By Flickr user alice_mercer

I share in the Sac Rag’s love of Big Fun, but heat, crowds and cost usually conspire to make me skip out on the event, if we’re being honest. For me, the real fun is the smaller but still very fun Sacramento County Fair, which comes around every Memorial Day. Squeezing all the fun of shows, exhibits, food, and midway action into just the area taken up by fried foods during the State Fair, you really get your money’s worth…especially since kids under 12 are free!

One of the main showcases at the County Fair is always the work of the schoolkids and young livestock farmers from FFA (Future Farmers) and 4-H. The livestock halls full of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs is endless awwws for all ages.

Music-wise, this year’s event has Country music from McKenna Faith and Road 88, “Shasta County Idol” Stacy Stone, indie rockers Walking Spanish and The Generals, as well as singer songwriter Clay Hawkins, Norcal bluegrass weirdos Hot Tar Roofers and of course local sensations Dog Party.

For eats, expect many of your State Fair favorites, minus some of the “stunt fried foods.” There are also “food trucks” which is sure to please everyone who likes their food served out of trucks. For everyone else, there is a corn dog eating contest on Saturday. Mark your calendars for Friday night, when every food vendor will be selling an item for $1.00.

For headline entertainment in the evenings, there is a Demolition Derby Friday and bull riding Saturday. Throughout the weekend Circus Imagination will have an “impromptu circus” act, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Sacramento County Fair
May 24-28
Cal Expo Fairgrounds
Adults $5 – Kids under 12 free

I don’t have a knee-jerk overreaction to easing restrictions on “demon rum” or something, but I’m not sure this is a good idea. I haven’t been to CIP as much in recent years but it seems like the beer garden in Cesar Chavez gets pretty rowdy, am I wrong? I’m not talking about beer fans but about Sacto d-bags. Isn’t that going to hurt the family atmosphere? I personally wouldn’t take my kids somewhere that the general public was imbibing in beer garden quantities.

More importantly though, it seems like this will make it much more difficult to keep minors from getting in on the beer action. Sure, if you’re caught with liquor and no wristband you’re toast, but is there going to be enough security to scan the whole crowd. Seems like Cesar Chavez is the place to be for some underage drinking this summer!

Your choice is to see dubstep guru Bassnectar at the Memorial Auditorium tonight, or see three nights of shows from a few dozen artists for less money.

No brainer. Support your local music scene, people, and see a variety of great artists lovingly curated by cool peoples.

The cover of this month’s edition features “The Real Housewives of Sacramento” (2009 called, it wants its pop cultural reference back). The article itself is light on substance (the moms struggle with trying to do too much! Some random person that you don’t know turns out to be a gun lover!) but the cover photo is pretty barftastic:

“What makes these moms really beautiful is their dedication to their family and the love they have for their children.” Doesn’t hurt to have your shame center surgically removed, either.

Remember, you have a choice here.

We also have a responsibility to all of our customers to provide reliable electricity at the lowest cost possible. When customers do not have a smart meter, there are additional costs and conditions for the alternative meter and equipment, as well as for ongoing maintenance and meter reading. If you choose to opt out of having a smart meter, the following will apply:

• You will be charged a one-time fee of $127.00.
• You will have an additional monthly fee of $39.40 added to your SMUD bill.
• You must be current with your bill, and allow monthly access to your meter.
• We’ll install an alternative meter at your home in 2013.

Unlike a smart meter, the alternative meter will not be able to provide daily updates with your hourly, daily, or weekly electricity use. Also, it will not identify power outages. And, you may not be able to participate in future energy-saving programs such as those using a home area network.

They will also automatically add these charges to her bill if she DOES NOT call SMUD to make an appointment for installation or indicate that she would like to opt out of having one.

Much has been made about the safety of these smart meters especially with regard to radiation exposure so it is great to see SMUD showing such compassion and understanding with such a tough personal decision.

If you love comedy, there are some great additions to The Spot. First, they finally have a beer license! No more sneaking in flasks of booze (no, seriously, they can get in big trouble for that shit). Instead, local beer and cider will be available for your enjoyment. Second, The Spot is planning on expanding and is seeking sponsorships. This is your business’ssssss’ opportunity to reach out to the dozen or so hundreds of Sacramentans who grace their doors each week while supporting local arts. Finally, there are discount offers available, including two-for-one tickets.

See you tonight for their free Top Ten List Podcast? I’ll be the guy with the beer.

Andrew in his natural habitat

Why? Because Sacramento was snubbed in the contest. Andrew is lumped in with the San Francisco cocktail shakers because Hangar One decided that SACRAMENTO WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH to warrant its own category.

We all know that our local cocktail scene kicks major ass. Let’s get behind Andrew for one final push of votes and show them that we deserve to be considered alongside those inferior cities.

Click through to see his (soon to be) winning recipe, the West Bengal Cocktail.

West Bengal Cocktail

2 oz Hangar One Mandarin Blossom
1 oz Darjeeling infused yellow chartreuse (5 days)
1/4 oz simple syrup
orange zest pinched

Add ingredients to ice, stir, double strain, and add orange zest

Trust me, it's not an airport terminal.

But it is a winery. And a pretty damned good one. Andis Wines is overly image conscious, sure (one can tell that just by the logoed Tommy Bahama shirts every member of the staff is forced to wear), but beyond the artifice is some fine winemaking and skilled farming. Syrah and Barbera offerings are just lovely, and the Sav Blanc is as good as anyone else’s in the region. The wine pourers are comely and the grounds, once one gets over the shock of seeing a building that looks as if it were designed by someone wearing comically small spectacles and sporting a few umlauts in his name, are gorgeous, with rolling vines lapping up at the oversized tasting room windows, and a broad picnic lawn spread out under a clutch of snapping flags.

Andis also employs one of favorite new trends, wine kegging. Cheaper, quirkier, and more environmentally friendly, kegged wine on tap makes all the sense in the world. Grab a bottle, drink it within six weeks, bring the bottle back and fill it up again. It’s a system that breweries the world ’round have been using for centuries. I’m glad Andis is on board.

So, if you’re tired of the Italian villa style, or the country French style, or the back of someone’s warehouse style, then take a trip to Andis Wines and enjoy a flashback of Stockholm syndrome and some damn good vino.

Reading that this morning, the question you might have is does the Mayor actually do anything except work on this arena deal? When is the last time you remember hearing the Mayor’s name in connection to anything except this problem. I’m only being somewhat facetious as this is big news in these parts and maybe it is getting squeezed out. But somehow I doubt that KJ is out there working on anything else.

As for the actual deal getting new legs, I’m not sure whether this puts the City on better or worse negotiating ground. As the deal went away when the Kings balked at having to put too much into it (at least in their eyes), and the City called their bluff on that, it would seem that any future discussions would have to favor the Kings. On the other hand, public goodwill is on the side of the City, so that hurts the Kings’ position.

To celebrate Four Twenty, braaaaaah, Lagunitas is bringing back their super dank Waldos’ Special Ale, named in honor of their Marin County friends who coined the term. Kegs will be tapped at The Shack, Flaming Grill and Golden Bear (edit: also Pangaea and Dad’s Kitchen!). Not to be outdone, Track 7 will be tapping their Riot Act Rye Ale. Yes, all at 4:20pm. Don’t forget to also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the debut album from the best and most unbelievably influential band to ever come out of the Central Valley, Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted.

Tomorrow is one of my favorite local beer events, Rubicon’s Women in Brewing, benefiting WEAVE. Every year, professional brewers and some special guest stars make outstanding beer that you won’t get anywhere else. I am also a sucker for the sexy t-shirt designed around a new theme every year. Silent auction, too!

Sheriff’s deputies said Thursday that they are looking for dogs involved in five biting incidents in Yolo County.
Deputies said three dog bites took place in Davis, one in Woodland and one in West Sacramento.

Inappropriate because people got hurt, but appropriate because the headline makes the incidents seem connected. I am picturing one of those bulletin boards they use to do the org chart of the crime ring, but with Holly the Collie on top with Fritz and Buddy as her lieutenants…

Make us laugh: Please to submit your best “Wire” quote transformed so that it is about a conspiracy of biting dogs.

Come for the wine, stay for the wine

Every year around this time, the winemakers of El Dorado County host a “Passport Weekend” where they put on the dog and invite folks to come up the hill and taste wines, eat food, and, hopefully, buy lots of stuff. I have to admit, they got me to do all of it.

First, a definition of what EDC wine is. It’s wine from a few distinct areas: 1. Apple Hill and environs, 2. Fairplay, and 3. whatever that part in-between is called. Let’s call it Pleasant Valley and move on. It’s about an hour plus a few country roads from Sac, but it feels a lot further. Why? I have no idea, but every time I go to one of these events in EDC I feel like it’s a pain in the ass. I’ll admit that I’m an Amador guy. I’m up in Amador almost every other month. I love it up there and I love almost all the wineries.

I don't want to drink anything that looks like a bad holy land souvenir

El Dorado, I feel, is a bit more hit and miss. Some of the wineries have good wine, some have good views, others have nice dogs, and all of them have horrid labels (honestly, almost every El Dorado wine I can think of has a label more fit to be on a crate of Armenian mid-range auto parts than a wine). Wait, I take that back. Stickie and I stumbled upon a new enterprise in the Apple Hill area that has both good labels and good wine (and amazing cider). It’s called Bumgardner, and it’s right off Carson road. Stop there next time you’re at Apple Hill.

But this little post is going to be about the greater Fairplay region, because that’s where I went last weekend with a buddy of mine for Passport Weekend. My lovely companion was busy so I opted to bring along a pal, who I will call Scatman Crothers in order to mask his real identity save his reputation from irretrievable harm.

So, Scatman and I hit the trail early Saturday morning, both a little hungover from Friday night revelry, and neither looking forward to unceasing travels on winding foothill roads. Our tickets were waiting for us at Cantiga Wineworks, a brand with which I was wholly unfamiliar. It’s tucked away in a little town called Somerset off Grizzly Flat Rd. By the time we found it, I wasn’t in the most charitable of moods and my stomach was in dire need of some crackers. So, perhaps, I didn’t give the wine at Cantiga a fair shake. I found most of their wines fairly undrinkable and lacking in most qualities I look for in a wine, save wetness. Each pourer kept telling us that the winemaker prefers “old world” style wines which might seem a little different than what we were used to. I’m assuming that what they meant by “old world” was “drinkable only with food spiced to within an inch of life then covered with olives then smothered with lemon then set on fire and consumed so that you really don’t notice the wine much.” Like I said, charity wasn’t in my palate right away. Scatman didn’t seem to mind the wines, but he especially loved the calamari which he devoured enough of to populate an entire squiddy orphanage.

Next, we drove a few hundred yards to Busby Cellars, the only other winery within shouting distance of Cantiga. ‘Twas night and day, my friend, night and day. Relaxed, casual, and fun it was, the kind of place where merriment trumped hygiene, where dogs roamed free and wild yeast was kept as a pet. The wines were all pretty drinkable, variable from fruity to dry depending on the style and very well priced (no wine being more than $20 a bottle). I picked up a bottle of Block 7 Zinfandel for my mother who likes her wine “jammy.” She’ll like the Block 7 as it was just this side of grape jelly. It was at this point that I quickly rethought my drinking strategy. As the driver of our twosome, I would be a flaming comet of danger if I continued to try every wine offered me, so I let Scatman do the heavy lifting and only minimally tasted wines after he first gave his scat of approval. Ok kids? Be responsible. Wine tasting is still drinking, and you shouldn’t drink and drive.

Pretty, right?

Our next stop was a bit of a hike, but one well worth the effort. Shadow Ranch was new to me, and apparently new to most as it’s only been open a few years. The ‘Ranch immediately struck me as a place to remember. The wines hit me right in the glory hole (that’s right I’m taking the phrase “glory hole” back, deal with it!), the grounds were charming yet not too fussy, and the branding impeccable. Their ’09 Tempranillo was lovely and their ’08 Syrah just short of amazing.

Just down the path from Shadow Ranch lay Single Leaf Vineyards, a place I was immediately predisposed to hate. Why? Because I had a headache that’s why. Because Scatman was starting to laugh about things only in his head in a day drunk kinda way, then start mumbling about something or other that I tried to ignore then it turned out he was actually asking me a question then he got all bent out of shape that I was ignoring him. That’s why. Turns out I couldn’t help but like the place. Single Leaf is a party unto itself. First, everyone there was drinking beer, which I always take as a good sign as it speaks to a lack of pretension. Also some kind soul had been manning a smoker all night and had turned out some exemplary turkey and duck from which I sampled liberally. The revelation at Single Leaf was their selection of inexpensive table wines. Cheap, tasty, and wet they were, all the qualities I look for in a table wine (and a glory hole you’re probably thinking, well get your mind out of the gutter sleazeball!).  Huzzah for cheap wine and happy people.

A shot of Fitzpatrick's and the view below. Rather exceptional.

Our penultimate stop was at Fitzpatrick Winery. You know Fitzpatick, the guy with the beard that sells his wine and olive oil at the Sunday farmer’s market. Anyway, Fitz is known for two things up in El Dorado, having the best view in the whole county, and having some of the worst wine. I fully agree with the first and only half heartedly with the second. Yes, their wine is subpar, but their two pinks, a dry rose and a sweeter rose, are both lovely and absolutely perfect for a warm summer’s day, which is exactly what you want to spend at Fitzpatick. Honestly, the view is breathtaking, literally breathtaking. Even the most callous human could sit on Fitz’s expansive deck and soak in the valley for the better part of an afternoon without getting the slightest bit bored.

Last stop: Latcham Vineyards. Let’s keep this short. Scatman was drinking everything in sight by this point and getting into deep conversations with winemakers about the role of the media in a complete branding strategy (as a companion, his pass said media on it as well and he took full advantage of the attention). Latcham was slinging some serious Costco appetizers, and everyone in sight was about four-and-a-half sheets to the wind by this point. Memorable wine at Latcham, the Barbera which might be the best in EDC. It’s almost as good as the best offerings in Amador, but that’s another post.

So, if this sounds like a fun afternoon to you, you can still attend Passport Weekend on Saturday and Sunday (April 21 & 22). Tix are $70 for the weekend and can be bought here.

This Thursday, April 19 from 5 to 8p.m. Pyramid Alehouse will provide unlimited tastings of its new beer releases, light snacks, and live music for just $25. Proceeds will benefit UCP of Sacramento and Northern California’s Autism Center for Excellence, and send 15 children with autism to summer camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola.

Seriously! Let me repeat myself. You drink beer. Kids go to summer camp.

“Summer camp is a rite of passage, and we want to make sure all kids have the chance to enjoy this experience, regardless of having a developmental disability,” says Doug Bergman, president and CEO, UCP of Sacramento and Northern California.

Well, Doug, you had me at “beer.”

Buy a ticket. Help these kids out! (Must purchase tickets in advance.)