Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
Twitter Tasting: US Craft Beers Part I
May 17, 201020/5/2010, 8pm – UPDATE: We’ve been absolutely bowled over by the unanticipated level of demand we’ve had for the tasting packs in the last 24 hours. Unfortunately, we’ve now completely sold out of Anchor Bock, and will be unable to get any more in before the tasting. If you’d still like to take part, we’re selling tasting packs with the other 4 beers in, along with the background info booklets, for £9.25. Any packs that were already pre-ordered will of course still have the full set of 5 beers when collected.
I’d like to take a moment to extend a genuine and heartfelt thank you to everybody who has been so enthusiastic and supportive of this little project of mine. The comments and RTs that have been flying around and coming in on Twitter have been incredibly generous and kind, and are deeply appreciated. Rest assured, these tastings will become a regular feature of my Tweeting in the weeks and months ahead. I hope you all thoroughly enjoy yourselves come Saturday, and will be back for more in the future. Cheers!
- Twitter Tasting Packs: 5 fantastic beers, background notes on the breweries and their brews, and information about Twitter and how it works, all for £11. Plus you get to be part of the collision between beer tasting and social media! What could be better?
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
Last weekend saw our very first online beer tasting go off without a hitch. A group of us all got hold of a few bottles of the fantastic beers made by the chaps at BrewDog, and tasted our way through 6 of their range, exchanging comments, observations and comparisons as we went, all through the magical medium of Twitter. Not only did it end up being a fun night, trying some very unusual and wonderful beers, but it also proved pretty popular and got noticed by a few who weren’t taking part.
So in response to demands for more of the same for others to join in with, this coming Saturday (22nd May), we’ll be doing it all over again, but this time with some of America’s finest craft beers that are currently doing the rounds in the UK. There was actually 10 beers to choose from that we stock, from 4 different breweries, but to avoid getting too carried away for one evening, I asked our followers on Twitter to choose 2 of the breweries to go with for this tasting, leaving the other 2 for another night.
With a whopping 67% of the vote, the decision has been made to taste the Anchor and Flying Dog beers this weekend. These are two of America’s best-known craft beer producers, creating iconic and unique premium beverages for discerning drinkers far and wide.
The Anchor brewery in San Francisco is world-famous for it’s Anchor Steam Beer which it has been producing since 1896. Every beer is virtually hand-made, in the most traditional of manners, and has been the benchmark of American brewing for generations. Their website is very well put together, and provides lots of background information on the brewers and their story for those of you who are interested.
Our other brewery providing Saturday night’s delights is anything but traditional; a collaborative effort first started in 1983 in a Brewpub in Aspen, Colorado, the Flying Dog project has included the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman amongst its number. Anything but conformist, the Flying Dog beers are original and unique, and considered to be amongst the best in the world. Marketed with Ralph’s controversial artwork adorning the bottles, the beers certainly stand out on a shelf, and over 500,000 cases a year are shipped worldwide from their Maryland facility.
The lineup:
- 8.00pm: Anchor Steam (4.8%) – £1.75
- 8.30pm: Anchor Bock (5.5%) – £1.75
- 9.00pm: Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale (5.5%) – £2.25
- 9.30pm: Flying Dog Snake Dog India Pale Ale (7.1%) – £2.50
- 10.00pm: Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian-Style India Pale Ale (8.3%) – £2.75
So how do you take part I hear you ask? Dead simple really. Pick up a bottle of each of the beers from the lineup (or just the ones you like the look of, you don’t have to do them all), either from ourselves or another beerspecialist if we’re hard to reach. We’re doing ready-made packs of all 5 beers, along with background notes on the breweries & brews, and info about how Twitter works. All you need to do is call in and ask for a Twitter Tasting Pack, and have £11 ready.
Twitter Tasting Packs, ready and waiting for collection. Let me know you're coming in, and get your own personalised pack made up, including your own avatar and personal tweet written on the side of the box. 😉
Confused? Don’t worry about it, just drop me a tweet (@thewineyard) or an email (Ben@thewineyard.co.uk) with any questions and I’ll do everything I can to help you get set up for a beery night of social media! Any thoughts or comments on the event in general, please do add a comment below.
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
Tweeps taking part:
Save 33% on Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2006
May 12, 2010[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
On a relatively regular basis, our suppliers offer us bin-end deals on some of their wines for various reasons; they might want to clear out the last of the previous vintage to make room for a new one arriving, the wine may have been de-listed and replaced by something else, and of course, they sometimes find they got over-excited about a new wine and bought far too much of it, and need to sell it off in volume. The caveat is usually that we have to buy up a decent chunk of stock if we want to get the benefits of the good prices, and the wines can often be ones we don’t usually stock or aren’t familiar with, so we don’t always jump at the chance.
No such trouble with this Californian 
Sauvignon Blanc from the well-established and highly rated Kendall-Jackson range. We were already selling this at £11.99 when we were asked if we wanted to take a few cases at a reduced price, and knew we liked it, so we grabbed 36 bottles a few days ago and promptly opened one for the tasting counter (come in and ask if you’d like to try it yourself this week). I was delighted with the quality, and the more unusual style; this is not a New Zealand-style Sauvignon by any means, and in my opinion is all the better for it. I love to see regions producing wines in their own individual manner, instead of trying to emulate someone else’s success (something the New World is still getting the hang of in many parts).
So the all important question of course is price, and we’ve reduced this from £11.99 to £9.99/bottle, or you can buy 3 bottles for £7.99 each (£23.97), saving you a fantastic 33% off the original shelf price (down from £35.97).
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
Below are my own tasting notes, tweeted live as I tried it (start at the bottom and read upwards though, as they’re listed with the most recent tweet first). If you’re ever interested in seeing what others and myself have been tasting recently, search on Twitter for “#wineyardtasting” or click the image below.
Live Brew Dog Twitter Tasting: Saturday 8th May, 8pm
May 3, 2010
Come Wednesday we should have 6 new beers from the Brew Dog boys on our shelves and up for grabs (only a couple of cases of each atm, so don’t leave it too long if you want to get your hands on some). Ordering these beers in was something of a leap of faith on my part, as I’ve only tried their Punk IPA, but I was so impressed (as were others who were trying it with me) that I immediately set about arranging for us to stock their range! So with a day off on Saturday looming, I’m going to be tasting all 6 that we’re stocking at home with some friends (5 for the first time), and getting as many of you to join in as possible through the magical medium of Twitter.
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
If you don’t fancy 6 beers in one evening, then that’s absolutely fine – just join in with the ones that you like the sound of! It’ll all be very informal and fun – There’s a list below of what I’ll be tasting at what time if you want to do it live along with me. Alternatively, just try 1 or 2 of whatever you fancy through the evening and tweet about it with the #wineyardtasting tag so we can all keep tabs on what everyone thinks of their beers.
I’ll be kicking off the beer tasting at 8pm, tweeting like fury as I go, and exchanging thoughts with any who join in. All the tweets will include the #wineyardtasting hashtag, so if you want to keep up with the evening’s goings on, all you’ll need to do is search “#wineyardtasting” on Twitter or visit this link, and you’ll be able to see it update with new messages.
The schedule (likely to fall apart towards the end, but it’s a loose guide for the order as much as anything):
8.00pm: Trashy Blonde Pale Ale (4.1%) – £1.60/bottle
8.30pm: 77 Lager (4.9%) – £1.50/bottle
9.00pm: 5 A.M. Saint Amber Ale (5%) – £1.65/bottle
9.30pm: Zeitgeist Black Lager (4.9%) – £1.50/bottle
10.00pm: Punk IPA (6%) – £1.65/bottle
10.30pm: Hardcore IPA (9.2%) – £2.65/bottle
Click the names of any of the beers to be whizzed off to their respective info pages on the cracking little Brew Dog site, and see what you like the look of. Give me a Tweet if you’ll be joining in or if you have any questions, or alternatively leave a comment on this page. You can also e-mail me, Ben@thewineyard.co.uk
Advice for serving temperatures (straight from a BrewDog man himself):
All the hoppy light beers – just chilled – not overly cold
(It is craft beer – not real ale- so the usual rules don’t apply )
All the stouts room temp
We don’t get too preachy about these things – people know how they like their beer
Our philosophy is never be told how to enjoy something – just enjoy it
Logic dictates, stick Punk etc on ice but don’t freeze out the hop
You will kill the flavours on the stout if you chill it
The anomaly is ZG (Zeitgeist) which although a lager actually develops in flavour as it comes to room temp –so you can go either way on that one – dealers choice
People planning to take part:
- TheWineyard
- ReluctantScoop
- Saabay
- HowmanyGills
- Neil_Bowness
- BlueVanMan1
- BrianSheldon
- KristianHolt
- PrintedSpace
- PabloVonSteel
- Michelle_atwork
- DClancs
- SoniaAnders
- thewinemaestro
- FrenchieLeChar
- RoboticSteve
- Rob_Workman
- ActualSpiderman
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
What people are Tweeting about the event (hit that little retweet button to the right and edit the text to tweet your own comment, just leave @thewineyard in your message so I see it come up!):
@dartogreen: “I love the cool social networking marketing approach of a live twitter tasting!”
@relucantscoop: “Six Brewdogs in one evening? Sounds like my regular Saturday night ;-)”
@HowmanyGills: “I’m a huge fan of Brew Dog. They do some incredible stuff. What’s the list and I can get @Rakebarto sort me out”
@marieiram: “heehee! are the ones at 10:30 going to be BEER IS BRILLIANT! I LOVE YOU GUYYS! ?”
@neil_bowness: “need to make a trip down to see you first and pick up some Brew Dog beers, hope @brewdogjames appreciates my 40 mile round trip”
@BlueVanMan1: “Sounds great, I will try my very best. Just have to manage to get there before Saturday to get the beers in….”
@Brewdogsales: “Get involved + check out the guest casks on @ Morcambe Bay Wines [our parent company] this May/ June”
@KristianHolt: “I’m there 🙂 what a great idea.”
@PrintedSpace: “I’m there also 🙂 what a great idea.”
@DClancs: “very nice, defenitely up for your live tasting, im really looking forward to the tipsy tweets :D”
@quirkytraveller: “*Excellent beer tasting”
@PeteBrownBeer: “Very tempting! Sadly I’ll be on a train back from Ludlow…”
@PJMontgomery: “Let me know when you do another one, I’ll totally be there!”
@louiseheasmanuk: “I’m not a beer drinker but I love the concept! Let me know how it goes – would love to know!”
@mcdent: “I’d like to Ben but may not have chance. Sounds great though! Will you be suggesting drinking temperatures?”
@mcdent: “I’m liking how you have ramped up the %abv, from a sober 4.1% right up to a cheeky little 9.2% :)”
@HowmanyGills: “There’s a Brewdog tasting tomorrow hosted by @TheWineyard on twitter. Details here http://wp.me/pIB8p-4w. Awesome idea. ( CC @BrewDogJames )”
@Antipathy: “Am gutted I can’t do this – looking forward to other twitter tastings in the future though!”
@BrianSheldon: “Zeitgeist = Guinness Black Lager. Gorgeous :-)”
@DClancs: “tried Punk IPA whilst watching the election last night, very impressed :)”
@MamaJunkyard: “The twitter beer tasting is such a great idea – hope it goes well”
Belmont Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (Marlborough, New Zealand)
April 19, 2010
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
Sauvignon Blanc, probably one of the most popular grapes in the UK today, is usually a crisp, refreshing and dry white wine. Marlborough, New Zealand is increasingly regarded as the pinnacle of all Sauv Blanc producing regions, and offers some stunning wines, usually in a very zesty style full of gooseberry and citrus flavours, and full-on in-your-face character. The only downside to the region is perhaps the price (these wines don’t often come cheap), although this doesn’t stop us Brits from buying serious quantities of the stuff.
Imagine my excitement then, when this Marlborough Sauv Blanc came in through the door and went on sale at £5.99 (or two for £10)! First thing first, I checked the vintage to see if our wholesale half of the company had been conned into buying a load of old wine that was past its best. 2009? My smile widened. Still young and fresh, barely out of the winery. Perhaps it was just a cheap wine, and everyone else was selling it cheaply too? A quick search online finds it being sold by Tesco at £10/bottle, and everywine.co.uk at £8.99! Now I’m seriously giddy, and impatiently waiting for the bus home with a bottle in my bag to check it out for myself.
I get home, having tweeted about it through the afternoon and encouraging others to try it too, and plonk it in the fridge to chill. Fast-forward a few hours, add a few Twitter folk tasting along with me, and here we go:
The aromas were definitely tropical to me, with scents of peach and guava (check out me with the posh fruit reference!) being particularly prevalent. I had to double-check, having expected to be slapped in the face by gooseberries, but yep, this was tropical through and through! In the mouth, the wine was really soft and rounded, much more elegant than anticipated, and almost creamy. There was a bit of zest there too, with a little citrus complimenting the tropical flavours, and lending it an altogether pleasant finish too. The acidity was good, meaning the wine maintained a nice freshness and crispness.
Others who tasted it live on Twitter all felt that they felt it had a fairly sweet-smelling nose, and grapefruit flavours in the mouth. A customer in the shop also thought there was a hint of lychee lurking around. All of us enjoyed it, and felt it was good value for money at £5 a bottle. Special thanks to @SoniaAnders @PabloVonSteel and @Rob_Workman for joining in with the live tasting! If you fancy joining in with one of these, give me a tweet and I’ll help you pick out a wine that you’ll hopefully love for us to taste live together. I’ll even give you 10% off the wine we taste, just for joining in and tweeting about it.
[tweetmeme source=”TheWineyard”]
UPDATE: We’ve stocked up for the weekend and put a fab case offer on Belmont Sauvignon Blanc 2009: £27 for 6 bottles. That’s £4.50/bottle (down from £5.99 for a single bottle) giving you a whopping 25% saving!
Tonight’s Live Tasting: Belmont Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand)
April 15, 2010
Tonight’s live Twitter tasting is an exciting one as far as I’m concerned. We’ve managed to get our hands on some Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc for a cracking price (£5.99 or 2 for £10) and are yet to taste it ourselves. We’re assured it’s very good value for money, and I’ll be tasting it for the first time this evening. As I taste, I’ll be tweeting my immediate impressions and notes on the wine as I go, and encouraging you guys to tweet back and quiz me on it too. If you fancy joining in for a bit of Twitter tasting with me, pick up a bottle this evening and tweet your own thoughts on the wine (there are a few already chilling in the fridge).
If you’re not on Twitter, and don’t want to join, fear not! You can keep up anyway thanks to some recent improvements to the site. Open this page in your web-browser and it’ll automatically update with the latest tweets about the wine:
As a genuinely brand new & untested wine, I can make no promises regarding quality, but you only live once and it’s not gonna cost the Earth right? Just to be clear, this isn’t an attempt at snazzy web 2.0 marketing where I only bang on about how great all our own wines are. If I’m unimpressed, you’ll hear about it just as much as if I love it (my last wine tried live on Twitter was far too acidic on first tasting, and I made no secret of it, but in fairness, the next night it had really softened up and improved a great deal – blog post about it coming up later). I also regularly tweet about wines and beers from other companies if I’m trying them (last night was an interesting selection of beers from Sainsbury’s with friends for example). So if you’re feeling curious and daring, grab a bottle of Belmont on the way back from work, and join in with me and any other curious tweeps, and we’ll try some cheap ‘n’ cheerful New Zealand Sauv Blanc together at about 8pm tonight.
Not sure if you’ll like Sauvignon Blanc (or what it is)? Expect a tart, citrus-fruit style wine full of grassy, gooseberry flavours – it’ll be crisp and refreshing, and a good pair for seafood/fish if you’re wanting to have it with food. Very very popular style of wine, and Marlborough is widely considered one of the very best regions for producing it.
Live Tastings on Twitter
April 9, 2010When tasting wines properly, it’s often a good idea to note down your initial impressions as soon as possible, as they will never be as clear if you try to recall them later. Flavours that immediately jump out at you can quickly be forgotten again, and each sip can change your feelings and interpretations of the wine you are tasting.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been tweeting my very first impressions of wines I’m trying that we’re tasting over the weekend, as I taste them myself. I’ve found this useful in a couple of ways personally, as it collects my thoughts into an accessible online location that I can look back at as I write up notes for this blog, and it also forces me to think more carefully about the aromas and flavours I’m perceiving. When scribbling a hasty word or two with pen & paper, I know in the back of my mind that I’ll be able to expand on the notes from memory, lazy as this is. But when I’m publishing my first impressions for the world at large to read and critique, I find myself far more focused on identifying precise flavours where possible, and much more thoroughly engaging with the wine I’m tasting with the hope of being more accurate and informative with what I have to say.
With this in mind, I will be tweeting my tasting notes as I taste, live to Twitter whenever possible, and always with the #wineyardtasting link in the tweet to make them easy to find. If you’re new to Twitter, you can find me here. I love getting comments, questions and suggestions from the folks already on there, so feel free to join in any time.
Even better still would be if I could get some of you trying some wines at the same time as me, so we can exchange thoughts as we try things together. If you’re interested in taking part, get in touch on Twitter and let me know, and we can organise something between us. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be an expert, and it’s all good fun at the end of the day.
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