habanero -

by Emily

Now That’s a Spicy Wine!

As we all know, my local HEB grocery store is a treasure trove of inexpensive novelty alcohol products and this weekend I stumbled upon the latest discovery. At first it appears to be just another bottle of mid-range cabernet sauvignon, but take a closer look. This isn’t cabernet, but cabanero. Yes, as this delightful wordplay suggests, this is wine infused with habanero.

While I enjoy a nice, full-bodied red with my spicy BBQ or other red meat, I don’t know what I think about spicy wine itself. Obviously I love Fireball, which is semi-spicy, but that’s more cinnamon-y than actual heat. I’ve had pepper-infused vodka before and hated it. What to do!

Rob and I were strongly tempted to buy a bottle, but I sadly resigned myself to the fact that a habanero-infused spicy wine would give me instant heartburn. I saved the $8 and walked away. Sigh. If any of you spice-lovers out there pick up a bottle, make sure to drop a comment and let me know how it is! Olé!

by ML

The Endless Road Trip — San Diego’s Top 10 Eats: 9. The Best Drunk Bus

There are craft beer aficionado, beer purists, beer idiots, and then me…an in-between of all of them. I know the differences between pale ales, IPAs, and stouts, but normally I’m just as happy with a $2 Miller Lite.

Something I didn’t know: there are tour companies that pick you up and take you on a beer bus around various cities. Or at least this exists in San Diego. BS and I got picked up by the Brewery Tours of San Diego at 10:30am (yes, in the morning) to start a drinking adventure. First we arrived at Ballast Point and I was kind of confused, it looked like we were in an industrial park at an office building and not a place where I could get wildly drunk. I went inside anyway. Leave no stone unturned.

They had at least 20 beers on tap; many of which (if I remember correctly) were brewed one-time only. I, for the second time in my life, read the word “sculpin” on a menu; the previous night we had the fish, and today all of the beers were named after various catches. I knew we only had a limited amount of time and only so much I could drink, so BS and I went for the craziest ones: