Terse Thanksgiving Post-Mortem

Man, was that gooood. Mrs. C. knows how to put on a feast. My favorites were both stuffing/dressings, and the wild rice, all with dunkel. Also with pumpkin beer. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to digesting....

Thanksgiving at the House of Cicerones

Thanksgiving Feast 2012


Kiss yo’ mama soup (corn & crawfish)

Winter greens and citrus salad with pomegranate & pistachio

Turkey, brined in Oktoberfest beer

Oyster & eggplant dressing

Panettone, sour cherry, lamb & fig sausage dressing

Bourbon and pineapple glazed ham

Mashed potato

Brown butter & bourbon mashed sweet potato

Green beans with caramelized onion

Canned creamed corn for old fat guys

Giblet gravy

Pomegranate and port reduction sauce

Cranberry & sour cherry sauce

Pumpkin pie (made by Chef Tara)

Chocolate almond tart

Caramel ice cream

Real! Whipped cream


Beers:

Pumpkin Ale ✦ Porter ✦ Munich Dunkel ✦ Session IPA ✦ Atmospherium Saison ✦ Weizen Bam ✦ Saison Sorachi ✦ Ginger Wheat Ale ✦ Scotch Ale ✦ Dynamomium Double IPA ✦ many more

Coming Out of the Closet

Photo credit: Big Gay Uncle Dave

Not the 'can't tell anyone I'm gay' closet. (Still can't tell anyone that, 'cause I'm not.)  No, it's the 'homebrewer harboring fantasies of going pro' closet. I haven't been posting about this, (or much else, to be honest,) as I really think it's outside the scope of our blog, but I've been working on a business plan, and hope to open a small microbrewery in Detroit, hopefully in Eastern Market. To this end, I've been taking advantage of various friends in the pro brewing community and helping out (read: getting in the way and asking a lot of nosey questions) in their breweries. Much thanks to my buds at Corner Brewery and Liberty Street in particular. And recently I got accepted at U of D. Not University of Detroit, but University of Duncan. Grizzly Peak's Brewmaster Duncan Williams has served as the mentor for a number of the area's brewers. I am his newest lackey in the downtown Ann Arbor brewpub, helping to keep the beer flowing from their sprawling cellar to the throngs of thirsty pub patrons upstairs. I must say, that's no mean feat, either; this pub pours more beer than any other brewpub (and a fair number of production breweries,) in the state. So come on down for a pint at the Grizz, and don't be surprised if you see a short, stout, hairy sort scuttling about muttering about dry hops....

Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Fest '12 Is Over

...watcha wanna do next? How 'bout...

Whoooooo!

Speaking of Rauchbier... An Educational Afternoon

Several weekends ago, our friends Jeff and Susan invited a few of us beer nerds over to their place on a Sunday afternoon. They had recently been on a trip to Bamberg and the surrounding area, and generously decided to share with us the treasures they'd brought home. Also their excellent homebrew and smoked pork loins, and other tasty goodies. After some tasty homemade dunkel and a couple variations on pils, we started with the Dusseldorfer Bonus Round:

Im Fuchschen, Zum Uerige, Hovels altbiers

Three way-fresher-than-you-can-get-here samples of real by golly altbier! The Hovels was the softest, with rich malt, well-integrated bitterness, and a dry finish. Fuchschen was a step up, but still very easy to drink. The Uerige was massively bitter, and then, like the others, vanished cleanly from the palate. The common attributes of all of them were a rich malt aroma and flavor up front, with a strong medium high to very high bitterness, and a disappearing finish. A huge burst of flavor, then little to no aftertaste. It would be very easy to drink these all day, as Jeff reported doing.

Then, the main course: rauchbier. Rauchbier and rauchfleisch. Jeff smoked a pork loin over river birch, and one over orange wood. Both were distinctly different, and both were delicious, particularly with the beers we had with them.

Fresh Schlenkerla Marzen, Spezial Lager, Spezial Marzen

These beers are available here in the states, but 't'would be rare to get any as fresh as these samples. The Spezial Lager came off a bit smokier than the Marzen, likely owing to having a less melanoidin-intense malt profile. The Schlenkerla was uber-smoky as usual, the smokiest by far, but also exhibited a huge, rich malt character. Eventually, we stopped stuffing ourselves on meat and potatoes. (We ate them all.) Just to cap things off, we enjoyed a couple half-pints of Jeff and Susan's Timothy Taylor's Landlord clone and soon to be famous cream ale. Yeah, we were drinking that stuff before it was cool....

Les Bon Temps, They Will Roulez

We are heading down to New Orleans on the morn, meeting up with Uncle Dave, and Ms. Rupersberg, for to spend five days in The City That Care Forgot. The French Quarter Festival will be going on, and that will be grand, but there is really no bad time to be in N'awlins. People there know how to live- music, food, drink, conviviality are important there. And it shows in every respect, but, arguably, most in the food. (This keeping in mind uh, JAZZ!) I have yet to visit Paris or anyplace in France, but if there's a better place to eat, I don't know if I could survive it. (Uncle Sean, having been to all three, rates them thus: #1 Seoul, #2 New Orleans, #3 Paris.)

We travelers have been corresponding and plotting for the last weeks, getting more excited by the day. Nicole came forth with mention of many of the things friends had suggested she must do, and I was compelled to respond with a sort of a manifesto:

Coops is mandatory. Good food, good atmosphere. The lamb ribs are mighty fine, and their jambalaya is really good. Sorry, bro, it's got bunny in it....

I will eat fried chicken from Willie Mae's Scotch House, or die trying. I will eat many, many oysters. Ditto mudbugs. Ditto ditto mudbugs. I will have a pils or two at Crescent City. I will eat beignets. (My spellcheck helpfully suggests 'signets' instead.)(Cygnets, maybe...) I will down Guinni at Monaghan's. I will be thrown out of Avenue Pub for drinking all of their beer. I will down more Guinni at Monaghan's. I will throw down to Bonerama. And Evan Christopher. I will eat too much at Jacques-Imo, Cochon, and elsewhere. I will sing inappropriately at odd hours and places. I will buy cookies from the dessert guy on Frenchman Street at 2AM. I will discover many more new and glorious things, mostly by chance. I will be very, very happy. Furiously happy.

Many, many mudbugs.

Seriously, if you've never been to NOLA, put it on your 'to do' list. You can thank us later. With beer.

(Apologies to Jenny Lawson for appropriating "furiously happy;" I think she would approve of my furious pursuit of happiness.)

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

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

Beer Week! Whooo!!

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.

Detroit Beer Week Approaches

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!

We went to Bonny Doon..(again!)

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!!

Admittedly Not Of International Interest

... 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....

MBG Summer Festival 2011

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....

More About The NHC Banquet

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:



...Full post

A Swing, And A Miss

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

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.

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....

Mark Your Calendars

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.

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....

The Last Cask at Jolly Pumpkin

We waste no beer!

Beer Fest Update

I live at Jolly Pumpkin now.