drunk.com

So it’s been a while since I posted, but it’s not due to a lack of drinking. Rather I’ve been busy. The semester ended, and I returned to where I had been living last year. I was reunited with my fiancé, my parents arrived, and we had the smallest wedding on record with a total of eleven people including the priest. An excellent way to spend a few weeks, though somewhat exhausting. I’ll be back at school shortly, and am looking forward to a little time to recover before my wife arrives for us to start our married life together.

So, what does this have to do with drinking? Well first off, there’s been quite a lot of that happening over the past three weeks, which I’ll try to break down into categories. First, spirits and cocktails. I was pleased to enjoy some of the finest martinis ever at one of my favourite bars. A small spray of dry vermouth from a mister is followed by a generous pour of gin straight out of the freezer, topped with a peel of lemon that is pinched once to release a light spray of citrus oil onto the surface of the gin and around the rim of the glass. Also on Honeymoon I enjoyed bellinis where they were created. The prosecco and white peach combination was just the thing for the summer heat.

As for wine, things started out on the right foot with some delicious Stag’s Leap 1997 at the wedding reception. On of the nice things about such a small wedding was that there was no problem in being able to source really nice wine. As it turns out, neither my father nor my mother-in-law drink, so we have a few bottles to cellar for an anniversary. After the wedding, there was plenty of wine on honeymoon, with Confini 2005, Vintage Tunini 2004, Vidaperti Coda di Volpe 2005, and La Caudrina Moscato d’Asti 2006 providing welcome relief through the warm days, though the best bottle I tasted was easily the Le Ragose 2001. I’m going to have to see if there is any way I can get some down here.

And finally, on to beer. Being back home allowed me a chance to have some Timothy Taylor Landlord which I quite enjoyed. It’s not too strong at 4.3%, but it really hits the spot. I wish I had one now.

Actually, I need to go back to wine for a minute here, as that’s what is in the glass in front of me. I’m thousands of meters above some body of water but fortunately I’m in an aircraft, enjoying a view out the window of inky darkness. But at hand is some lovely Shiraz/Viognier blend from d’Arenburg they call Laughing Magpie. d’Arenburg is one of my favourite vineyards, partly because I had an excellent lunch at their cellar door, but largely because they have such a wonderful variety of good wines. One of the things I like most about Australian winemakers is that they’re so free to experiment with varieties, which in the case of d’Arenburg means if I were forced to drink wine from a single winemaker for the rest of my life, most of my bases would be covered.

Oh, drunken thought from this past week was a use for sparkling Shiraz - Australian sangria! I don’t think it’s possible that I’m the first person to think of this, but it is the clear solution to the problem of people just really not liking the concept of sparkling red wine. Sangria is the perfect summertime drink, light and refreshing, and I think a perfect introduction to sparkling Shiraz for the uninitiated.

On a side note, I think it’s a tragedy that Shiraz (the town) is in a part of the world that discourages the consumption of alcohol. In a rare introduction of politics into this drunken blog, I think an invasion of Iran would be justified in the context of the liberation of Shiraz, and could easily be underwritten by Hardys and Penfolds.

Anyway, I think I’m going to save this and go to sleep. The in-flight entertainment system is out of service on this leg of the flight, but the Magpie has been quite entertaining in its own right. Oh, and since last I wrote I’ve been listening to the Rakes. Their new CD, Ten New Messages, is really well constructed. I don’t know if there is a single on it to match 22 Grand Job, but if there is it’s probably We Danced Together.