Trust me, I'm a Cicerone®!

Dai Nippon Jin...ger

2012-01-30T22:15:00.000-05:00

Every two weeks or so we "treat" our friends to "Movie Night At The New Burton Theatre". This past weekend we screened a favourite, Dai Nippon Jin (Big Man Japan).

9 of our friends (who *used* to love us) came by for dinner and the movie. Taking advantage of the Japanese theme, we dined on such delicacies as vinegared squid, seaweed-wrapped rice crackers, shrimp-flavoured chips, edamame, oshinko, peanut milk soup (nobody actually tried this), and for the main course, udon noodle bowls with "add your own" chicken, "shabu-shabu" pork slices, shitakes, lotus root, baby bok choy, fried tofu and some very strange-looking mutant mushrooms that were delicious, wok-cooked with garlic and ginger.

Beers were plentiful; taking advantage, again, of the Japanese theme, we indulged in the wonderfully innovative beers from the Kiuchi brewery in Japan, enjoying JCA, Red Rice Ale, 3 Days Sour, and their Yuzu wine. (Plus some Karatamba sake, a favourite of mine).......

.....and, Mr Cicerone's titular Dai Nippon Jinger, and Smelly Monster IPA (We'd forgotten that the creature was actually called "Stink Monster").

Hai!

Happy Australia Day!

2012-01-26T22:26:00.000-05:00

"This here's the wattle, symbol of our land. You can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand."

It's Australia Day. January 26. It commemorates the arrival at Botany Bay, Sydney Cove, of the First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, declaring "here we are", in 1788.

For us it means another excuse to cook, eat and drink beer. Shame on me, but due to poor forward planning on my part I failed to secure the ingredients to make such Aussie delicacies as sausage rolls, pavlova, or a favourite, rabbit and prunes braised in Cooper's Stout. So, we ended up eating a pork tenderloin sauteed in a chipotle salsa, with Mexican rice. Delicious, but hardly Australian fare! (Beers to go with were Mikkeller Chipotle Porter, Mmmmm!, and Mr Cicerone's big, malty Citra IPA, which was a perfect malty contrast to the spicy salsa.). Post dinner Sam Adams Vixen proved to be lovely; but I couldn't find much chili flavour.. Chocolate- yes, slightly, and this beer DID taste like bock (malt forward, rich, pruney notes like Celebrator), and maybe just a HINT of cinnamon. (I wonder, if at a couple of months old, the chili notes have died already.) Regardless, it's quite lovely, and a nice follow up to dinner.

Here's to all things Dinki Di!

A belated New year's Eve post....

2012-01-22T15:01:00.000-05:00

....in pictures.
The evening started with Bell's Q. Falls with cheese, and a great brown ale from Cisco of Nantucket.

Whiteout Wit from Anchorage, fermented wit Bret. Wow.

Say no more....(as good as ever.)

It's back after an absence, though this was an older bottle that held up really well.

When I looked at the pictures the next day I found this one.....Huh? When? Who?

This Week in Beer Packaging

2012-01-13T17:49:00.000-05:00

Logbook notes:

#355 SunuvaBuster: Burnt toffee, bitter chocolate, coffee in aroma, bitter choc and coffee dominate flavor, long bittersweet Centennial finish. Dark, dark brown verging on black.

#356 Matmos: Veeerry faint spice, cardamom. Faint traces of ginger and cardamom in flavor. Lightly malty, a bit earthy from rye. Might be a faint cayenne heat in there somewhere. Clear dark amber.

#354 Buster 2011: Racked into 2 5 gallon carboys, each containing 2-1/4 lbs. coarsely chopped prunes. Good attenuation so far, down to 1.032 from 1.113. Bitter, roasty, sweet, alcoholic; a long ways to go, yet.

Movie must!

2012-01-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi. Can't wait!

Brew Day, Batch 356: Matmos Ale

2011-12-29T18:49:00.000-05:00

Another beer where the name came first! We were talking about future Movie Nights, and agreed that Barbarella is on the list.

Don't let the picture of a young, hot Jane Fonda in a sexy outfit snare you; this movie kills brain cells faster than crack.

In this comically bad 1968 sci-fi movie, the dangerous city of Sogo "where a new sin is invented every hour," sits above a subterranean lake filled with an evil sentient goop called "the Matmos." Mrs. C., Uncle Dave, and I figured we needed Matmos Ale for a Barbarella movie night.

Hm. Well, the Matmos seemed to be rather viscous, so right away that points to some good ol' flaked rye. Since it's evil, it ought to be dark. The beer will be pretty highly carbonated as it is supposed to be 'alive.' After coming up with these easy parts, I tossed the formulation over to the voices in my head for consultation, and this is what we came up with:

10 gallon recipe

10 lbs. Briess 2 row pale malt
2 lbs. Weyermann Munich II
2 lbs. flaked rye
1/2 lb. Briess crystal 40L
1/2 lb. Briess crystal 80L
1/2 lb. Dingemans Special B
0.9 oz. Nugget hops 12% alpha (60 min.)
1.0 oz. Nugget hops 12% alpha (20 min.)
1/2 c cocoa powder (10 min.)
1/2 t powdered ginger (10 min.)
1/2 t powdered cardamom (10 min.)
1/2 t powdered cayenne (10 min.)
Wyeast 1098 ale yeast

Weird, eh? The mash was a single infusion at 148F. Once the wort was boiled and cooled we had 10.5 gallons at OG 1.052, a little higher than I'd planned. The beer will be a dark amber color, heavy bodied, with a range of malty flavors including toast, toffee, chocolate, prune, and a spicy, earthy flavor from the rye. The spices are all at (hopefully,) a level where they should not be directly discernible, but should enhance the rye and specialty malt flavors. We will see....

Ashley's Belgian Fest

2011-12-28T10:03:00.000-05:00

Ashley's Westland is holding its second annual Belgian Fest from February 9 until February 19, 2012. Last year we attended a couple of the events - the highlight for us being "Sour Fest". Here's a peek at some of the line-up for this year.

Brew Day, Batch 355: SunuvaBuster 2011

2011-12-27T22:43:00.001-05:00

Buster was actually brewed yesterday. Today, I took 10 gallons of extra sweet wort I'd collected yesterday while Buster was boiling, topped the kettle up to 12 gallons, and made some Bonus Beer. Tasting the sweet wort, I found it to be decidedly chocolatey tasting. I didn't want to distract from that too much, and so added only one kettle addition of Centennial hops to an estimated 35 BU. Centennial hops, to my taste, contribute a distinctive candy-like bittersweet character when used as a kettle (bittering) hop. The finished OG was a whopping 1.042, and I expect it to attenuate pretty well. We could be drinking this beer pretty soon, I reckon, depending on tap spots....

Brew Day, Batch 354: Buster 2011

2011-12-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

As in years past, the "Buster" beer for 2011 will be 1) massive, 2) unconventional in some way. This year, I began thinking along the lines of an Imperial stout with some sort of odd fruit adjunct such as dates or raisins or prunes. The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea of prunes- a prune-like flavor is pretty natural in a strong dark beer, especially an aged one, as this one would be. Plus, drawing on my Cicerone skills, I have determined that prunes taste dandy. I discussed recipe formulation with my co-conspirator Skip, telling him that I was thinking Imperial stout with some sort of fruit, and he said, without a pause, "Prunes!" Done, and done.

Now, the prunes won't come into play until after the wort is fermented; we will rack the green beer onto a couple pounds, coarsely chopped, in each of two five gallon secondary fermenters.

What did come into play was a lot of malt. A. Lot. Here's the grain bill for 10 gallons:

48 lbs. Muntons Marris Otter Pale Ale malt
1 1/2 lbs. Briess 40L Crystal
1 1/2 lbs. Briess 80L Crystal
1/2 lb. Dingemanns Special B
2 lbs. Fawcett Light Chocolate malt
2 lbs. British roasted barley

This lot was infusion mashed in two cooler type mash/lauter tuns at around 152F with 1qt./lb for around 90 minutes. First runnings yielded only about 8 gallons, so we sparged both mashes a bit to collect a total of about 13-1/2 gallons in the kettle. Once this was reduced to a wee bit over 10 gallons, the ol'l hydrometer read 1.113. Whoa. Cool.

When the volume in the kettle got down to about 12 gallons, we started tracking time. 30 minutes from that point, we added about 2 ounces of Magnum at 20.5% alpha, and one ounce of Nugget at 12%. 40 minutes later, an ounce of Mt. Hood went into the kettle. The extremely scientific calculations underlying these additions have us in the neighborhood of 85 BUs total.

Once cooled, this very heavy wort was turned over to a healthy slurry of Wyeast 1056, which tore into it like a starving wolverine attacking a juicy hamster. Stay tuned....

We have it all!

2011-12-27T20:04:00.001-05:00

The end result of this

We tried Mr Cicerone's Wee Heavy ( just a tad too lightweight for this incredibly rich boozy pudding, but close),
Mr Cicerone's Buster '09 (one of my favourite beers EVER, but the pudding made the beer taste too bitter), and Mr Cicerone's Buster 2010- perfect! It takes one MIGHTY beer to stand up to this dessert.

Potato latkes for Chanukah, along with, er, ham and shrimp?

Among the many beers consumed, the "official" Chanukah beer is always He'Brew "Origin" pomegranate ale.

Brewing Buster....

2011-12-26T16:11:00.006-05:00

As I type, Mr Cicerone is all-consumed brewing Buster 2011, an Imperial Stout, with an er, secret ingredient to be added later. Here's some pictures.....


Lots of malt. Two mash tuns. Ready to go.

Filling the second mash tun. It (almost) doesn't fit.

Mr Cicerone needs a boost.


Stirring the porridge

Getting help lifting the mash tun from our friend Aaron, the Stone rep who left us for Chicago.

Mash. Vorlauf. Running in.

All in.

Hop Babes Nicole and Mrs. C add the first charge of hops.


Sloooowly running in to the carboys.

Git yer own!

Christmas Eve, Cicerone Style

2011-12-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

Aperitif: Bridgeport Hop Harvest Ale, a fresh hopped Imperial IPA. Massively bitter, fairly light bodied, and nary a whiff of grass clippings, cat byproducts, or any such unpleasantness. Awwright!

We enjoyed the IPA with some of our favorite cheeses, Manchego, Wensleydale, and Farm Country Truffle, while waiting for our porcini-crusted lamb shanks to sloooowly roast. When the bomber of IPA ran out, we dialed the throttle back a bit and enjoyed some special bitter from downstairs, which despite its diminutive OG, was actually a better partner with all of the cheeses. This keg was dry hopped with Northern Brewer, and is gulpably good, to use more of that fancy Ciceroney language.

Main course: Lamb shanks slow roasted with a paste rub of garlic, shallot, thyme, and rosemary, and finished with dried porcini crumb crust. A sauce made with pan drippings, and a deglaze using Buster 2010 Uber-doppelbock. Plated up with some steamed spinach and mashed rutabaga, to catch all the tasty drippin's. Beer: Allagash Musette, a Belgian style Scotch ale aged (partially) in a bourbon cask. The Musette was deliciously malty; the booze character was minimal.

Dessert beer: 2010 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. Woof. Veery boozy and a bit hot. Wish we'd let this one rest another, say, 5-10 years.

All of this occurred in front of a cheery fire. And to all, a good night....

A reminder....

2011-12-24T18:49:00.001-05:00

....to go to The Oak Cafe. Here's what we had there last night, on tap.....

Bell's Best Brown Ale- cask-conditioned!
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Short's Sour Puss (Wow! Forget Key Lime Pie and S'Mores Stout! Make more of this!!)
Anderson Valley Winter Solstice
Well's Banana Bread Beer (never seen this on tap before)
(Sierra Nevada) Ovila Dubbel
B. Nektar Zombie Killer Cherry Cyser (Really well done!)
Great Divide Oak-aged Yeti Chocolate (Hints of cayenne. WOW!)

I couldn't manage any Goose Island Matilda or Gouden Carolus Noel. Shame.

Go!

Whoa.

2011-12-24T10:22:00.006-05:00

Because Mrs. Cicerone is clever, we had an amazing dinner last week. Duck confit risotto with Infinium. I'm going to have to shift into hyper-technical Ciceroney talk to describe the Infinium: Wow.

Life is gooood.

But, seriously, wow. As many know, there was a problem with many bottles of the first go-around of Infinium; they were overrun by the dread spoiler diacetyl. Not so with this subsequent batch; it is, I imagine, what was intended by the evil geniuses that conceived of this project. This 10% all malt beer has a subdued nose that reminds one of a "wheat wine" such as Two Brothers Bare Tree, which follows into the strongly malty flavor, with flavors of golden raisins, concentrated pilsner malt, apricot, and noble hop. Then, ...a vanishingly dry finish.The attenuation of this beer is nothing short of amazing. Details are scarce on the patentedTM process behind it, but some here at Chez Cicerone suspect a veeery low-n-slow mash. Check it out if you can find some.

And, on the way home......

2011-12-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

......a stop at Dark Horse for the 4 Elf party

...where we shared a beer (Mr Cicerone- Rod, me- Fore Smoked stout) with.....


Barry & Kathy Johnson of Saugatuck. Brewing. Barry IS Saugatuck Brewing. We also run into him everywhere we go.

And....we had a few fun moments with.....

Scotty Karate!

And, ate a little of this, too......

Another Eccentric Day, enjoyed and survived!

2011-12-18T13:12:00.001-05:00

Let's see.....we had Two Hearted, Christmas Ale, Amber Ale, Oarsman, Sparkling (sorry, just don't like this beer), Harvest Ale (mmmm, interesting and delicious malt character, hoppy and good), golden rye (wish I could get a lot more of this), Exp Hop 2011-1 (I didn't recommend this one to Mr Cicerone. Read why.), Oracle DIPA, Kalamazoo Stout (first beer of the day), Java stout, Expedition, Rye stout, Smoked stout (yeh!), Harry Magill's & Eccentric Ale.

The food did not disappoint either, there being lots of good fishy things, good cheese, pickled eggs, smoked wild boar, head cheese chock full o' tongue (mmmm), and a large pot of spicy alligator gumbo.


Mr Cicerone, viewing the world through Kalamazoo Stout.

Very silly people

Now bring us some figgy pudding.....

2011-12-18T12:39:00.000-05:00


They're soaking in it.

Thanks Mike!

2011-12-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

Mmmm. Chock full of rich, crystal-like malt character, and fresh Cascadey aroma and flavour.

Idea: Feed Mayonnaise to Tunafish

2011-12-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

In a cheesy, mostly mediocre movie called "Night Shift," movie audiences were introduced to an actor named Michael Keaton, who played the character Bill "Billy Blaze" Blazejowski. A self-proclaimed "ideas man," he was always shouting his crackpot ideas (hence the title of this post) into a portable tape recorder he carried around everywhere.

Because I am not a movie character, I don't have an audible, visual, prop to show when I have Big Ideas. They just rattle around in my skull until I do something about them. So it was with the idea to Feed Barbecue Potato Chips To Chickens. Well, not exactly, but I had this idea for "Barbecue" Barbecue Chicken.

***DIGRESSION ALERT***

While I am not a purist when it comes to cooking with fire, I think a bit of consistency in terms would be helpful. Barbecue, to me, means meat cooked low and slow, usually with indirect heat from a wood or charcoal fire. This makes a reasonable distinction from grilled food, which I would define as cooked directly over a fire, ideally also wood or coals, on a (duh) grill. Then there are the myriad things described and sold as "barbecue," meaning sopping with orange, tangy sauce.

Things that are barbecue:

Carolina style pulled pork
Texas style brisket
Caribbean barbacoa

Things that are "barbecue":

Manwich, any variety
Pretty much anything called 'barbecue x' in a diner or family restaurant
Barbecue potato chips

***END DIGRESSION (We think)***

That last item is, for me, a guilty pleasure. I actually eat "barbecue" potato chips from time to time; you know, those chips covered in a bright orange powder consisting mainly of paprika, onion, garlic, cayenne, etc. I'm not proud of it, but I snack on a bag of those every so often. Well, my Big Idea was to make a version of that orange powder and rub it under the skin of a chicken before barbecuing it. Get it? Mrs. C. was underwhelmed by my flash of genius, but allowed that she would happily try some. Last Sunday was the day to try it out, so I made a fire, and mixed up some Hungarian hot paprika (lots, relatively,) a healthy pinch each of onion and garlic powder, a bit of salt, a healthy shot of powdered cayenne, and...

***ANOTHER DIGRESSION***

Several years ago, we dined at the venerable Commander's Palace in New Orleans, and one of the courses was "Tomato Dusted Soft Shell Crab," which used tomatoes from their garden which had been dehydrated and powderized. These were like the best "barbecue" potato chips ever!

***THAT WAS MERCIFULLY BRIEF***

... I didn't have any dehydrated tomato powder, but I did have sumac, which while quite different from 'mater, is tangy and sticky. So I put a double dash of that in. The powder was rubbed generously under the breast skin, less generously under the leg and thigh skin, and the remainder sprinkled in the cavity and on the skin. A small onion, cut in half, was also placed in the cavity, and the whole bird barbecued for around 4 hours at a moderate temperate, mostly around 200F-225F, in the BBQ chamber. And... pretty tasty! Of course, one would have to try pretty hard to mess up the deliciousness that is a smokey, juicy, slow-cooked-for-hours-inside-its-own-skin chicken. And if one has fresh Munich-style helles on tap, minor cooking mistakes will likely go unnoticed. Future experiments will feature an attempt to reach more areas under the skin with the rub. Next Big Idea....

Brew Day, Batch 353: X-Treem IPA

2011-12-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Well, from my point of view, anyways. There was a time when IPAs were not all a minimum of 7% and 70 BUs. My regular version is in the 5.5-6.0% range, 55-60 BUs, but today I wanted to experiment with the fresh Citra hops I'd just got in, and one thing led to another.... Today's beer is going to be in the 7% range, deep amber, 70+ BUs from 4 additions of Citra. Because these hops seem to be pretty resiny, the grist is designed to provide a lot of richness to support them. The following sketchy recipe is for 10 gallons:

17 #  Briess 2 row

3  #  Weyermann Munich 2

1  #  Briess Crystal 40L

1/2#  Briess Crystal 80L

1/4#  Fawcett light chocolate

1 oz  Citra 13.7% alpha (60 min.)

2 oz  Citra 13.7% alpha (30 min.)

1.5oz Citra 13.7% alpha (20 min.)

1.5oz Citra 13.7% alpha (10 min.)

Single temp infusion mash at 150F, 1qt./lb.
OG 1.068
I'm using a healthy slurry of Wyeast 1056, but yeast strain is not critical with this XTRREEM ingredient bill.

Honestly, I'm a bit scared that this will be too resiny and stinky for my taste. If it's too much for me and Mrs. C., I may be advertising a half-pound of hops and a couple kegs 'free to good home.'

Only 5 days to go.....

2011-12-05T12:43:00.000-05:00

....until Eccentric Day!

(More)

(More)

Ode to a haggis....

2011-12-05T12:33:00.000-05:00

I love haggis!

Luckily, getting some is easy, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Battle Creek in early December. You might be lucky enough to be at Arcadia Brewery on their annual anniversary celebration, an occasion featuring not only great beer....not only haggis....but Tim Suprise himself addressing the haggis! This year was their 15th anniversary. (Congratulations Tim, Josh, Stacey, Rick, and everyone involved with this wonderful brewery!)

We dined well on haggis....wanna know a big secret? Haggis is NOT the nasty, slimy brains-of-a-she-monster thing that everyone seems to think it is. It's MEATLOAF. Yes, there are organy bits in there, and maybe it's cooked inside a sheep stomach, but it's chock full of spices, and oats, and it tastes great. Even Uncle Dave liked it!

See? Meatloaf!

Arcadia brought out two versions of an 15th anniversary ale this year, for sale only at the brewery on celebration day. The base beer was a strong brown ale brewed with tart cherries. Anniversary 15 was this beer aged in bourbon barrels. Anniversary XV was this beer aged in red wine barrels. Sadly, on the day yours truly was suffering a terrible cold that totally killed her taste buds, with beer being the big loser. So, no report! I couldn't taste much! (I still can't, and haven't enjoyed a beer for nearly a week!!)

A belated, and quick Thanksgiving post

2011-12-04T17:39:00.000-05:00

Due to important things, oh like flying to California to see Mr Cicerone's first grandchild, we haven't posted anything about this year's Thanksgiving feast. So, it's brief, but here we go....

Mother O' Mr Cicerone offered to host, and though that means some compromising with the menu, we were only too happy this year to drive the 5 blocks there, rather than spend three days in preparation doing it at Chez Cicerone. (Let's just say that due to a combination of work, a grandchild and USPS we just didn't have the time this year.) Turkey, gravy and mashed potato were made by our hosts. Oh, and this too, being the only vegetable that Dad O'Cicerone will eat.....

That left us, and my sister-in-law, a creative and good cook, to bring the rest!
APPETIZERS Hot crabby dip. Mmm. Cheese. Mmm. Cheese-stuffed dates with prosciutto. Mmm. Gougeres.
Beers with appetizers were Mr Cicerone's "Atmospherium" saison, Les Deux Brasseurs (sadly past its prime), Jolly Pumpkin Lupulo de Hielo, and a bottle of good Champagne to toast the latest addition to our family.
SOUP I made a delicious squash soup spiced with Garam Masala and other Indian spices. I'd used some of Mr Cicerone's Wee Heavy in the soup, and this went perfectly wth the soup. New Holland's Beerhive Tripel was also good, though a tad sweet for the soup.
SIDES WITH TURKEY Yay! Oyster and shiitake dressing. Spectacular! Greek salad with lots of feta and some pomegranate seeds. My sister-in-law made a sausage and apple dressing, roasted brussel sprouts, peas with pancetta (yum), and a great cranberry and orange sauce. The turkey was pretty good, considering it was done at the most basic level (frozen turkey, not brined.) Uncle Dave fancied up the potatoes with bacon. Beers - it was a "let's just take all these beers that have been sitting in our fridge forever and drink them" occasion. So we did. Russian River Damnation 23 (nice, oakey, orangey notes) and Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin were drunk and enjoyed. Plus Mr Cicerone's Bitter & Goose Island's Winter Mild.
DESSERT Pumpkin pies by my sister-in-law, which I'm sure were delicious, but I'm not much of a "pah" eater, so skipped it. We'd made caramel ice cream earlier that week, and that, with Mr Cicerone's Wee Heavy, ended the meal on a great note.

After dinner Mr Cicerone's Buster 2010 made us all drunk, though we wept tears of joy at the incredible deliciousness of this beer as we imbibed.....

A chip off the old block...or Baby's first outing.

2011-11-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

Mr Cicerone's first grandchild Mia (being held by Son O'Cicerone). 4 days old; her first outing is to a brewpub.

Brew Day, Batch 352: Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale

2011-11-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

A favorite.

A recipe:

10 US gallons

Mash:

11   lb. pale 2 row malt

5    lb. Munich malt

2    lb. flaked rye 

1/4  lb. Special B

Infusion mash 1 qt./lb. at 150-152F. Rye can make for a slow runoff, so consider doing a mashoff with an infusion of boiling water.

Boil:

1 1/2  oz. Centennial 10.5 % for 60 min.

1/2    oz. Cascade 8.6% for 15 min.

1/2    oz. Cascade 8.6% for 5 min. 

2      oz. coarsely ground Tellicherry pepper for 5 min.

Total estimated BU is around 35.

 OG around 1.055ish.

Chill and pitch with ale yeast; I like to use Wyeast 1098 for a wee bit of esteriness, but this is really an ingredient-driven beer, so don't sweat yeast choice.

Dinner!

2011-11-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

Quick post on a truly delicious dinner! Gnocci (store bought) with home-made pesto (garden-grown basil), garnished with toasted pine nuts and fresh Parmigiano. Beer- 5 Rabbit Brewery- 5 Vulture Oaxacan-style ale brewed with ancho chili and piloncillo sugar.

I'd purchased this beer last weekend while in Chicago, and was dying to try it. We popped open a bottle while preparing dinner, and found it tasted wonderful with our basic vinaigrette-dressed salad that incorporated greens and red bell peppers. Mr Cicerone's dry-hopped-with-Goldings-Bitter was our beer of choice with the gnocci, but we also found that the rich malt character and nice mild chili flavour paired nicely with the pesto sauce.

Note- I am to believe that the 5 Rabbit guys, yet to own their own brewery, have just started to brew their beers at our very own Saugatuck Brewery! I had a pint of their Vida y Muerte ale at Hopleaf in Chicago this past weekend, their first beer brewed at Saugatuck.

5 Rabbit Vida y Muerte Harvest Ale
"For fall, we wanted to make a beer that celebrates the spirit of the harvest season. The beer itself is loosely based on an Oktoberfest/märzen style, a rich, caramelly beer. Our version, which we call a "müerzen," is fermented with ale yeast for a slight fruitiness, and has some very nontraditional ingredients in it. First is dulce de leche, a delicious milk caramel popular throughout Latin America. It brings a delicate carameliness to the beer, plus a touch of milk sugar, which being unfermentable, adds a very slight sweetness to the finished beer. In addition, we chose some spices to give the beer a delicate spiciness that is a bit reminiscent of graham crackers."

(The beer tasted of malt, cinnamon and anise. Delicious!)

The Rockery rocks!

2011-11-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

The Rockery in Wyandotte have an amazing Michigan beer selection that just keeps getting better. The Lovely Melanie has just announced the inaugural meeting for the Downriver Women's Craft Beer Lovers Society at The Rockery on Thursday December 8 at 7PM. More details here if you use Facebook.

See you there!!

Brew Day, Batch 351: Return of Leap Beer

2011-11-13T16:54:00.001-05:00

A long, long, time ago, in a brewery far away... uh, OK, 15 years ago, several blocks from here, I made my first beer with rye as an adjunct. I had seen scant mention of rye in the brewing literature, but knew it was used occasionally in some way. I picked up a small amount of flaked rye on a whim one day, and decided to include it in a batch of simple ale to see what it was like. My wife-of-those-days questioned the wisdom of using this unknown adjunct without following some sort of recipe or procedure, but I countered with the point that it was February 29, and I was taking a leap. Not much of a leap, really- it was a pre-gelatinized cereal, and only 15% of the grist, the bulk of which was good old super-diastatic Briess 2 row. But Leap Beer was kind of a fun name, so it stuck. And we loved the beer. It was your basic blond ale with a little spicy something extra, and the unexpectedly heavy body that rye brings. Many subsequent batches of beer included rye, but I never made anything like that first experimental ale again, until today. Technical geekery below the fold:

There's been a bit of improvising, as I try to translate the stovetop step infusion mash of the original beer into my basement brewery of today. The main problem is that in the stovetop days, I could apply heat to my mashing pot if needed. Fire would ruin my plastic cooler based mash/lauter vessel pretty quickly, which means I have to depend on infusions of boiling liquor to boost the mash temp. These have proved hard to calculate in advance, mainly due to lack of practice. In recent years, I've only done a few step infusion mashes, for a couple of reasons:

Most beers made from modern malts don't require it. Protein and enzyme levels are carefully controlled by the maltster.
The small efficiency gain is not worth the extra trouble. Add another pound of malt to the mash, and cut a half an hour or so off of your brew day.
The aforementioned thing about melting the mash tun.

Every once in a while, a recipe might make it worthwhile. You want your saison to be super-dry, for example, or you are using a weird adjunct with a lot of gums and proteins. Actually, in the case of today's beer, it's very likely unnecessary, since we're only talking 15% of the grist. The only reason I opted for the 'more work' option is that this beer is going to be pretty pale, and I would like it to be bright and clear. Time will tell, or more accurately, hint, as to whether the extra work is worth it.

This lot is prelude to including an actual recipe, which I'm told would be appreciated. (Hey, Kenny!)

Leap Beer #2, 10 gallons

12   lb. Briess 2 row

2    lb. Flaked rye

1    lb. Briess crystal 40

2.6  oz. Willamette hops, 4% alpha for 60 minutes

1    oz. Cascade hops, 5.9% alpha for 20 minutes

Wyeast 1056 American Ale starter

Doughed in with 1qt./lb. at 132F for 122F protein rest (of questionable value, as noted above,) for 30 min.

Boosted temp to 148F with infusions of boiling water. Rested approx. 60 min.

(I'd probably do 1qt./lb. at 150F if doing the single infusion.)

Total kettle boil is 90 minutes. This allows for a good hot break before the first hop addition, which helps clean up some of the products of a less than picture-perfect mash.

We'll see what we get....

Update: Those hop additions were set up to yield 25 BU, and the target OG was 1.045, with 1.046 actual....

A Tap Handle For Buster

2011-11-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

My friend Dan used to have a tap handle that was a spring-loaded wiggly hula girl. This tap handle was so cool that you would actually drink more of whatever beer it was dispensing than you would otherwise, just for the fun of operating the tap. I recently made a tap handle that might have a similar effect on the drinker, made more dangerous by the beer it was designed for, Buster. Also, Buster. Check it out:

Hey, hey, hey! Let's get drunk!

Movie night....

2011-11-07T22:39:00.001-05:00

...at The "New Burton Theatre", AKA Chez Cicerone.
(Named as such after the original Burton closed, though I believe it has opened again. So, we're the "New Burton", and they are the "New Old Burton"?)

Besides all things Ciceroney, I'm a big independent movie nut. Nothing makes me happier than combining my love of beer and food with the delights of interesting and different movies. I've seen countless independent, foreign & "arty farty" movies, and wish I'd started and kept some sort of listing when I first discovered there was something more to movies than "Rocky" which everybody was raving about, and which I have never seen to this day. Aptly, I think my first foreign movie was Tampopo, a bizarre Japanese movie about food.
Anyway, Mr Cicerone surprised me over the summer with a projector and screen all set up in the basement. So we can have many more movie nights, like this.
This past Sunday it was Leningrad Cowboys Go America, an old favourite from that strange Fin, Aki Kaurismaki.

The Cowboys.

Dinner was onions. Amongst many other good things. Many beers were drunk, including Einbecker Maibock and Mr Cicerone's Buster 2009 and 2010.We did consider Wodka, but hey, we're beer people!

Previous Movie Nights included The Room and Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster. (Slight digression- Mr Cicerone and I watched this movie the very first time we spent an evening together. It was a very promising start to our future together!) Future Movie nights will include such gems as The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T, Barbarella, The Abominable Dr Phibes, Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, Triplets of Belleville, and many more.

Doing what we do.....

2011-11-07T22:13:00.000-05:00

Dinner at home- rack of lamb, rubbed with a Moroccan spice blend of cumin, sweet paprika, cayenne, ginger, cloves, turmeric, nutmeg & coriander. (Delicious!!) Spinach- simply done. Israeli couscous infused with garlic and preserved lemon. And our second last home-grown Caspian Pink heirloom tomato. Served with The Bruery/Cigar City collaboration beer, Marron Acidifie Oud Bruin. Wonderful.

Brew Day, Batch 350: Nugget Pale Ale

2011-11-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

Mmm, my most favoritest pale ale ever. American Pale Ale, target gravity 1.048, 45 BUs from 3 additions of the esteemed Nugget variety of hops. I usually tell people that this one is exactly how the voices in my head described it. Closer to the truth would be that it's what I've settled on after brewing many, many batches of pale ale. Because the voices said to....

Brew Day, Batch 349: Rauchbier

2011-11-04T18:50:00.000-04:00

Ja... rauchbier! 'Bout damn time. We're looking at high 1.050s and 24 BU, with a medium to dark amber color from 2/3 home-smoked rauchmalz, and 1/3 a blend of Weyermann Munich 1 and 2 (mostly 1.) I'm cutting the rauchmalt on this one because it's the first significant use of this batch and thus somewhat unknown- I expect the beer to be somewhere between the light smokiness of Spezial and the robust smokiness of Schlenkerla. I further expect some rich malt flavor from the good Deutscher malt and a decoction mash. Fortunately, the hot, steamy work of conducting said mash is made easier by Batch 346, a nicely balanced, dry-hopped, under-4% ale....

Brew Day, Batch 348: Return of Winter Ginger

2011-10-25T19:17:00.000-04:00

Is 6lbs./bbl. too much ginger? Not in this beer, which has lots of heavy duty malt character from Pils, dark Munich, and a bit of CaraMunich, to about 7% v/v. It does take a while for it to mature, though....

Mrs. C In EID

2011-10-18T13:57:00.000-04:00

Nicole of awesome foodie blog Eat It Detroit, formerly known as Dining In Detroit, dropped in on Annette at the store Saturday, one thing led to another, and... check out the nice story and pix here.

More CBS fun

2011-10-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

Miss Eat It Detroit, Nicole, joined in the fun at Merchant's this past Saturday, too. Here are her pictures...

Beer Week! Whooo!!

2011-10-18T11:57:00.000-04:00

This week, we are on the "Beer Dinner A Day" diet, a grueling marathon. The first event, the Dogfish Head dinner at Slows, was amazing; Mrs. C has loads of food-porn pix, and will recap the dinner, but just let me say, Whooo!!

It warms my heart to see a beer dinner at Slows again after so much time off, and to see Chef Brian and Chef Mike so happy to be doing what they do so well. Can't wait for the next one. Meantime, we're off to Foran's Grand Trunk tonight for a dinner featuring Barry Johnson's Saugatuck Brewing Co. beers.

We worship and adore you O! CBS.....

2011-10-17T13:06:00.001-04:00

My customers, struck speechless, immediately dropped to their knees upon sighting the Holy Grail.....

Mrs Cicerone & Miss Eat It Detroit with the Sacred Object.

Detroit Beer Week is upon us!

2011-10-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

Check out the menu for tonight's Dogfish Head dinner at Slows.

The menu for tomorrow night's dinner at Cliff Bell's with Dragonmead and Kuhnhenn is here.

The Saugatuck Brewing beer dinner at Foran's Grand Trunk pub, also tomorrow evening, is sold out. The menu has not been posted anywhere. We'll report on it after the fact!

Wednesday brings Beer VS Wine with cheese & charcuterie. Can't wait for this one! Last year Mr Cicerone and I did the cheese portion, but this year we're free to just go and enjoy!

Wednesday also brings Short's beer dinner at Andiamo, Dearborn. The menu has not been posted, but these are the beers......
Andiamo/Short's Beer Dinner Beers:
Bellaire Brown
Huma Lupa Licious
Autumn Ale
Mystery Stout
The Soft Parade

Thursday sees Bell's at The Rattlesnake Club. Check out this menu.....

And, I just read that Portofino in Wyandotte will be hosting another Saugatuck Brewing dinner on Thursday. Here's the details so far....

There's also a bunch of Happy Hours, including a Sour Hour at Slows On Wednesday, a Founders event on Thursday with a KEG OF CBS (see next post!), and other interesting events, like this one....., and this one.....and this one....

Full list available here.

Beer dinners- past, and future!

2011-10-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

Dessert- Caramel mouse, eeer...mousse, with chocolate pot au creme & hazelnut ice cream. Paired with Sam Adams Cream Stout.

We attended a spectacular Sam Adams beer dinner at Wolfgang Puck Grille last week. Chef Marc did another incredible job pairing five beers with 5 mouth-watering courses. Miss Jessica, the Sam Adams rep, did a wonderful job presenting the dinner, and talking about the company and the beers.
APPETIZERS- Shrimp tempura, crab cakes, tuna tartare- all paired with the lovely lemony Coastal Wheat.
TWO- Sauteed red snapper, mussels, caramelized cauliflower, pepperoni & saffron beurre blanc- paired with Sam Adams Imperial White Ale ( delicious malty, spicy wheat wine). This was Chef Marc's homage to paella!
THREE - Roasted pork tenderloin with cabbage, confit of bacon, cider glaze & mustard sauce-paired with Sam Adams Oktoberfest marzen. Mmm, Mmm.
FOUR - Beef tenderloin with cipollini onion, blue cheese, cabernet reduction & fingerling potato, paired with Sam Adams Boston Lager. A rich, intensely flavoured dish on many levels that may have been a little better matched with a slightly stronger flavoured beer (Black lager or Boston ale would be my first pick from their portfolio), but the Boston Lager was pretty close to matching the intensity. Boston Lager is a delicious, flavourful, and often overlooked beer....
DESSERT- delicious on all accounts. A great match.
Thanks once again to Jessica, Chef Marc, and the entire team at Wolfgang Puck Grille for their exceptional service.

UPCOMING BEER DINNERS....
Detroit Beer Week is upon us again. Apart from a bunch of beery events, there's a slew of beer dinners that are not to be missed!
Monday October 17- details not finalised yet, but Slows are having a Dogfish Head beer dinner.
Tuesday October 18 - Cliff Bell's Dragonmead/Kuhnhenn beer dinner, AND Foran's Grand Trunk Pub Saugatuck Brewing Beer Dinner, which I think is sold out.
Wednesday October 19 - Andiamo Dearborn's Short's beer dinner
Thursday October 20 - Rattlesnake Club Bell's beer dinner

Get ready to loosen your belts!

We need proper bagels in Detroit!

2011-10-08T18:31:00.001-04:00

As it stands now, I shlep to Elaine's Bagels in Berkley once a month just to buy bagels. Because bread baked in a circle with a hole in the middle is NOT necessarily a bagel.

The Detroit Institute of Bagels is coming. Vote for them here so they win the Hatch Detroit competition, which gives them $50,000 to set up shop.

Brew Day, Batch 347: Helles

2011-10-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

First lager of the fall, which should be ready around November feasting time. And a good thing, too, because hellesbier has quite the affinity for food. Today's targets: OG 1.044-1.048 from Pils malt with 10% or so light Munich malt, and 22 BU from Sterling and/or Perle, with a nice dose of Saaz for flavor and aroma. The esteemed Wyeast 2308 Munich lager will handle the alchemical portion of the job.

Side note at the bottom: I note happily that the tap water temperature hereabouts is finally below 70F and dropping, good news for those of us who depend on it to chill down boiling hot wort.

Side note at the bottom #2: Today is undoubtedly the last Saturday this year where the mercury hits 80F outside, so here I am, in the basement....

Detroit Beer Week Approaches

2011-10-07T17:39:00.002-04:00

We're still a bit short on details, but here is the executive summary:

When: October 13-23, 2011
What: Beer related special events
Where: All of your favorite beery places around town
Who: All of us!
Why: Beer! Whoooo!!
How: Show up thirsty....

A growing list of some of the events can be seen here.

We would also like to point out that the Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Festival will be on the 22nd at Eastern Market. Whooo!

Tonight at Fort Street

2011-10-06T08:58:00.000-04:00

We'll let Doug tell it:

This Thursday, October 6th at 8ish p.m., we'll tap our 189th cask-conditioned beer. "Ginger On The Bottom", is actually a cask-conditioned lager. The base beer is one of those "when ya gonna have an Oktoberfest beer on tap?" beers. To the cask, we added fresh peeled ginger. If you like ginger snaps, ginger ale, Ginger from Gilligan's Island, or pestering me about why we don't have an Oktoberfest beer on tap, you're sure to love this beer! As always, we'll have free beer and autographed photos of Tina Louise for a few lucky folks in attendance at the tapping!

Mmmm, ginger....

Brew Day, Batch 346: Bitter

2011-10-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

Target gravity 1.038-1.042 from Marris Otter plus 3% 80L crystal, 30 BUs from Mt. Hood, with a nice big late dose of Northern Brewer. Northern Brewer, to my senses, gives an interesting blend of flavors, with tea, mint, and wood chief among them. Fermentation to be carried out by W1056, which, while not exactly ideal for this beer, gets the job done reliably. If it does a good job with this wort, I just might give it something more challenging to do....

Sunday afternoon....

2011-10-03T17:35:00.002-04:00

We spent yesterday afternoon drinking some fine beers at Tashmoo Biergarten, Detroit. Some innovative people have created a temporary beer garden of sorts in a vacant residential lot there. They managed to get the licenses involved to pour and charge for beer, and I'm sure proceeds will be going to local charities. It runs for 5 Sunday afternoons.
It's outdoors, and there's no tents or any other cover, so as long as it doesn't rain.....Beer are poured from a temporary bar toward the back of the lot, and people sit at very cool communal tables made from old doors atop trestles (I love these!).
The beers were great- Jolly Pumpkin Bambiere and La Parcela (their pumpkin beer) for $6 a pint, and MillKing It BRIK Irish-style Red & AXL Pale Ale, New Holland Poet Stout, and...I think there was one more, for $4 a pint. There were 2 food booths- brats and perogies, both sourced locally.
There was a good crowd there, despite the chilly day!

Double take

2011-10-03T17:19:00.000-04:00

Thanks to The Rockery for hosting a fun evening last Wednesday. Scotty Karate, AND Scotty Karate. And a bunch of other Dark Horse beers.

Brewdog Insanity, round two!

2011-10-02T13:13:00.001-04:00

A couple of months ago we went over to our friend Richard's house to share Tactical Nuclear Penguin, a freeze-distilled beer with 32% ABV. Well, Brewdog usurped themselves with Sink The Bismark, a "quadruple IPA that contains four times the hops, four times the bitterness and frozen four times to create at a staggering 41% ABV", and a Sunday evening a few weeks ago saw us at Richard's again, with our teeny pours and scared looks on our faces.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.....

Barb, AKA Mrs Richard. (Thanks for a wonderful meal!)

Mr Cicerone's reaction- a slap on the face!

I guess I started breathing fumes.

Richard was very happy.

The beer did still taste like beer though. It had zero carbonation (unlike Penguin which had a moderate carbonation level), but the malt and hop character came through nicely, along with the HUGE alcohol. You could tell that this was (once) an IPA!

A pre-dinner cocktail of Cascade Kriek. Woody and sour, and very good!

This is what he was talking about....

2011-10-02T12:42:00.000-04:00

First runnings into the kettle, boiling and reducing away....

Brew Day, Batch 345: Wee Heavy

2011-10-01T19:59:00.002-04:00

We're packaging the porter from Beer Camp #2, and I didn't want to waste such a nice fresh yeast slurry. Said slurry had to dictate what sort of beer, though, (more than usual, I mean,) as the porter contains a small bit of smoked malt. There are a few flavors that will hitch a ride on yeast, including bitterness and smoke, so today's beer had to be one that a potential smokey nuance would not ruin. While I am somewhat annoyed by the common American misconception that strong Scottish beers should have smoked malt in them, the intense malt, caramel, and smoke flavors will be nice together, and while I greatly respect tradition, and draw inspiration from it often, I am not its prison bitch. Thus, an ale made from Marris Otter malt to a gravity of around 1.075 or so, with 1% black malt. High mash temp, around 155F, and vigorously boiled wort from the time the bottom of the kettle is covered. All very Scottishy. 26 BU from one kettle addition of Northern Brewer, and we should be in good shape. The aforementioned yeast is Wyeast 1098, which we will run in the low-mid 60s. Och, laddie, 't'wull be a bonny bree....

Update: Make that OG 1.086. Whoo!

Beer Camp #2: Porter

2011-10-01T19:12:00.002-04:00

Recently, another group of folks from Slows BarBQ came over to talk beer, drink beer, and make beer. Chef Mike, Gregg, Kyle, and Slows Official Beer Mom*, Tara, spent an afternoon and evening in the brewery bunker under Chez Cicerone, crafting a batch of porter.Chef Mike Metevia is a big fan of stouts and porters, and this one is slated to be served up at a party celebrating his recent nuptials. We used my standard porter recipe, which includes crystal 40, crystal 80, chocolate, and black patent malts, as well as a wee touch of home smoked malt, on top of a Marris Otter pale ale malt base. 30 BUs from Northern Brewer and Willamette hops balance out the malt side nicely. Since this beer is going to be drunk up in the course of a couple of hours, we are dry hopping, priming, and packaging it as cask ale. Should be nice....

Chef Mike and Mr. C prepare to dough in.

An ancillary chore performed by the campers was to apply labels to the couple of cases of bombers from Beer Camp #1.

* That's like a Den Mom, only cooler. At the first Beer Camp, Tara declared that she would be attending every subsequent one. OK by us!

Merchant's event has been cancelled!

2011-09-30T15:07:00.000-04:00

Boy, this makes me sad. $30 for over 50 beers, a full buffet, a BJCP styles table, ice cream made from beer from Treat Dreams, and lots of giveaways. We didn't sell ONE SINGLE TICKET. BIG sigh.

How much can one person eat?

2011-09-27T22:33:00.006-04:00

We found out last week when we went on a 4 day eating and drinking binge to Traverse City. Wow.
Highlights....
*Incredible scenery! We climbed the big dune (Sleeping Bear), and walked o'er many a hill o'sand to (finally!) reach Lake Michigan. Driving from Bellaire to Traverse was gorgeous too, as were the turning trees everywhere!
*Beer! Including stops at Walldorff brewery in Hastings, Michigan Beer Cellars in Sparta, Short's, Right Brain (yeh!!), North Peak, and Jolly Pumpkin. This deserves its own post, and I'll set Mr Cicerone onto that, I think.
* Cider! Tandem Ciders in Suttons Bay. If only we'd been able to ride OUR tandem there. The ciders are great, especially their dry Farmhouse and the Pommeau. And the pickled eggs!
*Food! Where to start. Okay- here we go...

9 Bean Rows bakery & coffee house in Traverse City. Good coffee, lovingly prepared fresh for each patron. They had an incredible pastry selection, but not being much for sweet things at lunch, we had their quiche, made from scratch including the puff pastry crust. Delectable- the crust was flaky perfect, and the filling (spinach and goat cheese for me, and classic Lorraine for Mr Cicerone) was light, creamy and just delectable. The best quiche I've ever had.

Mission Table on the Mission Peninsula. It also houses the Jolly Pumpkin pub and restaurant. We had a fantastic dinner there, enhanced by JP Bambiere in the JP pub beforehand, JP beers paired with our meal, and more JP after dinner back at the pub.Our meal was an exquisite selection of small plates, each made from locally sourced fresh ingredients. For starters- beet & parsnip salad in a buttery sauce, and exquisite rabbit ravioli, enjoyed with JP La Parcela pumpkin beer. Next up- wild mushroom risotto, fresh (local) whitefish on a bed of white beans (Oh! This was divine!), with Jolly Pumpkin's Oro De Calabaza. Then, Madrugada Obscura stout for dessert back at the JP pub.

Brasserie Amie in Traverse City.Another place with fantastic home-made pastries. But, we opted for a savoury lunch of fried green tomatoes on corn cakes, topped with fried eggs and tomato relish, and a truffled omelet rolled around liver pate. Groan.... They have an incredible selection of Benedicts there, too, but we didn't make it back, sadly. Too many dishes, too little time!

Red Ginger in Traverse City. We enjoyed a delicious appetizer of calamari cooked in a Korean spicy orangey sauce, which we paired with Rogue's Morimoto Soba ale. Mr Cicerone was extremely pleased with his entree of Vietnamese Shaking Beef, a striking dish comprising seared beef tenderloin on a bed of baby bok choy, sweet onions and mint, all nested on a "Shanghai noodle pillow". Umami, umami, umami. Paired with Rogue Morimoto Black Obi Soba ale. Me- huge shrimp and lots of sweet crab meat atop udon noodles dressed with mustard cream and cilantro. And, a wonderfully nuanced glass of good sake.

The Cook's House in Traverse City. Our final night saw us here, at this tiny restaurant in a house, sitting at "The Chef's Table", which is a counter top, with enough space for 2, at the back of the restaurant about one foot from where Chef Eric and his team cook and plate the food. The best seat in the house if you ask me! (You have to ask to be seated here.) We spent 3 1/2 hours eating, 8 courses in all. We had chosen the 7 course tasting menu, and Chef had overheard our conversation about a particular dish that wasn't part of this menu, and he surprised us with it! The whole experience was superb. Every dish was perfect- ingredients, preparation, cooking, presentation. One of the most memorable dining experiences I've had. Watching the team work to get all the meals out was also something else. The attention to detail was extraordinary. And, every one of the kitchen staff had a smile on their face- it was truly art to them all. The restaurant is much more wine-focused than beer-focused- there was a wine pairing for every course in the tasting menu. The beer selection was small, but adequate, and we did okay with the small selection, though we did opt for wine with our steak course. Chef Eric managed to chat with us amidst his ongoing, never-ending cooking marathon, and he did say that he was just really starting to learn about craft beer and food, and announced to us that the first beer dinner there was happening soon. There's two scheduled- Right Brain and New Holland. Wish we could go!
So, I'll just post this link to all our pictures from the trip, including the meal from The Cook's House- every course pictured, including our pairings....(click on each picture to read the details.)

*Hat Shop! (We're still on the "Highlights" list.)

Non-highlights?
*Staying in Cupid's Cove at one of B & B's, chosen 100% because of its proximity to the breweries. How many angels does it take to make a room cringeable?

* Counting the teddy bears in our room at another cutesy B & B (See reason above!)
* Being woken at 8AM while on vacation, by the guests in yet the third B & B, all clomping down to communal breakfast (location, location, location!).

Smokin'

2011-09-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

I was overdue to smoke us some malt. We like our rauchbier here at Chez Cicerone. We also like to include a wee bit of smoked malt when we make porter. As we got to planning Beer Camp #2 for the Slows BarBQ folks, it became clear that it was time. See, our friend Chef Mike is going to be one of the campers this time around, and he loves him some porter. All right, then.

This is the first time I've used my current barbecue for malt smokery, but I expected it to be easy, owing to the separate firebox. I made a basket from aluminum window screen fabric, sized the same as the grill space and able to accommodate about a 3" or 4" deep load of malt. My precise calculations told me that this would equal around 20 lbs. of malt, which is a manageable amount. I moistened the malt with some fresh water, letting it get damp but not sodden, and we were off. In the firebox was lump charcoal for fuel, and water-soaked hickory and mesquite chips for smoke. 3 hours of smoke and gentle heat, with not too frequent turning, turned 20 lbs. of pilsener malt into something more like smokey Munich malt. Next day, I did 20 more. Now we just rest the malt in the open air for a few days, and bag it up until we need it. We are looking forward to the next homemade rauchbier....

At last....

2011-09-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

Possums notwithstanding, we finally sat down to one of our favourites- tomato and cheese pie! Lots of tomatoes, cheese (I use whatever I have in the fridge that needs using; this time it was smoked fresh mozzarella, manchego, a wee bit o'chevre and some pecorino), green onion & fresh herbs from the garden, binded with some mayo. And all wrapped in a buttery pate brisee crust. Mr Cicerone's Maibock (Boo hoo! It's gone!) was the perfect beery accompaniment.

Rats!

2011-09-11T17:55:00.000-04:00

Well, not rats. The day the man came and took our problem 'possum away, I came home to this:

I had not noticed another 'mater missing a bite that morning, but reckoned I had just missed it in my rush to work. Looked recent, though...
Saturday, I came outside to set to work smoking some malt for rauchbier and other treats, and thought I would first put away the live trap and clean up the smelly mess left behind by a wild animal with no understanding whatever about the proper use of indoor plumbing. Except:

Gotta rearrange my plans....

What's really funny is that I'd considered the Case of the Filched Fruits closed, and had carried the trap into the garage a couple days earlier, bait still inside, to get it out of the rain. Space is tight in our rickety old garage, so the trap got balanced on top of the only flat surface that was available at the time:

Hm.

Yep, that's what it looks like, a 3 foot long cage balanced on about a five inch wide flat spot on the top of a lawnmower, with a marsupial trapped inside. How it stayed in place the whole time is a wonder.

Well, it was relocated to a more suitable habitat, and then I set to smoking some malt. (After re-baiting the trap, to be on the safe side....)

Upcoming beer events

2011-09-07T12:31:00.000-04:00

Thursday September 15
Andiamo, Dearborn
Atwater Brewing beer dinner

Tuesday September 20
Foran's Grand Trunk Pub
Founders Beer Dinner

Friday October 7
Merchant's Fine Wine Beer tasting event at Knights of Columbus O'Kelly banquet hall, Dearborn, including cider, mead and sake. Ciceroney stuff, too ("Styles" table). Lots of food, including Dearborn Sausage Co hot dog stand, and Treat Dreams ice cream. More info on the way.....

Beer Brunch 2011

2011-09-06T21:04:00.005-04:00

It's over, again. Only 365 more days until the next one! Here's the menu....

Shipyard's XXXX IPA with grilled shrimp and pineapple tostadas. (The original beer match was Liberty Street's 42nd Parallel IPA, but it was a limited release and we were unable to acquire more.)
Mr Cicerone's Maibock with horseradish deviled eggs. (Wow!) (It was supposed to be deviled DUCK eggs, but sadly the promised duck eggs did not actualize.)
Mr Cicerone's "Buster 2010" Uber Doppelbock with grape and almond gazpacho. (This soup was really delicious and different. Green grapes, a little cucumber, toasted almonds, yoghurt, buttermilk, cream cheese, a little cayenne and fresh dill, pulverized together, and garnished with fresh red currants. We tried many beers with this dish, and only something as intensely flavoured as the chosen uber doppelbock could stand up to the soup!)
Mr Cicerone's Nugget Pale Ale with duo of toasts & marmalades (Avalon Bakery rye sourdough with blood orange marmalade, and Avalon sublimely-superbly-spectacular brioche loaf with tangerine marmalade.) (This course came about as Mr Cicerone was pondering what might taste great with his Nugget pale ale "which tastes like toast & marmalade") (Note: Trying to have 34 pieces of hot toast arrive at the table at the same time was not necessarily fun.)

Arbor Brewing's Sacred Cow IPA with chick pea curry. (Oh, look! There's Rene & Matt Greff! What a coincidence! For those unaware, they are about to open a brewpub in Bangalore, India, where Sacred Cow IPA will be renamed Raging Elephant IPA.)
Mr Cicerone's Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale & Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter with truffled macaroni & cheese. An oldie but a goodie. We used a Michigan cheese called "Truffle Jack" that had huge pieces of black truffle dispersed through it! Both beers were spectacular with it, especially the smoked porter!

INTERMEZZO Honey ginger-wheat beer paletas.

Mr Cicerone's Cask-conditioned Stout with crawfish etouffee. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Mr Cicerone's Atmospherium Saison with miso-dressed cucumbers over soba noodles. A favourite amongst the attendees.

Schlenkerla Rauchbier with bacon, lettuce, & tomato on Laugenbrotchen with chipotle mayo. That would be Nueske applewood-smoked bacon, home-grown Caspian Pink tomatoes, arugula, and home-made mayo made with some of the bacon fat and chipotle oil. (A grueling 30 minutes of continuous hand-whisking the day before. Worth it!)

Dessert: Dragonmead's Sin Eater Belgian strong ale & vanilla ice cream float.


Kitty dressed for the occasion

Mr & Mrs Cicerone, thanking everyone who came!

Tale of the Tomato Thief

2011-09-06T20:09:00.001-04:00

We have devoted more than a couple posts to fresh, ripe heirloom tomatoes, especially our prized Caspian Pinks. Each year, we start plants indoors to get a head start. This year, we used a soil testing kit to help us optimize the conditions for the luscious fruit. We got huge plants, lots of flowers, but... not many actual fruits. It seemed the very hot, very wet weather made for sticky, clumpy pollen, which doesn't spread as easily as when it is powdery. But we did start getting fruits off of our two Caspians. Meanwhile, a Brandywine plant produced exactly one fruit, and then essentially croaked. Mrs. C. trimmed back all the dead leaves and stems and left us with a spindly plant with one big beefy tomato. See?

Well, at least we'll get to try one of the famed Brandywines, we thought. The day came when it was red and ripe, and we planned to have it with our dinner that night. Except when we came home, it was gone! What the heck? Neighborhood kids? Next day, two more ready-to-pick 'maters are found to have large chunks missing from them. Scheiss! A search of the garage led me to the culprit:

This little devil likes tomatoes.

Having had only the odd transient 'possum encounters around the house, I futzed around for a couple days trying to figure out what to do, until the more sensible Mrs. C. located Brian the Possum Guy, who actually knows what to do. Thus...


The critter is blurry but the bars are in focus.

Quoth Brian, "I'm going to release him out in the country, and if he wants tomatoes, he can plant his own!"

POSTSCRIPT: The weather has dried out some, and the plants are now heavy with new fruit. We should be enjoying quite a bounteous harvest in the coming weeks....

We went to Bonny Doon..(again!)

2011-08-22T20:32:00.000-04:00

That would be Great Taste of the Midwest, 2011. The 25th festival! My first one was 1997, or 1998 (I can't remember!), I skipped 1999 'cos I'd just had some surgery, and have since been to every one since. Mr Cicerone joined me for his first in 2003, the year we met (aaah, fond, fond memories of our starry-eyed courtship....). We're members of Chicago Beer Society, and hence get tickets through them, and luckily we've not missed out yet.
It was, as usual, a wonderful day.

Beer highlights were Revolution Brewing's saison, served with a small lemony cookie dipped in beery ice cream, Jolly Pumpkin's Calabaza Blanca with hibiscus (okay, we just had this at the MBG fest in July, but I couldn't resist!), Metropolitan Brewing's Krankshaft kolsch (poured through a robot draft tower!!),

Lafayette Brewing's agave wheat wine & their oatmeal stout poured through a coffee randall, Great Dane's THREE pilsners, New Glarus' everything, Kuhnhenn's Mild (on cask on the Real Ale tent), Goose Island's Sofie, Fleur & Scarlet (no, I didn't stand in the line for an hour to get a pour of Rare BCS), and a few more that can't be remembered clearly. Our plans to taste Chicago's 5 Rabbit beers, as well as the strong beers we always leave until last were foiled by the inevitable summer storm which hit hard at 5PM..
Food highlights were a smoky barbecued pork loin sandwich, and these.....

Back in Chicagoland after the fest, we dined at the incredible Bavarian Lodge in suburban Lisle which boasts this draft beer list....(wow!!). It was Porterhouse Oyster Stout for me.
The rest of the weekend saw us beer shopping (including a bottle of Brewdog's Sink The Bismark which I picked up for a friend), dining with friends (and we did enjoy 5 Rabbit's 5 Lizard witbier brewed with lime and passionfruit with dinner), a Viking breakfast with Child O' Mr Cicerone and a stop at Bell's on the way home (we missed out on Wild One at the festival).
Here's the new bathroom at The Eccentric Cafe!!

Detroit Draft Divas at Merchant's

2011-08-22T19:51:00.000-04:00

I recently became a member of said Divas, a group of delightful beer-savvy women (wearing awesome t-shirts) who get together periodically to discover and enjoy the delights of local good craft brew. Honorary Diva Todd Parker from Copper Canyon regularly joins the group, and this past Sunday Merchant's Fine Wine welcomed the Divas into the store for browsing, shopping, a beer scavenger hunt with prizes for winners, and following this, lunch and beers at Fort Street.

Thanks ladies! It was fun. Next time you'll be able to taste some beer, as Merchant's will have its license to do this.

It's that time of year again..

2011-08-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

....as Mr Cicerone and I practise, practise, practise in creating 10 new food and beer pairings for our annual Beer Brunch. (Here's 2009's)

Last week we pulverized a bunch of grapes and almonds into, er, something.....and tried 6 beers until we found just the right one. A recent evening of tasting cheese and a bunch of beers found us reinventing an "oldie but goodie" for this year's brunch, and we're making a test batch this weekend just to be sure. By accident we recently discovered a perfect beer accompaniment to grilled pineapple, and decided we might add that in to the menu- to discover the perfect beer was a limited release. So- last night we set upon tasting a lot of beer to find something with just the right nuances.....The salad course created some problems finding a perfect beer match but we did nail that one finally (luckily we love cucumber). Tonight it's all about bacon. We're about half done....and we're not giving away any more!

Brew Day, Batch 344: Irish Stout

2011-08-08T21:07:00.000-04:00

'Cause we're out. Shouldn't be out of Irish stout, if you're me... Target OG 1.038-1.040, 40 BU from one addition of Northern Brewer. Going to cask condition this'n with a bit of Fuggles, I think. Can't wait....

Admittedly Not Of International Interest

2011-08-05T17:55:00.000-04:00

... but very exciting locally, is First Tomato Day. Check out these ugly babies:

Caspian Pink tomatoes, the best tasting tomatoes I know of. Dinner this evening will (for Mr. C, anyway,) consist of one of these sliced up and piled on crusty bread with some good, peppery, aged salami. Some Maibock to wash it down might be in order, as well....

International Beer Day

2011-08-05T16:05:00.000-04:00

Who knew? Apparently, Detroit is not international enough to have gotten the memo about this. Of course, we here at Chez Cicerone are for it. Heck, every day is Beer Day, here....

The Most Important Ingredient

2011-08-03T13:57:00.002-04:00

Whether we're talking beer, or life itself, we're talking about water. Out Washtenaw way, local brewers are staging a series of events to benefit the Huron River Watershed Council. Here's the press release from Dianna at Promote Michigan; click to embiggen:

Obviously, there's more than a little self-interest here, as brewers depend on a clean and healthy water supply to provide you and me with a clean and healthy beer supply! More and clickable info at the HRWC website.

Sour = Yum!

2011-07-29T20:42:00.001-04:00

An EXCELLENT Berliner Weisse, courtesy of The Bruery.

Cool Beery Things Coming Up

2011-07-29T20:39:00.002-04:00

Cold Beer + Hot Glass and Glassblowing Event - August 4, 2011 at Furnace in Dearborn. Beer tasting and a custom tumbler! More info here. Mrs. C. (and maybe Mr. C.,) will be pouring beers.

Tuesday August 16 - New Holland dinner at Forans. Aww, yeah.

Wed Sept 7 - Dark Horse featuring Scotty Karate at The Rockery. (If you are not aware, Scotty Karate is both a musician, and a beer.) (Both will be there.)

Dragonmead Dinner At Foran's Grand Trunk

2011-07-29T20:22:00.001-04:00

I'm a little late in getting this up, but it's still worth salivating about...

Menu, click to embiggen.

This dinner was great from end to end, and we were very happy to dine with our friend Mr. Bill Wrobel, one of Dragonmead's owners, and his son Andrew. Bill is an active supporter of the homebrewing scene, and a first-rate beer judge.

The first course was pretty exciting for us, as it combined so many of our favorite foods in one course (polenta for Mr. C, prawns and Manchego for Mrs.) The beer, which has a lot of depth in both the malt and the hop department, seemed to tilt one way or the other depending on how much of each morsel was on the fork.

The sweet sloppy joe and zippy slaw were really good with the Ring of Fire; both carried heat but also tempering sweetness.

Guest Chef Marc Djozlija's pork loin dish was very carefully put together, and it paid off. The potato/goat cheese puree was a good foil for the apricot ale, with its tangy and earthy flavors. The pork and stone fruit compote resonated with the fruity and malty flavors in the beer, and it was all bound together with a drizzled reduction made from cooking down some pork bones with, among other things, (if I recall correctly,) some of the beer. A great pairing. We look forward to Marc doing a beer dinner again some day at his place of employment. It was interesting to find out from Bill that "Castlebrite" is actually a variety of apricot, the name making it a compelling ingredient for Dragonmead....

Dessert. Well. Mrs. C. and Mr. Wrobel just basically thought all they needed was some of the Calders Vanilla and the Sin Eater beer, a strong Belgian Dark type ale as an ice cream float. The ice cream melted quickly on top of the battered, deep fried apple, but they just poured it right into their beers! I must admit that although this was aesthetically challenging, it tasted OK. The apple, with a light crispy fried batter coating, lit up a sense memory for me, and it took some rummaging around in my dusty old brain to figure it out: McDonald's apple pie! They don't make these any more, because they're unhealthy(!?)(Who knew you're not supposed to subsist on fast food?) but they were standard apple pie filling inside a crispy, deep fried batter coating. And they were awesome, if you weren't so eager that you burned your face off on the scalding thing. A tasty blast from my distant past.

The next beer dinner at Foran's will feature New Holland beer, and is on Tuesday, August 16. We'll be there!

It's summer!!

2011-07-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

Which means octopus, either baby or whole, marinated in olive oil, onion, garlic & oregano, and grilled for just a few minutes until crisp. Served with Mr Cicerone's spectacular Maibock....

MBG Summer Festival 2011

2011-07-21T19:33:00.002-04:00

The heck with Christmas and all of those Hallmark holidays, this is my idea of a red letter day. I just looked at the final brewery and beers list, and it is staggering. I didn't count, but am told there are a total of 450 different beers. Check out Dark Horse's lineup- it looks like they account for about 50 of 'em! Michigan Microbrews has the .pdf of the official festival program here.

As if time wasn't short enough to conduct our important field research, we are taking time out to participate in a Brew Bubbas panel discussion on Ciceronery. The program schedule is here, but I suspect that the "subject to change" disclaimer is already in effect... see you there!

UPDATE: The schedule at the link above is finalized, unless someone gets hit by a blimp, or something....

SB40 Revealed

2011-07-21T18:34:00.000-04:00

Just outside frame: paper sleeves for the 40s.

As anyone that knows me can confirm, I am often willing to go too far for a joke. Thus, Batch 339, "Shorty B 40," code-named SB40, was a 'malt liquor.' Packaged, in part, in 40 oz. bottles. The beer was made from Briess 2 row malt, bolstered by roughly 12% (as extract) Pioneer sugar. Though your humble correspondent deviated from established industry standards and bittered this brew with an excessive 22 BUs from Mt. Hood in one kettle addition, he is pleased to report that this is by far the blandest beer he's ever produced. But not the weakest, no sir, this black hole of flavor clocked in at 5.9% v/v. Because it takes all kinds to make a village, this beer actually moved pretty well during the party. I might try to slip the leftovers into the Michigan Brewers Guild VIP lounge at the Summer Festival; Selewski will drink it....

The complete list of beers served at Uncle Dave's Big Gay Party can be seen here.

Thanks Susan!

2011-07-18T21:30:00.000-04:00

After a long day of after-party cleaning in 90 degrees, nothing could have been better than our gift of that rare of gems, Cantillon Fou'Foune. It went particularly well with mango salsa and our apricot cheese torte.

The first guest has already arrived!!

2011-07-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

.....and Uncle Dave's party isn't until Saturday!

(Mr Cicerone has been working around the clock getting the 11 beers we'll be pouring ready, and I've been double-timing it in the kitchen making, um, let's see....cheese tortes, fig/garlic jam brie in filo, smoky baconey beans, mac & cheese, couscous, cheesecake, fancy mayo for the fish and ham, salad dressings, jerk rub for the lamb, and there's still the chicken and ribs....)

Should be a fine time!

Breathing fumes.....

2011-07-11T22:27:00.002-04:00

See the label? It's Brewdog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Our friend Richard was given a bottle for Fathers Day from his wife and daughters (thanks Barb, Meg & Mariah!), and we were invited over to his house, along with our friend Pete, to share. Ouch!
It's stout. Well it was once. It's now 32% ABV stout and packs a punch, with strong alcohol fumes (and a wee bit of stoutness) on the nose, with a rummy boozy taste that was like drinking rum. Straight. Cask strength even. The surprise was that there was a decent amount of carbonation that did help its "drinkability", a little. As it warmed, there were definite chocolate and roast notes, and more fuitiness typical of a strong stout.

EDIT: Mr. C's tasting notes- Ethanol fumes aside, there was a pronounced port-like aroma. The flavor held lots of roast and hop bitterness, with some chocolate and raisin. Very interesting. I would recommend a serving size no bigger than 1 oz., though....


Richard, before the Penguin.....

Check out the "Best By" date!

Awww, Yeah!

2011-07-04T16:06:00.000-04:00

Mudbugs, andouille, and some rye peppercorn pale ale. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

More About The NHC Banquet

2011-06-23T16:55:00.000-04:00

In addition to the prairie dogs, there was a fine feast prepared by the "Homebrew Chef," Mr. Sean Paxton. If you are interested in food, beer, and their intersection (you're here, aren't you?) his website is an amazing resource.


A Boy and His Mole - photo courtesy AHA/BA

The menu:

Ensalata-

Romaine, jicama, Mexican papaya, tri-colored cherry tomatoes and goat cheese crumble with a lime oregano and American Amber Ale vinaigrette

-with-

Chatoe Rogue OREgasmic Ale

Entree-

Chipotle Ale brined chicken covered in a Oaxacan Chocolate Stout mole with TCHO chocolate on a bed of savory rice pilaf infused with Dead Guy Ale

Roasted vegetables stuffed in a pasilla pepper covered in a Oaxacan Chocolate Stout mole with TCHO chocolate on a bed of savory rice pilaf infused with Dead Guy Ale

-with-

Rogue Mocha Porter

Dessert

Cascade hop infused flan topped with a 2-row malted caramel sauce

-with-

Rogue Brutal IPA

Awards Beer

Rogue Imperial Youngers Special Bitter

A couple of notes about this wonderful meal- The mole was very spicy, but it did not overwhelm the flavorful, moist chicken. Every diner got a 1/2 breast and a thigh (Whoo!) The Mocha Porter was a good match in flavors and intensity. The flan and sauce would have been great by themselves, but add in the hoppy Brutal, and the Cascadey goodness in the flan really lit up. Mmmm. Here's hoping Sean will cook for us again next year!

A Swing, And A Miss

2011-06-21T12:58:00.000-04:00

I had hopes of 'liveblogging' a bit from the recent AHA conference, but some of the promise of 21st century technology has been a bit oversold, and I didn't much feel like fighting my Droid/Blogger bugs to find out where my g#!!&plft!! picture went this time. There were too many beers to investigate, and old friends to tell lies to while drinking them. Plus, the banquet was infested with prairie-dogging Michiganders....

Weirdos.

See you next year in Seattle!

What's Happening Downriver

2011-06-21T12:11:00.000-04:00

Doug at Fort Street Brewery is celebrating Lincoln Park's 90th anniversary and the Downriver Cruise in the way he celebrates most things: new beers! Info here.

Once More Into The Breach!

2011-06-16T09:37:00.002-04:00

I'm on the way to the AHA Conference in San Diego, sadly minus Mrs C.
Stopping for a dunkel in Denver on the way....

Brew Day, Batch 343: 40-40-40 Special Bitter

2011-06-11T21:09:00.000-04:00

This is a best bitter built around a conceptual framework, said framework being the number 40. 40, because that is the number of years, as of next week, that my little brother has been around to pester me. Also to make me laugh, talk me down off the ledge, drink my beers, worry me, and make me proud. Thus one of the beers we'll use to commemorate his superannuation will have an original gravity of 1.040, 40 BUs, include 40 oz. of 40 degree Lovibond crystal malt, 40g of a pale chocolate malt, and a couple other 40s worked into the groove.

The crystal malt is really pushing the upper limits of sane usage, at a bit over 15%; I'm betting the 40 BUs and liberal doses of flavor hops will keep this a drinkable beer. If Dave invites you to his birthday party, you'll find out!

More Aussie beer!

2011-06-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

Also of note at Beer Deluxe- Murray's Retro Rocket, a 2.8% IPA! I snuck one of these in too, because, why not? And declared it just grand, and full o' hoppy goodness.

What I didn't try? Feral Hop Hog- barrel-aged IPA, Wig & Pen Kembery Kolsch, Murray's Whale Ale wheat, Boatrocker German Pils, & Scream Time (Thunder Bay) Steam beer.

Here's a peak at the Big Board O' beer at the other great Melbourne beer bar, The Local Taphouse. I snuck in for two quick beers, (and got scolded by my mum when I got home,) and enjoyed the "Doctor's Orders Synapse", a black saison, and Moo Broo Imperial Stout.

The tap list at The Local Taphouse.

Yay! Free time!

2011-06-09T08:38:00.002-04:00

Seeing as how my mum is doing great, I gave myself a night off from nursemaid/housemaid duties, and headed to "The City" to the wonderful Beer Deluxe. Three beers and three snacks later, and I'm happy as pie!

Double-fisted dinner. Raconteur IPA from Prickly Moses brewery with red lentil fritters.
Mountain Goat/ Matilda Bay collaboration abbey Dubbel with Spanish chorizo and poached figs with a sweet chili glaze.

The IPA was a classic American IPA chock-full of Cascade, Centennial & Chinook. 6.5% ABV, nice toasty malt, and great balance. A wonderfully tangerine citrusy IPA. It was kick-off night and I met the brewer.

The second dish was a plethora of different flavors- not something I would have made myself, but it did work well with the beer, which was a fruity, lightish-bodied abbey dubbel with some licorice notes.

I'm not much of a dessert person, but needed an excuse to order Murray's Black Night Porter.
And here it is- rich, creamy Panna Cotta. Perfect with the porter which had notes of dark fruit and a wee bit of roastiness.

Is beer a substitute for the company of one's husband? Round 2.

2011-06-07T07:38:00.000-04:00

I think not.

But hey, there's some good beers here. And- I just realised I forgot to open that Young's Bitter with my roast lamb!!

Is beer a substitute for the company of one's husband?

2011-06-01T22:30:00.001-04:00

I'm doing my best to find out.

If you miss your plane.....

2011-06-01T19:22:00.000-04:00

....., get shafted by the airline, have to wait 24 hours until the next flight causing untold distress to your family Downunder who are waiting your arrival.....

......it helps to stay in a hotel with this tap line-up in the bar!

Brew Day, Batch 342: Ginger Wheat Ale

2011-05-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

Because Sumer is acumin in! Lhude sing cuccue!

One pound of chopped ginger. Cuccue, cuccue!

Brew Day, Batch 341: Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale

2011-05-27T16:50:00.001-04:00

One of our favorites, as often noted on these pages- I need to make more to replace the keg I am sending to the AHA conference in San Diego....

Two ounces of freshly cracked Tellicherry peppercorns, waiting to transform good beer into AWESOME beer.

An Excellent Educational Resource

2011-05-26T21:56:00.001-04:00

Have you got your Latitude 48 Deconstructed 12 pack yet? No? Go, get it, I'll wait here.

OK, now. Much of the world's finest hops are grown near the 48th parallel(s,) and Latitude 48 IPA uses 5 hop varieties from 3 principal regions: Hallertau Mittelfruh from Germany, (the signature variety in Boston Lager,) East Kent Goldings from (duh) Kent, and Zeus, Simcoe, and Ahtanum from the Pacific Northwest. Digression: there is another 48th parallel, and they are growing and developing some mighty fine varieties, as well. Anyway, I think a parallel (heh) tasting is in order. Get yourself 6 tasting glasses per person. You're alone? Get help, this is too much beer for one person, and we'd rather you didn't waste any. The 12 pack contains 2 bottles each of the Latitude 48 IPA, and 5 additional versions of the same basic beer but with only one of the 5 varieties, so pour some of each one into a glass, compare, contrast, learn! Can you guess which one Mr. Cicerone does not care for?

Kudos to Boston Beer for a great and affordable learning aid!

Brew Day, Batch 340: Nugget Pale Ale

2011-05-26T20:06:00.000-04:00

I like Nugget hops. They are a superior kettle hop, lending a fine, lingering bittersweet character, and a fruity note that reminds me of black currants. (The fruit, not the leaves....) They are also not bad as a late addition. Today's beer is an American Pale Ale, target gravity 1.048, 45 BUs from 3 additions. Yeah, that sounds pretty bitter, but I'm using a decent dose of dark Munich plus some crystal 40 on top of a pils malt base, so it should balance OK.

Beer Camp

2011-05-25T23:22:00.000-04:00

I know posting has been light lately around here, owing to real life's intruding ways, but we have been still living what my buddy Ray calls "the beer life." One item, documented by my li'l bro, was an educational program we've started at the instigation of our friends at Slows BarBQ: Beer Camp! Once we've put everyone at Slows through this brewer's boot camp, we'll start on the rest of the beer-slingin' population of Detroit....

Mark Your Calendars

2011-05-22T17:17:00.000-04:00

Detroit Beer Week 2011 is in the early planning stages. Look for lots of cool events around town running from 14 to 23 October... chief organizers Jon Piepenbrok and Jason Peltier of Liquid Table have a Facebook page set up here and will post info as it develops.

Brew Day, Batch 339: Code Name SB40

2011-05-22T14:55:00.001-04:00

I am brewing one of the beers we will use to commemorate my Li'l Bro's 40th birthday this summer, but details are being kept secret at this time.

One detail I can reveal: the dumbass almost, but ultimately did not, forget the salts.

Counting Down To The End

2011-05-22T11:11:00.001-04:00

Or the rapture, or tribulations, or whatever....

The deck out back at Jolly Pumpkin Cafe seemed like a good vantage point to view the, uh, well, it *did* start drizzling after a while, forcing us to take our beers inside....

Ashley's Cask Fest line-up

2011-05-13T16:21:00.002-04:00

The line-up, and the tapping times of each cask has just been announced. Read all about it HERE.

Ashley's Westland Cask Ale Fest

2011-05-06T15:19:00.000-04:00

Ashley's cask ale fest is next Saturday! They have announced some of the line-up, and tickets are selling quickly!

See you there!

Mmm, Dan Roger's beer!

2011-04-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

Big Rock Chophouse is having a beer and food event on Wednesday 11th. There'll be a saison, an imperial stout, an IPA and a "wild card" beer from Big Rock, Kuhnhenn, Short's and Merchant's Fine Wine, each paired with food. Here's more info.

I also believe you can add a "VIP" option to the ticket and hang out with Dan in the brewery (which usually means more beer!)

Dark Corner- What's your vote?

2011-04-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Arbor- cocoa in the nose, cocoa & chocolate in the flavour, and 'twas, sadly, a tad muddy, despite us leaving a half inch behind in the bottle. Better suited to a dessert pairing.
Dark Horse- malty, with black malt aroma & flavour, & fruity esters also apparent. Balanced hoppy finish. Poured a rich brown colour, and 'twas perfectly clear. The winner with our dinner (salmon marinated in oil, soy, and tamarind, seared, with a side of sauteed fennel, onion, shitake & oyster mushroom.)

A very nice, lemony, slightly hoppy, unfiltered wheat beer....

2011-04-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

The bottle IS the colour of bile. Luckily, the beer was not.

Liberty Street BC Beer Dinner at Foran's Grand Trunk

2011-04-17T20:24:00.000-04:00

This coming Wednesday we are headed to Foran's for a four course dinner featuring Liberty Street Brewing Co's beers. Here's the menu:

Clementine Lemon Thyme Wheat Ale

       with

Wild Mushroom Bruschetta

Liberty Belle Blonde Ale

   with

Baby Spinach Salad with Creamy Dill Dressing,
Blue Cheese, and Crispy Shallots

Steamy Windows Amber Ale

       with

Braised Beef Short Rib "Wellington"
Mushroom-Leek Duxelle, Crisp Pastry Shell,
Root Vegetables, Natural Jus

prepared by guest chef Jason Stoops
Executive Chef at the Inn at St. Johns

Starkweather Stout

      with

Chunky Chocolate Brownie
Calders Vanilla Ice Cream a la mode
Saigon Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

Sounds great, and our buddy Joe Walters will be there representing the brewery. Can't wait....

Trust me, I'm a Cicerone®!

Dai Nippon Jin...ger

Happy Australia Day!

A belated New year's Eve post....

This Week in Beer Packaging

Movie must!

Brew Day, Batch 356: Matmos Ale

Ashley's Belgian Fest

Brew Day, Batch 355: SunuvaBuster 2011

Brew Day, Batch 354: Buster 2011

We have it all!

Brewing Buster....

Christmas Eve, Cicerone Style

A reminder....

Whoa.

And, on the way home......

Another Eccentric Day, enjoyed and survived!

Now bring us some figgy pudding.....

Thanks Mike!

Idea: Feed Mayonnaise to Tunafish

Brew Day, Batch 353: X-Treem IPA

Only 5 days to go.....

Ode to a haggis....

A belated, and quick Thanksgiving post

A chip off the old block...or Baby's first outing.

Brew Day, Batch 352: Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale

Dinner!

The Rockery rocks!

Brew Day, Batch 351: Return of Leap Beer

A Tap Handle For Buster

Movie night....

Doing what we do.....

Brew Day, Batch 350: Nugget Pale Ale

Brew Day, Batch 349: Rauchbier

Brew Day, Batch 348: Return of Winter Ginger

Mrs. C In EID

More CBS fun

Beer Week! Whooo!!

We worship and adore you O! CBS.....

Detroit Beer Week is upon us!

Beer dinners- past, and future!

We need *proper* bagels in Detroit!

Brew Day, Batch 347: Helles

Detroit Beer Week Approaches

Tonight at Fort Street

Brew Day, Batch 346: Bitter

Sunday afternoon....

Double take

Brewdog Insanity, round two!

This is what he was talking about....

Brew Day, Batch 345: Wee Heavy

Beer Camp #2: Porter

Merchant's event has been cancelled!

How much can one person eat?

Smokin'

At last....

Rats!

Upcoming beer events

Beer Brunch 2011

Tale of the Tomato Thief

We went to Bonny Doon..(again!)

Detroit Draft Divas at Merchant's

It's that time of year again..

Brew Day, Batch 344: Irish Stout

Admittedly Not Of International Interest

International Beer Day

The Most Important Ingredient

Sour = Yum!

Cool Beery Things Coming Up

Dragonmead Dinner At Foran's Grand Trunk

It's summer!!

MBG Summer Festival 2011

SB40 Revealed

Thanks Susan!

The first guest has already arrived!!

Breathing fumes.....

Awww, Yeah!

More About The NHC Banquet

A Swing, And A Miss

What's Happening Downriver

We need proper bagels in Detroit!