Food & Wine April 2018

LAST SUMMER, AT THE FIRST MEAL I had with F&W Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle, things took an unexpected turn. Ray and I were seated at a dinner party in a Brooklyn photo studio, sipping sake and making small talk with other guests, when our Japanese hosts surprised us by bringing out blindfolds. For the next hour or so, everyone at the table ate blindfolded. Cutting off our vision enhanced our other senses, highlighting the aroma and flavors of the food and the textures of Japanese-made lacquer-and-earthenware cups and bowls. Our phones became obsolete, which meant no distractions. We actively listened to one another. Here’s what I learned that night about Ray: A Houston native, he taught creative writing at Stanford University and was a Wallace Stegner fellow, working on the side…

Sherry Baby LIQUID EDITION SAM JOHNSON IS A LITTLE BIT OBSESSED with sherry. For Johnson, the bartender at Leyenda in Brooklyn, the fortified wine made from Spain’s native Palomino grapes is the surest way to bring richness and complexity to cocktails. “I love sherry’s diversity of flavor,” he says. “Fino sherry can lend a green apple–like acidity, while oloroso can impart chocolate to a drink.” For his experimentation, Johnson was recently awarded first prize at the 2017 U.S. Sherry Cocktail Competition. (The winning drink: a tiki-inspired cobbler made with amontillado and manzanilla sherries and laced with a toasted sesame tincture.) But he’s not the only fan: from Until Tomorrow in New York City to Anina in San Francisco, bartenders are mixing it up with sherry. Turn the page for three ways to…

WITH 150 WINES BY THE GLASS and a hip hotel upstairs, Bar Covell was an instant hit when Dustin Lancaster and sommelier Matthew Kaner first opened it years ago in Los Angeles. But it had a small food menu and a no-reservations policy—and customers kept asking for more food and more seats. Enter: Good Measure. Kaner’s new restaurant has a huge kitchen (executive chef Mike Garber created the menu) and offers 30 wines by the glass representing 12 to 15 countries. Guests seeking a more personalized wine tasting can belly up to Somm Bar, a five-top counter where Kaner helps call the shots. When guiding diners to the perfect wine pairing, Kaner always asks himself the questions below—and whether you’re at Good Measure or at home, they won’t steer you…

I’D ALWAYS THOUGHT OF MEAD, the ancient alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey, as a cough syrup–like draught from Chaucer’s time. But a recent tasting organized by Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor, author of The Art of Mead Tasting & Food Pairing, changed my mind: I sipped meads that ranged from a dry sparkler that reminded me of a refreshing rosé, to a marionberry variety aged with chile peppers. Turns out, mead has as much range and variety as wine—and just like its grape-based sibling, it has terroir as well. And there’s never been a better moment to try mead. There were only about 30 meaderies in the U.S. two decades ago, and today, there are over 500. Want to taste the trend? Start with a visit to one of the new…

IT’S CROSSOVER SEASON in the wine, beer, and spirits industries: Brewers are fermenting with wine yeasts, distillers are aging spirits in wine and beer barrels, and artisans in every category are putting hops into everything. Crack open our favorite genre-bending bottles and cans, above, for a taste of something totally new and delicious—drinks that blend the best of all worlds. WINE The Infinite Monkey Theorem Dry Hopped Sauvignon Blanc ($15) Citra hops add intensity to the bright white wine. Field Recordings Dry Hopped Pet-Nat ($25) Sparkling Chardonnay meets bitter hops in this bottle. Underwood Riesling Radler ($24) Hops’ citrus aspect is matched with grapefruit in this shandy like drink. BEER Surly Brewing Co. Pentagram ($19) Brettanomyces yeast adds funk to a red wine barrel–aged dark ale. Samuel Adams Utopias ($200) Brewers use a yeast typically used in…

HOW TO DECANT Air It Out Pouring wine into a decanter rapidly exposes it to oxygen. Aeration improves the flavor of tannic young red wines, many dry whites, and vintage ports. Cellared Wines Decant older wines gently, taking care not to include any sediment. Pouring so the wine slides down the decanter walls will let you spot sediment in the stream of wine so you can stop pouring. Young Reds Glug the bottle roughly into the decanter one hour before you’re ready to drink it. Let it splash to soften the tannins. STAFF PICK THE DECANTER Riedel Macon, $190 Maximilian Riedel modeled this new bell-shaped decanter after the contours of antique Cognac bottles to catch more sediment as the wine is poured. riedelusa.net Deep Clean With their narrow necks, decanters can be a pain to wash. Sommelier Belinda Chang took a cue…