Double Cross Vodka

I'll quote myself again about vodka: "To call this protean liquor “colorless, odorless, and tasteless” sells it terribly short." I was a serious -- i.e., straight -- vodka drinker years before I got serious about whiskey, and I've been rediscovering the good points of vodka lately.

Like this bottle of Double Cross I was sent a couple years ago when I was working on a vodka story for Mass Beverage Business. It sat on my shelf -- I wasn't reviewing vodkas, just writing about them -- until a few weeks ago, when Cathy and I took her brother Curt out to Uzbekistan (which is just great, BTW, and if you haven't been, go). It's BYO, so we got together a clutch of beers and ciders and two bottles of wine (the chardonnay worked really well; the sauvignon blanc, not so much), and I saw the bottle of Double Cross, and thought, hell, why not? And stuffed it in the freezer around noon to get chilled for the evening.

We started eating. First it was achik-chuck, a delicious traditional tomato salad. Salud! Curt and I had half-ounce shots of vodka. Then the piping hot bread came. Salud! Then some skewers of lamb. Salud! We finished the skewers of lamb. Salud! Cathy's stroganoff came. Salud! Cathy joined us for a shot. Salud! We got pilov -- Salud! -- and more skewers. Salud! We eventually Salud!-ed our way through half the bottle, and Cathy drove home.

And you know? The Double Cross was brilliant. From the very first shot, it was clean, no trace of any nasty solvent flavors; it was well-bodied without being sweet; and it had a faint but distinct graininess to it that was just perfect. Best of all, the little half-ounce shots made an excellent palate refresher between courses. I liked the Double Cross, and after another meal at Uzbekistan, I intend to buy another bottle.

Yuengs for your Wings

Can't believe this took so long: Yuengling has launched a line of Barbecue and Wing sauces incorporating their beers: Lager, Light Lager, Porter, and Black and Tan. Check it out here. This should be a runaway success.

Allagash Cookbook? Yes, please

If there's an American craft brewery that makes me think, 'Yes, a cookbook from them would be a great idea' more than Allagash, well, I can't think of it. I've been drinking Rob Tod's exceptional beers almost from the beginning, and from the first time I visited the brewery -- a long time ago, I love Maine -- we've had a conversation going about great food. I still think one of the very best beer/food pairings I ever had was at a Monk's Cafe "coastal beer and food" dinner where Stephen Beaumont had paired Allagash Interlude with snails in a buttery sauce in a huge hunk of puff pastry. It was a brilliant pairing: the knife-sharp dryness of the Interlude cut right through the richness of the sauce to marry with the snails.

So it was no surprise to get notice of an event at Pub and Kitchen next Tuesday (11/13, 7-9, PAYG): the launch of Allagash: The Cookbook. Chef James Simpkins has worked with the brewery to create a culinary tour of the United States, accompanied by the wide range of beers Allagash continues to produce. The launch will feature Rob Tod and P and K chef Jonathan Adams presenting two beer and food pairings, and four Allagash beers: White, Hugh Malone, Smoke & Beards, and Fluxus '12. 

Always a pleasure to see Rob in Philly; always -- always -- a pleasure to taste fine food pairings with Allagash. 

Susquehanna Brewing knocks me out

Susquehanna Brewing is open and running, has been for a few months, and I always like to give a brewery a few months before trying the beer...but this was getting ridiculous: two good friends were on the brewing side -- Jaime Jurado and Guy Hagner -- and I hadn't made the time to get up the road two hours to see this operation? That I knew was amazing? Seriously, the technical side of it is off the hook...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We went on vacation in the Poconos in late July, just about a month ago, and I contacted Jaime and Guy to see if there was any place I could try their beers as we were on our way up, then stop by the brewery or a distributor and pick up a sixtel for the cabin. Jaime graciously invited me to come tour the brewery, and said he'd get me some beer. So my mother and I went up that Saturday afternoon, and Guy gave us a tour.

Wow. First eye-opener was the mill, where the barley husks are largely separated from the grist before wetting in the mash tun, what Jaime called endosperm mashing integration. The husk is sent to a 'husk case' above the lauter tun, and dropped in "only immediately prior to...being required for its important role in refining mash." Jaime said SBC is the 7th brewery in the world to do this (they also do it at Trumer in Berkeley, which Jaime oversaw in his role with Gambrinus).

The 50 bbl. BrauKon brewhouse includes a dedicated decoction kettle (used to make the Goldencold). But the big deal is that the main brew kettle uses...well, as Guy said, you've seen a calandria, right? And the external calandria, like Victory has? This is something different. "This" is the PDX system, which circulates the wort outside of the kettle and injects live, high-pressure food-grade steam into the flow. It actually goes supersonic, which is a key part of the whole thing: the turbulence created by that gets the heat into the wort in an amazingly efficient way. The PDX saves a ton of energy (along with the cool, super-efficient smart boiler Jaime spec'd for the brewery (the same kind Flying Fish has in their new brewery, BTW, and don't you ever believe that Casey Hughes isn't a very bright boy)), and, well, it sounds really cool, too; "Like a jet plane taking off," Guy described it. Susquehanna was the first brewery in the world to have it designed into a new brewhouse from day one (Shepherd Neame in the UK were the pioneers on retrofitting it; SABMiller's using one in their big brewhouse in South Africa, Radeburger has one, and Miller is also testing one on their pilot brewery.

Truth is, Jaime put an incredible amount of energy and material-saving tweaks and equipment into this brewery. He told me that he realized that he wouldn't get too many more chances to completely design a brewery with this kind of freedom in his career, so he wanted to make this one right...and the energy savings and carbon footprint were very important to him. That's why the brewery has the short bottles, not longnecks, for instance: they weigh 1.4 oz. less, and have a 20% smaller carbon footprint. The labels are 30% recycled paper (post-consumer), will soon be 50%, and that should increase every year.

It's not all about energy, though. Guy showed us an incredibly complex Moravek BC-30 Carbonator, the thing that puts the CO2 into the beer as it's packaged, and it measures the temperature and gravity of the beer to precisely match the pressure to the job to have it consistent...but I loved what Jaime said about why he got it: "I selected the BC-30 carbonator/nitrogenator because it produces beer with superior bubbles...strange but true." Extremism in the defense of superior beer is no vice, Jaime. He also put in a massive hopjack (BrauKon's second), it looks like something from the powerplant of a nuclear sub.

Okay, so all that...how was the beer? Pretty frickin' awesome. The walkaround bottles of Goldencold that Guy gave us for the tour (yes, my mother, too, and she asked for another!) reminded me of something Travels with Barley author Ken Wells said: “One thing you can say about lagers: the good ones don't make you work very hard to like them." This was one of the best American-brewed hellesbiers I've had, which is amazing considering how new the brewery is...and not amazing, considering how much experience Jaime and Guy have between them. Yes, Guy, because Jaime gives Guy full credit for formulation on this one.

That's Guy Hagner, meself, and Jaime Jurado.

The sample of 6th Generation Stock Ale we got? Not so good, flat, a bit harsh...but that got better. After some more chatting, Guy told me to pull my car (heavy-laden with vacation crap) into the loading bay, and put three cases of Goldencold and a low-fill sixtel of Stock into it. Yeep. "You get samples, right? These are samples!" I'll be honest, I was looking at that sixtel of Stock and thinking...I'd just as soon have more lager and skip the Stock, but, okay, I'll smile. So we thanked him, and drove off to the north.

Once we got to the cabin, I stocked the fridge with a case of lager, and iced down the keg of Stock Ale...and tapped it. Much better. (Jaime told me later that the keg in the brewery was tapped for at least 3 weeks...I suspect a new regimen of beer care has since been instituted.) The stock was sweet, bitter, floral and citrusy, and had a wonderfully fresh/bready character to it. We did serious damage to it and finished it off Thursday night.

So about two weeks later, Jaime emailed me: they're having their first beer dinner at Lucky's Sportshouse...in Wilkes-Barre...would we like to come? Well, it is almost 2 hours' drive, but Cathy's been wanting to meet Jaime for years, and wanted to see Guy again, so yeah, we went. It wasn't just Susquehanna's first beer dinner, it was Lucky's, too. I wasn't optimistic.

Boy, was I wrong. Lucky's is definitely a sports bar, lots of screens and a high ceiling and open floor plan, but the food was quite a notch above sports bar: all prepared on-site, freshly-made food. But again, I'm ahead of myself: we got glasses of the new SBC Oktoberfest. Very nice, dry malt character (not the caramel sweetness you get in too many American fests), and quite enjoyable indeed. Clearly these guys know their way around a lager.

They know how to have some fun, too. That extremely red beer you see here is a blend of Ofest and Goldencold, dosed with coffee, peaches, raspberries, and orange oil. It was dry, fruity -- the orange oil really made the other fruit aromas burst out of the glass -- with notes of coffee and dry cocoa. Very nice, and startlingly red.

So, about the food. The plate you see above was the main course: two "honking big pieces of meat" (as Uncle Jack always describes the main courses of the dinners at Monk's Cafe) in the form of perfectly done pork schnitzel, with broccolini and a bed of mild sauerkraut (and a dressing of deliciously caramelized onions). The pork was done through, juicy, with a crisp, thin coating that wasn't oily/gross...very nice, especially given the number of plates -- about 50 -- that they were serving. (Two of those 50 were Chip The Beer Guy and his girl (fiance!) Diane, who Cathy also got to meet; good times as always, Chip!) That was actually one of the things we noted, and Chip said it first: the food all came out on time, simultaneously, and it was all hot and ready to go. Nice coordination for their first beer dinner!

We'd started with passed pieces: battered cod bites, some green bean tempura-kind of thing (that was real good!), coconut shrimp, and...I can't remember the fourth thing. I DO remember the breads that came afterwards, because we all devoured them, great fresh-baked stuff, and Cathy took some home. We got a beer cheese soup next, and it had little bits of ham in it, nicely done, and not too gruel-like; I hate that.

Last was the bananas foster you see above: great whipped cream with that, too. The whole dinner was excellent, easily the best food I've ever had at a sports bar. I'm hoping that Susquehanna comes to Philly soon (I know Memphis Taproom got some samples), because we're just about out of Goldencold...

Back to Boston

Yesterday we took my son Thomas back to school; his second sophomore semester begins tomorrow at Boston University. Here's how things were supposed to go: He and Cathy and I were going to get up early, go to 6:45 mass (a quick one, sans music), go back to the house to say good-bye to Nora, hit the road and get diesel and breakfast in NJ (we were low on fuel), and be in Boston by noon (and getting some good chowder for lunch on such a cold day) while Nora took the Saab to 9:00 mass, and spent the day studying for her finals this week.

Not what happened. We were fine, right up to the getting diesel in NJ part, which we did in Ewing, just over the river. As we were finishing up, Nora called -- Thomas forgot his new computer! Okay, we'll go back, it's only 15 minutes, and since she's now fully awake, we'll all have breakfast at the Langhorne Cafe. But she still wants to go to 9:00 mass, so she says, I'll drive the Saab down and meet you at the diner, and we can all leave from there. Okay...but as we're pulling into the parking lot, she calls: Saab won't start! Up the hill to the house, a mile away, and sure enough, battery's dead (it was quite cold, about 15 degrees F). Get the jumpers out of the Jetta, fire it up, race around the neighborhood, turn it off, and...starts right up. Just cold? Dunno, but we decide to go back to the diner with both cars.

We get to the diner -- it's full. Okay, we go to another diner, the Blue Fountain down on the Lincoln Highway. I took the Saab, revving it high and stoking more amps into the battery. We get into the diner, sit right down, and that's when Cathy and Thomas tell me that he had not just forgotten his computer...he'd forgotten his dorm room keys as well. But he has them now -- thanks to Nora! -- and all's well, and we have a big laugh, and a great last breakfast together before taking Thomas back to school. The Saab starts, we drive back to the house, leave Nora with lots of hugs (and pets to the Corgis, who are now thoroughly confused), and get back on the way to Boston...over two hours later than planned.

It is, however, a beautiful day, and traffic's quite light, and we make it there in only 4.5 hours, traveling largely at or near the speed limit. I actually got some editing done while Cathy drove in Connecticut. By the time we got there, though, we were getting a bit peckish. We first thought about going to Legal Sea Food for chowder -- I've never been, and it's a place you should probably go at some time -- but decided it was out of the way, and Thomas recalled The Daily Catch, a little Sicilian seafood place in Brookline that he and I had chanced upon last year (we were on our way to Soul Fire for a barbeque dinner when we realized it was Friday in Lent...and there was The Daily Catch right across the street from our epiphany, so we went in and greatly enjoyed it), so we went there.

Had the place to ourselves, and you're probably wondering by now what any of this has to do with beer or whiskey or anything else you might be interested in -- to which I think I can properly reply that it's my blog, and I can write about whatever, no? -- but here's your payoff: Cathy and I ordered beers from their local-heavy selection. She got a Cape Anne IPA, which had a solid malt character I found appealing, and I got a Berkshire Steel Rail Extra Pale, a beer I've always enjoyed since my first tasting, years ago. And I was reading the label, curious if they had an ABV listed (5.3%, it turns out), when I came across the text shown in the picture: "In the words of renowned beer writer Lew Bryson, Steel Rail EPA is 'what the water in heaven oughta taste like.'"

Ha! I was surprised to find this, the first time I had any inkling that Berkshire had quoted my Ale Street News column from 2009 on the lack of respect pale ale gets from the geekerie. It's fun to see your name on a label; hell of a lot more fun than on a wanted poster, I assume!

Anyway, the meal was excellent: we had the house specialty fried calamari to start (made fresh there, not frozen), and I had calamari with a seafood-based red sauce over linguini, Cathy and Thomas each had scallops and linguini with white clam sauce. Quite tasty, and quite good with the beer. We took him to the dorm, unloaded, sat with him a bit, and got him settled in, saw his roommate again (real nice guy, spent Christmas with us), and...headed home. Even less traffic, another quick run...and the Saab won't start. Time for a new battery. Cheers!

Happy New Year's Resolutions!

I will blog more often this year...I promise.

Yesterday was a really good day. Didn't start out so auspiciously, though. Bro-in-law Carl Childs and I got up at 7:30 AM -- painful, but coffee helped -- strapped my new bike rack (thanks, Cathy!) to the Jetta and loaded our bikes, shoved our middle-aged bodies into spandex pants, and headed for Pennypack Trail to ride across Philly. I screwed up and we hit the trailhead at Lorimer Park...which meant we wound up wiggling our way down to Shady Lane and over roads to the trailhead in Fairmout Park I meant to start from! That wasn't so bad, though, and we rolled onto the paved trail, enjoying the warming day -- when we hit the first hill and Carl's chain popped. Not off the gears, he lost a pin! That's the end of that ride, so I turned around and rode back to the car, loaded up, came back and picked him up, and decided to go to Rieker's Meats (Hop Angel wasn't open yet). Carl went and got coffee, while I got some spätzel and Nürnberger bratwurst, some Ansbach Uralt brandy candy, and a link of pfefferwurst for the ride home.

We got home, got changed, and started chivvying everyone about for a run into Philly. Carl and bro-in-law Curt wanted to go to the Italian/9th Street Market, so we put our three families into two cars and did that trip. It was busy, but not crazy; hit Claudio's and DiBruno Brothers for cheese and stuff, Carl got some hot pepper shooters, and we chatted with vendors. I talked to DiBruno's manager Hunter Fike about getting something stinky and soft to add to a cheese array that included Prima Donna, Bruder Basil, Brie, chevre, a buttermilk blue (Roth Käse, and it's a very good blue for the price), and Delice de Bourgogne. He showed me two, and one of them popped for me: St. James, a washed rind sheep's milk cheese from England that had some unctuous and earthy notes of cauliflower; not your typical stinky cheese, but bold enough to stand up to whisky. I'm not sure, I said; I don't know if anyone else is going to like it. "They'll be eating the Prima Donna," he said, with a look of "Am I right, or am I right?" on his face. Done!

We realized we had to get Thomas home fairly soon -- he had to work scooping ice cream at Goodnoe's in Newtown last night -- so it was time for our late lunch at Memphis Taproom. It took almost 20 minutes to fight our way across town, but it was worth it: the draft list included two cask ales I'd been hunting for -- Marston's Pedigree and Ruddles County Ale. Excellent! They set up a table for ten in the back room, and I soon had my first Marston's: the freshness was clear as soon as I got a whiff of the legendary "Burton Snatch," a sulfury note in the aroma, followed by a clean, delicious malty beer. Awesome. My nephew Matt got a Ruddles on my advice (liked it so much he had another), and it was a sharper snap of a beer; still softly cask-conditioned (and both beers were brilliant, nicely cellared), but with a crisper flip of fruit and hops. Carl got a Firestone Union Jack (not done in their Burton Union system, which would have been a sweet synchronicity) that was eye-popping in hoppiness compared to the English cask beers; and his wife Joan got a Sam Smith cider, a delish example.

Food? Yum. I got the brisket sandwich, loving the cooked carrots that came with it. The rest of the table: pulled pork, fish & chips, Port Richmond Platter (kielbasa and pierogies and kraut), cheeseburgers, kielbasa grinder, and the smoked coconut club was enjoyed by our newly vegetarian niece, Abbey. She let me have a bite -- I'd always been intrigued by this sandwich, but not enough to order it -- and it was stunningly smokey, a wonderful impact of flavor and texture. More of the excellent veg cooking at Memphis. I grabbed another pint at the bar while the bill was being taken care of by Carl -- thanks, Carl, you didn't really have to! -- and downed it in a quick yet respectful manner.

We thanked the bartender and left, back home to Langhorne, where we sat down to watch Season One of Justified, the excellent FX series about US Marshall Raylan Givens -- we're hooked, and got the rest of the family going on it. We had a couple beers: Yards ESA (still a fave), Bend Brewery Hop Head (big, good, hoppy as promised), New Holland Dragon's Milk (woof: big old bourbony stout), New Belgium Snow Day (big and hoppy: new trend for New Belgium?), and Wolaver's Alta Gracia coffee stout (nicely understated vanilla bean effect; too many vanilla stouts overdo it). The cheeses were put out with sliced "baguette" (sorry, but anything that comes frozen and gets "baked" in a supermarket's bakery oven...gets "quotes") and crackers; we had a couple pounds of chilled shrimp, chips and dips, cookies, candy, pickled eggs and the pepper shooters, olives, pickled mushrooms, and peanuts -- this was a good six hours after the Memphis lunch by now!

Nora's friend Kate came over for the party and got wrapped up in Justified, Thomas came home from work with three friends from high school (all 20 now, and still drinking soda and "sparkling cider", our last non-worried NYE?), and they were watching it. The over-40 crowd were out back on the deck, around the blaze of wood in the firepit, drinking Apfelkorn schnapps and beers (and a little Jameson 18 for some of us), and wondering when they would let Dick Clark retire. When the ball dropped, we toasted with prosecco, hugged and kissed and wished each other a happy new year, then joined the neighborhood in making a lot of noise! Geese were circling overhead, woken and spooked into flight by the local fireworks; Maud and Penderyn were excited by the geese and the noise and the fire and the food; and the kids went back to Justified.

Around 1 AM, we were wondering what to do next when I remembered those bratwurst...and soon we had a big bowl of grilled bratwurst on the table, sliced into chunks and stirred up with spätzel and buttery caramelized onions. That disappeared in short order among agreement that we'd found a new tradition. Carl and I split one last beer: a Deschutes Black Butte XXIII, and it was tremendous. Chocolatey, orange notes, depth, and a compelling complexity that kept me mumbling under my breath; great end-of-the-night beer. Around 3 AM, we finally sent the boys home and everyone else to bed, shut down the TV, and called it a night. I was up at 8:45 this morning to start the pork and sauerkraut roasting and sing at 10:30 mass...and the year began again. Happy New Year!

Great Pig Dinner next Tuesday: join me!

I'm hosting a special pig dinner at The Farm and Fisherman next Tuesday, December 6, and  talking about beer and food pairing. The Farm and Fisherman is a BYOB, so chef/owner Josh Lawler and I are going to drive up to Lancaster the day before and pick up growlers of Spring House beer...which we will then pour for free out of the goodness of our hearts. Josh is the little brother of an old friend of mine, Tom Lawler, and we've all been doing this kind of road trip for years...we'll be sure to regale you with tales of the trip, because I doubt it's going to be as simple as drive up, get beer, drive back...

Now, when I said "pig dinner," I didn't mean it's a meal with pork. Josh opened this little place in Philly (which has the foodies peeing themselves, BTW) after serving as chef de cuisine at Blue Hill at Stone Barn,which is rewriting the book on locally-raised food for the east coast. I have to be honest with you: Tom's been telling me for years how brilliant Josh is, and I figured he was full of brotherly pride (crap, that is), but it turns out Josh really is freakin' brilliant. So, that "pig dinner?" He's making it out of a whole pig. He's getting the pig from Wyebrook Farm in Honey Brook, and then he's going to get busy, working three courses of pig (and locally-raised produce, and let me tell you...if this dude ever wanted to go vegan, he could open one of the best vegan joints in Philly immediately; he's got a way with root veggies) out of that purchase. The dessert is not pig-based, but he will be using beer to make it. 

Me? I'll be talking about how and why the beers pair with the meal, why we paired those particular beers with the courses, telling tales of Spring House and brewer Matt Keasey, telling stories about Tom and Josh, and generally keeping you entertained and enlightened. For those of you lucky enough to have been at my private tastings, you know that I always bring some surprises, too, so...this is going to be a fun night. The Farm and Fisherman may not be on your beery, boozy radar, but it's clearly on some folks'; check out this review at PhillyMag. My God, except for the inevitable cranks, they even love it on Yelp.

The pig dinner is $75, very limited space (about 36), so get on the ball and nail down your spot. This is one of the hot dining spots in Philly right now; join me for some great food and fun (and those surprises, too!). Call 'em and get it done: 267 687 1555

Shake your Tailgate feathers, win some cool shwag

My good friend Kerry Byrne, the Potentate of Pigskin, and the Kingpin of the Coldest, Hardest Football Facts in the business -- seriously, I didn't know diddley about football until Kerry asked me to write about beer for the site for two years*, and now I know way too much -- wants you to fire up your grills, pickup trucks, deep-fryers, and portable refrigerators for the Tailgate Recipe of The Year contest, sponsored by Football Nation, Whole Foods, and our mutually-admired buddies at Harpoon Brewery.

What's that sponsorship mean? It's not just advertising bucks, it's prizes. If your recipe for tailgating greatness wins, you're up for the big prize package, delivered to your home for Super Bowl:

• Brand New 46-inch Flat Screen Television
• Tailgate Meal for 10 From Whole Foods Market, Delivered by Football Nation
• Harpoon Brewery “Everything But the Beer” Tailgate Package (and no, I don't know what that means either, but you can bet it's for legal reasons!)
• Mr. Bar-B-Q Tailgate Package Including Collegiate Grill Mat and Grill Cover, 30 Piece Barbecue Tool Set and Grill Accessories

Cool, right? So start cooking.

Just keep in mind: bring your A game, because you're going up against stuff -- and I use that term specifically -- like Kerry's own Deep-Fried Stuffing Balls. They're not Schweddy, they're stuffing, and I have it on good authority that they are "the best part of the stuffing." So get to work: you've got till December 12!

*Did some of my best stuff for them, too: check out this piece about getting blitzed, and this piece about malt liquor, and this one about vodka.

Not about drinks...but still local

We joined a new CSA this year, Anchor Run, just outside of Wrightstown, here in Bucks County. It actually grew out of a conversation I struck up with a guy at Watch City Brewing in Waltham, Mass., of all places. I was having dinner there (I was in the area to do an event), and just started talking to the guy next to me about local beer, and local food, and local produce, and how I belonged to a CSA...and not only is Derek McGeehan a farmer running a CSA, he runs the CSA that's nearest to my home in Bucks County...and he loves craft beer!

Well, who am I to kick Fate in the balls? We joined Anchor Run, and we've been enjoying it, all through the heavy rains, and the four hours of weeding green beans. We got a lot of eggplant and hot peppers, which I've loved, and I finally found a way to cook celeriac that I liked. Lots and lots of greens -- mustard, kale, Italian dandelion, bok choy, and some others I never heard of (tat soy?) -- that cook up nice, and plenty of lettuce and tomatoes, and lots of spuds and onions.

We also got some beef through them from another CSA (Tussock Sedge Farm, in northern Bucks), and last night, a day after our final harvest pick-up at Anchor Run, I decided to do an all-CSA dinner. I marinated a nice piece of London broil from Tussock Sedge (used Anchor Run garlic in the marinade), cooked up a mess of varied greens with sesame oil and chili paste and more garlic, grilled the beef with a foil pack of CSA potatoes, and steamed a pot of CSA broccoli. Add in a big CSA lettuce salad...and we had quite a meal. The beef was delicious, spuds were perfect...the broccoli had a worm in it, but hey, it's all organic, so you toss the worm and keep eating. Great meal!

What a Week! Jousting with the PLCB and a Bourbon Dinner

Posts have been thin again, but it's been a wild week. As I posted on the PLCB blog (and here, briefly), I was on WHYY's Radio Times call-in show with PLCB Chairman PJ Stapleton this past Monday. That went well -- and substantially increased my Twitter following, and got me some interest from pro-privatization groups; maybe more on that -- and got my week off to a good start.

Yes, that's Casey Hughes...

Tuesday was my bourbon dinner at Percy Street Barbecue. All you barbecue freak haters who can't wait to jump on the comments to bitch about their barbecue -- because no matter what a place is like, I know you're out there -- don't bother: we didn't have any barbecue. What we did have was a full menu informed and inspired by chef Erin O'Shea's barbecue experience and Southern roots. The place was sold out: 100 people (including some brewer friends, some writer friends, and my own wonderful wife) all ready for bourbon and food. We clustered around the bar for beers near the beginning (I had a 21st Amendment Bitter American (Percy St. only has draft beer and what might be the best craft can selection in the city)), then got down to business -- or bidness, I suppose.

First course: three different country hams, cut thin (proper), with rolls. Rolls maybe could have been softer to be traditional, but they were good. The hams were well-differentiated: rich, smokey, and delicate. The bourbon I paired (1792) as a "Kentucky tea," about 2 parts bourbon and three parts spring water over ice in a tall glass. It's an old distiller's favorite: you still taste the bourbon (which is why I chose the flavorful 1792), but with enough volume from the water and ice that you can easily drink it with your meal...and it's perfect for the salty ham.

Next two courses -- a delicious sweet potato soup (and I hate sweet potatoes!) with some deliciously fatty pork good on crisps; and smoked trout on a salad of apples, onions, and fingerling spuds -- were terribly good, the smoked trout especially. They got whiskeyed by Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey (a malt whiskey aged like bourbon; chose it to stand right up to the rich sweet potato soup) and Four Roses Yellow Label  on the rocks (chose it for the opposite reason; a great-tasting table bourbon that didn't overwhelm the trout). The whole time, of course, I was telling them about bourbon, and rye, and distillation, and some stories about distillers...you know, working the dinner and the room.

Fourth course was the big one: smoked whole quail, stuffed with cornbread and house-smoked sausage, on a bed of brussels sprouts with a side of beets. This was extremely popular at our table full of brewers, for a good reason: it was fabulous. It was semi-boned, with only the wings and legs left intact; you know, the parts you want to gnaw off the bone! I decided to let the bar show off their stuff this round, and we did a Rittenhouse Rye Manhattan, perfect in the city of Rittenhouse. (We will have rye whiskey made in PA again; soon. Trust me.)

Things wound up with something Erin called "Cracker Jack," which was grits (cooked in milk, I think), with caramel, nuts, and a raisin puree made with whiskey. It was way more yummy than something made with grits and raisins ever deserved to be. I paired it with Rowan's Creek, which may have been my one duff move of the evening; Rowan's is pretty sweet stuff (at least, this batch was), and the dessert really over-accentuated that. We live, we learn.

A great time, and a very impressive first special dinner for Percy Street. Things came out hot (when appropriate!), service was steady and friendly, and the drinks were dead on the money. Be happy to work with these folks again.

Still, like I said...this was the start of my week. Another post to come on the rest of it: a trip to NERAX, another lunch with Thomas at Deep Ellum, Will Meyers's barrel room marvels, arguing session beer with BeerAdvocate's Alström Brothers (now posted at the SBP blog), a great dinner at Hungry Mother, and I touch down at Zeppelin Hall. Stay tuned...

Family Fun in Montreal

My son Thomas is home from Boston University on Spring Break. He and I decided to go to Quebec to get away. I'll be honest; I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm all for it.

We drove up yesterday: stopped at Brown's Brewing in Troy (formerly the Troy Brewpub, same owners), where I enjoyed my usual -- Porter! -- and Thomas had...iced tea. Quebec's only hours away, fella! We had a beautiful run up through the Adirondacks, no worries, and scooted into Plattsburgh to view the deep blue waters of Champlain (and fill up on relatively cheap diesel before entering The Dominion of Canada). The border crossing was, for a change, uneventful, and we drove north across the plains to Montreal.


We checked into Le Cartier B-and-B, a neat little place, and got the restaurant lecture for our host, Richard. The man eats out 365 days a year, he said, so we listened. Which is how we wound up going to Au Petit Extra, and had a great meal, and a great experience for the young man. Pretty Quebecois waitresses who all looked like they could be Cathy's cousins: dark hair, light complexion, slightly elfin features. We got the prix fixe dinner, which came with 6-8 choices for the first and second courses, five dessert choices/or a cheese plate, and plentiful delicious slices of baguette. The menu was all in French -- no kiddy English version -- but we managed to figure out what we wanted between Thomas's 1.5 semesters and my smattering of eating French.

We've had some glass-holding lessons since...

We ordered: for him, soup de poisson, duck confit and salad, creme brulee; for me, veal terrine in gelee, bouillabaisse, and the cheese plate, and a half liter of house red (the waitress approved of the choice of red; I felt smart for a moment). I waited to see what he'd think. Duck confit, creme brulee, the bread: thumbs up. Fish soup (a wonderful, smoky, thick thing), house red wine? Okay, but maybe not so much. My veal terrine? Definitely not for him. Not cheap, but a great experience. (My bouillabaisse and the cheese plate were very nice as well, BTW.) And we called it a day.

This morning I got some work done, as did he, and then took a cab to the Brasserie McAuslan, where master brewer Dave Brophy -- one of the original five employees -- showed me an almost fanatical devotion to quality and consistency. No wonder I've never had a disappointing McAuslan Oatmeal Stout. Fascinating comment: they contract brew Moosehead for Quebec, and Dave said that they did an extensive diacetyl rest for the lager. Then he referred to the McAuslan beers -- done in open fermentation tanks with Ringwood yeast -- and said that, of course, they have a different character; i.e., diacetyl is expected there. Well, there you are.

Thomas contemplates the menu at Saint-Bock; brewery is in the far background

Back to the room (cabbing it so as not to lose our parking space), and Thomas was about ready to go. We walked to Le Saint-Bock for lunch. I ordered an Encensoir, which was a nice 5% smoked lager; Thomas got an iced tea. About two minutes later it hits him: DOH! He could have had a beer! At which point he grabs my rauchbier, sips it, and says he'll have one of those. Good man! And he finished it, too.

After that, we slipped down into "The Underground City." Not really an attraction, much as it sounds it. Came up and headed up St. Laurent. There are lots of hipster clothing stores there, I told Thomas (and I can get to Schwartz's, I told myself). And you know, it worked out. We walked all the way up, he got to shop, and then we went to Schwartz's and got smoked meat sammiches and Cott's black cherry soda, a weirdly wonderful combo. Then we walked over to St. Denis, stopped in a Converse/Doc Marten store, and then had a great time in a Quebec artisanal store, talking bear teeth and gypsy swing with the owner while the "annual" anti-police protest marched loudly by outside.

And...that's when I realized I'd left my debit card in the ATM that morning. So we walked down to L'amère à boire to regroup and get info to cancel the card. I had the current Projet Elephant beer, a 3.6% Tmavé dark lager, wonderfully session. Thomas had a pilsner. I got the info I needed, canceled the card...and Thomas realized he'd left a shirt he'd bought at Schwartz's. So back up St. Laurent, and whattayaknow, they had it for him! Bravo, Schwartz's!

Dinnertime. Okay, beer time. Reservoir is practically around the corner, so we went, and I got a big glass of Noire, the dry stout that I swear is the best thing they make. We also had grilled cheese: raclette and sweated onions on grilled baguette. Nummy.

We were beat. Yes, beer geekerie: no Dieu du Ciel. I've been; it's great, but it's a long way off, and to be honest, I'd rather have spent much of the day drinking the Elephant beer, or even going to Benelux. Or maybe I'm just ornery. Anyway, we split a poutine, one more Montreal thing for the boy to experience, and called it a day. And now I'm going to bed. Good night!

Pineville Tavern on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives!

Another lost week...

But I'm back, with cool news: Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives visited Memphis Taproom, we all know about that, and it was very cool...but they also stopped in a Bucks County beloved, the Pineville Tavern, just up the road from my home, and a place where I've dropped anchor for a good jar of Guinness on occasion (because the beer pickin's are admittedly fairly slim, but the food's excellent). Here's the scoop: the show's tomorrow night!

Pineville Tavern (est. 1989) will be featured on The Food Network’s, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on March 7th at 9PM (re-running on March 14^th).  Executive chef (and 2^nd generation owner), Drew Abruzzese will be showing host Guy Fieri what goes into making some of the most popular items on the menu – like the P.V.T. Snapper Soup (or as Guy refers to it on the episode – “Snapping Turtle Soup”).  Drew will also revel the secret recipe for the Abruzzese family’s 4^th generation meat ravioli and marinara sauce. 

Drew has worked side-by-side with some of the most well-respected chefs in the area – Danny Meyer (New York Restaurateur, Union Square Hospitality), Jeffrey Chodorow (New York Restaurateur, owner of China Grill Management), and Matt Levin (owner of local Philly restaurant, Adsum).  

I'll be away, but I'll catch that re-run. Go, local heroes!

Sweet Potato Pies -- 100 proof!

I baked two sweet potato pies last night for Thanksgiving dinner, using a Frugal Gourmet recipe that I tweaked a bit. They came out pretty nice, so I thought I'd share.

2 cups cooked/mashed sweet potatoes/yams
4 tbsp. butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. mace
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup bourbon (I used J.T.S. Brown 100 proof, and that may have been too strong; try an 80 proof bottling)

Boil, peel, and mash the sweet potatoes, and then measure two cups of the mash. Place in a bowl, and mix in the other ingredients. Place in an unbaked pie shell (I use the pre-made Pillsbury ones). Place in a 400° oven and immediately turn the oven down to 325°. Bake for 45 minutes (I wound up baking these for more like 85 minutes, and I think it was because of the 100 proof bourbon; the filling stayed goopy-wet for a long time).

This was quite bourbony; you might want to cut that to 1/3 cup bourbon. Or not. I liked it, Cathy thought it a bit overpowering. But this is not pumpkin pie; the spices and flavors are different. Very good, but different. I'm liking it.

Thanksgiving, Wine, Beer, the Menu, the Family...the Redux

This piece I did last year pretty much covers everything I have to say about drinking on Thanksgiving. I don't see much point in re-writing it just to have something new.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone: there's room for every drink at your table -- beer, wine, spirits, cider, even mead -- and room for every friendly heart. Cheers!

Narragansett Porter -- Wow!

This is easily the most pleasant beer surprise I've had in a while. Well...beer tasting surprise; the Penn revival noted below was pretty damned pleasant (as was the Yuengling Porter discovery that I still have to write about). But this is about the flavor.

The first time I wrote about Narragansett was back in February. They sent me some samples of the Lager for a story I was writing (for American Brewer, about how they were reviving the brand, and doing a nice job of it). I wanted Porter then, because Narragansett Porter was the last 'Gansett beer I'd had, waaaaay back in the dawn of my beer-drinking days, and I wanted the cyclical part of it. They didn't have any. Humph.

Then I got an e-mail about a bit launch of Porter, so I said yes, I'd like some. And a sixer showed up. Well, as I'd posted on Facebook, my tasting table's kinda full, so it took a week or so to get around to chilling one, which I did Monday night.

Wow! This is great stuff! Cottrell Brewing's doing it for them under contract, and they're doing a nice job. It's plenty dark, with a great tan cap of foam, a chocolatey aroma that follows through in the mouth, with just enough roasty cut at the end to clean things up for the next swallow. I had it with our pork and onions favorite (recipe here, simple and delicious), and it was awesome. So I wanted another, and I had one, just now. Still great stuff. Wonder if I can get it here?

(Speaking of great stuff...I picked up Nora early at school today, and took her to lunch at the General Lafayette. I had a cask Pacific Pale Ale that was great, dry and hoppy, with a rare Steak Frites that was probably the very best food I've ever had at the General; great fries (salt and pepper'd fresh-cuts) and a very toothsome piece of beef, done just to my order. Nice work on the kitchen recovery, Chris!)

Kennett Square Fermentation Festival

Long story, but...I meant to post this in early October, and there was a Blogger screw-up, and it didn't happen. Sorry. This sounded like fun.

The Kennett Square Fermentation Festival is not what you think. The Brewfest is this Saturday, and it's long sold-out, and that's what most of you know about. The Fermentation Festival is this Friday, and it's not just beer (although beer will be there, thanks to Victory and Twin Lakes, and Home Sweet Homebrew), it's yogurt, and kimchi, and cider, and salsa (live, 'probiotic' salsa), and Root. No tickets, pay-as-you-go (bring cash and checkbook, most vendors won't take credit cards), and plenty of music, too. Looks like a lot of fun, and if I wasn't already booked up for tomorrow -- pheresis in the morning, singing in the evening (and maybe over to Earth, Bread + Brewery afterwards for that anniversary evening) -- I'd be seriously thinking about visiting.

It's not just October, it's Porktoberfest...

Our Girl Suzanne has posted the first helping in her third annual paean to pigmeat: Porktoberfest. Bravo, babe! Big yum. It's more than "the other white meat," folks: it's sausage, ham, chops, bacon...

Sincere apologies to the vegans among my readers, but...it's not like this should surprise you here...

Honeycrisps are back!

Completely not about beer or whiskey: Honeycrisp apples are back at my local grocery. I was so happy to find them there yesterday when I went in for milk and pork chops that I bought about 5 lbs. of them. Good deal, too: the store (PA-based Giant Food Stores) has them for $1.49 a lb.; they ran $1.99 most of last year, when they weren't more. The kids and I have burned through half of them already (Cathy was on a trip...to Fargo).

Why am I so excited? Honeycrisps are crisp, first of all: I hate a mealy apple. They are sweet and flavorful, but have a tart edge to them. The skin is firm, but not leathery. They are my favorite out-of-hand eating apple, and they add a nice flavor to a pie, too.

Gotta go get more.

Flying Fish Exit 1: Foreign Export Oyster Stout

Just got this from Casey Hughes at Flying Fish:

"I just brewed Exit 1, Foreign Export Oyster Stout, this is my lunch today, stout boiled oysters on pizza!"

I'm looking forward to this one (very appropriate placement, too). Takes me back to the days when Yards would have a party when they brewed the first batch of Love Stout, and we'd all eat stout-boiled oysters. I think Casey should make this again; I'll bring the pie!

Beer and Bacon Fest selling out fast -- what a shocker!

Just this afternoon it hit me that I was about the only person left on the Internet who hadn't posted the Bacon Bra picture, so when I got the e-mail from Clipper City about only 40 tickets being left to their Heavy Seas Beer & Bacon Fest -- ARRRGGGHH!!! -- the synchronicity was too much to ignore.

It's for real -- the fest, not the boobs, though I guess they're real, too -- and it's September 19, noon to 4. 300 people only, $40 tickets (available here), and over fifteen kinds of bacon from around the world, used in bacon donuts, bacon salt, bacon explosions, bacon candy, bacon mac & cheese...and maybe bacon bras, who knows? Bacon rules, these days. Oh, and there will be beer, too, plenty of that big, robust Heavy Seas stuff, maybe even from the Mutiny Fleet line. Hugh Sisson is embracing his inner pyrate these days...

Pirates, Pig, and Pints. What more could you ask for?