So remember my post last month about North Berkeley Imports and how they’ve been so important to me in terms of Burgundy and Rhone wines and how they personally go over to France and hand select barrels and to say their line-up of French wines are a study in perfection is an understatement. Remember that? Also, remember how I wrote that within the last few years NBI has expanded to include some first rate Italians? And, I also wrote about how I headed west last month to attend NBI’s portfolio tasting. Well, I am thrilled that the wines I went out and tasted are starting to show up and I am here to tell you this: I, Jon Smith, stake my professional reputation on the quality, purity and vibrancy of these wines. read more…
Popularity: 11% [?]
After nearly 16 years in the wine business, and over 7 having run my own wine shop and wine bar, I have finally put my money where my mouth is. The long patient wait is over and in just a matter of a few weeks I anticipate the arrival of the 2008 vintage of Clever Wines Syrah, Sonoma Coast “Stage Gulch Vineyard.” After three press runs, aged separately in two different types of oak for nearly 18 months, we made the final blending decisions and decided that ageing was done and it was time to bottle this baby up! The finished product is a gorgeous, supple, intensely fruited Syrah with just enough of that tar, white pepper, roasted meat and bacon aroma that are commonly associated with Syrah. I’m here to tell you this wine is GOOD, legitimately good. That’s not just proud papa speak, as a wine professional I can say – objectively – that this wine speaks to everything that is true to the Syrah grape and everything that is true to a Syrah grape from a cool climate vineyard. Its good. Real good, and that’s important. read more…
Popularity: 26% [?]
Brand new to New Orleans are the beers of Der HirschBrau/Privatbrauerei Höss. They are some of the richest, most intense German brews in the market and they are, in the words of my loquacious attorney “The Real Deal, Shaquille.” With over 350 years of brewing beer to the strictest German standards these guys still can’t figure out how to get a website on the interwebs in English, but that’s ok. They brew amazing beer and that’s good enough for this kid. We’re very excited to get our hands on some of the most genuine articles in the land that practically invented the standards for brewing beer.
So, with zero help from the Der HirschBrau/Privatbrauerei Höss website, here’s what we have in stock: read more…
Popularity: 28% [?]
So I just returned from North Berkeley Imports annual portfolio tasting in San Francisco and all I can say is I was WOWED by the breadth and quality of the current offerings. Definitely customers of Cork & Bottle and Clever need to stay tuned for much more to come from North Berkeley Imports at Cork & Bottle. read more…
Popularity: 28% [?]
Today was one of those days where something really terrible happened, but it was also a huge relief at the same time and by the end of the day I was spent and needed something fun to do to get my mind elsewhere, so, I cooked a goat. Well, not a whole goat, just the leg. And not even the whole leg either, just the part between the shank and the shoulder. But I digress. read more…
Popularity: 32% [?]
In my recent quick jaunt to San Francisco I was able to enjoy one of my favorite past times in that fair city: getting fat eating baked goods. For all the myriad offerings of that culinary Mecca baking is one thing San Francisco does rather well. Surely the ubiquitous sourdough bread and variations therein come to mind when thinking about San Francisco but it is the sweeter side of their baked offerings that I crave before my plane is even fully landed at SFO. In particular there are two places I enjoy and in terms of style, presentation and appearance they couldn’t be more divergent. But I love them both. read more…
Popularity: 41% [?]
Zuni Café in San Francisco is a classic American restaurant which flawlessly perpetuates the notion that there is perfection in simplicity and it’s a restaurant I wish existed at the end of my street. Or perhaps I wish lived down the street from Zuni. I’m confused. read more…
Popularity: 41% [?]
A new Wednesday feature on Cork & Bloggle, I share the most insane wine(s) I’ve had that week {assuming I’m of the mind to take the photograph}. read more…
Popularity: 40% [?]
It with great pleasure that I announce effective Thursday January 14th that the Crescent City Farmer’s Market will take over operations from the Mid-City Green Market on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 7 in the parking lot of the American Can Company. read more…
Popularity: 98% [?]
Even Santa needs a little boost this time of year
Like it or not, the holidays are here and that means one thing: Its time to consume alcohol like your life depends on it.
Whether or not it’s a party, a dinner or just a way to survive the insanity of the season, the month of December means cocktails. Certainly these cocktails come in many means and forms and are made with any numbers of various sprits, but Bourbon is without a doubt a fantastic base spirit to use in a holiday cocktail. For starters its “ours” and as a uniquely American spirit, particularly in the South, its aroma surely awakens from some recess of your brain the memory of holidays gone by. You remember: the family’s gathered all around, its nippy outside and your uncle holding a small glass and a bottle of bourbon, sitting in the corner mumbling about “that sum-a-nabitchin Bum Philips” until he drifted off into a peaceful holiday slumber. More important, though (and more seriously), is that the aromas of Bourbon marry perfectly with the spiced and warm flavors of the holidays. Bourbon doesn’t need much added to it to really enhance its warmth and spirit of the Fall and Winter flavors.
We’ve pulled together four really nice Bourbon based holiday cocktails from some of the nation’s top cocktail specialists and we invite you to join us at our bar, Clever, on Tuesday December 8, from 6-8 to sample these four Bourbon based holiday cocktails for free. If you like what you try we’re featuring all of them of only $4 per cocktail that night.
Here’s what we’re serving along with their mixing instructions. Cheers!: read more…
Popularity: 100% [?]
