Fixed Gear by Lakefront Brewery

I guess I consider Lakefront Brewery to be local even though I haven't lived by it in 10 yrs.  Located in Milwaukee it's only an hour away from the  town I grew up in.  Easily a day trip if the grandparents want to babysit...although we've never actually visited.  It would be a blast though...Milwaukee seems like a fun city.

Fixed Gear American Red Ale is a strong beer.  It would be perfect on a day like today...high of 75, storming like crazy outside.  It's so dark right now (9am) that it looks like its 830-9pm.  I'm a sucker for red and amber beers.  This one packs a punch.  The front flavors are nice and smooth and full and then the back end hits you with the hops.  Not too much hops, just enough to say whoa there it is.  And then it brings you back to take another sip.  I don't get tired of the whoa kick at the end. 

I also have to give them props for the label.  I'm really not sure on the price of this one.  My guess is that it's around 10 bucks a 6 pack here in Ptown.

I Work and Drink in Cubes

My town has two Targets. The one that is 5 minutes from my place and the one that is 20 minutes from my place. Now of course the one that is 20 minutes from my place is the we'll call the 'classy' Target (aka Targét). The one closest to me is let's say less classy (aka Target).

I had four places to stop tonight: the library, Target, Michaels and Office Max. That meant I didn't have the time to spend hours shopping and so I settled on going to the close/shady Target. Of course this Target has a very sad wine display with not a lot of variety. And I didn't want to make another stop. So while looking at bottle after bottle of Mondavi, I decided to take a risk.

I. bought. a. cube. of. wine.

If I have to choose, I think cubes are cuter than boxes. Everyone says so. The cube also pointed out that in Europe (yes, Europe) wine is often offered in nontraditional packages.

I went into this experiment wanting to hate the wine. But a quick glance of my rosy cheeks in the mirror says it all. As far as cheap wine goes, this isn't bad. Plus two bottles at $10 is kinda awesome.

I'd give it 3 stars meaning I'd buy it when I've run out of wine but I know my wine club is going to be coming due in a couple of weeks so I need to make my dollars stretch. Or if I have a big fancy dinner party and need to impress my guests by having expensive wine (meaning I buy the empty bottles and fill them with box wine, ala Raising Hope this week).

Have you ever had box/cube wine? Am I a total wine snob? Or are wine cubes the new black? I'd love to hear what you think!

Tiz 2004 Red wine

I bought this wine to have around Christmas time and just now got to drinking it. It was cheap about $7.99 from Fresh Market. Between the price and the pretty label I was sold.

It was an ok wine. A blend of merlot, cab sav, and syrah, that's not too bad. You get a bit of the fruit up front then a bit of bite to behind but nothing too bad. It tasted better when I drank it with dinner than it did while I was cooking dinner. By the third day it had smoothed out a bit and was actually quite tastey. The fourth day was a rapid down hill. A little air definitely helped but the decline is sharp so drink her up quick.

I'd rate it a 3 "eh." I wouldn't go out and buy this again but if its on hand its not too bad a wine to have.

Sale Wine is the Greatest Wine of All

If I were to list my favorite types of wine, I think my list would go something like this:

10. Moscato

9. Anything with Petit in the name

8. Syrah

7. Cheap Wine

6. Pinot Noirs

5. Cabarets

4. Expensive Wine

3. Zinfadels

2. Old Vine Zinfadels

1. WINE ON SALE

So, imagine my excitement when strolling through the aisles of Safeway a couple of weeks ago and found Firefly Ridge 2008 Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon on sale for $6.99 regularly $16.99. I consider anything that is more than half off a winner already. Plus I love the name Firefly - consider it a side effect of my obsession with all things Whedon. It already had two things going for it. It was wonderful $7 wine and I would totally stock up on it for that price. I doubt that I would pick it up full price, but that's the danger with sales right? Cause I'll be honest when shopping, I look for the little yellow tags telling me how much I'll save on it this week and I can't remember the last time I bought a full priced bottle. I may be a wine sale slut.

What's your thoughts on sale wine? Does it ever prevent you from buying at regular price? Or does it make it so full price bottles that much more special?

Overall rating: At $7 it is 4 stars meaning "pretty good I'd drink it again" and at $17 it is 3 stars meaning "eh".