JUNE 1998

VOL.3 NO.6

Taste of the Month -- Some Foods and Drinks Make Bigger Impressions Than Others

This month's Taste comes from Cleveland, specifically from the kitchen of the Great Lakes Brewing Company, and the story behind it is an odd if interesting one.

It happened while I was in the midst of a short publicity tour for my latest book, Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook. After a rotten day in New York, I was comforted by an unexpected upgrade on my flight to Cleveland, the surprise of Pete's Wicked Ale being available on the Continental plane and the knowledge that I didn't have any interviews until 10:00 the next morning. Or so I thought.

When I checked in to my hotel in Cleveland, what should greet me but a fax informing me that I was expected at the Great Lakes Brewing Company the next morning for a live remote television hook-up, at 5:15 a.m.! Given that it was almost 11:00 p.m. and I hadn't even eaten dinner yet, this meant that I would receive a probable maximum of four hours sleep and a wake-up call at the ghastly hour of 4:30 in the morning. I was not amused.

As it turned out, the television appearance was not to be a single item, but rather a series of return spots, so from about 6:15 to 8:30 that day, I was kept on call to talk about beer, food and cooking at a moment's notice -- with the kind support and assistance of the Great Lakes staff and management. It was the kind of shooting schedule that could easily make a guy quite hungry, and as one of the items about halfway through the morning featured the pouring of a glass of the brewery's fine Edmund Fitzgerald Porter while another, later bit focused on the preparation of a calamari recipe from the Cookbook, I just knew that this was going to be another one of those "weird breakfast" days.

Which brings us to the Taste of the Month for June: the Great Lakes Brewing Company's Calamari from page 29 of the Brewpub Cookbook. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for breakfast -- although it did work for me that day! -- this non-greasy, flavourful dish is a wonderful alternative to the standard breading-and-deep-frying method of preparing squid. Try it as a dinner appetizer with a nice floral pilsner or increase the garlic and pepper a bit and make a lunch of it, alongside a pint of good stout or porter.

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