Chocolate Perks Renews Beer, Wine License

Wine tastings resume Thursday, Nov 8, at 7 p.m. Chocolate Perks also extending weekday, weekend hours.

Now that Chocolate Perks in downtown Duluth has renewed its beer and wine license, monthly wine tastings are resuming Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. Chocolate Perks is also extending its hours until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Founding owner Marsha Bomar did not renew the beer and wine license in anticipation of selling the cafe/coffee shop. Keith and Jeanette Shewbert, who own 45 South Cafe in downtown Norcross, bought Chocolate Perks and assumed ownership Aug 1. The new owners are also reviving wine tastings at 45 South Cafe. Led by wine consultant Michelle Nguyen-Foust, the wine tastings will continue on the first Wednesday of the month at 45 South Cafe and the first Thursday of the month at …

• Photos (1)

Charlie's Corner

Cool Sipping in Hot August

Chill out at a German bierfest, brewery tour, tomato festival, Riesling tastings and more during this hot, muggy month.

Ugh.Those soggy, hot August Dog Days are upon us. Normally, this  is the time  that “get-up-and-go” activities  fall off to almost nothing except for school starting and temperatures soaring up to the high 90s. Not so for this August. No one needs sunscreen in an air conditioned room. Opportunities abound to sip and savor your favorite beers, wines, and spirits. There is so much to do and so little time! From the South’s largest German Bierfest to the promise (maybe) of a La Tomatina festival tomato fight, the list goes on and on and on. Folks bus to VIP brewery tours; executives from Italy, Oregon, California and Spain are visiting offering wines. There are celebrations for delicious craft beers and a new growler shop opening -- even wine…

• Photos (2)

Charlie's Corner

Sipping Through May

Enjoy wine tastings, beer festivals and other fine events.

From the huge Atlanta Food and Wine Festival to Cinco de Mayo parties and the American Craft Beer Week fests in East Atlanta and Dunwoody, May is offering up an array of wine, food, beer and spirits tastings and dinners welcoming the summer months ahead. Other choices include the Smyrna Wine Stroll, the Blues, Brews and BBQ in Piedmont Park, a beer breakfast in Decatur, “Eats and Beats” in Buckhead, and two outdoor arts events in Duluth and Dunwoody, just to point out a few.   May 1  – “What’s Up With Wine Down Under -- Australian Wines” is the theme of a wine seminar and an eight-glass wine tasting starting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in The Kroger Bristot in the Johns Creek Kroger Store.  First, an hour-long seminar overviews modern Australian …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Charlie's Corner

The Wine, Spirits & Beers of March

Celebrate St. Paddy's Day with Irish whiskey, Peru's Pisco Sour, BBQ, Beer & Bourbon, Naked Wines and more.

  March is the month for that favorite party, the time we celebrate Saint Paddy who chased the snakes out of Ireland and converted the heathen. But March 2012 is a month of much more. There are craft beers to seriously contemplate, Pisco Sours to sip in honor of Peru, the High Museum of Art’s magnificent wine tastings and auction, orgasmically grown wines to try. It all starts this weekend with a fine fest celebrating beer, barbecue, babes,and bourbon although not necessarily in that order. March 1 starts the month with a high-end German Riesling tasting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Le Caveau Fine Wines on Peachtree Road in Chamblee. The store offers three 2009 vintage wines from Weingut Robert Well in the Rheingau--the Estate Riesling …

• Photos (2)

Charlie's Corner

February Wining & Dining

Wine, beer and sake tastings, sushi-making lessons, wine and cupcakes, celebrity chefs tour and more this month.

  Almost every metro Atlanta restaurant and then some are hosting Valentine's Day dinners for this month. There really are too many for us to list for fear some might accidentally be missed. Instead, look here at some of the wine, spirits and beer tastings and other events you can attend to find new tastes to treasure. On top of the list, there is a celebrity chef gastronomic blow out, an opportunity to make sushi at a Japanese restaurant (Samurai sword optional), a three-day mini beer fest, and a huge Cabernet Sauvignon wine tasting with enough Cabs and Cab blends to change the whites of your eyes to pink. There is the newly declared Singles Awareness Day celebration along with a really unique cupcake and wine tasting. Feb. 3 – For the …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Charlie's Corner

Beating the Post-Holiday Blahs

January filled with wine tastings, dinners and beer festivals to keep away winter doldrums.

Finally, we now are finished with our long, drawn-out, multi-week holiday rounds of parties and dinners. Christmas and New Years are over. Psychologists warn us that this the time for those dreaded post-holiday blahs! Not to worry. Because here is the recipe for defeating your after-the-holiday blahs. Think of the last few weeks as nothing more than a great warm up. The next 365 days offer almost every imaginable opportunity to grab your favorite drinking glass, take that significant other, call friends and designate a driver so everyone can get out and enjoy some top-rated food, wine and beverage fun! Within these next four weeks you can fine two important beer fests, major wine tastings -- including three football-themed ones -- and so …

• Photos (1)

Charlie's Corner

The Best Holiday Bubbly

Lots of opportunities to sample Champagnes and sparkling wines ranging in price.

  December. The most wonderful time of the year is when those sparkling wines flow once the corks have been popped bringing celebrations and good cheer for everyone there. The Christmas and New Year holidays traditionally are times when the most Champagnes and sparkling wines are drunk and enjoyed. (Valentines Day comes in second place.) Restaurants, wine bars and retailers everywhere have shelves stocked with everything from those fine French prestige de cuvee’s (which sell for over $260) down through the inexpensive (but good) Spanish cavas to the bottom shelves where California-made sparklers sell for $5 a bottle. Happily, lots of those same retailers, restaurants and wine bars are devoting special wine tastings and parties all this …

• Photos (1)

Charlie's Corner

Be Thankful for Wine

Upcoming events help demystify Thanksgiving meal wine pairings.

It is Holiday Party Time! Metro Atlanta area wine and spirits enthusiasts are gearing up for a spate of tastings and special dinners scheduled everywhere from North Georgia’s mountains to the south metro area's rolling farmlands. More corks get popped during Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s holiday weeks than at any other time of the year. Grab your datebook. Mark these down! The Duluth Wine Beer & Spirits Super Store at 2870 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. hosts its Holiday Wine Tasting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9, offering guests upwards of 50 vintages in The Crush Tasting Room. Cost is $15 per person. Advance reservations and/or ticket purchase need to be made. This event sells out quickly. Call 678-957-0590. The Arts Clayton …

• Photos (1)