The Best Little Brewfest in Texas is a Craft Beer Festival held at the infield garage of Texas Motor Speedway in Ft Worth, the ideal venue for anyone who loves craft beer.  The hoedown is this Saturday June 22, 2013, and gates open at 1pm for VIP and 2pm for general admission, with last call for alcohol at 6:45pm that evening.   

Brewfest exists to provide an opportunity to sample and learn about a variety of craft beer from Texas while making an impact in our local community supporting Alzheimer’s Association and Teen Suicide Prevention.  100% of the proceeds from this event will be donated to these two organizations.

More than 50 craft breweries from all over Texas will be present with 100+ handcrafted brews to serve thousands of beer lovers at this event.  Special releases, firkins, “one-off’s” and new seasonal brews will be highlighted. The focus is on craft beer and making a difference.   There is more than sampling involved.  The Best Little Brewfest in Texas features live music, beer-friendly vendors, memorabilia, and an assortment of food for purchase.

The VIP section is limited to 500 guests and includes snacks, premium beer, fast entry, convenient parking and more. Buy your tickets at this link.

Jack Perkin’s BBQ haunt, Slow Bone, has taken a turn for the better. Many already have raved about the succulent meats slow smoked for so many hours to provide a fall off the bone rib and juicy briskets. Last week Perkin’s hired a new chef and he said he was upping the ante.   

Enter Ian Tate formerly of Nova in Oak Cliff. Tate has some mad skills and is familiar with BBQ. His specialty is actually low country cuisine (think shrimp and grits) and knows his way around giant haunches of beef, ribs and can even make a mean sausage. Although there were no discussions about immediate changes it would still be interesting to see what Tate comes up with along the lines of daily specials, or addition sides to accompany what is already been raved about. Both the mac and cheese and the Brussels sprouts and cauliflower have been highly praised by the chow going public.

Tate started his career at the Four Seasons in Washington DC, and since worked at some wonderful restaurants such as Craft Dallas, Brownstone, Rathbun’s Blue Plate and Pyramid at the Dallas Fairmont Hotel.

We will stay in contact with chef Ian Tate to see if there are any changes that need to be checked out, until then continue to enjoy Slow Bone’s brisket. It is pretty damned good stuff.

Mutt’s Canine Cantina opens their doors tomorrow (June 18, 2013) and we were just sent word by the head pooch at the 2-acre park that they will be celebrating with dollar local draft beers from 6pm to 9pm. Look for Dallas favorites such as Deep Ellum, Lakewood, Community, Franconia and more. For a buck. 

If you recall, Mutt’s is the Uptown dog parkery that offers full service for you and your best friend, and will even go to the lengths of cleaning up after your furry pal. There is a monthly fee of $9.95, or a daily service charge of $4.95 and your mutt will have the run of the land. The park is free to bipedal human types.

There will be plenty of menu items to choose from, making this a fun destination for both you and your pup.

On Sunday, June 30th, The LOT will host Okra Palooza 2013 benefiting the Promise of Peace Community Garden. Chefs from Dallas restaurants, including Chef Graham Dodds (Central 214), Chef Chad Houser (Café Momentum), and Chef Janice Provost (Parigi) have been tasked with the challenge to serve up their best okra recipe.  

Home cooks will also have the chance to compete in their own division for the prestigious title of Okra Palooza Champion. Each attendee will be able to sample okra dishes from each station and cast their vote. Guests will also enjoy live music from Grammy nominated Russ Hewitt and a raffle for a variety of prizes. Funds raised from the event will go to the Promise of Peace Community Garden in East Dallas.

Tickets for Okra Palooza are $30 per person, children 12 and under are free. Ticket price includes complete okra tasting, two brews, and a concert. To purchase tickets please click here.

Throughout time baseball has been known for wacky schemes to promote attendance. You may recall the Bill Veeck story where he hired Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit during a game in 1951. Gaedel was 3’7 and had virtually no strike zone. The short player was subsequently disqualified.  

Then we have the legendary game between the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Indians in 1974 where beer was a mere dime as a promotion.  The game ended in a riot with manager Billy Martin being knocked to the ground, players had their hats stolen and even knifed, bases were ripped up, seats were pulled from the stands, and there was even a bit of nudity. The Rangers won that game by default.

Perhaps taking a page from baseball history Henry’s Tavern in Plano is offering a penny beer all week long.

Henry’s opened late last year but closed for a little reshuffling and now is open with a vengeance. So, all week through Sunday you can get your beer on the cheap. This isn’t Bud Light we are talking about, Henry’s is tapping the good local stuff.  The tavern opened last night offering the cheaply priced beer and no riots were called.

The people at Nabisco’s Oreo factory are seemingly bored with making a single flavor of cookie. Sure, there is that certain guilty pleasure of tackling a handful of the chocolate sandwich cookies alongside a tall glass of cold milk. Whether you are a dunker or a twister, this is something we participate in at least once a year.

In the past the makers have experimented a bit. Double Stuff is plump with more of that questionable filling, and at times they had the tenacity to coat the entire cookie with chocolate. Then there was the ill-fated gingerbread version, and of course the candy corn flavor cookie.

To ring in what looks to be a very warm summer season, Oreo has introduced their version of the watermelon. They have partnered with Target, where all the unusual flavors from Oreo past have been sold. Now you can buy a ration of the melon flavored cookies for about three bucks. Expect a candied watermelon taste and there are no seeds to contend with.

Are these new Oreo’s any good? If you enjoy a vanilla cookie jammed with a filling that tastes a lot like a Jolly Rancher, this is the cookie for you. On sale now for a limited time.

The Little One loves to go outside. Fortunately, we had the foresight to wire our porch for sound, so we often have the opportunity to appreciate music while hanging out in our backyard. When the weather is good, we’ll turn on the tunes while she blows bubbles or draws chalk scribbles on the concrete.

She is growing increasingly verbal, so she constantly astounds us with her use of plain language to express what is on her mind. I was floored, however, when one afternoon she abruptly stopped her usual outdoor activities to enthusiastically join in with the chorus of this tune…get dirty over at The Pharmacy

Rare, the long awaited Asian fusion Restaurant and Lounge, has opened in the Shops at Park Lane. While the “official” opening is not for another week or so, you can come by between 11am and 2pm for lunch, and 4pm to 2am for dinner and drinks during their soft opening.                

Located on the southwest corner of The Shops at Park Lane, the space is enormous and encompasses two levels. Level one is the main dining area and has its own bar, as well as a waiting area comprised of oversized, tufted black leather chairs and sofas. Level Two is the “lounge” with plush, oversized banquettes and benches upholstered with textural fabrics in cool blue hues and arranged in intimate seating groups.

Overall the interiors feature metallic-accented plank tiles, sleek glass accents, shimmering countertops, and smooth, dark wood walls with sculptural, glowing niches to house a wide array of liquor and liqueurs. A state of the art sound system blasts cool tunes throughout.

Executive Chef Andy Tran (Nobu, Sushi Axiom) and the Rare team have created a diverse, eclectic menu with a focus on Sashimi, Sushi, Signature Rolls, small plates, and steak, as well as a signature cocktail list of over twenty selections. Interesting items like a “Foie-Stack”, Oysters, and “Ishiyaki” (various protiens cooked on a hot rock at your table) are also available.

Rare also plans to open a rooftop lounge with a pool in the coming months.

Rare Restaurant and Lounge | 8052 Park Lane, Dallas | 214 306 4490

Friday morning we were sent word that Chef Eric Anderson from the Le Méridien Stoneleigh Hotel had been in an accident and was on life support. Later that afternoon Anderson was taken off life support and passed away.

There will be a memorial Wednesday evening at 7pm at The Stoneleigh and the family wishes to celebrate Anderson’s life with friends and colleagues. Anderson had three children who only knew him as dad, and they request that if you have any photos or videos featuring Anderson in his role as chef that you bring those to the hotel Wednesday evening. 

Anderson began his culinary journey with Avner Samuel who he mentored under for three years. Other restaurants include Laurels with Chef Danielle Custer, Star Canyon, The Landmark at the Melrose, Nana Grill, and 315 restaurant and Wine Bar in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Watch for updates as information is released.

By Andrew Chalk     photos by Robert Bostick

This weekend in a tasting at WinePoste.com Texas Viognier soundly trounced California and French wines made from the Viognier grape. The judges were professional sommeliers from Dallas restaurants including The Pyramid Room, The Dallas Country Club, The Gaylord Texan, Sēr at The Hilton Anatole and Kitchen LTO among others. All of the wines were tasted blind (i.e. nobody knew the identity of the wines – they were in numbered brown bags). The wines were not just a sample, but every Viognier made in Texas (the only absentee that I know of was Cap Rock Winery, which is undergoing some turmoil at present).  Plus, we had two high scoring California Viognier wines and a wine from the putative home of the grape in the modern era – Condrieu in the northern Rhone region of France.

I put together this tasting because, after four years touring over 80 Texas wineries, I have concluded that Viognier is the white grape that has proved most successful in the state. In fact, I felt it had reached a level that was comparable with California Viognier (although maybe not that of France). I was baffled that the national wine media such as Wine Spectator, The Wine Advocate and Wines and Spirits did not include Texas wines when they evaluated Viognier. Clearly, this was a matter that only the facts would settle: a blind tasting of French, California and Texas Viognier by expert palates to determine where the wines stood.

Choosing The Wines

I contacted every Texas winery and asked them to supply two bottles of each Viognier they made that was currently available for resale. The wineries came through enthusiastically with 13 wineries supplying 16 wines.

Next, I needed a strong California benchmark for comparison. I asked Sigel’s wine buyer, Jasper Russo, to pick three, and I would buy the first two I found at retail in Dallas.  He suggested: Miner Family Vineyard, Calera, and Melville. I found the 2010 Calera, Mt. Harlan, $34 (91 points, Wine Advocate) and the 2011 Melville Estate Viognier “Verna’s”, $25 (91 points, International Wine Cellar) and purchased them.

Finally, I needed a wine from the modern home of the Viognier grape, and the place that is still regarded as the benchmark for Viognier. I chose the 2011 Saint Cosme, Condrieu because this $65 wine scored over 94 points out of 100 in web reviews and is made by maybe the most decorated producer in the Rhône over the past two years. I expected this wine to win hands down, the compensation being that it was over twice the price of most of the Texas entrants.

Choosing The Tasters

I figured that if I did the judging the results would be about as credible as Paris Hilton discussing Newton’s Laws of Motion. So I emailed every professional sommelier in town and invited them to be a judge.  On the day, eight sommeliers came to The WinePoste.com and spent two hours in silence comparing nineteen wines and passing written judgment.

I excluded myself from the scores reported below as I was involved in the packaging and preparation for the tasting. I also knew the identity of the non-Texas wines and any of this could be conceived as biasing the result.

The Results

Here are the full results.

Notes:

1)      All the wines from Texas wineries are designated “Texas Viognier” on the label.

2)      Texas wine prices are from the winery web site for a single bottle purchase. Case discounts usually apply. Prices for the other wines are single bottle prices that I paid at retail stores in Dallas.

The clarity of the results is stunning. I had hoped Texas would be close behind the Californians and the Condrieu. In fact, no fewer than six Texas wines beat the first non-Texas wine (the Melville from California), and the expensive Condrieu was beaten by 12 Texas wines. The top three were all experienced Texas producers: Pedernales Cellars in Stonewall in the southern Hill Country, Brennan Vineyards in Comanche, a scant 90 minutes drive from Dallas, and Becker Vineyards, probably the best known of these three producers, also in Stonewall .  Two relatively new producers that I have already acquired a lot of respect for: McPherson Cellars out of Lubbock in The High Plains, and Lost Oak Winery, in Burleson, just south of Fort Worth, placed fourth and fifth.

It is hard to convey how much these dominant Texas results understate the promise of the Texas wines. These five wineries are relative upstarts compared with their out-of-state brethren. Every year they learn more about their vineyards, their climate, wine making and how these things interact. In this context, the future of Viognier in Texas is bright indeed.

Judge’s Comments

Writing about the winning wine, 2012 Pedernales Cellars Reserve, Russell Burkett  (wine director at Sēr at The Hilton Anatole) commented that it had “ripe stone fruits, long finish, notes of honeysuckle and white flowers and light minerality”. Aaron Benson, sommelier at the Dallas Country Club, described it as “classic Viognier…an underlying minerality balances the redolent ripe fruit” and gave it a commanding 92/100 point rating.

Regarding the second-placed 2011 Brennan Vineyards, Hunter Hammett, sommelier of The Fairmont Hotel, Dallas gave some advice to the winemaker that it was “a bit thin to be excellent but a great example of this classic Rhône varietal”. Simon Holguin, general manager at the forthcoming Kitchen LTO, said that it “finishes delicately”.

I asked Benson and Hammett, two judges who work the floor each night trying to deliver the most suitable wine to their customers, about selling Texas Viognier. They both said that selling a Texas Viognier is no harder than selling any other Viognier. The problem is selling Viognier. It is a “hand sale”, meaning that it is up to the sommelier to make the case to the customer, who typically has over 100 choices on the wine list. Hammett suggested wineries provide more guidance as to what food was intended to go with the grape. He pointed out that the choice of compatible food is not as broad as with Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. That leads to an idea: maybe Texas wineries should tour the state giving presentations to chefs on Texas Viognier food and wine pairings?

The Implications

Texas Viognier has come of age. For the customer, next time you shop for a white wine, consider purchasing one. Next time you are looking for a white wine on a restaurant wine list, ask for a Texas Viognier. Even if there isn’t one on the list at the time, sommeliers choose based on customer feedback. If you are a sommelier, check the results of this tasting for the quality and value most suitable for your list. If you are a publication that reviews wines, Texas Viognier has now shown that it deserves a place at the table for your next “California” Viognier review.

Thanks to all the wineries that took part and donated their wine. Thanks to the sommeliers who gave their time and professional expertise to judge. Thanks to WinePoste.com for their facilities and logistical help.

To order these wines: Some wines are available at local retail stores. Others are available direct from the winery (all can ship to consumers in Texas).