A BAT appearance in Promo Power

April 11th, 2012 stephanie

With years and years of experience within the beverage alcohol industry, we at BAT love to share our insights of the spirits, wine and beer categories with both our clients and beverage enthusiasts alike. Jeff Grindrod, our Managing Partner at Brand Action Team, recently provided some simple strategies to Nightclub & Bar’s Alissa Ponchione in their popular “Promo Power” newsletter. His tips highlight some of the best practices for developing a “stellar” drinks promotion program, including a tip I find to be invaluable, educating the staff:

“The biggest thing is (owners) don’t educate their staff,” Grindrod says. “They spend so much time on the food menu, but they don’t do the same education on the drink side. You have to be educated of what it is and why it’s different.”

You can read the rest of Jeff’s tips, as reported by Alissa, on the award-winning Nightclub&Bar website.

Cheers!
SJ

 

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Chilean Terroir Master Class – New York City

March 21st, 2012 Constance

CALLING ALL SOMMS!

Chile is rapidly becoming one of the world leaders in high quality terroir driven wines.  With over two decades of intense research and development into the rugged landscapes of Chile’s vast coastal and Andean foothills the wines of today show incredible varietal purity and sense of place.  Master Sommelier and Wines of Chile Educator Fred Dexheimer will be hosting a series of “Chile Terroir Master Classes” where he will lead a detailed tasting with four of Chile’s most important grape varieties (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Carmenere) each sourced from three of the most exciting regions.

Please contact Jake Pippin at jpippin@winesofchileusa.comfor information and reservations

Price: $20

 

When & Where:
Tuesday, April 10th
1 to 3 PM

 

Corkbuzz Wine Studio

13 E. 13th St.
(btwn University and 5th Ave.)
New York, NY10003
http://www.corkbuzz.com/

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HUSA Portfolio Beer Dinner at Hartford’s Burger Baby

March 7th, 2012 stephanie

By total chance, I happened upon a promotional flyer from downtown Hartford’s newest burger joint, Burger Baby, promoting a  beer dinner paired with many of the imported offerings from the Heineken USA (we call it HUSA) portfolio. I was thrilled to have an evening off and attend the beer dinner and, now, share my experiences with you so you can recreate this exceptional beer pairing experience at home. Heineken USA has made great strides to put more feet on the street by sending educated draught experts into bars, restaurants and pubs to demonstrate the benefits of serving this portfolio of beers on tap. Here’s the breakdown:

Upon entering Burger Baby and taking up a seat at the bar, I was greeted with a bottle of Sol and appetizer plate of grilled shrimp skewers. The combination of the refreshingly crisp beer and shrimp charred over the grill transported me immediately away from the chaos of the work day and into a relaxed state of mind. The first round with my Sol (other customers were enjoying a Heineken Light instead) was capped off with another set of appetizers; popcorn chicken in two complementing soy and buffalo sauces.

We were then seated for dinner, in a very dimly lit corner (that explains the terrible photos, my apologies!) of the restaurant accented with paraphernalia about from the different HUSA brands – polo and t-shirts, bottle openers, a Newcastle mirror and a cardboard standup of The Most Interesting Man In the World himself embraced us aw we took our seats. Once seated, the next beer presented was a Dos Equis Lager paired with a Burger Baby house salad. The Dos Equis poured a beautiful golden color with a thin foam lace on top and the crisp texture of the beer really played up well with the bright colors and flavors of the salad.

Next out was a draught pint from Heineken, the world’s most international beer brand. This premium European style lager was presented with a  seared rare tuna with a wasabi aioli over a daikon radish and carrot salad in a light soy and sesame vinaigrette. The pairing actually gets my vote for the best course of the evening! The mild malt sweetness in the middle (I find you get this more with Heineken served on draught rather than from the bottle) really cut through the powerful horseradish in the aioli and truly made the tuna the star of the dish. I absolutely loved this combination and hope to try something similar again in the near future.

Now I was really geared up for our next course – the burger! – paired with Newcastle’s Limited Edition Winter IPA. Zesty in character and jam-packed with a creamy finish, this British-style India Pale Ale expression is full-bodied, hoppy (far less so than the American counterpart) and holds up quite well against a juicy burger dripping with flavorful toppings and sauces. While the pairing itself was quite

Gotta love the Instagram - turning terrible lighting into art! ;)

fantastic, I was quite underwhelmed by the burger itself, a Burger Deluxe covered with a hot smoked paprika and chipotle aioli. The burger was far too rare for my personal tastes, especially after having just been served a rare fish course just before, I was hoping for a burger a bit more cooked through. But, again, the pairing itself was really pretty stellar. This is a great beer to introduce your friends to who say they don’t like IPAs – while its has its fair share of hops, its IBU rating is far less bitter than many American-brewed counterparts (not that there’s anything wrong with those – I personally love them!).

Lastly we turned to dessert, where I was presented with “The One and Only” – a draught of Newcastle Brown Ale. Served in a traditional Geordie Schooner glass, this leading imported ale was presented alongside a rich chocolate brownie sundae. I went into the meal assuming this would be my favorite pairing and it certainly met my expectations! The English pale and dark caramel malts together make Newcastle Brown one of my go-to choices for a dessert pairing.

I truly had a fantastic experience dining with Burger Baby and the Heineken USA and hope to see more events in the area again soon highlighting this fantastic portfolio of beers. If you have food pairing questions or advice to share using these or other assortments of beers, please leave me a comment as I would love to hear your feedback!

Cheers!
SJ

 

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Valentine’s Day wines & my first time… sabering

February 15th, 2012 Constance

Valentine’s night was something to be celebrated. Instead of going out this year, my boyfriend and opted to stay in and we cooked up a feast of steamed oysters, lobster tails, Barramundi (an Australian seabass,) grilled asparagus, and sweet potatoes.We kicked off the evening with a bottle of 2011 Artner Gruener Veltliner and paired dinner with a couple of bottles of Sauvignon Blanc (2010 MontGras Reserva and 2011 Emiliana Novas) I had taken home from a Chilean wine tasting the day before.

Naturally, we were feeling happy with the food and, most importantly, each other’s company. One thing led to another and things started to get wild. Before I knew it, I was standing over my kitchen sink with carving knife in my right hand and an undressed bottle of sparkling wine in the other.

Now, to premise this story, I’ve conducted heavy research on how to saber a bottle of Champagn

e/sparkling wine. I’ve written articles about it for other blogs, and have watched several of my wine-business colleagues do the same…but, I’ve never tried  it myself.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Chill the bottle in the freezer or on ice for a couple of hours to ensure it is plenty cold

Peel all of the foil and paper off of the bottle.

2. Undo the cage.

3. Locate the seam of the bottle.

4. Slide the saber (or a large kitchen knife you don’t care much about) along the seam at full force making sure to keep contact the entire time. Once you hit the neck of the bottle it should pop off. If it does not, try again…and again…. and again until it does.

 

As you may have guessed, it d

idn’t work for me on the first time, but my boyfriend’s doubts made me that much more determined.

Word of caution: once popped, the pressure built up in the bottle will release wine from the bottle (I have to wash my kitchen floor later) AND the top will likely go flying (my poor boyfriend almost lost an eye.) However, it is a great party trick so long as everyone signs a waiver first.

 

Naturally, there was cause for celebration. For dessert, we paired Milano cookies and dried figs with Klein Constancia Vin de Constance 2006 (after all, the wine and I share a name) from South Africa. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful evening.
How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

 

 

**Please note: I, in no way, condone playing with sharp knives or sabers after consuming several glasses of wine. Also, note that the majority of each of these bottles had been consumer prior to Tuesday so we did not consume 2 bottles of wine each…..)

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Super Bowl Suds

February 9th, 2012 stephanie

Ah, the Super Bowl. Whether your team wins, looses, or you’re watching just for the commercials alone, chances are you were downing a beverage as you celebrated with family and friends.

Studies indicated that approximately 325.5 million gallons of beer were to be consumed on this Super Sunday. And, chances are, from the looks of all the many check-ins I witnessed on Untappd, the American population didn’t underachieve.

While I was stuck sick in bed (yup, woe is me!) I unfortunately don’t have any unique anecdotes or stories to share of creative cocktails or carefully crafted brews. So, instead, I’ll share a recipe perfect for the Super Bowl (or, really, any upcoming party!) from my friend Jacob Grier, who combines a  hoppy American IPA with Galliano, gin and Mandarine Napoléon orange liqueur in this winner of a punch recipe that you can view here.

I’ll look forward to trying this recipe out for myself in the near future!

Cheers!
SJ

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