An Excellent Educational Resource

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!

Try these with your Lutefisk

New at Merchant's (from Scandinavia).....

*Nogne O/Mikkeller collaboration "Tyttebaer" (say it quickly) - Wild ale chock full o' Brettanomyces and flavoured with "Scandinavian Cranberries', or Lingonberries. Kjetil (Nogne O brewer) and the Mikkeller guys have done it again with this one. It's fantastic.

*Nogne O (Norway) Tiger Tripel. Classic Belgian-style Tripel, 9% ABV (Yet to try it.)

*Beer Here (Norway) "Dark Hops" Black IPA 8.5%ABV
"Hops were harmed in the production of this beer."

*Bere Here "Morke" Pumpernickel Porter !!!!! 7.5% ABV. Mmmmm. Yum. Mmmmm.

...Full post

New beers at Merchant's

MICHIGAN
*New Holland Mole Ocho (Mole beer! Brewed with chilies & chocolate, not burrowing nocturnal creatures.)
*New Holland Imperial Hatter
*Short's Golden Rule organic IPA
*Jolly Pumpkin E S Bam (fresh batch)
*Arcadia Sky High Rye in 6 packs (fantastic beer!)

USA
*Rogue Double Mocha Porter (8.2%)
*Samuel Adams "Longshot" Homebrew contest winners 6pack (2 each Lemon Pepper Saison, Old Ale, & Barley Wine) (Note from Mrs Cicerone- nice job on the saison! Really peppery, just how I like them. Am yet to taste the Old Ale & barley Wine.)

BELGIUM
"Pink Killer" grapefruit Witbier from the "Silly Brewery (Note from Mrs Cicerone...very strange beer- in a good wKjetiay, I Think.)
Witterkerke Framboise- raspberry Witbier

ENGLAND
*We just got a fresh batch of two fantastic bottle-conditioned CAMRA approved English Bitters- Coniston Bluebird Bitter, & Ridgeway Bitter. Both great examples of the style, which is hard to come by here.
*From Ridgeway Brewing- Foreign Extra Stout. Another style that is a little hard to find.
*Oxfordshire Brewing, 3 fantastic English bitters/session beers. "Triple B"- 3.7%."Pride of Oxford"- 4.2%. "Marsh-mellow"- the strongest at 4.7%. This are classic examples of FULL-FLAVOURED BEERS that won't leave you staggering around after you've had a few.
*Hepworth Brewing- another three beautiful full-flavoured English ales. "Pullman Bitter" at 4.2%, "Iron Horse Pale Ale" at 4.8%, and "Classic Old Ale"- another style that is getting harder to find.

IRELAND
Hooray! Some craft beer from Ireland!
Porterhouse Brewing presents.....
*Oyster Stout (brewed with oysters!) Note from Mrs Cicerone- This is a great example of a dry Irish stout. Can't say I could taste any oyster though, especially as I was not eating any at the time, sadly....)
*Irish Red Ale
*Wrassler's XXXX Stout

GERMANY
*Lisberger Bock
*Burgerbrau Dunkler Bock
(Note from Mrs Cicerone- I'm falling behind in my homework. Havn't tasted these yet. But, O! I love Bock!)

(Separate Scandinavia edition to follow....)

...Full post

5 Years On Fort Street

How time flies when you're drinking beer! Here's the lowdown on the anniversary celebration, from Doug:

Greetings and salutations!

The big week is finally upon us! The event that unites nations. The event that gives courage in the face of fear; hope in the face of despair; warmth in the dead of winter; a feeling of prosperity during economic hardship; a light at the end of the tunnel. An event that makes an entire nation believe that if one man can work virtually around the clock to pull off something this big, maybe we can land a man a moon! Yes, Virginia, there is a Fort Street Brewery; and this week it turns five!
Of course I'm talking about our 5th birthday celebration! Five years! We're so excited about it, we've decided to celebrate for five straight days! The fun begins this Wednesday, February 10th at 8 ish p.m. We'll release "Extra Strength Pils" (a 95 IBU 8.25% imperial pilsner style) and "Brown Bomber" (an American-style brown ale and the first beer ever brewed here). On Thursday at 8 ish p.m., we'll have "Veizen Vine (the third part of the big wheat trilogy) and "5x5" ( a lager made with 5 different grains and 5 hop varieties). Also on Thursday, we'll be hosting a promo for Evan Williams Honey Bourbon. That means free samples! On Friday, look for our 4th version of the ever popular "Grapes & Grains of Wrath" (a porter fermented with sangiovese grapes) and a promo for Pama Liquer (free samples again). On Saturday we'll have "Les Houblon d'en Aval" (French for "hops from Downriver". This is an IPA made with yeast from France and hops from Dave's Lincoln Park hop farm). Finally, on Sunday at 7 ish p.m., we'll close with a bang with "Aleodisiac" (made with orange blossom honey, hibiscus flowers, and lovage root. If you've never had lovage root, you really must try it.) and "Ring Around the Roselare" (an aged Flemish-style red ale).
Now if you were just skimming, and didn't really let all that sink in, that's eight new beers! Ya know what, we don't have room for eight beers! So please come and help us make room for the ones later in the week by drinking the ones early in the week! Otherwise, we'll just dump 'em down the drain and scale back any future plans of global beer dominance!
In addition to all the new beers and the liquor promos, we'll be offering $5 mini pitchers all week long! And of course, we'll have some fabulous prizes every night, including one grand prize each night that will be all the talk around the water cooler the next day ( if you've never been in the corporate world, aside from texting and searching the internet for porn, that what corporate types do all day. Or so my sources tell me.)!
Hey, ya know someplace that's alot of fun after drinking alot of beers? Denny's! Tuesday they're giving away free Grand Slams from 6 a.m. - 2 p.m.!
This week on, "Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Baker's Man, Bake Me a Birthday Cake As Fast As You Can!", you'll hear Nicole say, "Hey, I'm busy! Make your own damn cake!" You'll also hear John say, "I can't keep up these grueling 25 hour weeks for ever ya know!" And finally, you'll hear Pete say, "When I was your age, I used to walk to work in six feet of snow! Uphill both ways!"
On your birthday plate this week, look for Pale Ale Ribeyes (Thursday - Sunday), Pasties, Cordon Bleu Strombolis, Chicken & Waffles, Stuffed Turkey Burgers, Bourbon Glazed Salmon, Spinach Feta Triangles, Portabella Burritos, Pizza Quesadillas, and Tiramisu. This week's Waffle Wednesday Special is Waffles Benedict. Yours for only $3!
To summarize: hope instead of despair and a lot of other rah, rah kind of stuff; birthday beers galore!; free liquor samples!; "Oh my God, look what I won at the brewery last night!"; "hurry up and drink that beer, we've gotta make room for more beer!"; free breakfast at Denny's! Too bad it's not free Moons Over My Hammy!; and "who need's Denny's when I can get $3 Waffles Benedict and a beer?!"

See ya soon,

Doug
Fort Street Brewery
www.fortstreetbeer.com
www.facebook.com/fortstreetbrewery
www.twitter.com/fortstreetbeer
1660 Fort St.
Lincoln Park, MI
(313) 389-9620

...Full post

For The Rest Of Us!

Festivus at Fort Street approaches, and it got me thinking about my favorite Festivus memories from years past, and I include a couple pictures here of my very favorite Feat of Strength: SPAM carving. Our friend Mike O'Brien started out strong, but sort of went off the rails in the home stretch. I blame drink...




That's Mike's effort on the left- it started out looking like "FSB" for Fort Street Brewery, but got a little wilty by the end. This led to some Airing of Grievances...

Doug's got the poop about this year's Festivus:

Greetings and salutations!

Everyone's favorite holiday is almost upon us! Visions of marble rye and black & white cookies dance in everyone's heads! For those of you who've had the misfortune of spending the last 20 year's in a Turkish prison, I'm talking about Festivus! The holiday for the rest of us!
This Thursday, January 21st we'll have a full slate of events planned, beginning at 8ish p.m. Our Festivus food menu will actually kick off Tuesday night (more on that later).
First, up at 8 p.m., we'll tap the first of three new beers. It's only fitting to kick everything off with "Festivus Ale". I would call this sort of a brown ale made with killer bee honey. It's so good, you might actually consider becoming a killer bee farmer! At the same time, we'll also release "Opus Amor". You might remember a couple of weeks ago when we released, "A Vow of Silence and Fury". I mentioned that being part of a trilogy. "Opus" is a wheat wine style, made with 50% wheat. At 10% ABV, it's actually the lightest of the three beers in the trilogy. Unlike the other two beers, it has a full body and a wonderful malt richness.
Following the release of those two beers, we'll be hosting a promotional party for Don Q rum. We have regular, Lemon, Coconut, and Mojito flavors. That means free samples and low prices on drinks made with any of the flavors!
At about that same time, we'll have the traditional Festivus pinata smashing. It's a big pinata filled with all kinds of wonderful stuff!
At 9 p.m., we'll have the first Feat of Strength. Bingo! No strength required, but eye hand coordination and reading skills, would be a plus.
Then at 10 p.m., it's time for "Build a Beer Vol. 9" aka "The 12 Ingredients of Christmas"! This is the beer made by drawing random ingredients from a hat. In spite of all the crazy ingredients, I think this may be the best "Build a Beer" yet!
Following the toast for "Build a Beer", we'll have our second Feat of Strength. Name That Tune! At 11, we'll be playing "Beanbags for Beer", to close out the days events.
Whew! Hopefully you can join us for all that fun, and of course, we'll have plenty of great prizes to give out.
You probably know about all our great new specials, and if you forgot, you can find them on our website or read about them everyday on Facebook or maybe even Twitter. I've just got one thing to say about our new specials. Tuesday $3 Cheesy Bread! If ya like cheese, cuddly little puppies, or a cat that changes it's own litter box; you'll love Cheesy Bread!
Yea, cheesy bread is great. Ya know what else is great? Bagels! Even better than a bagel, is a free bagel! Become a friend of Einstein Bros. Bagels on Facebook, and they'll give ya a free bagel. I'm gonna get my free bagel and then I'm gonna unfriend them! That's just the way I am.
This week on "Cooking With Kramer", you'll hear Fran say, "This Cheesy Bread's gold, Jerry! Gold!" You'll also hear Nicole say, "Look at all this paella!". And finally, you'll hear Jason say, "I don't want to say anything that'll get me quoted in the newsletter!"
On your Festivus plate this week, look for Risotto Balls, Big Stein's Calzone, The Big Salad (Cobb Salad), Portabella Burritos, Seafood Paella, Pasta Primavera, Chicken & Waffles, Turkey Burgers, and Beer Can Chicken (Thursday-Sunday).
To summarize:Festivus fun; three new beers; free rum!;Mmmmm! Cheesy Bread!; free bagels!; and Yay Festivus!

See ya soon,

Doug
Fort Street Brewery
www.fortstreetbeer.com
www.facebook.com/fortstreetbrewery
www.twitter.com/fortstreetbeer
1660 Fort St.
Lincoln Park, MI
(313) 389-9620

...Full post

Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock! At Merchant's!

One case of the famed,and spectacular Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock (2007) has made its way to Merchant's!
Also just arrived are Kuhnhenn's Fourth Dementia Olde Ale -11.5%ABV- (3 cases), and "Mayhem" - a new beer. It's 10.5%ABV Belgian-style strong made with Michigan-grown beet sugar. It's full of all those rich raisiny pruney flavours.

Arriving today also-
Bell's Hopslam
Founders Double Trouble IPA

And, another Michigan brewery has made its way to Dearborn. Tri City Brewing of Bay City is here. We have Lumberjack Pale Ale, and Brownhoist Nut Brown.

If any of you out there went to the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe last Thursday to get some of Ron's Lambicus Dexterius you are lucky! (It is spectacular!) Unfortunately though, demand on the day was overwhelming, and the original plan to save some back for distribution was quashed. It was all sold at the cafe. If you're a fan of Perseguidor, #5 will released for sale, also at the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe in Ann Arbor, on Sunday January 17th.
Happy New Year all!
Annette May
Beer Department Manager
Certified Cicerone (TM)
Merchant's Fine Wine, Dearborn

New at Merchant's

But firstly, if you plan to "get on the bus" at Fort St brewery to go to
the MBG Harvest Fest, you need to purchase your pass by Monday. EDIT: Cancelled for lack of riders. Poop.

NEW THINGS! JUST ARRIVED!

STONE VERTICAL EPIC 9/09/09 Supplies are limited (3 cases), so hurry.
STONE VERTICAL EPIC 8/08/08 I have one case.
STONE CALI-BELGIQUE IPA One case only
FOUNDERS HARVEST ALE
DARK HORSE "PERKULATOR" COFFEE DOPPELBOCK
BELL'S BEST BROWN IN 5L MINI KEGS (Two Hearted Ale 5L minis coming in Nov)
BELL'S DOUBLE CREAM, CHERRY, JAVA, EXPEDITION & RYE STOUTS (Rye Stout! Yay!)
BELL'S THIRD COAST OLD ALE
BELL'S ORACLE. One more case. Up for grabs.
SIERRA NEVADA "ESTATE" HARVEST ALE
GREAT LAKES "NOSFERATU"
ERIE BREWING HERITAGE ALT

AND FROM BELGIUM....
*ONE CASE OF EACH ONLY! HANSSEN'S "EXPERIMENTAL LAMBICS"- CASSIS, &
RASPBERRY. ONE CASE OF EACH.
*LA TRAPPE "ISID'OR" (Well, this one is actually from The Netherlands)

All for now...
Annette May, Certified Cicerone (TM)
Beer Department Manager
merchant's Fine Wine, Dearborn

...Full post

New at Merchant's

Here's the "great-beers-for-cheap" scoop.....
*McChouffe Belgian Brown Ale, 750ml, only $5.45 bottle. Reduced from
$9.49. Wow. Beautiful beer.
*Maredsous Triple, Belgian abbey ale, 750ml, only $5.99 bottle. Reduced
from $8.99. Wow. Again.
*Sam Adams Longshot 2008 winners 6pk. Has two bottles of Mike McDole's
Imperial IPA. Only $6.99 6pk (reduced from $9.99). Once more. Wow.

AND, NEW STUFF!

*OKTOBERFEST! (Speaking of such things, look out for Slows BarBQ
Oktoberfest celebration on Monday September 21st. It will replace the
regular "Beer Club" dinner. Mr Cicerone and I will be the speakers,
and yes, I, at least, will be wearing lederhosen. More details coming at a
later date!)
Time to don one's lederhosen, and sing the Schnitzelbank song! Arrived a
little early, but oh well. We have....
MUNICH Spaten, Hofbrau- bottles, and 5L MINI KEGS!, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr.
OTHER GERMAN BRANDS Ayinger (my favourite!!), Erdinger Oktoberfest Weizen,
Weihenstephan Fest, Beck's O'Fest
USA Bell's, Flying Dog Dogtoberfest, Great Lakes, Summit (so far).

MORE NEW STUFF
*KUHNHENN 10TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND CRU- ONE CASE ONLY
*GREAT DIVIDE CHOCOLATE OAK-AGED YETI. Mmm. Has a hint of cayenne.
*GREAT DIVIDE 15TH ANNIVERSARY WOOD-AGED DOUBLE IPA
*HE'BREW "REJEWVENATOR" DOPPELBOCK/BELGIAN STRONG. Brewed with dates.
*ALVINNE EXTRA IPA- Belgian IPA
*LE BALADIN SUPER BALADIN "SOUR EDITION 2005". Italian sour Belgian-style
tripel. Quite lovely.
*OLD RASPUTIN "X11" 12th ANNIVERSARY BOURBON-AGED IMPERIAL STOUT
*GOOSE ISLAND "PERE JACQUES" 2009 BELGIAN-STYLE STRONG IN 22oz BOTTLES
*DOGFISH HEAD THEOBROMA (returns). (An interesting beer that,
unfortunately got stomped on by my spicy mole sauce.)

Next week there's some new beers coming from Shelton brothers, including a
single blend lambic from Drie Fonteinen.

Okay, all for now....
Annette May
Beer Department Manager,Certified Cicerone
Merchant's Fine Wine, Dearborn

...Full post

Fort Street Update

Brew-Ha-Ha went swimmingly this past Saturday. From Doug:

Greetings and salutations!

I had a dream. I dreamed of creating a Brew-Ha-Ha! that would start with a foundation and grow to be something bigger and better each year. In this dream, the first year attracted a huge turn-out of thirsty beer lovers who appreciated the event for what it was, and understood that this was only the beginning. But you know how dreams are. They so rarely come true. I awoke this past Sunday morning exhausted, but oh so happy that this dream had more or less come true. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We were overwhelmed with the turn-out on Saturday (in more ways than one)! Brew-Ha-Ha! will return next year with more beers, more events, and more of everything (including more help)!
Despite releasing a new beer on Thursday and six more on Saturday, the cupboards are far from bare! This Thursday, August 6th at 8 ish p.m., we'll release two more! Yep. First up is "Indie Brown". Remember "Brown Bomber"? Sort of a hoppy brown ale style. Well, "Indie Brown" takes that and kicks it up a notch. Who says pale ales have to be pale in color? Not me! A brown ale with the usual chocolate-toffee-caramel notes with a whole lot of hop character. If you like IPA's, pale ales, brown ales, candy bars, or back rubs, you'll probably like this beer.
If you have a copy of the official Fort Street Brewery August calendar, you'll see that there's only one beer scheduled for release this week. There's been a change to your programs! We've decided to move up the release of "Up North" from the 13th to the 6th. Many of you are already familar with this beer. It's a rye pilsner style that is replacing "Stimulus Ale". It'll be available sometime on Tuesday for Fan Club Members.
As usual, we'll have some great prizes for a few lucky folks in attendance at the tapping on Thursday.
Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to vote for us in the annual Channel 4 Best of Detroit poll. We moved up to second place, but have now dropped back down to third. Voting continues through the end of the month. We would really like to win this thing! So please go online to www.clickondetroit.com/4thebest and vote for us as best brewpub.
Our liquor of the week is Hound Dog Sweet Tea vodka. We have regular, peach, lemon, and raspberry). If you like vodka, ice tea, banjo music, or sittin' on your porch while the cool summer breezes blow across your face, you'll like this stuff! You can get a Lemon Tea (regular tea vodka with lemonade and orange juice) for just $3, or a Sparkling Tea (any of the flavors with 7-UP) for just $2.75. It's a deal no reasonable redneck (or anyone else for that matter) could refuse! You already know that every Tuesday you can get a turkey leg the size of homeless chihuahua in Dearborn for just $2. But did you know that my Uncle Bill knows a guy whose neighbor has 202 chihuahuas? He said he figured that if they could get 101 dalmations in a house, then surely he could fit twice that many chihuahas in a house!
This week on "I Think Your Chicken Is Sitting On My Beer", you'll hear Jason say, "Why does Doug like us to cook everything with beer?" You'll also hear Francisco say, "We won't run out of beer to drink, will we?!"
On your plate look for: Shepherd's Pie, Risotto Balls, Pub Pickles (beer battered fried pickles), Chicken Fajita Pizza, Meatball & Macareena Strogonoff, Beer Poached Salmon sandwiches or salads, grilled corn on the cob, and more beer can chickens on Friday and Saturday.
In summary: thank you!, more beers this Thursday!, vote for us or we'll turn all the street lights out!, banjo playing vodka swilling hound dogs, chihuahuas in the news, new tasty food items, and me taking the weekend off! Can I get a "Yipppeee!"?

See ya soon,

Doug
Fort Street Brewery
www.fortstreetbeer.com
www.twitter.com/fortstreetbeer
1660 Fort St.
Lincoln Park, MI
(313) 389-9620

...Full post

New at Merchant's

NEW BEERS!
*DOGFISH HEAD SAH'TEA Sam's take on traditional Finnish SAHTI. Brewed with
rye, juniper & Chai tea. Hmmm,and it WAS interesting. It tasted like juniper and chai tea. Sweet, viscous, a couple of ounces of this was enough for me. We shared this with our homebrew club.
*SOUTHERN TIER CREME BRULEE STOUT (Returns!) A fabulous offering from this great brewery, if you like vanilla caramelly stouts!
*STONE BREWING 13TH ANNIVERSARY ALE They say there are more pounds of hops per barrel in this Imperial Red Ale than in any other beer they have brewed. I'm a little scared.....Our friend Aaron, the rep for Stone, says "drink this one now, while the aromatics are prominent".
*GREAT DIVIDE'S CHOCOLATE OAK-AGED YETI IMPERIAL STOUT. It's got a dash of cayenne pepper in it. Sounds wonderful- can't wait to try this one. While I'm not a big fan of chocolate stout, I love the combination of dark chocolate and chili pepper. It's great in ice cream, and probably good in beer also.
*JOLLY PUMPKIN BAM WEIZEN (Returns)Mmm, lovely summer beer!
*EISENBAHN (Brazil) "LUST". Another lovely beer using the Methode
Champenoise technique. Gorgeous bottle. I've been known to give this one to friends about to be wed.
*HEAVY SEAS (Clipper City Brewing, Baltimore), THE BIG DIPA Double IPA 22oz. I've not had this, but all the Heavy Seas beers are nicely done, and tasty. And, gotta love the piratey theme!

Mad Hatter Day

Yet another item not posted in time to be useful:

This will be huge fun.

New at Merchant's

Oh.....many good things! And, a new weekend guy, Kevin, who seems to be working out really well.

From my good friends at Montreal's unsurpassed Dieu du Ciel! brewery.....
RIGOR MORTIS ABT A Belgian-style abbey ale 10.5% EQUINOXE DE PRINTEMPS Scotch ale brewed with maple syrup. Excellent beers!!

From my new friends at Norway's Nogne O Brewery...
DUGGES SAHTI- Nogne O's take on the classic Finish brew. A collaboration
between Nogne O, and Sweden's Dugges Brewery. Brewed with heather honey and juniper. Truly unique!
"TOSHI" DOUBLE IPA -A collaboration between Nogne O, and Yo Ho brewing, Japan. 100BU, 8%ABV, Lotsa American hops.
SUNTURNBREW- A beer brewed "for the turning of the sun" on December 21st. It's a strong ale brewed with rye. 50BU. 11%ABV

From Japan!
SHIZUOKA NATSUMIKAN (Say that quickly!) From Baird Brewery. A malty beer brewed with fresh Shizuoka natsumikans (okay, it's a citrus fruit). They are even peeled by hand. Aromatic and lovely with our recent dinner of rare tuna, rice and edamame.
TRIPLE HOP ALE - Ise Kadoya brewery, Japan. Interesting brewery.
Interesting history. They make miso and soy sauce as well as beer. This is
a hoppy pale ale, 5.1%, brewed with, you guessed it, 3 different hops.

From Denmark!
MIKKELLER "NELSON SAUVIN" An American style IPA hopped solely with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand. Very unusual. 6.9%ABV

More from Quebec!
LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES BREWERY.....
UNFILTERED DOPPELBOCK 9.5% I haven't tried this one yet, but will soon,
maybe with a pork loin.
RAUCHBIER Inspired by the Bamberg style, but really more like a smoked
porter. Rich, a hint of chocolate and toffee. Very nice...

ALLAGASH "CONFLUENCE"- the second in the Allagash series of mixed
fermentation beers comprising a Belgian yeast, and Brettanomyces. A
golden, dry-hopped beer, 7.5%ABV, and a good match with charcuterie and eggs benedict. So says their web page, and I think I might have to try the eggs suggestion!

GREAT LAKES BREWING "GLOCKENSPIEL"
Gotta love a beer with that name. It's a Weizenbock. And a lovely one.
Lots of "bock-ey" rich malt. Baked bananas and clove. If I had a baked ham
at home this would be the ticket!

From my friends at STONE BREWING....
SUBLIMELY SELF-RIGHTEOUS ALE A re-release of their 11th anniversary beer, a black IPA. 8.7%
CALI-BELGIE IPA - A California-style IPA with a Belgian yeast. 6.9% (It's
a Belgie, not a Frenchie.)

"FRULI" SRAWBERRY - From Belgium. Very fruity, a little tart, beautiful
colour. If you love the Lindeman's lambics, and you're a strawberry fan,
you'll love this beer! I think this beer will make a nice sorbet with a
little balsamic vinegar thrown in, and maybe some fresh basil.

And....Anchor Summer beer, Arbor Brewing Strawberry Blonde, (the return of) Jolly Pumpkin's Luciernaga and a new batch of Leelanau's Whaleback White (Michigan beer-of-the-month, on sale!).

Okay, I think that's it. I'm definitely going to try some of these beers
over the weekend. It's a chore sometimes, but as Mr Cicerone often says,
"a gentleman always helps a lady Cicerone with her homework."
Hmmm, what can I cook to go with the Whaleback White...

...Full post

Another Cool Thing I Have to Miss

Wheatstock 3 at Fort Street Brewery, May 14-16.
3 days of beer and love! 5 new wheat-based beers. Damn!

Lots of new beer at Merchants!

Many great new things have arrived....

*CANTILLON SAINT LAMVINUS
I believe I might have the only case in Michigan! It's a rare bottling
of Cantillon lambic with whole fresh grapes from the Bordeux region
added into the oak cask. I've been lucky enough to have this beer a few
times before (on draft at The Hopleaf in Chicago!!), and it's
spectacular! I'm going to make a very rich mole sauce soon, maybe throw
it over a pork tenderloin, and think this might be a good match.

*AVERY BRABANT
No 1 in a new series of barrel-aged beers from Avery Brewing. It's a
barrel-aged wild ale aged for 8 months in zinfandel barrels. I haven't
tried it yet, but hope to soon, maybe this weekend. I'll have to cook
something interesting to match the (I expect) intense cross-section of
flavours that this beer promises.

*KONIGSHOEVEN BOCK
A Trappist bock. "A beautiful example of the Dutch expression of that
style. Very deep red in colour. Richly roasted and deeply flavored malts
round out the palate, highlighted and contrasted by the surprising depth
of hop flavor and bitterness, all melding into a long and luxurious
finish." 7%ABV

*JOLLY PUMPKIN BIERE DE MARS
Ron's Spring seasonal release. Can't wait to open the one I have at home!

*OMMEGANG BIERE DE MARS
A new beer from Ommegang. Belgian-style amber with Brettanomyces. Mmmmm.

*GREAT LAKES BREWING GRASSROOTS ALE
A new seasonal Saison brewed with coriander, lemon balm, chamomile and
lemon basil. Very "herby" and quite unique.

*GUINNESS 250 ANNIVERSARY STOUT
A limited edition anniversary beer from Guinness! 5%ABV, carbonated with
just CO2, smooth, lightish bodied, slightly sweet, low bitterness in the
finish. A lovely warm weather beer.

*SIERRA NEVADA SUMMERFEST LAGER
One of the best summer seasonals out there. (I'll be drinking plenty, at
least until our own helles and pilsner are ready.)

*STONE LEVITATION ALE
If you haven't tried this unique beer from Stone, you're in for a great
treat. I'll say no more.....

*STONE BREWING RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
Always great.

*LAGUNITAS "HOP STOOPID" & "CORRECTION" ALES

AND LASTLY....AN UPDATE ON BELL'S BATCH 9000.
There's good news, and there's bad news.
The bad? It's been delayed. Straight from David's (the Bell's rep)
mouth... "Expect it to arrive during a month starting with "J". June?
July?.... January? Hopefully we'll see it mid-June, or thereabouts.
The good? The beer is taking its time to arrive at the desired ABV, and
they won't release it until it's ready.

...Full post