Buffalo has its first new brewery in over ten years. After much hard work getting everything built, brewed, and licensed, Community Beer Works, a nanobrewery located on the city’s West Side, launched its first beers this weekend at neighboring Elmwood Avenue pubs Cole’s and Goodbar. The brewery premiered Frank, a generously hopped pale ale, and The Whale, a chocolatey, chewy brown ale, to an enthusiastic crowd on Friday night. The following weeks will feature more “embeering”, as the CBW gents like to put it, the highlight of which will be a five-course pairing dinner at Belgian gastropub Blue Monk on…
Posts Written OnApril 2012
Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing (LISW) Announces Formation and Sustainable Vineyard Certification
Most wineries on the East End of Long Island like to talk about being “sustainable” in their vineyard practices and winemaking. There’s discussion about windmills and compost piles and this spray or that application, but let’s be honest, “sustainable” is a nebulous term… at least in the way they are using it, to denote a certain “green”-ness without formal biodynamic or organic certification. Those require strict adherence to defined rules over a set period of time. “Sustainable” is a bit of a “green” grey area without any local definition or certification. It is a term that is decidedly open to interpretation.…
Keuka Lake Vineyards Worker Killed in Tractor Accident
Daniel Martin, a member of the vineyard crew at Keuka Lake Vineyards, died in an accident on Monday. The 51-year old was pinned underneath a tractor, which he had been operating on the hill of the property. “He will be greatly missed,” KLV owner Mel Goldman said in an email. “It is deeply shocking. I knew him quite well.” Martin had worked for KLV for the past ten years, and was familiar with the vagaries of the property. Keuka Lake Vineyards is perched on some of the steepest vineyard sites in the region; it’s the kind of terrain that is…
Welcome to the New New York Cork Report
Welcome to the new New York Cork Report! For weeks (months?) we’ve been working behind the scenes to migrate more than 3,300 posts from the old system over to this new one, cleaning up non-New York posts (the site didn’t start with a New York focus, after all) and redoing the categories and information architecture. In essence, we’re been maintaining two sites for over a month — loading content into both systems because the bulk migration was done, but the new site just wasn’t ready. It’s time to cut the cord and leave TypePad. Is this new site as perfect…
The New York Cork Report Tasting Table — April 17, 2012
I keep trying to retire the “Tasting Table” series, but my recently chaotic day job along with the all-consuming reality of an infant and a 5-year old have once again reminded me that no matter how obsessed I am with local wines, beers etc. and this website — it’s still a hobby. Add to that the fact that we’ll be cutting over to our new site design and platform soon (maybe even next week) and Tasting Table remains a valuable tool. I’d like to start things off at the new site fresh. Tasting Table will not be a part of…
TasteCamp 2012 in Northern Virginia is Just Around the Corner
The organizers of TasteCamp are gearing up for an exciting weekend of wine discovery that will bring some 40 bloggers and writers from all over the United States and Canada to Loudoun County and Northern Virginia, May 4-6, 2012. The program for the weekend has steadily taking shape over the past few weeks, with some great additions to the three-day experience now confirmed. A Great Finish at Linden The weekend’s final vineyard visit, on Sunday morning, will almost be worth the trip in itself:Linden Vineyards. As Jancis Robinson put it in a recent article in the Financial Times: “A key figure…
Lake Erie Wine Country: First Impressions
The importance of a first impression; as a new contributor, I understand it all too well… Will I be interesting, will I be informative, amusing, witty and knowledgeable…will I run out of adjectives? The first impression of the Lake Erie Wine Country is, brace yourself, grapes! (So much for interesting, witty and amusing.) A rather obvious statement I know, but this area is often referred to as the “Grape Belt.” The most common grape grown is Concord, a native variety that is most typically found sweetened and preserved and laying on top of your peanut butter in a peanut butter and jelly…
Shinn Estate Vineyards 2008 Nine Barrel Merlot Reserve
With so many communication channels at our finger tips these days (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.) it feels like I’m discussing local wines with people almost constantly. It’s fun, but I’ve noticed something recently — great vintages can cause an interesting side effect. The other, ‘non-great’ vintages can very easily be looked down upon or ignored altogehter. 2007 and 2010 were among the best vintages ever for Long Island. We all know that by now. But, because many 2007 reds have come and gone, and 2010 reds are trickling into the marketplace, it’s almost like 2008 and 2009 didn’t happen. Don’t make…
Baco Noir Bud Break at Benmarl Winery
Winemaker Matt Spacarelli sends this picture of baco noir bud break in Benmarl Winery’s 50-year old estate baco vineyard.
3 Heads “The Common Man”
Craft breweries make their bones by marketing big, unique beers to big, unique individuals. High alcohol levels, forceful flavors and innovative ingredients put many great brews on the map, but remain the characteristics of a niche product. Most of the “great” American beers are a bit much for the casual beer drinker to have out on the porch with the sun beating down. Conversely, most “mainstream” craft beer styles, brown and pale ales come to mind, bore hardcore beer lovers to death. It’s hard for a brewer to win. Three Heads Brewing, however, thinks they’ve found the perfect formula, and…