Author Archives: Dawn Rattan
Are you resolving to lose weight in 2019? Wondering if you can still enjoy your favorite alcoholic beverages while shaving the pounds? Yes, you can, using a few of these tips to guide you:
Alternate your cocktails with water. Have a glass of water after each cocktail to reduce your overall intake of alcohol and calories.
Mix cocktails with club soda instead of juice, pop or tonic water. Juice and soda have very high calories and sugar levels. Surprisingly, tonic water is similar to soda in its calories. Club soda and tonic are often used interchangeably, but only club soda has ZERO calories. Another option is to use the diet or light version of your favorite mixer. Rum and Coke is about 185 calories but Rum and Diet Coke is only about 100 calories. In general, lower sugar means lower calories.
Mind your glass size! We have some ginormous wine glasses at home. They are very pretty and elegant. However, if I poured the suggested 5 oz of wine into these glasses, it would still look empty! Downsize your glassware to ensure that you are using the correct serving size!
Infuse, Muddle, and Garnish! Infused beverages have the flavor of the fruit within the alcohol but none of the calories from added juices and sugars. Muddled fruit also adds major fresh flavor without sacrificing your waistline. And, I truly crave lemon and lime in cocktails with vodka and club soda…I ask the bartender to squeeze half the lime into the drink!
Finally, educate yourself and make choices. There are several websites that provide calorie information on alcoholic beverages. With data, you can decide whether to have chocolate cake for dessert or a chocolate martini, wine or gin, Michelob Ultra or Corona Light. Additionally, at restaurants, sometimes the very creative cocktails have lots of sugars and juices…ask about the ingredients in the drink before ordering.
Make 2015 Sparkle!
You may call it Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, or simply Sparkling Wine—we have a variety of bubbles for you to select to make your New Year sparkle! I recommend Zonin Prosecco($14.99), Argyle Oregon Brut($24.99), DVX by Mumm($49.99) or Veuve Clicquot Brut($56.99). To make a special 2016 cocktail, mix your bubbly with fruit nectars, flavored vodkas, Solerno Blood Orange or Limoncello liqueurs! Here’s to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking! May you cheat death, steal a woman’s heart, fight for a brother and drink with me! Remember the New Year begins at Village West Discount Liquors.
New at VWDL:
We are happy to announce that we now carry your favorite Holy-Field Wines: Tailgate Red, Tailgate White, Corky’s Barrel, Over the Rainbow, and Seyval!
Tastings, Appearances, Etc:
Holiday Hours:
Don’t stress out on Thanksgiving! Village West Discount Liquors is your Thanksgiving Day headquarters. Stop in to stock up on all the drinks you’ll need to enjoy the long day of cooking, the quirky family members and the football games. I love this time of year because we finally take time to count our blessings, spend time with family and of course eat and drink like crazy! A lot of thought is put into the Thanksgiving menu and folks often wonder what drinks to serve. Here are my recos:
- Pinot Noir plays well with turkey because its medium bodied, versatile, yet complex—try Domaine Serene Pinot Noir from Oregon to compliment your holiday menu!
- Another more structured option is Zinfandel—it’s balanced and luscious enough to please your guests that prefer heavier red wines. Try Ravenswood Zin- we have three different single vineyard Zins to choose from.
- For white wine drinkers, select try our new Shooting Star Riesling. With flavors of honeysuckle, orange blossom and citrus, it’s destined to be a best seller!
- Finally, I love a buttery oaky Chardonnay with dinner and Rombauer Chard wins hands down!
- Consider making a warm cocktail with Kraken Spiced Rum, McGillicudy’s Apple Pie Liqueur, and Apple Cider. Warm it in a pot and garnish with cinnamon sticks, apples, nutmeg and oranges then serve!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Instead of sneaking your kids’ candy, enjoy a Milky Way Martini!
Add vanilla vodka, white crème de cacao, Bailey’s Irish Cream in a shaker with ice. Drizzle chocolate syrup inside a chilled martini glass, then strain ingredients into glass. Serve!
I recently made another delish (and easy) martini with vanilla vodka, Fulton’s Pumpkin Liqueur and Rumchata plus a splash of Grand Marnier! It’s so smooth that it’s frightening!
Wine drinkers will love sipping our deliciously scary red wines while handing out treats to the tikes! Our selection includes Apothic Carnivor, Apothic Dark, Avalon Sinister Hand, Poizin Zinfandel and Velvet Devil Merlot!
Sip a little tequila from a frightening skull with Crystal Head and Kah Tequilas. Just don’t become a raging monster afterward!
Make a killer cocktail with Dead Guy Whiskey and apple cider. Dead Guy Whiskey has fresh orange citrus aromas and a delicately sweet, rich malt flavor coupled with oak, honey and vanilla.
I swear our beer section is chilling and slightly haunted but don’t let that stop you from picking up some Bridgeport Witchhunt Spiced Harvest Ale, Left Hand Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout, or Rogue Voodoo Donut Beer or Dead Guy Ale.
We recommend trying new and interesting wines to mix things up. Here’s a simple guide to use to discover a new favorite wine!
If you like this, try this:
Riesling: Gazelas Vinho Verde
Made in Portugal; light bodied; slightly fizzy
Chardonnay: McManis Family Viognier
Made in California; velvety and creamy; flavors of pear, and peach.
Sauvignon Blanc: Laurenz und Sophie Singing Gruner Veltliner.
Austrian; dry, acidic, medium bodied, flavors and aromas of green bean, white pepper and citrus
Moscato: Alexander Valley ‘Gewurz’ Gewurztraminer.
Made in California; rich and full bodied; flavors and aromas of peaches, rose, lychee, and spices
Shiraz: Domaine Barville Chateauneuf du Pape
Spicy; tannic French wine blend of up to 13 grape varieties. Notes of dark fruit and vanilla.
Cabernet Sauvignon: Bruna Grimaldi Barolo Camilla
Italian; complex; full bodied with lots of tannins and flavors of cinnamon, truffle and licorice;tastes better with aging.
Red Blends: Marques Caceres Red Rioja
Spanish red blend typically made with the Tempranillo grape; bursting with aromas and flavors of berries, plum, vanilla, herbs and leather.
Pinot Noir: Lamadrid Bonarda
Deep ruby purple wine from Argentina with mint, red cherry, plum and chocolate flavors.