A perfect Valentine’s Day beer Wines from Georgia, the country, are worth discovering

WINE POP QUIZ: Which country in the world has been making wine the longest?

Is it France? Perhaps Spain or Italy? Not even close.

Head further east and a few thousand years earlier for the correct answer: Georgia, where people have been making wine for nearly 8,000 years since 6,000 B.C.

But Georgia isn’t stuck in the past. In fact, its wine industry is growing.

Ken Ross Wine Press

So what type of wine does Georgia make? And what do they taste like?

I’VE NEVER BEEN A big fan of Valentine’s Day.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I turn my nose up at romance. In many ways, I used to be the most hopeful of hopeless romantics. It’s just that I didn’t see the need for one special day to celebrate the love of your life. I always felt that a love so special should be celebrated every day. I know that sounds like a cliché, but clichés often come out of truths.

Although my days of romance are now behind me, I am not a curmudgeon. So every once in a while I use this column to guide beer lovers to beers that might be appropriate to share with their romantic partners.

This week is one such occasion, since Valentine’s Day is upon us. It also coincided with a new beer I just sampled that is a perfect fit for the day for lovers: Building 8’s stout, the Dark One, with Mexican chocolate.

You almost couldn’t make a more perfect brew for Valentine’s Day. It’s rich, sensuous, a bit boozy and a tad sweet if we’re talking about the Mexican chocolate version.

Building 8 had a special release party for the beer, and I stopped by. There were four iterations of the stout: the new Dark One; the new one with Mexican chocolate; the 2021 Dark One; and a special cask

Georgian wine exports to the U.S. increased by 7% from 2021 to 2022, according to Wines of Georgia, the organization that represents and promotes wines from the country and the National Wine Agency of Georgia. Specifically, Georgia exported 944,766 bottles of wine to the U.S. in 2022 compared to 2021, when 881,470 bottles of Georgian wine were shipped to the U.S.

The short answer? Many different types, and they taste great.

This week’s column shares more about wines from Georgia, along with tasting notes for three wines under $25 a bottle, two whites and one red.

Located on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, Georgia is widely considered the birthplace of winemaking. In 2015, archaeologists uncovered

SEE WINE, PAGE E8

THURSDAY

Minimum Admission $50

1 - 1199 Progressive w/ Climbing Consolation Prize

2 - $500 Cover Alls

3 - $200 Special Games be given a tour of the distillery. Take-home “swag” will include a set of bar tools and a bottle of Waypoint’s Vodka.

The event carries a “stinks” label because the complimentary snacks provided will incorporate flavors and aromas from the potently aromatic onion and garlic family.

Tickets are $80 plus tax, gratuity, and convenience fee; they are available on Eventbrite.com

Waypoint picks up at 860904-6583.

• Jae’s Restaurant at the Hilton Garden Inn in Pittsfield is running a contest on social media, the grand prize of which is a gift card for $50 and a bottle of Prosecco.

To enter the raffle, Jae’s asks that it be “liked” on both Facebook and Instagram and that those doing the liking “tag a friend” while doing so. The winner will be announced Feb. 13.

Jae’s Restaurant can be reached at 413-464-8791.

• In conjunction with Hitchcock Brewing Company of Bernardston, the Steaming Tender Restaurant in Palmer will conduct a free tasting of Hitchcock’s product lineup today from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The event will include giveaways and a special complimentary dessert with the purchase of any Hitchcock pint.

Hitchcock’s co-owner and brew master Rich Pedersen favors primarily American ales, often using local produce like raspberries, blueberries, maple syrup, pumpkin, and squash as enhancements.

Pedersen’s brewing style emphasizes crisp and clean flavors that are true to American brewing traditions.

The Hitchcock Brewing Company maintains a taproom and pub that pours house-made beers and serves snacks like nacho chips, jumbo pretzels, pizza slices, and hot dogs.

Hitchcock Brewing Company answers at 413648-3172; Steaming Tender Restaurant answer at 413283-2744.

• Steak & Ale, a chain restaurant brand founded in the 1960s, was an industry trailblazer that helped define casual dining and popularize innovations like an all-you-care-to-eat salad bar. Eventually growing to almost 300 locations, Steak & Ale was known for its menu of herb-roasted prime rib and Hawaiian chicken as well as its Tudor-themed pub ambiance.

As restaurant concepts often do, Steak & Ale went into decline, closing its last restaurant in 2008. Rights to the brand eventually passed to a new owner, Legendary Restaurant Brands, in 2015.

Legendary has updated Steak & Ale while at the same time maintaining much of the original operation’s ambiance. The result is what its new owners like to call “a polished, value-focused chain with a legacy.”

The new Steak & Ale will feature a prime rib carving station and tableside salad preparation as well as preserving the iconic salad bar. Craft beer and some new culinary fusion menu specialties will join Steak & Ale’s traditional food and beverage line-up.

Fifteen locations across the Midwest are scheduled for development over the next several years, with the first new unit to open in the

On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Hadley with live music and Twin Lobster Tails being specially crafted for the Dinner will be served from 4 to 8 p.m.; reservations can be booked online at Boathousedining.com

The restaurant picks up at 413-536-2342.

• Historic Deerfield’s series of cooking demonstrations at the Hall Tavern Visitor Center in Deerfield will continue Saturday and Feb. 18 with those two programs running from 4 to 8 p.m.

“Cooking with Fire” is billed as “an evening of fun and cooking” during which participants will make and subsequently enjoy a simple savory meal that uses traditional fireplace approaches to frying, stewing, and roasting.

The meal will also include a dessert of freshly-baked gingerbread and a cup of hot chocolate, the latter prepared in a reproduction copper chocolate pot. Tickets to the dinner, which can be purchased online at historicdeerfield. org/events, are $75 per person.

The telephone number at Historic Deerfield is 413774-5581.

• Chain restaurant limited-time-offerings this month include sweet treats at Sonic and a savory sandwich creation at Arby’s Through late March, Sonic Drive-In locations are offering two miniature sundae desserts.

The OREO Cookies & Chocolate Sweet Mini features OREO cookie pieces and chocolate syrup as garnishes for vanilla soft serve, while a similarlystyled Snickers Bar & Caramel Sweet Mini is topped with candy pieces and caramel syrup.

At participating Arby’s locations the current (through March) menu feature “de jour” is a Steakhouse Garlic Ribeye Sandwich of garlicseasoned beef topped with Swiss cheese, fried onions, and garlic aioli all assembled on a toasted

There’s a Sonic Drive-In on Boston Road across from Five Mile Pond. The local Arby’s Restaurant can be found at the intersection of

Granby Road and Route 33 in Chicopee.

• Dunkin’, the coffeeand-all-day-snack chain, has introduced a February lineup of what it is describing as “swoonworthy” drinks, donuts, and more.

Beverage specialties for the month include a Cocoa Mocha Signature Latte and a Strawberry Dragonfruit Dunkin’ Refresher.

As part of the chain’s strategy to drive digital and loyalty program sales, a Brownie Batter Signature Latte can only be ordered thought the Dunkin’ app. Two donut specialties are also making an appearancea Brownie Batter Donut and a heart-shaped, strawberryfilled Cupid’s Choice Donut. The brand has also partnered with Philadelphiabased Frankford Candy to produce two Dunkin’inspired Valentine’s treats, Dunkin’ Chocolates and Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Flavored Jelly Hearts. Both candies are available online at FrankfordCandy. com

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 50 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached online at OffTheMenuGuy@aol. com.