Friday, January 27, 2012

Homemade New Year’s Eve Beer Dinner

Rather than battling the crowds on New Year’s Eve, Theresa and I decided to stay in this year and have a nice homemade dinner.  Naturally, being the beer geek that I am, I decided to do a homemade beer dinner.  I ended up going with a three-course meal, with a different beer paired with each course.

Course 1: Bruschetta Paired with Ommengang Witte
I decided to do a filling, yet light and refreshing, first course and went with a basic bruschetta.  To go along with it, I paired the delicate and refreshing Ommengang Witte.  The recipe for the bruschetta was really easy to make and I am definitely planning on doing this recipe again.  The recipe can be found here.

Bruschetta with Ommengang Witte

Course 2: Filet Mignon and Lobster Tail with Sautéed Asparagus Paired with Ithaca Excelsior! Twelve (Anniversary Ale)
You can’t really go wrong with surf and turf for the main course.  Not really much of recipe to post for this one.  Just season the steaks simply, sear/sauté, and serve.  Boil/steam and broil the lobsters.  Sauté the asparagus with some oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.  I went with a bottle of Ithaca’s Excelsior! Twelve to pair with this.  This was a fantastic beer and went great with the steak.  It didn’t pair as well with the lobster, but as a whole, the pairing of the dish with the beer worked well.

Fillet mignon with lobster tail and asparagus, paried with Ithaca Excelsior! Twelve.

Course 3: Jalapeño Blue Cheese Cheesecake Paired with Homebrewed Wedding Ale
I went with a recipe out of the Stone Brewery book that I got in the fall for dessert.  This is kind of a weird one for dessert, but if you like blue cheese, this is an interesting dish.  Don’t fear the jalapenos – you de-seed the peppers before you chop them up and mix them in so there isn’t much heat from them.  The fruit added on top balances the blue cheese very nice.  Another good use for this dish is to use it as a spreadable cheese on crackers.  To accentuate the fruit topping, I went with a bottle of my Wedding Ale to pair with the dessert.  The cherry tartness in the beer worked well with the fruit on the cheesecake.  Something like a hefty stout with nice chocolate tones probably would have worked well here too. 


Jalapeno blue cheese cheesecake paired with Wedding Ale.


The beer lineup for the night.
Wedding Ale in Theresa's snifter glass.

Overall, this dinner came out awesome and was a lot of fun to do!  I am definitely planning on doing more beer dinners soon!  Give it a try!  Until next time, cheers!


Song of the Day: “Royal Oil” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Beer of the Day: Thornbridge Hall Bracia

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Wedding Ale

Wedding Ale is actually a beer that I brewed back in the Fall to give out as groomsman gifts and to age for special occasions and anniversaries.  The fact that it was part of the groomsman gifts is largely why I overlooked doing a post for this beer (didn’t want to ruin any surprises).  However, I felt this beer merited a post since its one of the more interesting beers that I’ve brewed in awhile.

I bottled Wedding Ale up in 22oz bottles, did a decent label, and dipped the tops of the bottles in red wax for a nice presentation.

Wedding Ale is actually based off of Charlie Papazian’s recipe Cherries in the Snow (from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing), just boosted a little and slightly oak-aged.  The boil was just like any other beer, except I added about ten pounds of tart cherries (in a mesh bag for less mess) at flameout.  Adding the cherries in the end of the boil, brings the temperature of the wort down to around 170F to kill off any baddies that might be in the cherries, without destroying the delicate flavors and aromas from the cherries.  After steeping the cherries and cooling the wort, I added the cherries into the primary fermenter with the wort.  I then racked the wort into the secondary with 4oz of American oak chips for three weeks. 

According to Papazian, this recipe should hold up very well to age, which will work great for drinking this brew on anniversaries with my beautiful wife!  My main departures from Papazian’s recipe is to boost the gravity a bit, oak age the beer to cut the tartness a little, and use canned tart cherries (tart cherries were out of season already by the time I brewed the beer).  The important thing to consider is to use canned cherries that are packed in water only, not pie filling, if you are considering doing this recipe without using fresh cherries. 

So far, I have cracked a few bottles of this open around the holidays and for taste testing purposes.  The cherries left a very refreshing tart flavor and aroma, as well as a beautiful red tint to the beer.  The oak left a balancing, but not overpowering, oak flavor.  I am very happy with how the beer came out so far and I hope the flavors come together even more as it ages. 

I am planning to try this recipe again with fresh tart cherries when they are in season again and am planning to leave out the oak the second time around to do something closer to Papazian’s recipe.  It should be interesting to see the difference between the two versions.  Here is the recipe that I brewed.  Enjoy!

Wedding Ale
Batch size: 5.2 gal
Boil volume: 3.0 gal
OG: 1.063
FG: 1.016
Bitterness (IBU): 18.5
Color (SRM): 5.7
ABV: 6.2%

[Grains]
NB Gold LME    9.150lb    Extract    100.0%

[Hops]
Santiam 1.50oz 6.0% AA Pellet @ 60 min, 17.3 IBU
Santiam 0.50oz 6.0% AA Pellet @ 5 min, 1.1 IBU

[Yeast/Other]
American Ale yeast    1.0 unit(s), Yeast
Irish Moss    1.0 unit(s), Fining 1 tsp at 15 min
Tart Cherries    10.0 unit(s), Other 1 unit = 1lb, steeped at end of boil and put in fermenter for 5 days

Song of the Day: “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” by Less Than Jake
Beer of the Day: Boxcar Brewing Company’s IPA

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Looking Back, Leaping Forward

Time for the obligatory retrospective on 2011 / goal setting for 2012 post.  2011 was definitely a massive year for me, complete with getting married and getting a new job.  It was certainly the most important year of my life!  It also was a great year for completing goals that I set for myself, especially on the brewing front.  I’m looking to keep that momentum going into 2012!

Goals from 2011
I did not meet my goal for fitness in 2011.  I had actually lost a fair amount of weight before the wedding – not the 20 pounds that I had set as a goal, but definitely around 10.  Then, I quickly gained that weight back and am now back up to about the same weight I was at last year.  Most of this can be attributed to me getting busy, falling out of the swing of working out, and having other priorities the last several months. 

On the brewing front, I actually exceeded the goals I set for myself last year.  I had set a goal of brewing 10 beers, and I actually brewed 16 different beers.  I was extremely happy to get that many in.  I learned a lot from all these beers and got to try out a lot of new ingredients.  It also helped me work out the kinks and let me experiment with ideas and see what worked well (dry hopping with orange zest in Theresa’s Ale) and what didn’t work as well (flavoring with roasted bananas in the mash in my Banana Bread Ale).

The other end of my brewing goal was to enter in at least one brewing competition.  I ended up entering four different beers into competition (three into Buzz Off, and one into the Preston and Steve Homebrew Competition).  I even managed to take home a blue ribbon in the English Pale Ale category for the Bass Ale clone that I brewed with my buddy Keith!

Goals for 2012
I am definitely planning on continuing the fitness goal theme and try to lose at least 10 – 15 pounds this year.  This will get be down to a weight where I want to be.  I really want to get back into hiking and I may even pick up a bike to keep in shape.  I will hopefully get back into running a little bit too to stay in shape (running is also a great way to exercise my dog Abby).

On the brewing side, I am not looking to significantly increase my production compared to last year.  I’m thinking that anywhere in the neighborhood of 15 – 20 different beers (which will not all be full batches) will keep me plenty busy.  Instead, I want to try to have a little more focus on building a bit more individual brewing style and really focus on technique this year.  I feel like a lot of my brewing efforts last year went into trying a bunch of different styles, trying some concepts that were in my head, and finding a handful of recipes that I want to repeat on a somewhat regular basis (at least annually).  I learned a whole lot by doing this – some good techniques, and some bad.  However, I do feel like a lot of my brewing this past year lacked focus, so this year I really want to take what I learned last year and expand on it.  I want to build better grain bills, make sure I have healthy fermentations every time (probably the most important thing you can do as a brewer), and have a little more focus and cohesion in my brewing portfolio.  That’s not to say I don’t want to experiment or branch out into more styles.  On the contrary, I most certainly want to experiment and branch out into more styles.  However, I want to make sure that I am approaching new styles and experiments in a well thought-out manner using the lessons that I’ve learned, and ensure that they fit in with my style as a brewer.  In other words, I don’t want to just wing it to get a concept out of my system.  Now, when you’re setting goals, you’re supposed to make them measurable and quantifiable so you can compare your actual results against your goals.  Obviously, I haven’t done that yet in this little rant, so let’s get down to the nitty gritties.

For starters, I want to use a yeast starter in all of my full batches of beer that are going to be over 5% ABV (which is most of my beers).  One of the things that I have neglected as a homebrewer, is the importance of pitching a healthy number of yeast cells into the beer.  Have a strong, healthy fermentation, reduces lag time, decreases off-flavors, and improves the overall quality of the beer.  Healthy fermentations make the difference between good beer and great beer.

On the competitive side, I would like to enter at least two competitions again this year.  Not only did I have a blast at the couple competitions I entered last year, but I also got some great feedback on my beer, which improved me as a brewer.  The more beers I can get feedback on from trained judges, the better.  While placing in these competitions would be fantastic, it’s a secondary concern to me – the main purposes are to network with other brewers and to get feedback on my beers.

I also want to brew at least three collaborations with other brewers this year.  Everyone has their own setup, techniques, and styles that they use in homebrewing.  One of the best ways to grow as a brewer is to collaborate with others and see how they do things.  I am by no means an expert brewer, so brewing with others will be a great learning experience and a great way to brew something that pushes my style further as a brewer.

I really want to get a bit more into cooking with, and pairing food with, beer this year.  Again, this one is tough to put into quantifiable terms.  I will set a goal to make at least three dinners that are four, or more, courses, pairing each course with a different beer.   Also, in general, I want to start cooking more with beer (i.e. using beer in marinades and in the cooking process).

Alright, enough talk about goals – go do something productive, like drink a beer!  (Which, by the way, if you aren’t drinking a beer while reading any of my posts, I don’t know how you get through my dry-ass writing.)  Cheers, and good luck with those resolutions!

Song of the Day: “Story of My Life” by Social Distortion
Beer of the Day: Witte from Brewery Ommegang