My Bride and I go to Ann Arbor, Michigan often for dinner, but we always are in the same part of the city; as neither of us attended school there.  When we were hunting for a restaurant near the State Theatre, the great search engine along with all of the food sites that can list “Subway” as fine dining showed us restaurants about twenty miles away.  Since, we had an early dinner, because of this, we decided to take a leisurely drive, find a parking spot near the cinema house, and then hopefully find a location to have a Spanish Coffee, the evening drink of choice for my Bride.  Her thinking was that we in a college town, there should be a plethora of watering holes.  There was an abundance of coffee shops, but she couldn’t find someplace for a drink; I guess we are of a different generation, because in our day, we went out for dinner and drinks and if possible, some dancing.  She couldn’t find anything, and she was going to settle for an expensive chain coffee that to me, always tastes bitter.  I told her that she walked by an establishment, and she said, what if they don’t have a bar, and I said that we will worry about that if it occurs.  They had a bar, and they could make a Decaf Spanish Coffee, she was in heaven and that is how we discovered Taste Kitchen.

That night they had a Lemon-ginger Crème Brulee that not only sounded delicious, it was and we shared an order; nowadays I really don’t need a full dessert order to make my horizons broader than they are, already.  The Spanish Coffee was so great, that my Bride made the poor bartender get us the name of the coffee and the coffee liqueur that was used in the drink, and both were local brands to Ann Arbor.  Hyperion Coffee Company is located in Ann Arbor and in Ypsilanti, and they do there own roasting and blending.  The other ingredient that the bartender shared with us, was the Barrel Reserve Spaulding’s Coffee Liqueur made from scratch by Ann Arbor Distilling Co., founded in 2014. The liqueur is made from cold-brewed coffee and sugar cane and delivered a taste of roasted coffee, almonds, and creamy vanilla.  I know that in one of our future treks to Ann Arbor, we will be dining at Taste Kitchen, after we buy some fresh roasted coffee and some Spaulding’s.

While my Bride was enjoying her Decaf Spanish Coffee with the Lemon-ginger Crème Brulee I had a glass of The Rare Wine Co. Historic Series Madeira New York Malmsey Special Reserve Madeira Malvasia, Portugal NV, produced by Barbeito; and they have the longest brand name known to man or woman. The Rare Wine Co. was founded in 1989 with an emphasis on iconic and traditional producers.  Madeira Malvasia or Malmsey is a fortified wine made from Malvasia family of grapes under Portugal’s Madeira DOC.  It is the sweetest, richest form of Madeira and had twice the residual sugar found in other Madeira styles.  The grape originally came from the Mediterranean, and is thought to be from Monemvasia, a famed Greek port of the old trade routes and the sweet wine was associated with the port.  The name Malmsey is considered to have been a garbled corruptions of Monemvasia which later was known as Malvasia by the British Mariners in the 18^th Century.  Malmsey is a varietal expression of Malvasia which undergoes a form of heating to duplicate what the barrels suffered through in storage and in shipping, and it is oxidized after fermentation.  It is one of the longest-lived wines produced in the world. A very deep colored wine offering notes of oxidized aromas, with nuts, sweet tobacco, and chocolate.  On the palate, a rich opulent mouthful with tones of sweetness, tempered with oranges and spices adding to the acidity, lemon peel and perhaps the finest Christmas fruit cake, one will ever encounter with a long finish of the glace fruits.