Ay Caramba... Oy Victrola

We have the utmost respect for Victrola Roasters in Seattle.  They've been on our Heroes & Legends list since day one.

But what are they thinking mixing sips of Corona with sips of coffee during a recent tasting of "Best of Panama" entrants?

Yuck.

Drinking a good beer, tequila or bourbon followed by coffee we can understand.  But Corona?  If Victrola didn't already have a well-established reputation as being a solid roaster/blender, we would really have to wonder about their taste preferences.

With all the great microbreweries in the Pacific NW, you'd think Victrola could do better than Corona.  We wonder if that's what Tony drank?

Because of their stellar repuation, we will of course give Victrola the benefit of the doubt.  Certainly they know more about tasting coffee than we do.  Perhaps they were drinking Corona because it's only slightly more compelling a "beer" as Coors Light.  The lack of flavor and character may be precisely what's needed so as not to interfere with cupping (although good or bad tequila or bourbon would certainly leave a lingering taste).

Regular readers know the Corona refrain by now... having lived in Mexico for a year we can confidently state that there's a reason you put a lime in it.  (We pretty much stuck with Negra Modelo and Dos Equis lager while living there.)  Granted, Corona is currently the best selling brand in Mexico, but remember that Bud Light is tops in the US (2. Bud, 3. Miller Light, 4. Coors Light) so that only suggests selling to the lowest common denominator, it says nothing of quality.

We do, however, applaud the Wilco selection.  And we're jealous that they get to taste all those great Panamanian coffees.   But that beer... we'd take Iron City over Corona any day (at least on a hot day... but never ICLight - now that's crap).

Yes, we're sorta beer snobs.  And we don't have a liquor license, so no use getting into what we would serve if we could. 

Btw, this all started because both Victrola and us were on the short list of top restaurant blogs as compiled by Profitable Hospitality.  Victrola got an "A" for its blog.  We only got a "B+".  Color us mildly jealous.

(Plus they never responded to us when we offered a Super Bowl bet way back in January).  So there!

Comments

[Steve]

There is a microbrew just a half of block north of Victrola calld Hop, I think. tonx, Kyle G. and I had lunch with some beers there. Both of them know the owner pretty well...

[Rich]

Steve,
Nice of you to stop by... knew there had to be something good nearby for you guys to drink.
There's a place for Corona, but I don't think it's at a coffee tasting. Heck, I just had my first Iron City in about 8 years last week because it was 92 outside and my preference for hoppy beers doesn't cut it in the heat. Know what... that IC tasted pretty good.

[Steve]

I don’t discriminate beers, well not most of them. Please, just don’t offer me any Old Milwaukee or Milwaukee’s best. : )

[jen]

So..lets get some things straight here my friends! First off..we do not drink and cup!! That would be very, very bad indeed. We do however like to kick a few back while we sample roast! On most days you might find us drinking some Rodenbach Grand Cru (snuck in to the country under the radar direct from Amsterdam) or some Blantons fine bourbon when we hang out but every now and then some coronas just hit the spot. Our roasting buddy Jodi is from Idaho. She tells us you can take the girl out of Idaho but you can't take Idaho out of the girl. Cornoa is her Sunday afternoon, hang out, drink to compliment that side of beef that has been cooking over the spit all day. We had no side of beef on the spit this roasting day but the Coronas sure did hit the spot.

[Rich]

Jen,
Thanks for the clarification - we must've speed read your original post and zipped right by the nuances.
We too have a soft spot for our local Iron City given the right circumstances (total solar eclipse + Pirates in 1st place + Republican mayor...) so we can sorta understand the Corona as guilty pleasure.
But we're still ticked nobody up there in Seattle would take our bet for the Super Bowl ;-)