Road Trip to NYC

So stoked to see so many old faces and to meet new ones at the WA State Wine Road Trip Alumni Dinner in NYC.

The crew at Bouley Botanical whipped up some wonders, many laughs were had and lots of great grape juice was poured.  So thankful to be on the West Coast now, but still able to stay connected to my old city.

 

Beers with the family. (And by beers, I mean, really well-made, lip-smacking good, beers).  Holy Mountain Brewing has it dialed in and in the pocket.  Holy holy!

Stoked to see it’s live! Read my latest: “The Best Craft Beer Bars in Manhattan” for PUNCH.

Shout out to all my friends at Proletariat, Fool’s Gold, Blind Tiger, Jimmy’s No.43, One Mile House, Spring Lounge, Pony Bar, and The Cannibal.

And big thanks to Talia Baiocchi for asking me to put this together.

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After much stealing and high-level White Elephant gift strategy, the Sarah Palin locking buck knife is now mine.

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I was incredibly honored to appear on CBS Sunday Morning News today.

Huge thanks to producer Jon Carras, host Faith Salie, and the whole crew. They really dug in to tell the true story of today’s cider industry.

Kudos to my good friends: Ben and Jen at The Queens Kickshaw, and Andy and Polly at The Cidery!

Our plane touched down at an ungodly 1:15 am on Thursday morning at Newark Airport.  Within an hour, we had entered Times Square, the belly of the beast.  Wake up call was 7 am, and for the next three days, we were all-aboard Wine Spectator’s New York Wine Experience ride, barely holding on to the reins.

Now in its 34th year, the Wine Experience is a 3-day, relentless onslaught of the finest wines from around the world.  Composed of Grand Tastings, seminars, lunches, and a black tie gala, the event features only wines that have received 90 points or higher from Wine Spectator.  The amount of grape juice with price points of $300-$400 that get tossed around like tinker toys is mind boggling.  But best yet, the actual producers and estate owners are on hand.  Was that Angelo Gaja, himself, pouring his wines?  Yup.  Wait, is Piero Antinori sloshing juice into people’s glasses, personally?  You betcha.

It was one doozy of an event.  After the amount of tannins and acids passed across my poor, helpless palate, I’m now nursing it back to health on an all goats milk diet.

 

Just started the new gig this week. Honored, grateful, and stoked to be part of the team. Let’s do dis!

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Westward Ho!

In six days, we board a plane headed west to Seattle for our next great adventure. It’s a been a wild 14 years, NYC. Thanks for the ride.

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For hard-core Robin Williams fans, this is from Jumanji. Yep, Jumanji…I’m going there. He had an incredible gift and inspired me to no end. Goodnight, Sweet Prince.

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Cicerone.

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The remnants of our two-hour Riesling master class with Paul Grieco and Stuart Pigott today for the full staff of Hearth & Terroir. 25 Rieslings. Awesome.

The 7th (and final) Summer of Riesling is coming…

After 16 weeks of studying the ins and outs of all things beer, the Cicerone test is now only 11 hours away…

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Just figured out the opening beer list for Terroir High Line. It’s on, people!

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Over the course of two months, I met with beer tasters much smarter than myself and we embarked on a sour-filled journey of more than 50 sour beers from around the world.  These were the results of our findings.

Serious Eats: Drinks
March 18th, 2014
The 20 Best New Sours Beers in the World

(Click on the image below to view the article)

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So stoked to get Andy’s tale out to the world.  He’s a true renegade in the burgeoning US cider scene.  The guy wild forages for apples in the Hudson Valley that have never seen pesticides nor modern tools.  Now that’s just bad ass.  Big thanks to Gabrielle Langholtz for helping get this story told.

Plus, big shout out to my wife (Kat Bryant Photography) for her beautiful photos.

Edible Manhattan: The Drinks Issue
Jan/Feb 2014
“Aaron Burr Cidery: Tree of Knowledge”
Andy Brennan moved upstate in search of an orchard he’d loved and lost. 
Now he’s resurrecting America’s oldest drink.

(Click on the image below to view the article)

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