Co Co County Wine Company – Great Wine and Good Times!

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Beverage, Co Co County Wine Company, Food, Wine

 
Here in Northern California, we are fortunate enough to have abundant access to a wide variety of excellent wines. This past Saturday we had the good fortune to join a friend’s birthday celebration at the Co Co County Wine Company. I can’t believe we didn’t know this place existed. We had such a great time!

This place is a quaint little wine bar that serves local wines. Many, if not all of the wines, are from Contra Costa County. We enjoyed a bold, hearty red blend, Bloomfield’s Devil’s Daughter.

You can buy wines by the glass or bottle. You can also buy a flight of 3 wines for the price of a glass of wine, so you can try a variety wines to better decide what you might want more of.

They also serve beer and they have a couple light bites available for purchase. They have a meat and cheese platter and a garlic popcorn that you can munch on. Don’t expect dinner here though.

On some weekend nights, they have live bands. The band playing the night we were there was excellent. We really enjoyed their covers of classic rock songs. There was dancing and a good time being had by all!

If you’re in the East Bay Area, I highly suggest you try this place out. The are located at 633 First Street in Brentwood, California.

 

 

  

SodaStream – Getting Creative Making Carbonated Beverages

Tags

Beverage, Carbonated, Carbonation, Cooking, Drink, Food, Soda, SodaStream

  My wonderful sister and brother-in-law bought us a SodaStream for Christmas. I had seen these around, but never thought of buying one.We just aren’t big soda drinkers at our house. Who knew we would use this gadget so much?!? We have really been enjoying it!

I haven’t even had a chance to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond, where they carry all the soda flavorings for the machine. I did, however, find some great stuff at my local grocery store. I had originally thought I could just mix some of my Crystal Light into the carbonated water you make with the SodaStream. I was checking out the section of the grocery store where they have the Crystal Light and I found these liquid “water enhancers” that I had never used before. I bought raspberry lemonade, Arnold Palmer, Grape Crush, and Orange Crush flavors. The are all sugar free, so you’re not drinking empty calories. Let me tell you,  those Crush flavors mixed with the carbonated water from the SodaStream taste just like a regular soda. Yummm!

I haven’t tried it yet and I guess you’re only supposed to use water with the machine, but there are numerous resources online discussing the use of other beverages with the SodaStream. I recently watched an Australian Video where they carbonated a light red wine. I guess sparkling wines are really popular in Australia. I might have to try this just for the heck of it.

I have a couple of recipes that I have blogged that use club soda. Now I’m thinking I can just substitute my homemade carbonated water. I like to make a wonderful Non-Alcoholic Sangria when we have large gatherings. Everyone loves this stuff! During the summer, I also like to make White Wine Spritzers.

And no, I’m not sponsored by SodaStream in any way, so this is just my own little opinion with no bias!