Black Velvet
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I was watching an old movie on TV called, 'The French Line', I don't know why, well probably because Jane Russell was in it and TIVO knows that I dig Jane Russell. But anyway, at one point during the movie this French Guy makes a drink that he calls a Black Velvet and it perked my interest because it is constructed of half Guinness (stout) and half champagne (sparkling wine). Somehow it was cool to see such an old American movie reference a beer that was not an American Macro Lager and I knew I had to try this Black Velvet myself. Strangely enough, I actually had Guinness in my beer fridge, and champagne in my other fridge so, game on. I first went to Google to see if this was even a real drink or just made up for the movie, and sure enough, Black Velvet is a real cocktail, in fact it dates back to 1861, cool. But one thing I noticed is that the directions from the site Google led me to (Wikipedia) were distinctively different than the very specific directions given in the movie. In the Movie, they say to mix the Guinness and the champagne in a pitcher (50-50), then pour it into champagne glasses. On Wikipedia, they say to fill the champagne glass halfway with Guinness, then float the champagne on top (which you can achieve {allegedly} by pouring the champagne onto the back of a spoon so that the liquid runs down the sides of the glass)
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So, I figured I had to try it both ways to see how I liked this beer cocktail. And just for the record, going into it, I figured it would be wretched. It surprised me though because as it turned out, I liked Black Velvet. It should be noted that I don't think my 'floating of the champagne' on top worked that well, so both of my Black Velvets were fairly well mixed, although the Wikipedia one was a little more 'champagney' at first. I think that the reason I liked the Black Velvet beer cocktail was that somehow this drink brings out the good-side of both beverages while suppressing the bad. For instance, the Black Velvet didn't taste the least bit bitter, and it had a pretty full mouth-feel. Usually I find Guinness, at least Guinness from a bottle, to be thin and filled with bitterness, sometimes a burnt bitterness, but neither was present in Black Velvet. And Champagne, I usually find it to be either too dry or too sweet or too sour or all three, yet in Black Velvet, the dryness seems to completely disappear while the other profiles are present yet in very reasonable concentrations. So I ended up liking, both the Black Velvets I had created, and although I doubt that it will ever become a staple at my house, the occasional Black Velvet may be in my future for sure. I should also state that although I liked it, it is one of those drinks that I wouldn't session, for me it's one and done.
If I were rating it, like I rate beers in my Beer Index, I'd probably give it an 8 or 9.
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