Homegrown

Ladies and gentlemen, today may feature my most unique beverage review to date.

The reason why I say this is because this is a beverage that cannot be purchased in any bar or store in the area. Hell, there's only one place that it can be purchased; and that my friends, is from Mr. Tyler Sutherland.

Sutherland has been producing his own wine here at Ohio University ever since his freshman year. He says that he originally began the process out of interest for the subject, but had no idea that others may be interested in his product.

"Initially, I just wanted to make my own wine so that I wouldn't have to break the bank if I wanted a drink," says Sutherland. "I had no idea that anyone would ever be interested in purchasing and consuming something that I made myself."

He was kind enough to let me try some of his latest work.

As I stepped into the residence of photojournalism student Tyler Sutherland, he kindly offered me a sample of his latest product. He walked over to a large, orange container that featured a spigot allowing for easy dispensing, filled a coffee mug and handed it over to me. My lips puckered as I consumed my first sip of what he called his more “fruity batch,” and I did my best to determine the contents that made up this particular batch of wine.

This was unlike any wine I had ever had before. It featured a dark, luscious red hue and tasted like a combination of red wine and sour raspberries. It was good though, in a “wow, this was manufactured in a closet” kind of way. Sutherland chose to use grape juice for this particular batch but added that any fruit juice will work, as long as it’s not a citrus juice. “Yeah, I probably should have warned you before you took a sip of that. This is one of my stronger batches,” laughed Sutherland.

I'm by no means a wine expert, but this was good. Real good. Others have taken notice to his work as well as he now has a steady range of customers to which he sells bottles for five dollars a piece.

So if you have a spare five dollars laying around, why not help keep Sutherland in business? The town (because you're buying local), your palate and Tyler will all be gracious for your purchase.