The Big Ginger

This one is dangerous. My friend Alex turned me on to this today
during happy hour at a local Irish mega pun called, ironically, The
Local. It is 2 oz of Jameson topped of with Ginger ale, lemon and
lime. Don't loose your pants.

Atrea "The Choir" Rhone Blend

This wine is beautiful and well balanced.I love white Rhone Valley wines.
This is from Mendocino California but, it's good!

Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio

	I don't remember who have this to me, but I enjoyed it. Light grapefruit and a little green on the nose and a smooth finish. Held up to bring resealed for a few days to boot.

When Sangria goes crazy

I recently had a little party celebrating my 33rd birthday - I called it "The Power of 3" as all my major events have stupid names. The vague reference to the TV show Charmed was lost on most folks.

The menu was Mexican themed (loosely) and was originally to feature three drinks - one of which was a Mexian version of Sangria called "Agua Loca". It goes down smooth - too smooth as many of my guests discovered as they stood up to walk home (most all of them lived in the neighborhood, so I was not enabling reckless activity.

It's a ballsy punch of rum, vodka, wine and enough fruits and juices to fool you into thinking you're drinking something healthy. Here's a link to the recipe.

Mark Bittman provides a Rosetta Stone to sours

I love Mark Bittman's "minimalist" approach to food and drink. Here he's providing some guidelines to making many of my favorites - definitely a reference resource I'll come back to often.

http://www.nytimes.com/export_html/common/new_article_post.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F06%2F25%2Fdining%2F25mini.html%3Fex%3D1372132800%26en%3D23a472e09a6f22a7%26ei%3D5124%26partner%3Dpermalink%26exprod%3Dpermalink&title=Add%20a%20Splash%20of%20Ad-Lib&summary=Master%20the%20pattern%20for%20sour%20drinks%20and%20you%20can%20mix%20hundreds%20of%20cocktails%20at%20home%20without%20a%20book%20or%20recipe.&section=The%20Minimalist&pubdate=June%2025%2C%202008&byline=By%20MARK%20BITTMAN

Chateau Gabaron bordeaux blanc

	Bought this because it was $11 and the name was similar to my middle name. Its tart, grassy and a bit sour. I won't be repeating but I will save the bottle.

The Veritable Caipiroska

Just got back from Mexico where I was doing some damage to the pool-side bar tab drinking Caipiroskas. I never see them on offer here in the states, but it's like a hard lime-ade made with vodka, muddled lime and sugar.

I made this one at home with Stoli Blueberi, lime, sugar and a splash of sprite. It's bascially a Caipirinha with with the vodka in place of Cachaça so it ends up being less complex but thoroughly refreshing.