• Kitchen Table Tasting
  
• Introducing Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook, Pt. II
  
• A New Beer Tax!
  (But Not What You Expect)
  
• Pyramid Opens in Berkeley

• Selected Events
  
• Taste of the Month
  
• Feedback
  
• Coming Next Month
  

• January 1997
• December 1996
• November 1996
• October 1996
• September 1996

Stephen Beaumont's
Brewpub Cookbook

Kitchen Table Tasting

Participating in this tasting were BièreMAG publisher Mario D'Eer, BièreMAG editor Alain Geoffroy, aficionado Alastair Fairweather and myself.

The beers (and their breweries and alcohol contents) were as follows:

• Duvel
  (Brouwerij Moortgat; 8.5% ABV)
• Westmalle Triple
  (Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle; 9% ABV)
• Brugse Tripel
  (Brouwerij de Gouden Boom; 9.5% ABV)
• St. Feuillien Blond
  (Brasserie Friart; 7.5% ABV)
• Tripel Ename
  (Brouwerij Roman; 9% ABV)
• St. Bernardus Tripel
  (Brouwerij Sint Bernardus; 7.5% ABV)
• Affligem Tripel
  (Brouwerij de Smedt; 8% ABV)
• Fin du Monde
  (Unibroue; 9% ABV)
• Floreffe Tripel
  (Brasserie Lefebvre S.A.; 8% ABV)
• Leffe Tripel
  (Brouwerij de Kluis; 8% ABV)

(All Belgian alcohol contents are as listed in Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide to Belgium and Holland)

After the tasting, the group was unanimous in feeling that the tripel style is, at best, enigmatic. It was suggested that the only qualities unifying these beers were pale colour and high alcohol content, and even the pale colour concept was stretched by a couple (most notably the Brugse Tripel). Mario promoted the idea that since Westmalle was first with a tripel style, they should be the model upon which the style is based; an observation, incidentally, that was backed up by a very strong showing by the Westmalle in the tasting. Other than that, however, the best recommendation we could agree upon with respect to beer hunting for tripels was caveat emptor -- buyer beware.

Personally, I was first and foremost surprised by how closely Duvel fit the tripel format, although it was admittedly easy to pick out of the blind line-up. I was also surprised that even with strong alcohol levels, good storage conditions and, often, a yeast sediment, several of the samples showed some signs of deterioration -- notably the Ename, the St. Feuillien and the St. Bernardus. This observation, echoed by other members of the group, caused Mario to suggest that what we perceived as points of deterioration in some of the samples were actually normal qualities of the beers, and he cited the Brugse in particular as an example of this.

Without question, the two finest beers to my mind were the Westmalle and the Duvel. (In retrospect, I had to wonder whether the fact that these were the first two beers tasted contributed to the failure of many of the remaining beers to excite.) Also faring very well in the tasting were the Affligem and the Leffe. Among the remaining beers, the Fin du Monde was most enjoyable, but its powerful fruitiness lent it a taste profile well removed from the rest of the field. (In fairness, it should be noted that within the last year, Unibroue has brought out Eau Bénite, which they now tout as their tripel.)

Selected Events for February

San Francisco, California, USA:
Toronado's 4th Annual Barleywine Tasting

One of the very few places where you will ever be able to find over 30 barleywines available on tap at once! Runs from February 9-16 with no admission fee to pay. Call 415-863-2276 for details.

Glasgow, Scotland:
The Great British Winter Beer Festival

The first ever Champion Winter Beer of Britain will be chosen at the Old Fruitmarket, City Hall, Candleriggs, during this fest that runs from February 20-22. The £3 entry includes a commemorative glass and programme. For more information, call Colin Valentine at 0131 659 6111 x 3393; Russ Sweeny (Festival Press Officer) at 01436 674321 x 6541; or the CAMRA Press Office at 01727 867201.

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.

Cantillon Gueuze Vigneronne

The muscat grapes with which the Vigneronne is fermented make it appear drier on the palate than the traditional Cantillon Gueuze, but without so much of the wonderful sourness typical of this lambic brewery's products. I attribute this reduction in the perceived sourness to the light fruitiness of the grapes, which is particularly apparent in the front and back of the taste. The overall effect of this combination is that the beer is gifted with a remarkable multi- dimensionality, with at once an appetizing dryness and a flavourful drinkability. In a sense, while the Vigneronne is most definitely a gueuze, and a great one at that, it is also something quite different, as removed from the traditional Cantillon Gueuze or Bruocsella 1900 Old Lambic as those beers are from lesser gueuzes.

A New Beer Tax! (But Not What You Expect)

Mr Whitekey's Fly by Night Club in Anchorage, Alaska, has apparently decided that drastic measures must be exerted in the Club's patrons are ever to be converted to craft beer consumers. As such, they have instituted a "Budweiser Tax" of 50 cents on each and every glass of Bud sold. Says the menu:

In spite of our attempt to offer a tremendous selection of little known but excellent North American beers, you nitwits continue to drink nothing but Budweiser and Michelob. If you wish to be influenced by advertising dollars rather than taste, that's okay with us -- but you'll have to pay the Budweiser tax.

Now that's one tax that we can live with!

Introducing Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook, Pt. II

It was about a year ago that I was in discussion with my Canadian publisher, Macmillan Canada, about my next book project. As the concept I had in mind was generating only a lukewarm response from the powers that be at Macmillan, I had found my thoughts gradually turning to other ideas that I might pursue, such as guides, tasting manuals and cookbooks. And so it was that during one of my frequent telephone conversations with Nicole de Montbrun, my editor at Macmillan, I casually suggested that we might produce a brewpub cookbook. She loved the idea, the publisher loved the idea, the president loved the idea, and a scant month or so later, the contracts were signed.

Getting the recipes together for the book proved to be a much greater hurdle than getting the contract for the book, but I think that is a story best left for another World of Beer. For now, I'll leave you with another recipe from Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook, scheduled for release in Canada in the spring of 1997. (Sorry, we're still negotiating with various publishers over the U.S. rights to the book, so it likely won't be out on American bookshelves until the fall. But Canadians and non-Canadians alike will be able to order copies from this page beginning in the early spring.)

Hale's Chocolate Celebration Porter Cheesecake

Growing up in Montreal, Quebec, amidst all of the city's great delis, I have had occasion to try my share of cheesecakes. And I can say without reservation that this is one of the very best!

Beermate: The use of sour cream in this recipe serves to temper the sweetness of the cake, so an overly sweet beer is not required here. What is needed is a full and chocolaty body, so try a robust stout like the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout or a fine Scotch Ale like the Douglas Scotch Ale.

Before You Begin: Make certain that you have lots of free oven time available before you start this recipe; including the cooling-down period, it takes close to five hours!

For the Filling:

3 lb. softened cream cheese

8 oz. porter

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

7 oz. melted semi-sweet chocolate (kept warm)

3 tbsp. cornstarch

For the Crust:

10 oz. of chocolate cookies ground to a find crumb (OREO type)

2 tbsp. melted butter

To make the filling, combine the sour cream, cornstarch and sugar in a food processor or large bowl, blend well and set aside. In a clean food processor or a bowl, combine one quarter of the cream cheese with one egg and one quarter of the porter and blend until smooth. Gently mix the cream cheese mixture into the sour cream mixture and repeat the process with the remaining fourths of the cream cheese. After the final batch is blended but before it is added to the main mixture, add the still warm melted chocolate and gently blend it in. Then transfer the final batch to the main bowl, mixing with a large rubber spatula in a figure eight pattern to incorporate as little air as possible into the batter while still blending well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tamp it down to release any air. Then bake the cake in a water bath to help retain moisture, first lining the exterior of the pan with a large piece of foil so that no water may seep into the spring form base. Prepare the water bath by setting the cake onto a cookie sheet, placing the sheet into a preheated 275 deg.F. oven and filling the sheet with hot water. Bake for one hour, replenish the water and bake for 1 1/4 hours longer. After baking, turn the oven off and without opening the door, allow the cake to cool in the oven for 2 1/2 hours before storing it overnight in the fridge. Remove the pan collar and cut the cake with a wet knife warmed in hot water.

Serves 12-16.

Recipe from the forthcoming Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook. Watch this space over the next few months for detailed ordering information.

Judging from your response, I'd have to say that our new mid-month World of Beer Update is a hit! On average, about a half-dozen readers per day are signing up to receive even more beer news via e-mail on or about the 15th of each month, and most of them are adding very positive comments to their enrollment forms, as well. (Thank you very much, kind people!)

And now, onto the comments...

John Vardy wrote to say that he has some homebrewing shareware for review. Well, John, because I do not myself homebrew and therefore wouldn't really know what to look for in homebrewing software, I don't think that my review would be of much use to you or anyone else. If any reader would like to look into John's work, though, you can find it at http://www.netaxs.com/
~vectorsys/varady/index.html.

Jerome Chambost sent some nice compliments along with the news that he is a french student in Ireland studying the competition between Guinness and Murphy's for a business project. Now, why weren't there assignments like that when I was in school?

Somebody calling himself (or herself) Beer Deity wrote to ask if I had been to The Great Lost Bear in Portland, Maine. I must confess that as of yet I have not, but that I have heard positive reports about this 50-tap beer bar through the grapevine (or is that hopvine?). I'm hoping that a New England swing within the next year or two will bring me through Portland. Maine, for a taste or two.

Finally, John R. O'Neill wrote simply: "So many beers..so little time." Amen to that!

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.

Pyramid Opens in Berkeley

The first night of the launch was not my best. Having woken up at 6:00 EST (3:00 PST) that morning, flight connections delayed my arrival to my Berkeley hotel until 5:00 p.m. local time, with only an hour to go before the VIP reception was to begin at the brewery. Ever the intrepid and determined journalist, however, I did manage to drag my weary bones over to Pyramid's 901 Gilman Street location and arrived just as the festivities were shifting into high gear.

The Alehouse portion of the Pyramid Brewery and Alehouse at Berkeley -- as the establishment is officially known -- bears more than a passing resemblance to the brewery's downtown Seattle operation. Built on two levels with the second floor consisting of a fair-sized balcony overlooking the first, the Alehouse is sharply designed and obviously built with decided emphasis on the beer -- the long downstairs bar provides the focal point for the whole restaurant/pub area and the wide windows on one wall furnish a full brewery view which leaves no doubt that here, beer is king!

Equally focussed is the brewery area itself, where 83,000 square feet of space is devoted to the production of a potential 80,000 barrels (94,000 hectolitres) of Pyramid ales and Thomas Kemper lagers. Built with a kind hand intent on maintaining the aesthetics of the original building, which was formerly a truck body plant, the brewery is expandable to 200,000 barrels (235,000 hectolitres) of production, according to Pyramid spokesperson Ben Myers.

Day Two of the opening was dedicated to suppliers, distributors and retailers, so I elected to take a pass on it, but I returned on Friday night for the "Friends of the Brewery" launch. An informal affair that featured a band called Skylopps playing in the brewery, the "Friends" soiree reportedly had its crowds swelled by an over-enthusiastic local DJ who repeatedly announced the "free beer night at Pyramid" over the radio all that afternoon. Nonetheless, the amassed beer lovers certainly enjoyed themselves, and by all reports, each of the three days of grand opening festivities was an unqualified success.

With the fun and frivolity of the opening now consigned to history, it remains to be seen whether Pyramid's US$14.5 million investment in Berkeley will pay off in the long run. Certainly the city, the mayor (who tapped a ceremonial keg of Snowcap Ale at the Wednesday opening), and most of all, the company's somewhat beleaguered shareholders are hoping that it will.

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.

Stephen Beaumont's
Great Canadian Beer Guide

Another Magnificent Recipe from the Forthcoming Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook, and Why Writing a Cookbook is Not as Easy as You Think!

The Annual Kitchen Table Tasting of Various Vintages of the Not-Quite-Legendary Eisbock from the Niagara Falls Brewing Company.

Stephen Beaumont reserves all rights that pertain to the text of his articles, in any form that it appears.