The Ale-pple of My Eye

What beverage is more essential to music than beer?  Recently, the Flying Monkeys brewery took this thought to heart when they collaborated with singer-songwriter Dallas Green of City and Colour to create the Imperial Maple Wheat Ale.

This is the second release from the Treble Clef Series, so be sure to expect some more colla-brew-ations with more Canadian musical talent.  The bottle is decorated in the typical Flying Monkey style: loud patterns.  A lime green label is decorated with images of Dallas Green’s face, a yellow marquee, and cryptic lyrics scattered across the bottle.

The beer itself is a nut brown ale, with an aroma of caramel and biscuit - almost like a Belgian waffle.  The beer pours with minimal carbonation, and a thin golden head.  The maple flavor dominates, adding a sweet, yet balanced finish to the rich malt.  And although the flavor is smooth, the brew is 11.5% alcohol by volume and is meant to be shared with several of your friends.

However, this beer needs to know its place.  Not to say that it’s a bad beer by any means.  It just doesn’t belong with your pizza or wings.  This beer is sweet in a dessert-for-breakfast kind of way.  It deserves to be sipped alongside a crème brulee.  Or poured over your pancakes.  Or turned into a delightful maple ale caramel.

Also see my article in the Gateway Newspaper about this beer.

'Tis the season for caramel apples as well.  As fantastic as caramel apples are without embellishment, they can't get any worse if I were to add my favorite flavor-boosting ingredient...beer, of course.

Note: Be careful, young padawans.  Hot caramel is dangerous!  Don't dip your finger in, just because it looks delicious.  It will BURN you, as it did me (second degree!).

Maple Ale Caramel Apples

1 cup maple ale

2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup maple flavored breakfast syrup (corn syrup-based)

10 Apples

1 roll of wax paper

Skewers

1. In a small saucepan bring 1 cup of the maple ale to a simmer and cook until reduced and syrupy (about 20 minutes).  You should have about 1 tbsp of thick, syrupy, beer reduction at the end.  Set aside.
2. Combine all other ingredients except ale reduction in a large heavy pot.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter melts and the mixture boils.
3. Continue to cook until candy thermometer reaches 244 degrees, this will take about 30 minutes.  To test your caramel, drop a small amount into a bowl of ice water - if it forms a ball, the consistency is right.
4. When the correct temperature has been reached, stir in the ale reduction and remove from heat.
5. Dip apples into caramel and spin to coat.  Place on wax paper.
6. Let cool for several hours or place in fridge until firm.
7. Makes about 10 caramel apples.

Feel free to decorate your ale-pples – crushed peanuts and Reese’s Pieces are my top choices.  One reminds me of carnivals, while the other of Halloween parties.

Flying Monkeys Brewery  http://www.theflyingmonkeys.ca/

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes.  June 16, 2010. http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2010/06/ale-and-pretzel-soft-caramels.html

The Butte of All Jokes

Recently my partner-in-crime went on an excursion to visit some family in the states.  He made his way to Butte, Montana, and came back with my favorite kind of souvenir.  The drinkable kind.

Butte is an old copper mining town, and at one time had a population over 100,000.  Now there are just over 33,700.  Headframe Spirits are a local distillery that produces Neversweat, a bourbon whiskey named after an one of the mines.  While the mine originally had a reputation for having unusually low temperatures, the name grew ironic as the mines were dug deeper and the temperatures below rose higher.  While Neversweat is rich and spicy on the rocks, it makes a damn good old fashioned too.

Pick your poison..
You only get two drinks at the Tasting room.

The Headframe distillery also runs something called a “Tasting Room”.  Not to be mistaken for a “bar”, “pub”, or “club”, the tasting room is a place to imbibe one or two cocktails – no more.  This limit placed on alcohol consumption allows them to operate without a liquor license. It’s a brilliant concept, really.  Besides, by the third drink are you really “tasting” what’s in your glass?  Not likely.

Named after that wispy powder
that skiiers dream about.

My accomplice also visited a brewery in Missoula, MT.  The KettleHouse Brewing Company was the first brewery in Montana to pour beer in their tasting room, and was one of three breweries that lobbied the Montana State Legislature for the legalized on-premise consumption of beer in breweries.  They have since become a flourishing microbrewery and a popular neighborhood taproom.  The Cold Smoke Scotch Ale is the most popular brew, and is 2012 bronze medalist of the World Beer Cup.  My personal favorite is the Double Haul IPA.  Brewed with Montana-grown barley and Northwest grown Cascade hops, this is a full-bodied brew with 65 IBU – a real treat for hop heads.

With the advent of fall comes many of my favorite things:

- Cozy sweaters

- Boots

- Pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING

- Halloween (aka. an excuse for me to make themed desserts)

- and of course, soup.

Nothing feels better than coming home to a bowl of warm soup.  Here’s one for pumpkin-aholics like myself.

The seeds add bit of crunch for contrast.

Pumpkin Sage Soup

1 medium sugar pumpkin

2 cups chicken broth

2-3 sprigs sage

½ cup beer

¾ cup cream

2 tbsp brown sugar

Salt to taste

1. Cut the pumpkin open from stem to bottom.  Use a spoon to remove the seeds and stringy bits.
2. Place both sides face down on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
3. Cook pumpkin at 300°F for about 1 hour.  Remove from oven and let cool.
4. Once pumpkin is cool enough to handle, turn each half over and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl.
5. Using a food processor or immersion blender, puree the pumpkin until a smooth consistency is reached.
6. Transfer pureed pumpkin to a large pot, adding the chicken broth, sage, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil.
7. Stir in beer and cream, reducing heat.  Continue to cook for another 30 minutes, or until flavors are blended.
8. Serve topped with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Makes about 8 cups of soup.

Headframe Spirits. http://headframespirits.com/neversweat-whiskey/

Kettle House Brewing Co. http://kettlehouse.com/

Dorn, Ryan.  Distilling Butte.  July 9, 2012.  http://www.explorebigsky.com/newspost/distilling-butte

Radical Radler

You may have come across an orange-tinged beer in the liquor store, with a meagre 2.5% alcohol by volume (ABV).  This, my friends, is a Radler.

A what?

"Radler" literally translated means "cyclist" in German, which may have something to do with the low alcohol content. It has become known as a cocktail consisting of a 1:1 or 3:2 mixture of beer and soda pop.  There are several pre-mixed Radlers that have recently become popular in North America as well.  These include the Schöfferhofer and the Stiegl Radler.

F.X. Kugler

The invention of the drink is widely attributed to the Bavarian gastronomer Franz Xaver Kugler. Legend has it that Kugler, a railroad-turned-innkeeper, arranged for the construction of a bike trail through the forest from Munich to his pub, the Kugleralm.  The barkeep soon found himself a victim of his own success on a

Saturday in June 1922, when 13,000 cyclists descended upon his inn demanding beer.  To quench the thirst of the demanding customers, Kugler was forced to dilute the beer with lemon soda, a previously unpopular ingredient in such a beer-loving province.  He called the drink a "Radlermass" - radler meaning cyclist, and mass meaning a litre of beer.

While the legend is somewhat plausible, there are references to the Radler cocktail that are dated several years before 1922.

There are as many regional differences between Radlers as there are German dialects.  In some cases, the Radler is distinguished as using a lemon-lime flavored soft drink, while an Alsterwasser is mixed with an orange flavored soda.

In some areas of Münsterland, they mix beer with an orange soft drink to make a concoction they call Wurstwasser, or "sausage water" to describe the color of the drink.  Yummy.

Let's talk about the noble grapefruit for a moment.  There are several chemicals in grapefruit responsible for the bitter taste.  The essential oil of grapefruit is dominated by two compounds - limonene and myrcene.

Myrcene
IUPAC name, 7-Methyl-3-methylene-1,6-octadiene

There are many grapefruit flavors present in certain hops.  Cascade hops in particular are notorious for providing the grapefruit flavor and aroma to beer.  The essential oil extracted from Cascade hops is predominately myrcene (48.9%), while other abundant components include α-humulene, (E)-caryophyllene, (E)-β-farnesene. So although the two species are very different, they contain similar compounds that cause grapefruit and Cascade hops to resemble each other in flavor.

 

Enter Alley Kat's Summer Squeeze Grapefruit Ale.  This is an actual ale brewed with real grapefruit, and is a tad less sweet than a Radler.  While the citrus bite is similar to that of the German beer cocktail, this is an actual beer with 5% ABV. This seasonal beer is brewed with real grapefruit, the natural flavor enhances the Cascade hops without masking the refreshing bitter finish.  Get some before it goes back into Alley Kat's seasonal beer vault when the summer comes to an end.

So I've made beer-sicles before, yes (see Fruits of YourLabour, June 2012).  This is entirely different, I swear.  Well, sort of.

En garde!

Radler-sicles

Equipment:       One 6-well popsicle mould

Ingredients:       2 bottles Radler (Stiegl or other)

1. Pour beer into of the popsicle mould until each well is filled halfway.  Make sure to pour down the side of the mould to minimize the level of foam.
2. Continue to pour, filling moulds within ¼” of the top.
3. Insert popsicle sticks and transfer to freezer.
4. Share with friends who are over the legal age of majority.

Ort, David. First Draught: Stiegl Grapefruit Radler, a beer cocktail that’s actually good. http://www.postcity.com/Eat-Shop-Do/Eat/June-2013/First-Draught-Stiegl-Grapefruit-Radler-a-beer-cocktail-thats-actually-good/

German Beer Institute http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Radler.html

Hops. The Hopry. http://thehopry.com/hops/

Nance M.R. and Setzer W.N. Volatile components of aroma hops (Humulus lupulus L.) commonly used in beer brewing. Journal of Brewing and Distilling Vol. 2(2) pp. 16-22, April 2011.

With a Grain of Salt

Sodium chloride, or common table salt, is critical in the culinary arts for enhancing flavor.  At low concentrations levels though, salt will reduce bitterness and increase the sweet, sour and umami.  However, at higher concentrations salt will suppress sweetness and enhance umami (or the "savory" flavor).  Thus moderation is key to maintaining the perfect balance.

Numerous foods can benefit from a pinch of salt.  The umami flavors in tomatoes are noticeably enhanced with a cautious tilt of the salt shaker (or a strip of bacon).  A sparing pinch can even take the edge off of a cup of bad coffee.  The quintessentially Canadian coffee chain Tim Horton's is known to add a pinch of salt to their coffee as well.  So why not beer?

Choose your weapon

Enter beer salts.  The Twang brand of Beersalts are specifically marketed for people looking to enhance their cheap, unflavorful beers.  They not only include, but also include citric acid and natural flavors of lemon, lime, and cayenne.  These not only add refreshment, but mask any off-flavor in the beer caused by too much sun exposure.

There are three flavors designed to enhance your beer enjoyment:

1. Lemon-lime beer salt, designed for Mexican and American lagers and pilsners.
2. Lime beer salt, designed to emulate the tradition of adding lime to Corona.
3. Caliente 86 Hot Lime beer salt, developed in celebration of Twang's 25th anniversary.

Now, take this information with a grain of salt.  While I highly recommend trying these salts with Lucky or your buck-a-can beer of choice.  If you're drinking a high quality craft beer, don't bother.  You may ruin your fifteen dollar 750ml ale by adding too much.



All three flavors of Twang Beersalt can be found in various places across the border to the south.  However, there's no need to go all the way to the United States to pick these up.  You can easily imitate the flavor with simple ingredients from your kitchen. Try tossing a pinch of salt into your beer, along with a slice of lime.  Add a sparing shake of cayenne for extra kick.  Or drink your beer with some salty snacks instead.  There's a reason beer, not wine, is drunk with nachos and pretzels.  Beer and salt have always been, and always will be, best friends.

McGrath, Caitlin. Salted Coffee You Say? CHOW Blog. http://www.chow.com/food-news/2132/salted-coffee-you-say/
Villazon, Luis. FOCUS Science & Technology. http://sciencefocus.com/qa/why-does-salt-enhance-flavour
Twang Beersalt http://www.beersalt.com/

The Best of the Wurst

I have a confession to make.  I recently comitted a terrible crime against beer.  I left a bottle in my car for 8 hours while it was 24 degrees Celsius.  Why is this bad?  Beer exposed to light and heat goes through a process called "oxidation", which converts a pleasantly bitter and malty beer to a stale and "skunky" brew.


Braising.  The term means searing a cut of meat first at high temperatures, then cooking slowly in a variable amount of liquid.  This liquid can be anything from savory broths to fruit juices, and especially wine and beer.


There are limits however, to using substandard beer to cook with.  Never cook with a beer you wouldn't drink.  I tasted the beer before I braised with it - had I cooled it down it would have still been drinkable.  Had it been any more than a day in such warm conditions it would have been unusable.


The beer used was Wunderful Lager from Nördlingen, Germany.  Although the name is somewhat Westernized, the beer itself followed the Reinheitsgebot, the German purity law allowing only water, malt, and hops into the brew .  My partner-in-crime picked up a bottle of the a fruity Hefeweizen and a Pilsner from the same brand to drink with dinner, unaware that I had braised with beer from the same brand.

Paired with the brats is a chipotle beer mustard, graciously brought back from San Diego by a close friend.  If you are in the San Diego area, I recommend checking out at least one brewery or brewpub.  In particular, the Stone Brewing Company operates out of North County, and has a brewpub in both Escondido and Liberty Station.  While you're there, pick up a jar of mustard for yourself.  And one for me, in exchange for a meal and everlasting gratitude.

Beer-Braised Bratwurst

Beer-braised redemption

with Beer Mustard and Saurkraut

1 tbsp olive oil

8 Bratwurst sausages

355ml beer
8 sausage buns
1 14 oz. jar Sauerkraut
2 tbsp brown sugar
Beer Mustard

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or turn a slow cooker on to high.
2. Heat olive oil in a frying pan or skillet.  Puncture sausages with a fork.
3. Add 4 of the sausages to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining 4 bratwurst.
4. Transfer the bratwursts and any accumulated juices to a Dutch oven or slow cooker.  Pour in the beer.
5. Braise the bratwursts, turning once, until they are completely cooked through, about 30 minutes.
6. While the brats are braising, add sauerkraut and brown sugar to a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium-low temperature until sugar is dissolved and sauerkraut is heated through.
7. Place a bratwurst in each bun and serve with sauerkraut and mustard.

Beer Revolution

Sincere apologies to my fellow lovers of beer and food - it's been a while.  In the last two months, there's been an influx of new beer-centric restaurants and pubs, not to mention an increase in patio patrons.

Viva la Revolution!

Last week I met up with some friends at Beer Revolution: Craft Beer and Pizza.  This is a new addition to the Brewster's company, though less than 100m away from the original brew-pub in Oliver Square.

Bavarian pretzels with sea salt, caraway spice,
and grainy mustard aioli

The concept at Beer Revolution though, is quite different from the parent pub.  Instead of going full brew-pub and brewing their own on-site, Beer Revolution offers a large portfolio of beers brewed not only by Brewsters, but by several local producers and renowned imported brews.

Truffle fries with sea salt, black pepper
and white truffle aioli

Beers are available in 16 oz. pints as well as 8oz. glasses for indecisive (or lightweight) folks like myself.  Friday night is Cask night too, which means an original brew served from the cask in which it was conditioned.  Last week's concoction was a smooth and citrusy Simcoe.

Two of my table-mates had also hurried to order some of the 4 for 4 specials, offered only between 4 and 6pm.  Four different varieties of beers, snacks, and wines are all priced at $4 a portion.  The snacks include the salty Bavarian pretzels, upscale truffle fries, and a pizza special.




The regular pizzas are each 10" x 10" and cleverly named.  The "Everyday Normal Guy" is a straightforward salami, pepperoni and onion variety, while the Newton pushes boundaries with black mission figs and proscuitto.  There's even a pizza named after the infamous competitive eater Furious Pete, with sweet onions and Italian sausage.  And although Beer Revolution lives up to their "Pizza Bar"  classification - their menu is more varied than the name suggests.  I plan to come back to sample the "House cranked links" - a variety of sausages made with pork, lamb, and wild boar.

The "Junior Boy" pizza, with prosciutto, grilled pineapple,
roasted jalapenos, smoked cheddar, and maple syrup

My favorite part of the Beer Revolution experience though, was the music.  Beer Revolution is all rock n' roll, from Zeppelin to the Black Keys.  No Minaj or Beiber to be heard.  The pub also ecourages guests to tweet their requests to be added to the song rotation.




Beer Revolution is another place that's trying the "Tap Takeover" strategy, beginning on June 6th with Howe Sound out of Squamish B.C.  Twelve of the brewery's best ales and lagers will invade the taps.

There are a few more beer destinations set to open this summer.  Keep your eyes open for the Craft Beer Market downtown off Rice Howard Way, a Calgary chain making its way North this summer.  The sign veiling the construction promises more than 100 beer on tap.

What's next in the world of craft beer?  The Edmonton Craft Beer Festival on June 14th and 15th.  I will be on a solemn mission to share my humble opinion of the event and crown my own personal favorite.  See you there!

The Cheese Stands Alone

As cheesy as an old school pick-up line

Beer goes extremely welll with cheese, be it macaroni, nachos, pizza, or any other carbohydrate-rich vessel for melty goodness.  However, your beer should NEVER taste like cheese on it's own.  Enter the last beer defect I will mention in a while.

5) A cheesy flavor in beer is caused by isovaleric acid.  The presence of this chemical means something in the brewing process has messed up big time.  The taste threshold is approximately 1ppm in beer, but there are variations in perception between individuals.

Isovaleric Acid (3-methylbutanoic acid)

There are two major causes of this defect, the most common being improper storage of hops. An alpha acid with an isovaleryl group can become oxidized if the hops are old.  The wild yeast Brettanomyces can also cause these cheesy aromas, and are responsible for other undesirable flavors.

One day my partner-in-crime devised a diabolical scheme.  Indeed, a diabolically delicious scheme.  He was determined to create the ultimate selection of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.

The menu was as follows:

Steakhouse Grilled Cheese - Steak, blue cheese, and horseradish.  Blue and rare.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese - Cream cheese, cheddar, and jalapeno peppers.  Just like what you get at the bar.  Except better.

Mac n' Grilled Cheese - Boxed KD and bacon between two slices of bread.

Sushi Grilled Cheese - Smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and wasabi.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese - Bacon, cheddar, and a fried egg between two waffles.

Not surprisingly, the jalapeno-popper grilled cheese evolved to include bacon.

And for dessert...

Not yo' mamma's grilled cheese.

Strawberry Angel Grilled Cheese - Strawberries and brie between two slices of angel food cake.

Black Forest Grilled Cheese - Cherry pie filling and chocolate cream cheese between two slices of chocolate cake.

The worst thing about grilled cheese is that it's difficult to have several ready (and still hot) at the same time.  This makes cooking for a large party difficult.  However, the finished product is worth standing over a hot grill in a crowded kitchen for several hours.  Why bother with Kraft singles when there are so many more possibilities.

Black Forest Grilled Cheese

Equally delicious with peanut butter and banana

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup stout beer (room temperature)
1/3 cup oil or melted butter (unsalted)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vinegar

For the sandwich:
1 (250g) package chocolate cream cheese (Philadelphia)
1 can cherry pie filling
Butter or margarine for grilling

To Make Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Sift dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda) together in large bowl.
3. Make three depressions in the mound of dry ingredients.
4. Pour oil or melted butter in one depression, vanilla in another, and cider vinegar in the third.
5. Pour stout all over ingredients and stir until blended.
6. Pour batter into lined pan and bake until a tester stick or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
7. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing cake from pan by carefully lifting the parchment.
8. Allow to cool for an additional 15 minutes.  Transfer to fridge and cool, uncovered for several hours or overnight.  It will be easier to add fillings if the cake is slightly dry.
9. Cut loaf into approximately 12 slices.

Assembling the Sandwich:

1. Spread one slice of chocolate loaf with the cream cheese.
2. Top cream cheese with a scoop of cherry pie filling and another piece of chocolate loaf.
3. Spread a thin layer of margarine on each side of the sandwich and gently place on in a heated frying pan or panini grill.
4. Grill until loaf is slightly crispy and cheese has begun to soften.
5. Cut in half and serve.