Dec

10

2011

Dec. 10 marks National Lager Day, a day when every good beer-drinking citizen should lift a pint of their favorite lager in celebration.

In the Philadelphia area, most people belly up to the bar and order “the lager” as in “Barkeep, good sir, I’ll have ‘the lager.’” What they mean is “I’ll have a Yeungling Traditional Lager.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much more out there in the world of lagers! Explore! But first, a little background: Lagering is a process of cold fermenting (usually between 35-40 degrees, give or take) the beer with lager yeast, which are bottom fermenters. The cold aging process produces a beer clear of haze and crisp in flavor. Lagers range from light in color (Standard American Lager, Munich Helles) to amber (Vienna Lager, Oktoberfest) to dark (Dunkel, Schwarzbier).

Some lagers to try:
Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel
Bell’s Consecrator
Dixie Blackened Voodoo
Dock Street’s Royal Bohemian Pilsner
Heavy Seas Marzen
Iron Hill’s Vienna Lager—which Iron Hill Maple Shade took Gold medal at GABF this year for their Vienna Lager!
Riverhorse Lager
Sly Fox Oktoberfest
Stoudt’s Gold
Stoudt’s Pils
Victory’s Festbier
Victory’s Prima Pils

What’s your favorite lager?

Fun fact: Lager yeast emerged in the Holy Roman Empire due to a spontaneous mutation or hybridization effect. As a new variety of beer, it often had to be produced outside city walls because it faced opposition from the Catholic Church. — MyPunchbowl.com

Craft Beer 1 Comment »

Aug

5

2011

I amused Ray by translating the French on the Unibroue bottle, “It means ‘something.’”

“That’s it?” he said.

“Yup.”

“Huh. The French.”

You don’t need four years of studying la belle langue français to understand that Quebec’s Unibroue has a little somethin’ somethin’ up its sleeves with Quelque Chose. Described as a 50% dark ale, 50% brown ale brewed with cherries, this sweet-and-sour beer stands at 8% ABV. But you don’t notice it (trust me).

Quelque Chose pours a beautiful ruby red with no head, and according to the bottle, the beer has “very little carbonation.” The cherry notes are strong and lovely, but there are also some hints of caramel and plum, which add to the depth of its flavor.

Sharing a goblet of the cherry-drenched libation with Ray, he proclaimed, “This is a ‘start your girlfriend’ beer!” I agreed—for someone who might not know where to start with craft beer, Quelque Chose would be a good choice, but only if the drinker understood that this is a slightly sour beer. I think once that’s out in the open, a new-to-craft-beer gal could really get behind Quelque Chose.

For food pairings, Quelque Chose would be smashing with duck (you could even make a reduction of it to serve over top) or any other red meat, as well as a mild bleu, maybe even a creamy cheddar—the slightly sharp sourness could cut through the fat well.

While this isn’t the kind of beer you’d pair with dessert, it certainly can be used to make dessert. Check out the recipe for the Quelque Chose Raspberry Tart or Quelque Chose Crepes.

On Beer Advocate, Unibroue’s Quelque Chose has a rating of B+, but I argue it’s a solid A. This is most definitely a bottle I would pick up again.

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Jun

24

2011

Photo by the ever talented and lovely Marissa, who writes the most excellent Food in Jars.

It seems like eons ago, but on June 4 Ray, my dearest friend Rach and I served nearly 10 gallons of Bathtub Brewery’s homebrewed beer to a crowd of beer enthusiasts. And it was AWESOME.

We joined the BeerCamp crew earlier in the year, meeting 1-2 times a month at IndyHall where we would taste each others beer, chat and slowly figure out how we wanted the event to turn out (though really, Kelani, Johnny, Dave and Alex were the logistical masterminds behind ALL of it…we just made the libations!)

And then the first weekend of June rolled around and we hauled 4 cases of our bottled beer into the patio/garden area of the Jamaican Jerk Hut on South Street. We iced down some bottles, poured chilled beer into mammoth pitchers … and then got to drinking our fellow brewers’ beers during the VIP Brewers Hour.

Mel and Rach behind the table, working the crowd. Gotta love Rach's "Say wha?" face.

The three of us worked seamlessly as a team, with 2 people pouring while the other either cracked open bottles, ran to get food, or took a bathroom break. Rach and I attracted quite the crowd from time to time, and it was funny to see guys’ reactions to the fact that I was a brewer, not just a “table babe.” Ray and I fielded a fair amount of questions, and even Rach picked up enough lingo to explain what she was serving. We’ll make a brewer of her yet!

We served the much hailed Bee Sting and a new beer, simply named Cherry Wheat (recipe to be posted soon). We were happy with our offerings, but what blew us away was people coming up to the table and saying, “So we heard about this Bee Sting …” Say wha?! Apparently our fellow brewers were sending folks our way, heaving praise on our little hybrid pale ale. Talk about an awesome feeling.

Parker samples a Bee Sting as a friend looks on

And we surprised more than a few people with our Cherry Wheat. Typically you say “Cherry Wheat” and people shudder at the Robitussin-like memory of a bottle from Sam Adams. But our brew was far from that. Instead, it was light, wheaty and a balance of sweet and tart. Attendees were shocked and asked for seconds.

After sampling the beers of my fellow homebrewers throughout the night, I’m proud to say I was part of BeerCamp, and I’m pretty sure Ray would agree with me. Why at least half these brewers aren’t pro already floors me. What I was drinking that night was innovative and downright delicious.

Tom (far left) and the rest of his Big Spoon Brewery crew

Tom, from Big Spoon Brewery, brought his Wobbly Bass Brown, Mmmmm Creamy Milk Stout—and for the lucky—some bottles of his Russian Imperial Stout brewed with coffee. We were blown away and super happy when he took the Brewer’s Choice Award at the end of the night. People’s Choice Awards went to MelloProto Brewing’s Blood Orange Berliner aka B.ö.B., Saint Benjamin Brewing Co.’s Transcontinental (a California Common or “steam” beer) and B WeeRd Brew D’s CHOCRILLA, a stout brewed with sarsaparilla.

The food was fantastic, the beer superb and the company we kept was excellent. I can’t wait until the next BeerCamp Philly event!

Last 3 photos courtesy of Ray who isn’t in any photos because he was too busy taking them!

Brewfests, Homebrewing 3 Comments »

Jun

17

2011

Victory Brewing Co., based in Downingtown PA is a power house of a brewery. I seriously wish we lived closer so we could mull about in the mammoth brewery and restaurant and sip pints on Friday nights. But for now we have to admire from across the water.

And here’s a new reason to envy all the other PA folks who live close enough to the brewery: On Oct. 15, Victory will debut a new beer called Otto, a Belgian-style, bottle conditioned dubbel ale available in 750 ml corked bottles.

This won’t be just any dubbel—which are pretty fantastic in their own right. Otto is brewed with smoked Munich and Belgian caramel malt, German hops and Trappist yeast. The ABV will ring in at 8.1%. Yum.

According to the press release I received, co-founders Bill and Ron developed the recipe for the smoked malt dubbel based on their experience with the style during a 1987 trip to Bamberg, Germany (Note: I was 5 in 1987). The combination of the traditional smokey flavor of a rauch beer married to the Belgian caramel malt will give the beer “a perfectly harmonized final flavor,” according to Victory’s founders.

“The complimentary flavors of smoked malt and Belgian yeast seemed like an obvious combination,” said Bill. “As far as we know, no one has bothered to put them together until now.”

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Jun

10

2011

To kick off the recent Memorial Day weekend, and our roadtrip out to Ohio for two of my cousins’ graduation parties, I planned for Ray and me to have dinner and beers at Appalachian Brewing Co.’s Harrisburg location. Ray picked me up from my office that Thursday evening and we headed west … right into a horrific storm.

Luckily for us, the storm didn’t kick in until we reached the Harrisburg area, but it was awful. Visibility was nil, winds buffeted the car, and the finishing touch was the hail. We made it to the motel, only to find out they were without power, so we trekked into Harrisburg. The brewery would have power, right?

Technically ABC did have power, but the storm had knocked out the POS system, so servers had to go back to each table, retake orders and get them into the kitchen. The manager explained that they weren’t serving anymore and our faces fell. It was 8:00 pm, we didn’t know the area, and we had salivated over the menu on the way there.

I mentioned that we had driven all the way from Philly, just to visit the brewery and restaurant on our way out west. The manager paused for a moment and said, “Let me see what I can do.” After waiting a bit, he came back, got us seated and ran back into the fray of the busy dining room. Twenty minutes later he swung by our table, dismayed that no one had waited on us. “Let me get your drink order … first round is on me!” he told us. Our new friend’s name was Jeremy and he would spend the next hour giving us some of the best customer service I’ve ever received.

We both ordered the IPA on cask and were rewarded for our wait. Crisp, yet creamy, it was exactly what we needed. Jeremy came back around, took our food orders and in seemingly no time at all I had a cup of cheddar ale soup in front of me. It was rich and flavorful and I should have ordered a bowl or two. Definitely a dish I want to replicate at home.

Ray ordered a beast of a meatloaf, seated on Texas toast, topped with mashed potatoes and gravy and sprinkled with fried onions. My grilled cheese with tomatoes looked positively puny next to it, but it’s exactly what I wanted to eat.

We finished out the night with a second round, Susquehanna Stout for me — so rich and chocolatey — while Ray enjoyed the Anniversary Maibock, which had a lovely honey finish.

We chatted with Jeremy some more, thanked him for getting us a table and taking care of us, and selected a 4-pack of ginger beer and a 6-pack of white birch beer for the road (both of which are delicious). We’ll definitely have to go back to visit and sample more of Appalachian Brewing’s beers, but even though the brewery opened a new location, I feel like we’d need to go back out to the Harrisburg location to show our loyalty to excellent service.

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Jun

6

2011

Photo by the ever talented and lovely Marissa, who writes one of my favorite canning blogs, Food in Jars.

Yeah, I know, we disappeared again. Bad homebrewers. BUT, during those 2.5 months, we brewed 10 gallons of beer, which we served to fest goers on Saturday for the 2011 BeerCamp Philly event. We had an AMAZING time and served possibly the best rendition of our Bee Sting Ale to date. Ray and I were incredibly proud of our beers and our fellow homebrewers.

I owe you our newest recipe, the Cherry Wheat Ale, which we touted as “NOT Robitussin—OR Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.” People loved its light, tart flavor. Perfect for summer.

So stay tuned!

Brewfests, Homebrewing 2 Comments »

Mar

21

2011

Yes. This may be our favorite recipe. Yes. We’ve brewed it three times now. But this time, we won’t be drinking it solely ourselves. Instead, we selected this recipe for an upcoming homebrewers brewfest that we will be participating in (as soon as I have details, I will post).

19 March 2011
Bee Sting Ale
5 gallons, 60 minute boil

5.0 lbs Pilsen Light Liquid Malt Extract (60 min)
2.0 lbs Orange Blossom Honey (15 min)

Specialty Grains:
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt 15L

1.0 oz Chinook Hops [ 11.8% AA] (60 min)
1.0 oz Amarillo Hops [ 8.6% AA] (15 min)

1 tablet Whirlfloc (20 min — clarifier)

White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001

Seeds of Paradise tea — (TBD … tweaking the recipe)

4 oz corn sugar (bottling)

———

Create a yeast starter 2-3 days in advance.

Add 3 gallons of water to kettle. Heat to 155°F.

Steep grains at 155°F for 30 minutes.

Remove grains, turn off heat, add malt extract. Bring back to a boil. Add Chinook hops.

At 20 minutes, add Whirlfloc tablet.

At 15 minutes, turn off heat. Add orange blossom honey. Stir until dissolved. Return to boil. Add Amarillo hops.

Chill wort to below 70°F. Rack to fermenter and dilute to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast starter and aerate thoroughly. Allow to ferment to completion at 60-65°F.

Rack fermented beer to secondary fermenter. Add seeds of paradise tea. Age for 1 – 2 weeks.

Rack to bottling bucket. Boil corn sugar with 1 c filtered water and add to beer. Mix well.

Bottle. Age for two weeks.

Our Brew Days, Recipes 4 Comments »

Mar

7

2011

Before you even read this post, do yourself a favor and watch this video put together by Stone Brewing Co. about the collaboration between Greg (Stone), Sam (Dogfish Head) and Bill (Victory) to create Saison du BUFF.

I LOVE these guys and what they (and many other brewers) are doing for craft beer. They’re showing the Big 3, as well as many other corporations in the U.S., that collaboration is a good thing. Are they still each others competition? Of course. But they’re also each others allies, and together, through collaboration, they make the beer scene a better place for all of us craft beer drinkers.

Saison du BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor) was brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme 3 times: once at Stone (released in May 2010), at Victory (released in August 2010) and Dogfish Head (also released in August 2010). Each brewery’s take on the beer has its own unique bottle label, done in the style of that brewery.

I sampled the brews from Dogfish Head and Stone back in September of 2010 and wrote about them for the Ladies of Craft Beer website. I had a tough time getting the third bottle—from Stone—until a wonderful benefactor came through and sent me a bottle (and no, it wasn’t Stone).

So, here’s my take on all three of the SDBs:

Dogfish Head Brewery
Poured into a snifter, the beer pours a bright golden hue with a light, fluffy head. The aroma is very typical of the Saison style—spicy with hints of citrus. But giving it a few more sniffs, I could pick up some really wonderful herbal notes. There wasn’t one herb that stuck out more than another, but the fragrance was lovely and balanced.

Upon first sip, I got a lot of carbonation bite, most likely because the beer was too cold. I let it come up in temperature before trying it again, which is what you want to do with any overly-chilled beer (your tongue won’t pick up on the myriad flavors a beer has if its too cold). After 10-15 minutes, I was rewarded with a flavor that matched its aroma to a T—nice and dry, spice and herbal notes, with hints of citrus.

Victory Brewing Co.
Like DFH’s version, Victory’s SDB pours a pale gold with a thin, white head that dissipates fairly quick. The spice is very evident in the nose and a lot of the herbal notes of rosemary, sage and thyme come out—with rosemary taking the forefront. When giving the glass a few swirls to kick up aroma, a bit of barnyard funk comes out, which is a nice touch amidst the herbs and spice.

Ray noticed a light, fruity sweetness to the beer, something he associates with farmhouse ales. He also found the rosemary complimented the citrus in the beer. I had a difficult time recognizing the traditional saison attributes, unlike my first sampling of Dogfish’s SDB. When I looked up Victory’s version, I came across a review that claimed it was “more Prima Pils than saison.” While I agree that this beer is more of another style than a saison, I don’t agree with likening it to a base of Prima Pils. It’s just something … else. And that’s not a bad thing.

If I were to pair this beer with food, I would go for a nice whitefish, like haddock, topped with a not-too-spicy salsa with plenty of cilantro. Ray pointed out that the cilantro would go well with the bright bitterness of the herbs and hops. He also suggested pairing SDB with grilled veggies tossed in a light lemon vinaigrette. Even some bread and the right cheese would go well.

Stone Brewing Co.
Like DFH and Victory’s, Stone’s take on Saison du BUFF poured golden and clear into my geektastic pint glass. A little different from the other two beers was the massive, fluffy, aromatic head. The nose is full of rosemary, and even after letting this bottle get jostled about in my cabinets for nearly six months, it tastes of sweet freshness—almost as if we just picked it up from the Escondido-based brewery. It’s citrusy and herbal, and just the right beer to welcome in the warm weather and spring.

Stone’s version of Saison du BUFF actually reminds me a little of our Ginpel, due to the aromatic rosemary nose. I’m imagining Stone’s offering—as well as the other two—would be excellent to cook with. Perhaps a braised pork roast with roasted veggies?

Craft Beer, Tasting 1 Comment »

Feb

28

2011

Two Sundays ago I decided to go all out in the kitchen, and one result was my Chocolate Java Head Stout Truffles. I love their richness and how they melt in your mouth. My fellow BeerCampPhilly folks also enjoyed them, along with some others from IndyHall. That’s how chocolate should be.

Chocolate Java Head Stout Truffles

Truffles Ingredients
8 oz chocolate (I used a blend of semi-sweet, bittersweet and unsweetened, only because that’s what I had available)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup stout syrup

Stout Syrup Ingredients
1/2 cup Tröegs Java Head stout
1/4 cup sugar (I used my homemade vanilla bean sugar*)

Directions
Put the chocolate in a heat-save bowl and set aside.

Over medium high-heat, stir together sugar and beer for the syrup. Stir regularly to keep mixture from burning and reduce until the syrup slowly drips off the spoon. This will yield about 1/4 cup.

Once the syrup is made, heat the cream in a pot over medium-high heat until it comes to a simmer. Stir occasionally. Add the stout syrup a few tablespoons at a time, stirring to incorporate.

Once all the syrup is mixed into the cream (you can use less if you’d like), pour the hot mixture over the chocolate. If you have a lid for the bowl, put it on and let the chocolate and cream sit for 3-5 minutes, undisturbed. Then mix together.

If you have some unmelted chocolate lumps, microwave the mixture in 15-20 second bursts, stirring well after each time.

Refrigerate mixture for 2 hours. Once fully chilled, scoop out truffles with a melonballer, firming up the shape in your hands. However, I was having no luck with this method and spent more time with chocolate on my hands. I googled “truffle shaping tips” and came across this gem from Chowhound, in which you line a container with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. For me, this was less messy and headache inducing. However, when I went to cut the truffles into squares, the chocolate began fracturing where it wanted. Thus, my truffles look like thick, dark chocolate bark, but let’s see who complains.
(Inspired by Sweet Fiend at Endless Simmer, with the basic truffle-making directions adapted from Simply Recipes.)

*The vanilla bean sugar is super easy to make. I followed the directions from A Year from Scratch, but than took it a step further. I used the leftover vanilla bean pod from when I made a vanilla bean finishing salt. I followed AYFS’ directions (so easy) and basically forgot about the sugar for 5 days. Once I remembered, I pulled the slightly mummified vanilla bean pods out of the sugar and finely ground them in my spice grinder. Then I added my sugar (it was about 1/3 cup or a little more) into the grinder to incorporate. The mixture is fragrant and can be used in a variety of applications.

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Feb

16

2011

Are you a food and/or drink blogger? Do you reside within the Philadelphia Metro area? Do you like other food and/or drink bloggers?

If you answered yes, then contact me via email at

melomel82 at gmail dot com

I’m helping Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie find all you interested folks so we can plan a blogger meetup. You game?

Miscellany Comments Off