Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival 2015

September 10, 2015

We're going to the Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival this year for the first time. I'll be honest and say I can't remember the last time I've been to an event in Portsmouth. I guess it would have to have been the Portsmouth Dishcrawl over two years ago! Here is more info from the event's Facebook page:

This Saturday's event will be held from 12:00pm-5:00pm and will feature some of the finest selections of craft breweries and wineries, all hand picked and selected from right here in the state of Virginia.

Tickets are just $35 and include unlimited sampling, a commemorative festival glass, tons of great food options and live entertainment all afternoon featuring Mike Profitt & Dana Silver Cloud.

Breweries include: O’Connor Brewing Company, Smartmouth Brewing Company, Back Bay Brewing Company, Young Veterans Brewing Company, St. George Brewing Company, Larry’s Lemonade, Ale Works Brewing Company, Legend Brewing Company, Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Bold Rock Hard Cider, Starr Hill Brewing Company & Center of the Universe. Each brewery will feature multiple selections of some of the finest craft beers in the state of Virginia for guests to enjoy all afternoon.

Wineries include: Rapidan River Winery, Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery, Barboursville Winery, Trump Winery, Williamsburg Winery, Horton Vineyards & Lake Anna Winery. Each winery will feature multiple selections of premium wines from right here in the state of Virginia for guests to enjoy all afternoon.

Tickets are on sale now at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion Box Office and at all Ticketmaster locations. You can also purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com.

For more information on The Virginia Craft Beer and Wine Festival, visit www.PavilionConcerts.com, or call 757-393-8181.

The Virginia Craft Beer & Wine Festival is proudly sponsored by nTelos Wirless, Hoffman Beverage, Republic National, Rick Hendrick Cadillac, Coastal Limousines and is produced by Integrated Management Group. Proceeds from this year’s event benefit the Virginia Legends Walk Foundation.

Red, White & Brew

June 5, 2015

Drink the District is following up their highly successful Hampton Roads Beer Fest at the Zoo with "Red, White & Brew", also at the Virginia Zoo, 13 June 2015. This Americana-themed craft beer and wine tasting event will feature 35 craft breweries, 18 wineries, domestic party water trucks, apple pie eating contests, a DJ and a special appearance and performance by former contestant on The Voice, Sam James.

There will be two sessions: 2:30-5:30 PM and 7:00-10:00.

Children are not permitted to the event and people are not allowed to jump into any of the cages with the animals (leave the tigers alone!)

The last event sold out quick so make sure you buy your tickets now! If you use the following link you will get you a $10 discount with your online purchase!

Buy tickets here!

You can also use the coupon code "iheartfood" for a $10 discount.

Check out photos from the last Hampton Roads Drink the District event:

Cheap and Cheery - April 2015

April 20, 2015

We always make sure to catch Grape and Gourmet's big tasting event, Cheap and Cheery, on the second Saturday of the month. It's a great way to try beers and wines you might not normally buy.

Merroir Terroir at Terrapin - Jan 2015

February 9, 2015

This past January's Merroir Terroir at Terrapin was a good one. Local oysterman Chris Ludford and Terrapin's sommelier Daniel Kieser were at the helm of the event with a nice line-up of West Coast oysters and bonus appearance of a local favorite.

We arrived just in time to sit and catch the beginning of the event. We were lucky enough to be sandwiched in-between friends and aquintances—Rex and Lisa Hamaker to our left and the Jo Ann and Buzzy Hoffheimer to our right. Chris talked a bit about oysters and some techniques in enjoying the experience. Looking at the oyster being served, the color of the shell can give you an idea of the environment it was raised in, the size and shape are good indicators of what region they came from, etc..

When it came to tasting you want to smell the oyster, sip it's liquor and then slurp it in. You can pick up the different textures of the oyster when you chew it. Some parts are strong then others, some sweeter. He also talked a little bit about umami. Umami has been classified as one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It was founded in Japan, hence the name, and was only officially recognized in the 1980s. It is savory and can be found naturally in tomatoes, aged cheese and dry cured hams among other things. Oysters are packed with it!

As we listened to Chris the plates of oysters started to appear from the kitchen. We didn't know what we were going to be having, so it was a pleasant surprise to see what was going to be our launching point.

The first oyster we were having was one of our favorites, the Kusshi. These are from the West Coast and have small, deep bowls. The oysters form these types of shells due to tumbling that breaks off the edges. This prompts the oyster to grow a deeper and thicker shell. Blonde, lavender to dark hues color the scalloped shells. The batch we had were very varied from one to the next. Chris suggested that they might have mixed up several batches from the farming area which caused the differences. Variation in color is due to bottom sediment make-up. Daniel poured a 2012 Domaine Pichot Vouvray Le Peu de la Moriette Demi-Sec from Loire, France with this oyster. The pairing was perfect! Sipping a little bit of the white with a little bit of the oyster in my mouth blended well and highly complimented the flavors of both. Great finish and lingering aftertaste was very pleasant.

Second, we were poured Sokol Blosser Evolution 18th Edition, a white blend from Oregon. On our plates were the Rolls Royce of oysters – the Kumamoto! These were raised in Humboldt Bay, CA and had salt up front with a sweet, butterly flesh. The bite was crisp and fruity—think green grapes or light melon. I've only had these a couple of times so this was a treat. They are small but pack a punch, I could imagine eating a bag of these by myself. The wine was bright and paired well with the initial saltiness of the oyster liquor; I think the Evolution would definitely be good with spicy food.

Our third course was another variety of Kusshi known as a Shigoku (which means something along the lines of “outstanding” in Japanese), this particular oyster is being marketed under the name “Fat Bastard.” What separates these from other Kusshi oysters is that they are tumbled by the tides themselves. The oysters are put in bags that are suspended by floats so they never touch the bottom. Twice a day when the tides change the oysters are tumbled. I expected the shells to be bright without coloration, but they were lined with thick, dark stripes. Regardless of what the shell looked like (which was pretty!) they oysters were delicious! Shelby said it was her favorite oyster of the night. Meaty with a strong melon finish. We had a 2012 Côte Bonneville Cabernet Franc Rosé from the DuBrul Vinyard in the Yakima Valley, the arid desert region of Central Washington hold ideal growing conditions for certain grapes. It was citrusy, a little strong for the oyster I thought; still a good bottle though.

We actually got a fourth course and we made our way back to the East Coast with Chris' own Pleasure House Oysters! Salty liquor, juicy, these were bred especially for Terrapin restaurant. Smaller and easier to eat, these were started in 2013. The standard Pleasure House Oyster is huge, the idea behind farming these a little smaller was that it would be a lot less oyster to handle from one shell. The big ones are called chokers for a reason. Daniel poured a 2012 Bollini Pinot Grigio from Trentino, Italy. It went well with the five Lynnhaven mollusks Chris generously gave us. It was my lucky night too, one of the patrons at the end of the bar had a pea crab in her oyster I got to eat. About eating it herself, she said something along the lines of "maybe next time."

Daniel pouring the Bollini Pinot Grigio — Daniel pouring the Bollini Pinot Grigio

While we enjoyed out oysters and wine Chris described some of the recent conditions of the Lynnhaven. In 2013, Lynnhaven Inlet didn't have as much rain which in turn increased the salinity of the water. These conditions directly affect the flavor of an oyster. The tide has a huge influence on how an oyster tastes too. Tide creates flow, the flow of the water provides food for the oysters. Like most of what we eat, the animal's diet can be detected in its flesh. He said we should consider the oyster when we purchase animals to eat. Try to know where they came from and how they've been handled. The Pleasure House Oysters we ate that night were only touched 15 times before we ate them.

Oh, another nice thing about Merroir Terroir that night is that it was Shelby's Birthday. They brought out a little Valhrona Cocoa Chocolate Pudding with Sea Salt and Olive Oil. Next to the pudding was a single candle that glowed warmly at the low-lit bar. A great way to cap off the evening of great oysters, wine and company.

Click here to view the rest of the photos from the event.

Wine Tasting at Grape & Gourmet - 6 Nov 2014

November 9, 2014

Got to see Bill at Grape & Gourmet's Friday wine tasting. We took home a Pinot Noir and

Gina at Grape & Gourmet

November 3, 2014

We bumped into Gina at Grape & Gourmet the other week. Last time I saw her was at the He Said, She Said IV event at Croc's.

The tasting room was open during the CRAFTED event.

Running Around Town - Oct 11, 2014

October 20, 2014

October 11th was a busy day. Saturday kicked off with the CRAFTED: Indie Arts & Craft Market at O'Connor Brewing in Norfolk, VA. Local crafters were joined by crafters from Richmond to display and sell their work. We saw a lot of friends and our buddies at HomebrewUSA were there serving up their beer; a demonstration on home brewing was setup for those who wanted to see how it's done.

After O'Connor went headed over to Smartmouth Brewing--also in Norfolk--because Shelby saw that New York Souvlaki was setup there that day. We kept missing it when it was out so this was the perfect opportunity to finally try it. It was great! Lucas inside poured me a nice, cool Rule G Shelby and I finished while we ate our chicken and pork kebabs.

We went to Cheap and Cheery at Grape & Gourmet in Virginia Beach, VA after we finished up at Smartmouth. I've posted plenty of Cheap and Cheery event photos and it's one of the events Shelby and I look forward to every month. We bumped into a bunch of friends while perused and sampled wines, beers and ciders on the tables. A great event that lets you sample things you might not normally buy. Wen we finished at Grape & Gourmet we took a little break at home to finish up a pita full of meat called "The Bomb" we got from New York Souvlaki earlier. After our brief down time we headed out again.

The last stop of our run for the day was at Lynnhaven Pub to meet the local chapter of Barley's Angels. Barley's Angels Coastal Virginia is a group of female craft beer enthusiasts who aim to educate and promote craft beer in their region. One of the ways they do this is through volunteering and that night's meeting was a big one because the next day they were going to work the Treasure Chest event.

San Diego brewing company Green Flash has held a breast cancer awareness benefit called Treasure Chest Fest. This year is special for Virginia Beach because it was going to the first one and held on the future spot for a brand new Green Flash brewery! We bumped into a lot of friends and met the friendly people from Green Flash mingled about.

We headed home at a decent time but I still stayed up too late. In the morning I was headed to Treasure Chest Fest where I was asked to be the event photographer. I'll write about that later.

Cheap and Cheery - Sep 2014

September 19, 2014

This past Saturday was this month's Cheap and Cheery at Grape & Gourmet. Always fun and lots of new wines/beers/ciders to sample

Wine Tasting at Yiannis - 12 Sep 2014

September 15, 2014

Swung by Yiannis Wine Shop after visiting Grape and Gourmet. I just caught him and Valentina the day before they took off to Cyprus to get married! Congratulations to the two them. I did the wine tasting too :)

Wine Tasting at Grape and Gourmet - 12 Sep 2014

September 15, 2014

Every Friday night is Wine Tasting night at Grape and Gourmet in Virginia Beach, VA. This past Friday it was Bill pouring.

Cheap and Cheery - August 2014

August 10, 2014

August's "Cheap and Cheery" at Grape & Gourmet had a special guest, Drew from Champion Brewing Company out of Charlottesville, VA. He was at the tasting table with Gabe, pouring Champion's Killer Kolsch and Missle IPA. I recently had the kolsch at home and think it's a great beer to drink chilled on a hot day. The Missle IPA was very good, blended with 5 hops it didn't over-power you and was herbaceous.

The wine tables had some sangrias and other good stuff we enjoyed. Shelby and I ended up buying a bunch of beer and my new stand-by red La Cappuccina.

Check out the photos!

Cheap and Cheery - June 2014

June 20, 2014

Grape and Gourmet's monthly open house for beer and wine tasting. I love this event. It's homey, friendly and I always find something I like on the tables. In addition to the pouring they have a spread for cheese, crackers and dips. We dropped off some of Sloane's Smoked Gouda Dip from The Creative Wedge. I bumped into Barbara earlier that day at the Old Beach Farmer's Market, she asked if I would take one with me to share. I love that stuff, they're lucky it even made to a table.

Brandon is standing to the left on top of the car in front of Shelby. Bo is on the car to the right.

SLO Down Wines

April 21, 2014

Friday night is wine tasting night for me. I'll usually hit the two local shops in the area to try out something new. I got a text from Yianni earlier saying I needed to be at the shop that night, they had a special treat.

Brandon Allen and Bo Silliman of SLO Down Wines who are on their Caddy Tour, were stopping by a couple spots in Virginia Beach including Yiannis Wine Shop. Gregg Zimpel of Z Wine Guy distributes SLO Down Wines in the area was in the shop with the guys. They had their Broken Dreams Chardonnay and Sexual Chocolate red blend available at the table.

Shelby and I met our friends Sarah and Scott at the shop and the first thing I notice when I parked was a huge Cadillac with paint and writing all over it. I didn't know about the Caddy Tour till I got inside Yiannis but I figured this had to part of the surprise that night.

Bo and Brandon hung around for a while to sign bottles, pour and talk about the wines and their operation. They had one more stop in town at Thirty 7 North and then they were driving up to DC. We took home a signed bottle of the Sexual Chocolate, we stored it at home and will definitely enjoy it in the future.

Merroir Terroir at Terrapin - Jan 2014

February 9, 2014

We made it to January's Merroir Terroir at Terrapin. If you'll remember Merroir Terroir is the oyster and wine pairing dinner the restaurant hosts. Once again, Chris Ludford was our captain on our journey to enjoy our favorite bivalve—the oyster. Terrapin's Brian Williams perfectly paired our wines to compliment the oyster selection for the night.

Chef Rodney Einhorn, his parents and Shelby

Chris started off by talking a little bit the oysters we'd be having that night. Of course, we would be enjoying some of his delicious Pleasure House oysters and a couple of new ones—new for us at least. He also explained how oysters were, until recently, primarily eaten cooked. It wasn't unitl after the 70's and 80's that a shift in the market came about with more people opting to eat them raw. Cooked is still the preferred serving for the majority but fresh on the half-shell is appreciated more now than ever before.

Erika came around and help set our places and assisted in the direction of the servers. We were seated at her space, so she made sure things moved along smoothly. After everyone was in place, Brian started pouring the first wine.

Our first pairing consisted of a L'Oiseau D'or Muscadet with a Grand Pearl oyster from the Eastern Shore. The Muscadet was a natural pairing with the oyster—light, crisp and a great finish. The bayside oyster marketed with the trademark name Grand Pearl has a salty liquor and a light, thin shell.

The second course paired Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Blanc and a nice James River Oyster. The oyster had a dark flesh. The lower salinity contributes highly to fooling your mouth into thinking you're eating something sweet, but it's the lack of salt letting the oyster come through. It's a very opaque, winter oyster. The fat (glycogen) is high to protect the oyster in the cold water. The Pinot Blanc went well with the James River Oyster, it's high acidity and clean finish showcased the oyster.

Our last pairing had a bonus treat. We were given two oysters: Keeling's Pride and Pleasure House. We've had the Pleasure House Oyster from Chris' farm before—love them. Big, juicy, very satisfying to eat. The Keeling's Pride were new to us, these are an old oyster that grow wild in the Lynnhaven. Somewhat rare but hopefully making a comeback, it was a treat to eat them. Keeling's Pride Oysters are meaty, salty with a sweet connective muscle. The Pleasure House Oyster is huge, sweet and a little sandy. Brian poured a bubbly, something he wouldn't normally do, but the dry Crémant drew out the flavors of the oysters. A little bit about the Cote Mas Crémant De Limoux, though it is French and like a champagne, it is not made in the Champagne region and cannot be designated as “champagne.”

Comparing the Keeling's and Pleasure House

Once again, we had a great time at the Merroir Terroir dinner. Terrapin never disappoints. I do have to give an honorable mention to the Charcuterie plate one of the diners had in lieu of oysters. It looked delicious and something I need to try in the future.

View all the photos from our dinner here.

Snow Day

January 30, 2014

Shelby was told they her office would be closed because of the weather and thought we could have one of our bottles of spiced wine we've been holding onto.

Marleigh (center) placed 1st in her class, Richmond games 2003

Well, more like forgot about the other year. That's beside the point.

We rediscovered a bottle of Jamestown Cellars Settler's Spiced Wine from the Williamsburg Winery. We love the Williamsburg Winery because when Marleigh (see About) was younger she was a Highland dancer for 10 years and she would have competitions on the grounds of the vineyard. It always seemed to rain whenever the competitions were going to run. We learned that having a large piece of plastic in the trunk and a blanket made life a lot easier they events.

The the name of the place brought back a lot of good memories.

We opened the bottle and you could smell the spice as soon as the cork popped out. It had a nice color when poured and it tasted great. Shelby thought some nuts would go well with the wine, we pulled out the can of mixed nuts in the cabinet. Good idea.

I liked the hazelnuts, Shelby liked the lone Brazil nut. The nuts and spiced wine reminded me of the Christmas markets in Germany. You could always count on Glühwein and roasted nuts at the Christkindl markts. I guess we could have tried warming up the wine but Shelby saw that it said to serve at room temperture.

The wine was sweet and the spice was very pronounced. It was easy to drink but I don't know if I could drink too much of it at one sitting. It's a great seasonal wine that was well put together. Checking out the snow and sipping on something different was a nice change of pace.

I'm On A Boat!

November 20, 2013

First, I would like to thank Rex Sr., Lisa and Rex Jr. Hamaker of Taste Tidewater Tours for inviting me to the event. We had a great time!

Buy Fresh Buy Local Hampton Roads (BFBL) in conjunction with Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and Lynnhaven River Now (LRN) hosted an oyster habitat tour through Lynnhaven Inlet. There were two boat runs, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, taking approximately 50 passengers around Broad Bay Island. Between boat trips there was a reception where we were given information about the history of Lynnhaven oysters, the science behind increasing the population, and how oysters help our waterways.

The Back Deck was our rendezvous point for our group; we lucked out with beautiful weather, sunny and warm. We check in with Rachel Burns from BFBL who gave us our wristbands and drink tickets. At the pier we saw our ride and most of the patrons already on the boat. We jumped on and said our hellos and recognized some faces. I was happy to see Cappy Sinclair on board, also with BFBL, who was getting the wine uncorked and ready to pour once we were underway. We were introduced to Karen Forget of LRN, we also met Chris Moore and Kate Wilson of CBF; they would guide us on our tour.

Our ship’s captain—Jimmy Sollner—took the helm of the Bea Hayman Clark and talked to us a little bit about the boat, safety procedures and how we are all responsible for clean water and what grows in it. Ready and secure we left the pier, Karen began to point out a few things in the inlet. The first small island we passed (Fish Island I believe) was stacked with old concrete from the first Lesner bridge tore down in the 1950s. She showed us oyster castles that are used to help them cluster and grow. Along the bulkheads that protected people’s yards along the channel you could see little oysters glistening in the sun. Some people who have property on the water volunteer to help grow oysters with cages submerged just a few feet from their backyard.

We made our way down the north side of Broad Bay and passed by First Landing State Park—formerly Seashore State Park if you haven’t been here in a while. We saw several other spots where preservation efforts have taken place. Seeing the park from the water, people walking/jogging along the trails was very interesting. We made our way to the southern side of Broad Bay and headed back to our point of departure.

Back on land the event reception was ready and the next group to go out on the boat were there waiting for us to return. We were served rockfish bites, a buttery clam chowder, huge shrimp, and oysters. More information was given about the Chesapeake Bay and the tributaries that flow to it. CBF, LNR, and BFBL gave examples of the effort they go through to increase the health of the oyster population, and the Bay in general, for everyone to enjoy.

Chris Ludford from Pleasure House Oysters was on deck with some help from Cam Chalmers of Lynnhaven Oyster Company shucking oysters. Chris had a little talk with us about the oysters and showed off some monsters he pulled out of the water just hours earlier. These are the same oysters we had the pleasure of eating—so good, a little salty and meaty. There was a line for these things while the reception was in play. I also need to mention that they had great local beers on tap and Virginian wine available. I had a couple pints of Young Veterans Brewing Co.'s award winning Pineapple Grenade Hefeweizen.

We mingled for a bit and started to make our way home when group two stepped on board the Bea Hayman Clark. It was a great day with good people and food. The day was a great learning experience chased with delicious food and drinks.

Please check out the photos of the inlet and the rest of the trip here.

Friday Night Wine Tastings - 25 Oct 2013

October 27, 2013

Friday nights are wine nights for us; well sushi night too, but we can handle them both :)

I hit Yiannis Wine Shop first. Yiannis was in the Norfolk store that night but I saw Tyler, Perry, and Liz was pouring. Liz had a Cab called Carnivor from California that was very good. Dark fruit, inky--this stuff was almost black. Your teeth will be purple after a few glasses of this stuff.

Armida's Poizin Zinfandel in the line-up

The crowd started to grow at Yiannis and I was trying to keep my running around down, so it was off to Grape and Gourmet. Le Chef Alex was working the table here. Gabe is usually around the shop but he was out that night. Kevin and Deb, the owners, are always in shop but Kevin was laid up in bed. My take home from here was the Poizin Zinfandel. Fruit forward, nice finish.

After we had out sushi we headed down to Norfolk to see Chayce's band, Long Division, at the NorVA. Great set, really good sound in that place. Check them out:

Distinction Magazine "An Evening with the Virginia Arts Festival"

October 20, 2013

An Evening with the Virginia Arts Festival

Earlier this week we were lucky to attend a great event in a gorgeous house on the water in Alanton. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres were provided and live music was inside and out. Thank you Markella and Distinction Magazine for the invite! The John Savino Group managed this beautiful property.

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