Hyper Local Brew Fest

Hyper Local Brew Fest If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that every summer and fall I drop down the Boston Local Food Festival rabbit hole.  You can barely pin me down for an evening and BF thinks I’m merely a ghost for about a month leading up to BLFF.  So naturally, when the organizers contacted me about a summer event to promote the festival and find more awesome brewers I was thrilled and immediately said yes.

So, in June the Boston Local Food Festival team with Sustainable Business Networks of Boston is presenting the Hyper Local Brew Fest!  This will be an evening of fun I assure you!  Our line up is looking more and more robust every day and as we speak we already have wineries, meaderies, and breweries signed up and excited to show us their wares.

So when is this fabulous event?, you ask.  It’s June 16th at the Somerville Armory where it will be set up in a very similar fashion to our Brew Fest last year.  There will be two sessions of tastings with tickets priced at $30 each. There will be music, there will be delicious nomables, just like at the festival $5/serving.  In general it’s going to be a magical experience.  You should come.  You can get tickets here. And, if you use the code HYPERLOCAL today only (March 16, 2012) you get 10% off your ticket!

Orange Sparklers and a Giveaway

So, I’m just going to say it – I love Freixenet – I have loved them since this past summer when I tried it in cocktails and then, later, when I made my own cocktails with it.  So it’s no surprise to anyone that when Freixenet emailed me asking if I wanted to give you, my lovely-wonderful-enthusiastic-awesome readers, a little Freixenet Friday (FF) holiday pack I gave them a resounding yes.  When I suggested that I pair the little FF holiday pack with my self created cocktails – they were for it!  So here goes.

A couple Sundays ago one of my dearest friends came over to help trim the tree and in general get into the holiday spirit.  Since neither of us is a nog girl, but you can’t trim a tree without a little booze (right?), we grabbed a bottle of Freixenet that was chilling in the fridge and raided the liquor cabinet for additions.  There was Grand Marnier sitting there – tempting us to drink it like nothing else.  It seemed holiday-esque so we added it to out cava.  It was perfect!  The fruity, citrus flavor of the Grand Marnier only enhanced the flavors of the cava.  To top the drink off I added a little swirl of orange zest (I really need a zester so I can get pretty curls).

We drank the entire bottle in this fashion – while trimming the tree and watching my new kitten get up to many crazy antics, including racing from room to room as though being chased by a murderer.  Much giggling was had and fun shared, here’s to hoping simple Freixenet holiday cocktails and trimming the tree with good friends becomes a tradition!

Now the fun bit!  Freixenet wants to give one of you a holiday gift pack which includes some very pretty fluted glasses (I’m tempted to enter, I could totes use some sparkling wine glasses) and a social survival guide full of useful tips – like what to bring as a hostess gift, or how to get that spilled wine stain out of your pretty party dress.  Seriously, this book is full of handy tips, I have one – it sits on the kitchen shelf by my Emily Post!

So – here’s the deal, because I know you want to win this pretty pack!  Go over to Friexenet’s website and tell me which of their cocktails or recipes you want to try this holiday season. That’s it –  no facebook, no twitter, just one comment telling me what cocktail you want to try.  I think the Poinsettia sounds especially delicious 😉