Session #27: A wheat beer cocktail

The SessionThis is my contribution to The Session, hosted this month by Joe & Jasmine at Beer at Joe’s. The topic is beer cocktails. Visit Joe and Jasmine to see what everybody else is writing about.

A couple of years ago during a tour of New Belgium Brewing arranged for the press brewmaster Peter Bouckaert poured samples of the brewery’s Frambozen, a beer released for winter drinking. I told the person next to me that we liked to mix one part Frambozen with two parts Pyramid Snow Cap. Apparently Bouckaert was eavesdropping because he looked at me, narrowed his eyes and said, “Ooohh, a blender.”

Guilty as charged . . . sometimes. We go through stretches in our house when we blend beers and even make cocktails that include beer and non-beer ingredients. Right now we’re not doing much mixing, in part because of travels, but also because we’re happy to let brewers do it for us. In all my life I’m probably never going to take “a little bit of this” and “a little bit of that” and come up with anything like we bought at Cantillon.

But today is The Session. So I thought about suggesting an old favorite. Like a cocktail Stephen Beaumont dubbed “Any Port in a Storm.” His cocktail calls for two ounces of port and a 12-ounce bottle of Storm King from Victory Brewing in Pennsylvania. Works with other imperial stouts as well. Really good for watching stars on a cool New Mexico night.

And I considered something, well, weird. We’ve got this book titled “Beer and Good Food,” written in 1958 by Myra Waldo, that has some strange recipes.

For instance, “Lamb’s Wool.” You “combine 1 cup applesauce and 2 cups of ale in a saucepan and heat; remove from heat just before the boiling point. Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger and stir well. Taste — you might want to add a little sugar if the applesauce is unsweetened. Drink while hot.”

We can do better than that, can’t we? I figured that out at lunch. During our unexpected pit stop at home we’ve managed to visit a few local breweries (including brewpubs). Today we had lunch at Chama River, where brewer Jeff Erway explained to me why my favorite Class VI Golden would be more like the beer I remember by the time we’re back in August (a yeast issue). Daria had Doble Gringo, a big (6.8% abv) and bold beer brewed in the manner of a Belgian wit.

An excellent beer all on it’s own. But what if we took a growler home, and dosed it with a measure of New Glarus Raspberry Tart? Not sure how much; probably best to start small and add more if necessary. No doubt that Raspberry Tart’s flavors would both compliment and complement the wheaty qualities of the Gringo.

One problem. We don’t have any Raspberry Tart. So, like you, I’m left to imagine.