Venezuela's Chavez takes over Polar Beer

In another abhorrent move by South America's most powerful dictator, Chavez has taken land and facilities away from Empresas Polar SA. Chavez has been continually harassing the company with threats and now he has finally moved on them. He has seized five of the company's lots and has told the head of Polar not to challenge him (bastard!). According to the article, Chavez wants to use the land for subsidized housing. When will this dictator be stopped? Article here. How sad!

If you build it, they will come. Bacardi builds wind turbines to (maybe) make spirits. Go Earth!

This is a step in the direction. Bacardi has build two large wind turbines to power their distillery. Who knows how much power they will output but hey, at least they're trying. Check out the article here. Way to go Bacardi!

UPDATE: The Miami Herald reported this:

The turbines will produce about 1,000,000 kWh of electricity per year, roughly enough to offset the consumption of electricity by the tourism-related activities at the Casa Bacardi Visitor Center.

Read more: Article

Yumm...7-11 Beer??

Turns out the beer space in 7-11 just got a lot tighter. 7-11 has decided to private label a beer called: "Game Day". I am sold! The lucky brewer is City Brewing located in Wisconsin. My guess is it will taste like cheese and Lambeau field.

7-11 says:

The company confirmed that the new product is a premium beer selling at a budget price but wouldn't provide further details.

I guess I have to try it first. I am assuming it will be launching soon. Let me know if you start seeing it out and about. Article here.

Wineries to stay open later...

This is good to see. Wineries will now be staying open past 5 PM to extend the experience. I think this is a great idea for the up and coming companies who want more visibility by walk through traffic. I think all wineries should start heading in this direction. When the sun goes down, that is when the wine country comes alive. So start heading over and get ready to enjoy the amazing sunsets! Article here.

Chehalem Vineyards & Domaine Serene Tasting Review

Our beloved friends at Wolfe's held a great tasting for Chehalem and Domaine Serene. Here we are going to review the pinot noirs that we tried from Friday. The turnout was great and the wine flowed.

First off, we tried the Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir 2007 from Chehalem. Right off the bat, you get a good amount of earth on the nose. I also got beautiful perfume aromas. On the palate, I got crazy cherries. It had a good amount of acid and a long finish, I got some medicinal characters at the end. It was real balanced, but you can tell it needed some more time in the bottle. After all, it was only a 2007. Retails for about $50.50. Check Wolfe's for a better price.

Second in the crew, we got a Ridgecrest Pinot Noir 2007, also from Chehalem. On the nose, I got some smoke, dirt and light red fruits. This wine was a bit more balanced than the Stoller. The Ridgecrest also coats the palate better with a better showing of acidity and a beautiful long finish. This juice would love to stay in the bottle a bit, it will show in a couple of years.

After the Chehalem pinots, we moved on to Domaine Serene. The first one we tried, Yamhill Cuvee Pinot Noir 2007 was actually the same vintage and area from the previous two Chehalem's. It was nice to try different wines from the area. That being said, this wine was one of my favorites of the night. It seems like it was much more approachable at its age than the rest. The nose gave out raisins, roasted fruit, raspberry with a twist of orange peel. The palate was more soily, had Burgundian notes, beautiful strawberry acidity. It was balanced and fruity. retails for $37.

After that beauty, we moved to Domaine Serene's Evenstad 2006. The nose was full and lush with raspberry notes and cocoa. The palate had a cotton candy texture, more viscous, coats the palate nicely, beautiful long finish. This wine was a nice one and could use time in the bottle or be decanted and dranken sooner than later.

So that was my first wine review. I will be posting the Copain review in a few. Enjoy and email if you have any questions!

Can I have some "F***king Beer" please!?

So a German Brewery wanted to market a beer from the small Austrian village of 'F**king'. The European patent office said, f**k no! (Okay, they just said no.) They cited the swear word as the reason to not let them move forward.

But in an age where Family Guy and Tosh.0 rule the airwaves, oh and of course the small town called F**king, the firm finally won the rights to market their beer called, "F**king Hell Beer".

Article here.

Diageo still leads...

Wow. Diageo, once again leads the Top 100 Premium Spirits Listing. This is not a surprise as they do have Johnnie Walker leading the way with Smirnoff. What is more of a surprise is the gain that Captain Morgan's and Jose Cuervo made, each climbing two places in the rankings. From the article,

"Diageo was in the top spots in both league tables, as once again, Johnnie Walker was ranked as the number one spirit in the world by value, and number 3 premium spirit by volume, with an estimated 14.5 million nine-litre equivalent cases. Smirnoff retained its position as the number one premium spirit in the world by volume, with estimated volume sales of 24 million nine-litre equivalent cases, and was also ranked number 3 by value, as in the 2009 league tables."

It would be pretty interesting to see the rest of this list and compare how rum improved on this list. Article here.