Penny's Buck @RenoProvisions

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even though you have to walk past it to get to the food, I always manage to forget that Provisions has a bar.  It wasn't until someone suggest it to get drinks that I remembered.  Maybe it's because no one is behind the bar in a steady sort of way like they are in the back with the food.  I did get greeted at the bar right away this time, but it took me a lot of effort to get someone there so I could pay my bill.

While the bartender was there he was perfectly nice, and said that the Penny's Buck was one of his favorites.  It was listed as having vodka, cranberry liquor (is that like cranberry cocktail juice?  Only RP knows for sure), citrus (which I think was literally just that lime on the glass), and simple syrup.

Although it was blended nicely, in the end it just tasted like a Cranberry Vodka that I would mix in a hotel room because I had nothing else to drink.  Or something I would order in a dive bar "with a lime" because it is a drink that is hard to mess up.  They didn't mess it up here at Provisions either, it just wasn't special enough to carry a special name and a $9 price tag during happy hour.  I mean, it is the season for cranberries, but I think I'd prefer them in a dipping sauce rather than my drink.

My friend had a Negroni that I tasted and it was amazing, so I think I just picked the wrong drink there.  I won't make the same mistake next time, and I'll enjoy some of their food too.

Reno Provisions
100 N. Sierra St. Reno, NV 89501
(775) 336-1091
Mon - Sun: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

Pumpkin Chai Latte from Swill

Tis the season for Pumpkin!  I know that society has sort of tricked you into thinking that pumpkins are strictly an October thing, but that's just not true.  What do you always have for dessert for Thanksgiving?  Pumpkin Pie of course!

Of course, I'm down for Pumpkin things October and November.  I like for Pumpkin to have it's time to shine.  Recently it's just gone completely overboard though, and so I got tricked into this Pumpkin Chai by a friend that works for Swill.  However, the pumpkin was so understated that I almost didn't notice that it was there.  It was the perfect amount of pumpkin and spices, and the environment was (as always) very warm and welcoming.

There has been a change of the guard at Swill recently, and as of this writing the only real difference I see is now the employees are wearing "Swill" aprons.  How very Empire Records of them.  Hopefully nothing major changes and we can keep our "Central Perk" the way that it is.

Tastings (Winery Hopping) in Napa Valley Part 2

Missed Part 1?  Click Here!

The second day started out very strong.  Our first stop was Beaulieu Vineyards, where we whisked away to the private tasting patio, where they had a fun statue of George De Latour and we got to taste some of the clones as well.  Everything was beautiful, and the conversation was fantastic.  I learned what a clone was, who George De Latour was and how important he was to Napa Valley.  If you'd like to know about it, they have a great page on their site here.

The facility was beautiful, and I could have stayed there all day "revisiting" everything, but we were on a schedule.  There was much more to see and experience.

Our next stop was the Franciscan Estate Winery, which was beautiful.  The inside was sort of like an extended gift shop, and you went up to the bar to get your next glass.  We stayed outside since it was a beautiful day, and had great conversation while enjoying the wine and a cheese plate.  This place was the most casual of all the places we went to that weekend, but it was still a very enjoyable winery.  They had a fountain out front that was so beautiful, I took a bunch of pictures of it.

By the time we got to Provenance, we had sailed past the "Happy" point of drinking into the "Highly Buzzed" state.  We weren't being loud or annoying, but we were making poor choices and buying a bunch of wine.  I do remember that the floor was made of recycled barrels for the wine and it was very pretty.  They had a casual lounge type area, and a great window to the winery behind the bar so you could see them making the wine. 




By the time we left, we were very happy, and very done.  It was one of the best weekends of my life, and I really enjoyed the "adulting" that took place.  If you ever have a chance to go to Napa, I would highly recommend all of these Vineyards.  I hope this wasn't my last trip to Napa, but if it was I would be okay with it because it was perfect.

Tastings (Winery Hopping) in Napa Valley Part 1

I had the amazing honor of being taken on a trip to Napa a little over a month ago.  It was such an educational and wonderful experience.  I can't begin to explain how awesome it was, which is why this post is so late.  I'm going to try my hardest!  Our first stop was at the "Disneyland of Wineries" Sterling Vineyards.  It really is pretty commercial yet magical.  You ride a small sky gondola up to the tasting, there is grape stomping, and you stroll around tasting wine and looking at an amazing view.  

After experiencing the "normal" tour, our amazing hosts took us up to the private tasting room.  We were treated like rich people, and I felt like I was in a movie.  We got a cheese plate, and it was there that I learned my favorite wine term, "revisit."  Basically if you want another shot at the wine you just had, you say you want to revisit it, and they just give you another tasting on the house.  I've annoyed all my friends by using this phrase for everything.  "Oooh, I wanna revisit that mint chocolate chip Nesquik from Scolaris.  Think they'd let me?"  The answer is always no.  Only in Napa I guess.

This was also the place where I learned the three sip rule.  You see those wine snobs do the aerating and slurping and silliness, but as it turns out this is actually based on science.  The first sip is not how the wine should actually taste.  One of the sips you slurp to aerate and get your taste buds ready.  The last sip is the one that it is really all about.  All the tastings are about 7 sips worth of wine, so if you get a good one, revisiting that one is a great idea.

Our next stop was the most memorable of the trip.  Neon Beast and I are very fond of port, so visiting Prager Winery & Port Works was something we will never forget.  Prager is run by a very nice family, and their tasting room is covered in bills from every country you can imagine, as you can see a bit in the background of this shot.

This place was so exclusive that five of us shared two tastings.  The tastings were much smaller than Sterling, but so much richer.  Maybe it was just that port is more our thing, but it was the most amazing port I've had ever.  We got invited over to taste some at a friends house about a week ago, and it was, again, an amazing experience.  I still can't put into words how amazing Prager is.  If you are ever in Napa, do everything you can to get into the place for a tasting.

Our last stop for the day was Robert Mondavi, which I think I had been to before when I was a kid.  The grounds are so beautiful:

It really has a reputation to uphold, and I think it does that beautifully.  We got to drink in a private tasting room off of the main room, and it was cozy-amazing.  Their wines were fantastic, we ended up buying a moscato that we enjoyed for a birthday.  Ending the day here was perfect, and we decided that we needed a word for in-between sober and buzzed: Happy.  At that moment, there was nothing wrong in the world.

View Part 2 Here