4 Ocean State Job Lot wines under $4 are a steal

OCEAN STATE JOB go so far as to say that I was very impressed with two of them in particular. You can read more about each wine below.

Lot definitely lives up to its name. This retail store chain was founded in Rhode Island, the Ocean State. And if there was ever a store that should be called a “job lot,” this is it.

Hope you enjoy.

George Lenker BeerNut

Such was the case during a recent visit out east to Salem, home of all sort of witch-related stuff. (You remember the witch trials, right?)

I’m not much for witchy history or mischief, but I was visiting my old friend Cornelius, who has moved back to Massachusetts after decades in the metro D.C. area. He now lives in the North Shore area, so it was natural to head into the hopping little burg of Salem for some fun. For me that meant checking out local beer offerings. Fortunately, Salem has two breweries right downtown. Although my visit lasted only 30 hours (including a night’s sleep), we managed to cram in visits to both places: Notch Brewing and Eastern Brigade Brewing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to really sample much at Eastern Brigade, so we’ll focus on Notch today. (But the quick beer I had at Eastern Brigade, a 3.8% session IPA named Billed for Speed, was tasty.)

I was able to sample two brews at Notch, a brewery name I was familiar with. The weather was warmish, so I went with two pilsners, a German one named German Afternoons and Czech pilsner named The Standard. Both were excellent. German Afternoons poured a clean, light golden hue, crowned with an almost three-finger head. The foam left a nice lacing on the glass. The nose was dominated by a bready malt aspect, with a faint floral hop aroma.

The first sips revealed a biscuit-like flavor and tickles of spice. The hops remain in the background, but are definitely present and add to the flavor profile. As the beer warms, the bready aspect blends well with emerging, yet soft, spice feature. The carbonation is perfect for the style.

As good as the German pils was, I have to say that The Standard was better. While it pours out with a nice head, it dissipated much more quickly than the frothy coif atop German Afternoons. But no matter, what landed both in the nose and on the palate was superb. The aroma was a bit sweeter, but still had some peppery notes to balance things off. The flavor kicks off with a nice grainy taste, coupled with some hop citrus notes that peek out just enough to let you know they’re there. There also seems to be a subtle sweet aspect that I couldn’t place, but it was understated and worked the same way a sweet spread works on a piece of toast.

A smooth finish with a lingering taste of delicious dough put this over the top. It’s 4.4% ABV, and since German Afternoons is 4.5%, these are two beers you definitely want to seek out for summer sessions.

“Job lot” means “a miscellaneous collection of goods for sale as a lot usually to a retailer,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. That’s an understatement when it comes to Ocean State Job Lot. From furniture to clothing, junk food to kayaks, you can probably find it in one of their 145 stores located throughout New England and other parts of the Northeast. And at a select number of stores in Massachusetts, you can also find something else – wine.

And not just any wine — very inexpensive wine. At a handful of Ocean State Job Lot stores in Massachusetts (not every store), you can find wines there for sale

Ken Ross Wine Press

for $3.99 a bottle. These inexpensive wines can be found under the J.W. Morris label.

Recently, I picked up four, non-vintage J.W. Morris wines at the Ocean State Job Lots store at 1686 Boston Road in Springfield — two reds, one white and one rose, which the winery calls a white zinfandel.

All four wines are bottled in Napa Valley and made with grapes grown in California.

So how do these wines taste?

I am pleased to report they’re quite good. In fact, I’ll

• J.W. Morris Chardonnay ($3.99 at Ocean State Job Lots)

I will confess I was very skeptical about these wines before I tasted them. I used to be a big fan of Charles Shaw Wines (nicknamed Two Buck Chuck) years ago. But over time, these wines got a lot worse in my opinion. I suspect it’s because the grapes used to make those wines just weren’t as good in the future. Hopefully, the same thing doesn’t happen with J.W. Morris wines. Because right now, they’re great, especially this chardonnay. This was the first Morris wine I tasted and one of my favorites of the four recommended this week.

So often, so many

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