Drinking and Thinking
Taking a page from my former colleague Charlie’s playbook and sharing some Thoughts, some of which are drinks-related:
I decided to start on allergy shots because my spring allergies get worse every year, and medications either knock me out or keep me up. I never really thought about the fact that allergy shots are a concentrated serum of everything you’re allergic to (primarily ash trees and three kinds of grasses for me) injected straight into your arm. So after my latest shot on Thursday afternoon, I was yawning my face off and was too tired to think, much less drink wine and tell you about it. This too shall pass, but if you see me around yawning a lot, I promise I’m not bored. I’ve probably just come from the allergist’s office.
Things I’ve drunk recently that I enjoyed, and one I did not:
Pennsylvania brewery Victory Brewing have a new release, Motel Paloma. It’s a grapefruit summer ale, and the name is a play on the very delicious paloma cocktail, which I first had at a wedding in Mérida, Mexico. The beer isn’t sweet or super fruity. There’s just a tart note from the grapefruit that’s super refreshing on a hot day. I’ll be drinking this the rest of the summer!
I found the new Almare Spritz line at Trader Joe’s and grabbed some for supper club. The Hugo is made from Glera, the Prosecco grape, and infused with elderflower. I’m a sucker for anything elderflower, so had to have this! It’s fairly sweet, so better for a dessert wine or just drinking on the patio, but I’d definitely get this again.
The Classico is meant to be an aperol spritz in a bottle. This is bad. Really bad. “Infused with herbs?” It’s like orange soda and Pine-Sol. No. No no no.
In other wine news, high-end wine thefts are still continuing. From earlier this month, Thieves escape with over $700,000 worth of rare wines from Venice shop:
…Helal said the thief proceeded to cut a hole in the ceiling above the shop’s cellar where their most prized and expensive wines were stored.
The thief scaled down into the cellar using a rock climbing rope before covering indoor security cameras and cutting off external lights.
“They cleaned it out,” said Helal. “They took everything, so we don’t have anything left in the Burgundy and Bordeaux side.”
The stolen wines mainly consisted of selections from France and Italy and included about $700,000 to $800,000 dollars worth of blue-chip wines…
Speaking of Bordeaux (ooh, subtle segue): this year’s Tour de France went through part of the Bordeaux region, and they did visit at least one winery that I saw. I haven’t watched for a couple years, but I coughed up the $10 for Peacock Premium to watch. This has been one of the hardest Tour courses I’ve ever seen. Even the time trial stage was hilly, not flat.
As of this writing, barring some huge disaster, 26-year-old Jonas Vingegaard is set to win the yellow jersey on Sunday, repeating his 2022 victory. Tadej Pogačar, 24, will win the Best Young Rider white jersey, and he and Vingegaard were mostly neck and neck for the first two weeks. I like that they have a lot of respect for each other and display great sportsmanship. Vingegaard absolutely roasted Pogačar on the time trial at Stage 16, and Pogačar made sure to shake Vingegaard’s hand after his performance. Very nice well brought up lads for sure.
Speaking of sports, please support women’s sports this month!
The Tour de France Femmes begins Sunday, July 23, also airing on Peacock (looks like they’re getting another $10 from me).
The FIFA Women’s World Cup began on Thursday, July 20, and runs until August 19. Games are airing in the US on your local FOX affiliate and Fox Sports. I’ll be rooting for the US Women’s team to go for an unprecedented threepeat win, but I’ll also be cheering for Haiti’s team who made it to their first ever World Cup appearance with no sponsorship and not even being able to play a home game in their own country:
…The elation on the soccer pitch has been in sharp contrast to daily life in Haiti, which is locked in one of its most profound crises in decades two years after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Heavily armed gangs have seized large swathes of the nation, and murder and kidnappings are commonplace. Nearly half the population is going hungry.
Its women’s national soccer team has had to play against the backdrop of those troubles. The chaos means that the team haven’t been able to play in Haiti in more than three years, with “home games,” including those that led to their qualification for the World Cup, held in neighboring Dominican Republic due to security concerns. The entire squad is now living and working abroad, largely in the US and Europe…
Also Fans Break Attendance Records at Women’s Football World Cup. Don’t tell me there’s no money to be made in women’s sports.
I’m off to have lunch at Triumph Brewing this afternoon with Constant Reader/high school bestie AM (and give her her long-overdue birthday present!), so it might be another beery post next week. Enjoy!