My first homebrew, a summer IPA: I enjoyed the process, so hey, maybe I’ll keep doing it. This weekend I shared this first batch with friends, bottled a second batch (an ESB), and started fermenting a third (a mostly-rye ale). I’d decided to keep the equipment and process simple (just one pot and one fermenter, working with local water, etc), at least until I’ve brewed five or ten times and have a better feeling for it. In photos, an amalgamation of the first two batches: ...
I’ve started homebrewing. I’ll post recipes at some point. But to start, photos of the all-important bottling and labeling step. I’d been saving used bottles for the past year in anticipation of brewing some day, so I used a propped-open electric kettle to steam off the labels (most labels peel right off after about 15 seconds of steam, though some brands need a vigorous scrubbing to remove residual glue): ...
Another year, another weekend trip to Portland to see friends, eat, and drink beer. Getting up early and going to sleep late– less to take advantage of the nightlife and more to fit in four meals a day. Some memories: Heart Coffee: Easily the best coffee of the trip. A very light roast, lemony, smooth. Highly recommended. Apizza Scholls: Oh, wow. I’d been here many years ago and remembered it being good, but the first hot slice of Margherita this time was one of the best slices of pizza I’ve had anywhere (including New Haven, Brooklyn, and Naples). Perfect. They nailed it. Thin crust without being crispy, elastic without being chewy, tender without letting grease soak through, tart distinctively tomato sauce without being too acidic, small pockets of excellent cheese and basil, and just the right temperature…. even 15 minutes later it wasn’t as amazing. The New York White Pie (fresh mozzarella, pecorino, ricotta, garlic) was also very good and moist, but not in the same league. ...
I give these a B+: excellent ganache and a concept that of course I’d fall for (a six-pack of chocolates flavored with different beers, including several I already know I like such as Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and Oskar Blues G’Knight)… but I found the beer flavorings very subtle next to the strong chocolate, and I wanted something forceful and more different chocolate-to-chocolate. I’d still like to visit nunu in Brooklyn some day and have a beer next to the chocolate, though. ...
While visiting Chicago, I was usually getting dinner with other people who are into craft beer, making it easy to try a wide variety. It was a busy few evenings so I don’t remember all the details, but I jotted down a few notes of my favorites that I’m going to keep an eye out for in the future: Vichtenaar, a slightly sour Flemish Red Avery Maharajah, a very distinctively-flavored IPA (and one of a small number of IPAs I’m excited about these days– I’d had it before) Half Acre Over Ale (a brown ale, a bit nutty, a bit like toast, quite good – sadly I don’t think they distribute outside of Chicago) Half Acre Sanguis brewed with oranges and beets, and really excellent with strong food (smoked eel) Brooklyn Sorachi Ace (Sorachi Ace is a particular unusual hop that I think smells a bit like dill– I only knew it from the Mikkeller Single Hop series tasting I did with some friends last year) Revolution Coup d’Etat (from a local brewery, in the slightly funky belgian farmhouse/blonde/yeasty style) As a side note– I liked the design of the Half Acre Sanguis label quite a bit– my photo of it is a bit blurry but I found a blog post from the designer with the image: ...
Singapore isn’t a place I get excited about drinking a beer, since it’s mostly mild lagers like Tiger (good with spicy food, but that’s about all I can say for it) and other similar beers. Plus, a single beer can easily cost $10-$15 US. But holing up during a downpour over the weekend, I came across a bar with Little Creatures Pale Ale- excellent. Hops reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, but leaning towards spruce or balsam instead of pine. My favorite Australian beer and up there in my favorite pale ales overall. ...
I didn’t know Parabola was available outside of a few Firestone Walker tastings (they mainly use it as an intermediate beer they blend into their anniversary ale each year) , but City Beer managed to get a few bottles of it (for in-store consumption only, to prevent them from being scooped up and resold on ebay). A good surprise on a beerophile friend’s birthday. I don’t want to be that person who describes a taste as “dutch cocoa, with raisins and the tart fruitiness of a lightly-roasted espresso”, but apparently I am. ...
A friend and coworker made his own cured pork belly and wild boar salami (and I mean real running-in-the-woods, invasive, shot-by-a-friend wild boar, not the Texas-ranch-raised “wild boar”) . And a group of us had a little shindig pairing those with various smoked or barrel-aged beers: The beer highlights for me were the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, a smoked beer with a light touch (and I don’t like most smoked beers I’ve had), and The Lost Abbey Angel’s Share (bourbon aged, chewy, >12% ABV, strong– a sour cherry barrel aged version of that at City Beer a few years ago was one of my favorite beers). ...
I’ve taken a dangerous plunge– dedicating a cupboard to stocking some of my favorite not-available-at-corner-stores (though mostly available at City Beer Store or Healthy Spirits) beers, for special (or at least moderately-special) occasions: Sours: Cascade Kriek, Strubbe Flemish Red, Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour, Russian River Supplication & Consecration, Upright Billy The Mountain Belgians: Rochefort 8 & 10, Westvleteren 10 & 12, Orval, Liefmans Goudenband Belgian-Style US: Allagash Black & Tripel & Tripel Reserve, Russian River Damnation ...
Last weekend I went up to Russian River Brewing Co with a group of friends (by bike, in fact, a 130-mile round trip from San Francisco, but that’s a story for another day or blog…) for their two-week window of Pliny the Younger on tap. After three hours waiting in line to get in (which passed surprisingly quickly due to good company and a boom box with some James Brown), I had a glass of this triple IPA in hand: ...
A low-key Feb 14th– catching up at home after a few whirlwind weeks, and making a quick and tasty hash starting from a homemade “lambcetta” (like pancetta, but lamb, air-cured with salt) given to me by a friend who’s been going all-out on the butchering and meat-preserving front recently. It was delicious sliced thin on its own, and I don’t think it would kill me. But to make it last, I just used a bit of it, minced up and fried with minced shallots, and then coarser-cut onions, fennel (yes, I’m an addict), and carrots. ...
If you don’t want to see pictures of hog butchering, stop reading now. Yesterday I went to a combination beer release party ( Almanac Beer’s Winter Wit, with kara kara oranges, blood oranges, and ginger from local farms– they pointed out that while Wit is typically a summer beer, winter is citrus season in our neck of the woods… I liked it quite a bit, as well as the High Water Brewing No Boundaries IPA), pork dinner (shoulder with some sort of spicy gravy was my favorite, followed by the fatty pork-and-beer sausage and chicharrones), and hog butchering demonstration by Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats. ...
A friend made some dry-cured (hopefully botulism-free) salami from scratch, from a wild boar a friend of his shot. Rich, spicy, excellent. I’ll ask him for details. I brought the beer. The Allagash Black (belgian crossed with a stout) and the Speakeasy Butchertown Black (hoppy and dark) were the favorites. The Upright Flora Rustica I’d liked so much in PDX was no good at all– sour and muddled. Oh, and rosewater-flavored Turkish Delight, back from Istanbul. ...
My two favorite beers from a few days in and near Germany (both from restaurant and beer bar Hütt’n in Nuremberg, on Burgstraße -- Nuremberg has a reputation for dark-for-Germany beers): Landbier Dunkel from Brauerie Reh. Coppery, slightly hoppy with no bitterness, very satisfying. Schwarze Anna from Brauerie Neder. Black, a sort of burnt chocolate taste (though not too heavy), reminded me of a stout. I also had (though less exciting): Leichtes Landbier from Brauerie Rittmayer A Czech pilsner I didn’t write down the name of, in Prague Every beer was reasonably good, and a welcome break from a bad beer I’d had in Asia, but nothing blew me away. I was also busy and slightly sick at the end of the trip, though, so beer tasting wasn’t at the top of my list. ...
Along with eating in Singapore, I had drinks at a few memorable places. The stout and blonde at the scenic Level 33 brewpub were my favorite: I had an unremarkable beer (maybe a Tiger?) on the rooftop deck at Prelude, a bar above the Boathouse restaurant adjacent to the Fullerton Hotel. Another nice place to spend a balmy winter evening. Finally, I had a “Tony Stark” (a transparent and successful attempt to sell a “manly” cocktail): it involved caramelized pineapple and black pepper, and was cute but a waste of money at $24 Singaporean ($18 US)). The 57th-floor views from the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino made up for that, though: ...