Newsletters

April 2013 Newsletter:

Pinterest Party!                            April 13th - 7:00pm

Ready to get your craft on? We're inviting all craft enthusiasts and dedicated pinners to join us for an evening of creativity and imagination. We'll be providing light appetizers to keep you going as you work through various craft stations making something fun out of the 3 bottles and handful of corks we will provide per person. We will even have a gift basket station! This is a great idea for people who might be planning weddings or parties but it will get anyone's creative juices flowing!

$25.00 per person

Cupcake and Wine Flight                      April 27th - 7:00pm

Do you like wine? Do you like cupcakes? Who doesn't! We want to bring you the best of both worlds and pair those two together! We'll be partnering with Bliss Bakery to provide a scrumptious evening full of mouthwatering delights. We will be pairing four sweet cupcakes and two savory with our wines for this decadent event! $20 per person. Reservations Required.

 

Friday Nights are Back!  

April is finally here and that means our Friday Night Music is back! We will start by featuring an acoustic musician each Friday in April. That means no cover charge! May marks the start of our full bands. Weather permitting the music will be outside so bring your lawn chairs, blankets and all your friends! Check our website for artist listings!

Springtime - Spring Wine! 

We are ready for Spring here at the winery! And to celebrate we brought back one of our favorite Spring (and Summer - ok, anytime!) wines - Sparkling Edelweiss! To add to the fun, we have come up with our own signature drink - The Pink Flamingo. This wine features a combination of Blushing Hawk and Sparkling Edelweiss. Its fruity with a flare!

March 2013 Newsletter:

A 'WEE BIT O' TRIVIA

March 15 - 7:00pm

Beware the trivia night! Your competition is going to be Brutal.... Sorry for the puns but it's trivia time again! Not only will we be celebrating St. Patricks day with some delicious Irish food but we will also be honoring the Ides of March with some special Shakespeare bonus questions! As usual team limit is 10 people - table reservations are recommended but not required. We will have beer specials all night and delicious food available for purchase (think Stout Cupcakes!)

 

BEER! BEER! BEER!

March is a good month for beer. Not only will you be guzzling it back for St. Patrick's Day but it also helps get you through that little thing called March Madness. We'd like to help you out. 'Tis the season to almost be done with our winter beer, so throughout March we will be offering discounts on our Sleigh'er Scotch Ale - $3.00 pints and 40% off growler refills. Yes, 40%! Can't make it out to the winery to sample our fine brews? No problem! On March 22nd Mojo Smokehouse and Ales in Aksarben Village will be hosting a Soaring Wings Tap Takeover!

 

February 2013 Newsletter:

Super Bowl Special!

Here are our top three things about the Super Bowl:

 

1. BEER

2. Commercials

3. Football

 

Come in anytime from February 1st through February 3rd and get $2.00 off your growler refill!

 

 

 

Trivia Night!

February 9th - 7:00pm

Q: Where can you find amazing fun, great food, delicious beer and a way to celebrate Mardi Gras a few days early?

A: Soaring Wings on February 9th!

 

Come help us celebrate Mardi Gras a few days early with our team trivia! As usual teams of no more than ten - table reservations strongly recommended but not required. We will have beer specials all night, gumbo and king cake available! You know you want to be the one to get the baby....

 

 

 

 

 

Wine, Chocolate and Roses

February 16th - 7:00pm

Still looking for the perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day? Come spend the perfect romantic evening with your loved one at the winery! An evening filled with heavy appetizers, a chocolate fountain, luscious desserts and a select bottle of wine for you and your significant other to enjoy! $70.00 per couple. Reservations required.

January 2013 Newsletter:

NEW VINTAGE RELEASES

 

Happy New Year and Happy New Vintages to everyone! We are very excited about our newest releases and hope that what we are about to say doesn't cause a stampede at the winery: Blushing Hawk is back! Although this year's vintage is slightly more tart and a little drier it still has all the strawberry and watermelon overtones you know and love! We've also just released Falco Red 2012 and Norton 2011. You might notice a few slight differences but for the most part they remain faithful to the old vintages.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Trivia Night is back! Now that the stress of the hectic holidays is over come out to the winery to relax with good friends, good drinks and good food! Don't get too relaxed though, you'll need to keep your wits about you to stay competitive. As requested we will be focusing more on general knowledge with just a few beer and wine questions! Beer specials and chili will be available to keep the brain sharp. Teams of no more than 10. We recommend calling ahead to reserve a table but reservations are not required.

 

TRIVIA NIGHT - JANUARY 18TH - 7:00 pm

 

Also coming up:

 

WINE, CHOCOLATE AND ROSES - FEBRUARY 16TH - 

      7:00PM

BARREL TASTING - FEBRUARY 23RD - 7:00 pm 

 

Reservations required for both events.  Please check the website for details!

May - June 2012 Newsletter

Blues Festival

It’s that time of year again- The Blues festival is almost upon us. It will be on June 2nd this year with gates opening at 5:00. Tickets will be $15 per person age 21 and up (includes first glass of beer or wine and souvenir logo glass). Bacchus members and attendees ages 12-20 are $10.

We will have our locally made cheeses, fresh baked bread, crackers and sausage. Pop and bottled water will also be available. The line-up is:

• 5:30 - 6:30 - Hector Anchondo
• 7:00 – 8:00 - Connie Hawkins & The Blues Band
• 8:30 – 9:30 - The Candymakers
• 9:30 – 10:00 - Jam session

(NOTE THAT WE WILL BE CLOSING TO THE PUBLIC AT 5:00 ON THIS DAY!)

Friday Night Music

Our Friday night music series is in full swing, so don’t forget to grab your lawn chairs or blankets and come out to enjoy the beautiful sights and sounds! Gate opens at 6:00, music goes from 7:00-9:30 every Friday night until the end of October. $5 cover charge for everyone age 12 and up. We have Yotes BBQ selling delicious food so come hungry!

• May 11 - Chris Saub Band
• May 18 - In the Gruv
• May 25 - Swampboy Blues Band

• June 1 - Toons Band
• June 8 - Soldiers of Soul
• June 15 - Mark Irvin
• June 22 - Jumpin Kate
• June 29 - Wild Fire

• July 6 - Chris Saub Band
• July 13 - Out Loud
• July 20 - Soul Preserve
• July 27 - John Stokely Band

SUNDAY MUSIC

Our free Sunday music series is an excellent way to spend your Sunday afternoons.

• May 13- Strings & Chords
• May 20 - Mitch Armstrong
• May 27 - Katie Logan

• June 3 - Jessica Errett
• June 10 - Sue Murray
• June 17 - Strings & Chords
• June 24 - John Stokely

• July 1 - Tim Koehn
• July 8 - Stephen Monroe

Back Alley Blues
This fun blues bland will be playing here Saturday June 30th at 7:00. Cover is $5. Just like Friday Night, bring your lawn chair or blanket and enjoy a great evening of music with wine or beer!

Hey Ladies!

We’ll be hosting our 2nd annual Girls Night Out on July 14th. We’ll have a DJ so you can kick up your heels, and drawings for fun prizes. Attendees will also receive a 10% discount on merchandise. We had such a fun time last year, but don’t forget to bring lawn chairs because we fill up fast.

*Sorry fellas- This is a Girls Only event!

Donna's Leaving

For those of you who have not heard yet, Donna Mayfield is leaving Soaring Wings to pursue a position in the Kansas City area. May 18th will be her last day of employment here at Soaring Wings and while she still plans to be in the area over the weekends, she will then be visiting the winery from the other side of the counter. Come out on the 18th and wish her well with her future employer! We’ll all miss her very much!

Winemaker's Musings May 2012

Well things have been interesting this so far this year. We had the warmest winter on record and this spring has been pretty nice too! What that means is the vineyard is SIX weeks ahead of normal. Interesting... What that will mean for this years crop is still uncertain, as we do not know what the summer will bring. We have taken this year’s LaCrosse out of the barrels and are cold stabilizing it. Nice vintage. The red wines we still have in the barrels are doing very nicely. I am very happy about this year’s Syrah. Fruit forward with nice tannin and just a hint of acid to support the wine. Lovely. Should be available before the end of the summer. Expect the price for our Port to drop a bit as the newest vintage becomes available. Not a whole lot, but enough to make it an everyday affair instead of a special treat.

With the early growth the vineyard and grounds look FANTASTIC. Come on out to enjoy the music!

Cheers,
Jim

Brewmaster's Blast

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. –The Bible, Proverbs 31:6 & 7

Hops are the essential spice of beer and an ingredient that distinctly separates beer from wine and other drinks such as cider or mead. Hops provide a balance of bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malts and grains. Even in the smoothest low hopped beer it provides this balance and without it the beer taste cloying sweet!! Hops also provide extra aroma and flavors that vary from woodsy, funky to citrusy and floral.

Hops are a plant that grows as a vine on trellises. It is the plant’s flowers and their resins that are utilized in brewing process. Hops were first used in beer production in the twelfth century in and around Bavaria in what would be modern Germany and the Czech Republic. The use of hops after their introduction to beer making increased dramatically, because it was noticed that beers were produced with hops had a longer shelf life. There was a period of time, especially in England where the word ‘ale’ referred to beer made without hops and the wood ‘beer’ referred to one was made with hops. (Today that distinction of what ale is has changed and ‘ales’ are distinguished from ‘lagers’ based on yeast varieties used in the beer.)

The bitterness of the hops is generated by adding hops to the kettle and boiling them with the wort. The bitterness of the hops are rated in the beer and given as an IBU (International Bitterness Unit). The higher the IBU number the higher the bitterness in the beer. But one’s perception of bitter is the most important factor. An example of this is our Blackbird Stout: Its hop rating is 25 IBU and one might thing it would be bitter tasting. It does not taste very bitter due to the heavy maltiness of the beer provided by the base malt but also by the use of lots of crystal and chocolate malts.

Our double IPA Hop Zeppelin is our most heavily hopped example; it has a tangerine flavor with some funkiness from use of Summit hops but also a citrusy quality from use of a large amount of cascades, these all are balanced by a very malty base beer!! IPA’s generally have high amounts of bitterness this beer in no exception to that an IBU of 67!!

Enjoy your beer and be thankful for all that nature has provided. Malt, grain and hops are great contributors to beer flavor and provide a large variety of flavor combinations for our beer tastes!

--John Rollag