Posts Written OnJanuary 02, 2012

Tap and Barrel Micropub (Smithtown, NY)

By Donavan Hall, Long Island Beer Correspondent I had arrived at Tap & Barrel just a few minutes before Rich Thatcher, long enough to have studied the menu of 52 tap offerings — well, it was 51 that night. Nothing was on tap #42. I had asked the bartender if the absence of a beer on tap number 42 had any special significance. 42 is just one of those special numbers. Just saying “forty-two” can conjure up whole worlds, universes even, in the imagination. Locked inside that number are the deep mysteries of life, the universe, and everything. To contemplate…

Anthony Nappa Wines 2010 “Spezia” Gewurztraminer

We get back to regular programming post-holidays with one of the wines I enjoyed most during our brief hiatus — Anthony Nappa Wines 2010 Spezia ($18) a gewurztraminer for gewurztraminer lovers. Spezia is Italian for “spice” — and this is a wine that delivers a heaping pile of varietal character. Bursting with complex aromas of tropical fruit, peach, gingery spice, and rose petal the nose also features a grapefruit-spice-herb note that is reminiscent of some heavily-hopped India Pale Ales I’ve enjoyed. Though hefty at 14.6% abv, the dry, mouth-filling palate wears that alcohol well, offering a melange of tropical fruits…