March 2008 Newsletter
Abruzzo’s Update
Greetings Everyone!
Are you all as tired of this weather as we are? It’s about time for Spring to finally arrive here in the next couple of weeks. We are especially anxious for Spring to arrive because it gets us closer to May 15th, our expected due date for our little boy, Evan Paul to be born. We are so very excited. Nine more weeks and he will be here!!! We would like to thank all of you for your well wishes and congratulations.
In case you haven’t heard already, there is a wonderful fundraiser that we are proud to help sponsor called “Go with the Flow”, an Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival that promotes good water and great beer. There will be a vast assortment of homebrews to taste and share including some real head crushers crafted by our good friend Fred Karm of the Hoppin Frog Brewery. The event will be held at the Robin Hood Inn, 503 E. Main Street in Kent on Saturday, March 15th, from 8-11 pm (This was rescheduled from March 8th due to the crazy snowstorm). There will be plenty of local food (including organic pies and homemade pizzas with chevre cheese and wild mushrooms) and music to go along with those terrific handcrafted brews. In return, we are asking that you donate either six-12 ounce or three-22 ounce bottles of your own homebrew for the event or a $20.00 cash donation. There will also be a judging. You can fill out the sign up sheet when you arrive. Remember all donations will go to the non-profit Standing Rock Cultural Arts Organization’s Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival and are tax deductible. Thanks in advance for all your support.
We are very proud to introduce a complete new line of Abruzzo’s Original Homebrew Kits. For the first two releases, Chris has put together two outstanding selections, the Mad Cow Cream Stout and the Bavarian Style Kolsch. Judging from our initial responses to the recipes, we are sure that you won’t be disappointed, especially those of you that like your homebrews big and bold! Details can be found below.
We have an update on the Winexpert Price Increase. As we mentioned in our last Newsletter, the cost of the Winexpert Wine Kits has increased across the board 20%. They hadn’t raised their prices in 1 ˝ years and the value of the dollar has decreased by 20% compared to the Canadian dollar in that time. Since we only had 4 days to let everyone know about this and to get your orders in before the price increase, we decided to buy an extra 150 of the most popular kits so that we could keep the prices down for at least a little while longer. We will hold all of the prices on the kits at their old prices until we have to restock them. So there is still time to save quite a bit of money but the supplies are limited. Again, this price increase does not apply to the Limited Editions since they were preorders and we locked in on the prices in December.
The Must Makers Wine Club is looking for suggestions for Wineries to visit for our April 2008 Wine Club Meeting as well as future monthly meetings. If you have any suggestions or comments, please e-mail us or call us with them or you can e-mail the Must Makers new President, Tyson DeLoach directly at SplitTile@aol.com . We will e-mail everyone once a date and place has been finalized for March’s Meeting.
Our new and totally revamped website www.abruzzos.com is scheduled for completion on April 4th, 2008. We are very excited about all of the new things that we have added to the new website, including a forum for you to share your wine and homebrew recipes as well as other information that you might want to share about your experiences. We are also adding a ton of new reference material, detailed pictures, and instructions to aid in making us all more educated Wine Makers and Homebrewers. Any input that you have on what might be of interest to you is very much appreciated. In the meantime, our current websites listed below are still active and current. So please feel free to visit them for updates.
Our next Beginning Beer Making and Beginning Winemaking Classes will be on Saturday, March 15th, 2008. These are the perfect introductions for the Beginning Homebrewers and Winemakers to learn the basic terminology and methods on how to make the best Homebrews and Wines possible. A complete schedule of classes is listed below. Also note that our Intermediate Beer Making Class scheduled on May 3rd, 2008 will cover kegging techniques and the Intermediate Winemaking Class on the same day will cover making wine from fruits instead of kits.
Take care and we hope to see you soon!
Cheers!
Jacqui & Matt
Free Class Schedule
Saturday, March 15th, 2008 Beginning Beer Making Class 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 15th, 2008 Beginning Winemaking Class 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 19th, 2008 Beginning Beer Making Class 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 19th, 2008 Beginning Winemaking Class 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 Intermediate Beer Making Class 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 Intermediate Winemaking Class 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 7th, 2008 Beginning Beer Making Class 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 7th, 2008 Beginning Winemaking Class 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 12th, 2008 Beginning Winemaking Class 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 12th, 2008 Intermediate Winemaking Class 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Classes are free and will be held at our store. Food and beverages will be provided.
Seating is limited, so please call in advance to make your reservation. A 10% discount will be given for all purchases made the day of classes.
Limited Edition 2008 Releases
The first four Releases of this year’s Selection Limited Edition Program have arrived at the store. A product brochure can be downloaded from our home page on our website at www.americashobbyhouse.com describing the specific growing regions where these grapes were picked, the flavor profile of each wine, and appropriate food pairings. Information about when they will be released along with pricing can be found below. We ordered extras of each of the kits for those that did not get their pre-orders in by the December 2007 deadline. They will be on a first come first serve basis. So get your while supplies last.
Type Release Date Cost
Chilean Carmenčre/Cabernet Sauvignon In Stock Now $109.99
Australian Riesling In Stock Now $104.99
Sicilian Nero d’Avola/Shiraz In Stock Now $109.99
Pacific Quartet In Stock Now $104.99
Italian Brunello April 2008 $109.99
New Products and Promotions
Estate Series Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir!
This new Estate Series Pinot Noir has silky tannins carrying notes of truffle, toast, herbs, gorgeous cassis, black cherry and raspberry flavors and black spice. Food-friendly, it shows restrained toasty oak and well-balanced acidity. This long awaited beauty is in stock now and sells for $129.99, that’s about $4.33 per bottle!
Estate Series Washington Yakima Valley Pinot Gris!
The Estate Series Washington Pinot Gris offers fresh aromas and flavors of ripe honeydew melon and crisp green apple and an attractive floral note. The wine has an elegant, creamy finish restrained by a refreshing crispness that makes it very food-friendly. Get this crisp refreshing beverage in the fermenter now so you can enjoy one on the back deck this summer. Price: $119.99 or about $4.00 per bottle!
Bottle Sale! This is the perfect time to stock up on some great bottles to store these new delicious wines. Item number 5247.2 is what they call a transitional glass, meaning the process in which the glass manufacturers switch colors and the transitional color change forces them to sell a certain amount of the run off bottles at a deep discount. This is the same high quality punted burgundy bottle at a slightly lighter than the normal dead leaf green color. The best part is a case of 12 is only $9.99 while supplies last. We also have a limited supply of Port bottles, item 5248 also at a great price of $9.99. These are fantastic for any dessert wine, especially if you still need to bottle your Chocolate Raspberry Port!
Abruzzo Original Beer Recipe Kits – We are very excited to introduce our very own Beer recipes kits that are sure to tantalize your taste buds. We are starting with 2 of our favorites and will be adding a couple new ones each month.
Bavarian Style Kolsch – This delightful style goes down smooth and is brilliant served ice cold on a warm summer day. Very crisp, light and refreshing with a straw color, medium body, with a nice balance of fresh hops. This kit will produce approximately 5 gallons of beer (60 X 12 oz bottles) and sells for $32.99.
Mad Cow Cream Stout – Full bodied with overtones of roasted dark grains and a thick creamy head dictates the flavor of this huge brew. Loaded with malt means a higher alcohol and completely filled with flavor. This kit will produce approximately 5 gallons of beer (60 X 12 oz bottles) and normally sells for $49.99 but we have it on sale for $44.99. This monster will be around 10% alcohol by volume. So don’t make plans after tapping your keg.
St. Patrick’s Day Sale – One of our favorite drinking holidays is right around the corner. To show our appreciation during this wonderful celebration, we are featuring 2 of our favorite beer recipes to honor this great saint. For the month of March, you can purchase the Brewers Best Irish Red Ale Recipe and the Brewers Best Irish Stout recipe for 10% off the regular price.
Item #1010 – Irish Red Ale regular price $29.99 on sale for $26.99
Item #1023 – Irish Stout regular price $33.99 on sale for $30.49
4220 State Route 43 Brimfield, OH 44240
Toll Free (877) 578-6400 Ph: (330) 678-6400 Fax: (330) 677-0826
www.abruzzos.com
www.americashobbyhouse.com
www.homebrewcompany.com
Store Hours: Mon-Sat 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Closed on Sundays
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