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Who’s ready for football season to begin?! We’re celebrating the Pats opening week with our custom “Go Patriots” cocktail. It’s our custom cocktail of the month and we’re pretty excited for this easy-to-make and extremely tasty (and colorful) cocktail.  Ready to make your own? Follow our instructions below and head into Mystic Wine Shoppe for your liquor needs.

Mystic Wine Shoppe September Cocktail Mystic Wine Shoppe September Cocktail

Ingredients: We did two variations for this cocktail so you can make both or just one… its your choice!

  • Triple Eight Cranberry Vodka and/or Triple Eight Blueberry Vodka
  • Soda Water (we used regular soda water but flavored soda water would be delicious as well)
  • Frozen cranberries and blueberries (we found a bag at Whole Foods)
  • Patriots cups or attire and a winning attitude!

Lets get mixing:

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Step 1: Pour about a shot of Triple Eight Cranberry Vodka and/or Triple Eight Blueberry Vodka into a cup ice (both vodka flavors have beautiful coloring and smell divine)

Step 2: Add soda water of choice

Step 3: Add frozen berries

Step 4: Get ready to cheer on the Pats (check out their schedule here)

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Remember… have fun with it!  We added frozen berries to the drink as well as using festive drink flags.   (Click here to learn how to make your own)

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We hope you enjoy this delicious custom cocktail! Enjoy the Patriots season and please stop into Mystic Wine Shoppe for all your beer, wine and liquor needs. We have a large variety of everything and can usually get something (if we don’t have it) at your request.

Thanks for reading along 🙂 Cheers

Mystic Wine Shoppe

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champagne collageProsecco and champagne are the two sparkling wines most commonly associated with celebrations! They are both similar and different in several important areas. To help you understand the difference between the two we’re breaking down each one below  –

    • Prosecco
      • Come from the Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, is made from the Glera(Prosecco) grape with up to 15% other white grapes allowed.
      • It is available in three different styles, spumante(sparkling), frizzante(semi-sparkling) and tranquillo(still wine).
      • It is produced using the Charmat or bulk method where the wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in large steel tanks.
      • Prosecco typically has a lighter mouthfeel and more subtle flavors than champagne.
    • Champagne
      • Comes from the Champagne region of France although many fine sparkling wines from other countries borrow the name.
      • Champagne uses three main grapes which can be blended in combination or produced singly. The grapes are Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
      • The types include Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir and Rose and several other less common types. Several different styles ranging from bone dry “brut” to slightly sweet “Demi Sec” are produced.
      • The secondary fermentation occurs in the individual bottles requiring more time and attention than Prosecco’s bulk method.
      • Flavors are usually more pronounced than those of Prosecco.

We hope this helps you understand the difference between Prosecco and Champagne. We love each one and think either one would have worked well for viewing the recent eclipse. Stock up now for the next solar eclipse due in 2024!

Mystic Wine Shoppe

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reisling

What is Riesling? Riesling is one of the great white wines of the world. Riesling is named after the German white grape varietal of the same name. Although it grows in many countries, the best and 60% of the world’s total production comes from Germany, while the Niagara Peninsular in Canada also produces world class Riesling.

What Does Riesling Taste Like? The many flavors of Riesling include apple, pear, quince, apricot, peach and nectarine. A fine minerality and a balanced acidity are important components of this wine. Styles vary from bone dry to dessert style. Usually, the drier styles favor the apple and pear flavors while the sweeter tend more towards apricot and nectarine.

What Makes Riesling Special? The vineyard locations are very important to the quality of the Riesling grape. The grapes have to fight against short growing seasons, shorter daylight and much cooler temperatures than most other grapes. Because of this, the best vineyard sites are those with southern exposure on the steep banks of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. These banks are quite steep, contain deposits of slate under the topsoil and need to be harvested by hand. The grapes benefit from both direct sunlight and light reflected off of the river. The slate underneath is heated by this combination and adds additional warmth to the grape vines. The coolness of the northern latitude helps to provide the racy acidity for which these wines are known.

Common Styles.

  1. Trocken which is very dry.
  2. Halbtrocken is a medium dry wine.
  3. Kabinett implies wine of normal ripeness.
  4. Spatlese is a wine whose grapes were picked late so that the grapes are riper than normal thus providing a sweeter style wine.
  5. Auslese a wine made from late picked grapes selected by the ripest bunches making for a sweet wine.
  6. Beerenauslese comes from individually selected late harvest grapes. Higher quality and much sweeter than the others. A dessert wine.
  7. Trockenbeerenauslese is the ultimate dessert wine. The grapes stay on the vine until they shrivel like raisins. They are loaded with sugar and flavors.
  8. Eiswein made from grapes that freeze on the vine then are picked and pressed immediately. Very intense flavors.

*Typically, the sweeter the wines, the lower the alcohol content. Most German wines vary between 8-10% alcohol, while a typical French wine is around 12-13%.

How Long Will the Wine Last? Once opened, the wine drinks well for a couple of days then loses most of its flavor rapidly. The sweetest wines will keep longer as the sugar acts as a preservative.

Food Pairings: Freshwater fish and fresh seafood pair very well with Rieslings; a particularly good match is Salmon. Also, foods such as Thai, Indian and Chinese go very well with Riesling.

Stop into Mystic Wine Shoppe and let our team help you pick out the perfect Riesling for your special occasion!

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