About Seventy

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Last night, I tried the Red Hook Treblehook Barley Wine Ale, and I am almost dumbstruck by its sheer awesomeness.  WOW.  But more on that later.

Being that it is the end of the week, and the start of my beer-slingin' weekend, I'm pretty tired yet still looking forward to chatting with my cool beer-loving customers and getting folks to try new beverages and expand their ale horizons.  It's so much fun to have a table full of people each find a new taste to explore, and come away with a new appreciation for the stuff.  Maybe a nap is in order first, though.

Happy Friday, peeps.

As American As...

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After picking my weight in apples the other day, I knew I had to do something with them before they turned from beautiful fall decorations in to decomposing piles of mush.  Apple pie seemed the most logical choice, but halfway in to my preparations, I realized that I didn't have a pie tin.  So, this adaptation is made in a 9x13 baking pan, which (unfortunately) doesn't do anything to keep me from mowing it down with a fork.  I think you'll like it, too.

Pie Crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons milk

Pie Filling:
10 cups chopped apples - I used a variety of Golden Delicious and Empire apples
¾ cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Pie Topping:
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup white sugar
½ cup bread crumbs
½ stick of butter


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.


First, for the pie crust, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add oil and milk, mixing gently until a soft dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl and press in to a 9x13 baking pan, or two pie tins. Keep the dough at a consistent thickness in all areas of the pan.


For the filling, chop about ten cups of apples. I keep the peels on because I think it adds a nice texture to the pie filling, but you can remove them if you like. Pour lemon juice over the chopped apples to prevent browning. Mix in sugar, flour, and nutmeg, and toss to coat the apples. Pour apple filling mixture in to the pie tins, spreading evenly.

Lastly, sprinkle a thin layer of shredded cheddar cheese over the pie filling. In a small bowl, combine butter, sugar, and bread crumbs. Mash the ingredients until they resemble crumbs. Top the apple pie with this mixture, spreading evenly.

Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, keeping an eye on the pie to make sure that the bread crumbs don’t burn.  Eyes on the pies - that might be my favorite new phrase when baking. Heh, heh. I know, I know...

But, but, but, what about the beer? After all, it's just not a blog posting without bringing it back to the beer. This time, however, I chose to pair my recipe with hard cider instead.  A group of customers at the bar ordered Samuel Smith's Organic Cider last weekend, and I've been dreaming about trying it ever since.  Thankfully my local Whole Foods is a powerhouse of beer selections, and I didn't have any difficulty tracking this down.

Served in a Victorian Pint (18.7 ounces), this cider is beautifully packaged, from its label to its cap.  It's got a similar alcohol content (5%) to many lower alcohol beers.  The color will have you breaking out the champagne flutes - it's really a gorgeous gold, and the sparkling carbonation is reminiscent of a great party. Pours beautifully.  The smell is crisp and fresh like a cool fall day, and there is just a touch of yeast.  On first taste, I can understand why my customers enjoyed it so much.  It paired very well with the apple pie, and I felt a little guilty for not saving this for a special occasion.  But then again, isn't a Tuesday night special occasion enough? Enjoy!

Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Beer

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It's good to know that I have people looking out for me.  This just in.
(Thanks, Franklin!)

Nothing says "Hello, Fall!!!" like an ice-cold glass of...

Yeeeuuuuchhhh!!!!!!!!!!

U-Pick It, U-Buy It

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After getting home from work at 4:00 a.m. last weekend, I really didn’t know if I was going to muster the energy for the apple-picking event that my girlfriends had planned for Sunday afternoon. I’m so glad that I did, though. Fall is everywhere right now, and believe me when I tell you that it is probably most beautiful in the apple orchards of Maryland.

After fueling up with coffee and sandwiches, we drove about 37 miles northwest of DC, into Montgomery County, Maryland, and eventually stopped in a picturesque small town called Damascus.

Picture mile after mile of small brick homes with big yards, old town centers with little shops, and agriculture abundance in the form of u-pick farms - pure Americana. My friend Basia, a city girl with a penchant for relocating, kept announcing that she was going to move to rural Damascus one day. It’s just that cute.

We arrived at Rock Hill Orchard, where you park and walk a few hundred yards to pick your own apples, peppers, greens, tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, sunflowers - basically anything that is in season. Once handed a bag, all eight adults (and one baby) set out to the rows of apple trees like kids on an Easter egg hunt. Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Empire - more varieties than you’ll know what to do with. And if apples weren’t enough, we had a pumpkin patch to amble through as well. We all picked to our hearts content, laughing and snapping photos all the while.

After our “city kids go to the country” outing, we needed sustenance. Next stop: Brewers Alley, in Frederick, Maryland. Brewer's Alley is the first brewpub in Frederick, and was once positioned along a historic street that caught fire in 1901, which caused the brewpub to cease brewing for many years. Several decades later, and in a new location, Brewers Alley is a cozy brewpub and restaurant with a sunny interior and friendly service. They also make some decent beer, and recently won a bronze medal at the GABF for their India Pale Ale, in the English Style India Pale Ale category.

I tried the Dunkel Weizen, which they describe as,



“a dark version of the weizen beer style. The grist contains a large portion of wheat, which lends a distinctive note to the malt body and aroma. This style is traditionally un-filtered and can have significant haze and cloudiness. Our Dunkle Weizen is brewed with a traditional Bavarian weizen yeast, which gives it a very pronounced clove and spice character, as well as a fruity aroma. 4.4 - 4.8% alcohol, by volume.”



This Dunkle has chutzpah. The beautiful haze looks like sunshine in a glass, and the clove was prounounced and inviting.

Also on tap was the Nut Brown Ale, which was good but the Dunkel Weizen was definitely my favorite of the two. Brewers Alley calls their Nut Brown Ale,



“another British style that has a roasted nut-like aroma. Brewed with a number of dark malts, which lend a complex malt character. This beer does not have a lot of hop bitterness, only enough for balance. 5.2 - 5.6% alcohol, by volume.”

Overall, it was very drinkable, and a nice dessert-like finish to a late lunch.



Growlers are available at Brewers Alley, but there is a $15.00 deposit and frankly, I’m not sure when I will be back to Frederick anytime soon. Otherwise, I probably would have taken one home and prolonged this great fall afternoon, glass after glass. Now if I only knew what to do with all these apples.

Saturday Chili

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Fall Saturdays in my house means a few things, among them is the change-over from A/C to heat, breaking out the fall sweatshirts and sweaters, and watching College GameDay on ESPN with my old friends Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit. You can always count on at least one Washington State flag flying in the background (Go Cougs!) as they discuss the day's games, and the energy is palpable.  In my estimation, nothing goes better with this cozy day of college football than the aroma of chili simmering in the background, a table covered with veggies, dips, chips, cold beers, and the pleasure of good company.


Today I made chili with a twist, using some unusual ingredients: beer, coffee and wasabi paste. This trinity creates a smoky-sweet combination that lingers on the tongue.  Additionally, this chili is made with ground turkey and vegan sausage because, let's face it, eating and drinking your way through college football season could leave you looking like a linebacker if you're not careful.

This recipe could easily be made 100% vegan. Switch out the meat for a vegan substitute, and substitute vegetable broth in place of the beef broth.  However, my goal with this recipe was to bring out the dark and meaty flavors of the sausage and turkey in tandem with the chili powder, and the rich chocolate flavor of the beer that I used -- Young's Double Chocolate Stout from Wells & Young Brewing Company in the UK.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped

1 pound ground turkey

13 oz. vegan sausages (I like Field Roast brand, from Seattle)

1 (14.5 oz) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice

1 1/2 cup dark beer, preferably a chocolate stout

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

1 (14 oz) can beef broth

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon wasabi paste

3 (15 oz) cans kidney beans

2 Anaheim chile peppers

1 serrano pepper

1 habanero pepper

To cook the chili, start by placing 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot and place this over medium-low heat.  Stir in the chopped onions, and sweat until translucent.  Add in the ground turkey and chopped vegan sausages, and mix the ingredients together.

When the ground turkey is cooked, add the diced tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and broth.  Stir gently.  Mix in the chili powder, cumin, sugar, cayenne, coriander, salt, and wasabi paste.  When thoroughly mixed, stir in one can of beans, bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for five minutes.

De-seed and de-flesh the Anaheim, serrano, and habanero peppers, and chop, taking care to avoid getting much on your skin.  Using gloves is also an option.  These peppers are hot!

Lastly, add chopped peppers and remaining two cans of beans.  Stir gently.  Simmer 45 minutes to an hour.

I served mine topped with a small shred of Perrano cheese, though I think this would be equally good with a small dollop of sour cream.  You may also want to keep some tissue handy, because this chili may have an effect on your nasal passages!  It's not overly spicy, but the wasabi and peppers do add a slow-burning heat.

The beer:

Young's Double Chocolate Stout is somewhat underrated, in my opinion.  Many consumers flock to the specialty chocolate stouts from brewers like Brooklyn, Rogue, and Founders, but I think Young's actually leads in this category.  Brewed since 1831 in an independent family brewer, I guess you could say that this is the original craft brew.  This ale is made with chocolate malt and real dark chocolate, and you also smell a hint of tobacco and pepper.  Lest you're scared that drinking a chocolate stout will be too close to grabbing the Hershey's Syrup bottle and chugging away, rest assured that this is a distinctly different taste.  It's not overly sweet, light enough so that you can enjoy a whole glass, and rich enough to stand up to the chili.  In fact, it goes amazingly well with the chili.

And after a bowl and a brew, the best dessert - an indulgent little nap on the couch, with college football on TV in the background.  Enjoy!

Old Dirty Bastard -- The Beer, That Is.

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Now, I’m no coal miner, but my bar job is pretty physically taxing work. My feet usually hate me at the end of the day, and my knees are about to go on strike. However, this particular kind of employment also has its perks. After a shift, each bar employee is rewarded with a “shift beer” - just one, and usually it is something from a surplus stock. Regardless, every shift beer is usually a treat and a great opportunity to learn more about varieties one might not otherwise immediately try.

Last night, I tried a Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale from Founders Brewing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Founders Brewing started as the dream of two college friends, Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers, and twelve years later it has grown in to a successful brewery with over a dozen tasty varieties and the belief that they will not brew for the masses, but for people like themselves. It seems to be working. Several of their tasty batches are readily available at my local Whole Foods store, including the Breakfast Stout and Red’s Rye PA, though I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t purchased them yet, because their bottle caps are pretty lackluster!

But back to the beer tasting. Closing time at the bar means that all of the glasses are being washed, so we always drink from the bottle. I’m not sure if the tastes might unfold further if it was sipped from a glass, but I suspect they would. Nevertheless, this beer was delicious and not what I typically think of when imagining the taste of a Scotch Ale. Pretty hop forward, but the hops aren’t what stayed with me. Rather, it was the abundance of malt. Reminiscent of fresh-made biscuits just from the oven and drizzled with honey, this ale is subtly sweet, with all kinds of toasty, biscuity goodness on the palate - no surprise, then, to learn that it is brewed with seven varieties of imported malts. Maybe even some hints of vanilla. At 8.5% ABV, it also relaxes and warms the body with every sip. This could easily be a session beer on a cold fall day.


Founders has me hooked with this Scotch Style Ale, and lame bottlecaps or not, I’ll be tasting some more of their brews in the future.  Just that maltocious, graintastic taste is enough to keep this beerslinger from feeling like a withered and worn ODB at the end of each shift.

Seasonal Tastes

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This week has flown by. Fall is rapidly encroaching on the city, but in a smooth seductive way -- we have no idea that we are being charmed in to winter, but the cassanova season keeps on working its magic. 

On the way home yesterday, I stopped by a Farmers Market near the McPherson Square Metro and saw the most colorful fall produce - bright red, green, and yellow peppers, radishes fresh from the dirt, greens of all varieties, apples, pears, and gorgeous autumn flowers. Dusky mauve hydrangeas, orange sunflowers, and bunches of lavender.  Cheeses from local dairies, locally raised meats, and raw sheeps wool, which was rather unusual but interesting nonetheless. All of this beauty converged under the setting sun, and for a few minutes the hustle of the end-of-day commute was put on hold.

Seasonal brews are a small part of this great season, but they add so much enjoyment to all of the other sensory changes that we experience right about now.  Last night, a friend told me about the Bell's Best Brown, a fall seasonal, as well as the Hop Slam, so I've got my tasting list updated and ready to go.  Additionally, with the abundance of fresh apples right now, I feel like I ought to try some new ciders, although they haven't traditionally been my go-to drink of choice.  There are some intriguing porters that are surfacing on shelves too...but part of me wants to hold on to the warmer weather just a little bit longer, and thinks that drinking porters too early might somehow prematurely summon the cold and snow.

Stay warm and enjoy the season -- Happy Weekending!