Draught Beer Quality Manual Released

The Brewers Association has released their comprehensive Draught Beer Quality Manual, yours for the downloading here. If you have a question about draft dispense, you will find your answer there. It is also indexed and searchable as html.

Nice Story About Annette

The News Herald has a story about Annette here. Aren't I the good husband, to let her borrow my prized fez?

N'awlins Needs Cicerones!

We just returned from a trip to the Big Easy, and may have to subsist on lettuce and water for a week just to regain nutritional equilibrium. For those who have never been to New Orleans, one word: Go.

New Orleanians know how to live well. Food is not simply fuel, a commodity; it's a sacrament, a pastime, a way of life. Much time and thought seems to go into doing leisure right.

For all the focus on food and good living, the beer revolution is not much in evidence in many restaurants, certainly not as much as it should be. Abita Amber, a Vienna-style lager, is readily available around town; their other, more interesting beers somewhat less so. There is one venerable multitap in town, Cooter Brown's, a dba in Faubourg Marigny, and a pair of identical new corporate-ish multitaps on Bourbon. There's Crescent City Brewhouse, but beyond a really solid Pils, it's just another touristy place on Decatur.

The most singular example of what I'm talking about was at the venerable Commander's Palace. Arguably the finest restaurant in the world capital of eatin', and virtually no beer in the place. Not even Guinness or Sam Adams, just a couple 'lite' beers, Abita Amber, and Heineken. waiting for our table at the bar, we ordered a couple Abitas. We opted for a six course fixed-menu dinner titled "The Chef's Playground," complete with wine pairings for each course. The meal was nothing short of spectacular. A blow by blow account follows below.

First, to avoid repetition- every one of the wines was really nice. We like wine, though we are not experts. We were able to sample each wine before the food course arrived. Each wine agreed with each course, that is, there were no clashes, and nothing was overwhelmed. However, at no point did the pairing of wine with food exceed the sum of the two parts. We are used to fireworks with beer and food; the wine provided candlelight enough to see. So I've inserted the 'fantasy beers' we'd have liked to had on hand. I would also like to note that we each brought a half-pint of Abita to the table, and it was pretty damn good with most of the courses. OK, here it is, in all its decadent glory:

Blue Crab and Caviar Timbale

Jumbo lump crabmeat & Atchafalaya Basin bowfin roe with citrus, peppery arugula, mango, crushed lime and golden pineapple vinaigrette.

Lots of sweet crab, great with all the fruit.

Wine: Gruet Brut Rose

Fantasy beers: Celis White, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Goose 312, for the citrus character, Dupont Saison for the peppery phenol. Lots of stuff to hook up with, here.

Spicy Lobster and Asparagus

Crab-boiled Maine lobster and grilled spring asparagus veloute with preserved lemon and Creole cream cheese.

Amazing. The preserved lemon really set off the other ingredients.

Wine: 2006 Monchhof Reisling Spatlese Urziger Wurgarten

Fantasy beers: Duvel, Cooper's Sparkling Ale; Hefeweizen would be set off nicely by the lemon, too.

Duck Egg Carbonara

Spring duck egg poached with lemon and sea salt over hand made pasta with caramelized shallots, brandy, bacon and oregon black truffles.

Oof. Words fail me. Incredibly rich. You had me at the egg yolk.

Wine: 2007 Pieropan Soave Classico

Fantasy beers: Deux Brasseurs Golden Ale w/brett, Goose Island Matilda

INTERMISSION: "Le Coup De Milieu" a Liquefied Ponchatoula Strawberry Shortcake

Pretty much what it sounds like, with booze.

Tomato Dusted Soft Shell Crab

Local legumes, asparagus and petite leaves tossed with chardonnay, spicy tasso & tabasco butter.

Wow. Crispy soft shell crab coated with local tomatoes that had been dehydrated, concentrated, and powderized. Think sun-dried tomatoes. Or barbecue potato chips.

Wine: 2006 Trefethen Chardonnay

Fantasy beers: Rauchbier or schwarzbier would be great with the intense tomato coated crab and spicy ham. Great Lakes Conway's Irish Red would probably go well, too.

A Tasting of Spring Lamb

Wood-fired leg of lamb and braised lamb tongue with butter roasted Brussels sproutss, chervil, shaved sweet onions, aged balsamic vinegar, rosti potatoes, and lamb jus roti.

Wonderful. Lambs have tender, tasty tongues. And there is no meal that can't be improved by the addition of roasted Brussels sprouts.

Wine: 2005 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon

Fantasy beers: Dubbel, Amber biere de garde, dunkels bockbier

The Chocolate Molten

Imported dark chocolate, chicory coffee anglaise, chocolate covered esperesso beans, chocolate ganache and Jason's "1403" chocolate mint.

Wine: 1994 Smith Woodhouse Oporto (should've saved this for a cheese course!)

Fantasy beer: Fish in a barrel! Any rich, dark, roasty beer would do well, as long as it's not too bitter. North Coast Old Rasputin, Founders, Arcadia, all are Imperial stouts that would go well. As a long shot, I'd try Perkulator Coffee Doppelbock from Dark Horse.

All throughout this meal, we were waited on hand and foot by Commander's highly professional, welcoming staff. Everybody should have this experience at least once in their life.

CODA

We also dined at Jacques-Imo, which is a casual setting with fancy food in the Uptown neighborhood. We'd eaten there before, and knew it would be great. And a small, but decent selection of beer didn't hurt- Chimay Red goes amazingly well with braised short ribs!

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Stone Guys at Ashleys AA

Join the head brewers of Stone, Mitch & Steve, for the release of
Levitation Ale in Michigan at 5pm on Saturday April 25 in Ann Arbor.
Mitch & Steve are stopping by on their way back from the Craft Brewers
Conference in Boston. Before they head home they are going to team up again with Ron Jeffries of Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter to brew something special.

UPDATE

Also scheduled to appear:

* Chipotle Smoked Porter
* 12th Anniversary Oatmeal Stout
* Arrogant Bastard
* Pale Ale
* Ruination
* Russian Imperial
* IPA
* Smoked Porter
* 08-08-08 Maybe???

UPDATE

Well, that was fun. It turned out to be a smallish gathering of brewers and assorted beer nerds. It was great to meet Steve Wagner, the founding brewer from Stone, and the man responsible for Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, and Arrogant Bastard, among others; and great to see Mitch Steele again. Ron Jeffries and the guys from Nogny O were also there, fresh from the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston, and Laurie Jeffries and Molly Brown from Jolly Pumpkin were there, as well. We've been lucky enough to have a couple of preview samples of Levitation in the past month or so, and were happy to have more, but I think we were both most excited by the prospect of the Chipotle Smoked Porter. We were certainly not disappointed; it was smooth and balanced, with a nice pepper glow. I'd love to have some with some barbecue... Steve Wagner explained that they periodically rack a few barrels of their regular (and excellent) Smoked Porter into a tank with some chipotles and age it a while. It's a rare treat, so if you want to try it, hie thee to Ashley's soon. We also had some of the Twelfth Anniversary oatmeal chocolate imperial stout that had been aged in bourbon casks. It was nice, not too boozy, but I still might prefer the non-wood version. I had a small taste of the Vertical 8-8-8, basically a tripel/strong golden, which still has plenty of hop character. Oh, yeah, the Levitation: ruby-brown, big resiny hop aroma and flavor, backed up with nutty malt with a hint of chocolate. Body is medium-light, and alcohol content is a temperate 4.4%/vol. A perfect beer if you want to have Extreme!Dude! flavor without getting too wasted....



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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.

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Beer School!

Tuesday May 5th, 7PM
Ashley's Westland
7525 Wayne Rd, Westland at Westland Mall 734 525 1667
THE ESSENTIAL INTRODUCTION TO BEER- A class and tasting with REX HALFPENNY. Space is limited, reservations required, $20 per person includes all samples and snacks. Tickets available on-line
http://www.ashleys.com/beerclass.html

April 27th is Beer Club Dinner at Slows

The next beer dinner at Slows will feature Great Lakes beers paired with specially designed courses. It promises to be phenomenal, as always. Price is $30, which, trust me, is a bargain. Details from Tara below the fold:

"Hello fellow beer lovers it's almost our favorite Monday of the month again!!! April 27 @7:30pm, this time due to the Yankees being in town for the Tigers to beat. We will be starting the night off with a outstanding
NEVER been poured before(for the public-just us!!) saison-The GrassRoots!!!
Chef Brian will be pairing that with a wonderful spring vegetable
raviolli. We will also be sampling the blackout stout with lamb &polenta,
Elliot ness-with pork,artichokes,arugula,shrooms and etc. of yumminess!!!
And how about chocolate and Edmund Fitzgerald porter???!!! And a duo of
cheeses and Commodore Perry vs Burning river, need I say more??-- See you
Monday!!! Any ?'s just hollar back& to Rsvp either email or call
313-962-9828-Thanks again-T"

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