Fleet Drinks.
Do you think you could buy me a bottle of rosé?
If it was up to me, it would be fall forever. Screw swimming, tanning, shorts, cookouts and flip flops. The summers here in Richmond are so suffocatingly hot and humid that I am willing to sacrifice the season as a whole. Bring back the pumpkin beers, pumpkin pie, pumpkin lattes (okay maybe I’m just a little too obsessed with pumpkin. I swear I’m not basic). But most importantly, bring back the brisk nights under the blanket, a comically large glass of red wine in hand and another bottle decanting on the table.
One of my biggest qualms with our hellish summers is the fact that red wine just does not go with 100 degree days with 90% humidity. I was throwing a temper tantrum in the wine aisle of Kroger, Chris one aisle over pretending he didn’t know me. This little old man noticed me pouting and cradling a bottle of my favorite Côtes du Rhône. He chuckled and told me to follow him over to the refrigerated section. “I am from France, I know good wine, let me show you what to get” he said as he held up a bottle of Yellow Tail. I was genuinely impressed with how far back in my skull my eyes could roll when something caught my eye. A bottle of rosé.
Charles & Charles. It’s playful pink color, blend of grapes (86% Syrah! Score!), edgy USA Flag label, PLUS it is from Washington state. Why, it would simply be un-American not to buy this! I shoved the French dude out of my way, grabbed the rosé and found Chris hiding in the cereal aisle. “This! This! We can drink this!” Chris looked up and thought for a moment, “but it’s pink”.
Yes it’s pink, but it is delicious, and the perfect solution to this miserable season. The key to a good rosé is to find something “dry”. The biggest mistake you can make is accidentally buying…… white zinfandel. Don’t be fooled! They look very similar. A good rosé is dry but refreshing, fresh yet tart. One of my absolute favorites is the French La Calope Rosé, slightly effervescent, light and flavorful, you can usually find a bottle of this for under 10 bucks! Maybe I should find that French guy from Kroger and educate him to this…
THE VERDICT? Chris is too manly for for pink. More for me!
If it was up to me, it would be fall forever. Screw swimming, tanning, shorts, cookouts and flip flops. The summers here in Richmond are so suffocatingly hot and humid that I am willing to sacrifice the season as a whole. Bring back the pumpkin beers, pumpkin pie, pumpkin lattes (okay maybe I’m just a little too obsessed with pumpkin. I swear I’m not basic). But most importantly, bring back the brisk nights under the blanket, a comically large glass of red wine in hand and another bottle decanting on the table.
One of my biggest qualms with our hellish summers is the fact that red wine just does not go with 100 degree days with 90% humidity. I was throwing a temper tantrum in the wine aisle of Kroger, Chris one aisle over pretending he didn’t know me. This little old man noticed me pouting and cradling a bottle of my favorite Côtes du Rhône. He chuckled and told me to follow him over to the refrigerated section. “I am from France, I know good wine, let me show you what to get” he said as he held up a bottle of Yellow Tail. I was genuinely impressed with how far back in my skull my eyes could roll when something caught my eye. A bottle of rosé.
Charles & Charles. It’s playful pink color, blend of grapes (86% Syrah! Score!), edgy USA Flag label, PLUS it is from Washington state. Why, it would simply be un-American not to buy this! I shoved the French dude out of my way, grabbed the rosé and found Chris hiding in the cereal aisle. “This! This! We can drink this!” Chris looked up and thought for a moment, “but it’s pink”.
Yes it’s pink, but it is delicious, and the perfect solution to this miserable season. The key to a good rosé is to find something “dry”. The biggest mistake you can make is accidentally buying…… white zinfandel. Don’t be fooled! They look very similar. A good rosé is dry but refreshing, fresh yet tart. One of my absolute favorites is the French La Calope Rosé, slightly effervescent, light and flavorful, you can usually find a bottle of this for under 10 bucks! Maybe I should find that French guy from Kroger and educate him to this…
THE VERDICT? Chris is too manly for for pink. More for me!
Spring has Sprung!
No more hiding inside under a blanket, the only thing holding me back from sticking a straw in my bottle of red wine is knowing I need to maintain some sort of social normality in front of my fiance.
But now its spring! Time for beers on patios, and fruity sangria! It's that sweet spot before summer where I just pour some vodka in my Slurpee and call it a day.
Now lets talk about the best spots in the city to get the best cocktails.
No more hiding inside under a blanket, the only thing holding me back from sticking a straw in my bottle of red wine is knowing I need to maintain some sort of social normality in front of my fiance.
But now its spring! Time for beers on patios, and fruity sangria! It's that sweet spot before summer where I just pour some vodka in my Slurpee and call it a day.
Now lets talk about the best spots in the city to get the best cocktails.
BEER ME!
I tend to go back and forth on beer. Sometimes it just sounds "eh" to me and sometimes it literally seems like the world's most refreshing beverage. And we live in arguably one of the greatest up and coming beer cities! It feels like every other day a new brewery pops up in or around the city.
One of my most controversial opinions is on... (dun, dun dunnnnnnn...) Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. Its good! But is it great? I have the unpopular belief that their stouts are underwhelming and the flavors tend to run together.
I like my beers drinkable. Not necessarily PBR drinkable, but I definitely prefer the lighter stuff. Hardywood has a variety of pilsners that I gravitate toward and believe to be the best beers for this time of year. Light, refreshing, easy to drink for an extended period of time, say at a cookout or at a heavy metal show as I learned not a few weeks ago with Chris. The Hardywood Bohemian Pils along with their German style Pils both run at about 5% ABV which makes it ideal to enjoy more than one (or more than five in my case) without sending you into that all too familiar beer haze that comes with drinking a full pint of the Sidamo Cofee Stout at 9.3% ABV. Ouch!
THE VERDICT? Hardywood has a great outdoor space with local food-trucks galore. Great place to hang out with friends this spring and summer to cool down with a wide variety of craft brews.
INSIDER TIPS It gets busy! Take an Uber or walk, parking is an absolute nightmare. Also stay updated on their events! Lots of cool local and traveling music that you won't want to miss out on!
I tend to go back and forth on beer. Sometimes it just sounds "eh" to me and sometimes it literally seems like the world's most refreshing beverage. And we live in arguably one of the greatest up and coming beer cities! It feels like every other day a new brewery pops up in or around the city.
One of my most controversial opinions is on... (dun, dun dunnnnnnn...) Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. Its good! But is it great? I have the unpopular belief that their stouts are underwhelming and the flavors tend to run together.
I like my beers drinkable. Not necessarily PBR drinkable, but I definitely prefer the lighter stuff. Hardywood has a variety of pilsners that I gravitate toward and believe to be the best beers for this time of year. Light, refreshing, easy to drink for an extended period of time, say at a cookout or at a heavy metal show as I learned not a few weeks ago with Chris. The Hardywood Bohemian Pils along with their German style Pils both run at about 5% ABV which makes it ideal to enjoy more than one (or more than five in my case) without sending you into that all too familiar beer haze that comes with drinking a full pint of the Sidamo Cofee Stout at 9.3% ABV. Ouch!
THE VERDICT? Hardywood has a great outdoor space with local food-trucks galore. Great place to hang out with friends this spring and summer to cool down with a wide variety of craft brews.
INSIDER TIPS It gets busy! Take an Uber or walk, parking is an absolute nightmare. Also stay updated on their events! Lots of cool local and traveling music that you won't want to miss out on!
Cool as a Cucumber
As summer approaches, I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite, super refreshing summertime cocktail recipes! This variation of a gin cooler is so easy to make and damn delicious if I do say so myself!
What you'll need:
Pour 2oz of gin into a glass with simple syrup, stir, add ice, lime juice, top with fizzy water and garnish with as many cucumbers as you want! A sprig of fresh herbs amps up the look to make it super instagramable and makes it smell amazing.
THE VERDICT? Be careful with this one! Its so refreshing and smooth you'll forget there is alcohol in it if you're not cautious!
As summer approaches, I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite, super refreshing summertime cocktail recipes! This variation of a gin cooler is so easy to make and damn delicious if I do say so myself!
What you'll need:
- Gin (I like Beefeater, but hell, cheap gin will work just as well)
- Fizzy water
- Simple Syrup (or just dissolve a bit of sugar in warm water in a glass before you start)
- Thinly sliced cucumbers
- Fresh Limes (Sometimes I use Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice to kick up both the sweet and tart flavor!)
Pour 2oz of gin into a glass with simple syrup, stir, add ice, lime juice, top with fizzy water and garnish with as many cucumbers as you want! A sprig of fresh herbs amps up the look to make it super instagramable and makes it smell amazing.
THE VERDICT? Be careful with this one! Its so refreshing and smooth you'll forget there is alcohol in it if you're not cautious!