Yikes

One consistent aspect of my odd, but eccentric lifestyle is the morning routine before heading off to work. Make breakfast (usually either a bagel or two pieces of toast with peanut butter) then a cup of black coffee. Once both of those tasks are done, it's time to either flip on my Sirius Satellite Radio or the Weather Channel to get the weather report for the upcoming day.

Well, when the Weather Channel is on in the mornings it isn't entirely weather anymore. there is some news interjected at certain points. I usually don't pay much attention to them, but I looked up at the television yesterday morning when I heard of a potential world wine shortage.

Something that's certainly not as scary as a beer or hop shortage for those of us that are really into beer, but it's still very possible. With that said, I think I have a fabulous idea for an April Fool's post one day in the future.

Happy Halloween.

 

Monday Rant: Stop Whining

You know, I've always heard about how even the tiniest hangover from wine is the worst due in part to the headaches it can give you. I've been good with not having to deal with hangovers in my life thus far. I only remember one quite vividly. An all-night venture at Virginia Beach with my family. I remember not wanting to eat anything until the evening of the next day.

I've been very lucky in that regard. I most likely haven't had to deal with many of those since a big night at home anymore is in the neighborhood of four to five beers. I know people that get close to doubling that on some nights.

Rarely do I have problems the next morning. With that said, I can't say the same when it comes to drinking wine. I took a trip to a Laurel Highlands winery this past weekend with my family. Responsibility of driving everyone home was the job of someone else. Thus, I took a few liberties in trying different types of the wine there.

I usually write a blog post the night before it actually posts. It's Sunday evening as I write this. I was at the winery on Saturday. I still have a headache. I don't know nearly as much about wine as I do about beer. Still, I'm not an expert on either. I don't know what's with wine that can cause these headaches. I distinctly remember having slight headaches the day after a wine tasting not too long ago.

Thankfully, having a few beers on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't have similar effects. I'm glad I enjoy the intricacies of beer more than I do wine.

Monday Rant: Food Pairings with Wine and Beer

Nice curves. Photo via Wikipedia

I've touched on the subjects of both beer and wine quite a few times in the past with a few posts. It was within these posts that I discussed and shared a few links and studies about the health benefits of both concoctions.

Over the past few days I've been pairing different types of cookies with the homebrewed mocha stout I have. One day this might transpire into a post of it's own, but I developed a conundrum last night when it comes to food pairings.

Both beer and wine snobs alike have been pairing their favorite adult beverages with all sorts of different foods. Since I planned on picking up a few bottles of wine tomorrow on my way home from work for a certain someone, I wondered which category of food pairings was more intriguing: pairings with wine or beer?

It's really a tough question to pose as I've obviously become more parsed in the ways of pairing foods with my favorite beers rather than wine. I've paired pilsners with spicy foods and fish. I've had stouts and porters with barbecue. Hell, I've even experimented with German foods and Marzenbier.

When it comes to wine, I've pretty much only tried white wine with Italian food (eggplant parmesan, to be exact). What I do love is that sour, tomato taste mixing well with a dry wine. It's awesome.

Still, I'm interested to find out what pairings there are out there in the world of wine. Are they similar to pairings with beer? Different? We will see.