across the continent and around the globe.
- Kitchen Table Tasting
- Introducing Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook
- Canada Consolidation
- Review -- Beers From Belgium CD-ROM
Kitchen Table Tasting
Presenting the results of a series of informal beer tastings conducted with friends around the kitchen table.For this debut edition of Kitchen Table Tastings, I have to take you out of our kitchen and along the Queen Elizabeth Highway to the living room of my parents in the Toronto suburbs. Because as those of you who have read my book A Taste for Beer will know, the Christmas beer tasting is somewhat of a tradition in the Beaumont family household, and this year was no exception.
The participants were few in 1996, as my siblings and their families did not return from the west coast this year and Christine (my wife) had a cold which prevented her from smelling and, for the most part, tasting the beers. This left the full responsibility for the judging on the shoulders of my mother, my father and myself.
The beers tasted were, in order of appearance, the Thomas Kemper Winterbraü, the King & Barnes Festive Ale, the New England Holiday Spice Ale, La Binchoise Special Noël, Great Divide Hibernation Ale and, tasted separately after dinner, Quelque Chose from Unibroue.
Of the first five, the big favourites were the Hibernation Ale, with its chocolaty-orange character and cinnamon stick nose scoring high among all three of us, and the Special Noël, which garnered particular favour from my mother with its full and fruity body and spicy character. Placing a very close third, and a co-favourite of my father, was the Thomas Kemper Winterbräu, with a somewhat treacly aroma and flavourful, sweetly roasty body.
The King & Barnes did not do too well in this tasting, but that was probably attributable to its relatively mild character, especially since I mistakenly put it behind the richer Kemper beer in the order of things. In its defense, however, I think that the K&B would have fared much better had it been tasted alongside similar English ales.
The real treat of the night came after dinner, when we warmed the Quelque Chose to just below the boiling point (yes, that's right, it's served HOT!) and sipped it by the fire from coffee cups. Although this year's batch tastes perhaps a little less robust that it did in 1995, the Quelque Chose was a marvel of a drink and its full cherry aroma and cherry-malt-spice character provided a wonderful finish to our Christmas dinner.
If you have a product -- beer, book, CD-ROM or whatever -- that you would like to see reviewed in this space, please send a message to worldofbeer@worldofbeer.com and we'll send you back instructions on how to get it to us.
Selected Events for January
- Cambridge, England:
Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
- Three days of winter ales from
January 9-11 at Anglia Polytechnic University Canteen in Cambridge. About 50 beers
expected and live entertainment provided. Call 01223 317642 (day) or 01954 203230
(evenings) for more information.
- South Lake Tahoe, California, USA:
Valhalla Winter Brewfest
- At the California Lodge of
the Heavenly Ski Resort, taste all you can of 25 craft beers and imports on February 1 from
6:30 - 9:30. Tickets are $15.00. Call 916-542-4166 for details.
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A refreshing look at beer enjoyment in all its forms, complete with a chapter on matching beer to your favourite foods, a guide to drinking beer with the seasons, 29 delicious recipes that take beer into the kitchen and a whimsical look at pairing beer with music and the movies. |
Typhoon Brewery
While in New York City in December, Christine and I paid a visit to the Typhoon Brewery, a relatively new addition to the Big Apple beer scene. A combination brewpub and Asian restaurant, I found Typhoon to be too ambitious by about half, and unfortunately the half that fails to live up to expectations is the beer! Of the five brews tasted, not one could properly be called exciting and all ranged from ho-hum to mediocre.The silver lining in this brewing cloud, however, was the food. Upstairs, Typhoon's very attractive restaurant has been garnering considerable praise for its fine cuisine -- even meriting a most favourable review from Gourmet magazine! -- while downstairs, the bar and small pub area serves up excellent casual fare. As we were to dine Asian that night, we elected to eat lunch at Typhoon downstairs and I was rewarded with one of the finest hamburgers I have ever had the pleasure of tasting, and that includes my own and those of my barbecue-master father! Subtly laced with chilies and grilled precisely to order, it required nothing more than a bun to make it a perfect luncheon delight.
Read more about Typhoon and my New York City trip in the upcoming issue of Southern Draft Brew News.
Introducing Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook
I am very pleased to announce for the first time in this space that I have completed work on my fourth book, entitled Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook. Scheduled for a spring release in Canada and a later printing south-of-the-border, this work features 120 delicious recipes from 32 of the finest brewpubs in North America, along with short stories about each brewpub, tips on matching beer with food and guidelines on how to best use beer in the kitchen.I'm particularly proud of this book, not just because of the work that I put into it, but because of how well every one of the carefully selected brewpubs responded to my recipe request. Over the course of the next few months, I will relate to you some of the story of how this book came to be and let you know a little more about what lies between the covers, but for now I will leave you with the assurance that there is a veritable bounty of splendid dining awaiting your pleasure at this continent's finest brewpubs, and the great recipes contained in my forthcoming book are certainly testament to that fact!
To start you off, here is a rapturous seafood stew recipe from Colorado's famed Wynkoop Brewing Company:
Brewer's Cioppino, Served Over Saffron Rice
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From: The Wynkoop Brewing Company 1634 Eighteenth Street Denver, Colorado, USA 80202 Phone: 303-297-2700
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Created by: Executive Chef Big John Dickenson and Chef de Cuisine David Allen
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Beermate: A spicy weizenbock like the Schneider Aventinus or the DeGroen's Weizenbock. The spice will balance the acidity of the tomato while complementing the anise flavours of the anisette and fennel, and the beer won't be too heavy for the dish.
Before You Begin: It helps to think of this recipe as having three parts: The cioppino stew, the saffron rice and the seafood that goes in when the stew is being reheated. That way, you avoid messy, broken rice and overcooked seafood. If it is available, you may wish to substitute a tomato-clam cocktail such as Clamato for the clam and tomato juices.
- For Cioppino:
- 1 med. yellow onion, julienned
1 med. bulb fresh fennel, top removed and julienned
(save fennel sprigs for garnish if desired)
1 med. green bell pepper, julienned
1 tbsp. fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup Burgundy wine
2 bay leaf
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
2 tbsp. anisette liquor
32 oz. canned tomatoes, drained and diced
8 oz. clam juice
16 oz. tomato juice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 oz. fresh basil, julienned
- For Saffron Rice:
- 1/2 cup butter
1 small yellow onion
pinch (very small) saffron
1/2 tsp. salt to taste
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cup rice
4 cup water (substitute chicken or vegetable stock if desired)
- For Serving:
- Mixed shrimp, scallops, clams, whitefish or other seafood of your choice.
Saute onion, fennel bell peppers and garlic over medium heat until the onion turns translucent. Add herbs and anisette and cook for 10 minutes more. Add tomatoes, clam juice and tomato juice and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper and fresh basil, stir until integrated and remove from heat to cool.
In a 4 qt. saucepan on medium heat, saute onions, salt and pepper in butter until the onion turns translucent. Add saffron and saute for 2 minutes more, being very careful not to burn. Turn the heat to high and add rice and water. Cook on high until boil is reached and then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Let simmer for 25 minutes or until rice is done.
As rice simmers, add the seafood to the cioppino and reheat over medium heat. Serve the stew in bowls over the saffron rice, or bring to the table in a large bowl with the rice piled in the centre.
Serves 4.
Canada Consolidation
Although it had been announced back in October, it became official in December: Brick Brewing of Waterloo, Ontario, is buying all of the trademarks and rights to the Conners family of Ontario craft-brewed beers. The binding deal is expected to close in early January.In the months that have passed since the letter of intent between these two companies was signed, I have heard some rather dire concerns voiced in the Ontario beer community. Of greatest worry seems to be the fear that Brick, being predominantly a lager brewery, will not be capable of doing a proper job on the Conners ale brands. In my humble opinion, however, I do not feel that there is any cause for concern, and I base this belief on the following factors:
- While it is true that Brick does produce some uninteresting brands -- Pacific Draft and Red
Cap among them -- they also brew two fine lagers in their Brick Premium and Henninger
Kaiser Pilsner brands and a very nice Anniversary Bock. To suggest that the minds behind
these enjoyable brews might not be able to master the Conners line is to be condescending
and more than a little paranoid.
- While I am unaware of all of the details of the sale, I do know that Conners is bringing
some of their staff to Brick as a part of the arrangement. This would seem to indicate that
they will be able to oversee the transition of the brands so that any inconsistency would be
minimized as much as possible.
- The Conners brands are now not what they once were. In recent tastings of the flagship
Conners Best Bitter in particular, I have found the hop character to have been dramatically
reduced and the body thinned. Hopefully, the change of ownership and brewing venue will
revitalize these beers to the very fine ales they were just a year or two ago.
- It is a fact that Conners has been looking for a buyer for some time now. It is not a great step from this knowledge to the conclusion that were a deal not made at this time or shortly thereafter, the company might have ceased to exist entirely. Having the brands go to Brick is a lot better than not having them at all.
So, in short, I am optimistic about this deal and wish Brick all the luck with their new brands acquisition. Just know, folks, that I'll be watching, and tasting, very carefully throughout the transition.
Another Great Recipe from the Forthcoming Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook
A Report from the Grand Opening of Pyramid Breweries' New Brewpub in Berkeley, California.
Review -- Beers From Belgium CD-ROM
Here is a CD-ROM that unfortunately missed getting reviewed in last month's Holiday Gift Edition. And it really is too bad that I missed it, because this is one dynamite piece of work!
If you like bells and whistles, you will probably be disappointed with this. Fancy it is not; sharply designed it is not; packed with information it most definitely is! Based heavily on Belgian beer guru Peter Crombecq's excellent Beer Yearbook, Beers From Belgium is loaded with easy-to-access info on all of Belgium's many breweries and their beers, as well as the country's best beershops, pubs and cafes. For straight, useful information on the great beers of Belgium, I have come across nothing better in the English language.
Were that all this disk had to offer, it would be more than enough to justify its 1200 Bfr (Belgian francs; about US$39.00 including shipping) international price tag, but there is more! You also get a section on Belgian gastronomy, including some 75 or so recipes and a few basic tips on matching Belgian beer to food, and an "Encyclopedia" segment covering everything from beer history to Belgian beer museums. And on top of all that, there are even "Guided Tours" focusing on subjects such as The Zenne Valley, or my favourite, Animals and Beers, and a useful sound icon that gives you the correct pronunciation of all of the brewery and beer names.
If you have a CD drive on your computer and desire just one resource on Belgian beers, this is the one to get! You can find out more about it and order it through the Web at http://www.one4you.be
If you have a product -- beer, book, CD-ROM or whatever -- that you would like to see reviewed in this space, please send a message to worldofbeer@worldofbeer.com and we'll send you back instructions on how to get it to us.
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A brewery-by-brewery and beer-to-beer guide to the Canadian brewing industry, from Labatt and Molson on down to Horseshoe Bay Brewing and the Bushwakker Brewpub. |
Great Canadian Beer Guide
Thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know what you think of the page and also to those who signed up for our new mid-month World of Beer Update. Now, to answer some of your questions:
Fred Keville wanted to know if I would write about beer label collecting at all. Sorry, Fred, but as much as I admire you brewerianists for keeping beer artistry and history alive, I just don't feel qualified to include that subject on this page. Can anyone recommend a page to help Fred?
Beer and food writer and cookbook author (Cooking with Beer, see Dec. SBWoB for review and details) Lucy Saunders offers the following advice for anyone searching for good beer glasses: "Elegant crystal beer stemware, without logos, in all the traditional styles, are available in the U.S. from Schott Zweisel, the crystal-makers based in Yonkers, NY. They have a nice goblet style beer glass that holds 12 oz. comfortably and also fits into my dishwasher, when I'm feeling too lazy to wash them by hand (as I recommend others do!!)."
Brian Helgesen wrote in to say that he was looking for the address of the brewer of Warthog Ale. That would be the Big Rock Brewery of Calgary, Brian, and you can find the address and other details of Big Rock on the Real Beer Page's Canadian Beer Index at http://www.realbeer.com/canada.
Greg Owen wanted to know about the strongest beer in the world. In the bottle, Greg, it's the Samuel Adams Triple Bock, an ale fermented to about 17.5% ABV with the assistance of maple syrup and both ale and champagne yeasts. As far as draught goes, I believe that there is a stronger brew in the U.K. that is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, but have been unable to confirm that fact. Anybody out there able to lend a hand?
And finally, Clement Falter wrote to say that he was interested in German beer and breweries. Stay tuned, Clement, and I'll try to get a couple of Germany-oriented pieces up un the coming months.
If you have any comments, questions, hints or tips for Stephen Beaumont's World of Beer, we'd love to hear from you. Although we unfortunately can't promise individual replies to everyone who writes, we will present your comments and answer some of your questions in this space each month.
Click Here: worldofbeer@worldofbeer.com.
Stephen Beaumont reserves all rights that pertain to the text of his articles, in any form that it appears.
