun and frolicking Prosecco.
This Prosecco gives a nice froth which dissipates quickly. The pale gold-green wine gives aromas of apples and apricots, laced with citrus minerals. The palate shows an earthy display of green apples and a slight cherry flavor. It drinks a bit more seriously than Prosecco has a reputation for. It's fun, to be sure, but its complexity brings the wine to another level.
This Prosecco carries a light yellow tint and aromas of apples, pears and peaches - dressed up in citrus minerality. The bubbles disappear completely inside of a minute. On the palate, a racy acidity will be quite noticeable if you have bitten your tongue lately. The red apple flavor joins the stone fruit and cherry in a very pleasant combination. The finish is medium lengthy and fully enjoyable, as it brings back that minerality.
I had the pleasure of attending a virtual event during National Prosecco Week, hosted by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, also known as the World Wine Guys. While presenting an overview of Prosecco's history, the pair identified what it is that attracts so many people to the bubbly wine: "Prosecco is fun."
There was much more to the event, but that's the takeaway, in a nutshell. They also mentioned that real Prosecco is identified by the blue seal on the neck of the bottle, and urged consumers to accept no substitutes.
Those of us tasting along with the World Wine Guys sampled six outstanding Proseccos, three brut styles and three rosés. First, the pink.
The Mionetto Prosecco DOC Rosé Millesimato is produced under the umbrella of Freixenet. This one was made using grapes from the 2020 vintage, 90% Glera and 10% Pinot Nero fruit. Those grapes were soft-pressed and left on the skins for just a few days. The bubbles come from the Charmat method of secondary fermentation, in a pressurized tank. Alcohol is quite light, at just 11% abv.
This Prosecco is a rich salmon pink in the glass, tending toward orange. The nose is full of bright red fruit - cherries, dried apricots and lemons. The froth dissipates rather quickly, and the palate is as cheerful as Prosecco is expected to be. Berries, citrus and a touch of honey make merry on the taste buds in this bone-dry bubbly. The citrus lasts longest on the finish.
This wine is made entirely from Glera grapes which were grown in Treviso and Venezia. The wine was made sparkling through the Charmat method, which has the secondary fermentation take place in a tank, under pressure. Alcohol sits at 11.5% abv.
This light pink sparkling wine has a nice froth in the glass, which dissipates quickly. Aromas of strawberry, cherry and a touch of toast lie on the nose, while the palate brings some citrus and stone fruit to the party. The finish is medium length and carries with it a bit of earthiness.
This pink Prosecco smells like red ripe cherries, with more of the same on the palate. Flavors of citrus join in, lime and grapefruit mainly. The bubbles are generous, but fade quickly. They are fun while they last, though.
I had their inaugural beer, the "Dank and Sticky" IPA. They describe it on the can as boasting "aromas of dank, resinous pine" which give way to "a malty backbone and a drying hop bitterness on the finish." Alcohol is 8.5% abv and a four-pack of 16-ounce cans ran me about $15 at my neighborhood specialty market.
The hops are right out front, as they should be with an IPA. Seven varieties of hops were used in this brew: Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Exp. 05256, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Comet. It was a great addition to the time I spent grilling a steak on the patio.
First of all, the can beams wrestler Steve Austin's name, without the usual mention of "Stone Cold" before it. I wonder if a trademark issue arose with Stone Brewing in San Diego County? Maybe he has just moved on from his wrestling name since he is now a broader-based entertainer. The brewery calls it a "bad-ass" bottling and credits Steve Austin with helping to design it.
In a continuing series of "brushes with fame" that seem to happen to me, a number of years back a friend of mine who knows Austin enlisted me to help select a Texas wine club to give him as a Christmas gift. Neither my friend nor I reported a broken skull, so I guess he liked it.
Broken Skull IPA produces a nice head - a couple of fingers of white foam - but it does not last too long. The color of the pour is almost orange. The nose is quite full of citrus and pine, but the first sip is a shocker. This IPA brings the bitter. I mean that in a good way, of course. I simply did not expect the bitterness to be quite so heightened and was surprised by it. All told, it's a good sipper on a hot day and goes fairly easy on the alcohol, at only 6.7 abv.
The Sniper is a film noir from 1952. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, The Sniper was one of his first films after a tough stretch in which he was blacklisted, jailed for contempt of Congress, exiled and eventually brought back before the House Unamerican Activities Committee to name names. And you thought you had a tough week. Stanley Kramer helped get Dmytryk’s career back on its feet with a series of low-budget films.
The movie centers on a misogynist who kills women from a distance with an M1 rifle. He is aware that he is "not right in the head" and he adopts a "stop me before I kill again" attitude. The authorities do stop him - but not before he kills again. For me, the climax of The Sniper is about as satisfying as the end of a car chase in which the driver just flops out of the vehicle onto the pavement.
There is a creamy cocktail called The Sniper, so how do we not? It features Butterscotch Schnapps, whisky cream, Creme de Cacao and cream. Hence the "creamy" descriptor.
1968's Targets has a something-old-something-new element to it. Roger Corman produced, while Peter Bogdonavich got his start as a director. Boris Karloff plays a retiring horror actor while Tim O’Kelly serves as the sniper. Karloff's character is quitting the monster movie business because he feels the actual news events of the day are much more horrific than anything he could ever act out on celluloid. The movie became a lot more topical by the time it was released, shortly after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
Fans of L.A. location shooting will want to see the finale, filmed at a Reseda drive-in movie. Spoiler alert: The climax is terrific, when Karloff's character disarms the sniper by hitting him with his cane. So much for the scary sniper - defeated by an old man with a walking stick.
For a wine pairing with Targets, I'll try to resist the temptation to recommend a box of wine from Target, although the temptation is strong. There is a gun club in North Carolina which sports a "Shoot Then Sip" night for ladies. Let's hope they keep things in the proper order. For Californians, Sonoma's Wing and Barrel Ranch brings gunplay and drinking together. The ranch offers both shooting and hunting, so you can opt for clay pigeons or, I guess, real pigeons. Turley Cellars is one of their vintner partners, so get one of Turley's great Zinfandels and shoot out the cork.
Turkey Shoot, in 1982, was an Australian humans-as-prey movie. It was directed by TFH guru Brian Trenchard-Smith, and set in a futuristic concentration camp. The action centers around a yearly event in which a few of the higher-ups among the guards choose a handful of prisoners to hunt down in the wild. Trenchard-Smith has called Turkey Shoot "1984 meets The Camp on Blood Island where they play The Most Dangerous Game," and that's an apt description.
The hunters are considerably better equipped for the game than the hunted. Their weaponry ranges from guns to artillery to bombs to napalm airstrikes. And still, two of the prisoners get through the ordeal alive. That's just bad shooting.
Is anyone surprised by pairing Turkey Shoot with Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon? There is also an Australian winery, Turkey Flat, which offers a Butchers Block Shiraz that may offer enough firepower for you.
Just as the K-cup boiled down coffee making to the flip of a wrist, it is now providing boozy hot drinks in the same simple manner.
Cask & Kettle is billed as the only hard coffee cocktail on the market. Everything needed for the cocktail is in the K-cup, including the alcohol. All you have to do is pop a single serve cup into your brewing system. You can also open up the K-cup and add hot water, but … c'mon, man, we don't have that kind of time! The product is decaf, gluten-free and fully recyclable.
Flavors include Irish Coffee, Mint Patty, Mexican Coffee, Hot Blonde Coffee and Spiked Dry Cider. They are hot cocktails, perfect for cooler months, but they can also work as iced coffee drinks for warmer weather.
The publicity team tells me that Cask & Kettle - based in Temperance, Michigan - is owned and operated by women, and is certified by the Women's Business Enterprise.
Irish Coffee
This smells awesome while it is making. No coffee needed, no booze - it's all in the K-cup, all except the whipped cream. Tastes just like the Irish coffees I used to have at Tom Bergin's on Fairfax. Cooling it off for a drink that's enjoyable in the summer is a workable idea, too. I added some of my wife's refrigerated coffee creamer to mine. The pod is 38% abv.
Mexican Coffee
Tequila, vodka and dark coffee notes join with a hint of Mexican chocolate to provide a sweet drink with a south-of-the-border flair. The pod is 30% abv.
Hot Blonde Coffee
The vodka is barely noticeable behind the coffee and vanilla. There is a great mocha note as well. The pod is 37% abv.
Mint Patty Coffee
This one is vodka-based, too. It tastes like a boozy thin mint laced with dark chocolate. Put some whipped cream on this one. The pod is 37% abv.
United Ink Pinot Noir 2019
This United Ink Pinot Noir comes from the Oregon appellation, which is quite large, however most of the grapes were grown in the Willamette Valley. It is a 100% Pinot Noir varietal wine, made by winemaker Joe Dobbes in Dundee, OR.
The winery says all the fruit "was destemmed and processed without crushing the grape berries, which results in longer fermentations, more complexity and softer tannins." All lots underwent full malolactic fermentation, and 30% of the wine was barrel aged in neutral French oak, with the remainder getting stainless steel. All the aging took place on the lees, the yeast cells which were spent during fermentation. The wine's alcohol content reaches only 13% abv and the retail price is $22.
This Pinot has a medium ruby tint and carries aromas of raspberry, minerals, cola, black tea, clove and a touch of cinnamon. The palate is equally complex, with fruit that wavers between sweet and tart, a savory earthiness and an acidity that refreshes. The tannins were forceful at first, but they calmed themselves after a bit of air. It may be a tad too rowdy to be called elegant, but it is a close call - and a tasty one.
The 1990 rom-com Pretty Woman has Richard Gere hooking up with Julia Roberts. The meet-cute happens after his girlfriend breaks up with him, leaving him dateless for a business soirée. How dare she! No girlfriend? Just call a hooker to take her place. Maybe it was that sort of behavior that caused her to leave him.
Of course, the business bastard is reformed through his relationship with the whore-with-a-heart-of-gold. In the end, he gets the girl and she gets the white knight about whom she has always dreamed. Not bad for a film that started out as a dark story about L.A. prostitution and drugs. The studio wanted a more "feel good" approach.
Word has it that both starring roles were turned down by every A-list actor and actress in Hollywood before Gere and Roberts finally agreed to do the film. The movie turned out to be a money machine. Would it have been so popular with, say, Al Pacino and Meg Ryan? Your guess is as good as mine, but my guess is "no."
There was a Napa Valley Cab from Edward Lewis Cellars called Pretty Woman a few years back, but it seems to be MIA these days. Edward Lewis was Gere's character in Pretty Woman, and the winery still offers other bottlings. Washington's Olympic Cellars has a line of Working Girl wines. However, they refer to girls more along the lines of Rosie the Riveter, not a high-priced Beverly Hills call girl. Aah, let's pop the cork anyway and celebrate wines made by women.
1933's Baby Face stars Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who "had it, and made it pay," according to the film's tagline. It's nice how they left it to your imagination. It was a pre-Hays code picture, and is widely credited with helping bring the Motion Picture Production Code into the business.
Who else but Stanwyck could have played this role after she showed how it was done? Her character got what she wanted from men by offering up what they wanted. It. The line, "Can’t we talk this over?" never held so much sexual energy.
There is sex, seduction, scandal and suicide in the story - which was ultimately whitewashed for general release. The moguls decided Americans were depressed enough in the Great Depression. The unedited version was lost for more than 70 years before being found and restored.
Napa Valley's O'Brien Estate has a wine called Seduction, and it looks as tempting as it should for a pairing with Stanwyck.
Bus Stop, in 1956, starred Marilyn Monroe as a singer in a small-town diner. What I wouldn't give for a Denny's with Marilyn Monroe serenading me while I enjoyed the Moon Over My-Hammy, with a senior discount to boot.
Monroe's character has a shady past, but it is merely hinted at, when a hick rodeo rider falls off the horse for her. She explains that she has had a lot of "boyfriends," which was the Hays Code way of saying "I’ve been a floozie." In the end, the cowboy rides off into the sunset - in a bus, not on a horse - with his second love at his side. His first love was, no doubt, a bucking bronco.
Since Bus Stop is set in Arizona, let's pair a wine from Arizona Stronghold winery. Their Dala Chardonnay is as blonde as the movie's star, and a bit more direct.
United Ink Riesling 2020
The 2020 United Ink Riesling is all Columbia Valley Riesling grapes, made dry by winemaker David Forsyth. The winery says, "the majority of the 2020 Dry Riesling comes from skirted vineyards across a hill line surrounding the Yakima Valley." The region is known for its semi-arid conditions. Alcohol tips only 12% abv and the wine retails at a super-low $12.
This Riesling is yellow-green in the glass and offers a very attractive nose dominated by citrus and minerals. The palate keeps it going, with the flavor of Meyer lemon dancing along with minerals and a bit of peach. Acidity is good and fresh, but it won't take taste buds off of your tongue. The winery recommends this one as a pairing with salmon, but anything from the sea will do.
United Ink Red Blend 2019
The Red Blend is made from Columbia Valley grapes, out of Washington state. The blend is 60% Merlot, 20% Syrah and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, masterfully crafted by winemaker David Forsyth.
The winery says "the majority of the 2019 Red Blend grapes come from vineyards in the middle of the state near the famed Indian Wells and Cold Creek Vineyards, while a smaller portion hails from a vineyard across a plateau overlooking the Columbia River in the southeast region of the Horse Heaven Hills." They point out that the 2019 vintage was the coldest in Washington's history.
The wine was aged for 14 months in French and American oak, has alcohol at 14.1% abv and a price tag of $18.
This wine is medium dark in the glass and smells like dark fruit, somewhat jammy and somewhat oaky, but not in a bad way. The vanilla and clove notes have a trace of smoke and sage peeking through. The palate shows black and blue berries mainly, with a minty herbal edge on the side. The tannins are firm and the finish is medium long. I'll pair this with something off the grill, although I may want to try a chill on it if I have it outside.
Columbia Valley grapes make up the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon from United Ink. Winemaker Forsyth combines 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with 5% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
The winery explains that "the majority of the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a vineyard across a plateau overlooking the Columbia River in the southeast region of the Horse Heaven Hills."
The wine was aged for 14 month French and American oak, alcohol tips 14.1% abv and it retails for $18.
This Washington Cab sits medium dark in the glass and has a fairly closed nose at first. It opens up to black fruit and savory oak - not sweet - after some time. The mouthfeel seems rather thin to me, with gentle tannins. Overall, it comes on more like a Pinot Noir than a Cabernet, but there is enough blackberry and plum to convince me that its' real. Unexpected, but not completely out in left field.
I have always thought - hoped - that Gregory Peck took his Hollywood name after looking up while standing on the Beverly Hills street corner of Gregory Way and Peck Drive. I feel that a lot of inspiration has come from street intersections which have a good ring to them when spoken out loud. Hollywood and Vine, Pico and Sepulveda, 3rd and Fairfax. Of course, it is hard to imagine a celebrity by the name of Hollywood Vine or Pico Sepulveda or 3rd Fairfax. In Peck's case, that is not the case. He was born in San Diego as Eldred Gregory Peck, and he simply lost the nerdy first name for show business.
Yellow Sky is a 1948 western directed by William A. Wellman, starring Peck, Richard Widmark and Anne Baxter. Yes, Peck alone would make us watch, but the deal is sweetened considerably with the addition of Widmark and Baxter. If only Harry Morgan would appear… Oh, there he is, playing a guy named Half-Pint.
A group of bank robbers on the run through the desert run out of water. That's a tough break, because then you have nothing for your scotch. They come upon a ghost town - well actually a town of population two - and decide to recharge themselves there. A woman is involved, and a gold strike, so things get crazy like they do when money and sex are involved.
That's a genuine desert you see there, by the way, which is possibly why you get thirsty watching Yellow Sky. Some of the filming happened at the Death Valley National Monument. Spoiler alert: At the end, the bad guys give the money back to the bank. *cocks head* "Huh?" The tellers must have been confused, since they get very few bands of outlaws making deposits.
For Yellow Sky, how about a yellow wine? The French call it Vin Jaune in Jura, where it is made somewhat like sherry and tastes like it, too. Benoit Badoz is the tenth generation of his family to make wine, and he makes the Vin Jaune as prescribed, from the Savignin grape.
In the 1976 horror flick, The Omen, Peck hides the death of his newborn son from his wife by secretly adopting another child. Hey, they all look alike at that age, anyway. However, they aren't all the Antichrist. You win some, you lose some. Just don't let that nanny from Hell get him a dog..
The kid - Damien, in case you haven't heard - wields a lot of power behind that cute little smile. In most homes, Rottweilers would be considered a threat to a small child, not a minion. The Omen features some truly horrifying death scenes. You won’t un-see the impaling or the decapitation anytime soon.
Speaking of that nanny from Hell, two breweries had a beer named Mrs. Baylock, but they are sadly out of production. I hate it when a good wine-and-movie pairing goes away! So, let's go back to France for a pairing with The Omen. Domaine Saint Damien produces a blood-red Gigondas wine from old vines. Don't let your Rottweiler anywhere near the bottle. Or your nanny.
Moby Dick, in 1956, cast Peck as the officer with a one-track mind, Captain Ahab. John Huston directed and co-wrote the script with Ray Bradbury.
Ahab's obsessive search for the elusive white whale is a character study like no other. Everyone has their own obsessions, to one point or another. The only thing I have in my life that compares to Ahab's fixation is my futile search for the original version of the 45 rpm record "Nyquil Blues," by Alvin Crow and his Pleasant Valley Boys. That's my white whale. Ye damned record!
Newport Vineyards had a blended wine known as White Whale, but the label has been dropped from the menu. Too bad, that would have tied up this pairing with a bow. Gray Whale Gin? Off-color, but at least you can get it. Let's go for a beer, from Massachusetts' Moby Dick Brewing Company. I like the Ishm-Ale, but you can pick anything you like.
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Never Better DIPA hails from San Diego County, which is an area that has yet to disappoint me when it comes to brewing. The Coronado Brewing Company is a family owned concern on San Diego's Coronado Island. They have a tasting room and some sort of food service there, too, as I understand it.
This double IPA was made with four varieties of hops: Citra, Mosaic, Vic Secret and Simcoe. Alcohol hits a lofty 8.1% abv.
The Never Better DIPA shows a beautiful golden-copper color in the glass and a rather hazy appearance. The suds disappear quickly. A nose of flowers, pine and citrus is quite inviting, and the palate brings the herbal angle home, along with malt and a slight bitterness, which lingers on the finish. It's a smooth drinker, too, so the DIPA aspect and the comparatively high alcohol content does nothing to ruin the sipping experience.
The 1974 film, Pardon My Blooper, presents the same sort of broadcast "misteaks" compiled by Kermit Schafer in his record albums of years previous. Schafer probably popularized the word "blooper" - a flub or mistake by an announcer or actor - all by himself. I had the "Pardon My Blooper" record in my teens, and was often amused by the entertaining cover art depicting a TV camera holding its lens, as if it had been punched in the face, and a radio microphone plugging its ears. Well, I was easily amused in my teens. I don't think that even then, the film version of Blooper would have held my interest for ten minutes. It is amusing, though, to watch the staged segments in this movie. The bad lighting is the same in all of them, and I think it's even the same actress in about half of them.
Yes, Virginia, the bloopers are phony. Although Blooper is billed in the credits as a documentary, many of the gaffes were recreated in the studio, with limited casting and awful lighting. Oh, the humanity.
Celebrate the 4th of July with many clips of a guy who sounds like a newscaster saying "take a leak," instead of "take a look." Spoonerisms, transposed words and saying "shitty" instead of "city." That's blooper comedy, my friend.
You'll need booze to get through this one. Fortunately, one of the more famous bloopers from early YouTube days concerned Georgia's Château Élan winery. You can see it by Googling - or Binging, if you prefer - Grape Lady Epic Fail. The TV reporter was trying to foot-stomp some grapes and took a tumble while doing so. Try a Chambourcin, since that's what she stomping on when she slipped and fell.
Columbo Meets Scotland Yard was actually just a long TV show. It aired in 1972 as the Columbo episode, "Dagger of the Mind," as one of the movie-length shows from the series. This one has the disheveled detective in London, helping to investigate a murder. What, not enough action in L.A. to suit Columbo? At least his raincoat finally comes in handy.
Have a Scotch with Columbo, if only because of the meme showing a Columbo lookalike holding a Chivas Regal, under the words "so good if you have something to forget." Of course, Columbo always remembered, if at the last minute.
Now, more television, as The Meanest Men in the West is actually two episodes of "The Virginian" from the early '60s, TV's Western Era. The trailer boasts that "Lee Marvin is mean, Charles Bronson is meaner." What no mention of Chuck Norris? The Mean Academy will have something to say about that.
Is it just me, or was "The Virginian" the only TV series without any hooks at all? (No offense to Lee J. Cobb fans). I don't recall any Virginian catch phrases, running jokes, theme song or special episodes, even these two. On a high note, one of the episodes was written and directed by Samuel Fuller and Charles Grodin appears in the other one. Well, the series drew some great talent, so someone must have been watching it.
Gotta have a Virginia wine for the mean guys. Stinson Vineyards makes a tough-guy rosé, from the brawny Tannat grape. Rosé for The Meanest Men in the West? That's why they started calling it Brosé, bro.
The 2018 Crescere Sauvignon Blanc is made entirely from grapes grown in Kent Ritchie's vineyard in the Russian River Valley. It's a very small plot - only five acres, planted among Chardonnay vines. The Sauvignon Blanc vines are reportedly several decades old, producing concentrated fruit. Crescere is the only winery making a single-vineyard SauvBlanc from the Ritchie Vineyard.
The label art was created by London-based artist Yehrin Tong. It is made up of Fibonacci spirals, a fractal geometry design which is thought to embody the innate beauty of nature.
The wine is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc grapes, which were whole-cluster pressed at the winery. About two-thirds of the wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks, but the rest was vinified in new French oak barrels. Alcohol tips 14.4% abv and the wine retails for $60.
It is lightly tinted yellow-gold in the glass. Its nose offers sweet stone fruit, tropical notes, citrus and a very faint grassy or herbal sense - just barely a hint. The oak shows rather strongly on the palate, with a razor-sharp acidity, and both those elements seem to play off of one another. Pineapple candy comes back on the finish. This is an expensive Sauvignon Blanc, but it has a lot to offer.
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Sierra Nevada says the Hazy Little Thing IPA is "aggressively dry-hopped and less filtered." Why make it hazy? They say the haze is where the flavor is. Alcohol sits at 6.7% abv.
The nose of this beer is floral, citrusy and hoppy, as one would expect of a West Coast IPA. The palate is so tart it's almost sour. The citrus comes through plainly, while a malty aftertaste sneaks in after the sip is gone. It is quite a refreshing beer, one that would be great outside after doing some heavy lifting in the lawn and garden.
When I did a Google search for 2017's Atomic Blonde - just to make sure I already knew everything - Google showed me a few questions being asked by others about the movie. One of them was, "Is Atomic Blonde worth watching?"
If you need to ask Google if a movie suits you, you have probably been reading too many Google ads in your email inbox. How about you take a flyer on your own sensibilities and wildly risk the two hours it takes to actually find out if it's worth it? Besides, Charlize Theron is in it, ya idiot! Why wouldn’t you watch?
Theron plays a late-1980s spy who is one of a large handful of spies chasing down a list of double agent spies. There is quite a bit of pretty solid action, most of it involving Theron. It is a rather complicated bit of scripting, however. "Oh, gee, does that mean it’s not worth it?" No, it doesn't.
The super spy of Atomic Blonde does not go for the James Bond type of alcoholic beverage. She likes Stoli vodka, on ice. There is no "shaken, not stirred" mystique with her choice. It's cold and direct: just bring the ice and leave the bottle.
1954's The Atomic Kid stars Mickey Rooney as a guy prospecting for uranium in what is presumably the Nevada desert. It sounds like "Andy Hardy Goes to Area 51." Rooney was 34 at the time, and still playing roles defined as "kid." The kid finds himself at ground zero for a nuclear test blast. Don't worry - he closed his eyes and plugged his ears, so he survived. He did become radioactive, however. Hilarity ensues. The script came from a story by Blake Edwards, who managed to shoehorn a love angle into the proceedings. That is a helluva meet-cute.
Scientists say there is a little radioactivity in everything, including the wine we drink. Don't worry about it, though - it's not enough radiation to make us glow in the dark. Wouldn't that be fun, though? I was in a bar once when a street team came in and handed out glow sticks. The patrons promptly bit the ends off of them, and soon everyone was speckled with the glowing contents of those sticks. Pop open a cold can of Nuclear Wine to pair with The Atomic Kid, the wine which says "Yes we CAN." If you are still worried about the radiation, cop a move from Rooney's character. Close your eyes and hold your nose while you drink.
A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 vision of post-nuclear war America in 2024. Well we're getting pretty close to that time, so I suspect we should start looking for our jetpacks any day now. It's always quaint when the future time depicted in a movie actually clicks over on the calendar, instantly dating the film. But who am I to suggest that a nuclear war won't start and finish in the next three years?
If it does, let's hope this movie's depiction of survival is wrong. A Boy and His Dog is a black comedy starring a young Don Johnson as Vic, who travels the land with his telepathic dog, who helps Vic find women with whom he can satisfy his insatiable sexual appetite. Now that's a puppy who is earning his Snausages. However, Vic's methods are tainted with rape. Food and sex, the tentpoles of the misogynistic future.
Some of the food would have to be Nuclear Winter barleywine. It's a French craft beer with the influence of oak cognac barrels. At 16% alcohol, you might think it's a wine. After a few bottles, you might even think your dog is telepathic. Just don’t start doing whatever he says.
The can also reads: "True arrogant bastards refuse to be ignorant. Know where your beer comes from!" In the interest of being as arrogant as possible, this beer comes from Escondido, California. I have yet to try a beer from San Diego County that I did not like, at least a little bit. Most of them I like a lot. Like this arrogant bastard.
It is brewed and canned by Arrogant Consortia, Escondido, CA and Richmond, VA, so they are bicoastally arrogant. It is actually a subset of Stone Brewing, which launched Arrogant Bastard in 1997, and for my money Stone is the best damn brewery around. Arrogant alcohol tips 7.2% abv.
Arrogant Bastard Ale is a strong American ale, dark and malty and laced with a caramel note. It is dark enough to be getting close to porter territory. The palate is slightly bitter and carries a nutty sensibility that is completely charming.
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Pietradolce Etna Rosso Archineri 2017 is made completely from the Sicilian grape Nerello Mascalese. Some people feel it is a lot like Pinot Noir, but I find it a lot livelier, more muscular than a typical Pinot. The vines from which these grapes came are 80 to 90 years old - prephylloxera - on the northern slopes of Mt. Etna.
Owner Michele Faro spoke fondly of the volcanic soil during the Zoom gathering and he even brought some freshly fallen volcanic ash with him as show-and-tell.
The wine was aged 14 months in French oak tonneaux, has alcohol at 15% abv and sells for around $40.
This wine does a little Pinot Noir act, medium ruby in the glass with earthy red fruit on the nose. The nose also offers notes of coffee, sage and eucalyptus. The palate definitely shows the volcanic origin along with spice and pepper, plus a firm tannic structure and a ripping acidity. The sip finishes clean and savory. Very tasty.
From Sicily again, 100% Nerello Mascalese which was aged 14 to 16 months in French oak casks, then 18 months in the bottle. Alcohol is tamer in this one, 13.5% abv, and it averages around $26 on the cash register.
This wine is medium ruby in the glass and smells of raspberry, cherry, anise and an earthy note. The palate is like a more savory take on Pinot Noir, with coffee, red fruit and spicy herbs. The tannins are very firm and the acidity is fresh. There is a long finish which carries the red fruit back. If it's an outdoor occasion this summer, the Cottanera takes a chill well.
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