Good Wine & Restaurants on the cheap

For those of you that do not know me personally, you should know first and foremost, that I am a deal queen. Whether it’s scoring a cheap meal at a fancy restaurant, maximizing coupon codes for online shopping, or getting a great rate on a flight or hotel, I’m always on the hunt for the best deals possible. I’m not one of those hardcore coupon clippers you might encounter at the grocery store, but somehow, I always happen to have a discount in my back pocket. I’ve recently signed up for and utilized two great online services that I’d love to share with you.

#1. Wine via lot18.com

This is a free membership site that features bundles (usually in 2 or 3-packs) of really good wine, at a great rate.  Yes, there’s the whole added cost of shipping, but even with that extra cost, you’re still able to find great deals. And, occasionally the site offers free shipping days, which is how I was persuaded to try it out in the first place. My first order consisted of 2 bottles of Syrah at a total price of only $16, or roughly $8 a bottle. When I corked the wine, it tasted way better than any $8 bottle of wine I’ve ever had. Of course I had to look it up online, and it turns out the regular price is $35 a bottle, direct from the winery and also from other larger wine & spirits stores that carry it. Needless to say, I was sold. The site offers free registration/membership, however, it is by invitation only. So, please feel free to use my invitation link, and enjoy! http://www.lot18.com/i/registrationinvitation

#2. $10 down, 30% off a great meal via Savored.com

Savored.com offers a unique concept in the deal-frenzy world. You pay $10 for a reservation at a participating restaurant, and discreetly* have 30% taken off your entire bill at the end of the meal. The site supports 10 fine cities across the US, so check to see if yours is available. Most of the ones in Chicago are higher end/more expensive restaurants, so it ends up being a decent savings, especially for reservations with large parties or those that go heavy on the adult beverages, or other situations where you tab can easily surpass the $100 mark.

*The end-of-visit deduction is supposed to be automatically applied to your bill, worry-free. However, I’ve used the service twice so far, and I’ve had to remind the server that I booked through Savored before the discount was applied. Not a big deal, but I think since the site is newer, there are still some glitches to be worked out. However, I still plan to use it in the future.

Anyone is free to sign up for this one at www.savored.com, or if you like my advice, please return the favor & sign up through my referral link: http://svrd.co/ow9Xgf

Happy wining & dining!

Abandoning the iPod (but not forgetting)

I’m excited to share that I’ve finally upgraded to Spotify premium today. It already seems like a great investment.

About a year ago was the dreadful day when the music (aka my iPod) died, along with the 30 gigs of music stored on it. The whole episode was devastating, but I decided to hold off on buying a replacement, since my phone has ample storage space and an adequate music player. Then, along came Spotify, and made that decision even easier. While I fully embrace and enjoy iPods, the $249 investment needed to house all of my music seems a bit steep, and also involves a lot of work with the transfer and updates required to keep my ears happy. Now I have endless songs at my fingertips, although I’ll likely need to also invest in a backup phone battery for all the streaming I intend to do. This is probably beginning to sound like an ad, but the point is that I am just super pumped to have a plethora of music back in my life and most importantly, on-the-go.  

More brewery visits!

Hello everyone. I’ve been having too much fun enjoying all of life’s perks in the past month that I haven’t had the chance to write about them. So now I have a lot to catch up on! I think the most noteworthy adventure in that timespan includes a trip to Michigan to visit three breweries, so I’ll start there. We visited Dark Horse, Arcadia, and Bell’s. Arcadia was fine but the real highlights were Dark Horse & Bell’s, so I’ll just focus on them.

Dark Horse Brewing (Marshall, MI) is just spectacular.  The beer selection on tap wasn’t vast, but it was certainly delicious. The staff encouraged us to mix various types of beer, which is quite unusual for a craft brewery, but also desirable. Sometime brewers think their beer is perfect as is, so it would be considered blasphemy to mix various types. Indeed, all the beers I had sampled were probably perfect alone, it was certainly fun to experiment. The food was also tasty, our server was friendly, and the atmosphere was cozy and welcoming. The ceiling of the place is lined with ceramic hand-crafted mugs – a physical mug club for the locals. Trust me, if I lived within an hour radius of Marshall, MI, I would be a proud member of that mug club.

Now on to Bell’s Brewery (Kalamazoo, MI) and another fine experience in the land of beer. Bell’s does quantity for sure, but they also have the quality to back it up. I didn't count, but I’d say there were probably 20 beers on tap at the Eccentric Café (brewpub portion of Bell’s). At least 8 of those estimated 20 taps were flowing with various kinds of stout. Being a huge fan of stout, this was like a beer mecca for me. There were so many variations of stout, ranging from sweet (Milk Stout and Double Cream Stout) to Bitter (Java Stout) to sour (Cherry Stout), one tasting even better than the next. 

Each glass is a different type of Stout!

The food at the pub wasn’t so great, but I’ll give Bell’s the pass, considering the stellar job they do with their main business line. If you are a beer fan and ever find yourself passing through Kalamazoo, Bell’s is a must stop. I also recommend finding a hotel nearby, so you can sample the whole line properly J

Minus the Bear Anniversary Tour @ Metro: Chicago, IL

Minus the Bear rocked through Chicago last week. And I mean rocked. They played their 10th anniversary tour Chicago show at Metro. I knew it was going to be good when they announced months ago that this tour would include the entire Highly Refined Pirates album. To my delight, they also played some other new and old personal favorites, including Pachuca Sunrise. 

The music was pure listening gold. Based on old ticket stubs and rough memory recall, I estimate that this was the seventh time I've seen them live since 2007. Based on my objective and subjective opinions, this was the second best performance yet, and it was only second to my first live MTB experience (which is hard to forget and/or replace). 

If you live in one of these cities, I highly recommend grabbing a ticket while you still can. If you missed out, check out this video of Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse from the Metro show, compliments of YouTube and a fellow concert-goer, who I don't know but owe a thank you for capturing the good vibes. Thank you, fellow concert-goer.

The land of plentiful and wonderful beer

Last Friday, I ventured to Colorado for the Great American Beer Festival. The event got me there, but it was the scenery and the awesome CO breweries that almost kept me there.

I had a blast at GABF and tried somewhere in the range of 70 beer samples. It is too hard to pick a single favorite beer, since flavors blended together after about 10 deep. However, at the brewery level, I'd have to say that BJ's brewpub had the most solid showing of all-around great-tasting beers. I also saw this awesome headphone dance party though, and it makes me want to find one in Chicago:

The rest of the trip was too wonderful and I could gush for hours, so I'll just focus on the breweries and the great experiences that came hand-in-hand with each one.

The Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, CO is a hidden gem. We stumbled upon it accidentally, and luckily. They had a fantastic beer garden in the back, complete with lights and a great bluegrass band playing. For several hours, I almost thought I was in the South.

Moving on to Longmont, CO, Left Hand's Tasting Room continued to provide that Southern comfort and delicious surprises for my taste buds. I tried their limited edition Beer Week Sauce Mocha Porter, and holy smokes, was it good. The bartender, and the brewery in general were beyond fantastic.

We almost completely missed out on New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO since I hadn't realized they were closed on Sunday and Monday. Luckily, we were able to make a quick and worthy pit stop before heading to the airport on Tuesday. And I'm so glad we did. It just so happens that the morning we stopped was the very first morning ever for New Belgium to sell beer in their tasting room. Prior to that, free samples were provided - but samples only. So, Vipin, Chris, and I bought the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pints ever sold in the NB tasting room. And on top of that, they threw in a free private tour. I was very impressed to say the least. Great brewery with great history, stories, employees, and of course, beer. Oh, and they had a rock climbing wall in their brewery. Right?

Here's to hops, and the wonderful state of Colorado.

Up and running / Now listening

I think the feed subscription issue should now be fixed, so you should be able to subscribe via Google Reader or any other service by clicking on the 'Subscribe to' link at the bottom of this page. I'm still working out some kinks on the feedburner redirect. Sorry about that!


Spotify users: Here's what I'm listening to now:  Rosie Girl Power (playlist)
http://bit.ly/oQpNXS

The story behind this perk

Music. Craft beer. Good food. Travel. In addition to family and friends, these are some of life's greatest perks. I'm not an expert on any of the above, but I certainly enjoy all of them, and try to do so as often as possible. The best part about discovering a new band, tasting a new beer, or visiting a new restaurant or city is sharing the experience with others. Hopefully through this site, I'll be able to do much more of just that. 

My intention is for music to be the primary focus here, and this site can serve as an outlet for new artist/band recommendations and concert reviews. However, there's a strong chance I'll rave about beer or new restaurants, or whatever else strikes my fancy that week. Feel free to skip over any posts that don't strike your fancy, but I hope you'll find quite a few perks here too.

Dredg. The Arcade Fire. Minus the Bear. Adele. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. Florence and the Machine. Lykee Li. Mayer Hawthorne.The XX. Kanye West. William Elliott Whitmore. Ke$ha. Glassjaw. Foals. The Shirelles. Most of these artists/bands don't have that much in common, save for being on my current playlist. As you might have guessed, I like quite an array of music genres, but I particularly enjoy indie, rock, hip-hop, folk, and blues.  Any true music fans feel very strongly about their favorite music, so there may be times you'll love my recommendations while other times you hate them. The important thing is to try new things, and keep sharing. I hope this will serve as a forum for you, the readers, to share your own recommendations with me and others.

Finally, I'll touch on the inspiration for this blog. In short, it's my passion project. In long, I work in the research industry, but I have always had a strong affection for music. Upon graduating from college several years ago, I was faced with the decision to follow my experience with a sound career in research or take a chance in the music industry. I opted for the former, but I now feel something missing in my life. Passion. At graduation, I had the honor of listening to a Philosophy professor's 'last lecture', a lecture that I hope to never forget. The lecture was on the Art of Living, and the main point was that the happiest people in this world are the ones that followed their passions. It took a few years of focusing on my 'main project' for me to wake up and hear the music. Hence here we are. Welcome to my Passion side Project, for now anyway. Cheers, and happy reading.