La Ronescina Pinot Grigio Collio, Italy This white wine smells mildly of cantaloupe, but no other scents jump out at me.  That’s probably because it’s extra chilled, which dulls the aroma — my bad. It tastes dry at first, but a sweetness swells up in the middle of the glass. The notes are vanilla with
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Last winter I tried Noodles & Company’s seasonal additions to their macaroni and cheese menu, a task that I took up with gusto. Their seasonal items are lighter fare for the summer: a trio of salads. I was again invited to try them for free and share with you, my lovely readership, my thoughts on
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Pinot Evil Pinot Noir Dry Sparkling Rosé France [insert photo lost during last week’s hard drive failure. Le sigh] For a dry rosé, this is pretty darn sweet, or rather, it’s a nice blend of sweet and dry.  The flavor is strawberry galore and mostly makes me think of strawberry frozen yogurt. In fact, its
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Sweet Peach Mead Starrlight Meadery The color of this mead is gorgeous—no, it’s not peach, but more of a gold with a pink hue to it. I could stare at it for hours. Okay, that’s a lie; I could never refrain from drinking a poured glass for that long. It smells first of honey and
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Domaine de Canton Liqueur What you need to know, first off, is that I’m prejudiced against yellow liqueurs (I’m looking at you, Galliano). Luckily for Domaine de Canton, it’s very light yellow, so I wasn’t grasping my pitchfork yet. What you also need to know is that my mouth was still very full of Catdaddy
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El Capital Dos Perros, Durham $10 Wow, this New Year’s Eve special cocktail takes its description as a twist on a Manhattan seriously! It’s a very strong drink—assuming Dos Perros adds it to their specials list on occasion, only order it if you like a stiff drink. Luckily, I do! It’s made with hornitos anejo
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Karen “Coy” Junmai Sake Niigata, Japan Note: In no way, shape, or form are those quote marks of my generation. The rose-colored bottle is very pretty, which counts for automatic bonus points—I’m not afraid to admit it. As the bottle description says, it smells like lychee, with a bit of cream in the nose, too.
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