Mills Fine Wine & Spirits

I recently spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area with my family.  While I didn’t make it out to the wine country, I satisfied the beer geek in myself and managed to track down a lot of fantastic beers that unfortunately, for one reason or another, don’t make it out to Maryland, or the East Coast at all in some cases.

While you can’t grow grapes everywhere, good beer can be made just about anywhere in the world.  Small-scale craft breweries dot the landscape and limited production and distribution have created a huge demand all over the country for the best and the rarest.

I had the opportunity to hang out at The City Beer Store in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco.  The City Beer Store is a tiny storefront where you can not only purchase some of the most prized beers on the horizon, you can also settle in at one of the tables and enjoy either beers from the cooler or one of the draught selections.

In downtown Santa Rosa (in the heart of Sonoma County) you’ll find the Russian River Brewing Company.  They make an intense and vivid India Pale Ale called “Pliny the Elder”.  “Pliny” is currently #6 on the Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers list and is usually in the top ten of all of those “Beers to try before you die” lists.  The City Beer Store had plenty on the shelves, but one of my favorite beers that I tasted during my two visits to “City Beer” was called “The Maharaja” – a double IPA brewed by Avery Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado.

A double IPA is a souped-up version of an IPA – more hops, more malt, and a much higher ABV%.  They’re big and bold and bitter – with massive layers of complex flavors – and rich, decadent mouthfeel.

“The Maharaja” was fiercely intense, but with a backbone of sweet and rich malt that balanced the big hoppy notes of grapefruit and pine.  But it also had great spicey naunces that reminded me of cardamom and clove.  My wife happened to put together a brilliant curry dish that I knew would be a perfect match for it’s balance of sweet and spice.

It was glorious.  The creamy sauce went well with the bright carbonation and deep flavors.  I didn’t want my bowl to empty.  The bracing 10% abv kept me in check and the 22 oz bottle was enough to share with my wife.  And the best part is, “The Maharaja” is available not only in Maryland, but it is now available at Mills!

As you know, Mills features the best Wine and Spirits selection in town,  so I’m glad to introduce some of the finest American craft beers and Imports available to us and to change people’s perceptions about beer.  Like wine, there are myriad styles far and away from just light or dark, like red or white.  While there’s nothing better than sucking down some cold suds at the ballgame,  a bomber or a 750ml of a gorgeous Belgian ale or IPA or Stout or Saison with dinner is also one of life’s great pleasures.  Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala Curry

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
plain yogurt
2-3 peeled, whole tomatoes, diced
1 large, white onion, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, diced
1 2” piece of fresh ginger, minced or grated
cumin, chile powder, coriander, cayenne, turmeric (about a tablespoon of each for the marinade and the sauce)
garam masala (Indian spice blend) (about a tablespoon for the marinade and the sauce)
2 – 3 peeled and diced tomatoes
fresh cilantro (optional)

Marinate chicken breasts in a blend of yogurt and spices. Marinate for 6 – 8 hours (overnight). Grill or oven bake chicken until just slightly done. Cover or wrap in foil and let cool.

In a heavy bottom saucepan heat up 2 tablespoons of oil (or ghee – clarified butter used in a lot of Indian cooking) and cook onion, minced garlic and ginger over medium heat. When onions are translucent, add spices and stir until well-mixed.
Add tomatoes. Cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Let cool and transfer to a blender or use a submersible mixer to blend the sauce until smooth. Return to the saucepan and bring up to a simmer.

Cut the chicken breasts into 1-2″ cubes and simmer in sauce for about 10 – 15 minutes. Finish with a dollop of yogurt stirred into the sauce. Serve with basmati rice or your favorite Indian bread and garnish with fresh cilantro.

I recently spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area with my family.  While I
didn't make it out to the wine country, I satisfied the beer geek in myself and
managed to track down a lot of fantastic beers that unfortunately, for one reason or another, don't make it out to Maryland, or the East Coast at all in some cases.

While you can't grow grapes everywhere, good beer can be made just about anywhere in the world.  Small-scale craft breweries dot the landscape and limited production and distribution have created a huge demand all over the country.  

I had the opportunity to hang out at The City Beer Store in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco.  The City Beer Store is a tiny storefront where you can not only purchase some of the most prized beers on the horizon, you can also settle in at one of the tables and enjoy either beers from the cooler or one of the draught selections.  

In downtown Santa Rosa (in the heart of Sonoma County) you'll find the Russian River Brewing Company.  They make an intense and vivid India Pale Ale called “Pliny the Elder”.  “Pliny” is currently #6 on the Beer Advocate's Top 100 Beers list and is usually in the top ten of all of those “Beers to try before you die” lists.  The City Beer Store had plenty on the shelves, but one of my favorite beers that I tasted during my two visits to “City Beer” was called “The Maharaja” - a double IPA brewed by Avery Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado.

A double IPA is a souped-up version of an IPA – more hops, more malt, and a much higher ABV%.  They're big and bold and bitter – with massive layers of complex flavors – and rich, decadent mouthfeel.  

“The Maharaja” was fiercely intense, but with a backbone of sweet and rich malt that balanced the big hoppy notes of grapefruit and pine.  But it also had great spicey naunces that reminded me of cardamom and clove.  My wife happened to put together a brilliant curry dish that I knew would be a perfect match for it's balance of sweet and spice.

It was glorious.  The creamy sauce went well with the bright carbonation and deep flavors.  I didn't want my bowl to empty.  The bracing 10% abv kept me in check and the 22 oz bottle was enough to share with my wife.

While Mills features the best Wine and Spirits selection in town, I'm glad to introduce some of the finest American craft beers available to us and to change people's perceptions about beer. Like wine, there are myriad styles far and away from just light or dark, like red or white.

Ben Avery, Beer, Double IPA, IPA, Recipes

My first encounter with cooking rabbit was almost an accident.  I was a commis (an unpaid culinary hopeful who is, in turn, worked like a used mule) in the kitchen of a student-run restaurant.  One day we were especially slow and everyone else had been assigned a station.  I asked the Chef what needed to be done.  He pointed at a mass of fresh rabbits on a work table; “Do something with those rabbits.”

While a slew of Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam gags ran through my head, I couldn’t think of one single recipe. We were forbade cookbooks in the kitchen, as we had to rely on our own skills and creativity.

In a large, wide braising pan, I threw in a couple chopped onions, some green pepper, black peppercorns, bay leaf, juniper berries, cardomom, and half a smuggled can of beer.  I quartered the rabbit and let it all braise and simmer, covered with foil, for a couple hours.  The end result was delicious, meat just falling off the bone, tender as anything with a rich and savory sauce.

Rabbit is very lean and flavorful and wonderfully versatile in the kitchen.  If only they weren’t so darn cute!

Rabbit was a fairly common Sunday dinner when my father was a boy, and is slowly gaining new popularity amongst food bloggers and fans of inspired culinaria.

Rabbit has a very subtle flavor, similar to chicken, but it also serves as a wonderful canvas to infuse and create flavors.  I learned a very old French recipe for Lapin à la Vanille – rabbit with vanilla – which sounds odd, but actually brings out a delectable smoky sweetness in the meat.

Since we’re featuring some brilliant Sicilian wines in the shop right now, here is a recipe for Rabbit Cacciatore – and yes, you can use chicken.

Rabbit Cacciatore/ Sicilian Braised Rabbit

1 whole rabbit, quartered
1 of each; red, yellow, and green peppers, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, diced
1 large can, chopped tomatoes (or 4-5 good-sized fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped)
2 cups chicken stock (or rabbit stock if you’re a pro)
1/2 cup dry red wine
oregano
salt & pepper
flour

Season rabbit with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.  Heat olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan and brown rabbit pieces evenly.  Remove rabbit from pan and add onions and peppers.  Cook peppers and onions until soft, return rabbit back to the pan and add garlic, tomatoes, wine, and stock.  Bring to a boil for a couple minutes and then bring to a slow simmer for about an hour, covered, over low heat.

Add oregano or other fresh Italian herbs and serve with hot pasta and a bottle of Isola D’Oro Syrah or the lovely Rapitala Nero D’Avola – both on sale now for $9.99 a bottle.

Ben Ben, Nero D'Avola, Rabbits, Sicily, Syrah

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.

Just in time for the traditional January 25th Robert Burns Supper, a 21-year old ban on Scottish Haggis imports has been lifted!

For the past two decades, Americans of Scottish descent ‑ of whom there are at least 6 million ‑ have been forced to celebrate Burns’ night without a true haggis, much to their distress.
There are stories of Scots smuggling in a haggis for their starving cousins, risking deportation in the process. Others are said to have secretly tried to create homemade, bootleg haggis, desperate to sample that particularly peppery concoction.
Meanwhile, butchers in the US have tried, and failed, to make their own versions of the pudding without using the vital ingredient: sheep. “It was a silly ban which meant a lot of people have never tasted the real thing,” said Margaret Frost, of the Scottish American Society in Ohio. “We have had to put up with the US version, which is made from beef and is bloody awful.”

You can read the entire article here.

That’s all well and sonsie, but what the hell is Haggis really?

Haggis is essentially sheep’s offal; the lungs, heart, and liver – minced with spices, mixed with oatmeal or breadcrumbs as a binder, stuffed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled in stock.  It’s traditionally served with tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips) and lashed with black pepper.  It tastes, well, it tastes a bit like how you would expect.

In culinary school, I stumbled upon nothing short of a black market Haggis-making operation.  In a tiny kitchen in the school’s cellar, a handful of chef instructors and advanced students were making a dozen illicit haggis for a Burns supper with the school brass.  I blew off the rest of the day’s classes and joined in, mixing a confidential spice blend into the raw, gamy meat with my hands, trying desperately not to tear the stomach as we filled it up with the mixture.

Late that night, along with copious drams of Highland Park, I had my first taste of Haggis.  It tasted of blood, meat and pepper.  Men in kilts gave toasts and speeches long into the night.  For skipping class to take part in the supper, I was docked a day’s points, but my instructor gave me a half-finished bottle of 18 year old Highland Park to take with me on the long train ride home.  It was as much a thank you as it was an initiation.

“And there is a hand, my trusty friend!
And give me a hand of yours!
And we will take a right good-will drink,
For old long past.”

If you don’t have any sheep offal laying around, you can make a pretty tasty vegetarian variation.  I’ve made this a couple times at home, it’s easy and makes a great wintertime supper.  You can find a great recipe here.

Ben Haggis, Offal, Robert Burns, Sheep

It wasn’t until I moved to Maryland that I made the acquaintance of real beer geeks. Like the most serious wine collectors, these guys search high and low for the rarest of the rare, the most micro of the micro brew, the scarcest of the imports. At a shop I worked at prior to Mills, I would get strange phone calls asking about the arrival of certain seasonal beers. The following day a group of young men sat in their cars outside the shop until the beer truck came for our delivery. They lined up at the register and bought every case of beer off the truck.

It’s hard to find the right soil and climate for making good wines, but good beer can be made just about anywhere. Because of small batch productions and lack of distribution in different parts of the country, networks of underground beer traders have been formed on the internet. People buying their local favorites to trade with others and then posting photos and tasting notes of their trades online.

Some of the most highly-sought after beers are fairly hard to come by in the state of Maryland. However, we’ve managed to put together a pretty solid beer collection that will no doubt please the hardcore beer geek as well as the every day folks who just want to suck some tasty suds.

Here are a few you might want to try;

Ommegang Brewery Biere de Mars, Cooperstown, New York
(rate beer 96 points)
Ommegang Biere de Mars is a fine Belgian-style amber ale with a bit of magical space dust woven in: Brettanomyces Bruxellensis, a wild yeast which imparts added tartness, extra zing, and a touch of funk – while dry hopping enhances the hop aroma.

Stone Brewery Russian Imperial Stout, Escondido, California
(Beer Advocate “outstanding”)
One of the finest American-made Imperial Stouts. Thick and rich aromas and flavors of roasted malt, coffee and chocolate but still retains a hoppy bitterness on the finish. A fantastic beer for winter.

Jolly Pumpkin “Noel de Calabaza”, Dexter, Michigan
(rate beer 96 points)
Jolly Pumpkin is very hard to come by, but we were lucky enough to get a case of their Christmas beer. Even though Christmas has come and gone, it’s a perfect time to enjoy this dark and oh so rich ale. (or stash some away in the cellar!) Woodsy and smokey with hints of black currant, raisin, and cherry. It’s aged in oak barrels, so it has a lot of nice toasty oak on the finish. Delightfully different and delicious.

Deus Brut de Flandres
(Beer Advocate “Excellent”)
Brewed in Flanders and then sent to France where it is polished into a bright and brilliant Champagne-styled beer. Bloomy aromas of spice, hops and apple and creamy layers of fruit. An exquisite and rare treat.

Ben, Uncategorized

The cold winter nights to come call for the most comforting and warming of meals with rich, hearty red wines. After left-over turkey, we were ready for something different.

This past week I found a great deal on a lamb loin roast. After trimming the excess fat, I slathered the roast with pureed garlic, olive oil, rosemary and thyme. I roasted it at 400 degrees with some carrots and onions and it was wonderful. Like springtime in Provence, but Autumn in Maryland.

What was really great about this dish, was that it worked so well with so many wines! We had it with a 1999 Bettinelli Merlot from Napa (on sale 16.99, regular price 24.99) and those juicy berry and mint flavors were perfect with the tender herb infused lamb. Merlot is still getting a bad rap, but this one – still luscious and ripe after ten years – is fantastic.

Usually with lamb, I’m thinking about the Rhone valley or Provence. The 2004 Domaine de Charvin Chateauneuf du Papes (on sale 34.49 regular price 68.99) was a natural. Lamb with those spicy and herbaceous flavors from the southern Rhone are always a win.

(We have a magnum of Domaine Tempier Bandol 2005 ($101.99) that just cries out for a midwinter saddle of lamb supper, as well as the Domaine la Soumade Rasteau 2001 ($84.99) which we have a few bottles left of. )

Lamb is versitale and deserves much more than funky mint jelly. From tandoors to tagines, what are your favorite lamb dishes?

Ben

From the Archives of The Onion, August 21, 2002;

Wine Appreciation Tips

Good for a laugh.

Ben Humor, Wine

Mills Wine Find!

Thank you to everyone who came to our annual Wine Find on Saturday, November 14th. We all had a great time and we hope you did too. It was good to see so many people come out to taste a fantastically diverse selection of wines.  As the “new guy” at Mills, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting so many folks that are new to me, but not new to Mills. The Wine Find was a great way to meet a lot of new friends.

Some of my favorite wines of the evening -

Domaine Fussiacus St. Veran 2007
Already one of my picks for the holiday season! A vibrant and pure expression of traditional Chardonnay.

David Hill Pinot Noir 2007
A heady, Earthy Oregon Pinot punctuated by sweet berry on the nose and mouthwatering lusciousness.

Nicolas Potel Bourgogne Rouge “Cuvee Nicolas Potel” 2006
Not available at Mills yet, but hopefully soon we can offer you all this lovely little gem. Bright fruit and a long, lush finish.

Batasiolo Barbera d’Asti 2006
Assertive acidity and a mile-long finish highlight this food friendly wine.

If you’ve spent any time in the store recently or read our blog or emails, you may have heard us talking (yelling) about Capture Sauvignon Blanc. In this case, you can believe the hype. We have less than 60 bottles left of this brilliant and beautiful wine. I predict that other California wine makers will follow suit and we’ll have a Sauvignon Blanc re-invention in California.

Capture showed beautifully at the Wine Find (and that afternoon at the shop) and we have just under 40 bottles left in stock!

Ben Mills, st. john's, Tasting, Wine

Only an unprecedented tasting of 2006 White Burgundies from Olivier Leflaive would bring me into work on my day off.  On Sunday, November 8th, Mills hosted a very special tasting courtesy of our friend Nancy Priest of Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd. and Chris Snead from F.P.Winner.

“…the 2006 vintage produced rich and powerful wines. It was necessary to use our knowledge and experience from previous vintages to preserve freshness and harmony.”
–Franck Grux, winemaker at Olivier Leflaive for over 15 years

We set up the wines on a long table in our Burgundy section and as some of you well know, there isn’t a whole lot of room to work with back there, so it was a fairly “intimate” event.  The wines were all truly spectacular. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to taste wines of that magnitude and be able to take my time, enjoy them, savor them, and reflect on them. I filled a good couple of notebook pages with my thoughts.

Let 'er pour Nance!

I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to have tasted a lot of wines over the years, and to be able to talk about them, recommend them, and describe them to friends and to our clients.  But there were some truly elusive and downright magical things happening in those glasses on Sunday.  From the vivid lemongrass and white flower fragrance of the Rully 1er Cr ‘Rabource’ to the warming orange peel woodsiness of the Mersault AC “Vireuils”, these were some incredible wines.

So hard to pick a personal favorite, but the Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “Clos St. Marc” really sticks out in my mind with bloomy and seductive “Citrus Orchard After a Rain Storm in Springtime” aromas and tightly woven, focused flavors of melon and peach. I think I would love this with a good piece of fish, grilled over coals and lavished with lemon juice and sea salt.

Trying to find room to mingle among the bottles...

Of course, the two wines from Puligny-Montrachet were fantastic – the “Les Referts” displayed almost playful flavors of creamy peach and ginger and a long and warming finish. The second, “Les Folatieres” had a spicy and floral elegance on the nose and flavors of anise, poached pear, and dare I say, Juicy Fruit gum? But unlike Juicy Fruit, the “Folatieres” certainly did not lose any of its flavor over the long and joyous finish.

The tasting finished with a  Batard Montrachet Grand Cru. The nose was intense, opening with a bloom of perfumey peach and pear. The flavors were hugely ripe and juicy, but the wine itself – mouth-filling and rich – was still totally balanced and elegant. The finish stayed with me for a good chunk of the afternoon.

All in all, it was really a special event. It’s so great (and rare) for a shop to really connect with its clients and have the opportunity to create these kinds of events. I am glad to be part of the Mills team. I mean, I love wine as much as of our customers do and it’s all about sharing the love right?

Ben Burgundy, olivier leflaive, pate, Tasting, white burgundy

When I think of Domaine de la Solitude – literally Domain of Solitude – I imagine a sinister and dark forest –skeletal branches groaning in the autumn wind, casting eerie shadows on the cold ground. It sounds like the title of a particularly gloomy goth girl’s online diary or the latest Black Sabbath clone.

However, this rainy Halloween at Mills, we opened up the 2007 Domaine de la Solitude Cotes du Rhone and their celebrated Chateauneuf du Papes, and nothing could be farther from cold forests and melancholy. These wines are warm and rich and nothing short of pleasurable.

Robert Parker had just lauded the 2007 Chateauneuf du Papes with a 93 Points saying – “The 2007 is the finest traditional Chateauneuf since the glorious 1967. Its dense ruby/purple color is followed by a sensational perfume of kirsch, cassis liqueur, plums, licorice, roasted herbs, and meat juices…” (Don’t let those meat juices scare off any vegetarians among us, this rich full-bodied wine will delight and stun with your veggie tagine or your Thanksgiving tofurky.) The Chateauneuf is bright and vibrant, but with a serious core of earthy fruit and the most delicate tannic grip in the finish. This is like a crisp Halloween night – dark and mysterious, laced with joy.

The Cotes du Rhone was given 88 points from Parker and is a great example of the ripeness and purity of the 2007 vintage. It would be easy to cast off this little beauty as simply the Chateuneuf’s “younger sibling”, but in actuality, it holds up on its own nicely. Light and luscious and totally open and friendly. Cotes du Rhones are traditionally fun and flexible food wines, but are usually relegated to hearty and rustic fare. This perfumed gem cries out for a challenge – teriyaki beef, tandoori chicken, pad thai would all benefit.

Olivia Bombart of Voila Collection poured the wines for our customers, and she absolutely knocked us out with a “dark horse” wine – Domaine Armand Cotes du Rhone “la Comb d’Antide” 2007 – a blend of Carignan and Grenache – it lacks the usual peppery bite of Syrah. This is voluminous and ethereal stuff – aromas of dark berries, earth, smoke and spice leap from the glass. It’s ripe and round in your mouth and finishes with a minty and woodsy finish. TWELVE DOLLARS! Seriously, regular price $14.99 and we’re selling it for $11.99 – at that price, it will not last…

Let the pumpkin pie cool on the counter, find that Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic recipe on the internet, put on Black Sabbath’s 1971 magnum opus Master of Reality (featuring the song “Solitude” – second to last tune on side two), leave the bowl of candy on the porch, and enjoy the Solitude…

Happy Halloween From the Mills Team!

Ben, Uncategorized 2007, Chateauneuf du Papes, Cotes du Rhone, Domaine Armand, Domaine de la Solitude, Rhone