You know the rest of that line, right? Well, it's with some small amount of sadness that I am saying that about this blog: It must come to an end. I've had a terrific time writing it, but we've decided that in the end it's a bit strange, for a magazine that's all about bringing together food and wine, to have separate blogs on those topics.

So, from here on out, any wine blogging that I (and Megan Krigbaum, Kristin Donnelly, and various other stalwart folks) do will instead appear in F&W's primary blog, Mouthing Off. No less wine coverage, just a different venue. See you there.

Ray Isle

Last weekend goes down as one of the best in recent memory for me thanks to two great meals in Boston and a little baseball team called the Red Sox.

Friday night found some friends and me at Coppa, where I made it just in time for the late-night menu-an abbreviated version of the dinner menu, but no less impressive. Highlights included chef Jamie Bissonette's stunning crudo with radishes and carrots and borage flowers and the Pattypan di Popeye pizza topped with summer squash and spinach. A friend ordered the Strongman cocktail, which came in an enormous stein with a very muscular glass arm as the handle. The drink, a mixture of green chartreuse, yellow chartreuse and Coors Light (!) was remarkably refreshing and surprisingly strong.

The next day we were lucky to score some seats to the Red Sox game versus the Detroit Tigers. Now, as a girl who grew up in Michigan, I get a lot of flack for rooting for anyone other than the Tigers, but I can't help it. I love David Ortiz. I confess. I also love walk-off homeruns. And guess what: Bottom of the 9th, Sox down 3-2, David Ortiz gets up to the plate and WHAM! Three-run double, and the Sox win the game!

To celebrate this ridiculous victory, we sat down for dinner at Eastern Standard where the oysters were delicious and the 2009 Domaine Colotte rosé (find this wine) from Marsannay went expertly with the tomato, goat cheese and almond salad. Mixologist Jackson Cannon started us off with a to-be-named mini-cocktail (created by fellow bartender Bob McCoy) that was the perfect aperitif. Cannon's been making amber vermouth in-house, and it made this cocktail particularly herbaceous and balanced and refreshing. This is the best possible drink for a hot summer night after your favorite team comes through in the end:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1 ½ oz. gin, ¾ oz. amber vermouth, ½ oz. fresh lemon juice, ¼ oz. simple syrup and 1 dash orange bitters. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze a fresh lemon twist over the glass and discard. Serve.

The lottery for the NYC Half-Marathon opened yesterday, so I logged on to the New York Road Runners’ web site to sign up. In addition to asking for my estimated finish time, I was asked if I'd be interested in the following: a beer and barbecue bash, a wine and food festival, and wine tastings. Of course I said yes to all three, and then called NYRR to find out more. Ann Crandall, NYRR's senior vice president of business development and marketing, told me, "Most people don't just run. They run and go out for a beer with friends," says Crandall. "We're looking to form partnerships with local restaurants or chefs and create food-driven post-race events." I can't think of a better reason to run.

Writer Christian DeBenedetti reported on San Diego’s craft-beer scene in F&W’s June issue. He recently returned to San Diego to attend the city’s first-ever Beer Week, with 300 events held in 40 bars, 45 restaurants and five hotels. Here, his highlights:

* At Lost Abbey’s Barrel Night, 150 guests gathered to taste 10 rare, uncarbonated ales that had been aging in oak barrels. The ales were paired with beer-friendly foods like seared pork belly on crispy brussels sprouts and mussels steamed in beer.

* Several guest brewmasters were on hand for Q&As and tastings. Colby Chandler of Ballast Point discussed why San Diego has suddenly leaped to the forefront of America’s craft-beer scene. His theory: “Ambitious home brewers in the 1980s and '90s helped spur the rise of commercial brewing in the area, which in turn has inspired a new generation of artisanal producers.”

* At 1500 Ocean, a restaurant at Coronado Island’s historic Hotel Del Coronado, chef Brian Sinnott created dishes to match distinctive local beers from Ballast Point, Lost Abbey and Coronado. Among the most successful pairings: Lost Abbey’s earthy-yet-tangy, orange-hued, 6.5-percent-alcohol, saison-style Carnevale Ale with braised chicken oysters (two small, round pieces of dark meat on the back of a bird, near the thigh) served piccata style.

Last year, I was one of a supersmall group of journalists and brewers invited to the Brewers Association’s first-ever craft-beer dinner at NYC’s Gramercy Tavern. This year's dinner was even more spectacular. Some highlights:

New Glarus Brewing is legendary for its hard-to-obtain beers. Stories circulated around the table about attempts to smuggle them across the Wisconsin/Illinois border. We had the rare chance to try their seasonal Wisconsin Cran-bic. This is exactly what I’d want to pour with my first course at Thanksgiving dinner.

Scott Vaccaro of Captain Lawrence Brewing in Pleasantville, NY, brought his intense, dark, malty, bourbon-barrel-aged Nor’Easter Winter Warmer to pair with our cheese course.

The Twelve XII from Firestone Walker Brewing in Paso Robles, California, is one of the most complex beers I’ve ever tasted. Brewmaster Matt Brynildson enlisted area winemakers to assist in the blending of component beers, some of which spent more than two years aging in a combination of retired bourbon, rye and wine barrels.

I tend to prefer pumpkin in my pie, not my beer. But Lakewood, NY’s Southern Tier Brewing Company has made an extremely drinkable pumpkin beer called Pumking that is meant to be served in a goblet to bring out all of the spicy aromas. It’s full of cinnamon and clove, yet doesn’t have any cloying sweetness, and was brilliant with poached lobster served with turnips, daikon and lobster-squash sauce.

David Katleski, founder of Empire Brewing in Syracuse, NY , surprised us with a growler of what he’s calling White Aphro, a supposedly aphrodisiacal brew made from ginger, lavender and honey. The jury is out on whether it really works.

 

Last night I attended a phenomenal craft-beer dinner at NYC’s Gramercy Tavern (more on that later in a tomorrow's post). The brewers at the table got to talking about the most exciting beer innovations and innovators around the globe. One name that got dropped was England’s Alastair Hook, the founder and brewmaster of Meantime Brewing. I  repeatedly came across this brand on my recent trip to London. Hook recently brewed a limited-edition (2,000+ bottles) Scotch ale especially for the American market; it will be available around the new year. He used a recipe he created at the request of the late beer genius Michael Jackson. A Scotch ale is a style of beer brewed at a lower temperature than an English ale and cask conditioned for six-to-eight weeks to develop a gorgeous, roasty malt flavor. Here’s where to look for Scotch Ale, and Meantime’s other great brews, in the U.S.

El Chaltén is Argentina's youngest city, placed near the Chilean border in 1985 by the government to beat its rival country to the land claim. The place still feels like a frontier town, with packs of wild dogs patrolling the streets, but in one key way it's very urban: La Cervecería. The female brewmaster here crafts two types of beer (bock and pilsner) using traditional Bohemian recipes and techniques. After hiking to nearby Laguna Torre at a grueling pace, we stopped in for celebratory brews. The bock was malty and slightly sweet—light for a bock but still a little heavy for me, post-hike—while the pilsner clearly hit the spot: light and refreshing.

I’m always game to try a funky new beer, but when Maggie Fuller of Beer Ethos called to say she’d scored a bottle of chicha from Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery, I nearly wimped out. Chicha is a traditional South American brew made from corn. I like to refer to it as “spit beer” because before the brewing process begins, the corn must be chewed and moistened in the brewer’s mouth. The enzymes in the saliva activate the starches, which then break down into fermentable sugars. The beer is ultimately boiled, which leaves it sterile and germ-free. Dogfish Head’s renegade founder, Sam Calagione, created a super-limited amount based on a Peruvian recipe that called for purple maize, yellow maize and pink peppercorns. He also mixed in strawberries, a traditional chicha ingredient that Calgione felt was best to source locally in the U.S.

Maggie had tried real deal chicha on a trip to Peru and didn’t find our tasting at all daunting. I, on the other hand, sipped with caution. The strawberries gave the brew a lovely purplish-pink hue making it look deceptively pretty and innocent for a beer with someone’s spit in it. The nose was pure strawberries and the taste was surprisingly refreshing, dry and a bit spicy. And the flavors became more complex as the beer came to room temperature. The verict: a tasty beer, if you can get past the mental hurdle of how it's made.

 

An estimated 49,000 craft-beer lovers descended upon Denver last week for the 28th Annual Great American Beer Festival, where they had the opportunity to taste some 2,100 beers in 78 styles from 457 American breweries. Writer Christian DeBenedetti, who recently covered the craft-beer scene in San Diego for F&W, was on the scene.” Here, he shares highlights and a few interesting trends: 

“Brett” beers, named for Brettanomyces (bacteria that impart powerful, earthy flavors considered flaws in wine but boons in certain beers), are quickly gaining ground. Standouts at the festival included Odell’s Brett Barrel Brown and New Belgium’s Le Fleur Misseur. Brewers were also collaborating on pairings: Deschutes Brewery’s The Dissident, a sour Flanders brown beer, was amazing with a confit of pork with sage and macerated peaches. Perhaps most surprising was the growing popularity of sour beer styles, which are usually tricky to produce. These beers, such as Berliner weisse, Flanders red and brown ales, lambic and geuze, tend to be an acquired taste due to their acidity. Click here for a list of the festival's award-winners.

 

I'm of the belief that a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a great addition to many types of fizzy beverages-both non-alcoholic and alcoholic alike-beyond the usual (albeit delightful) root beer.

Since summer seems to have returned for an encore in New York this week, I can put down the Oktoberfest drinks and justify sipping fizzy beverages of the blueberry variety-and what goes well with blueberries? Vanilla ice cream. I recently discovered Maine Root's all-natural Blueberry Soda, which tastes just like fresh-picked berries and practically begs for a scoop of vanilla. For an adult float, top off a pint of Bluepoint Brewery's Blueberry Ale. This Long Island brewer adds 132 pounds of blueberries to every batch, giving the ale lots of berry flavor without too much sweetness.

Once summer's gone for good, I will continue my float experimentation with fall's favorite squash. Maine Root's just about to release a new soda flavor: Pumpkin Pie, which sounds like a Thanksgiving treat to me. And Dogfish Head brewery's rich, nutmeggy Punkin Ale might be a great fit for a scoop or two as well.