Boozy McGuzzles

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $7.99 at Astor Center
RATING: B-

I’ve been trying to do Spanish wines lately, because I think I like them… at least, I know I like a bunch of Portuguese stuff, and they’re like totally right next to each other? So I fussed over the Spanish selections in my wine shop and picked out this one, which met at the vertex of ‘price’ and ‘interesting blurb on the name card.’

When I poured this one out and stuck my nose in the glass, I thought, ‘Ah! This has the aroma of… wine! Yes, this definitely smells like wine! Red wine, even! Oh, by jove! It tastes like red wine, too!” …This is just sort of run-of-the-mill, one of the ones folk’ll call “drinkable” and not mean it as an insult. I tossed a glass into the pasta sauce I was making to great effect. This is kind of the perfect wine to cook with: good enough to drink on its own, but not so full of character as to overpower your dish.

This one definitely improved as it sat around in my bedroom and opened up more. When I didn’t have tomato sauce confusing my palate (though it went very well in and with the tomato sauce), I got some nice mineraly, chalky hints in the scent, and a spicy, kind of coffee flavor. The back of the label says it has hints of “licorice mint” and honestly that is just nonsense. Seriously, wine people, that is just nonsense. And if it weren’t nonsense, it would probably taste nasty. Dang!

BUY IT AGAIN: Probably not. It’s decent, but it didn’t wow me, and I’d rather explore more. It’s basically exactly what you’d expect from an $8 wine.

Smuttynose Hanami Ale

I’m a big fan of Smuttynose beer, and the appearance of their Pumpkin Ale on shelves is always a delightful sign that summer is going to end soon. So when I saw the six-pack with the cute little Japanese girl and manekineko on it, I was basically doomed. I’m such a sucker for seasonal beers.

The label promises that the beer is made with an ample dose of cherry juice, which had me a little nervous, because cherry is often one of my least favorite flavors, when it appears in that cloying, maraschino-cough syrup kind of flavor. I’ve tried one other cherry-type beer before, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, and didn’t like it much at all. I wanted to try something new, though, and Smuttynose has never done me wrong before, so I bought it.

Delightfully enough, there’s none of the cough drop flavor in Hanami Ale. First gulp gives a very bright, sour-sweet, real cherry taste. It’s remarkably sweet and fruity at first, but not so much that you’d confuse it with one of the soda boozes that are so popular with the kids these days. The first cold sip is the sweetest, but as it warms up in your hand and airs out, the cherry mellows out and it tastes like a very sharp beer. Definitely good for drinking just by itself, and chased some spicy noodles quite well.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yes, probably, since it’s only available for a few months! I’m such a sucker for seasonable brews.