Dai Nippon Jin...ger

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!

"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....

....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

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!

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi. Can't wait!

Brew Day, Batch 356: Matmos Ale

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

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.