In a partnership with BevFluence and Michigan Wine Collaborative, I was sent a few bottles of wine from the Michigan winery, Aurora Cellars. This initially was part of a Michigan Wine Month (May) but the pandemic had other plans.

Aurora Cellars is based in the Leelanau Peninsula which is a designated AVA (American Viticultural Area) and has been growing in national fame.

We spoke to the winemaker, Drew Perry, and learned about the extensive care and work that goes into producing these products.

Additionally, I found myself up in Traverse City for an overnight so I popped into the cellars to try a few of the wines on-site as well.

Michigan’s climate is well-suited for white wines and Pinot Grigio is a great example. This 2018 varietal clocks in at 12.9% ABV and shows off bright fruit flavors with a smooth finish.

The still Rosé was a lovely treat as I’m a huge fan of this style. On top of that, Ice Box Brand stocks a full freezer full of ice cream novelties that pair with the wines.

The Rosé is a bit lower proof at 11.8% and is bright with flavors of Meyer lemon and Michigan tart cherries.

I had zero familiarity with Blaufrankisch but this German variety is perfect for our Michigan weather. In the US, this grape is also know as Lemberger which reminds me of the cheese. I approve of the German lead for this label.

12.4% ABV and 18 months in French Oak make for a tasty sip of blueberry and spicy pepper flavors.

Being a cocktailer, sparkling wines are my preference for mixing classic drinks.

Aurora’s sparkling rosé is 11.7% ABV and filled with fruit and dry.

Big shout out to the team at Aurora Cellar’s and the teams at BevFluence and Michigan Wine Collaborative. This exploration of my home states wine was a treat.

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Today, March 17th, 2015, Motor City Gas will be open to the public for the first time ever! They are offering up pours of their Royal Oak Rye Whiskey as well as full bottles. It is an extremely limited first run with less then 400 bottles available. The only place to get it is at their store front on 4th St. in Royal Oak (just East of Comedy Castle).

The brand has spent the last 2 years negotiating all the paperwork it takes to start a liquor manufacturer. The industry is heavily regulated from the Federal, State and Local level so the footwork and penwork they had to do was insane.

Making a liquor still is an art and a science on top of that the demand for such work is high. There was a 8 month waiting list to get the glorious piece of work you see above.

The first whiskey they are producing is a rye but they have plans for many more. This includes an Apple Pie Moonshine, a Coffee Liqueur and a Bourbon aged in Rum barrels.

Check out their place today to get your hands on the first batch of bottles. Why don’t you say hi to their whiskey dog, Rye, when you stop in.

Budmo!

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It was the pleasure to go to the Press Day at Michigan By The Bottle’s newest location in Royal Oak (29932 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48073).  The place is a fantastic partnership with Michigan wineries to have tasting locations closer to the major population hubs. The original location is in Shelby Township but new one is right in my backyard. 

On January 24th (tomorrow), they have their official grand opening and it will be a hoot and a half. There are a number of special pricing on their products (15% off a case being a big one) but also live music, a free sample of wine and food.

There are 8 wineries that are represented; 2 Lads Winery, Chateau Aeronautique, Chateau de Leelanau, Domaine Berrien Cellars, Gill’s Pier, Peninsula Cellars, Sandhill Crane Vineyards and Verterra Winery.

The dynamic duo that put together this amazing offering are Shannon and Cortney Casey. The couple tirelessly is working to promote Michigan wine and is doing a great job doing such. I highly recommend following them on social media as their posts are both hilarious and informative – Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

The concept is simple. Saddle up to the bar or grab a table and pick from a selection of Michigan wines to customize your wine flight. There are a few different tasting options but some include nibbles and some even include the premium dessert wines. At the end of the sampling, you can choose to buy some bottles to take home and even get a little discount with some of the tasting packages.

The spot is great for a night on the town with friends but could event be rented for large parties. They offer options to bring in catering too.

At the opening, I got a chance to pick-up a Magnum (1.5 Liters ~ 2 regular bottles) of Chateau Aeronautique.

As a bonus Lorenzo Lizarralde (vintner) signed it and said to cellar it for a few years. We will see if I have the patience for that.

To wrap up this rambling post, I took a crack at making a wine based cocktail. Using BevMo’s World Record Splash as the inspiration/straight up theft. I put together my variation.

World Recordier Splash

1.5 Oz Silver Tequila (I used Herradura)
1.5 Oz 2 Lads Pinot Noir
1/2 Oz Lime Juice
1/2 Oz Agave Nectar
Top with Grapefruit Soda (I used San Pellegrino)

Stir everything except the soda with ice then top with soda. Garnish with lime wedge or decorative peels.

I hope you take some time to check out this fun new place. This weekend would be an ideal time.

Budmo!

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It’s always exciting to check out a new place and Downtown Detroit is having all sorts of great bars and restaurants pop-up. The most recent was the Detroit City Distillery.

The place is down a fun back street of Eastern Market called Riopelle. It has a distinct big city feel and other shops are around it with what looks like more to come. This could be a really fun corner of Detroit. The outside is rather nondescript  but you can find it by the giant whiskey barrel outside the tasting room.

The inside is spacious, dark and inviting. There are plenty of seats at the bar and around the room. The spartan decorations allow you to focus on the real art in the drinks. Hey look, it’s Graves! Hi Graves.

Lish, Graves and I tried near half of the menu sampling each others as we went. The drink featured above is the I Only Want You (full menu here). Their Bourbon, Italian Aperitif, “monk juice”, maraschino (liqueur?), house bitters and a lemon twist.  The drink was well balanced and had a bit of spice from the “monk juice” and the bitters. Bonus points if you can guess what the monk juice is. Hint: It’s green.

I purchased two bottles from DCD; one bourbon and one whiskey. I skipped the vodka and the gin isn’t due out for a bit still. The whiskey by itself is mild and easy drinking which will make it easy to mix. I think the price is on the high end ($55 each) but it’s local and I like what they are doing.

There are lots of upgrades and improvements on the horizon for them. I could see this place as a great location for parties and would be a lot of fun on summer market days.

Budmo!

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We took a trip to the craft blogger conference known as SNAP in Salt Lake City, Utah. By craft, I don’t mean craft cocktail, I mean crafting (sewing, paper arts, etc). My wife makes an excellent blog on the subject and I came along for the ride. I was one of 4 guys at the conference.

If time permits, I always look for the hot craft cocktail spots in my city of travels. Utah is not known for it’s openness to booze (future post coming) but I was lucky to visit on the heels of Bar-X opening/re-opening.

The bar was opened by Ty Burrell who plays Phil Dunphy on Modern Family. I was pleased with the booze selection on the walls and the quality of the menu especially knowing how challenging it is to serve alcohol in the state.

The menu features classics, variations and originals that is both a tight curated list and a good selection. Too many times I go into a craft bar and almost everything is made with Vodka. After all, it’s basically unflavored booze so it picks up any flavor. I don’t believe there was one vodka drink on here and most of the drinks had brown liquor. This takes a bit more of a skilled hand to mix with.

My first drink was the Atticus. This is a blend of scotch, yellow chartreuse, plum bitters, sweet vermouth with a Laphroaig rinse and a grapefruit twist.  The smokiness of the scotch was a great blend with the sweetness from the chartreuse and vermouth. The herby notes from the chartreuse and the fruit from the plum & citrus made for a pleasant drink.

The next drink was a bartenders choice. I asked for brown and bitter and was not disappointed. Utah law says that you have to order food with your drinks but we must have slipped past that law. That or Bar-X has a pass.

I highly recommend the place and if you are a fan of beer their is a whole other place next door (connected) called Beer Bar.

Budmo!

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While your significant other might be receiving 12 roses this Friday, wouldn’t it be better to guarantee at least Four Roses for yourself? The Oakland Art and Novelty in Ferndale, Mich. received a barrel of 11 year old, full strength bourbon from Four Roses. This is a very exclusive honor and they are the only Michigan bar to get the treasure. While the barrel is 55 gallons, due to the evaporation (i.e. alcoholic angels), it ends up to be 33 after the ageing. This nets out to over 2,800 1.5 oz servings. That’s a good party.

I tried some last week at both full strength (125 proof) and in a cocktail. Even with that level of power, it is surprisingly smooth. There isn’t an overly harsh burn (there is some) but the flavors are so full. Caramels, woods and a bit of smoke are all easy to pick-up and delicious.

Mixing is even more of a treat. With that high of a proof, it doesn’t dilute the flavors so quickly as something at a more common proof (80 or 100). The Manhattan I had was rich with the sweet vermouth but the bourbon sang over the top with the whiskey flavors while bitters tied it all together.

The Metro Detroit area is really making a name for itself in the spirits world (not to be confused with spirit world) and The Oakland is doing so much great work. Congrats to Sandy and The Oakland team. Looking forward to what you do with the bourbon over the next few months.

Budmo!

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For my grown-up job, I work with a lot of ad agencies. One of them that I have worked with for years is Lowe Campbell Ewald.  Up until recently it was just Campbell Ewald until they partnered up with  London based firm (within their parent company) called Lowe. This sparked a new logo and a glut of items with the old logo. I got my hands on a collection of glassware and thought it would be fun to do a cocktail. Paired up with the merger, the agency left their long time home in Warren, MI to move to Downtown Detroit. They moved on 1/21 and I got in for some meetings and a tour the following week.

I’m very much an arm chair Detroit fan. I love the city. I go their for dinner, movies and events. But I enjoy the creature comforts that the burbs offer me. That being said, it’s great to see another business move down there to bring more creative minds, youthful energy and money to the city.

‘

LCE took over and remodeled what used to be a warehouse for Hudson’s Department store. It’s part of the Ford Field Stadium Complex and you actually walk through the stadium to get there.

The stadium looks queit when there aren’t thousands of fans cheering for the football team.

Right below where I took the above picture is this giant logo cut into the floor. I thought this is a shot I would probably not get during a game since their aren’t hundreds of people walking over it.

The office looks incredible. They have 6 floors and it feels natural even though it is in a giant warehouse. You would also think that it would be filled with echos but the use of soft materials and white noise generators works well. We had conversations and were not yelling at each other even over a short distance. Great work by the sound engineers.

There is lots of natural materials and plants to breakup the concrete. All the wood is reclaimed from Detroit.

One of the most impressive parts of the building is the 3 story video wall. Here is a view from the top and below is a view from the bottom. I blurred out the images in case anything sensitive was on the wall.

The view from below is even more daunting. I can’t wait to play some Mario Cart on this screen.

From the beginning of construction, I heard rumors about the tree house. It turns out there are two. These structures are perched over the library and can only be accessed by ladder.

A catwalk connects the two.

Inside the tree house you find comfy chairs, network connect, power and a quiet place to have a meeting or get some work done.

To commemorate their move, I developed a cocktail for the occasion. Using the glassware from the old building, I bring in a Detroit liquor (Two James Gin) which is a London style product. See what I did there? Lowe + CE? I mixed that up with some Cocchi Americano to make a riff on a Perfect Martini. To that I add some Bittermen’s Hellfire Shrub (few drops) a touch of lemon for brightness and garnish with mint. The cocktail is surprisingly balanced and very refreshing. I served it on the rocks but nothing is stopping you from serving this up in a coupe glass too. You can buy yourself a handy Detroit, MI cutting board at The Henry Ford Museum Store.

LCE in the D Cocktail

– 1.5 oz Two James Gin
– 1.5 oz Cocchi Americano Rosa
– 1/2 barspoon of lemon juice (a quick squeeze)
– 2-4 drops of Bittermen’s Hellfire Shrub
– Garnish with Mint
– Serve on the Rocks or Neat in a Coupe

Congrats on your move. Looking forward to more visits to the office and video games on the big video game screen. Cheers to Detroit.

Budmo!

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I had the good fortune to be invited to a Journeyman Distillery Spirits tasting at Plum Market (thanks Robin!). The tasting was to be lead by one of their spirits ambassadors but there was some sort of mix-up and they sent on of the owners (Johanna) instead. Pretty good substitution, if you ask me.

Our host lead us through a quick tasting of all the spirits with notes on how to help taste all the obvious flavors. With everyone’s palette being different, there were even a few surprises that people found.

The eight offerings on the list is most of their product and everything that is carried by major liquor stores.

• Red Arrow Vodka
• Billberry Black Hearts Gin
• Road’s End Rum
• W.R. Whiskey
• Buggy Whip Wheat Whiskey
• Ravenswood Rye Whiskey
• Featherbone Bourbon Whiskey
• Silver Cross Whiskey

Besides the copious amounts of nibbles provided by Plum Market, I was really impressed with the spirits. The three that stood out the most were the following.

W.R. Whiskey is a white whiskey (not barrel aged) and I typically avoid them due to their harshness. I should obviously expand my palette as this was delicious. As Johanna said, this would be a great replacement for vodka when you want a more body.

The Bilberry Black Hearts Gin was a nice addition to the juniper. It gives it more of a berry taste and would work really well in floral or fruit based drinks. I grabbed a bottle of this after the tasting.

The other bottle I grabbed was the Silver Cross Whiskey. This is a whiskey that features equal parts corn, barley, wheat and rye. This really doesn’t make it any traditional whiskey we are familiar with and is quite good. Lish also liked this which is an added bonus.

Besides the tasting, we also got a history lesson about Journeyman Distillery as well as the area they are located in, Three Oaks, MI. At one time, Three Oaks was a major city in the US due to one of it’s major businessmen E.K. Warren who owned a corset and buggy whip factory. When corsets were all the rage, only rich women could afford them. E.K. discovered that a featherbone (basically a stripped feather) or spine of the feather could support a corset just as well as whale bone. This made corsets accessible to everyday women and made E.K. a fortune. The Journeyman Distillery is located in E.K.s old space.

There are a lot of references in the names of the spirits to the area; Featherbone Bourbon, Buggy Whip Wheat Whiskey, Red Arrow Vodka, etc.

Fast forward a week later and we decided to take the distillery tour. Lish and I were going to be on that side of the state and it looked like fun. Plus it was free!

The tour is about 45 minutes and includes spirit tasting at the end. We got to learn about the process of malting to fermentation to distilling to bottling. The place isn’t nearly as big as you think it would be and they get a lot done with just a few people. Bottling is still a very manual process right down to hand applying the labels.

The magic happens in their stills. They are beautiful works of art and, knowing the cost of copper, must have cost a pretty penny.

If a portion of the floor isn’t occupied by equipment or is a needed path for a pallet jack, then it houses barrels. These range from the bigger production whiskeys to the little barrels of experiments.

We got to smell the botanicals that go into the gin. All of us wanted to taste a bilberry but the ones on display were a bit on the old side. We were advised against it by our tour guide.

The tour wrapped in the tasting room. Since we just had a tasting at plum, we focused on some of the more rare spirits. This included the Humdinger Jalapeno Spirit, OCG Old Country Goodness bottled cocktail and the special edition Single Malt Whiskey. This is a program they are just starting. It will feature a whiskey from a different country each year on a limited bottling basis. For year one, they selected New Zealand and they only made 3,000 bottles.

There is also a great bar & mini-restaurant within the facility. Lish and I enjoyed a tomato salad along with a cheese and charcuterie plate with some cocktails of course. The cocktail menu was recently revised and I don’t think it is up on the website yet. But I had an old fashioned and another more creative drink…which I can’t remember.

I, of course, grabbed a bottle of the New Zealand Single Malt and am impressed with it. I look forward to their future offerings as well.

The two experiences were very fun and you can really tell the pride the owners and employees put into the product. I haven’t purchased a lot of journeyman in the past but I look forward to experimenting more. 3 bottles is a good start.

Budmo!

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While in Indianapolis for a work event, I had the pleasure of visiting Rocket Fizz. What I thought was just a one-off store in Indy turned out to be a chain across the US. The store is a soda store that sells hundreds of types of soda ranging from the normal like root beer to the extreme like corn.

I picked up some interesting sodas with a focus on ginger ale.

My selection was the following; Spicy Ginger Ale, Dr. Browns Cel-Ray, Donkey Kong Jungle Juice, Australian Style Hot Ginger Ale and Sweet Corn.

The Jungle Juice is an energy drink with no alcohol. It looks similar to Red Bull but I would rather save the can.

The corn soda is a bit more mysterious. It doesn’t have any obvious corn in it. My guess is the flavoring comes from the natural or artificial ingredients.

I haven’t opened any of these yet but will report back when I taste them.

Check out the other locations of the stores, if you have one near you. Link

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