Labor Day Libations!

The Summer is still here no matter what the Pumpkin Beer brewers say! Enjoy the last few weeks of Summer with some great Labor Day Libations. Here are our top picks for delicious drinks to de-stress with. Spiked Seltzer (Low Carb & Gluten Free) $8.49/6 pack A very refreshing adult beverage that is made from natural ingredients and fermented to 6% percent alcohol. These are not sweet, but taste like flavored seltzer water with a kick. Berkshire Gin & Tonic $13.99/4 pack These premade cocktails are made with high end liquors and small batch tonic water. A great cocktail that requires no effort to enjoy. Also available in Vodka & Tonic. Cimarron Tequila $19.99/1 liter btl This is the perfect tequila for everything from Margarita making to sipping straight on the rocks! A great tequila that won't break the bank. Rutherford Hill, Merlot (Half Bottle) $10.99/375ml btl BYOB approved! This half bottle of quality Merlot is the perfect serving size for your next BYOB restaurant night. Just enough for two glasses of wine. Cheers! Domaine de Pajot, White Blend $8.99/750ml btl The perfect Summer white wine. A crisp, clean blend of grapes from the South of France. Great flavors of lemon, pear and apple with a refreshing finish. Our favorite everyday wine! Jack's Hard Cider, Local & Dry $9.49/6 pack A favorite of ours for its crisp and very refreshing style. Made from local cider apples from Pennsylvania. This is not that sweet cider that you see at most bars. This is a truly flavorful dry cider that is perfect for white wine drinkers! Barba Col Mar, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo $8.99/750ml btl The perfect pizza/pasta wine or as I like to call it the "Wednesday Night Wine". When your too tired to cook or just need a nice wine to relax with, this is your go to. Not to big and bold but with enough flavor to satisfy your red wine craving. As Goldilocks says, it's just right! Stickybeak, Russian River Chardonnay $12.99/750ml btl One of the only affordable Russian River Chardonnays which highlights why RRV is considered the top spot for Chards. A perfectly balanced wine with nice restrained oak and a touch of cream which plays off the nice citrus/apple fruit flavors that abound. A great end of Summer and beginning of Fall wine!

Don't forget to Save Time & Shop Online @ Whitehorsewine.com! Sincerely, Your Friends at White Horse Wine and Spirits

Sixpoint, Autumnation (2013)

A great shift in focus for this Autumn beer from Sixpoint Brewery out of New York. The 2011 and 2012 versions of this beer were billed as pumpkin beers. They were brewed with fresh pumpkin from NY state. The old beers were delicious because they were copper colored hop bombs. Needless to say they didn't sell very well in the store because hop heads avoided the pumpkin on the label and pumpkin beer fans were disappointed due to the lack of pumpkin flavor. Finally the brewery bit the bullet and changed their Autumnation from a pumpkin beer to a hoppy fall beer (same basic beer but with a new label).
While this is the same basic recipe for this beer, each year Sixpoint Brewery lets the hops be decided by its loyal fans. This year, they have choosen the new hop Mosaic. This newly culitvated hop is (HBC 369) is an aroma hop variety developed by Hop Breeding Company that was released in 2012. It offers a unique and complex blend of floral, tropical, fruity, and earthy characteristics that translate very favorably into
several styles of beer. Mosaic is the daughter of Simcoe and a Nugget derived male.
This brew is definitely more aromatic then its past counterparts. It has a warm bready, carmel malty aroma upfront with a piney, resiny citrus aroma that wafts up from behind. The aromas falsely set up this beer because they trick you into thinking this is more of a Fall brown ale. The rich copper color and bready/nuttyness of the aroma definately say Fall beer with a little hop background. However, the first sip shows you what this beer really is, a secret hop bomb. Its no DIPA, but for a Fall beer it is quite hoppy. This reminders me of the new beer that Sierra Nevada just launched for Fall called Flipside. It too is a red/brown ale with a big hop wallop. Both are solid beers with enough hops to please the hopheads but a richness that goes perfectly with the cool Fall weather that just hit here. Plus, with the 6.7% abv, this is just enough to keep you toasty in front of a roaring fire at night!
Overall, I would highly recommend this beer. It is local, tasty and the best part, it comes in 16oz cans! This is a highly seasonal beer, so grab it before we drink it all.

Personal Rating: 9.5 /10
Style Rating: 5/10 (not sure what style this really fits)

Wanna try it now? Order it online at: 
http://www.whitehorsewine.com/proddetail.php?prod=859093002169

Great Divide, Hoss Rye Lager

Here's a hidden Oktoberfest beer. We originally found this one in the variety pack that Great Divide sent us last year. This is the first year we have this beer in six packs. As you can see from the label on the right, the brewery is not billing this as a Oktoberfest beer however, according to the brewery, "Hoss is based on the Märzen lagers of Germany" which are what Oktoberfests are. 

This is a really interesting Märzen. With the addition of Rye to the traditional Vienna and Munich malt base this lager takes on spicy notes that complement the touch of richness from the malts. This brew is has layered sweet malt notes, with some hints of cherry and almond. The spiciness of the Rye definitely give this a more exciting feel then the run of the mill Oktoberfests. Even with the Rye, this beer still keeps the signature smooth finish of an Oktoberfest. 

I really enjoyed this beer from Great Divide. They took a traditional Fall beer and gave it a nice twist that makes it a little more crafty. If your in the mood for an smooth Oktoberfest beer but your tired of the same old selection, then you should definitely grab a six pack of this. Especially at $11.99 a six pack, it definitely delivers!

Personal Rating: 9 /10
Style Rating: 9.5

Wanna try it now? Order it online at: 
http://www.whitehorsewine.com/proddetail.php?prod=790586006328