West Vail Liquor Mart - What's New & Cool

It’s been a bit more than four years since I moved West from the East coast of this immense land called the United States. One of the things that called my attention to this rugged state is the amount of microbrews in operation that are relatively new and still growing in this country. My curiosity about the world of spirits and beers began when I went to ABC Bartending School in South Beach, Florida in 2002. Although, honestly, I have never seen a larger selection of beers anywhere else besides here, (and high-end liquor stores in New York City).

At West Vail Liquor Mart we carry all hand crafted beers from our state that are bottled or canned and distributed for the public (Avery, Great Divide, Odell, New Belgium, Backcountry, Ska, Boulder, Oskar Blues, Breckenridge). It is really impossible to mention all of the restaurants that have their own brew on tap; the list would go on for ever. But this time I am only going to write about a couple of the Colorado craft beers.

Not too long ago I was at a ski resort still in operation. I’m a very passionate snowboarder, so I ride from day number one, until A-Basin closes. And most of the time on my way back to Vail, I have to make a stop at the Backcountry Brewery in Frisco, to recharge after a long day of adventure in the mountains. If you walk in the restaurant up the stairs, on your left, you’ll see their boilers and fermenting tanks. You would be really impressed how small the operation actually is. They always have a Porter, IPA, Amber, Wheat, a specialty beer for each season and a Pilsner (Ptarmigan) on tap. The pilsner is my favorite for this time of year; it has a very light hop aroma, smooth malt flavor and a very crisp and clean finish. Their brews are around 5 to 6% alcohol, but they all taste fresh and full of flavor. So if you’re passing by the area, is not a bad idea to stop on Main Street, Frisco to locate the Brewery and get a hamburger or ribs and a Porter (Peak One) to pair it with. They use 6 different malts and 2 varieties of hops to create this creamy, dark and toasty brew.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Fort Collins and on my way back to the mountains. I made a stop in Longmont to visit Nick at Oskar Blues Brewery for a quick tour. These guys really know how to make good and consistent beers. The most particular thing about them is that they began using cans before any other microbrewery in the

U.S.

by making their hoppy and award winning Dale’s Pale in cans in 2002. Their original location was in Lyons before they expanded to a bigger facility in Longmont. Their Lager style beer or Pilsner as they like to call it, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, is made with 100% pale malt, German specialty malts and Bavarian hops. It is a beer with full structure and flavor, refreshing, smooth and has a very gentle bitter end. It is exceptional and unlike other mass market Pilsners, this brew is not diluted with corn and rice. It is by far my favorite pick for the summer. And, the fact that cans are a superior container than glass bottles is a plus because these are completely sealed and they are not exposed to oxygen or light. This keeps the beer fresher until you pour it into your favorite glass. Also, cans are welcome everywhere like the pool, hot tub and all over outdoors. They are easier and lighter to travel with. These are a few reasons why Oskar Blues is one of my favorite breweries. It’s meant to be here in Colorado.

Beer is our gift from above to enjoy in our lives and nature as well. Drink responsibly and have a great summer.

It seems that just a year ago, no one would even recognize “Sweet Tea Vodka.” Now it is in every liquor store and bar across the country. What is it? Where is it from? What do you do with it? These are all questions a consumer would ask about something that is so new and so completely unique.

Let’s start with where it is from. Because it claims to be the original, I would like to take the story from the guys who started Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. Anyone from the South can remember drinking plain old sweet tea in the summer, the very hot and humid summer, that is. Firefly started on South Carolina’s Wadmalaw Island. A man by the name of Jim Irvin moved there in 2000 and planted a bunch of Muscadine grapes and started to produce his own wine. While selling this wine he ran into a liquor distributer Scott Newitt. Newitt was impressed with his wine and suggested the idea of starting to distill spirits.

What is it? Firefly is vodka distilled four times and infused with tea grown on a plantation four miles away. It uses no artificial flavoring. It is essentially tea infused vodka. It is then combined with Louisiana sugar cane keeping true to its Southern mentality. It essentially tastes very similar to non-alcoholic sweet tea, but it has alcohol. Now they offer an array of other flavors including raspberry and mint. It is a wonderfully refreshing summer spirit.

What do you do with it? First and foremost, you can sip it on the rocks with lemon. It is vodka, so remember that it still does pack a punch. One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is in an “Arnold Palmer.” Mix equal parts Sweet Tea Vodka and lemonade over ice for a great summer drink. You can also go to the Firefly website and find a recipe list of ideas.

From great food to great music, the South has always created great things that Americans can truly call our own. Here is another one. Sweet Tea has blown up across the country simply because it tastes really good. It is a comfort drink. It is a drink from our childhood, with an adult twist.

There's a new brew in town, and, considering the amount of beer that is produced in Colorado, it's very unique. Colorado is known as one of the biggest producers of craft beer in the nation. But of all those c

raft beers, none can lay claim to being completely comprised of Colorado ingredients, until now. Colorado Native is a new product from the A.C. Golden Brewery, a small brewery located within the Coors complex in Golden. Most everything from the water and barley to the glass and cardboard comes from Colorado (less than 2% of the package is comprised of non-native hops.) The Moravian two row barley is grown in the fertile San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, as are most of the hops (Chinook, Centennial and Cascade.) Other finishing hops are grown and hand picked on the western slope. The water comes from Clear Creek near Golden. Even the yeast is an American descendent of a Tuborg style strain that was introduced to Colorado in the 1930’s, making it the oldest known strain of brewing yeast in the state.

Colorado Native is an amber colored lager that strikes a nice balance between lighter mass produced beers and the bold microbrews that Colorado is known for. It’s not too hoppy (26 I.B.U.’s, a relatively low number on the bitterness scale) and offers a mild amount of roasted malt. The beer pours with a nice foamy white head, and goes down smoothly, with just a hint of citrus in the finish. Colorado Native comes in at 5.5% alcohol by volume, a bit stronger than the mass produced stuff, but not nearly as strong as many of the other microbrews in the state. The fact that the ingredients come from Colorado, and the beer is only sold in Colorado means that there are not a lot of transportation costs involved in producing and distributing the beer, giving it a small carbon footprint. A.C. Golden also donates a portion of the proceeds to charity. This is a beer that Coloradans can be proud of. So the next time you have a hankering for a true Colorado beer that is both flavorful and refreshing, try a Colorado Native.

Certified Organic, Biodynamic or Sustainably Confused?

What is organic wine?
Organic winemakers don't use chemical fertilizers. Therefore, the grapevine is forced to develop a more extensive root system in search of nutrients. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the root system, the more flavorful the grape.

Certified Organic:
The wine adheres to national standards, certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture USDA.

Organically Grown: The grapes were grown organically.

Biodynamic: A nature-attuned agricultural method that predates the organic movement by several decades. Increasingly popular for growing grapes.

Sustainable Agriculture:
Another way of saying that nothing is wasted in the process. Byproducts are used as compost.

Some of our favorite organic wines at West Vail Liquor Mart:

Our Daily Red $9.99
Santa Julia Malbec $9.99
Luzon Verde $10.99
Cono Sur Cab/Carmenere $11.99
Cono Sur Pinot Noir $11.99
Lady Bug Red $12.99
Korbel Sparkling Organic $17.99
Bonterra Wines-all varietals $17.99
Frog's Leap Sauvignon Blanc $22.99
Frog's Leap Chardonnay $29.99

Laurie at West Vail Liquor Mart

Lost Abbey’s “Angel’s Share” is a rare treat! This special release is brewed once a year and is aged for 9 months in oak barrels that had been previously used to age whiskey. The result is apparent from the time you pop the cork. The aroma of oak and whiskey accompany the barleywine scent, allowing your nose to prepare your palate for the delicious flavor to come. The ale pours smooth and dark with little head. The dark caramel malt in the ale gives it a rich deep brown, almost black color. It is a sweet ale with a good kick at 11.5 alcohol by volume. The ale is best enjoyed slowly as it warms and opens is subtle notes of vanilla and caramel. “Angel’s Share” is a term used by whiskey distillers, and refers to the portion of whiskey that evaporates into the barrel during the aging process. Fortunately, the brewers from the Lost Abbey have found a way to recoup a bit of the “Angel’s Share” for us mere mortals! This very limited release is available while it lasts!

The country has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the middle of the 16^th century (around 1554) when the Spanish conquistadors and missionaries brought with them vines, supplying the missions and the thirsty local population with wine. In the mid-18^th century, Chilean wine took a leap forward when French vines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were introduced to the region, largely replacing the inferior existing grapes. The new grapes thrived, and after the root louse phylloxera struck French vineyards later in the century, many French winemakers chose to relocate to Chile.

Climate and geography
Chile is a long, narrow country that is geographically and climatically dominated by the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile’s vineyards are found along an 800 mile stretch of land from Atacama Region to the Bio-Bio region in the south. The climate is varied with the northern regions being very hot and dry compared to the cooler, wetter regions in the south.
In the Valle Central, around Santiago, the climate is dry with an average of 15 inches of rain and little risk of springtime frost. The close proximately to the dry Andes help create a wide diurnal temperature variation between day and nighttime temperatures. This cool drop in temperature is vital in maintaining the grape’s acidity levels. Most of Chile’s premium wine regions are dependent on irrigation to sustain vineyards, getting the necessary water from melting snow caps in the Andes Range.
Casablanca Valley, which is a few miles west from Santiago to the coast, is one of Chile’s cooler wine region and is often compared to the Californian region of Carneros and grows similar grape varietals like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Casablanca’s growing seasons last up to a month longer than other regions, typically harvesting in April. This is rugged coastal country along the Pacific Ocean, where crisp coastal breezes hold back the rising heat of summer days. Grapes relax in the cooler temperature of the Casablanca Valley, and the longer growing season yields bright, full-flavored grapes with a healthy dose of food friendly acidity.

About the Grapes
In the late 20^th century as Chilean wines became more popular, wine tasters around the world began to doubt the authenticity of wines labeled Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. The wines lack many of the characteristics and typicity of those grapes. Ampelographers began to study the vines and found that what was considered Merlot was actually the ancient Bordeaux wine grape Carmenere that was thought to be extinct. The Sauvignon Blanc vines were found to actually be Sauvignonasse, also known as Sauvignon Vert, or a mutated Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Cross. In response to these discoveries several Chilean wineries began to import true Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc cuttings to where most bottle of wines labeled Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc from vintages in the 21^st century are very likely to truly be those varieties. Today, reversing many decades of isolationism, about 75 percent of Chile’s wine is exported, much of it to the

United States

Cold brisk nights fit nicely in a bottle of dark heavy beer. Blustery, snowy evenings for beer drinkers to start pouring their Porters and Stouts have come. These are dark, malty, thick brews which typically hold a higher original gravity (OG) and alcohol content (ABV) than lighter beers. They are favored in the colder fall and winter months. Many companies produce these beers not all in the same fashion.

Historically, Porter was the first dark ale. It is said the brew was a mistake, by accidently burning the malts used to brew light colored ale. This “mistake” was passed to the “porters” of the brew house as their refreshment during a hard days work. Porters were the employees who delivered brew house’s beer to the pubs. These blue-collared workers loved the stuff and soon it became so popular breweries decided to brew it purposely. Brewed with 100% brown malts and top-fermenting yeasts, the flavor was rich and bitter. Stout, as it has become known, was a strong or fuller style Porter, first named Stout Porter. The recipe has been rearranged since then. Using pale malt, black patent malt, and even bottom-fermenting yeasts brewers have come up with many different recipes to make their cold-weather warmer.

If you favor the big heavy black ales, look no further than American micro-brews for one of these malty beverages. Ranging from steam brewed contributions to and gear-oil thick heavyweights. These styles can fit nearly any meal or fight and game night. Used are the traditional top-fermenting yeasts and almost all roasted and black patent malts. Breweries seem to compete against one another for who will have the thickest, darkest, heaviest porter each year. Some of them use oak-aging, others give them devilish names, some are content to have the label’s illustration of somebody draining his truck’s oil into a glass. Whatever the name or label this is the true style of the original porter. Opaque, stormy, filling and willing to sit on your tongue til the sun’s rise.

Rated the best whiskey in the world by the Beverage Tasting Institute in Chicago. The 20 year Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve received the highest mark ever given to a whiskey, 99 out of 100.

Old Rip VanWinkle handmade bourbon is sought after by those who are true bourbon and whiskey affionados as well as those who just want the best of the best. The West Vail Liquor Mart currently has in stock the Old Rip VanWinkle 10 year 90 proof and 107proof, as well as Pappy Van Winkle's 15 year, 20 year and 23 year Family Reserves.

VanWinkle Bourbon hales from the town of Frankfort, Kentucky. Each barrel of Van Winkle bourbon is made with a whisper of wheat, rather than the less expensive rye grain employed by most other distillers. This use of wheat in the mash recipe gives VanWinkle bourbon whiskey a smoother and sweeter flavor which marries well with the extra aging time given our barrels in the warehouse. We find that our bourbons made with wheat age more gracefully than other bourbons made with rye.

According to the website of Van Winkle (www.oldripvanwinkle.com) the West Vail Liquor Mart is the only retail store to carry this best of the best bourbon outside of the Denver area and certainly the only store in the ski towns of Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen or Snowmass.

Stop in the West Vail Liquor Mart located in West Vail for all your liquor needs and check out our great selection of bourbon whiskey and all other types of liquor for your party needs!

Placing man’s favorite libations in wooden barrels or casks has been practiced for many centuries. The best wines and liquors in the world are aged for some period of time in these containers. Tequila Anejo, Spanish Reserva wine, and American Chardonnay are all examples of how barrel-ageing can improve the flavor of some very popular libations. These barrels impart complexity of tastes, richness, and body on the alcoholic beverage. This practice has been perfected over the course of prude trial and error. So now we can use this knowledge with fervor and expertise.

This knowledge is being used by the world-class cigar company E. Leon Jimenes, CxA. CxA produces the cigars “La Aurora.” Recently they have introduced a new line, Aurora Barrel Aged. West Vail Liquor Mart has recently acquired their Corojo oscuro. Using a 4 year old Dominican Corojo oscuro wrapper, a Dominican binder, and filler from Dominican Republic, Corojo and Piloto Cubano, Aurora Barrel Aged has invented a cigar with natural richness, full-bodied smoke and unheard of complexity. These ingredients have been aged together in 40 year old Rum barrels for a minimum of one year. This ageing combines and melds the different flavors, allowing for a smooth, robust and premium cigar.

The next time you stop in the West Vail Liquor Mart for your favorite barrel aged adult beverage, try one of our new barrel aged cigars from Aurora.

Dan Ryan, Cigar Buyer

3 great wine values from Telmo Rodriguez, a rising star in Spanish winemaking. All of the Rodriguez vineyards are biodynamically farmed.

Basa Blanco 2007 $11.99 - A tasty blend of Verdejo, Viura and Sauv Blanc from Rueda. It is un-oaked and unpretentious. This great summer value has wonderful citrus aromas with a hint of mineral and lively acid that carries through to a mouthwatering finish. Buy 2 because you will be surprised how fast the first one goes down.

Dehesa Gago 2006 $14.99 - 100% Tempranillo from the Toro region and 100% delicious. A medium bodied red that is bursting with red fruit flavors and has a surprisingly rich, long finish. Stainless fermentation and no oak aging keep this wine fresh and ready to pair with just about anything off the grill.

Gazur 2006 $17.99 - 100% Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero. This wine shows a focused and concentrated array of dark fruit and a persistent note of spice.Gazur would be a great pair with most red meat or pork or even a riper type of cheese.