Great Traditions Can Be A Great Excuse For A Party

We have started a tradition of buying very big (3 liter) bottles of Joseph Phelps vines for each of our grandchildren. We buy it in the vintage of their birth year and the plan is to have a party to celebrate their 16^thbirthday.

Actually, my buddy Tom Julian started the tradition. Our daughter Jennifer was born in California in 1984. Tom came out to visit and we went to the Napa valley as part of his visit. The Phelps vineyard has always been one of our favorites. It is in a little sub-valley in the Napa valley and it produces some excellent wines. Tom bought Jennifer a 3 liter bottle and we enjoyed it at a wonderful party in 2000.

Originally, we had planned on having it to celebrate her 18^thbirthday, but we got a little nervous about how well the wine would age. We kept it in the basement of Tom’s old house in Rye NY on Onondaga street. His basement was the perfect place to store wine. Fortunately, the wine held up very well. When we first opened it we were nervous. Older wines will change color slightly. This wine had a reddish tint versus the deep purple of newer wines. The taste of the wine was good at the start and as the evening progressed, it got better and better. Funny how that works…

(Tom Julian, Jennifer, Paul and Susan Kenny getting ready to open a 16 year old bottle of Phelps Cabernet in 2000)

Right now I have 3 liter bottles of Joseph Phelps Cabernet marking the 2013 and 2014 vintages. These bottles mark the birth years of our grandson Max and granddaughter Emma. Recently we ordered futures for a bottle of the 2017 vintage to commemorate the birth year of our grandson Dylan. Next year I will order a bottle from the 2018 vintage for our grandson Declan. With another grandchild due in July of 2019, this tradition will lead to some fantastic wine and great excuses for a succession of parties.

The good news as that I have parlayed the collection of large bottles into an excuse to buy a wine cellar. In Memphis we don’t have the luxury of cellars. My wine cellar is actually a large refrigerator. How large? All I can say is that when the truck delivered it on a pallet, it was too large to fit in our garage. With the help of my son Brian we were able to wrestle it into the house and our collection of large bottles of Phelps wines is aging comfortably. The tradition was a great excuse to buy the wine cellar. Lord knows that my wife Susan wouldn’t have let me buy it otherwise.

Again, there is nothing like a good excuse!

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Note: The featured image pictures our then 3 year old granddaughter Emma with her 3 liter bottle of Phelps Cabernet

Beer, Wine Or Hard Liquor?

Wine has always been the adult beverage of choice for supper clubs. The increased popularity of Craft Beer and the fact that hard liquor (without mixers) presents a low/calorie/carb option has brought the wine choice into question. A deeper dive into the data might suggest otherwise.

Per the Wall Street Journal Americans aren’t drinking beer like they used to.

AB InBev, Heineken, and Molson Coors have all reported significant drops in beer volume in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. According to The Wall Street Journal, AB InBev (BUD, -0.39%) saw a 4.1% drop, Molson Coors (TAP-A) a 3.8% drop, and Heineken (HKHHF, +0.75%) saw a “high-single-digit percentage” drop.

The decline in sales is brought on both by consumers increasingly turning to other alcoholic beverages like whiskey and wine, and an overall falloff in alcohol consumption.

Craft beer sales have taken a hit as well “Some of the country’s biggest craft brewers are struggling with falling sales, hurt by a glut of competitors crowding retail shelves and moves by megabrewers to scoop up some of their rivals.” “They used to say a rising tide lifts all boats. And it is definitely not that now,” Mr. Steinman said. His firm estimates that shipment volumes declined for 16 of the top 36 craft-style U.S. brewers last year.

So where are the trends going. Yes I am a data freak. If you look at three key variables the answer becomes clear

Health trends with calorie and carb content are important.
People want a balance between alcohol and calorie/carb content
Supper clubbers want to socialize, not get wasted

The data tells a very clear story:

Beer just isn’t the answer. Calorie and carb content are an issue for regular and craft beers and lite beer while somewhat healthier just is not the answer.
Hard liquor while great (Low calorie/carb) by itself when you add in mixers to make cocktails issues arise.
Wine, while not a panacea, certainly presents a healthier alternative and pares well with foodie delights

The U.S. Stands Alone – Using Fahrenheit Temperature

Have you ever been challenged with recipes using Celsius and metric measurements? If you are an American, using international recipes for your supper club dinner party, you have been. Americans stand alone in sticking to Fahrenheit and non metric measurements.

It is like the old joke…

What do you call someone that speaks many languages…MULTI-LINGUAL
What do you call someone who speaks two languages…BI-LINGUAL
What do you call someone who speaks one language…AMERICAN

It is an old joke and in many ways, a sad story. Americans traveling or doing business outside of the country have to learn Celsius/Fahrenheit and metric conversions. I am writing this blog from Ottawa Canada where my daughter lives and having to relearn conversions that became standard during my many years running an international business. The problem is that I still think in Fahrenheit.

Again an old joke…

The teacher tells her French class that you know that you really know French when you think in French.

The next day the class clown comes in and announces: “Teacher, teacher, I must really know French now because last night I dreamed and I was thinking in French. Didn’t understand a freaking word, but I was thinking in French.

Conversion between Fahrenheit and Celsius isn’t easy:

To convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius:

You will need to subtract 32 to the Fahrenheit temperature, multiply by 5, then divide by 9.
For example, to convert 350 degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius you would complete the following equation:
- 350 degrees Fahrenheit – 32 = 318
- 318 x 5 = 1590
- 1590 / 9 = 177 degrees Celsius

To convert degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit:

You will need to multiply degrees Celsius by 9, divide by 5, then add 32.
For example, to convert 177 degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit you would complete the following equation:
- 177 degrees Celsius X 9 =1593
- 1593 / 5 = 318.6
- 6 + 32 = 350

Using a conversion table is a lot easier

Just the standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on a package of Hershey Chocolate Chips gets complicated

Note: * R.O.W. equals Rest Of World

A buddy of mine in Holland once told me that his kids had to learn at least 3 languages in standard schools in the Netherlands. The problem is that very few people speak Dutch around the world. I told him that I thought his kids would be advantaged going forward because of their advanced communication skills versus American kids only learning one language. He disagreed with me. His theory was that Dutch children had to expend too much intellectual energy on language versus Americans that focused more on math and science.

To be honest, I don’t know who is right. One thing I do know is that around the world kids like, pizza, cheeseburgers and chocolate chip cookies. One thing I do not know, and that is, who the real joke is on.