The Great Grape Crush of 2008

We finally got our shipment of California Grapes, delayed by weather - specifically by Hurricane Ike that hit Cincinnati. . . Yes that’s right, the Ohio Valley was hit by a Hurricane around 2 weeks ago. Never thought I’d say that in my lifetime. . . Luckily, we sustained little damage and never lost power. Not so for many people who had lost power for over 7-10 days. . . craziness.

But back to the grapes. . . .They looked great and most of them are happily fermenting away as we speak. Three of us usually make wine together, and between the three of us we are making a Chardonnay, Muscato (Muscat), Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Our big shipment of Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon is coming in at the end of October. . . . and it is arriving frozen. They pick the grapes and flash freeze them within a few hours of picking, so we know they will be fresh. Can’t wait !

Until the next post, Cheers !

Go Guest !

Guest is a local (Ohio) band that has been around 10 plus years and they still absolutely rock the house !

Ryan "Buzz" Bussey designed a really nice shirt for their 2 upcoming shows. Thanks Buzz for a great design and the referral!

Here their band rep Louis Kontos drove down from Columbus to pick up shirts. The shirts turned out great and everyone is happy !
Friday Guest is playing in Columbus and they will be in Athens, Ohio Saturday night! Check out their myspace profile at :
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=66510205

Cincinnati needs to get these guys to come play a show soon.

Ten Fiddy is here! !

It’s been a while since I have posted. 2 weekends ago we were at Bill and Jill Levenderis’s wedding in Oxford. We saw a bunch of old friends, ate some great food, and heard some phenomenal music by a band called Guest.

My friend Rob from Wisconsin brought me a ton of Ted Fiddy. . .an Imperial Russian Stout from Oskar Blues in Boulder, Colorado. Its as thick as oil coming out of the can, with a great nose of chocolate, malt, coffee, cocoa and oats – rated 100 points out of 100 by http://www.ratebeer.com/ . Some friends and I will be disecting these beers in an attempt to clone. . we'll see how it works out. . .
But I’ll be tucking away quite a few of these babies away for aging for sure. Thanks Rob !

We took pictures, which I’ll post later . . . I’d hate to be the person cleaning up our hotel room. . .