Category: Holidays

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Holidays

Break Out The Bubbly! We Survived the Mayan Apocalypse!

Well, 2012 wasn’t the end of the world, but the end of the holiday season and the beginning of a bold new year are upon us. That’s why we’ve once again selected a few of our over one-hundred sparkling wines and specially priced them for New Year’s Eve. The days of premium prices for premium sparklers are long gone, so you can easily break out the bubbly without breaking the bank. We’ve previously pointed out that “Too Much Champagne” Is An Oxymoron and suggested Champagne For Your Real Friends, Real Pain For Your Sham Friends, and although some of those featured wines might not still be available, the items featured will give you a good idea of the breadth of our selection. We may have others on special; you’ll have to stop by the store and see for yourself! But selecting some nice bubbly isn’t the ONLY thing a good host should be thinking about this New Year’s Eve. We definitely encourage the enjoyment of fine drink around the holidays, but only if it’s done RESPONSIBLY. And if you’re hosting a holiday party this year, the well-being of your guests is YOUR responsibility. Here are some quick reminders for how to have a safe holiday celebration:

Check Keys Like Coats – This is a great way to make sure you see EVERY guest as they leave to see what kind of shape they’re in. Any guest who has a problem with this may have problems with other things, like sensible drinking.

Have One Or More Designated Drivers On Hand – Taxis can be hard to come by on New Years Eve. Make sure you have one or more people in attendance who will commit to staying COMPLETELY sober, and willing to give rides throughout the evening.

Feed Them, Water Them, Don’t Overserve – This is no-brainer stuff. Make sure you have plenty of food and NON alcohol beverages on hand. And SLOW DOWN the serving of drinks as the party progresses, don’t SPEED IT UP! And STOP serving well before the party ends.

Those are some basics, but for a much more expansive list, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission has a handy guide called Responsible Party Host Tips (269KB, PDF)

HAVE FUN, BUT BE SAFE!
IF YOU DRINK, DRINK RESPONSIBLY!

Specials below:

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Holidays

Holiday Specials & Fiscal Cliff Gifts

Although many fear that the world will end this year in the Aporkalypse or Carmageddon, or that we’ll all be driving off a fiscal cliff, we’re pretty sure that all that will happen on December 21st is that the days will start getting longer like they do every year, and a few days later Christmas will be here once again. And a few days after that, those fussbudgets in Washington will work out a deal to keep the economy chugging along. That’s why we’ve gone ahead and selected some wine specials and Christmas beers to help you round out your holiday shopping without breaking the bank. This year’s Christmas beer selection has some of the same beers featured last year and the year before, a few of which are no longer in production. Like Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper, Serafijn Christmas Angel, Ølfabrikken Winter Porter, Nøgne Ø Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale. Wow. That’s a lot of Ø’s. By the way, have you ever wondered what that “Ø” character is called? Believe it or not, it’s called an “Ø” .

If that someone special on your list is more partial to distilled spirits than beer or wine, and if money is no object, or if you want to drive off your OWN fiscal cliff, we’re here to help*. A couple of years ago, we pointed out that right above your head at Main Party is a treasure trove of exotic premium spirits, from the Dewar’s Signature Boxed set for a mere $241.53, to the Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac for just under two thousand. This year’s pricey collector’s items top out with the amazing Macallan Masters of Photography collector’s edition. The 30 Year Rankin Edition is priced at $2158.39. We also have the 20 Year Albert Watson Edition for $1215.24. But you don’t have to spend THAT much for a unique bottle of fine spirits; many of the hundreds of items on the shelves near the ceiling are less than fifty dollars, and make for a fine holiday gift. Holiday shopping got you down? Chin up, and you may find the perfect gift!

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Holidays

The Perfect Wine to Serve With Bacon Turducken?

Enough is enough!

This Thanksgiving, let’s all give thanks for the fact that the whole Bacon Turducken thing seems to have faded from the limelight. If you were lucky enough to miss it, it started with roasting a duck inside a turkey, which – in the internet age of bacon fascination – inevitably led to a version wrapped in bacon, and probably reached an unchallengeable apex with the Turgoodukfowmalsinquaparquabantenuck. That is the likely name of the result of roasting a turkey – stuffed Russian nested doll-style – with a goose, a Barbary duck, a Guinea fowl, a Mallard, a Poussin, a Quail, a  Partridge, a Pigeon squab, a Pheasant, a Chicken, and an Aylesbury duck. Who knows why they stopped there; there are smaller birds, if we’re not mistaken.
As we pointed out last year, selecting wine for Thanksgiving dinner can be enough of a challenge with the riot of flavors on the typical table, a challenge compounded by the unpredictable contributions by our guests, which may include time-honored American traditions like Jell-O with things floating in it, or sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows. Or that other classic “recipe” that is basically a can of green beans and a can of cream of mushroom soup sprinkled with dried onions. Sorry to give your secret ingredients away, Auntie Emma.
So once again this year, we’ve selected some wines that are versatile and reasonably priced to get things rolling. These are just some starters based on versatility and price; with over 3,000 wines in stock, if you already know what you’re looking for, we probably have something to suit your needs! But if you DON’T know what you’re looking for, look for the little turkeys amongst the shelf talkers. Even if the featured wine isn’t

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Holidays

Let Them Eat Cake? Puh! We say LET THEM DRINK WINE!

Let's just not have a scene like THIS, okay? Our doors are open 7am-2am

Did you know that retailers use all sorts of subtle store layout tricks to make you buy more stuff? We’ll go into detail about that a little later, but amongst the things they do is put all the pretty, nice smelling stuff at the entrance, to help get rid of shoppers’ “sidewalk momentum”. This is why the produce and floral departments are at the front of most supermarkets. We don’t use tricks like this at Main Party; we don’t have enough room! As a result, we often run into people at the very back of the store, asking why we don’t have any French wine. This is because they walked right past it, first thing! Which is quite impressive, since there are about 200 affordably priced French wines within ten feet of the front door! On the bright side, if you’ve made it to the BACK of the store, you’re that much closer to the premium cellar, where you’ll find some really REMARKABLE French wines. Everything from some familiar and still-affordable items like the 2005 Louis Jadot Pommard Clos De La Commarine (about $55) to the somewhat more rarefied 1997 Grand Vin de Chateau Latour Pauillac or Chateau Haut-Brion Premier Grand Cru Classe De Graves (about $399 & $350 respectively), or even a 6 liter 2008 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe “La Crau” Châteauneuf-du-Pape (you’ll have to ask). So this Bastille Day, we’ve decided to help you map an attack plan to “storm our fortress” as it were. This Bastille Day, you can have your cake, and eat it too. After dinner with a nice French wine. Maps below.

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Holidays

This Father’s Day, Celebrate the Sweet Smell of Dad

A scotch and a cigarLet’s face it. Dads tend to smell funny. Whether it’s that “Old Spice” smell after they shave, that gasoline and grass smell after mowing the lawn, or that smoky aroma after barbecuing or having a scotch and a cigar, they just tend to smell like, well, DAD. So this Father’s Day, why not help Dad smell like Dad with a fancy cigar and a nice scotch? You KNOW he never used that nose hair trimmer you gave him, and he already has more shop tools than an Indy 500 pit crew. And buying golf clubs is more like finding the perfect woman, so you know you can’t help him there, because he already has your mom! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, with a selection of over 200 single malt scotches, and a healthy selection of fine cigars to ponder. Below are some excellent and reasonably priced cigars, and some of our higher end scotches. Mom may not appreciate you for helping Dad smell funny, but she won’t mind, since you gave her such an awesome Mother’s Day experience, RIGHT? Oh. You didn’t? If you let your mom down this year (shame!) you better cover yourself there too. When you’re checking out with that fine scotch and cigar combo, and that fancy craft beer you’ll inevitably pick up for yourself, we have Moneygram services too. Mom will never complain about some extra cash in the bank!

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