Tag: Grog files

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Victoria Grog Files

250px-Flag_of_Victoria_(Australia).svg

Victoria, AU

We had two opportunities to check out the wine regions of Victoria.  The first was just after we finished up our time working at a horse racing stable and the second is when we decided a mandatory piece of the great Australian road trip with Tiffany’s brother Chris was to jump-start his education on “How to find wines I like?”  While both visits were brief, they both netted solid results on quality vino.

Unfortunately, it was easier to find the beers of Victoria elsewhere in the country than the wines.

Continue reading “Victoria Grog Files”

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South Australia Grog Files

South_Australia_flagSouth Australia, AU

We didn’t plan on spending too much time here, however the Beast had other plans.  Upside, we got to see a zombie parade and ride the cross-Australia train. Downside, it’s hard to go wine tasting when your wheels decide it’s time for retirement in mid-trip. And led us to get creative in our transportation options

However even with the limited exploration range and curtailed time frame, SA did surprisingly well.   (to be fair, we had the inside scoop)  

Continue reading “South Australia Grog Files”

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New South Wales Grog files

NSW flag

New South Wales, AU

Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Bondi beach and an Opera house – New South Wales is pretty much what all of us think of when we hear the word “Australia.”

Between driving the coast, bumming around Sydney and working in the ski resorts, we spent a good amount of time here and got to taste our way around.  We even got a chance to check out their most famous wine region: The Hunter Valley.

New South Wales was also the first time we found a grog that 2 sailors would choose to pour out instead of drink.  So, from our highest rating to inventing a new low there was quite a spread for New South Wales:

Continue reading “New South Wales Grog files”

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Queensland Grog files

Flag_of_Queensland.svg

Queensland, AU

 Greg has a long-standing belief that tropical climates produce some of the best wine.  His logic comes from visiting wineries in Florida.

Yes, Florida has wineries.  We’ll get to that later.

The short of it is that the environment does not lend itself well to heavy wines.  The climate of the tropics in general inspires beverages that are a little lighter, a little sweeter with fruit flavors often at the forefront and best served well-chilled.

wine coozyWhere, yes, you can actually make use of a personal wineglass cozy.

So the tropics pretty much inspire the exact kinds of wine we enjoy and the single winery we found up here did not disappoint.

Continue reading “Queensland Grog files”

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Australia Grog Files

Australia

Well since we’re going over adventures in outback bar tending, it’s probably about time we started updating the grog files to keep us with us.

We’ll be doing a new grog files for each state we visited in Australia but this week is all about our overall experience, which can be summed up this way:

Australia has a great libations industry –

It’s just not where you’d expect to find it.

Australian Mojito

What this pretty much means is that as long as you avoid the beer, Australia has a lot to offer.

read more

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Oktoberfest!

Munich, Germany

As we’ve said some things are just too time sensitive to wait.

The first was when we managed to make it to the London 2012 games and even scored tickets to what we came to call “The North-American Throwdown.”

This time we find ourselves at another festival of human endurance:

Life Achievement unlocked – Oktoberfest!!

Continue reading “Oktoberfest!”

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NZ South Island Grog Files

New Zealand – South Island

Breweries

Monteith’s

Type: Brewery

Rating: 4 sheets to the wind

Website: http://www.monteiths.co.nz/

Notes: When called back to a bachelor party in Las Vegas for his own former best man, Greg could have brought his choice of any variety of drinks…but he chose Monteith’s original ale.  A beer deemed “delicious” by the at-that-time bachelor & assorted cadre of miscreants.  Continue reading “NZ South Island Grog Files”

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Lone Star Wines

More from the Grog Files:

So spending a month in The Lone Star State helping our friend out and loaning him Greg to do duties as best man gave us only a few evenings to ourselves during which time we explored the local specialties.  Not enough to wander off wine tasting but at least a chance to drop by the local H.E.B. and pick up a bottle or two.  In this installment of our adventures in international drinking we explore some of the wines of Texas.  We know, we know, “What!? Texas makes wine!?”

Why yes, we discovered, yes they do. And oh so much more….

Texas Grog Files

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Grog Files Double Header

Ok so Tonga only has the one beer but really, anything they made after MAKA would have just paled by comparison anyway.  That beer was a-freaking-mazing!

We felt bad though, only having the one drink to share with everyone.  So instead of leaving y’all hanging we’re giving you our wine findings from our honeymoon in Tuscany, Italy.  This includes the wine we like so much we brought enough home to share with our wedding party!

As you can see, Greg’s sister was pretty happy about that.

So from South Pacific to Europe- this month is a grog files double-header of some of the best drinks this planet of ours has to offer!

Kingdom of Tonga

 

 

Italy

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Wine… From Bananas!

More from the Grog Files:

Wine tasting in rarotongaIn this installment of our adventures in international drinking we explore wine made purely from bananas and blueberries in the Cook Islands.  We also sample the beer they ferment on this tropical island.

Oh yes, we also started including websites of the purveyors when available so you can order this stuff and taste around the world a bit for yourself!

Just go to the navigation bar above, hover over “Grog Files” and select “Cook Islands”

 

Or just click on “Cook Island Grog Files”

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