Andy Borbely from Seven Saints shows us his signature drink. It's tequila taken to the next level.The drink is called Desert Rose, and he made it in honor of his grandmother.
Buvons is in the news again. Nick Bland hosts Anne Dill for a live, offsite Whetting your whistle. They share a wine.
Anne checks out a new wine bar next to the Corkscrew in Urbana.
Centennial is an aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1974 and released in 1990. The genetic composition is 3/4 Brewers Gold, 3/32 Fuggle, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 1/16 unknown.
A relatively new hop on the market, this hop used to be called CFJ90. Described by some as a "Super Cascade" and we tend to agree, but it's not nearly as "citrusy". Some even use it for aroma as well as bittering. Bitterness is quite clean and can have floral notes depending on the boil time. (alpha acid: 9.5-11.5% / beta acid: 4.0-5.0%)
But despite the advantages of a campus bar’s out-and-out collegiate atmosphere, downtown is the better place for drinking. The selection of draft beers is far more varied and enticing downtown. Foreign and craft brews, or even a house brew, can be had. Of campus bars, only Murphy’s approaches the same kind of wide selection....
The cash-strapped college student may be wary of the more expensive drinks, but this is nothing to fret about. The final tab often comes out the same, as downtown is a place to enjoy fewer, but better, drinks. To use the over-used idiom, quality over quantity.You will get more flavor from a $5 Founders Breakfast Stout (at Radio Maria) than you will get from $5 worth of Bud Light. You will probably also get drunk quicker. Since the intended audience for this piece is the college student, they probably don't know that even though it's a pint, it's a sipping (not a chugging) beer. Chug two of those for $10 and you will have a long walk back to campus.
Downtown’s biggest advantage is its character. Though small, downtown is a cozy area that manages to be at once urban and small-town. With the assorted brick buildings and the few streets of cafes, music shops and bars, downtown feels more like a genuine social environment. It is in downtown that an inkling occurs — just an inkling — of the idea that Champaign just might be a city after all.This opinion was written by Charles Tabb. (oddly, there seem to be two Charles Tabb's on facebook at U of I, one is a law professor, the other is a student. This was probably written by the student). I dislike like the end of the previous paragraph.
Maybe Benjamin Franklin had 2010 college students in mind (maybe) when he famously said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”Ben Franklin never said that. Benjamin Franklin liked wine.
Dr. Franklin was, however, a wine drinker, and he wrote--Here's a nice article on the subject.We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy. The miracle in question was only performed to hasten the operation, under circumstances of present necessity, which required it. --Letter to Abbé Morellet (1779)
Ultimately, students choose campus bars or downtown bars based on what they’re looking for. This much is obvious. We can get the excess and the easy socialization on campus. But for those of us seeking a better aura and setting, as well as happier taste buds, downtown is the ideal way to booze for an evening.This he gets right.
I was in there a couple of weeks ago, right before it opened, and the place looks really cool. Well, it did before it was open.Buvons, the wine bar adjacent to the Corkscrew Wine Emporium in Urbana, is now open.
For the last few weekends, the Corkscrew has been holding its wine tastings in the new space and it officially opened the wine bar last weekend.
At Buvons, patrons can order wine by the glass or the bottle. Fourteen wines will be available, including six whites, six reds, a sparkler and a sweet. Every six weeks, staff members will change the offerings, but they'll always have the best-selling white and red available, said Nick Bland, manager and co-owner of the Corkscrew.There are signs for it around town now, including a large one on University Avenue.
The name Buvons, which means "Let's drink" or "We drink" in French, was suggested by a French friend of the owner, Geoff Bland....
Buvons, at 203 N. Vine St., can be reached at 337-7704. It's open from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
