What I Drank (August 14, 2024): A Variety of Rum Drinks – With and Without Blue Curaçao
I'm back from Curaçao and it's time to catch up on various things!
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Curaçao — where my family and I spent last week snorkeling and soaking up the southern Caribbean sun — is a beautiful island. What it is not, however, is a place to go if you’re interested in drinking wine. At least not the stores and restaurants we checked out.
The grocery store wine selection was a stark reminder of a) how much bad wine there is in the world and b) there is a reason that most quality-focused wineries aren’t in favor of wine in New York grocery stores.
But there is, of course, the namesake Blue Curaçao, the bitter orange liqueur the color of glass cleaner. It actually comes in a wide array of colors, which I didn’t know until this trip.) The local bars and restaurants do use it quite a bit on their cocktail menus, so I probably enjoyed it more on this trip than I have in my entire life up until this point.
The drink pictured above is a rum punch with a Blue Curaçao floater that I enjoyed at Discover Lagun, a beach-side restaurant near Playa Lagun, and a short walk from the waterside house we rented. It was tropical and delicious. End of tasting note.
Now that we’re back in the U.S. and I’ve mostly dug out of the vacation-born hole I made for myself at work, I’m returning to various Cork Report activities, which I’ll get to below — with some reviews coming the rest of this week.
The #openlocalwine deals are starting to arrive… slowly!
So far, wineries have been slow to submit their offers for November’s #openlocalwine event, but I expected that because it’s so far now. But we do have a few — check them out!
I’m not sure what I’ll do to celebrate the event. Maybe just a gathering at a local winery? Maybe a wine dinner at my favorite local BYOB restaurant where I bring all the wines for attendees? TBD, I guess.
#openlocalwine merch is coming too!
I can fake my way through most design projects, but I don’t want the merch for 2024’s #openlocalwine event to look like they were designed by an amateur, so it’s going to take some time.
There will be t-shirts. There will be stickers. What else do you want?
Catching up on tasting this week and next
Between my vacation and a chaotic family schedule leading up to it, I’m very behind on my tasting. So, for the next week or so, I’ll be tasting through quite a bit of wine — focused on sauvignon blancs, pet-nats, rieslings, and “other” white vinifera wines.
Look for some reviews this week and going forward.
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