Today's Foote Daily

Drinkify! Music for your beverages

Have you seen this site? Drinkify.org allows you to enter the name of a band, and with one click, you'll get a drink suggestion to pair with your favorite music. Try it now!

Also, Lucy says you should visit BooksAndVinyl.com . . . .

What to do? Drum Circle and Coastal Uncorked

From the Myrtle Beach Full Moon Drum Circle:

Sat. May 14th, Myrtle Beach Full Moon Drum Circle, Hours 6-9:30 pm. We will be at the State Park in Shelter 6-B. Go toward the ocean, turn right, and listen for the drumbeat. We will be there, rain or shine. Drum Circle is growing! Come out and help create the vibe. Hope to see you there.

And, of course, Coastal Uncorked is in full swing.

Are you going?

The Stump Jump Shiraz

An outstanding Australian red with a 90 rating (from one of those big wine mags) at the Myrtle Beach Costco for $7.99. Yummy. Buy it.

Oh crap -- S.C. alcohol law gets screwed up

Eva Moore, writing in the Free Times of Columbia:

Lawmakers are scrambling to figure out how a state law passed this year ended up barring businesses and individuals from serving beer and wine at special events.


Because of that law, starting in January, the Department of Revenue will only grant special-event permits to serve beer and wine to nonprofit organizations and political parties. They will stop issuing permits to businesses and individuals — promoters, caterers and other event organizers, for example — who must obtain licenses every time they want to serve beer and wine in a location without a permanent beer and wine license.


“Somebody screwed up,” says Tom Sponseller, head of the South Carolina Hospitality Association.


According to Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens), the bill’s sole sponsor, the law was just supposed to make it easier for nonprofits that frequently hold events to apply for multiple licenses at once.

Read the entire article here.

Now THAT is a bottle of wine

LONDON, ENGLAND - A gallery assistant for Sotheby's auction house admires a melchior of Chateau Cheval Blanc 2006 alongside a standard sized bottle on February 12, 2010 in London, England. The melchior sized bottle, which is 18 litres in volume, is to be sold in Sotheby's sale of 'Finest and Rarest Wines & Vintage Port' on February 17, 2010 in London and is expected to fetch up to 4,800 GBP. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.Retrieved via PicApp.

You'd never believe the wine choices at my friend's Christmas party

For red wine, you could have either

A) Fidelity

or

B) Menage a Trois

Beer-and-cheese pairings!

Have gouda with your bock.

Have feta with your pilsner.

Have limburger with your lager.

See many, many more beer-and-cheese pairing suggestions at this great site.

Croissants Bistro & Bakery: New Year's Eve Chef's Tasting Menu

Note the available wine flights, listed at the end -- and, at the very end, the phone number for reservations. -- Colin


NEW YEAR'S EVE CHEF'S TASTING MENU
CROISSANTS BISTRO & BAKERY


Featuring Chef Bryan Bodle

$50

Amuse Bousche
Chef's choice to get you started

Appetizers:
your choice

Malpaque Oysters on the half shell, Bloody Mary Sorbet, Shaved Cucumber

Crepe Florentine, Light Tomato Cream

Preserved Duck Leg and Forest Mushroom Spring Roll, Sweet and Sour Au Jus

Salads:
your choice

Classic Caesar, shaved Parmesan, Thyme Garlic Bruschetta

or

Organic Baby Spinach Salad, warm Shallot, Bacon Vinaigrette,
Baby Tomato, Honey Pecans, Crumbled Clemson Bleu Cheese

Entree:
your choice

Pan Seared Yellow Fin Tuna "Au Poivre"
Nicoise accompaniments

Petite Filet and oven roasted half tail of Maine Lobster,
Saffron Potato Puree, Ratatouille Vinaigrette

Grill Roasted New Zealand Rack of Lamb
Soft herb creamy Polenta, fine roasted Bell Pepper- Olive Relish

Dessert:
Featuring Culinary Institute Student, Sara Johnson

Chocolate Hazelnut Crepes

or

Egg Nog Creme Brulee

Wine Flights available for additional charge:
Wine selections by Stephen Stroman
Champagne Flight
White Wine Flight
Red Wine Flight

843-448-2253
call for reservations

2005 Dancing Bull Zinfandel on Christmas Eve

Dancing Bull Zinfandel (2005) has got to be the spiciest, pepperiest zinfandel I've ever had. Even so, it has plenty of fruitiness to offer.

This might be the first time I've been tempted to call a wine "exciting." Boredom is impossible with this one.

It has all the versatility listed on the bottle -- you could pair it with spicy BBQ or pizza (or a dozen other dishes).

My wife's cousin works for a wine distributer based in Columbia, SC, and he's spending the night with us. He says it's a mid-list Gallo product. Dancing Bull zin is available -- when stores are actually open -- within the $8-$9 range.

Merry Christmas!

Wines and beers for Thanksgiving

I have the responsibility of selecting the wine for my family's Thanksgiving feast in Raleigh, N.C.

Although I've been writing a regular column about beer for two and a half years now, I've made some notes along the way about wine pairings for Thanksgiving, which might be the most difficult pairing challenge of them all.

Last year, I was moderately successful by offering both a chardonnay and a riesling before and during dinner.

To make those choices, I had flipped through Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, and I had searched the Internet for pairing suggestions. As an addition help, the local grocery store had cards on the shelves with Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast ratings -- I just had to make sure that the year on the card was the same as the year on the available bottles.

This year, I decided to add a zinfandel to the mix, only because I know some in my family will always prefer red. Truth be told, no one will care about the type of wines with this meal as much as I will!

Except for the riesling, for which I have a personal affection, I tried to stick to the affordable end of the available wines.

So here are the selections:

Hogue Columbia Valley Riesling 2007 (received an 87 from Wine Spectator); retails around $11 per bottle

King Fish California Chardonnay 2006; retails around $6 per bottle

Barefoot Zinfandel from Lodi, California (no date); retails around $7 per bottle

Earlier this year, I wrote a cover story for a local weekly about beer-and-food pairings, but I still decided not to spend the money on better beers for pairing purposes. Most of my family will drink wine with the meal.

Recently, I have gained a new appreciation and respect for big domestic brewers, and it just so happens that a new beer by Bud and an long-standing beer by Michelob have become personal favorites. Here's what the Thanksgiving beer cooler looks like:

Budweiser American Ale: This new beer from Bud is an all-malt ale with Pacific Cascade hops.

Michelob Lager: A traditional, all-malt lager with European hops.

Woodchuck Amber Cider: This crisp, refreshing alternative to wine and beer works well with holiday feasts; plus you can still count on a little lift. It's 5 percent.

Wines and beers for Thanksgiving

I have the responsibility of selecting the wine for my family's Thanksgiving feast in Raleigh, N.C. My choices are listed in boldface below.

Although I've been writing a regular column about beer for two and a half years now, I've made some notes along the way about wine pairings for Thanksgiving, which might be the most difficult pairing challenge of them all.

Last year, I was moderately successful by offering both a chardonnay and a riesling before and during dinner.

To make those choices, I had flipped through Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, and I had searched the Internet for pairing suggestions. As an addition help, the local grocery store had cards on the shelves with Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast ratings -- I just had to make sure that the year on the card was the same as the year on the available bottles.

This year, I decided to add a zinfandel to the mix, only because I know some in my family will always prefer red. Truth be told, no one will care about the type of wines with this meal as much as I will!

Except for the riesling, for which I have a personal affection, I tried to stick to the affordable end of the available wines.

So here are the selections:

Hogue Columbia Valley Riesling 2007 (received an 87 from Wine Spectator); retails around $11 per bottle

King Fish California Chardonnay 2006; retails around $6 per bottle

Barefoot Zinfandel from Lodi, California (no date); retails around $7 per bottle

Earlier this year, I wrote a cover story for a local weekly about beer-and-food pairings, but I still decided not to spend the money on better beers for pairing purposes. Most of my family will drink wine with the meal.

Recently, I have gained a new appreciation and respect for big domestic brewers, and it just so happens that a new beer by Bud and an long-standing beer by Michelob have become personal favorites. Here's what the Thanksgiving beer cooler looks like:

Budweiser American Ale: This new beer from Bud is an all-malt ale with Pacific Cascade hops.

Michelob Lager: A traditional, all-malt lager with European hops.

Woodchuck Amber Cider: This crisp, refreshing alternative to wine and beer works well with holiday feasts; plus you can still count on a little lift. It's 5 percent.

Get your beer news published in the Weekly Surge

You can make a comment on this blog post.

You can email me at beerpour@yahoo.com .

Either way, I'll give extremely serious consideration to your beer specials, your new beverage arrivals, or your upcoming adult-beverage related events in the greater Myrtle Beach area.

Cheers!

Beerman has gone to every-other-week

To the readers of my Beerman column in The Weekly Surge --

If you haven't noticed yet, the editor and I decided to make Beerman an every-other-week kind of column.

I will continue to update this blog between columns.

Send me news when you have some!

cheers,
Colin

For wine drinkers: Cavit's 2007 Pinot Noir from Italy

Wednesday night, my wife and I had a quick, casual dinner at the Olive Garden across U.S. 17 from Barefoot Landing (North Myrtle Beach, SC). We bought a bottle of 2007 Pinot Noir from Provincia di Pavia, by the Cavit Collection. It was, as advertised, light and fruity -- and we loved it. Plus, it was affordable. We spent about $20 on that bottle, which is pretty darn reasonable for a bottle at a restaurant.

When animals eat fermented fruit

There's a scallop in my beer

In Great Britain, a brewer has produced a beer using scallops. I thought I had heard it all.

The Shepherd Neame brewery's Scallop Stout is like Guinness, and made with traditional methods, except a handful of scallops are thrown in for an hour, according to the Web site Metro.co.uk.

"There's a hint of smokiness and a slight taste of the sea but no fishiness. I can find no scientific reason for why it works, but it does," brewer Stewart Main told the Web site.

Shepherd Neame, based in Kent, is planning to release a crab beer and a winkle beer, too.


(For news and commentary on religion and culture, click here.)

There's a scallop in my beer

In Great Britain, a brewer has produced a beer using scallops. I thought I had heard it all.

The Shepherd Neame brewery's Scallop Stout is like Guinness, and made with traditional methods, except a handful of scallops are thrown in for an hour, according to the Web site Metro.co.uk.

"There's a hint of smokiness and a slight taste of the sea but no fishiness. I can find no scientific reason for why it works, but it does," brewer Stewart Main told the Web site.

Shepherd Neame, based in Kent, is planning to release a crab beer and a winkle beer, too.


(Also check out this post about Aquinas Wines.)

Labels add to wine's message on Valentine's Day

If you buy wine for your Valentine's Day beloved, you're probably dropping a hint about your intentions, and these days, the wine labels often say a bit more. Here are some labels that will add something to the message of the wine.

Be Direct: 7 Deadly Zins, a 2006 Zinfadel, makes it clear that the evening is all about gluttony and lust. And maybe envy, if the dates at the other tables look hotter. Retails around $16-$17.

Get Serious: Nothing says commitment like diamonds, so break out the Red Diamond 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon or the Red Diamond 2003 Merlot. Around $11.

Behave Yourself: Want this evening to remain chaste? Put a bottle of Blue Nun between you and your date. This 2005 Qualitatswein from Germany retails around $9.

Express Disappointment: Ladies, if you're not happy with how your boyfriend has handled the evening, hand him a bottle of Dog House Charlie's Chard 2005 chardonnay. With a twist-off top, he won't need a cork screw to drink with the pooch. Around $11.

Labels add to wine's message on Valentine's Day

From my column in the Weekly Surge:

If you buy wine for your Valentine's Day beloved, you're probably dropping a hint about your intentions, and these days, the wine labels often say a bit more. Here are some labels that will add something to the message of the wine.

Be Direct: 7 Deadly Zins, a 2006 Zinfadel, makes it clear that the evening is all about gluttony and lust. And maybe envy, if the dates at the other tables look hotter. Retails around $16-$17.

Get Serious: Nothing says commitment like diamonds, so break out the Red Diamond 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon or the Red Diamond 2003 Merlot. Around $11.

Behave Yourself: Want this evening to remain chaste? Put a bottle of Blue Nun between you and your date. This 2005 Qualitatswein from Germany retails around $9.

Express Disappointment: Ladies, if you're not happy with how your boyfriend has handled the evening, hand him a bottle of Dog House Charlie's Chard 2005 chardonnay. With a twist-off top, he won't need a cork screw to drink with the pooch. Around $11.