It was kind of fun the other day, so let’s give it another try.
The goal, again, is to identify the outlier and explain why it doesn’t belong on the list. There may be more than one answer, although I happen to have a specific one in mind.
a) Three Floyd’s Alpha King
b) Fuller’s Vintage Ale
c) Ommegang Abbey Ale
d) De Ranke XX Bitter
e) Saint Arnold Summer Pils
Just so you know, nobody’s definition of “craft beer” sets any of these beers apart, nor does the country of origin.
Can you identify the outlier?
a) Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat
b) Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat Ale
c) Samuel Adams Honey Porter
d) Yuengling Black & Tan
e) Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss Bier
Yes, there may be more than one correct answer (perhaps even one I haven’t thought of), so please include an explanation.
A very nice article in the current Zymurgy (the magazine mailed to members of the American Homebrewers Association and also available on newsstands) by Martyn Cornell and Antony Hayes titled “Burton Ale: A British Comfort Beer.”
I particularly like this paragraph: “Burton Ale is a comforting beer brewed for adults. It is not an extreme beer catering to childish tastes, but a strong, rich beer, playing off plenty of bitterness against a sweet, malty undertone. It has no rough edges.”
And this one: “When brewing a Burton Ale, it is best to remember the things that comforted you most as a child — your teddy bear or blanket perhaps — and then aim for a beer that will evoke similar emotions.”
(If you grew up hugging pine cones, then obviously you’re gonna brew a different beer. That’s a discussion for another day.)
I must admit my shoulders drooped a bit when I read the recipe (which calls for an alarming amount of East Kent Golding hops — comparable to well over 3 pounds per barrel before dry hopping — and discovered a bit of bad news: “Rack into maturation tanks and mature for a year.”
There’s a reason they call them maturation tanks.
Dave Jensen at Beer 47 asks us to write about Cooking With Beer for the 47th gathering of The Session. Fifteen years ago Lucy Saunders wrote a book by with that title for Time-Life, and my wife (Daria Labinsky) and I then compiled a companion called The Brewpub Cookbook.
Not all the recipes we collected ended up in the book, but fortunately we saved them (first on 3½ floppies; it was a while ago) because several turned out to be favorites. That includes this one for Stilton Cheese Soup from Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland.
It’s rich, with a powerful, sharp Stilton flavor. Great Lakes used, and may still use, its Dortmunder Gold in making the soup. It goes well with Burning River Pale Ale, because that beer has enough hops to “cut right through the cheese.”
Stilton Cheese Soup
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup lager beer
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 3/4 cups crumbled Stilton cheese
1. In a food processor or blender, purée carrots and onion until nearly smooth. Set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, or until mixture turns a copper color.
3. Carefully stir in chicken stock, cream, beer, carrot-onion mixture, pepper, Tabasco, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch and water together. Add to the soup. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Discard bay leaf.
5. Gradually add cheeses, cooking and stirring until melted.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Additionally, “The findings are backed up by figures which demonstrate the local nature of beer around the world, with only 6% of global beer volumes drunk outside their market of origin.”