Vynecrest Summertime Red, Pennsylvania

Vynecrest is a winery from Pennsylvania where my family is from. They make surprisingly good wine. This one is their Summertime Red.
It is labeled as a Sangria style wine that is sweet and fruity. It lives up to the description.
Although we didn't have it chilled, we plopped in a couple ice cubes and it was a refreshing wine for early evening. I don't usually like sweet wines, but this one was flavorful and not sugary at all.
Their online price as of this publication is $9.99 for 750ml. When the folks head back this summer for their PA trip, I am going to request this one.

Coppola Rosso

I brought out a few wine choices for a steak dinner with my sister. She likes sweet wines, but I enjoy a Merlot or nice Cab with my steak. One of the bottles she picked was the
Coppola Rosso.
It is a red table wine and was surprisingly good. It is supposed to be a blend of Cab, Syrah and Zin but it had a wonderful fruitiness. There were hints of plum, cherry and berry in the flavor and the wine was a darker red than I imagined a table wine to be.
The web site recommends this wine with burgers, beef or pizza. It worked well with our hickory sirloin.

Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams

Hovering in what seems to be a vast spread of peanut butter products, it is increasingly more difficult to know which item is the best choice for your family. After picking up some single serve Jif Naturals for lunch boxes, I ran across a brand called Peanut Butter & Co. The store carries flavors such as The Bees's Knees that mixes honey into the peanut butter. The one that grabbed my PMSing eye was a dark brown peanut butter with a name of Dark Chocolate Dreams.
The product reminded me of a quirky little snack place called PB Loco in the Scottsdale Fashion Square that sold their own gourmet PB which has long since closed.
I am always the skeptic and didn't want to fork out $4 for the 14 oz container and noticed the 67 cent individual pack. I grabbed one and was ready for my own dark chocolate dream.
This morning I decided to have it on a piece of whole wheat toast. Serving suggestions on the package includes apples, crackers, bananas, or celery. I really like Nutella on my toast so there you have it.
After kneading the package as instructed, I squeeze out the thick chocolate peanut butter goodness and spread over my toast. I was surprised how easily it came out and spread nicely.
The flavor of the spread is very similar to Baskin Robbins 31 flavors Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream. It isn't too sweet and has a nice balance of chocolate and peanut butter scent and flavor.
The single serving has 170 calories, 13 g of fat - 2.5 saturated. 12 carb, 2 fiber, 7 sugars, 6 protein. It's gluten free, cholesterol free, and vegan.

What?!?! Banana Bread BEER?!?!?!?

Yes, I did say Banana Bread Beer. Oh em gee! Yes, I liked this one a lot. A lot, a lot.
I mistakenly tried to twist off the top...ouch. So, once I cracked open the metal lock, my nose was met with a sweet banana scent that made me want to stick the bottle up my nostril and inhale deeply.
No, not really, but it does smell deliciously banana. The beer is a caramel color with very little head (yup, I tried to make it foam on purpose). The flavor is crisp and medium bodied. The moment after you swallow, you get the banana flavor that overcomes your taste buds. Admittedly, there is a bit of bitter at the very end, but you can solve that by taking another sip. Har har har.

Surprisingly, the banana doesn't taste manufactured. The bottle claims they use real bananas in the making, but the label also states there is banana flavor added. I thought it would taste like candy flavored banana, but it has the flavor of banana after you swallow it and it is lingering on your tongue.
I picked this up at the local HEB grocery store in Clear Lake area Texas for $2.49 for a single bottle. Alcohol is 5.2% by volume. I drank this one with homemade burgers. Definitely one I could drink at night instead of dessert. I recommend trying this one, even if you swear off flavored beer. Click HERE to go to Wells and Young's website to read more about Banana Bread Beer.

Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter

I found this at HEB grocery store in the Clear Lake, TX area this evening. I figured since we were having big, honkin' Texas sized sirloin burgers for dinner, this would go great. The beer was the typical medium-dark brown of a porter and smelled toasty and chocolatey. The pour gave me cream colored, foamy head that dissipated quickly.
The packaging is in a can because the company claims, "Cans eliminate light damage and reduce the risk of oxidation, keeping this craft brew fresher than in bottles!
Cans are lighter, chill quicker, and can be enjoyed on beaches and in sensitive environments. Aluminum is the most recycled and most eco-friendly material."
This Coconut Porter is made with six varieties of malted barley, hops and hand-toasted coconut. It is brewed and canned in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.
I was expecting more of a coconut taste, I guess like Malibu does to rum. However, the beer had a richness and a hint of sweetness to it but it didn't taste like coconut. The beer went really nice with our burgers that were ground sirloin cooked with Montreal steak seasoning and a real dry Merlot. Although it was a porter, not my fave in the beer categories, the flavor was rich enough, but the texture was lighter than I expected for a porter.
Fun can with a tag line I don't quite get: "...like hot chicks on the beach" Let me know if you know about that one...
Picked up a single can for $2.49 at the grocery store.

V-Twin Vineyards Bike Week Merlot 2003

I had to "borrow" this photo since I accidentally threw my bottle out before I took a photo. Kind of wish I kept the bottle because I am having trouble finding this one again.
Bike Week Merlot is made by V-Twin Vineyards in Sonoma, California. It was a FANTASTIC Merlot. It was slightly dry, fruity, full of berry flavor, leaving a tad sweet aftertaste. I enjoyed it with spaghetti and meat sauce and alone the next evening. It was easy to drink and tasted fabulous. I have kept this one around for about the past 3-4 years, saving it for just the right time...it was time to enjoy it!
Check out their web site HERE.

Quady Red Electra wine Madera , CA

The Quady Red Electra is a bubbly surprise of a wine the company created due to customer request for a red version of their Electra wine. The bottle has an angel in a red dress and colorful wings on a black background.
I found out it is an award winning wine. Read more about it HERE.
I was given this wine as a gift and opened it one night with my parents. It was a nice bubbly surprise of a sweet wine. It is a low alcohol wine (5% by volume) and tastes a lot like grape juice. It is refreshing and light.
This is one I will totally buy again, and share with friends.