Alcohol in the news; Pefect wine and cheese pairings

From WCIA 3 morning show/ illinoishomepage.net

Perfect Wine and Cheese Pairings

Sam and Bryan pair the perfect cheeses with the perfect wines

Sam Samet from Piccadilly, and Brian McKay from Art Mart.

Le Lapin Paso Robles Clairveaux $7.99
Zinfandel
Chardonnay

Alcohol in the news; Great Wines and Cheeses

From the WCIA 3 CBS Morning Show/Illinoishomepage.net

Great Wines and Cheeses

Sam and Brian show us great wine and cheese pairings.

Sam Samet, from Piccadilly and Brian McKay, from the Art Mart match some wine and cheese. The wines are from Little Stone Winery.

Sorry if I got Brian's name wrong

Beer Review; Founders Nemesis 2010

Wednesday evening, Jacob from Radio Maria, sent out a Facebook message stating that Founders Nemesis 2010 would be on tap starting Thursday at 4:05. After I sobered up, and spent most of the day at work, I coerced a colleague into taking me downtown to Radio to have one.

This year's Nemesis is a black barleywine. Black is the new black. Everyone is making a black something these days. There's plentiful black IPA's. It's the new IT beer. That's not a problem. Some of them are really good.

Inside the bar, this one came out looking black, and opaque. It had a nice caramel head. There was some good tight bubbles, and good lacing as it was drank. I later took it outside to the patio, and it did have some see-through-ness to it. It was like a really dark tea, or thin coffee.

It smelled hoppy and malty, with maybe a bit of chocolate. It had a lot of effervescence. It felt sort of thin. Eventually, any beer that went over the edges on the pour wound up being very sticky and syrupy. It could easily be confused with a stout based on the appearance, and the thinness of the mouthfeel will remind you that it is a barleywine.

With the color, the flavor expectations are chocolate, roast, coffee. Those are there, but predominately it tastes like a barleywine. It's got a peppery flavor in it, that I associate with barleywines. Additionally, there was a slight metallic ting to it. It wasn't unpleasant, but kind of made my teeth feel weird. An alcohol flavor was also present.

Overall, I really enjoyed this beer. Some people liked it better than last year's wheatwine, but I think I liked that one better. It did remind me of that beer. Initially, the thinness of the beer made it seem like it would be a quick drink, but that's not the case. At Radio Maria, this beer is served in a snifter, it took me about 45 minutes to drink it. It seems like it'd be fast, but this beer is to be sipped and savored.


Some other comments I heard while drinking it were:

Eric (distributor): said it seems less like a barleywine and more like a black IPA. (I agree)

Matt (colleague who took me to Radio): I like this, this stuff's good. I would have to say after tasting this year's and last, I would say that last year's blew me away. And while this year's is delicious, it was a little underwhelming.

In Champaign Urbana, the beer is currently available on draft at Radio Maria. It will eventually be available at Blind Pig and Crane Alley. Bottles of this beer are available at Crane Alley, Seven Saints, and Farren's. If you want some to take home and enjoy (or age), bottles are available at Friar Tucks, Piccadilly, Corkscrew, and Sunsinger. According to Eric, there weren't many cases that made it into town, so if you want some, you should go shopping soon. Also, you may want to call around to those locations to make sure they still have it available.

Alcohol in the news; Wines from the Rhone

From WCIA 3 CBS/ Illinoishomepage.net

Wines from the Rhone

Sam Samet shows us three awesome wines from the Rhone River area

Sam Samet is from Piccadilly at the Crossing.

The first wine is from Saint Cosme and is a white, Little James' Basket Press. The next is Cote du Rhone. The final is Little James' Basket Press Red.

Alcohol in the news: Cool wines for hot summer days

From WCIA 3 CBS, Morning Show, Illinoishomepage.net

Cool Wines for hot summer days

Sam Samet from Piccadilly cools us off with some cool wines

...

Wow, it's a 9 and a half minute clip.

The wines come from Le Lapin. The first is Ingenuity, which is a white wine. The guy from the show, doesn't seem to know how to sample wine. He gets the glass and just sort of pounds it. Sam is still smelling the wine, and the other guy has already finished his glass.

The second is Clairveaux, which is a red wine. Again, with the red, he kind of skipped the sniffing.

Apparently Le Lapin is $7.49 a bottle.

The next is a sparkling wine. I believe it's Fleur.

Alcohol in the news: Summer Wines from Sam Samet

From WCIA 3 CBS Morning Show; Illinois Homepage.net

Summer Wines from Sam Samet

Sam Samet shows us a pair of wonderful wines for less than $10.

Piccadilly at the Crossing

Alcohol in the News; Three Wine Company

From WCIA 3 CBS Morning Show; Illinois Homepage.net

Three Wine Company

Sam Samet from Piccadilly at the Crossing stops in to discuss wines from Three Wine Company. Piccadilly at the Crossing is located at 2508 Village Green Place.

Three Wine Company is from Clarksburg California.

Apparently the blender from Three Wine Company will be coming to town sometime soon.

Alcohol in the Local News, Wine and Cheese to Please

From WCIA 3 CBS Morning Show

Wine and Cheese to please

Sam Samet from Piccadilly at the Crossing pairs wine with local cheeses.

Picadilly at the Crossing is located at 2508 Village Green Place, Champaign.


Is Kaylee Dion standing on a box?

Alcohol in the Local News, Sam's Super Sangria

From WCIA 3 CBS Morning Show.

Sam's Super Sangria

Sam Samet from Piccadilly at the Crossing makes a Sangria.

Piccadilly Beverage Shop at the crossing is located at 2508 Village Green Place, Champaign.

Sangria is a wine punch that is traditionally from Spain. In Spanish, sangria means "bloodletting".

Typically, it's made with red wine, fruit, a sweetener, ice, some other spirits, and carbonated soda.

Sam's is made with oranges, strawberries, blueberries, a sparkling wine, and a red wine.

CU Bars in the News; Kung Fu Girl and charles and Charles

From Illinoishomepage.net; WCIA CBS 3.

Kung Fu Girl and Charles and Charles.

Sam Samet, manager of Piccadilly at the Crossing discusses two wines.

There are several Piccadilly locations in Champaign and Urbana. The Crossing is located at 2508 Village Green Place.