How time flies!

Once again, Ashley's Westland are having their annual Cask Ale Fest on May 12, from noon-6PM. Early bird tickets are available here for $20 instead of $35. More info posted when available!

Thanks again, Sean.....

....for last night's meal, carefully prepared according to your recipe! The corned beef turned out superbly, as did the veggies. Though, we did have to tweak things a tiny bit. The cooking liquid (which contained both Mr Cicerone's Sunuva Buster 2011, and Matmos Ale) was unbearably, inedibly salty about half way into the cooking time, so I had to start over with an all new batch of cooking liquid complete with beer and spices. And, the beer in the cooking liquid created a lot of bitterness when cooked down, so I added 1/2 cup of buckwheat honey to the cooking liquid, with a delicious end result.

Result- perfectly cooked, unusually spicy corned beef, with the most delicious accompanying vegetables I think I've ever had!

Oh, try this mustard ale sauce, also Sean's recipe, with your next corned beef. It went superbly. I used Bell's Hopslam.

Oh, almost forgot the beers! Of course Sunuva Buster 2011 & Matmos Ale were superb with dinner, as was Mr Cicerone's Rauchbier!!

That's cabbage sprouts on the left- delicious!!

Brew Day, Batch 360: Mild Ale

Time for one of my favorites, English Mild Ale. And so I once again show my skewed priorities, and spend an unseasonably warm March day in my basement. We are hoping to serve this beer as a cask ale one evening in the near future, while we screen select episodes of The Beer Hunter TV series for our friends....

Thank you Homebrew Chef!

Here's to Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef. I came across his recipe for "stout-cured corned beef" last year, but it was too close to St Patty's Day to actually brine the meat (which takes 6-8 days). So, this year I planned correctly!  I have just put 5 pounds of brisket into the brining solution (which contained 32 ounces of Mr Cicerone's SunuvaBuster 2011), and will remove it on St Patty's Day when I'll cook it with more spices, and more beer! 

A big chunk o' brisket

Brining solution, chock full of fragrant spices and beer.

Into the fridge it goes, for 8 days.....

More on the intriguing beer dinner.....

The dinner at The Rattlesnake last Thursday was wonderful, and a lot of fun. Mr Cicerone, unfortunately, was out of town at a family funeral, so my date was Miss Eat It Detroit (who isn't really a fan of IPA, though she's being won over...)  Brian Tennis of the Michigan Hop Alliance was the guest speaker, and he did a wonderful job talking about all things hop-associated, as well as discussing the beers that were being served that evening. Thanks to Alex for the idea, and for putting this evening together - I'm not aware that an all IPA dinner has ever been done before? And thanks to Chef for the amazing food!
Here are some pictures......


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