2016 Gameday Wine-o-the-week - Washington State Edition

Each week throughout the football season I'm going to suggest a good beerwine for the ubiquitous pre-game tailgate. Let's be honest, with tailgates it's not always top quality that you're looking for. To steal a phrase from the heinous beer terrorists at Budweiser, you want "drinkability." (or what a real beer connoisseur calls "a session beer") So, be warned, these may not be "the best" beerswines around. But, in the words of Dave Chappelle as Samuel L. Jackson "IT'LL GET YOU DRUNK!"

Top-10 in the country.  National broadcast TV audience.  Ladies and gentlemen, the profile of this program is on display this weekend.  What does that mean for you, the common tailgater?  Well, it means it's time to sit up and act right.  Smooth out those wrinkles in the table cloth!  Cover up the ski shot!  Hide the beer pong balls!  Pretend for all the onlookers that we're not the drunken louts we really are!

For me, it means that I'm stowing the beer for the week.  "See, national television audience, here in Boulder we drink wine and act civilized, because it's how we always operate."  That'll fool them. Better go with something local, though, and tailgate friendly, too.  I have a reputation to uphold, after all.  The only choice, Infinite Monkey Theorem's Red Wine, is this week's gameday wine-o-the-week.

OK, so maybe wine in a can isn't the most highfalutin beverage on the market, but it's certainly in a more high-brow direction than a 30-rack of Rolling Rock.  And who doesn't like stuff in cans, anyway?  It's an environmentally-friendly packaging concept, with an outdoors-oriented lean.  You can bring cans tons of places you can't bring bottles, which is key in a state made for such adventurous activities, and they're certainly more tailgate-friendly than a few full bottles of wine.  In fact it is you who are wrong, canned wine doubters.

The Infinite Monkey Theorem Urban Winery (named after the idea that sitting an infinite number of monkey's at typewriters for an infinite amount of time would eventually produce Shakespeare) sources grapes from the Western Slope, and still produces wine the way a more traditional winery would... all right in the heart of Denver's River North Art District!  The only difference is that they put a portion of their end product in aluminum cans for us to enjoy.  Really, that's all we're talking about here.

It's good wine, too.  Their more conventional offerings have gotten some notice in respected circles, and are worth trying if you're actually looking for the full... wine thing.  I chose the canned red for this review because that's the kind of wine I typically enjoy, but they also have moscato, white, and rosé blends on offer.  The red is lightly carbonated and fruity.  It's fun, enjoyable, and perfect for a tailgate ahead of a weighty football game.  You can find it in most local liquor stores, or even online. Pick some up, you'll thank me later.


Happy Friday!  Go Buffs, beat the Cougars!