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.
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!
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
Firestone Walker Brewing Company Introduces Their Firestone Anniversary Brew XVII
We went down to Paso Robles to see what was happening at the Firestone Walker Brewing Company since we’re about to stock their Anniversary Blend XVII. Many times I’ve passed the brewery and there are so many vehicles filling the parking lots that some are forced to line the frontage road along Highway 101.
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
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
Clean & Crisp Opici Bianco Complements Seafood
The Marche region of Italy has long been noted for producing white wines with good balance and structure. The most famous wine of the region is Verdicchio. The Opici Bianco is a blend of four northern Italian grape varietals. The Verdicchio and Trebbiano grapes provide structure, while the Chardonnay and Sauvignon round out the fruity aspects of the wine. The fish bottle is one of many traditional wine packages that have been used for centuries in this region and pays ..read more
Our Chardonnay Picks For The 2013-2014 Crab Season
There are just some things in nature that are made for each other. One of those “perfect pairings” is Fresh Dungeness Crab and Napa Valley Chardonnay. As the first boatload of fresh, sweet crab meat reaches our stores, we are ready to pair it with two of our favorite Napa Valley Chardonnays from Frank Family and Groth.
November 21, 2013 Is Beaujolais Nouveau Day
Beaujolais Nouveau is a young red wine made from Gamay grapes grown in France’s Beaujolais region. The wine is bottled just six to eight weeks after the grapes are harvested. Unlike most red wines that improve with age, Beaujolais Nouveau is all about freshness. Because it is fermented with carbonic maceration, it lacks the structure to age well and should be consumed within a year of its release.