With so much excitement from the holidays I thought it worthwhile to recap a few things that have been happening in the store. First, and most importantly from my end, our first-ever Home Brew contest. If you haven’t started your brew yet, you still have a couple days to get going. The entry forms are available online and at the store. I’d love to hear some feedback from those who have already entered as to how it’s going. The deadline for entry submission is February 4 and the main event judging and celebration will be held on February 8. The world is your oyster (or beer) for this event – anything goes, just make sure that the theme ingredient ‘CHOCOLATE’ figures in somehow! The judging will be accompanied by several local breweries on-hand to sample their wares and discuss the art of craft brewing. Home Brew Contest Information
On the restaurant: For those of you who are not aware yet, we will be hosting a Mystery Brewing Co. dinner at the Weathervane Restaurant. Our guest for the evening will be Erik Lars Myers, head brewer and owner of Mystery Brewery. The menu is available online, at the restaurant and throughout the store. The pairings look spectacular and it’s sure to be a wonderfully entertaining evening. January 30th, 7pm, at the Weathervane. Don’t miss it!
Any fans of the “Chew” out there? Our very own Scott Palmer, one of our Weathervane dining room managers, will be a guest “food taster” on the show airing this Friday. Look for Scott in the front row of diners, let’s not miss out on his 15 minutes! Mystery Brewery Event Information
An update on our storewide sale: just about everything in the store is discounted. The wine department is running a 15% discount across all wine and beer, or 20% off cases of 12 bottles! (Cases are considered 12 bottles mix and match/ beer and wine. While discounted wine counts towards the 12 bottle case, it will not be further discounted.) Besides these department-wide deals, we also have many bottles offered at 20%, 30% and even 50% off. (Not to be combined with other discounts) This is the perfect opportunity to stock your cellar (our climate-controlled back room is also part of the sale), as well as stock up on those house warming, birthday and friendly gifts.
Last Friday was our first foray into hosting a wine tasting on the wine department floor rather than upstairs in the classroom. This free tasting consisted of seven wines from Ocean South Importing and all each wine sampled is available by the glass at our wine bar throughout the week. These wines were very well received by our attendees; some of whom enjoyed the new format while others preferred the traditional Friday’s Uncorked upstairs. All in all, everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. As this is a bit of an experiment to determine future Friday evening events, we welcome all feedback: good, bad, and ugly! Our current plan is to continue with free Friday events on the wine department floor, through first two weeks of February.
February 15th will be our first return to Fridays Uncorked upstairs. I’m thrilled to be hosting this event. The gathering will feature the wines of Burgundy, and will also be our first opportunity to welcome Matt Hart, our new cheesemonger, to the tasting group. Matt and Jason Piekarski, our deli manager and all-around charcuterie expert, will be on hand to share their prodigious expertise in their respective fields, as well as samples of some lovely meats and cheeses to pair with our evening’s wines. The cost will be $20 per person and, as a bonus, will also include a taste of a couple old vintage Leroy wines that are not available for sale; but when was the last chance you had to taste a $400-600 bottle of wine at a $20 tasting?? To ensure as many guests as possible receive this rare tasting opportunity there will be no “revisiting” of the Leroy’s – only one taste per person. The wines will be opened at 5PM for pouring. They won’t last long, so get in quickly!
Please feel free to e-mail me at elizabeth@southernseason.com
