The Discriminating Wino

      Excited to try this as I've been a fan of Italian beer for years, but w/o many options to choose from.     1st sip--like Peroni but better; much, much better. Slightly gummy Bavarian aftertaste, the delicious subtlety of the hops; not at all sour. And at 4.8% the perfect lager for one of the last humid days at summer's end.

      Perhaps the best commercially available beer imported to the States. That fruity, bittersweet taste of Münich; the sentimental languor upon your palette, soft and luxuriant, yet crisp and masculine. Outdoes even Wihenstephan.     I sit here in the warm afternoon light of late summer, nostalgic for highschool, the long nineteenth century and the Middle Ages of our Lord before all this wretched progress. At least some things are done right.

      I am re-reading (I never finished it the first time, though) Van Wyck Brooks' Indian Summer, a retrospective of the literary renaissance in this area during the late 19th century. Chapter 2, my favorite, is about the great poets of Cambridge: my predecessors, as it were; of whom I am grossly ignorant overall. Chapter 3 goes out into Concord and Amesbury, and conjures a host of geographic names, some familiar, others less so - but one place, that I never thought of as a place, put me in the mood to drink (not that it takes much, these days.)                                                            Smutty Nose     Well, I thought you were just a beer. You are, aren't you? You Old Brown Dog, Man's best friend on this first full day of autumn, when the humidity suggests ...

  ON THE ROCKS - Smooth bourbon, caramel notes melting with the ice into a grateful palette cooling and warming at once, a joy to sip, all too easy to drain. Not like other bourbons I'm used to, more of the rich balance of an Irish whiskey - but then there is that spicy, heavy, tongue-loosening quality that even mainstream bourbons offer. W/ FRENCH ROAST COFFE AND 1/2 AND 1/2 - Wow! Some of the best Irish coffee I've made me'self. A generous portion of the whiskey adds only flavor and warmth, no bitter bite to the taste or acidic heaviness with the coffee and cream. The buzz is already pleasant but my second cup isn't at all daunting. I only wish I didn't have to go to work. STRAIGHT-UP - Brace myself for this high-proof bourbon neat after dinner, clearing my palette (and augmenting my pH) w/ cold water... Sipping spicy-sour from the whiskey glass; THERE'S that bourbon bite I've been waiting for! Still smoother than highschool Jim Beam jug swillin'; for ...

 Depuis 1895 Malbec Cahors 13.5% ABV     Fruity but dry. Acidic -- not quite overly so, but noticeable. And yet the tannins play on the palette their insistent dance: now smooth and warm, now sharp, sanguine; Yin/Yang fractal asymptote approaching infinity of drunken revelry somehow symmetrically framed in sober afternoon sobriety. What more to say, that isn't already written on the back of the bottle:          "Good wine is a necessity of life for me" -- Thomas Jefferson  

LOOKING AHEAD:  OKTOBERFEST  FESTBIEREN... Yes it's only September and we live in New England but soon it will be Oktoberfest in Deutschland and for your edification I have been putting in the time, at great personal sacrifice, doing my homework to spread the Good News on a handful of German Festbiers my local supplier, Inman Wine & Spirits have been so kind as to stock early in the game. Without further ado, let the head run over...  WEIHENSTEPHANER  Festbier  Premium Bavaricum  5.8% ABV     What can you say about a Brauerhaus (apologies as I can't get my umlauts working for some reason) that's been consistently producing quality lager for just shy a millennium? It's crisp, it's sour and malty, with head and hops nuanced like us Yanks will never do. When your original, everyday beer is one of the best on the market, thank God for this time of year when the...