Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tired of the same old hair?
The Detroit Wig Out is an unrestrained, one-night party where you can sport a new look, an alternative guise, or simply enjoy good live music and fun in the name of wiggery.
Where: The Magic Stick, the iconic Detroit rock-n-roll club at 4120 Woodward Avenue; (313) 833-9700
When: Saturday, June 6, 2009; Doors Open 8:00 PM
Why: To benefit Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit.
www.detroitwigout.com
Entertainment: Black Jake and the Carnies, Silverghost, Dale Beavers & Bootsey X, Spag Burlesque, and DJ Adam Stanfel. Hosted by Creepy Clyde. Wig Walk and Live Pin-up Station for photos with burlesque gals. Details on Entertainment page.
Tickets $10: Available now at Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit in Royal Oak, at the door, or through Ticketmaster.
Don’t want to wear a wig? That’s okay... there will be a small non-wig-wearing surcharge of $2 at the door (and feel good that it’s going to benefit programs at Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit).
Contact: info@detroitwigout.com
Pre-Wig Out Primping: Just announced... On Friday, June 5, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Flip Salon in Ferndale will be hosting a Wig & Wine event to style and prep wigs the night before the Detroit Wig Out.
SCHEDULE
8:00 Doors Open
9:00 Silverghost
9:30 Wig Walk
10:00 Spag Burlesque: ACT I
10:30 Dale Beavers & Bootsey X
11:30 Spag Burlesque: ACT II
12:00 Black Jake and the Carnies
...Full post
Rex speaks!
The Brewing Epicenters of the World
A Class & Tasting
w/ Rex Halfpenny
Ashley's Westland
Tuesday
June 9th
7 pm
This is our second class in a series on beer education.
The room was full for our last class so make reservations today!
Rex Halfpenny is the publisher of the Michigan Beer Guide. A national beer judge, he has recorded the evolution of the craft beer industry in Michigan. Those that have met Rex before know his passion and knowledge of beer is something to behold.
For more info & to Buy Tickets on line:
http://www.ashleys.com/beerclass.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Real Ale at Slows
Tomorrow, a firkin of Old Speckled Hen will be tapped at Slows. We have further been informed that future selections will include Ruddles Bitter and Greene King IPA. WooHoo!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Batch 300
Batch 300 itself was inspired in part by a great commercial beer, Weyerbacher 12. I am a great fan of rye as an adjunct, and had been starting to dream up a strong beer for batch 300 when a friend gave us a bottle of this extremely tasty, viscous beer. Unlike so many commercial beers featuring rye, this one showed off the great distinctive spicy, bready character of the rye instead of burying it with hops. Yeah, something like that... I prefer to use flaked rye instead of the rye malt that Weyerbacher used, so the percentage of rye in the recipe is less, but should have a similar, ie massive, impact on the character of the beer. Charlie P, at this point, would say "enough with the shuck and jive, on with the recipe." So, why not:
48 lbs Canada Malting 6 row malt
20 lbs flaked rye
2 lbs Crystal 40
3.2 oz Nugget hops, 12% alpha for 60 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 20 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 10 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 5 minutes
Because 70 lbs of grist is more than double the practical maximum my little 10 gallon brewery can accommodate, we apportioned the mash between two 10 gallon and one 12 gallon cooler style mash/lauter vessels. We made a very thick mash, .75 quart/lb., so that we could do a protein rest at around 125F before boosting to saccharification temperatures with infusions of boiling water. This was all planned out in advance, on the back of a discarded envelope. Strangely, we were required to do a fair amount of improvising on the fly to get the job done. And of course, one of
the three lauter tuns proved to be balky and sticky, refusing to cough up the sweet wort. Skip had to dump the whole thing into a kettle and heat it up to 170F, return it to the tun, vorlauf, lather, rinse, and repeat. Runoff was slow but steady from the other two lauter tuns, and eventually we'd collected about 13 1/2 gallons of sweet wort at around 1.084. We boiled vigorously for about an hour before adding kettle hops. I didn't gauge the evap rate as well as I could've, so we ended up a bit high on volume, with an OG of 1.095. Close enough for amateurs. Due to the prodigious hot break, even casting out of the kettle was bog slow. 
The wort was promptly turned over to some very active and hungry yeast, Wyeast 1056, which had a full head of steam up within a couple of hours. While I was seeing to my other job as pitmaster, Skip conducted a second mash and lauter and filled his kettle up. We decided that that wort would be treated to a full course of Cascade goodness; one big late addition and one kettle addition for a total calculated 35 BU. This should be nicely balanced with the OG 1.054 wort we ended up with. This, in its turn, was fed to more 1056, and joined its big brother in the Circus Room. Then, the brewing staff turned to feasting....
...Full post
48 lbs Canada Malting 6 row malt
20 lbs flaked rye
2 lbs Crystal 40
3.2 oz Nugget hops, 12% alpha for 60 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 20 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 10 minutes
1 oz Saaz hops, 3.2% alpha for 5 minutes
Because 70 lbs of grist is more than double the practical maximum my little 10 gallon brewery can accommodate, we apportioned the mash between two 10 gallon and one 12 gallon cooler style mash/lauter vessels. We made a very thick mash, .75 quart/lb., so that we could do a protein rest at around 125F before boosting to saccharification temperatures with infusions of boiling water. This was all planned out in advance, on the back of a discarded envelope. Strangely, we were required to do a fair amount of improvising on the fly to get the job done. And of course, one of
the three lauter tuns proved to be balky and sticky, refusing to cough up the sweet wort. Skip had to dump the whole thing into a kettle and heat it up to 170F, return it to the tun, vorlauf, lather, rinse, and repeat. Runoff was slow but steady from the other two lauter tuns, and eventually we'd collected about 13 1/2 gallons of sweet wort at around 1.084. We boiled vigorously for about an hour before adding kettle hops. I didn't gauge the evap rate as well as I could've, so we ended up a bit high on volume, with an OG of 1.095. Close enough for amateurs. Due to the prodigious hot break, even casting out of the kettle was bog slow. 
The wort was promptly turned over to some very active and hungry yeast, Wyeast 1056, which had a full head of steam up within a couple of hours. While I was seeing to my other job as pitmaster, Skip conducted a second mash and lauter and filled his kettle up. We decided that that wort would be treated to a full course of Cascade goodness; one big late addition and one kettle addition for a total calculated 35 BU. This should be nicely balanced with the OG 1.054 wort we ended up with. This, in its turn, was fed to more 1056, and joined its big brother in the Circus Room. Then, the brewing staff turned to feasting....
...Full post
Recovering, Slowly
Some might ask why on earth anyone would think it a good idea to brew your ambitious batch N on the day you have a party to celebrate said milestone. Some might ask, "Shouldn't you know better by now?" Or, "Isn't that too much work?" Well. It's the idea of the thing. Or stupidity. But you know what?
We did it. So there.
Here's batch 300 on the right, accompanied by batch 300A on the left, fermenting merrily away.
There will be a separate post detailing the brewing activities. While Annette returned to the kitchen after having left off at 10PM previous, Skip, Richard, and a little later, Roy, came over to help with brewing and miscellaneous setup eeearly in the morning. The water was started heating at 7AM, Batch 300 was settled into fermenters by about 4PM, with 300A following by about an hour or so.
In and around the brewing and setup of chairs, tables, canopies, etc, there was some cookin' going on. As noted in a previous post, a couple of things were cooked the day before: pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, trifle, gumbo. The morning and early afternoon saw roasted garlic and onion jam/blue cheese pizzas, couscous pilaf, smoked turkey legs, salads, two legs of lamb, a big ol' salmon, sangria, and probably a few more things my fatigued memory cannot bring forth just now. If it wasn't meat, then Annette did it, and I could scarcely stay on top of the few food items I was responsible for. And, of course, since there were many brewers in attendance, there were many other contributions to the feast arriving all day. There was a lot of food. A lot. And almost no leftovers. There was beer, too. The final lineup:
Helles
Pils
Maibock
Imperial Pils
Schwarzbier
Rauchbier
IPA
Pale Old Ale
Big Brown Ale
Irish Stout (cask)
Of course, there were lots of bottles and growlers of various delightful things being shared around, as well. We are estimating that there were 60 people in our tiny yard at peak, with people coming and going until pretty late. By 3AM, though, we were down to two very tired Cicerones and a couple of dozing guys around the fire.
That was a lot of work, but totally worth it. Thanks to all that came to help celebrate this minor milestone, and especially to those that worked so hard to help us pull it off. We toast you with the pints of cask stout we're enjoying, on its last night of viability. Cheers!
...Full post
We did it. So there.
Here's batch 300 on the right, accompanied by batch 300A on the left, fermenting merrily away.
There will be a separate post detailing the brewing activities. While Annette returned to the kitchen after having left off at 10PM previous, Skip, Richard, and a little later, Roy, came over to help with brewing and miscellaneous setup eeearly in the morning. The water was started heating at 7AM, Batch 300 was settled into fermenters by about 4PM, with 300A following by about an hour or so.
In and around the brewing and setup of chairs, tables, canopies, etc, there was some cookin' going on. As noted in a previous post, a couple of things were cooked the day before: pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, trifle, gumbo. The morning and early afternoon saw roasted garlic and onion jam/blue cheese pizzas, couscous pilaf, smoked turkey legs, salads, two legs of lamb, a big ol' salmon, sangria, and probably a few more things my fatigued memory cannot bring forth just now. If it wasn't meat, then Annette did it, and I could scarcely stay on top of the few food items I was responsible for. And, of course, since there were many brewers in attendance, there were many other contributions to the feast arriving all day. There was a lot of food. A lot. And almost no leftovers. There was beer, too. The final lineup:Helles
Pils
Maibock
Imperial Pils
Schwarzbier
Rauchbier
IPA
Pale Old Ale
Big Brown Ale
Irish Stout (cask)
Of course, there were lots of bottles and growlers of various delightful things being shared around, as well. We are estimating that there were 60 people in our tiny yard at peak, with people coming and going until pretty late. By 3AM, though, we were down to two very tired Cicerones and a couple of dozing guys around the fire.
That was a lot of work, but totally worth it. Thanks to all that came to help celebrate this minor milestone, and especially to those that worked so hard to help us pull it off. We toast you with the pints of cask stout we're enjoying, on its last night of viability. Cheers!
...Full post
This Thursday at Fort Street
Two new beers, including the return of Piston Pale Ale.
Sez Doug:
...Full post
Sez Doug:
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend! It was very lonely for all of us at the brewery, so we hope now that you're back home, you'll come visit us!
This Thursday, May 28th, "Piston Pale Ale" returns! Our annual summer IPA is made with 50% wheat and 100% Amarillo hops. Citrusy and refreshing; it's the taste of summer (especially for hop heads)! In addition to "Piston", we'll also be tapping our 103rd cask-conditoned ale. "Terry's Red Shine" is "Corktown Red" with some home-made moonshine added to the cask. Our celebrity guest tapper will be our biggest celebrity guest to date! If you're a sports fan, you know him well. If you're not a sports fan, then I guess he's just another guy. But we are very pleased to have Terry Foster tap this cask. You may know him as a writer for The Detroit News, or as co-star of the "Valenti and Foster" radio show, or perhaps you've read one of his two books. Either way, he'll be here, and so will alot of other cool and popular people. Of course, you know the key to being cool and popular is to do what other cool and popular people do. So, we'll be expecting you around 8 p.m.
...Full post
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Pig On!
One 11lb. shoulder in the smoker, not to come out until, like, bedtime.
Jerk paste being applied to two (2) legs of lamb.
Carolina BBQ dressing infusing.
Starter wort boiling.
Roux for gumbo on.
Gumbo assembled and simmering.
Pig cooks on.
Grist weighed. Huge.
Gumbo cooked. Fantastic
(Guess I'm "liveblogging")
Grist crushed and apportioned between 3 mash/lauter vessels. 70lb. total.
Pig continues to cook.
25 turkey drumsticks prepped for smoker.
Check salmon. Bigger than Dave's.
Yellow Beer Fridge ready.
Vidalia onion roasted, now simmering in Belhaven Wee Heavy.
6 tap cooler outside.
Firkin outside.
Pig cooking.
Trifle assembled.
Roasted onion dip complete.
All beers on cool power and gas.
Schwarzbier checks OK, and is excellent with my gumbo dinner. Wife says Maibock tastes good with shrimp on a bagel. Sounds weird.
Broach, vent, tap cask of stout. Oh. Ohhh. This is why I get up in the morning.
German apple pancake in oven.
Roasted garlic and onion jam with bleu cheese pizzas assembled.
Bring pig in house, remove bark. Disassembles easily with fork. Curious pink color. Tasty!
Glass of pils, then lights out @23:30. Doughing in at 08:00 tomorrow.
...Full post
Jerk paste being applied to two (2) legs of lamb.
Carolina BBQ dressing infusing.
Starter wort boiling.
Roux for gumbo on.
Gumbo assembled and simmering.
Pig cooks on.
Grist weighed. Huge.
Gumbo cooked. Fantastic
(Guess I'm "liveblogging")
Grist crushed and apportioned between 3 mash/lauter vessels. 70lb. total.
Pig continues to cook.
25 turkey drumsticks prepped for smoker.
Check salmon. Bigger than Dave's.
Yellow Beer Fridge ready.
Vidalia onion roasted, now simmering in Belhaven Wee Heavy.
6 tap cooler outside.
Firkin outside.
Pig cooking.
Trifle assembled.
Roasted onion dip complete.
All beers on cool power and gas.
Schwarzbier checks OK, and is excellent with my gumbo dinner. Wife says Maibock tastes good with shrimp on a bagel. Sounds weird.
Broach, vent, tap cask of stout. Oh. Ohhh. This is why I get up in the morning.
German apple pancake in oven.
Roasted garlic and onion jam with bleu cheese pizzas assembled.
Bring pig in house, remove bark. Disassembles easily with fork. Curious pink color. Tasty!
Glass of pils, then lights out @23:30. Doughing in at 08:00 tomorrow.
...Full post
Thursday, May 21, 2009
New Beers Tonight at Fort Street
Honey, Mai I? and CPA. Doug explains:
...Full post
Even after releasing five new beers last week, the beer pipe-line is far from empty. This Thursday, May 21st at 8ish p.m., we'll release two more beers. We have "Honey, Mai I?", which is a maibock style made with about 10% honey malt. Maibocks are light colored bocks that aren't as sweet as a traditional bock. This is a good one! In addition to that, we have another batch of the much anticipated "CPA". "CPA" is an Imperial IPA made with sorghum and rice. It's as delicious as it is unique, and it's gluten-free. As usual, we'll have some cool prizes for a few lucky folks in attendance at the tapping.
...Full post
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Countin' Down To Batch 300
Shouldn't that be counting up? Hm. Counting down the days, there. Lots to do. Logistics of how to deal with 70 lbs of grist, for one. My lead co-conspirator in brewing operations, Dr. Dennis G. "Skip" Elmer, DVM, and I hope to have this worked out by the time we dough in Sunday morning early. Perhaps we will even incorporate lessons learned into the plan, such as checking for spider butts in the works before starting.
Pictures here are from Batch 200, same co-conspirators.
Then there is all the draft setup- 10 homebrew taps, one firkin of Irish stout, and one worthy guest tap. The lineup is not finalized, but there should be something for everyone.And cooking. The food prep starts in earnest tonight. Mrs. Cicerone will be working on a number of delights over the next couple of nights, including the famous basil & sun-dried tomato cheese torta, macaroni and cheese, and gumbo. Meaty things will include smoked turkey drumsticks, pulled pork, jerk legs o'lamb, and a Great Big Fish.
...Full post
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
How To Get To the Pub In Style
Like this!Since this photo, our new ride has been tricked out with a detachable wire basket in front, and a rear carrier complete with wooden de Dolle Oerbier crate, for transporting Cicerone-related materials.
...Full post
Why Would Anyone Miss This?
So said our friend Shawn last night, after attending his first Beer Club dinner at Slows last night. The food was spectacular, and paired up very nicely with the New Holland beers. A quick recap:
Full Circle (Kolsch) paired with an oyster shooter consisting of a fresh oyster, diced mango, and Knickerbocker gin. The earthy hop bitterness and the brininess of the oyster really hooked up and streeetched out, accentuating each other nicely.
Cask Mad Hatter IPA with a rabbit samosa on fresh mustard greens with a drizzle of red curry sauce. All around wonderful.
Black Tulip Tripel with a seared bay scallop topped with some thin salami alongside a red apricot and drizzled with honey beurre blanc. Tara's adjective, decadent, applied fully. The tripel was extremely fresh and hoppy. Each of the individual components were excellent, and together they made us see stars.
Brother Jacob dubbel was paired up with braised short ribs on top of golden beets and a redskin. Classic pairing, and perfectly executed.
Dragons Milk oak-aged imperial stout with Bacon Creme Brulee. Yes, Bacon. Creme Brulee. We'd actually been lucky enough to sample this insane-yet-wonderful confection a couple of years ago when Brian cooked it up for a trade show we were involved with. It was very good with the stout, which has some pretty pronounced vanilla flavor from the oak.
Kudos to Chef Perrone and everyone at Slows BBQ for putting together another killer dinner!
...Full post
Full Circle (Kolsch) paired with an oyster shooter consisting of a fresh oyster, diced mango, and Knickerbocker gin. The earthy hop bitterness and the brininess of the oyster really hooked up and streeetched out, accentuating each other nicely.
Cask Mad Hatter IPA with a rabbit samosa on fresh mustard greens with a drizzle of red curry sauce. All around wonderful.
Black Tulip Tripel with a seared bay scallop topped with some thin salami alongside a red apricot and drizzled with honey beurre blanc. Tara's adjective, decadent, applied fully. The tripel was extremely fresh and hoppy. Each of the individual components were excellent, and together they made us see stars.
Brother Jacob dubbel was paired up with braised short ribs on top of golden beets and a redskin. Classic pairing, and perfectly executed.
Dragons Milk oak-aged imperial stout with Bacon Creme Brulee. Yes, Bacon. Creme Brulee. We'd actually been lucky enough to sample this insane-yet-wonderful confection a couple of years ago when Brian cooked it up for a trade show we were involved with. It was very good with the stout, which has some pretty pronounced vanilla flavor from the oak.
Kudos to Chef Perrone and everyone at Slows BBQ for putting together another killer dinner!
...Full post
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Slows May Beer Club Dinner Update
Details on the upcoming Beer Club at Slows BBQ from Tara:
...Full post
Hello Everyone!!
Want to let you all in on the exciting menu that Chef Brian has planned.
There will be Full Circle with oysters & the Knickerbocker gin from New Holland distillery, Mad Hatter Firkin, and do I dare say, rabbit. The Black Tulip with something very special and decadent. Brother Jacob and braised short rib to finish up with Dragon's Milk with a creme brulee with a twist.
All for $30! again it starts @6:30.
Please RSVP either by email or call Slows (313)962-9828. Thanks and I hope you can make this fun, unique pairing of great food and beer!!! Take care-Tara
...Full post
Monday, May 11, 2009
Cellar Chores...
...Some of them drudgey, like cleaning out that growler that sat full of plain water until it was colonized by a giant, smelly, fungal-looking blob. Some of them a bit exciting, (to me, anyway,) such as racking a recent batch of stout into a firkin, with some priming sugar and a small handful of Willamette hops. Beautiful. I can't wait until this baby is pouring at the batch 300 hootenanny.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Living the Joke
Specifically, "Seven days without beer make one weak."
One week down, one (urgh) to go....
One week down, one (urgh) to go....
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wheatstock wear
Yeh, we'll be missing out on beer, love, music, and the chance to win prizes for dressing like this....
Another Cool Thing I Have to Miss
Wheatstock 3 at Fort Street Brewery, May 14-16.
3 days of beer and love! 5 new wheat-based beers. Damn!
3 days of beer and love! 5 new wheat-based beers. Damn!
Friday, May 8, 2009
New Holland Beer Dinner at Big Bear Lodge
BIG BEAR LODGE
THURSDAY MAY 21, 7PM
$46.50 per person
25253 Telegraph Road, Brownstown, Michigan, 48134 734.782.6600
http://www.bigbearlodge.org/
THURSDAY MAY 21, 7PM
$46.50 per person
25253 Telegraph Road, Brownstown, Michigan, 48134 734.782.6600
http://www.bigbearlodge.org/
MENU
FIRST COURSE SECOND COURSE ENTREE INTERMEZZO DESSERT Wow! Great menu, great beer choices. Wish we could go!
FOOD Campechana Cocktail (a combination of shrimp, crab, avocado & onion)
BEER Mad Hatter IPA
FOOD Chopped Spring Salad with creamy Poet Stout vinaigrette
BEER The Poet Oatmeal Stout
FOOD Basil garlic chicken breast with grilled balsamic peaches, grilled
asparagus & planked potato
BEER Sundog Amber Ale
Strawberry basil sorbet with Full Circle Kolsch-style
FOOD Key Lime cheesecake
BEER Golden Cap Saison
...Full post
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May Beer Club Dinner at Slows
This month's Beer Club Dinner at Slows BBQ is a week early, on Monday the 18th, and features the beers of New Holland. More details as they become available. This should be a good one, as New Holland has really embraced beer cuisine.
Monday, May 4, 2009
What’s my favourite beer?
If I had a beer for every time I’ve been asked that...
And of course, there is no ONE favourite. I really don’t have the proverbial “desert island” beer. (It would depend on where my island was located, and what food was available there.)
I CAN categorize my “favourites” into...
WHAT IS ALWAYS IN MY FRIDGE (given seasonal availability)
*Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock
*Einbecker Ur-bock dunkel, and Maibock
*Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
*Founders Breakfast Stout
*Great Lakes Christmas Ale
*Ayinger Oktoberfest Marzen
*Hitachino Red Rice Ale
*Some sort of “bretty” wild beer –right now it’s Goose Island’s Matilda.
*Berliner Weisse –mandatory during summer. Right now it’s Dogfish’s Festina Peche
And, of course, Mike’s homebrew. We generally have some sort of pale ale or IPA and a pils or helles on tap, but if not then Stone Pale Ale, a Michigan IPA, and Sierra Summerfest are in there also.
BEERS THAT MAKE/MADE ME WEEP TEARS OF JOY
Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek
Orval
Dieu du Ciel Rose de Hibiscus (NOTE My friend Doug Beedy, brewer at Fort St brewery,was inspired by this beer to make his own fantastic version at the brewpub. Doug-bring back the hibiscus beer!)
Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
Les Deux Brasseurs- Signature Ale #2
Leelanau Petosky Pale Ale
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale on draft/cask
Stille Nacht Reserva 2000
Rodenbach
Jolly Pumpkin Bam, ES Bam, Madrugada Oscura Stout, Luciernaga, Luciernaga Reserve, Perseguidor # 4
New Belgium’s La Folie
North Coast Old Stock Ale Any vintage, but especially older ones.
So, that’s my short list. A good pint of Guinness is always a welcome treat, and I do love a Schneider Weisse while sitting out back on a warm Sunday morning. A rich and hearty Aventinus always makes me wonder why I don’t drink this more often. I couldn’t live without rauchbier, and Schlenkerla Fasten Bier on draught made me weep with joy on a trip to New York last year. I love biscuity malty English ales, and a good Scottish Export. And soft Kolsch. And hoppy pils. Okay, I’ll stop now....
...Full post
And of course, there is no ONE favourite. I really don’t have the proverbial “desert island” beer. (It would depend on where my island was located, and what food was available there.)
I CAN categorize my “favourites” into...
WHAT IS ALWAYS IN MY FRIDGE (given seasonal availability)
*Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock
*Einbecker Ur-bock dunkel, and Maibock
*Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
*Founders Breakfast Stout
*Great Lakes Christmas Ale
*Ayinger Oktoberfest Marzen
*Hitachino Red Rice Ale
*Some sort of “bretty” wild beer –right now it’s Goose Island’s Matilda.
*Berliner Weisse –mandatory during summer. Right now it’s Dogfish’s Festina Peche
And, of course, Mike’s homebrew. We generally have some sort of pale ale or IPA and a pils or helles on tap, but if not then Stone Pale Ale, a Michigan IPA, and Sierra Summerfest are in there also.
BEERS THAT MAKE/MADE ME WEEP TEARS OF JOY
Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek
Orval
Dieu du Ciel Rose de Hibiscus (NOTE My friend Doug Beedy, brewer at Fort St brewery,was inspired by this beer to make his own fantastic version at the brewpub. Doug-bring back the hibiscus beer!)
Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel
Les Deux Brasseurs- Signature Ale #2
Leelanau Petosky Pale Ale
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale on draft/cask
Stille Nacht Reserva 2000
Rodenbach
Jolly Pumpkin Bam, ES Bam, Madrugada Oscura Stout, Luciernaga, Luciernaga Reserve, Perseguidor # 4
New Belgium’s La Folie
North Coast Old Stock Ale Any vintage, but especially older ones.
So, that’s my short list. A good pint of Guinness is always a welcome treat, and I do love a Schneider Weisse while sitting out back on a warm Sunday morning. A rich and hearty Aventinus always makes me wonder why I don’t drink this more often. I couldn’t live without rauchbier, and Schlenkerla Fasten Bier on draught made me weep with joy on a trip to New York last year. I love biscuity malty English ales, and a good Scottish Export. And soft Kolsch. And hoppy pils. Okay, I’ll stop now....
...Full post
Schultze Gets The Blues...(or how I love to spend an evening)
One of my favourite things to do is combining four of my favourite things (well, five if I count Mike)- beer, food, MOVIES and dressing up. So -starting again in some sort of order that makes sense- this means watching a movie (at home), cooking the foods that pertain to that movie- and obviously having beers that fit in as well- and wearing outfits that also fit the theme.
Here are some of the memorable ones:
TAMPOPO An insane Japanese movie about noodles, squishy peaches and "how NOT to eat spaghetti". It's also where I first discovered the delights of a Japanese rice omelet.
MEAL Udon noodle bowls with pork, rice omelet, quail eggs, oshinko (Japanese pickled vegetables), eel.
BEERS Hitachino Red Rice Ale, Kikusakari Kurakagami Daiginjo sake.
OUTFIT Kimono from Japan, given to me by Toshiyuki Kiuchi, maker of Hitachino Nest beers. Strange Japanese wooden shoes that almost made me fall over. Various and sundry bits in my hair.
SOUND OF MUSIC "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
MEAL Weisswurst, home-made spaetzl (so simple if one has the magic spaetzl maker),braised red cabbage.
BEERS Einbecker Ur-bock Dunkel, Schneider Weisse, Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen
OUTFIT Why, lederhosen of course (purchased for $10 on E-Bay).
BABETTE'S FEAST
MEAL Turtle soup (of course!). (One can buy frozen turtle meat at Eastern Market Seafood) Sauteed frogs legs. Roasted Cornish hens.
BEERS I'm having trouble remembering exactly. It's a Danish movie with the menu being classic French. I doubt we drank Carlsberg, and if memory serves me correctly I think we drank Belgian beer and champagne.
YES NURSE, NO NURSE (JA ZUSTER, NEE ZUSTER)
Be warned- only watch this movie if you love extremely insane movie experiences and singing.
FOOD Hate to be boring, but due to the lack of any recognizable Dutch dishes, we opted for the German theme again. One can never get enough weisswurst and spaetzl.
OUTFIT Okay, efforts to obtain Dutch clogs and this hat failed, so I opted for the NURSE thing. And, as a side note, I really had a hard time finding a nurse uniform! Nurses wear scrubs mostly, and I wanted to be "authentic" in white dress and nurse's hat. I found one in a costume shop eventually.
ESCANABA IN DA MOONLIGHT
FOOD Why, Cornish pasties of course, home-made, with lots of rutabaga. Mike says they are the best he’s ever had. (And no, we didn't eat a buck, because we didn't have one. Got some in the freezer right now though, and need to make something good with it.)
BEER Anything/everything from Bell’s, and homebrew.
OUTFIT Mike’s turn to shine in his hand-made Remnar shirt.
(The titular) SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES
FOOD, BEER & OUTFIT- a repeat of Sound of Music, although this time we drank Mike's rauchbier. Mmmm. This movie is a little sad, but fabulous!
SOUTH PACIFIC "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair"
FOOD Coconut shrimp, fish, fish and more fish, salad greens with ginger dressing. Coconut mango ice cream.
BEERS Hitachino Red Rice Ale, Hitachino White Ale, Mike's helles.
OUTFIT A great vintage Hawaiian mu-mu and a headpiece I made that has a bird in it.
CHANG: A DRAMA OF THE WILDERNESS
This was one of the strangest, yet most wonderful movies I have ever seen. I was lucky enough to see this at the Detroit Film Theatre with live accompaniment by Boston’s Alloy Orchestra. I went alone, and simply had to repeat the movie experience for Mike, accompanied by food and beer of course.
FOOD Tom Kha Gai, pad Thai with fried tofu, chicken in red curry. There’s an Asian grocery store in Dearborn Heights that has many necessary things for Asian cooking, whether it’s Chinese, Japanese, Thai or Korean. I love this store!
BEER Chang Lager from Thailand just because, but we quickly switched to Mike’s pils and some commercial saison.
OUFIT Thai sarong (found a great green and gold one at the thrift store) with various hair decorations. Efforts to find a traditional Thai “chada” headdress failed (but I’m not done looking yet).
...Full post
Here are some of the memorable ones:
TAMPOPO An insane Japanese movie about noodles, squishy peaches and "how NOT to eat spaghetti". It's also where I first discovered the delights of a Japanese rice omelet.
MEAL Udon noodle bowls with pork, rice omelet, quail eggs, oshinko (Japanese pickled vegetables), eel.
BEERS Hitachino Red Rice Ale, Kikusakari Kurakagami Daiginjo sake.
OUTFIT Kimono from Japan, given to me by Toshiyuki Kiuchi, maker of Hitachino Nest beers. Strange Japanese wooden shoes that almost made me fall over. Various and sundry bits in my hair.
SOUND OF MUSIC "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
MEAL Weisswurst, home-made spaetzl (so simple if one has the magic spaetzl maker),braised red cabbage.BEERS Einbecker Ur-bock Dunkel, Schneider Weisse, Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen
OUTFIT Why, lederhosen of course (purchased for $10 on E-Bay).
BABETTE'S FEAST
MEAL Turtle soup (of course!). (One can buy frozen turtle meat at Eastern Market Seafood) Sauteed frogs legs. Roasted Cornish hens.
BEERS I'm having trouble remembering exactly. It's a Danish movie with the menu being classic French. I doubt we drank Carlsberg, and if memory serves me correctly I think we drank Belgian beer and champagne.
YES NURSE, NO NURSE (JA ZUSTER, NEE ZUSTER)
Be warned- only watch this movie if you love extremely insane movie experiences and singing.
FOOD Hate to be boring, but due to the lack of any recognizable Dutch dishes, we opted for the German theme again. One can never get enough weisswurst and spaetzl.
OUTFIT Okay, efforts to obtain Dutch clogs and this hat failed, so I opted for the NURSE thing. And, as a side note, I really had a hard time finding a nurse uniform! Nurses wear scrubs mostly, and I wanted to be "authentic" in white dress and nurse's hat. I found one in a costume shop eventually.
ESCANABA IN DA MOONLIGHT
FOOD Why, Cornish pasties of course, home-made, with lots of rutabaga. Mike says they are the best he’s ever had. (And no, we didn't eat a buck, because we didn't have one. Got some in the freezer right now though, and need to make something good with it.)
BEER Anything/everything from Bell’s, and homebrew.
OUTFIT Mike’s turn to shine in his hand-made Remnar shirt.
(The titular) SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES
FOOD, BEER & OUTFIT- a repeat of Sound of Music, although this time we drank Mike's rauchbier. Mmmm. This movie is a little sad, but fabulous!
SOUTH PACIFIC "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair"
FOOD Coconut shrimp, fish, fish and more fish, salad greens with ginger dressing. Coconut mango ice cream.BEERS Hitachino Red Rice Ale, Hitachino White Ale, Mike's helles.
OUTFIT A great vintage Hawaiian mu-mu and a headpiece I made that has a bird in it.
CHANG: A DRAMA OF THE WILDERNESS
This was one of the strangest, yet most wonderful movies I have ever seen. I was lucky enough to see this at the Detroit Film Theatre with live accompaniment by Boston’s Alloy Orchestra. I went alone, and simply had to repeat the movie experience for Mike, accompanied by food and beer of course.
FOOD Tom Kha Gai, pad Thai with fried tofu, chicken in red curry. There’s an Asian grocery store in Dearborn Heights that has many necessary things for Asian cooking, whether it’s Chinese, Japanese, Thai or Korean. I love this store!
BEER Chang Lager from Thailand just because, but we quickly switched to Mike’s pils and some commercial saison.
OUFIT Thai sarong (found a great green and gold one at the thrift store) with various hair decorations. Efforts to find a traditional Thai “chada” headdress failed (but I’m not done looking yet).
...Full post
Sunday, May 3, 2009
How to Make a Cicerone Cry
1) Discover h. pylori in Cicerone's stomach.
2) Prescribe corrective medication.
The above two conditions were met approximately 3 months ago, when I had a gastroscope inspection of my esophagus. Said body part has always been a bit irregular, and since I am getting old, it bore inspection. I have no doubt that I have been hosting H. Pylori my entire life, but the doctors insist that it must tarry no longer in my gut. For those who don't recognize the name of this bug, it's the bacteria believed to cause ulcers in 90% of those in whom it dwells. Hasn't troubled me, yet, but....?
So who gives a shit, and why? Well, the prescribed treatment entails taking a handful of pills 4 times daily for 2 weeks. This would be fine, if it weren't for the unfortunate dire interaction with alcohol that causes extreme cramping and emesis. And the bonus kick in the huevos is that you can't drink milk, either. I could do without one or the other for a stretch, but jeez!
So, for months I've been looking for a 2 week window that wouldn't include a vacation, holiday, festival, etc, and the best I can do is the 2 weeks starting tomorrow. Bleagh.
So, how do you spend your last day before reporting to prison, figuratively speaking? Well, if you are as lucky as me, you will jump on the tandem bike with your lovely bride, and pedal over to the Oak for a couple beers. Maybe some Reissdorf Kolsch, Two Hearted, Double Crooked Tree, and Guinness 250. Then one might bike home and head over to Slows for some Victory Prima Pils, Schlenkerla Marzen, Rogue Chipotle Ale, and some barbecue. Then, once home, maybe a glass of homemade helles.
The next two weeks are really going to suck....
...Full post
2) Prescribe corrective medication.
The above two conditions were met approximately 3 months ago, when I had a gastroscope inspection of my esophagus. Said body part has always been a bit irregular, and since I am getting old, it bore inspection. I have no doubt that I have been hosting H. Pylori my entire life, but the doctors insist that it must tarry no longer in my gut. For those who don't recognize the name of this bug, it's the bacteria believed to cause ulcers in 90% of those in whom it dwells. Hasn't troubled me, yet, but....?
So who gives a shit, and why? Well, the prescribed treatment entails taking a handful of pills 4 times daily for 2 weeks. This would be fine, if it weren't for the unfortunate dire interaction with alcohol that causes extreme cramping and emesis. And the bonus kick in the huevos is that you can't drink milk, either. I could do without one or the other for a stretch, but jeez!
So, for months I've been looking for a 2 week window that wouldn't include a vacation, holiday, festival, etc, and the best I can do is the 2 weeks starting tomorrow. Bleagh.
So, how do you spend your last day before reporting to prison, figuratively speaking? Well, if you are as lucky as me, you will jump on the tandem bike with your lovely bride, and pedal over to the Oak for a couple beers. Maybe some Reissdorf Kolsch, Two Hearted, Double Crooked Tree, and Guinness 250. Then one might bike home and head over to Slows for some Victory Prima Pils, Schlenkerla Marzen, Rogue Chipotle Ale, and some barbecue. Then, once home, maybe a glass of homemade helles.
The next two weeks are really going to suck....
...Full post
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Brew Day, Batch #mumblemumble+1
Irish stout today, to be served from the cask via beer engine at the Batch 300 party. Many balls in the air, actually, including washing some new kegs, racking some helles from the lagering vessels, washing more kegs and filling them with pils to be lagered, cleaning a bunch of carboys, and doing a couple blog posts from the to-do pile. Oh...
Well, I got everything done except the blog post. Better late than never, I reckon. So, 48 hours later, the stout-wort is bubbling away and looking good. Here's the gory details for those who care about such things:
Recipe for 11 gallons:
12 lb. Briess 2 row malt
2 lb. flaked barley
2 lb. British roasted barley
1-3/4 oz Nugget hops (whole) 12% alpha for est. 40 BU
wyeast 1056 yeast
Mash water treated with CaCO3
Mashed 1 quart/lb at 149F for 1 hour.
Yield 11 gallons plus a teense at 1.044
Fermenting at 66F. I can't wait for this beer to be ready; it's one of my all-time favorites. It will go into the cask when it's done fermenting, along with priming sugar and a small handfull of Willamettes. Yeah, buddy!
The helles tasted good on racking, even at 32 degrees. Hold on- (footsteps fading off and returning) aww, yeah! Good pilsener malt flavor, nice light hop character, balancing bitterness, just a touch of DMS. At'll do....
...Full post
Well, I got everything done except the blog post. Better late than never, I reckon. So, 48 hours later, the stout-wort is bubbling away and looking good. Here's the gory details for those who care about such things:
Recipe for 11 gallons:
12 lb. Briess 2 row malt
2 lb. flaked barley
2 lb. British roasted barley
1-3/4 oz Nugget hops (whole) 12% alpha for est. 40 BU
wyeast 1056 yeast
Mash water treated with CaCO3
Mashed 1 quart/lb at 149F for 1 hour.
Yield 11 gallons plus a teense at 1.044
Fermenting at 66F. I can't wait for this beer to be ready; it's one of my all-time favorites. It will go into the cask when it's done fermenting, along with priming sugar and a small handfull of Willamettes. Yeah, buddy!
The helles tasted good on racking, even at 32 degrees. Hold on- (footsteps fading off and returning) aww, yeah! Good pilsener malt flavor, nice light hop character, balancing bitterness, just a touch of DMS. At'll do....
...Full post
Weekend job available at Merchant's in the beer department
I need help! My worthy assistant Dan just resigned. (I do have to clarify that it's because he has summer work and school commitments. Good for him, bad for me.) So, there's a fun job going here for some LUCKY person who wants to sell beer, and learn lots about beer (from me!).
The shifts are:
Friday 3-9PM
Saturday 11-7PM
Sunday Noon-5PM
These are not negotiable although I can cover you once in a while. It would be great for someone in school, or as an extra part-time gig, or someone retired.
WHO I'M LOOKING FOR
Someone that already knows something about beer. Someone who does like working with people as you will be doing exactly this! Someone who will not try to sell a 100BU IPA to every customer because that's what he/she likes.
The shifts are:
Friday 3-9PM
Saturday 11-7PM
Sunday Noon-5PM
These are not negotiable although I can cover you once in a while. It would be great for someone in school, or as an extra part-time gig, or someone retired.
WHO I'M LOOKING FOR
Someone that already knows something about beer. Someone who does like working with people as you will be doing exactly this! Someone who will not try to sell a 100BU IPA to every customer because that's what he/she likes.
If interested, please e-mail me at the store at beer@merchantsfinewine.com
I have a full job description available.
...Full post
Tomorrow is National Homebrew Day
The first Saturday in May is National Homebrew Day, as decreed in 1998 by the American Homebrewers Association. And what do homebrewers do on the first Saturday in May?
Big Brew!
At noon Mountain time, homebrewers the world over fire up their kettles to simultaneously brew (mostly) the same recipe. The original big brew was an attempt to gain entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, but, strangely for a
publication named after one of the most popular beers going, the attempt was rejected. Official glory denied, the fun goes on. Our homebrew club, the DBG, gathers at our friend Tom's house every year. If the size of a brewer's kettle is the measure of studliness, Tom is the homebrewer equivalent of John Holmes, with a 30 gallon kettle. Where will you spend the first Saturday in May?
...Full post
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