Southern Tier 422 Pale Wheat Ale

Not as malty or hoppy as Gumball Head, but a good substitute if you must drink wheat beer that's flavored with hops instead of coriander & orange peel.

Domaine du Tariquet

Wine Dinner @ Mon Ami Gabi
How often do you have a 5 course wine dinner with out red wines? Thanks
to the good folks @ Kacher, this was a first for me.
1st course: the Classique (Ugni Banc/Colombard) w/ a scallop mousse &
curry pineapple aioli.
The Classique is fresh & clean, w/ moderate alcohol & acidity. No wood,
all pure fruit, but not cloying. Perfect w/ the dish.
2nd Course: Sauvignon Blanc w/ Squash soup & Lobster Tarragon dumping.
A very clean style which the house strives for. No sulphites are added
before crush or during fermentation. Acidity is moderate, but not quite
zippy enough to cut through the sweetness of the soup.
3rd course: Chenin Blanc (75%)/ Chardonnay (25%) w/ poached Sea Bass.
Still very clean, but w/ more oompff. A great combo, coud have dined &
drank on this all day & night.
4th course: Pork Loin w/ Creamy herbed Polenta & Chardonnay (30% new
oak). Not my favorite pairing, but I'm generally predisposed to not
liking Chardonnay w/ anything other than chicken or lobster.
2 of my dining mates dug it, so chalk it up to prejudice.
Dessert: Vanilla Orange Sabayon w/ Shortbread & Sauvignon
Blanc/Chardonnay. The best combo of the night. A veritabe citrus fest.
If the wait staff had kept bringing this to me, I would have ingested
both food & drink until I called for the bucket.
Kudos to the everyone @ Kacher & Mon Ami Gabi for putting on a white
wine dinner (the other wine)! While I have to admit I'd rather have had
a Pinot Noir w/ my pork, these wines generally out-classed themseves
throughout the meal & I left thoroughly satisfied.
st!

Blind Robin Chicago - Beamish

An indifferent pour on a Wed. Night. Sandinista playing with the usual
assortment of hipsters & post college 20 sumthings. Bunch of smokers
waiting for something 2 happen.

Text fun

Jakes @ 1am on mon. No Guinness review, ' cause they're outtt. Plenty o'
fucked-up people though. Hammered, like moi. Good times.

2004 Hansel North Coast Pinot Noir

Hype, hype, hype. Everyone I know loves this wine, but the alcohol
level on this wine obscures everything else right now. Will it mature,
sure, but into what? When first opened, there was lots of raspberry
fruit with substanial tannin. Upon further review, the alcohol seemed
to be the primary factor. Does this resolve itself? The oddest thing
about this wine is that it didn't get better with time, it got worse.
Perhaps it's in a dumb stage right now, but right now, it's not all that
friendly.

1997 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Blanc

My buddy said not worth buying a box, but @ $24.99, this is a solid buy.
Drinking well, but still has a lot of life in it. Toasty, w/ mature
notes of earth. Medium bodied w/ good viscocity & length. I'd buy
another.

1998 Vallee d'Aoste Donnas

Really obscure, but what I had @ the end of the night @ Que Padre on North Ave. Really, really, reaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyy, mature. But hey, I loved it. It made me hungry every time I took a sip & I had a big dinner @ the aforementioned supper club. If you're a fan of dried cherries (& who isn't) try a Langhe Rosso from 1998 if you can't track this bad boy down. Like I said, ultra obscure, but if you're reading this, you know that already.

Chicago Joe's - Guinness Report

Typical indifferent speed pour. @ least it was topped off. Perfunctory @
best, my bar mate reported his pint of Harp as being "corky". Nothing
to miss here.