Star Liquor: Friday Interviews with Emily: Vanessa from Potosi Brewing

Star Liquor: Friday Interviews with Emily: Dani from Great Lakes

Friday Interviews with Emily: Sadie from Oskar Blues

Friday Interviews with Emily: Introduction

Madison Craft Beer Week 2012

Time to celebrate craft beer in Madison again.

Wait, we do that every day here right?

Well, yes but now we have a whole week of awesome events to enjoy.

Craft beer is growing in this country but the majority of people still drink mass produced beer. So like last year Star Liquor is encouraging you, oh lover of good brew, to take this opportunity to convert someone. We all have that friend who won't stray from pale lagers made a billion gallons at a time. Grab that friend, find an event, and let the conversion begin. There is truly something for everyone. They probably just don't know that not every craft beer is a hyper-hopped IPA. We should all help them find out.

Star Liquor's Schedule for Madison Craft Beer Week 2012

All tastings 4pm until 7pm

Friday 5/4:               Central Waters Brewing and Crispin Cider
Saturday 5/5 :          House of Brews

Sunday 5/6 NOON: Great Taste of the Midwest Tickets On Sale

Thursday 5/10:       Utah Brewers Coop (Wasatch and Squatters)
Friday 5/11             Pearl Street Brewing
Saturday 5/12         Lake Louie 


For a full list of Madison Craft Beer Week events click here.

So go and partake, but also share the love with someone who needs your help to discover better beer.

Wine and Travel: Tuscany 2003 Part 1

I still remember being at Star on that February afternoon when Jerry looked up from his phone call at the desk and said, "Adam, you have a passport right?" I answered him that I did. He then asked if I wanted to go to Italy. I am going to say that this was probably the easy question I have ever answered in my life.

I had known since I had started working full time at Star that there was a chance this trip would come about. Jerry had gone ten years earlier, and Jason had gone five years earlier. Still the suddenness with which it came about caught me a little off guard. I only found out I was going about five weeks before the trip would happen. This would be my first trip to Europe, and I couldn't wait.

I spent that seemingly never ending time preparing for the trip. After recieving the itinerary I spent some time trying to familiarize myself with the vineyards I would be going to and the wine that they make. Many of these trips are what they call "death marches" around Italy. Vineyard after vineyard with little or no free time. Often they cover the boot from tip to toe. Which I understand is a little like complaining that the weather has just been "too nice" but that much drinking and travel mixed together can be pretty exhausting. My trip however was going to be a bit more limited in scope. We would only be visiting Tuscany. Ha, only. 17 vineyards in 10 days. Places that make some of the worlds most celebrated wines from Chianti Classico, to Brunello di Montalcino, to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Hooray.

The night before I left Jerry, Jason,and I sat in the basement of Star and they gave me some last
minute advice before I went off to represent Star in Italy. These were good tips, mostly involving phrases like, "have fun" and "don't make an ass of yourself". We sat and drank some good wine, ate some good cheese and oil, and laughed as all the while my excitement grew.
After driving to Chicago, and flying to Newark I met the first of my travelling companions for the week. They had been on the same flight out of Chicago as Brian was from Oshkosh and Charlie was from Milwaukee. I had not met them earlier because I am a bit solitary when on planes, my book and my music get most of my attention. Now in Newark we had hours to kill before our flight left for Rome. We found the gate where our flight would leave which happened to be an area full of large white rocking chairs. Perfect.

We ate, had a few beers and soon more people from our group began to trickle in. We met John (who would be my roommate on the trip) and Nancy from Maryland. Barb, David and Mark arrived from Denver, then Bob from Boston, then Susan from New Hampshire.

We ended up having a nearly 4 hours delay in Newark but with almost half of our travelling crew in place we spent the extra time getting to know each other. The flight was uneventful, but I will say that Al Italia has good food and wine and bizarre Italian movies.

When we landed in Rome we met Lara, our tour leader from New York and learned that we had missed our connection to Florence but no worries for they had a bus for us. For me this was preferable anyway, it was a 3 hour ride through Italy, my first exposure to Europe. Everyone else slept, I stared our the window with my mouth open, which it turns out is how I would spend the better part of the week.

More stories to come. Stay tuned.

-Adam

Cooking with Spirits: Scotch Mustard Reduction Sauce

Hello all. This it the first in what I hope will be a more regular series of blogs by Star Liquor. Posted both by myself (Adam) and my coworkers.

I am going to start this renewed effort by sharing a wonderful recipe I learned at the Through the Seasons Cooking School at L'Etoile way back in 2002. The class I took was called red meat and scotch. This class was my first Xmas gift from Jerry as a Star employee and I have probably made it a hundred times over the last ten years.

The original recipe was for beef tenderloin filets but I have found it works very well with pork as well. At times I have substituted bourbon for scotch, this also works well. Any good recipe is just a starting point and only your imagination limits you.

There is no reason to use a fancy single malt for this sauce. A blended scotch will be cheaper and taste just fine. If you are going to use single malt remember that cooking with booze concentrates flavor, so a smoky scotch means a smoky sauce.

When you are at Star Liquor buying your whisky for this dish, A half pint (200ml) equals roughly a cup.

Scotch Mustard Reduction Sauce

6 T unsalted butter
2 shallots pealed and finely diced
1 cup scotch whisky
2 T whole grain mustard
1 cup of demi-glace

In a saute pan over high heat, melt 2 T of butter and sear your meat. Remove meat from pan and pour off any excess fat. Save the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. They are all flavor.

Add the shallots to the pan and brown slightly while stirring. Add the mustard to the pan and cook for about 1 minute while stirring so the mustard coats the shallots.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the scotch.

***Just an aside for safety's sake. When you are cooking with spirits always remember that BOOZE BURNS. Technically booze fumes burn and when you add spirits to a hot pan there are going to be fumes. So turn the burner off before you add the booze. Most of the fumes will dissipate in a minute or two. Even so keep a lid for your pan handy and a fire extinguisher should be in your kitchen too. This stuff is yummy but don't burn your kitchen down for it.***

Bring back the heat and reduce the scotch, mustard, shallot mixture to a thick paste. Add the beef demi-glace and bring to a simmer. Reduce this mixture by about half. Swirl in the remaining butter and serve right away over your meat.

ENJOY!!

-Adam

Catching "Catch A Star" Fever!

So I have a confession for you all. You the faithful and discerning fans of good old Star Liquor. I confess to you that I have a fever. Yes, that is right, a fever. No I am not ill. I have not caught a bug, nor some sort of flu. This fever is caused by excitement and anticipation. This is "Catch a Star" fever.

Have you caught it yet?

You will!

How could you not?

What am I talking about you ask?








Why I am talking about winning a $500 Shopping Spree at Star Liquor!

$500 to stock your liquor cabinet!
$500 to pack the wine rack!
$500 to build your self a fortress inside your beer fridge that seemingly never ends!

Or maybe...just maybe...you have had your eye an a bottle for a while. You know what I am talking about. Don't you? That bottle down in Star Liquor's temperature controlled wine cellar. Maybe that bottle calling to you from the single malt scotch selection would be your choice.

The possibilities are endless and they boggle the mind.

The best part is that it is ever so easy to enter this contest. Again and again and again.

You just have to do what you were going to do anyway. You just have to come to Star Liquor...oh and look up. Look up at the sign above our door. The sign that tells you how special you are and how much we love you. (blush) On that sign there is a colored Star. That Star could be any one of 5 different colors. What you have to do is remember the color of the Star until you get home and email that color to starcontest@tds.net. We will take the first 20 emails from each color change and enter them into a drawing for the shopping spree. The drawing for the shopping spree will take place on Sunday, September 18th. The Sunday of Willy Street Fair Weekend. There will also be monthly drawing for smaller prizes beginning June 15th.

For full contest rules check our the Events page at starliquor.com. Don't miss the extreme video from Pumpkin Blast 2009 while you are there.

So remember to "Catch A Star" when you stop into Star Liquor. I mean it is $500 worth of booze. Heck, stop into Star and we will give you a card with an email reminder and then all you have to do is look up. Ha!
See you all soon!

Madison Craft Beer Week 2011

Sometimes it is easy to forget that craft beer is still just a teeny, tiny portion of the beer consumed in this country. While we sit here in Wisconsin surrounded by artists and artisans who specialize in creating masterpieces of water, hops, and malted barley there are millions of people put there who's only experience in the beer world is pale watered down slop. There are millions of people out there who actually consider the number of calories in their beer to be the most important factor when the choose there brew. Heck, I even once had a rep at a trade show look at me and proudly proclaim that I should try the beer she was pouring samples of because "it is the lightest beer in the world".

In Star Liquor's coolers about 90% of the shelf space is devoted to craft beer. That makes it easy to forget sometimes that craft beer still only accounts for about 5% of the total beer market here in the United States.

So what?

From Friday April 29th until Sunday May 8th it is the First Annual Madison Craft Beer Week. (Yes, that is 10 days but that makes for a much less catchy title.) Great beer will be highlighted all over Madison. At restaurants, taverns, and great beer retailers Madison's burgeoning craft beer cultre will be on display in all its glory. There is an impressive list of events located here.

While I am sure we will all be out taking part and enjoying all of these great events I propose this is the time to take it one step further. It is time to spread the joy. Events like this give us the opportunity to convince one of those people who are drinking those sad excuses for beer that yes indeed there is more out there! If you know one (or many) of these people sit down with them, show them the list of events and choose somewhere to visit. There are so many things going on that there is bound to be something that interests them. The variety of Fish Fry events alone would make any Wisconsinite proud.

Your friends may be reluctant.

They may even fall back into their old bad habits when it comes to choosing beer but we all have to start somewhere. You may be the one who cracks that door that will open into a greater world of beer for your friend. You may be the one who inspires someone to utter the phrase "wow I really like IPA's" for the first time, or even "barrel aged beers are really good". Think of the pride you will feel when you spot your friend wearing a hoody from a craft brewer. So get out there. Grab that friend and turn them on to the exciting world of craft beer. They will be glad you did.

STAR LIQUOR EVENTS for Madison Craft Beer Week 2011:

Friday April 29th: FREE Central Waters Tasting 4pm-7pm

Saturday April 30th: FREE Goose Island Tasting 4pm-7pm

Sunday May 1st: GREAT TASTE OF THE MIDWEST tickets go on sale at NOON

Friday May 6th: FREE New Glarus Tasting 4pm-7pm

Saturday May 7th: FREE Founder's and Great Lakes Tasting 4pm-7pm

Distill America: Get in the SPIRIT to celebrate.

It was not that many years ago that American made distilled spirits were not very easy to come by. Oh sure, the legendary Bourbon producers down in Kentucky were cranking out whiskey by the barrel full. Beyond that though the pickins were pretty slim.

Fast forward to today when there are nine liquor companies right here in Wisconsin. They make a variety of wonderful spirits, something to please every palate. From whiskey, to rum, to honey liqueur, to apple brandy, to absinthe, to horseradish vodka, and the list goes on and on and on.

This is not just a Wisconsin trend. It is happening all over the country with new distilleries popping up like weeds. Take Vermont Spirits for example, they are from Vermont (surprise) and make a vodka based in maple syrup. Take Rogue Distilling from Oregon, long known for making interesting and innovative beers now they make a whiskey that is aged in barrels in the Pacific Ocean.

It is not hard to see how this movement parallels the craft beer movement that today is experiencing a golden age. If you looked at the United States in 1980 you would have been hard pressed to find beer that was not made by one of the giant macro producers. Today we know that a beer drinker could go a whole year and never drink the same beer twice. That same thing is beginning to happen with spirits.

Trying all the different spirits can be a bit more daunting than try a bunch of different beers though. Spirits tend to be more expensive and they certainly have more kick. Also people tend to find their favorite when it comes to liquor and they are less likely to change unlike the adventurous world of craft beer buyers.

Well...that is where Distill America: A Celebration of American Distilling comes in. The Madison Malt Society has put together a tasting event that is held every February that brings together all the best spirits the good ol' USA has to offer. With close to 40 tables there is bound to be a treat there that you enjoy. Many of the tables are manned by the distillers themselves to give you a real chance to ask questions and find out what it is that you love so much.

This years tasting is at the Edgewater Hotel on February 17th. Tickets can be purchased at Star Liquor, Barriques locations around Madison, The Malt House and Merchant.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to attend this wonderful event.

If you want more info check out www.distillamerica.com