This past week the hubby and I had the awesome opportunity to go check out Whole Foods’ Top Ten Wines and Ten & Friends Beer. Last Thursday, our anniversary, we joined in for the wine twitter party with four other social media mavens at the Pearl Whole Foods location for a complimentary wine and cheese tasting. Then, on Saturday, we visited the Bridgeport Whole Foods location to do a complimentary beer and BBQ tasting. Both were awesome. But, the thing I took home from both events was a list of some really awesome wines and beers for affordable prices. I had to share with anyone out there that need a good recommendation!

wine&cheese

Top Ten Wines

I’ll let you go check out the Whole Foods’ website for their list of Top Ten Wines (check out the awesome cheese pairing list too!) but, let me just say…. the Vinum Cellars Chardonnay & the Pizzolato Moscato Dolce were AMAZING. And, all of the wines were super affordable… under $15 at the location near me.

The beer list wasn’t on the website. I think it is because it is a fairly new program AND the beers we got to taste were all local. We had six Oregon beers and six Washington beers. I was happy to say that I had tasted samples from or have heard most all of the breweries. Here is a quick overview of the list, but if you go to a Whole Foods then I would highly recommend chatting with the person in charge of buying the beer (usually hanging out around the beer aisles) and asking their recommendation.

beer

Ten & Friends: Northwest Refreshment—

  • Rogue Ales— OREgasmic Ale (100% Oregon!)
  • Pelican Pub & Brewery— Macpelican’s Scotish Ale
  • Laurelwood Brewing Company— Portlandia Pils
  • Hubworks Urban Brewery—Hopworks Organic IPA
  • Gigantic Brewing Company— Dark Meddle
  • 10 Barrel Brewing Company— Wheat IPA
  • Elysian Brewing Company— Loser Pale Ale
  • Diamond Knot Craft Brewing— Industrial IPA
  • The Pike Brewing Company— 5X Stout
  • Hale’s Ales— El Jefe Hefewizen
  • Blue Dog Mead—Green Collar Mead (GF)
  • FinnRiver Cidery— Farmhouse Cider (GF)

** Just a side story here… if you ever get a chance to go to Mukilteo, Washington and visit the Diamond Knot Brewery and Ale House… DO IT. You order awesome food and beer. Then, they bring you your food on a hot stone, cooking as it comes to the table. You get to pour your beer on the meat and watch (and smell) as the flavors meld together to make a plate of AWESOME.***

More about Whole Foods:

I really, really like Whole Foods for a ton of reasons ( and, not just because I got to go to a sweet Twitter party) but, one of the things I like most is how they actively try to connect with customers, share their passion for food/drinks, and try to educate shoppers. Each Whole Foods has a schedule of events that customers can participate in! If you live in Portland check out the event calendars for the store closest to you:

  • Pearl Location Schedule of Events — includes a free cupcake tasting on June 22!
  • Bridgeport Location Schedule of Events— Check out the Beer & Cheese with Summer Salads Demonstration on June 20
  • Laurelhurst Location Schedule of Events— Some awesome sales going on
  • Hollywood Location Schedule of Events— “Healthy Eating with Bulk Foods” sounds like a fabulous learning opportunity
  • Fremont Location Schedule of Events— They are having a “Building Blocks of Breastfeeding” with the Nursing Mother’s Council
  • Tanasbourne Location Schedule of Events— The Hillsboro Farmer’s Market is hosted here every Wednesday!

Don’t live in the Portland area? No worries… Whole Foods has locations ALL over. Check out this list of Whole Foods locations to see if there is a store near you.

We don’t currently shop for all of our grocery needs at Whole Foods at the moment. We just aren’t financially fit enough to be able to afford the quality of products that Whole Foods sells. But, I do believe in their practices and the programs that they offer our community. I do shop at Whole Foods for select items. And, I hope to be able to shop there more often in the future. The wine and beer is certainly inexpensive (and delicious) enough for us to put in our shopping cart though!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary food and drink tasting at Whole Foods. I did not promise a blog post in return. No additional compensation was made. All opinions are my own.

Author

Jenni is a blogger and marketing professional in Portland, Oregon. A Well Crafted Party is a blog about all the little things to celebrate in life. Follow Jenni or A Well Crafted Party with BlogLovin, RSS feed, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

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