Articles of Section 'Drink of the Week'.

Drink of the Week

Bavaria

By Jurgen Gothe

“It’s my favourite beer,” says my pal Ede, who is something of a beer connoisseur. So I tried it and, just like Mikey, I like it. A lot. I still puzzle over the name, though: why is a Dutch brew called Bavaria? Self-described as “a family-brewed premium beer”, it clocks in at five percent alcohol and is available in a half-litre can; a six-pack runs $11.99 plus deposit. While the price is similar, it’s better value than most import beers, because many come in 330-millilitre containers.

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Drink of the Week

Warsteiner Premium Fresh

By Jurgen Gothe

The problem with no-alcohol beer is that it isn’t: most of what passes for it actually has a half-point or so of alcohol. Not this one.

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Drink of the Week

Peller Estates Private Reserve Trinity Icewine 2005

By Jurgen Gothe

What more fitting way to celebrate B.C. Day than with a thimbleful of one of our province’s proudest wine exports, icewine—specifically Peller Estates Private Reserve Trinity Icewine 2005 ($52.99 for the 375-millilitre bottle). Based on the hybrid variety Vidal Blanc (54 percent), along with Riesling and Ehrenfelser, it’s already pleased so many palates—critical and just for sheer enjoyment—that the 711-case supply seems to have sold out, at least from the winery.

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Drink of the Week

Elephant Island Rosemary Swizzle

By Jurgen Gothe

Here's one more recipe. This Elephant Island Rosemary Swizzle brings together Elephant Island’s unique crab-apple wine with a splash of gin and flavours of lime and fresh rosemary.

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Drink of the Week

La Posta Angel Paulucci Vineyard Malbec and La Posta Pizzella Family Vineyard

By Jurgen Gothe

Ed and Nick aren’t typical Argentine names, yet that’s who signs the back labels of two same-varietal, different-designated-vineyard Malbecs from Argentina’s prime grape region, Mendoza. Read on and you learn that they are the importers of two delicious big reds: La Posta Angel Paulucci Vineyard Malbec and La Posta Pizzella Family Vineyard, both 2006 vintage, both $19.99.

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Drink of the Week

Australian sparkling Sémillon

By Jurgen Gothe

This is fun, and besides, you need something with bubbles after all those barbecue reds in last week’s column: an Australian sparkling Sémillon from the Bimbadgen Ridge line. This is bright and easy bubbles in a nicely weighted wine, thanks to the substance Sémillon delivers; unobtrusive natural sweetness; and a lengthy finish. The cry for more goes up as soon as the glass is drained.

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Drink of the Week

Dalton Canaan Red 2006

By Jurgen Gothe

Someone must be drinking this besides me—the price of Dalton Canaan Red 2006 has gone up by a dollar since it arrived here at the beginning of the year. But even at $17.99, it continues to be good value and a good introduction to the new style of Israeli wines beginning to come our way. The blend is Cab-Merlot-Shiraz; cherries are the first sniff and taste you get, with some easy sweetness and a fresh, bright, light finish. Good prime-rib wine, but it will dress up a basic barbecue just as well.

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Drink of the Week

Carménère 2006

By Jurgen Gothe

All right, let’s blow the budget in a single bound: one more from the legendary Black Hills Estate Winery, the Carménère 2006 ($31.90 and a dime for the blue box). Everybody say “Ow!” Then sip it slowly and add one W to the exclamation. This is some wine—but what is it? A once-flourishing Bordeaux variety that’s making something of a comeback, not only in Bordeaux but in California, Italy, and Argentina—why not British Columbia?

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Drink of the Week

St. Peter’s Organic English Ale

By Jurgen Gothe

Get your green brew without having to wait till the next St. Patrick’s Day. It’s St. Peter’s Organic English Ale, 4.5 percent alcohol ($4.89 for a half-litre bottle)—good and bright, crisp and lemon-hoppy. Plus, the bubbles aren’t the industrial kind that induce indelicate eructation; there’s just a light carbonation.

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Drink of the Week

SOHO Lychee Flavoured Liqueur

By Jurgen Gothe

First, the kvetch. I don’t think 24 percent alcohol really constitutes a liqueur, but they’re calling it that—SOHO Lychee Flavoured Liqueur ($25.45). This is tasty, though, and better iced than off the bar shelf: there’s an intriguing aroma and definitely a litchi taste. It could be a little less sweet for my palate, but I say that about practically everything. Pernod makes it, in France, and it’s very good in a long drink with orange and lemon juice and a splash of soda.

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Drink of the Week

Hacker-Pschorr Edelhell Münchner Exportbier

By Jurgen Gothe

Here’s a mouthful to be reckoned with: Hacker-Pschorr Edelhell Münchner Exportbier ($2.62 for 500 millilitres). One of Munich’s proud old names does it according to the old Bavarian purity law. Edelhell means “noble light” but that refers strictly to the colour, not the alcohol level, which is a sensible 5.5 percent. Fresh, bracing, and decidedly Bavarian-style flavours hit the palate.

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Drink of the Week

Liberty Wine Merchants

By Jurgen Gothe

Real apple cider, done the French way, and biologique, too: set up a bottle of Val de Rance Cidre Bouché and enjoy an exquisite drink. This is fresh, apple-y, naturally sweet (none of that fake, sugary quality so many of our domestic models display) good bubbles.

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Drink of the Week

Australia’s Heath Wines Lizard Flat 2005

By Jurgen Gothe

Put me down in the “yea” column on Tetra Paks. They’re handy, unsmashable, easy to cool and to pour, and on the boat about the best way to carry wine. Here’s a spring-through-early-autumn table wine that brings together Chardonnay and Verdelho in a litre of gulpable pleasure. Australia’s Heath Wines Lizard Flat 2005 is 89 percent Chard and 11 percent Verdelho, but from the taste you’d think it was the other way round, with plenty of biteful, almost spritzy acidity.

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Drink of the Week

KB Double Chocolate Ale

By Jurgen Gothe

This one’s so good you could pour it for your Valentine: “Edition Two” of the KB Signature Series, KB Double Chocolate Ale (650 millilitres, in a handsome box, $7.88). It was developed in collaboration with Purdy’s, a local name synonymous with superb chocolate. Purdy’s extra-dark goes into the recipe’s preparation and another shot just prior to final fermentation. Fabulous flavours run rampant: there’s bittersweetness, but it’s light and elegant too, and it doesn’t hit you over the head.

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Drink of the Week

Tinhorn Creek Kerner Icewine

By Jurgen Gothe

Let’s taste one of those lavish elixirs (see the icewine-harvest reference above): Tinhorn Creek Kerner Icewine 2006, made from a successful German hybrid first produced in the ’60s, its two grapes being a red (trollinger) and a white (riesling). Good acidity and surprising longevity are its hallmarks. Take a sip: there’s gorgeous freshness and lovely harmony, then roasted apple/caramel and maple-syrup nuances. It’s a well-balanced wine with backbone and perfect acidity.

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Drink of the Week

Glen Breton Ice

By Jurgen Gothe

Glenora is the Nova Scotia distillery that produced Canada’s first malt whisky, Glen Breton. Now here comes Glen Breton Ice, a little bottle of originality proudly labelled “the world’s first single malt whisky aged in icewine barrels”. Ten years in the barrel, out it comes at cask-strength (57.2 percent alcohol). The 250-millilitre bottle costs $50, which about puts it in the collectors’ or connoisseurs’ league.

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Drink of the Week

Castillo de Liria Bobal & Shiraz 2006

By Jurgen Gothe

This one should really have been in the el cheapos column last week—in fact, it probably should have headlined it!—but the tasting notes disappeared round about the time the second bottle did. Stock up now: Castillo de Liria Bobal & Shiraz 2006 ($8.99) is a terrific blend of Bobal (an exclusively Spanish variety, much grown and blended there) and Shiraz. When it comes barbecue-and-picnic time, make sure you’ve got a supply of this hale and hearty, rich and robust garlic buster of a red on hand.

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Drink of the Week

Indica India Pale Ale

By Jurgen Gothe

Lost Coast Brewery is based in Eureka, California; its Indica India Pale Ale is hit-and-miss available as a specialty item in B.C. ($12.99 per six-pack of 355-millilitre bottles). Its cloudiness comes from the fact that it’s unfiltered—all that spent yeast is good for you, I’m sure—and the big, bitter bite is due to the fact that the brewmaster makes it “radically hopped to give it an intense spiritual [!] aroma”. It’s radical, all right.

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Drink of the Week

Cactus Club Brazilian cocktail

By Jurgen Gothe

The Brazilian is award-winning bartender Nigel Alexander’s hot new cool drink that they’re pouring in major volumes at Cactus Club Cafés around town. It’s a delicious rum-based drink...

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Drink of the Week

Joie Wines PTG 2005

By Jurgen Gothe

They only made 22 cases: Joie's first red wine, called PTG 2005. (This stands for Passetoutgrain, after the Burgundy appellation that refers to wines made from at least one-third Pinot Noir and the rest Gamay; this one is half and half.) Light, fresh, clean, and bright, it'll keep a few years, but why would you want it to? It's ready right now and it's delicious at $24.90 per bottle for a little Joie-ful wine history.

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Drink of the Week

Mill Street organic lager

By Jurgen Gothe

The bottle may be small, but the flavour is big; the texture may be light, but the finish is full. Overall, this is a clean, crisp, fresh-tasting brew...

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Drink of the Week

Elephant Island Orchard Wines' Framboise

By Jurgen Gothe

Sweet and rich, lovely and luxurious, redolent of the ripest raspberries imaginable, it’ll surprise you with what tastes good with it

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Drink of the Week

Navan Liqueur

By Jurgen Gothe

Sweet, rich, and spicy; lots of vanilla; and all wrapped up in some good cognac, it’s just right for exotic cocktails and decadent ice cream

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Drink of the Week

Inniskillin Okanagan Pinotage

By Jurgen Gothe

Inniskillin Okanagan is certainly thinking way outside the box with a couple of new entries in the label’s Discovery series, including what I believe to be Canada’s first Pinotage. Made from 100-percent Pinotage (the unique South African–developed crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, a staple of the Cape wine industry), this is more than a novelty — it’s a remarkable wine and a great achievement.

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Drink of the Week

Amarula Cream

By Jurgen Gothe

Amarula Cream is out of the Baileys bag–with a subtropical twist instead of the old emerald one. Hear them call it: "a blend of nature's cream and the mysterious taste of the wild marula fruit, also known as the elephant tree", given the fact those critters like to munch on it. I like it too–it's not quite so cloying as the Irish thing; nice and creamy still, and a bit unusual with the gentle tang of that wild marula flavour.

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