Pre-Turkey Grab Bag

To paraphrase the line from "Bad Boys 2," stuffing about to get real. With only a couple of days left to make your Thanksgiving wine, beer and spirits selections, we're here to help. And we'll include our usual weekly recap  as well.

Beginning this Sunday, we have extended store hours, as follows:
Sunday, 11/22, 9am-9pm
Monday, 11/23, 8am-10pm
Tuesday, 11/24, 8am-10pm
Wednesday, 11/25, 8am-10pm
Thanksgiving, 9am-4pm

Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to our recommendations for Thanksgiving wine, beer and spirits.

The night before Thanksgiving registers more pizza sales than nearly any other night of the year. We asked our staff, who came up with some stellar pizza pairing ideas for you. Click here for their recommendations.

New Products

Bodegas Jiminez-Landi Bajondillo. Very clean wine with a sparkling ruby color. It has an intense and complex nose of red berries, wild herbs, licorice and violets. The palate is an explosion of strawberry; intense and balanced with vibrant acidity that makes you drink with pleasure and ease.  Only $10.96 in the Bottle Club®.

This time of year is important for anyone who enjoys Fine Wine. There are quite a few newly-released vintages arriving in our stores, along with some rarities, like the next wine.

Araujo Cabernet Sauvignon Altagracia 2012. Extremely limited availability. This is a perfect Fine Wine to give, to enjoy, or to cellar. WA:91-93, JS:93.

Araujo’s second wine, the 2012 Proprietary Red Altagracia exhibits beautiful blueberry, black raspberry and cassis fruit which reflects the purity that frequently comes from this vineyard.

The tannins are soft, and the wine is lighter than its bigger sibling, but it possesses medium body, velvety tannin, and a gorgeous mouthfeel. Already approachable, this seductive, plush 2012 should age effortlessly for 10-15 years.

Araujo has turned out some fabulous wines in 2012 and 2013, all incredibly young and primary, but bursting with potential. $124.99 in the Bottle Club®.

We've also just received a limited amount of Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Pedregal 2012 (WA:97) and Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Annum Diamond Mountain 2012 (WA:96).

Winter Seasonal Beers. These have started to arrive, such as Troegs Blizzard of Hops Winter IPA. Troegs created this Winter IPA to toast hop growers around the world for another successful harvest. This storm of hoppy citrus and pine notes is a bright reminder the end of the Hop Cycle is only the beginning. 6.4% ABV, 80 IBU's. Available in 6-pack bottles and 12-pack cans.

Ciroc Apple. We discussed this a few weeks ago, and it should arrive in our stores as early as today.

Holiday Gift Sets. The best selection of the season is currently in stock.

In Store Events

Both stores will have their regular wine tastings this weekend. For Lawrenceville, the hours are 4-6pm today, and 2-4pm on Saturday. Click here for the tasting menu. In Woodbridge, the hours are 4-6pm today, and 1-3pm tomorrow. Click here for the tasting menu.

Thanksgiving Recommendations

Please click on the category name for our wine, beer and spirits recommendations for Thanksgiving.

Craft Beer
Red wine
White wine
Whisky

Ripped from the Headlines

Coupon Savings. We've recently mailed out a special sales flyer. In case you didn't receive one, you can view it here for Lawrenceville, and here for Woodbridge. The flyer includes a couple of coupons, along with some exceptionally low sale prices.

Your blogger happens to live in one of the targeted zones, so we received our mailer last Friday. On Monday, we received a mailer from one of our competitors, and that gave us the opportunity to sit down and compare prices and terms from the comfort of our mancave.

As you might expect, even with a special sale, our prices were lower on most items. It was, however, the terms and conditions that set us apart. For Joe Canal's, each store sent their own mailer. For our competitor, a brand name with multiple locations, one mailer covered all the stores. You had to read the fine print for these important conditions:

1. "Products and their prices may not be available at member stores"

2. "All prices cash and carry"

Here at Joe Canal's, we value and appreciate your business. Our low prices don't change based on how you pay. And on those rare occasions when something is available at one store, but not the other, that information is clearly presented.

This is a good opportunity to remind you that we also offer new coupon savings every week. We publish coupons on our website every Tuesday. We also offer a coupon every Thursday via Twitter, so you should follow us there.

Ballast Point Brewing. Sold to Constellation Brands for about $1 Billion. Click here for the story.

Wine Spectator Top 100 for 2015. Click here for their list. Consult our store staff to see which wines we still have in stock.

Have a great weekend!