Tag: Howie Rubin

5 Reasons to Have Cider on Your Holiday Menu

There are many reasons to add cider to your holiday menu – for meals, for cocktail hour, or mulled and warm on a chilly evening. And, there are many types of cider to serve to your family and guests.

1. Artisanal ciders will be a hit with fans of microbrews and fine wines. Our wine guru, Howie Rubin of Bauer Wine & Spirits, recently recommended Bantam Wunderkind, a new local cider from Cambridge, MA. He knows our taste and this crisp, clean, dry creation was perfect with a supper of salad with buttery croutons and goat cheese.

2. At farmers' markets and farm stands you'll find sweet, fresh cider for those who prefer non-alcoholic drinks. You can even find single source ciders like this one made from honeycrisp apples. And, most cider is gluten-free. Just be sure to check that the one you're choosing really is safe for those who restrict gluten. You never know what some producers might add to the mix.

3. Cider's history makes it a perfect fit in this season of traditions. We wrote more about cider's past in our post, You Only Think You Know Cider.

4. Cider gives you a new world to explore! Try an imported, sparkling cider from someplace like Normandy where there is a long tradition of turning apples into a companion for food. One of the most respected producers is Etienne Dupont. Penny loves the barnyard funk of their organic version. It has that same mysterious quality of some of our favorite Italian wines. We wrote more about it here.

5. If you want to keep up with the conversation among food lovers, you should add some cider knowledge to your repertoire. Everyone is starting to rediscover this once lost beverage. Here'a a primer from NPR, Americans Rediscover The Kick Of Hard Cider. And, remember, don't judge ciders by the mass produced versions. Try a small scale, local producer recommended by someone you trust.

Beer glasses, like the one below, are perfect for serving cider. Or, you can pour it into the same glass that other guests will use for wine or serve it in a brandy snifter
as we did in the top photo.

And, thanks to everyone who clicks over to Amazon from here. It doesn't cost you anymore, but it puts a few coins in our tip jar.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2010-2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

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Focaccia Croutons Are Tops

Thanksgiving 2012 Dining Out in Boston

November 19, 2012
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Newbury Street 60% Off… the Sidewalk?

BostInno's "21 Local Must-Read Food Blogs"

Basque Country Supper: Recreating Happy Memories

Change the World with Local Food – Incredible Edible

August 27, 2012
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Newbury Street 60% Off… the Sidewalk?

BostInno's "21 Local Must-Read Food Blogs"

Basque Country Supper: Recreating Happy Memories

Change the World with Local Food – Incredible Edible

August 27, 2012
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Newbury Street 60% Off… the Sidewalk?

BostInno's "21 Local Must-Read Food Blogs"

Basque Country Supper: Recreating Happy Memories

Change the World with Local Food – Incredible Edible

August 27, 2012
Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines.

"Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

"There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

Winemaker's Tasting Notes

Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

What makes this Portuguese wine special?

Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution

Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

August 1, 2012
Filipa Pato’s 3B Sparkling Rosé is Our August Sparkler

We're saying "Happy New Month" to August with a bottle of 3B Sparkling Rosé created by winemaker Filipa Pato and imported and distributed by Andrew Bishop, owner of Oz Wine Company in Haverhill, MA. We begin each month by popping the cork on a sparkling wine and will be very happy to have you join our sparkling resolution!

It's our first sparkler from Portugal, but it won't be the last. We intend to enjoy more vinho from this famous family of winemakers. (Thanks to Howie Rubin from Bauer Wine & Spirits for recommending another winner!)

Andrew told us a bit about this wine and how it fits into his collection of Oz wines.

"Filipa Pato comes from a very long line of winemakers in her family, and her father Luis Pato is probably the most famous sparkling producer in Portugal. So, she has grown up making sparkling wine with her father on a grand scale. But, what makes her "Oz" material is that she isn't making huge quantities, and she is using all natural yeasts and farming 100% organically from smaller vineyard plots."

He went on to explain, "This is not necessary to make it into our portfolio, but we tend to taste the difference in smaller production wines that you simply cannot in more industrialized. The result is 100% baga sparkling that has personality."

Like most rosés, this in NOT a sweet wine.

"There is no residual sugar (or very little) in Filipa's sparkling Baga, so what you taste is fresh, clean, pure fruit with racy acidity," Andrew said. "This is what makes her wine compatible with everything from shellfish to pork."

Winemaker's Tasting Notes

Filipa Pato describes this wine as, "Raspberries and strawberries on the nose, the palate has the freshness and body of the Baga grape and the creaminess of Bical." She says, "I believe that Baga and Bical in Bairrada are like the Chardonnay and the Pinot in Champagne. They need each other to make a balance…"

What makes this Portuguese wine special?

Andrew detailed what distinguishes these wines from this Portuguese winemaker. "It's pretty rare when you find someone like Filipa who does everything from watching her buds break to putting the labels on her finished bottles. I think this wine shows the "New Portugal," or at least, a new wine movement that is going more 'old school traditional (meaning less technology and more hands off methods)' in that she is using grapes that she tends to rather than purchasing, and the winemaking is letting the fruit from the vineyards come through more than masking."

Here's a look at the Wines We’ve Been Tasting

And, more about Our Sparkling Resolution

Thanks to everyone who begins their Amazon shopping from one of the links or products on our site. It doesn't cost you any more but Amazon puts some coins in our tip jar for everything you buy.

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

August 1, 2012
Expand Your Wine Comfort Zone: Sampler Cases

In February, we bought a sampler case of Kermit Lynch wines from Bauer Wine & Spirits. We are long-time fans of both the ledgendary importer and of our neighborhood wine shop where Howie Rubin has been pointing us to great wines for 20 years.

Sampler cases are a good way to expand your wine comfort zone.

When curated by an able wine merchant, sampler cases can be an education about a country, an importer, or a type of wine. If you shop stores that offer these attractive sets of wine, sign up for emails on their offerings.

Bauer offers samplers on a regular schedule. Their customers have explored the Iberian wines (Portugal & Spain), rosés, single vineyards like Montes in Chile, seasonal selections for warm and cold days, and holiday samplers that put the right wines in your rack for a variety of guests.

These selections are often outstanding values because the store can purchase in greater quantity knowing that they will sell this group of wines quickly. The Kermit Lynch case, two bottles each of six wines, was offered at sale price plus an additional 15% discount.

We plan to feature other sampler opportunities in the weeks ahead. If you have a favorite wine shop sampler, let us know in the comments below or send us an email. Some shops do full cases, others offer 6-packs.

And, we have an upcoming post scheduled about one of the wines in this sampler.

Love wine? Join our Our Sparkling Resolution

Check Out: Our wine List

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here's, The Food Lover's Guide to Wine the latest addition to our wine reference shelf. Here's a great interview and review of this book over on Taste of the Past.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

April 18, 2012
Plan Pégau 2009 “Baby Chateauneuf du Pape”

A couple of bottles of Plan Pégau 2009 were sitting in our wine rack. This wine had been introduced to us as a "baby Chateauneuf du Pape" by Howie Rubin at Bauer Wines.

A few nights later, Gretchen Jones (@moralbeast) mentioned a great Cote du Rhone that she was enjoying. That sent me to the rack to pull the Plan Pégau and plan a meal around it.

As students of wine, we learn by researching the wines that come our way. We had already been told that this was from one of the great Chateauneuf du Pape winemakers, Laurence Féraud from Domaine du Pégau. Her wines can run four to five times the $14.99 price tag on this one.

The importer, Hand Picked Selections (HPS) says the 2009 Plan Pégau, "offers a true and loud echo of the flavor and style of Domaine du Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A perfect illustration of the HPS mantra of quality, character and value, it always seems to have a bit of that magic Châteauneuf funk!"

We paired it with a rib eye after reading a comment from Wine & Spirits Magazine that this wine was, "…a red to sink your teeth into…mouthfilling and delicious, the vinous equivalent of a good aged steak."

From the moment we opened the screwtop, Plan Pégau made an impression. Photographing it was torture. It has a big presence and was sending out enticing aromas that made us want to get straight to tasting.

From this one we learned about rapé.

Blogger Edmonton Wine Host ran a post on Plan Pégau and reported that it might contain some rapé from Pégau. He explained, "Rape means left over juice, skins or crush from a previous harvest. Also can be a winery way of 'disposing' of extra juice from an excellent harvest."

We knew about second labels, like Oregon superstar producer Owen Roe Winery's O'Reilly's line. Now we know about another way to hunt for unexpected quality at a great price. Find out if it is the baby sister in a great family.

We plan to buy more!

If you see this wine at a good price, grab it. We loved it and expect it will be just as good over the next couple of years.

What's on your wine shopping list? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

March 6, 2012
New Cat in Town…

What makes a small local shop special? Sometimes it's something quirky. Remember when every bookstore had a cat? Well, we know one wine and spirits shop that shares its space with a frisky, flurtatious feline.

If you'd like to meet Sofia, stop into Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street, where this new kitten is establishing her territory and settling into a new home.

Miss Sophia, who reminds us of another star by the same name, spends some of her time near the wines of Italy pointing out the best-of-the-best from that region.

Faced with the unexpected presence of paparazzi in her home, she tried to play it cool.

But, I promised if she'd give me her prettiest pose, I wouldn't publish the photos of her chewing on the Christmas tree.

If you're looking for local beer, cider, wine, or spirits for your holiday table or as a holiday gift, check out this video with Howie Rubin, one of Sophia's co-workers at Bauer. He runs down a few of the many local beverage choices we have available from New England producers.

What's the easy way to get a Cat Condo or Cat Activity Tree? Order it on Amazon, and they'll deliver it to your door. Sophia has one that she loves!

Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those comments add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.

December 8, 2011