HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote in the Alabama Senate this week, most likely on Tuesday May 6, according to the Free the Hops organization, which is lobbying to get changes made to state law that will allow the sale of higher-alcohol "craft" beers.

Here's the message from Stuart Carter, president of Free the Hops: "Now is the time to call your state senator and let him or her know that you want HB196 to pass! Because the Gourmet Beer Bill has already passed the State House of Representatives, this is the final step before sending this bill to the Governor. It's very close, so please contact your senator to express your support ... When this bill was debated in the House, many legislators spoke of the dozens of phone calls they received from their constituents. Your phone calls and e-mails really do make a difference."

Here's a good article on the topc from Black & White: www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2008-03-20-215511.112112_A_Change_Is_Brewing.html

And a piece on The Terminal explaining the bill, plus another one related to homebrewing:
http://bhamterminal.com/mybirmingham/2008/03/03/free-the-hops-and-the-gourmet-beer-bills/ 

And for the view from the outside, here's a piece in the LA Times from March:
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-beer10mar10,1,785594.story?page=1&ctrack=4&cset=true

• Spencer Clarke, owner and founder of Amizetta Vineyards, will be pouring his collection of Napa Valley wines on the patio overlooking the Cahaba River at the River Run Piggly Wiggly Saturday, May 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. Clarke will also provide the musical entertainment for the evening, playing a variety of tunes from his rock n' roll library stretching back to the 70s. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be matched with the five wines that will be poured. Tickets for the event are $35 each and can be purchased at any Piggly Wiggly or Tria Market.
  
• May 17 is the Shelby County Art and Wine Trail. The three Shelby County wineries team up for a  wine weekend event with music and local arts.
• Starting May 1 you can pre-buy your tickets for the Second Annual Magic City Brewfest at Sloss Furnaces, May 31-June 1. It's a celebration of the great beers of the world, paired with the finest food from the Birmingham area. Come and learn about beer while sampling some of the different brews! Learn more at MagicCityBrewfest.com.
  
• Looking for Mother's Day brunch? Satterfield's restaurant in Cahaba Heights is advertising a special Mother's Day menu featuring items such as spring pea and morel soup, Caesar salad, hickory grilled pizza, bacon-and-caramelized-onion quiche, house-smoked Scottish salmon, crab cake Benedict and hickory grilled hanger steak. Veranda on Highland is also advertising a Mother's Day brunch. Reservations are recommended for both.
  
• Table restaurant in Crestline village is now serving Sunday brunch, with offerings such as chocolate beignets, banana bread French toast, buckwheat pancakes, omelettes, blue crab Benedict, grilled salmon salad, shrimp and grits, steak and eggs, fried chicken salad, tempura fish sandwich, and the Table burger (with caramelized onions, bleu cheese and oven-dried tomatoes). 
• Prairie Fire Grille in Greystone has added more tables, new flowers and new umbrellas to its patio for outdoor dining.
• Crestline Village will be getting a new restaurant in May, the second location for fledgling Italian restaurant chain MAFIAoZA's out of Nashville. The restaurant will have an outside patio, a full-service bar with an extensive wine list and menu offerings including stone-oven pizzas and New York-style Italian dishes. The Crestline Village location is the first in Alabama and the fourth location overall. It will be modeled after the original Nashville location, which caters to families - offering kids pizza dough to play with and the opportunity to watch pizzas being made - and to young professionals. The Mountain Brook location will be open until midnight on weekends and until 10:30 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday.
  
• Whole Foods is now carrying our favorite local coffee from Primavera Coffee Roasters in Cahaba Heights. They also carry Higher Ground coffee, based in Leeds.
• Jefferson State Community College's newest building on Valleydale Road houses its Culinary & Hospitality Institute and a new endeavor, Bistro proVare, a cafe open for lunch Monday through Tursday 11:30-1 p.m. Dishes are planned, prepared and served by students as part of the curriculum. A three-course meal is $10; call 983-5214 for reservations. Also since the new facility opened, a series of single-session community culinary classes have been quite popular; for more information, go to www.jeffstateonline.com/chi or call 856-7719. 
• A well-known Bessemer restaurant that was forced to close to make way for a new Jefferson County courthouse has re-opened at a new location in Alabaster. Bevelle's Cafeteria is now serving home-style cooking at the CC Food Mart on Industrial Road, off U.S. 31 near Shelby Baptist Medical Center. The location is smaller than what owner Eddie Bevelle had in Bessemer, but he's expecting to do a lot of takeout business, reports the Birmingham News. 
• Taziki's Greek Fare is opening another location, this one in Liberty Park, next to Billy's on Overton Road. Opening date is targeted for June 15.
• Bellini's is a new Italian restaurant on Cahaba Valley Road, owned by Benard Tamburello, who also owns La Dolce Vita in Hoover. For more information call 981-5380.

On a freelancer's budget, we have long been proponents of wine bargains. There's something fun about discovering a really nice wine that's only $10. In fact, it's rare we pay over $20 retail for a bottle of wine. Now some studies are confirming what we knew all along: sometimes paying a lot for a wine is overrated.

Food writer Robin Goldstein got 500 volunteers (including wine experts as well as everyday wine drinkers) to do blind tastings of more than 6,000 glasses of wine. The results? 100 wines under $15 consistently outperformed their more-expensive cousins. The results are detailed in a new book to be released May 1, "The Wine Trials: 100 Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings."

In another study, done by the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, found that changes in the stated price of a  wine influenced not only how good volunteers thought it tasted, but even the activity of a brain region that is involved in our experience of pleasure. Volunteers tasted five wine samples which, they were told, were identified by their different retail prices: $5, $10, $35, $45, and $90 per bottle. While the subjects tasted and evaluated the wines, their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. The subjects consistently reported that they liked the taste of the $90 bottle better than the $5 one, and the $45 bottle better than the $35 one.

There was a catch to the experiment, however. Although the subjects had been told that they would taste five different, variously priced wines, they actually had sampled only three. Wines 1 and 2 were used twice, but labeled with two different prices. For example, wine 2 was presented as the $90 wine (its actual retail price) and also as the $10 wine. When the subjects were told the wine cost $90 a bottle, they loved it; at $10 a bottle, not so much. In a follow-up experiment, the subjects again tasted all five wine samples, but without any price information; this time, they rated the cheapest wine as their most preferred. Here's a link to an article on the study: http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/CaltechNews/articles/v42/price.html

We're all for a big toast to the new Alabama Wine Trail, but apparently some teetotallers are feeling some sour grapes -- and giving Alabama another black eye, like the snickers we get for banning vibrators.

According to an Associated Press story that's popping up all over, the Alabama Wineries Association and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association came up with the trail to attract visitor's to the state's  wineries. But the Chilton Baptist Association has spoken out against it.

Tourist brochures, the story says, will list the eight participating wineries in the state, and visitors will get a "passport" to get stamped at each winery. Anyone who visits all the wineries will get a wine glass with the logos of each company.

We'd love to know more about this wine trail, but other than this AP story, a Google search doesn't seem to pull up anything official online. In fact, when you Google "Alabama Wine Trail," the first things that come up are the articles about the Baptist protest. The Alabama Wineries Association does not appear to have a working web site. The tourist group has a web site, but if there's anything on there about the wine trail, it's well hidden. We checked out the web site of Vizzini Farms Winery, which was quoted in the AP article -- nada. So we look forward to actually getting one of these brochures and enjoying some Alabama wine. We have had a viognier from Vizzini that was quite nice, which we picked up at Tria Market. (We've also seen Alabama wines at Whole Foods and even occasionally at Publix.)

There are eight wineries in Alabama, according to the state Department of Agriculture: Wills Creek Vineyards in Attalla, Morgan Creek Vineyards in Harpersville, Perdido Vineyards in Perdido, Bryant Vineyards in Talledega, White Oak Vineyards in Anniston, The Winery on Main in Clanton, Ozan Vineyards in Calera and Vizzini Farms Winery in Calera. (By the way, Ozan, also in Calera, is getting ready to release its Chilton County Peach, 06 Merlot, 06 Sangiovese, Shelby Blanc Scuppernong, and 06 Vidal April 17.)

Now I don't want to get into a theological discussion about wine, but even Billy Graham once pointed out that Jesus drank wine. In a Time magazine article in 1977 about new President Jimmy Carter saying he would not serve anything stronger than wine, Graham pointed out that Jesus miraculously turned six huge jars of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11). "That wasn't grape juice, as some of them try to claim," added Graham, reported Time.

And here are a few interesting insights on what the Bible says about wine, courtesy of the web site www.godandscience.org:

• "Go eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has  already approved what you do," Ecl. 9:7
• "Thou doest cause the grass to grow for the cattle....and wine to gladden the heart of man," Psalm 104 14
• Most of Jesus' parables were about vineyards. He used wine and wineskins, and vines, and winepresses to illustrate spiritual points.
  
• John the Baptist did not drink wine (Luke 1:15 & 7:33), but Jesus did drink wine, and was even accused of being a drunkard. (Luke 7:34) 
  
• Jesus gave wine the highest honour of representing His precious blood during the last  supper, and asks His followers to use wine in remembrance of His death until He comes.  (Luke 22: 18-20)

We greatly enjoyed our first wine dinner at Highlands Bar & Grill last night, highlighting the wines of Viader Vineyards, a leading Napa Valley First growth wine estate on the slopes of Howell Mountain.

The first course was braised duck with spoonbread and mushrooms, with two of Viader's DARE wines -- a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Franc. Because their flagship Viader wine blends Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, it was fascinating to compare and contrast the two varietals. Cabernet Franc is normally used more for blending, so it was a treat to have it stand on its own. In fact, we thought we might like the Franc even better than the Cab. We're not good with wine descriptions, so here's the tasting notes from their web site on the DARE Cabernet Franc: "... red plums, raspberry and bing cherry supported by secondary notes of east Indian spice and cardamom."

Next course was a lovely Viader Syrah paired with cured pork tenderloin, smoky bacon-sweet potato hash browns and tiny turnips.

For the final course, we again had the luxury of comparing and contrasting two wines -- two of the flagship Viader blend, one from 2004, the other from a 2000 magnum. These accompanied venison with farro "risotto," dandelion greens, radicchio and Muddy Pond sorghum. We decided with this particular food pairing, we actually preferred the younger wine; its more lively fruitiness seemed to provide a needed contrast with the earthy and bitter flavors of the grain and greens. Again, tasting notes from the Viader web site: "intense, upfront, floral bouquet laced with chocolate, coffee, anise, earth and leather. Lingering, complex tannins firm up in the finish which is rounded by the powerful aromas of blackberry, blueberry and mint."

After all that meat and red wine, the strawberry sorbet with strawberries and strawberry sauce was a perfect ending to the meal.

One of the very nice things about the wine dinner was it allowed us to try wines that aren't in our normal wine budget. Being journalists is a fun and satisfying career, but unless you're a media star like Katie Couric or Howard Stern, or a media mogul like Ted Turner, you're not going to get rich. (Before we bought our new Honda CR-V a couple years ago, the valets at Highlands never gave us a valet ticket -- who else was going to drive in behind the wheel of a 1996 Saturn or a 1992 Dodge Caravan? What can we say -- good meals are a higher priority for us than a snazzy ride.) We rarely spend more than $30 on a bottle of wine retail. The flagship Viader blend is about $90. The DARE wines are about $40, so we may well seek them out in the future. We had all but given up on California wines; so many of them, especially the Cabernet Sauvignons, that were in our price points are too acidic, too oaky, or too in-your-face. The occasional California wine we did buy was usually a Pinot Noir or a Zinfandel from the Russian River Valley. As Evan told Alan Viader (Delia's son), "You've restored my faith in California wines."

If you want to read more about Viader, here are a few links:

• Viader web site: www.viader.com 
• Interesting blog entry on Delia Viader: www.wine-blog.org/?p=75
• Wine Spectator video on YouTube of Delia Viader talking about her wines: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGRk1ygTf1A&feature=related 

The Free The Hops organization reports that HB196, the Gourmet Beer Bill, is up for vote in the Alabama House of Representatives this Tuesday, 4 March.

FTH asks that supporters of the bill call their state representative and ask them to support the bill between now and Tuesday. If you don't know who your representative is, go to www.legislature.state.al.us/ and enter your ZIP code in the box on the left hand side of the page to find out who your House Representative is.

To read more about the Free The Hops movement, which is trying to get the laws changed in this state to allow fine craft beers, read our previous post here. 

When we go to Atlanta, we love going to a place in Little Five Points called Everybody's Pizza. Not only do they have great pizza and salads (even Evan loves their salads, and he's not normally a big salad kinda guy), they have an wonderful selection of beers on tap, including these deep, dark, Belgian ales, some of which are served in a goblet.

But you can't get a lot of these beers in Alabama. Why? The world's finest and most expensive beers are prohibited in Alabama as result of the state's current alcohol by volume (ABV) and container size limits for beer.  There's a group that is lobbying to try to get those laws changed, Alabamians For Specialty Beer, and they all their movement "Free the Hops." You can learn more about the issue at their web site, www.freethehops.org. Alabama is one of only three states in the U.S. that limit alcohol by volume for  beer to only 6%. It is the only state that limits beer containers to a size of no  more than 1 U.S. pint (16 ounces).

The group is currently calling for a consumer boycott of Anheuser-Busch  products sold in the Birmingham/Jefferson County area. The group’s president, Stuart Carter, says his group is calling for the boycott because of the anti-craft beer lobbying efforts of Birmingham Budweiser and the distributor’s vice president, Pat Lynch. Lynch, Carter says, has been a major opponent of local and state legislation  which could legalize gourmet beer, typically higher-strength, in Alabama.

Free The Hops has been working for three years to change the current Alabama  law that limits beer to no more the 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). This ABV ceiling means the majority of America’s finest craft beers, and many of the world’s best  imported beers, cannot be sold in the state. The Free The Hops organization is seeking to raise the state’s ABV limit for beer to 14.9%.   Lynch’s lobbying efforts against the local Jefferson county bill for the higher ABV  limit led to the Free The Hops supported legislation (HB-728) failing last year, Carter says.

To give the boycott more visibility, Free the Hops is asking craft beef fans to call or email Birmingham Budweiser, 205-945-4893, customerservice@bhambud.com, and ask your local stores, bars & restaurants to join the boycott.

Village Wine Market (English Village, Mountain Brook) is hosting its Third Annual "25 Wines We Think You Need to Taste" event tonight, Nov. 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m.  Reservations and prepayment ($10) are encouraged but not required; call 879-5240.

Wine and Cheese with Vulcan is this Thursday, Nov. 29, 5:30-7:30. For a $15 (tax-deductible) donation, enjoy an evening of live music, wine and cheese, spectacular views, and more at Vulcan Park and Museum. Taste seasonal wines and food pairings while discovering ideas for entertaining at your own holiday parties. Email info@visitvulcan.com or call 933-1409 ext. 28 to make your reservation. 

Bromberg's 2007 Riedel Wine Tasting Event will be held at its Mountain Brook, Summit, and Riverchase Galleria locations on Friday, December 7, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Claus Riedel was the first person in the long history of the glass to design its shape according to the character of the wine. Sample wines from some of Riedel's most celebrated wine glasses. 

Wine'd Down in Patton Creek Shopping Center in Hoover has two special wine events scheduled next month, in addition to its regular Wednesday and Friday wine tastings. The annual Wine and Chocolate Tasting will be December 14, and on December 21 they will showcase Sparkling wines to make your holiday sparkle.

Pleasure is All Wine in Pelham offers free wine tastings every Saturday afternoon (it will be champagnes on the 29th, just in time for New Year's). On Wednesday, Dec. 12, they team up with Art Buzz for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun: Bubbles and Paint," at  6 p.m.; cost: $25. Call 985-4760 for reservations.

Did you know? A number of studies that indicate that wine consumption is rising in the U.S. Now, a new study reveals that by the end of 2007, Americans will consume more wine than Italians for the first time ever, and will rank second only to France in overall wine consumption. This year, Americans will drink 304 million cases (3.6 billion bottles), according to The U.S. Wine Market report, and will surpass France before 2015.

After my last post on the new brewpub planned for downtown, Gerry Nemet added a comment letting readers know that the kettles at Five Points South were fired up this week "for the first time in many, many years. The facility connected to The Five Points Grill (formerly The Mill) should be pumping the beer out by January."

When the restaurant opened as The Mill 17 years ago, there was so much buzz about it we even heard about it down in Tuscaloosa, where I was working at the time. Over the years, the beer-making operation closed, there was an ownership and name change, and the place generally went downhill. Gerry Nemet took over earlier this year and has been busy with renovations of the facilities and the food. His experience includes owning two successful '50's-style diners in Florida with his brother for almost 10 years, and most recently senior manager at The Cheesecake Factory.

It has long been one of the best spots for outdoor dining in town, and Nemet says it's going to be even better, with new stone-top tables, new chairs, umbrellas and a new fence with flowers from end to end in the works.

A new menu rolls out next Monday, including appetizers such as spinach and artichoke dip, grilled quesadillas, calamari, Cobb salad, Caesar salad, and crawfish & corn chowder; sandwiches such as Philly Cheesesteak, open-faced Reuben, po-boys or blackened grouper; hand-tossed pizzas; entrees such as rib eye steak, shrimp and grits, grilled salmon, jambalaya, basil chicken fettuccine and braised lamb shank; and desserts such as Key Lime pie, Milky Way mousse cake and Chocolate Tuxedo Meltaway. Sunday brunch features chicken scallopine, crab cakes, Five Points Eggs Benedict, steak and eggs, and "Southern Comfort" -- biscuits, sausage gravy, Conecuh sausage and two eggs any style over cheese grits.

Two local beer afficionados plan to turn the site of the former Jimmie Hale Mission into an upscale restaurant and brew pub.

According to the Birmingham News, retired economics professor Gary Dale and one of his former students, Brian McMillan, plan to have the New Vulcan Ale House up and running by next spring on the site at Third Avenue North and 24th Street.

Alabama regulations require brew pubs to be located in historic buildings. The 9,000-square-foot building is believed to date to 1906, and has been home to a candy company and a pet store. Historic features such as a pressed tin ceiling and murals that were hidden by a dropped ceiling will be preserved.

Dale and McMillan told the News that the menu, which will be seasonal, will be a key ingredient. We love good beer and good food, so we'd have to agree. At one time Birmingham had a couple of good brew pubs, Breckenridge in Five Points South and Magic City Brewery in the automotive district downtown. Both had great food when they opened, including some awesome duck enchiladas at Breckenridge and beer-cheese soup and wood-fired pizza at Magic City. But as time went on, the food quality at both declined, and they eventually closed their doors. Neither of them was locally owned.

There has been growing local interest in good beers in recent years. The inaugural Magic City Brewfest in June drew nearly 5,000 people, far exceeding the planners' expectations. The J. Clyde restaurant and bar that recently opened on Cobb Lane prides itself on offering more than 200 different beer offerings. The Free the Hops movement has been lobbying to get the state to change its 6 percent alcohol limit on beer, which it says excludes approximately one third of the world's beer styles, "some of them the finest, highest quality beverages on earth." So it may well be the right time for a locally owned brew pub to succeed.