Koffee Afterdark
craft beer, wine, cheese and good conversation
every day after 5pm
Bars suck.
My wife and I used to go out. Now, bars have become too loud, too crowded and too obnoxious. Or maybe I’ve just gotten too old. The last time I went to a bar, I just wanted to punch someone. In either case, my definition of a fun, enjoyable evening has changed.
I love hanging out with friends, talking, laughing and drinking wine or a fine craft beer. I enjoy taking the time to get to know someone special, reconnect with an old friend, deepen friendships and get to know co-workers and neighbors. This is Koffee Afterdark. We are the ”hang-out-and-enjoy-a drink-and-good-conversation” place.
If you prefer to get completely trashed, hit on strangers, yell in each others ear over shots of bad tequilla while the latest trashy Ke$ha hit booms over the sound system ……. this is NOT the place for you. Crown Street has a bunch of meat-markety places for you – go there. You will be happy there.
Lets wine.
Wine is a funny drink. It has some kind of strange mystique that I’ve never understood. It is associated with snooty people hanging out in snooty places, talking snootily about a wine’s ‘timbre’, ‘essence’, ‘legs’, ‘leave’ and ‘oak-blackberry finish’. What the hell is that all about anyhow? Nice wine is delicious. Nibble on some good cheese while you drink wine? Amazing!! Love it!!
An interesting fact about wine I’ve learned? Higher prices do NOT mean better wines. Do you remember the book that came out in 2005 “Freakanomics” by the University of Chicago Economist Steven Levitt? Well, this same Steve Levitt wrote an article about the Wine market (pricing vs. quality) for the Opinion Page of the New York Times on December 10, 2010. Follow this link to the article if you want to read more about this:
In short, what he found was that there was surprisingly little connection between price and perceived quality of wines… not even the wine connieseurs (in many cases) could pick the expensive, well-known wines from the inexpensive (relatively unknown) wines. In short – you dont need to spend alot of money to get a wine that taste really good.
Thus began my quest to find delicious wines at reasonable prices. Sure enough, after much searching, and taste testing (yeah yeah, poor me. such a tough job having to taste all that wine), we came across six wines that just blew my hair back… so darned good, yet inexpensive. These are the fruits of my labors:
Please note – the descriptions of the wines below were given to me by the distributor. I do not possess the beautiful florid language needed to write that stuff. Were it up to me, I’d simply write “This wine is good – damn good”. Or ”This wine is white, and not sweet, but still damn good – I think I smell some flower in there”. As far as I’m concerned, writing about wine is like dancing a cha-cha to describe a Shakespeare sonnet. It never works very well. You might as well just read Shakespere…. or in this case, just drink the damn wine.
REDS
Bodega Goulart – Clasico Malbec 2008 – $20/bottle
This Malbec offers some initial savory spice, leather and earth notes with an ever so slight floral lift lying over the top of a combo red and adarker red to almost black fruit on the nose. Think of dark raspberry, currant and darker blackberry fruit as the aromatic foundation of the wine which becomes more pronounced with aeration. The palate shows good concentration on its medium fuller to fuller bodied frame, with a suppleness to the texture that is accentuated by the wines softer, ripe tannins. Offering a fleshy mid palate and juicy, sweet dark red berry fruit flavors this has good structure and surprising persistence on the finish. This one is a classic malbec – you cant go wrong with it!
The Manhattan Project - Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 - $25/bottle
Medium Body, black cherry, plum, cocoa and leather with developing raspberry, currant cedar and grilled meat undertones. ”Meat Undertones” – wow. Ya gotta love that.
WHITES
Anakena – Sauvignon Blanc 2010 – $20/bottle
A delicate and crisp pale gold Sauvignon Blanc. This wine shows good aromatic intensity, with notes of white peach. The palate is elegant and fresh with a long finish
Sean Minor - Chardonnay 2007 - $25/bottle
Displays aroma of peach, green apples and tropical nuances. Wine is soft and mildly sweet with green apple and white peach in the opening,and evolves into oak nuances and final mild minerality with a lingering clean finish
Chateau la Noe – Muscadet 2008 - $20/bottle
I love this wine. The description says “Crisp green apple fruit and balancing nutty richness”… but it is an awesome wine. Lightly chilled on a hot balmy day paired with a hard goat-gouda cheese… wow. Takes your breath away.
Beer Me.
Not a big fan of the budweiser-miller-coors types of beer. I did that in College. It was fine then, because I didn’t know better, and it got me drunk (which was my primary motive for drinking). Now, I have higher expectations for beer – namely flavor. In the last several years, a number of microbreweries have come out with these amazing small-batch beers. We have also seen a spike in imports of all types of interesting beers from beer meccas like Germany and Belgium. You can now get ahold of a huge variety of interesting beers from all over the place using all types of ingredients. (check out Amity Wine up Whitney Ave in Hamden – they must have 500 types of beer there!). So, I spent a happy two months tasting beer – 2-3 beers per night (I kid you not). During those two months, we (my wife and I) tried around 80 beers. Eighty. My wife got pissed with me, because she put on 5lbs during those two blissful months. From those beers, I pulled together seven beers that I fell in love with. Ok, truth be told, I fell in love with about 25 of them, but we can only carry 7 at a time. Dont worry, I’ll rotate them through. So, here are the winners:
Craft Beers
Allagash White (12oz) $6/bottle
This is the classic ‘white’ beer – a bit sweeter but oh goes down so smoothly.
Lagunita IPA (12oz) $6/bottle
This is the best IPA I’ve ever had. If you are a craft beer novice, grab this one. It is nice introduction to the category.
Abita Purple Haze (12oz) $6/bottle
Light with a mild raspberry flavor, just perfect for the hot summer day. My wife was particularly fond of this one.
River Horse Triple Belgian (12oz) $6/bottle
I love this beer. Classic belgian, strong flavor, high alcohol… and it grows on you. You really start to enjoy it after you’ve made your way about half-way through the bottle.
Lagunita Hop Stoopid (22oz) $15/bottle
This is where the serious beer-heads start salivating. As the name suggests, it has ‘stoopid’ amounts of hops, and with 22oz of beer staring you down, I hope you are committed.
Schneider Weisse (16.9oz) $10/bottle
This is the classic Hefeweizen. If you like the wheat beers, then you will LOVE this beer. It is the king of all things Hefeweizen. Made from a 150 year old German recipe, it is so smooth, yet mildly spicy. In fact, if you want to try something interesting, mix this with some of our home-made lemonade – Shandy. One very refreshing beverage.
La Fin Du Monda (25.4oz) $20/bottle
“The End of the World” – An excellent name for a beer that will make you not care if the end of the world were close at hand. THIS is the king of the beer world. This beer has won so many awards, they had to build a spare warehouse next to the brewery to store them all. The dudes at The Beer Advocate (these are the beer worlds counterpart to snooty wine tasting magazines), were nearly speechless after trying this beer. I think they used the word “Worldclass” 36 times in three sentences. I must admit, I’m a fan. The stuff is pretty amazing.
In Summary – grab a friend and come check us out this evening. You will not be disappointed.
Duncan Goodall