Great turnout for The Session #27, the theme being Beer Cocktails. Jasmine at Beer at Joe’s already has the roundup posted.
Lots to read. I particularly like these Friday gatherings because — despite the rather lengthy list on the right — we’re seeing posts from beer blogs I didn’t know existed.
Get your own. Be there when Brian Yaeger hosts in June.
This 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.
Apologies, but I have to point something else out that bugged me watching Beer Wars. When you left the theater did you think that Moonshot was the only beer laced with caffeine? (Excepting the 849 coffee beers out there; mmmm, Meantime Coffee.)
Not true. There’s also MateVeza Yerba Mate gold, and now Yerba Mate IPA. The Gold was introduced in 2007 and brewed under contract by Butte Creek in Chico, Calif. Now Mendocino Brewing makes the beers, which are certified organic. Like coffee, yerba mate contains the alkaloid caffeine. Unlike coffee, yerba mate also contains theobromine, the active alkaloid in chocolate that is a mild, long-lasting stimulant.
Each 12-ounce serving of Yerba Mate IPA — let’s get right to the strong stuff — contains roughly equal to one-half cup of coffee. Seven percent strong with 60 IBU.
I’d like to say I’d take it black, but it’s more like a orange, bright and clear. Somewhat grassy, blame the hops and/or the Yerba Mate. Think of smelling orange blossoms when your hands are just a bit muddy. It certainly qualifies as a “hop tea.”
OK, it’s not the French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley ($240 tasting menu, hard-to-get reservations, $50 corkage fee if you bring your own wine), but French Laundry Café & Market in Fenton, Michigan, has announced it will pour only Michigan beers.
In a press release, bartender Jon Foley says the restaurants’s nine handles will offer “the spectrum of styles, coming from a variety of Michigan breweries including Arbor Brewing, Arcadia Ales, Atwater, Bell’s, Darkhorse, Dragonmead, Founders, Frog Island (Michigan Brewing Company), King’s, New Holland, Sherwood, Short’s and The Livery.” Featured selections will be posted each week at the restaurant as well as online.
“This marks a major triumph for us as a business, especially in our solidarity with the Michigan brewing industry,” says owner Mark Hamel. “We believe Michigan makes the best beer in the country and now there’s finally going to be a place to get consistent Michigan draft in Genesse County.”
Looks like a place to head for American Craft Beer Week.
There’s the sky, here’s the earth
This is the road for all it’s worth
It’s a ribbon, it’s a river, it’s a wave
It’s an arrow and it’s a snake
It’s asleep and it’s awake
And it stretches from the cradle to the grave
Thank God for the road
And the stars that shine above it
No matter what you once thought of it
You always knew you’d come to love it
We are in the midst of an unplanned stop at home, hoping RV repairs go fast so we can be winging toward California. One thing we learned quickly is that when this adventure ends in August we’ll need to do some serious adjusting. Gonna miss the road.
Lyrics: By Butch Hancock, from “Thank God for the Road” on the Flatlanders’ “Hills and Valleys.”
Photo: Looking south across remains of a building at Terlingua Ghost Town just outside of Big Bend National Park.