Tasting Notes: Central Market Westgate's New Wine Bar, A Spec's Update, & Independence's Old-School Jasperilla

- If you are one of the many in the South Austin area who feel that downtown is hogging all of the good wine bars, take heart. Central Market's Westgate location has actually opened a wine and cheese bar in the middle of their store. The bar, dubbed A22, will feature a rotating mix of 16 wines by the glass, along with approximately 25 cheeses. Both wine and cheese flights will be available, and yes, you can mix-and-match. Initial pricing posted on-site looked quite reasonable ($4-9 per glass of wine, and $5-$9 for wine flights), so stop by next time you're doing some shopping. The best part of the arrangement is that you can purchase all wines and cheeses in the store, so if you find something great, it can go straight in your cart. Rachel from Central Market also explained to us that after the initial kinks are worked out, they hope to do special events at A22 featuring beer and sake. But, you know, not both at the same time. Grand opening celebrations for A22 kick off tomorrow with Alamosa Wine Cellars, Oriel Wine, Flat Creek Estate and Texas Hills Vineyards winemakers all making in-store appearances this week.

- While on the subject of South Austin and booze, it is worth mentioning that the enormous SPEC's at Brodie Lane and 290 is nearly ready for action. Austinist's call to the Airport Boulevard location of SPEC's revealed that the company is shooting for a 'soft' opening around May 15th-20th. The calling card of the enormous store (in the former Academy Sports location) will be that it stocks and sells every variety of domestic and international beer legally available in Texas. That sounds insanely complicated, and massively exciting. SPEC's, South Austin drinkers welcome you.

- Fans of Austin's Independence Brewing Co. may wish to hit Grapevine or Central Market soon for a 22 once bomber of Jasperilla Old Ale. The new seasonal flavor is a 9.3% alco-bomb with some maltiness, moderate hops, and citrus. This is the first seasonal beer produced by Independence, and is only available for a short time. The brewery also says it tastes a little biscuity, which may explain why they named it after a dog. Jasperilla is available now for around $6/bottle.

SPEC's image via Aaron Haley, who also loves booze.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Tom Thornton in Food on May 2, 2007 3:00 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Grape Ape

Also, Specs wasn't any cheaper than where I normally buy beer and in some cases they were charging more. I was excited about this when we were first told about it, but after going to the current one, I'm not sure its worth making a second trip from Whole Foods or Central Market.

chris

I was talking to one of the wine/beer guys at the Westgate Central Market and he said they also stocked every beer you can legally purchase in TX. I was looking for a belgian white beer called Wittekerke, and he assured me that if they didn't have it, I wouldn't be able to find it in TX.

Grape Ape

Maybe the south location will have a better selection, but I found the existing Specs to have a selection of beer only equal to everyone else.

Tom

It's not that beers are "illegal" so much as that they're required to have a TABC-licensed importer or distributor. So that's the catch. Thus, some beers like Harpoon and Brooklyn Lager either choose not to distribute in these markets or haven't found the right people to do so.

ss

Does anybody know what beers are illegal in Texas? Beers that would not be included in the Spec's all-emcompassing stock of every legal beer in Texas?