Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Craft Beer, Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Craft Beer 101

August is Craft Beer Month here at Mollie Stone’s, and we carry hundreds of varieties for you to taste. From pilsners to lagers, have fun experimenting to find your favorites. Craft beer is a result of great attention to the details of the unique brewing process of each kind of beer to produce just-the-right taste. Read on to learn more about what goes into the creation of handcrafted beers.

Brewing Craft Beer

We all know beer comes from brewing, but what exactly ..read more

Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Escape To Italy With A Refreshing Negroni

Wishing that you could escape to Italy for the summer? A sip of a refreshing Negroni just might be what it takes to transport you there. This cocktail has strong roots in Italy’s history and can be found at almost any local bar throughout the country. Considered an aperitif – an alcoholic beverage served before a meal to stimulate the appetite – it is dry rather than sweet.

The cocktail was invented in 1919 in Florence by bartender Fosco Scarselli when ..read more

Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Drink Pink this Summer

As a red wine drinker, I find that when I feel like something chilled on a warm day and turn to a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, it seems as if there’s something missing. I’ve come to the conclusion that drinking pink is the only way to go.

The majority of rosé wines are made from a red grape varietal. A rosé is a wine that incorporates color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. ..read more

Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Can You Age A Beer?

At our last two tastings at Bay Area brew pubs, the topic of tasting older vintages came up. Kiley, our Craft Beer Expert, mentioned that he has stored bottles of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot. And Kasim of Palo Alto Brewing Company commented that his barley wine would taste even better after a few years of aging. We did research on aging beers since it was a new topic to many of us. The consensus among those who have written about it is ..read more

Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Artisanal Whiskey Selections

To fully enjoy the complex flavors of whiskey, first inhale the aromas with your mouth slightly open. Take a sip and hold it in your mouth a few seconds before swallowing. You’ll notice different nuances depending how you drink it – try it neat, on the rocks, or with a bit of water which can take the edge off the alcohol and make it smoother.

Recipes, Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Carl’s Cadillac Margarita

Carl created this recipe because the margaritas we’ve had in many bars add too much sugar or sweet & sour mix. This covers the flavor of the alcohol and makes the drink too sweet for our taste. There are other tequilas and orange liquors to choose from, but Milagro Tequila and Cointreau Orange Liquor are our favorites.

A word of warning: Don’t drink too many – these are pretty powerful!

Craft Beer, Events, Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Triple Voodoo’s Success First Brewed At Mollie Stone’s

From Kiley, Mollie Stone’s Craft Beer Expert

 

In late 2009, a friend of Mollie Stone’s named Paul Saporita approached me and asked who managed the beer at our Burlingame store because he loved our selection. I told him I did, and asked why. Paul told me that he and a few buddies brewed a beer that was on top at several high end beer destinations including Pi Bar, Rosamunde and Monk’s Kettle. They were brewing a Belgian, which was somewhat uncommon ..read more

Craft Beer, Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Mollie Stone’s Exclusive Hostage DIPA From Palo Alto Brewing Company Offers Variety And Freshness

Palo Alto Brewing Company brewer Kasim Syed teamed up with our Craft Beer Expert, Kiley, to collaborate on a special bottled brew produced exclusively for Mollie Stone’s: Hostage DIPA, a double IPA with 8% ABV. Because of this special relationship between PABC and Mollie Stone’s, you can expect unsurpassed freshness since the bottles reach our stores immediately after bottling. An added adventure for the craft beer drinker is that the beer will change in flavor and aroma hops periodically, taking ..read more

Wine, Spirits, & Beer

Does Alcohol Content In Wine Make A Difference?

As a writer for Mollie Stone’s wine pages and a lover of wine, I tend to  drink and taste a lot of wine. Although I do a great deal of tasting, I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking more than one and a half glasses. On a recent trip to Italy, we drank more wine than usual – sometimes tasting more than four different bottles per day – yet I noticed a remarkable reduction in the effect the alcohol ..read more