Odds and Ends

Just a little bit of this and that.

First off... Beer.

The second batch of beer is actually getting much, much better as it ages. It is probably about 1.5 months old now and it is quite different than when it was new. It is mellowing out nicely. Of course, since I have no patience what so ever when it come to my home brew, I have just about finished my part of the batch. Maybe I can swipe some from the Marquise; she's on a low carb diet now.

We have the third batch bottled and it has been aging for about 2 weeks now. We tried some of it last week and it was much better than anticipated. If you had tasted it when we were bottling, you would have dumped it out right then and there. It was incredibly sweet. The bottle we tried was still a little on the sweet side but was still very drinkable. I think I'll leave that at the Marquise's until it's ready. One because we didn't make that much and two, if it is way over at her place there is no temptation for me here.

Second.... Hercules Mulligan

I have not made mention of our good friends HM since St Paddy's day because they haven't been doing a whole lot lately. I'm gonna have to get on them and find out what's going on.

Third......Wine

We made a quick wine trip last weekend to Silk Hope and Benjamin Wineries. We had hoped that Silk Hope would have had their white wine ready. They did not. Bummer. Since we were in the area, we stopped by Benjamin and I got another bottle of their Carlos wine. A very good semi-sweet muscadine wine.

We also swung by Saxapahaw to see if the meadery was open. It was not. Another bummer.

Now that I write it out, that little trip was not particularly productive. Oh well.

The Great NC Wine Tour

Well, "Great" is probably a bit of an exaggeration. It only took one afternoon. And while "NC" is not an exaggeration, all the wineries were in NC, we only visited 3. It was however a very nice tour. We, the great Marquise and I, started out with the Chatham Hill Winery in Morrisville. It was a good one to start with because it was right between both of us. They had just moved into the new location (they were just down the street). It was the only winery where we had to pay for the tasting. We did get to keep the wine class, so it was OK. For my first winery, it was a little odd. I always thought there was going to be a vineyard right outside, but there was not. I thought about asking where they got their grapes from, but decided not to. The person who led (gave)(performed) the wine tasting was really knowledgeable and really entertaining. I think the really entertaining part was probably more important (are you supposed to tip these people? we didn't). I have to say, they were by far the most professional. However, the only wine I was enthused about was a fruit infused wine. It will be great as a summer "sangria" type drink.

The second winery we visited was the Silk Hope Winery ( could not get to their website) in Pittsboro. It was at the top of a hill that is the highest point in that county. They had a wonderful view. The owner was there to give us a tasting. He had sold out of all of his whites, he had 4 reds that I really did not care about. The last thing he did was to pull out this small pop bottle with some wine (yes, I did ask to make sure it was wine). He let us have a small taste of a batch of white wine he had just bottled. It was an amazing wine! It was a dry wine with a really, really fruity/citrus taste. He says it should be available in March. I hope I make it in time to get a bottle or two. Because of the frost and drought last year, he wasn't able to make a lot of it. I'm sure the Marquise will keep an eye out for it. It was the only wine we really agreed upon.



They also win the award for best sign!!!!


The last winery we visited was in Saxapahaw. I think they were probably the smallest one we visited, but they had a couple of good wines. The one I am drinking now is their white wine called "Carlos". It's not really a white colored wine, its more like cider colored. It has more of a fruity/apple-ish taste to it. They had a mulled wine which unfortunately smelled much better than it tasted.


I must say that for my first time really tasting wine, it was a surprisingly enjoyable day trip. I learned a little about wine and the different types and tastes. Most of the people were not disappointed when I told them I was definitely a beer person. And I actually found a couple of wines I liked. All in all, a very good day.