In "Henry the Fourth Part Two" Sir John Falstaff says:
"If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations."
And while I personally believe that thin potations are occasionally efficacious, it is towards the thick that we now concern ourselves. Wine. Wine of the Country. Wine of the Town. And beer. Beer and wine. Wine is Biblical, historical, pre-historical. Beer is Egyptian, Babylonian, Phoenician. The distillation of the grain and grape pre-dates recorded memory. Wine is like a perfume or an alchemical creation. It emanates an aromatic, healing mystery. Beer is a hearty refreshment, caloric and inspirational. Whether barley, wheat or rye, beer is a robust blend of water, malted grain and yeast. An active food, as well as a ribald inebriant.
Vegan, you ask? Once again, a quote from Shakespeare. In "The Merry Wives Of Windsor" Sir John Falstaff calls for a flagon of wine. His man asks if he will have it with eggs. To which Falstaff replies,
"Simple of itself. I'll no pullet-sperm in my brewage."
In fact, some wine is filtered with egg whites. Hence the pullet-sperm. When we can, we will tell you if a wine has been filtered in such a fashion, or if an alternative filter, such as clay, has been employed. We also carry many unfiltered wines, which some experts consider to offer "purer expressions of the grape."
While our selection is ever-changing, we try to maintain a good variety of quality, affordable beer and wine from around the world, as well as classic local beer and wine from California. We have bio-dynamic wine from Alsace, yeasty ale from Munich, Belgian fruit Lambic , beautiful bargains from the southern Rhone, and fine beer from Brazil.
"Sweet heart, methinks now you are in an excellent good temperalitie: your Pulsidge beats as extraordinarily, as heart would desire; and your colour (I warrant you) is as Red as any Rose: But you have drunk too much Canaries, and that's a marvellous searching wine; and it perfumes the blood, ere we can say what's this. How doe you now?"
Shakespeare, Henry 4, Pt 2
