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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/41359
DRINK CULTURE T.G.I. Friday's Crafty Brew Promo Answering consumer research that showed 34 percent like beer best in the summer and 40 percent like to try beers that pair well with seasonal dishes, Carrollton, Texas-based T.G.I. Friday's launched its fi rst ever off ering of regional craft beers with a summer-only "Better with Brew" menu of beer-steeped appetizer, entree and dessert options, and eight craft brews. "We featured best regional craft brews both as a pairing for meals and as an ingredient in actual recipes," says Ricky Richardson, executive vice president and chief concept offi cer. Th roughout summer, 2011, guests were able to open meals with an appetizer of Ale House Shrimp and Chips (beer-battered broccoli, peppers and shrimp over home-style chips with Cucumber-Wasabi Ranch Dip and a Stout Beer Remoulade). Four beery entrees included the top selling beer-brined Black Angus Brew House Steak and and beer-grilled Ale House Baby Back Ribs, plus beer-marinated Dijon-Crusted Beer Chicken and beer-seared Parmesan-Crusted Crab Flounder. Depending on region, summer guests to the 600 T.G.I. Friday's T.G.I. Friday's serves a Guinness Stout Milkshake and Ale House Shrimp & Chips. Harborside Wine Collection Legal Sea Foods' Sandy Block developed the Legal Harborside Collection, a set of select and specially sourced wines to enhance the restaurants' culinary off erings. Th e fi fty wines all come from an individual place that refl ects a single family's connection to that part of the earth, according to Block, who worked with the producers to create these unique off erings. Each page of the collection's menu contains both tasting notes and an illustration of where the wine is from. Th e majority of the wines are off ered in both 750-ml. and 375-ml. sizes to encourage maximum exploration by diners. Th e bottles range in price from $35 to $750 each. 8 | SEPTEMBER 2011 Planted in 1990, this 2.8 acre vineyard is sited on the steep lower slopes of the Vaca Mountains in Oakville. Its extremely rocky, iron-rich red soils force each vine to severely limit yields. U.S. locations were also able to wash it all down with Harpoon IPA, Magic Hat #9, New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale, Goose Island Honkers Ale, Abita Amber, Alaskan IPA, Boulevard Wheat and Uinta Cutthoat Ale. And for dessert, the top-off was T.G.I. Friday's Guinness Stout Milkshake, made with chocolate syrup and stout blended with ice cream and topped with whipped cream and another splash of stout. T.G.I. Friday's says it is pleased with the results of the promotion, although it can't say if the company will bring the promo back, or, whether it will just add craft beers to its regular roster. —Monica Kass Rogers T-Vine "Monte Rosso Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma, 2007 $55/$29 Fernando Candelario Ramey Cellars "Pedregal Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, 2006 $165 David Ramey Super-concentrated and ripe, this blackberry-scented wine includes about 12% Petit Verdot, which is co-fermented with the Cabernet. Full-bodied and velvety with herb, smoked meat and black fruit opulence. Winemaker David Ramey has always been an outside the box thinker and a proponent of traditional methods he learned during apprenticeships in Europe, rather than a follower of fashion. Grapes develop slowly in these moderately warm sunny growing conditions producing textbook cassis aromas and soft juicy layers of Cabernet richness. Aging this 100% varietal Cabernet in 40% new French oak barrels for 12 months completes the picture. According to winemaker Fernando Candelario, "The balance of big and elegant, with intricate complexity, is the trademark of this very special place." Terra de Verema "Corelium," Priorat, 2005 Esther Nin $95 Among California's oldest vineyards, located on the southwest side of the Mayacamas mountain range, at 1,000 to 1,200 foot elevations; vines at these heights are able to bask in morning sun while fog cools the valley fl oor. Soils are iron rich red clays. These low yielding rocky soils produce a wine with fl oral, dark berry aromas and layers of rich intense fruit. Aging in 300-liter new French oak for 16 months enhances its lush velvety texture. Proprietor Esther Nin farms the 1,200 foot high vineyard organically. She attributes the resulting wine's quality largely to the vineyard's "volcanic origin, which gives its soils unique features. The soil is acid, poor in organic matter but rich in slate." Château Meyney, St. Estèphe, 2000 Anne Le Naour & Thierry Budin $65/$35 Harlan Estate, Oakville, 2006 H. William Harlan $750 Velvety rich textures and remarkable complexity result from the blend of hillside Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), Merlot (20%), Cabernet Franc (8%), and Petit Verdot (2%). Thrilling fl avors of blackberry, raspberry, tobacco, anise, and spice, with a long echoing fi nish. Truly a product of Bill Harlan's vision and one of the world's superlative wine estates! An historic 126 acre vineyard on a rise situated close to the Gironde estuary, with vines averaging 35 to 40 years old. Extremely well-drained stone and gravel soils with a streak of blue clay underneath. 28 Comprising forty acres of terraced and closely spaced vines located high on the western hillsides of the Oakville Corridor, Harlan Estate's soil is composed of fractured volcanic and sedimentary bedrock. 30 Made at the warm northern end of Napa Valley from grapes grown in well-drained river bottom soils. Cool nights provide ideal conditions for preserving liveliness along with medium to full body and ripe grapey fruit fl avors. 24 A structured but fl eshy full-bodied wine which develops with maturity the charm of the best St-Estèphes. Composed of Cabernet Sauvignon (55%), Merlot (30%), and Petit Verdot (15%), it ages for 16 to 18 months in barrels, 40% of which are new. Technical Director Anne Le Naour and Director General Thierry Budin oversee winemaking at this estate. The 2000 vintage is legendary in Bordeaux. A single vineyard, The Comet, with low yielding Carignan vines over 70 years of age. Growing over a bed of red and black slate on volcanic soils with small particles of heat-absorbing mica and quartz, the Carignan here develops very thick skins and super-concentrated fl avors. Robert Foley Vineyards Charbono, Napa Valley, 2008 Robert Foley $45/$24 A rare deep purple-colored variety (only about 40 acres still exist in California) with dark penetrating plummy fruit, moderate tannins, and hints of anise; original vine cuttings were imported to Napa from the Savoie region in the French Alps around 1880. Robert Foley reports that one taste of Charbono over 40 years ago was all it took to inspire his dream of becoming a winemaker. www.cheersonline.com Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Petit Verdot Cabernet Sauvignon Charbono Carignan