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    Friday, December 5, 2008

    DeRanter's first Tasting Note... a beer?!

    I posted this on the WLTV forums and I thought I'd share it on DeRanter as well. Why not, right?

    This will be my official first beer tasting note... well actually, on this site, this will be the first tasting note of anything. Who knew that my wine blog's first tasting note would be of a delicious beer? Go figure...

    A note on tasting notes; I usually try not to publish tasting notes myself. I take the side that the great Tom Wark, from Fermentation Wine Blog, takes; I leave the tasting to the ones that are good with it. Yes, I taste wine, but there are people that can be much more expressive, detailed and intricate than me. I'm just starting out... But I realized, I might try to post a few up here anyway. If anything, it will help my writing skills, and maybe I'd get a critique or two from my readers. (Wink, wink...)

    I decided to buy a six pack of Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout because I needed a lift. A week of homework, test, group project meetings and just the overall end-of-semester woes. I wanted something to relax me a bit. It was good that I didn't have class today because coming in at 10% alcohol, this is not a school-night drink... well, maybe if you have just one...

    Inky black color with a nice head of foam. It smells great too; roasted coffee beans and a hint of dark chocolate, but that's not it...

    Shwooosh! The cold liquid flows out to cover your mouth with slight bitterness and opens up to reveal a world of roasted almonds (or some kind of nutty component), coffee, and rich, but subtle, dark chocolate. This is quite a filling, heavier stout, and I can see why it's their winter seasonal.

    The finish was star of the show; the hints of charcoal cling to your tonsils until the next sip, and flavors of bitter chocolate, nuts and espresso chill on your taste buds until the last drop. Very delicious beer and one that can truly say, "Eat your heart out, Guinness..."

    A few people have told me that this is not comparable to Guinness, but after review and another sip I feel it is... I might even say that "Guinness" would be a tasting component of this beer. I was very happy, sleepy and relaxed by the end of the night and, after two bottles, was able to drift off to sleep.

    So what do you think? Maybe you might want to go out and try some of this stuff, it's great!

    Cheers to you,
    -Tatum
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    Tuesday, December 2, 2008

    It's our wine!... Time, I meant time...

    My generation is a thirsty one, according to multiple sources like the LA Times, NY Times, Winecast and NY Sun. A number of articles have been written, numerous surveys have been tallied and hours of research confirm that the Millennials are taking center stage in the wine world. "They" are saying that our generation is drinking, appreciating and buying more wine at a much younger age than previous generations. So, what's all the hype? Statistics don't have anything to do with wine business, culture and innovation, right? Wrong. We are the future, and with our buying power, our passion and our numbers, but most importantly with our wires, we can bring change to an industry that has thrived for centuries... but will we?

    For readers who are not familiar with what I mean by "Millennial," let me give a quick run-down: "The Millennials Generation" is considered the generation after "Generation X," and definitely after the "Baby Boomers" of post-WWII, whom were born between the 80's and the turn of the century. For the past decade-or-so this generation, my generation, has been turning 21. Among things like not knowing a life without computers and relying on the Internet to do everything, we are the biggest generation to be appreciating wine, and at a much younger age than our parents and grandparents. And at an estimated 100-million strong, we're a big generation! (Compared to 44-million baby boomers)

    I've noticed at my WLTV gatherings that older generations seemed to have discovered wine at a much later age than me. Most people I meet in the wine scene are in their 30's and 40's, not having really appreciated wine until they were 25 or older. I was infatuated with wine knowledge, culture and practices when I turned 20. The only thing I wanted to do when I turned 21 was to buy that official bottle of wine, and sure enough I did, a 2001 Haut-Brion. I didn't care about the bars or the vodka, I just wanted the wine; people like me are sprouting up all across the world. They discover wine for what it really is, not just it's inebriating purposes...

    It has been noted that our generation are not as likely to stick to the "big name" wines. For us, tasting wine is not as much of a class or status issue as before. Gary Vaynerchuk has been shouting to the world what the Millennials believed all along; wine shouldn't be a way to judge your wealth or power. It should not hold pretension and it should be enjoyable and pleasing. We are less likely to choose a wine because of the name of the chateau on the bottle, instead we choose it by varietal or region. We want to explore the world with wine, instead of sticking with the few "good ones." Playing it safe isn't our style; we take more risk, and a bad bottle of wine doesn't disappoint us as much. And don't forget that for most wine choices, we decide based on instant gratification, as with everything else in our modern lives, so we rather pick the $15 mystery malbec then buy Brunello for $80 and hide it for ten years. Does it mean I wouldn't buy a brunello to age? Nope, but sometimes I just want to taste wine now.

    But what is the reason? Has wine become so popular that it's captivating drinkers at an earlier age? Not necessarily. It's the wires; the wires that stretch from country to country, wine maker to consumer and expert to novice. Now with the power of the Internet, wine knowledge is at our fingertips. We need only go to a search engine and type some keyword like "Cote du Nuits" and find pages of wisdom on these regions. This was not as available before, as hobbyist had to either buy a book or go to the library to read up on this. Now, we can gain knowledge without leaving the keyboard.

    Social networks have allowed winos to find each other. Producers can send newsletters and design websites to inform consumers of futures, a novice can link up with a group of seasoned drinkers and learn the nuances of tastings, and winos everywhere can produce blogs, exchange tasting notes, reviews, plan and promote events, among other things. The way that the Internet has changed the wine world is tremendous, and the way our generation will impact it is even more so. In the words of Gary, this generation is "Changing the wine world, whether they like it or not." Because of our broadened cultural understanding, openness to change for the better, and our lack of support for traditions we don't deem necessary, we have already changed things tremendously. We have taken wine out of the glass and into plastic cartons. We have stopped using the corks and using screw caps. Every facet of wine is going to and will change with our technology and intuitiveness.

    But will we change it for the worse? Not really. As our world grows faster and smaller, some might fear that the traditions and history of wine will be lost. I'm sure that will not happen. I'm sure that our great generation will innovate, inspire and dream and make wine their own. Wines will stretch the world over many times with the strength of the Internet and our social-technical intuition. New countries will become "wine countries" and drinkers will benefit from an open-minded, unpretentious and passionate society.

    I feel that my generation will lead the way to writing one of the most important chapters in wine history, while ensuring that the romance, wisdom and love of wine is shared to future generations. May wine live forever.

    Cheers to you,
    -Tatum
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