Beer Brunch 2012

THE MENU......
PIZZICATO
A plethora of olives, pickled quail eggs with Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Skip's pickled green tomatoes with Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam*
CHIAROSCURO
Kiss Yo' Mama Soup (corn & crab) with Mr Cicerone's Robust Porter
BLUDGEON
Garlic shrimp and grits with Mr Cicerone's (famous) Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale
CATERPILLAR
Bitter greens, tangerine, blood orange, walnuts, lemon-ginger vinaigrette, hop candy crunch with Mr Cicerone's Dynamomium IPA
ANIMALS
Duck, pork, veal & pistachio terrine, La Roja pickled cherries with Mr Cicerone's Buster 2010
INTERMEZZO
Spooky Trail Farm wildflower honey with Mr Cicerone's Atmospherium Saison


...Full post

Brew Day, Batch 364: Dynamomium

OK, the name of this beer came first. Clearly, it's an Imperial IPA, though. As to the question of what exactly Dynamomium is, well, only my brothers and I know. And even then, it's not all that clear. It's a reference to one of our childhood tropes, anyway, and we are amused. For everyone else, it's a beer of mid-high 70s gravity, well attenuated, with 80 BU from a blend of Cluster, Magnum (20.5% alpha!) Crystal, Mt. Hood, Citra, Willamette, and Nugget, added frequently throughout the boil. Said hop addition amounts and times were arrived at via precise frantic calculations conducted minutes before each dose was tipped into the kettle. Also, Uncle Dave threw a couple of unscripted small handfuls of Nugget in at the end of the boil, for good measure. The specific hop varieties used were selected mostly for their flavor and aroma characteristics, though the Magnum was included also because of its monster alpha content- where else can you use more than a pinch of the stuff? As it happens, the Magnum also has a very bright, citrus-candy aroma when rubbed fresh. Speaking of handling this stuff: another way of stating 20% alpha is that this stuff is over 1/5 lupulin. You can pick this sticky stuff up, but putting it down is something else entirely! Check it out:

 

 Yeah, buddy!

I don't think there's much point in posting a 'recipe' for this, as it was a pretty seat-of-the-pants type brew day. We basically took the grist from here, added a couple of pounds of Dynamomium (which bears a remarkable similarity of appearance and flavor to dextrose,) and hopped it up as described above. The resulting wort was served up to a bit more than a quart of fresh 1056 slurry, which set upon it like a hungry wolverine on a nice, juicy hamster. Stay tuned for results....

Ode to a haggis....

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!!)

The first guest has already arrived!!

.....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!

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

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!

Beer Camp

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....

Brew Day, Batch 339: Code Name SB40

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.

MBG Winter Festival Recap

I had hoped to 'live blog' from the festival, but due to a combination of poor signal, phone browser/blogger incompatibility, and who-knows-what-all technical issues I wasn't going to waste valuable festival time battling, I only managed a couple posts. Plus, I didn't want to be that thumb-typing, distracted weenie, I wanted to be a beer-tasting-talking-to-my-buds weenie! As ever, I tasted a tiny fraction of the available beers, what with running my fool yap and all. Some highlights:

• Grizzly Peak Burton-Brussels Express Wood-aged IPA, pleasantly woody, and Verloene Hosen (Lost Pants) (understandable!) Uber-Marzen, a malt-based 'dope slap.'
• Arcadia Panama Red Smoked Imperial Red Ale, liberally hopped with Citra- smokey and hoppy and very more-ish.
• Jolly Pumpkin Bambic, a blend of two lambic-type beers with fresh Bam Biere. Whoo!
• New Holland Envious, a strong barrel aged beer made with pears and raspberries.

The biggest highlight was of course the wonderful feeling of community shared by all of the brewers and beer lovers. Beer people are the best!

Another highlight: I caught Beer Todd being the "thumb-typing" guy, and called him on it, but he had an excuse: "I have to text my brother and tell him he's a big gay pussy!" Since fully 50% of the digital traffic between me and Uncle Dave is comprised of just such repartee, I had to let him off....

MBG Winter Festival

Whoo! Beer Fest! Whoo! Tomorrow morning, I am heading to Grand Rapids for the sold out Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Festival. I'll be on the bus from Arbor Brewing with my lil' brother, Uncle Dave. Whoo!

MBG Fall Festival!! Whooo!!!

This week, I'm the guy who goes, "Whooo!!" Whooo!! The fall festival was great. Sold out, but not oversold. A big, big party with all of your favorite people in attendance. Like these guys:

Joe Hudecek, Andy Hudecek, and Uncle Dave DRINK MICHIGAN BEER! WHOOO!!!

With 40+ breweries each pouring an average of, say, 4 beers, there was no way to check it all out in 5 hours. Some folks (Mrs. Cicerone,) formulate a plan of attack, using the festival program downloaded off the 'net days in advance, focusing on unique, otherwise unavailable beers. Mr. Cicerone, however, uses the 'go with the flow' serendipity-based model. One rule generally adhered to is Visit Doug First. Our friend Doug always has something special for the festival. Hell, he has something special each and every Thursday. Saturday, in addition to a selection of regular beers, we sampled Black Ops 'Black IPA' and "Citra-sation," an IPA made with fresh Citra hops, both excellent.

Doug and the Fort Street Brew Zoo

Another festival stalwart and favorite of Mr. Cicerone is Grizzly Peak's Sheerwater IPA. Brewer Duncan Williams almost always brings a cask of this complex and delicious beer to the MBG festivals. This year Mr. and Mrs. Cicerone were also enthralled by a delicious cask mild, and "Poisson Rouge," a wonderfully oaky, tart, perfectly balanced barrel-aged version of their Steelhead Red ale. That was Mr.'s favorite beer of the day.

Another reason for me to go "Whooo!!" was spending a little quality time with Mr. Todd Parker, the very large, very enthusiastic brewer at Copper Canyon, sampling many strong and delicious beers. I had Yellowcard APA, RyePA, Maibock, and Rocktoberfest. The Rocktoberfest was an 8% (!) "double marzen" that was so clean, balanced and drinkable, while hiding its strength, that no one could be blamed for accidentally getting drunk on it.

While Mr Cicerone was busy saying "Whooo!" I was at the Jolly Pumpkin booth sampling Vicious wheat IPA, closely followed by "Nightmare Before Vicious"- the same beer that had been in oak at the JP brewery for 6months. Mmm. Other favourites for me were also Fort St Brewery's Citra-sation, JP Fuego del Otono, Arcadia Nut Brown Ale, Wolverine's Brown lager, Dark Horse Bourbon-aged Plead the Fifth, the aformentioned Poisson Rouge, and, saving the best till last.....Big Rock's Red Rock Flanders Ale.

A Scary Kuhnhenn, The Big Banana, and Crazy Hat Lady.

Stay tuned for another strange-but-true Porta-Potti story.

Another Beer Brunch bites the dust....

(I'm suffering the aftermath as I write this- pure physical weariness along with that loverly "day- after-a-bit-too-much" woozy feeling. But O! It was SO worth it!)

Here's what we had.....
Mr Cicerone's "I'm Not a Frenchie" strong golden ale with gougeres (that's cheesey puffs), and bacon-fat popcorn with parmesan and fried sage leaves.
Mr Cicerone's ginger wheat ale with gazpacho Andaluso drizzled with ginger cream

Mr Cicerone's "Batch 300" rye barley wine with rye sourdough french toast, rye wort reduction syrup and sour cherry jam.

Mr Cicerone's "Old School" American IPA with greens, walnuts, chevre, mango and an Amarillo hop and blood orange marmalade vinaigrette.

He'Brew "Rejewvenator" date doppelbock with chicken liver mousse and broiled figs.

INTERMEZZO: Redstone Meadery "Nectar of the Hops".

Mr Cicerone's dunkel with double secret ultimate umami burger sliders with mystery meat, manchego, tomato & shitake.

Mr Cicerone's rye peppercorn pale ale with preserved lemon cheesecake.
Mr Cicerone's "Buster" blonde uber bock with cheese- Manchego (Spain), Chimay a la Biere (Belgium), Mature Scottish cheddar (Scotland)

Three Floyds Dark Lord Stout 2009 with coconut ice cream.

Courtesy of Mr Cicerone's incredible year of brewing (two of the beers were brewed last year), we were heavy on the homebrew and light on commercial beers this time around.

Beautiful weather, fantastic food, amazing beer, even some good pairings if I say so myself, and great friends to share it all with. Life can be good!!



(Eeer, Uncle Dave, is that you??)

...Full post

Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale is Back On Tap

Opines Skip, "Maybe now Uncle Dave will come over your house again."

Another MBG Summer Fest, come and gone.....

And, another simply wonderful time. We went to the Saturday session, hence were lucky enough to miss the tornado and the flood that the Friday evening attendees enjoyed.
Favourites O'Mrs Cicerone...
Hopcat's Rhubarb Saison, Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza D'Hibiscus, Jolly Pumpkin Bier De Mars, Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam with lemongrass, Sherwood's Hemp Ale, Saugatuck's Spruce Tip Ale, Bell's Golden Funk,New Holland's Envious, New Holland's Beerhive Tripel, Short's Nicie Spicie, Leelanau Good Harbor Gold.SOME GAY GUY WE SAW, BLOGGING, OR SOMETHING...

Hmmm. Think that's it. As you can see, there are none of the fantastic Founders "do you in" beers, or Imperial Stouts listed, courtesy of the 90 degree weather and my wish to not fall down into the mud.
THE DARK HORSE LIVING ROOM

Mr Cicerone' favourites:

Michigan Malted Red Ale from Kuhnhenn, made with Wendell Banks' Michigan grown, Michigan malted malt. New Holland Envious. Ray Sherwood's Hemp Ale. Grizzly Peak Sheerwater IPA. Nicie Spicie, and all them Jolly Pumpkin goodies....

The Best Beer You Can't Buy

Rye Peppercorn Pale Ale, brewed here at Chez Cicerone. We here are enamored of this beer- it's great to drink by itself, as it is a moderate strength, with lots of interesting but not overwhelming flavors: Cascade hops, barley malt, rye, and black pepper. 'Tis a pleasure to have pint after pint. Brother-to-Mr.-Cicerone Uncle Dave insists that it should be on tap at all times here. Recently, he was insisting to a bar manager friend that he should have it on tap at all times... yeah, we'll see about that. (Uncle Dave can be insistent.) As I've written before, this beer is also great partnered up with many, many comestibles. A recent meal here featured this ale with some lovely grilled salmon fillet sandwiches on ciabatta, dressed with a mayo blended with dill and preserved lemon. Preserved lemon and black pepper? Oh, yeah. Citrusy Cascades, sweet malt/rye with grill-browned salmon? Oh, yeah.

You can't buy this beer, though you could make something like it if you're so inclined. If you're not the DIY type, you could try a couple great commercial beers that are not quite the same but do feature black pepper, Short's Nicey Spicey, and Dieu du Ciel's Route des Epices.