Beer and Chocolate!

A recent beer and chocolate tasting at my local Whole Foods yielded some cool results. Along with the usual suspects: Stout, fruit beers, creme brulee....a few interesting pairings were revealed. Both. good and bad

Ayinger Oktoberfest with its intense/nutty Munich malt and smooth drinkability paired well with a 365 milk chocolate hazelnut bar. Both are mild nutty flavors with a hint of smooth/rich decadence. This pairing, I'll look forward to next year when the Marzens are 'in season'.

Lake Louie Arena Premium, a US Pale Ale with its typical US hop balance, bitterness, malt backbone, and palate cleansing action paired extremely well with a 365 dark chocolate mint bar. The hop heavy flavors in a US pale tend to be on the citrus/pine/resin side, the min and hops complemented each other and added a minty fresh dimension to the beer. Since the bitter dark chocolate fed the bitter hops, the overall effect was that the bitterness increased in both, and the mint was stronger with the bar but was 'cleaned' off a bit by the hops in the beer and the voerall carbonation and body of the style.

Stone Smoked Porter with the Vosges Moe's Bacon bar- match made in heaven. Bacon, beer, chocolate, smoke- a bacon beer would have been too much but the chocolate in the porter is always a hit when paired with actual chocolate.

Not a fan of the overly sweet and cloying desert beer, Southern Tier's Creme Brulee (I know, heresy) but the extreme caramel lactose sweetness was actually cut by the Whole Foods bakery bittersweet flourless chocolate cake. Taken in small amounts, I could do this beer as long as I had something substantial and bitter to cut it.

Ale Asylum's Trippel Nova was overshadowed by the chocolate covered ginger (bulk). The ginger itself tasted great with the Trippel, the spices from the yeast spiced up the ginger and gave it a great kick, and the sweetness from the candi sugar and Pils malt added to the richness of the chocolate. Sadly, while the ginger confection fared well, the Trippel wilted. By itself, the seasonal beer from one of my favorite local breweries was low on hop balance and high on fruity sweet and spice: not a favorite.

Another nice pairing was the oak-aged milk stout Dragon's Milk by New Holland with the Ben and Jerry's Smores ice cream. The oak aged beer complemented the woody smores, the milk and chocolate in the stout were prefect with their milk and chocolate counterparts with the smores ice cream.

Sweet ass beer and cheese pairing

After an Herve Mons cheese flight a few days ago by one of my favorite cheese lecturers, I imagined that the Tommette du Tarn with its earthy, tart, musty, sweaty, nutty flavor would be awesome with New Glarus's Berliner Weisse. The Berliner Weisse is a very sour, effervescent, lightly citrusy/floral, refreshing champagne-like beer. Light bodied, perfect for summer and perfect for a strong smelly cheese like the Tarn. I also tried the La Serena raw sheep's milk, it is also tart, smelly, sweaty, barny, slightly grassy/floral, mushroomy. The La Serena also warmed up and became even more creamy and smelly. Perfect.

We ate it so fast that I couldn't even get pictures.

Tornado Room, and my first rack

With garish come-hither neon signage, dark cozy interiors, and northwoods carcass chic all speak to an era long-gone where men wore pinstripe suits and poured hooch in the back bar. I'm shocked that the Tornado Room wasn't used n Public Enemies, I can easily imagine Johnny Depp's Dillinger charming the pants off some girl in the uber-cool bar.

Having visited twice, each time I've been excited by my entree. I've had the pork with sour cherry reduction and most recently the lamb with mustard, garlic, bread crumbs and mint. The pork was sweet and tart, tender cut dripping with fatty evil. The leftovers became an awesome sandwich, the sweet pork balanced by a salty English hard cheese on a baguette. The lamb was an inspiration. Crunchy burned mustard/breadcrumb on one side, silky lamb falling off the bone on the other side. The mint pops up like a beloved guest star during various sublime bites. There were no leftovers for this one and I let Drew gnaw on the bones after I gnawed until full.

Oysters Rockefeller was well done, but not special. The casear salad was real- real anchovy loveliness. Fatty nummy brussel sprouts were a welcome side.

Booze: The wine list is short, and not super fantastic but its certainly not crap/chain style with only one or two producers per varietal- it was not well rounded and not the usual merlot/cab/chard show. The lamb was safely paired with a semi-sweet rose (too safe, I should have gone for a light/sweetish red), the pork was accompanied by a malbec that was a little dry and tart- appropriate for the sweet/tart/fatty pork but with enough fruit to not be completely opposite. The cocktails were pretty neat in the cool recessed lighting bar. A ginger infused bourbon, peach liquor/brandy and a little lemon was a nice Southern style treat, the Vesper was strong and bracing. One cocktail during a trip last summer consisted of fresh basil, strawberry puree, and rum.

You've got red on you

When I think of the Red Eye brewing company in Wausau, my second thought beyond great beer is...nutella calzone.

Back up. My first intro to this place was beer served at the Old Fashioned. The Bloom and Scarlett 7 (a wit and dubbel) were exceptional, and when I found out the brewery was within 3 hours and near a good hike- off we went.



Everything tastes a little better after exercise, its a bit like beer goggles except you don't wake up next to someone you feel the need to gnaw off your own arm to escape. Pizza and beer are my two big post-exercise cravings, and I'm a sucker for wood-fired pizza. The bbq chicken, red onion, smoked gouda, and cilantro pizza was our selection. Red onions added that bit of sweetness, the cheese and toasty crust offered up the extra smoke, and of course the bbq did both- not exactly super complex flavors but they were exactly what we expected and wanted. The crust was perfect (go wood ovens) and the ingredients fresh. We also split the lobster cakes with avocado remoulade. Not impressive, but not horrible. The sweet delicate lobster was a bit overshadowed by the oil leftover from frying, and the remoulade was bland.

On to the beer: between the two of us we tried almost all of them. The Thrust is a US IPA that is very crisp, refreshing, and if course full of citrusy/piney US hops but still has a discernable malt backbone. Very nicely done, but its not a standout. The Bloom is a Wit with considerable wheat in the aroma and taste, along with the coriander/orange/perfumy spiciness to be expected. A great summer quencher, I could drink this one all day. A seasonal nut brown was on tap which excited the beer geek in me because the brewer specified it was a Southern Brown. A Southern Brown is not brewed with fried chicken or cornbread- imagine a Newcastle, with a less bitter finish, less hop flavor and aroma, with slightly more caramel/toffee/and sweetness. It was creamy and smooth with hints of fruits. Very nice, and we took some home in a growler. The Scarlett 7 was also a favorite of mine- dubbel style with full on dark fruits (plums, raisins, currants), molasses, bready/biscuity malts, almost chewy texture but still smooth enough to drink way too much. Sneaky alcohol and no the prettiest to look at, but a damn good beer.

Last but not least: the calzone of evil with chocolate and nutella. I mean, there's really no way to screw this up. It was so good Drew tried to steal my portion and I almost stabbed him with my fork. Do. Not. Steal. My chocolate evil.

Great taste 09: the quickie

This year I volunteered and even got a snazzy guayabera with my name on it. I 'ran' the beer and cheese education session. This pretty much meant that I shook hands with people, played bouncer to douchebags who were mean to my volunteers, and handed out beer and cheese. Dan from New Glarus gave a great talk and made some good pairings- it was a pleasure to meet and listen to him.



As busy as I was, I didn't take notes nor did I drink as much but I will mention some favorite brews. Real ale tent: Bluegrass Brewing chocolate rye porter, Fat Heads' Collaborative Evil, New Albanian: Beak's Best, Malcolm's Old Setter Ale, Hoptimus IPA (best advertising ever), Surly: Ash-Aged Cynic, Tea Bagged Bitter, Kuhnhnens' Cherry Belgian.

The real ale tent was a big haunt of mine this year, I arrived early and watched the guys and girls tap the casks. I was allowed/encouraged/dared to tap a bunghole (seriously its the hole on the top of the cask that gets tapped first to release CO2), there is footage of this somewhere of my tapping it, air blowing out, then the beer bath. In my first 30min of the festival, I was covered in beer. I also got to be all beer-groupie and meet one of the cool local lady brewers, Jaime of Dells Brewing/Moosejaw. I also got to meet a New Albanian brewer, who told me that the awesome Malcolm's Old Setter Ale was waiting for two years, it was full of alcohol warmth, sweet caramel/toffee malts, gasoline, butter, dark fruits.

Non-cask beers of note and remembrance:
B. Nektar Meadery- Buckwheat Mead
Blue Cat- coriander and orange US wheat
Lakefront- Rosie kriek lambic



Overall, an awesome time. Again. I'll take an even more active role next year, this is really a premier beer event and the small numbers make it all that much cooler. I only saw a small number of stupid shit, a few drunk vomiting, almost fights, outfits that should not be...but as a long-time veteran of DragonCon; this was Sunday school.

Wisconsin BBQ, who knew?

How can they possibly have good 'que here? Its no where nears hot enough. They have no concept of iced tea. The Wisconsin idea of spicy involves ketchup.

I ate these words two nights ago. Smoky Jon's is a much lauded institution here in Madison and apparently award-winning even in the South. So we wanted our fix. Holy crap, vinegar-based ribs that literally were cooked so long that the bones became soft. Sauce that was tangy and only a tiny bit sweet. Almost spicy, but really astringent. The ribs made me want to gnaw on bone like a dog. I don't even really like ribs, I like pulled pork or chicken bbq. Or mutton.

Crinkle fries, baked beans with the vinegar based sauce, and lame bread rolls rounded out the meal. Next time we'll try other sides.

Beer pairing: for unknown bbq, I decided that maybe an opposite flavor would work well. I was thinking spicy, smoky, or tart- so I chose a Belgian Dark Strong Ale with its high alcohol, dark fruits, yeasty malty goodness to balance the flavors. It did work well, we drank the Trois Pistoles by Unibroue and the large goblets of liquid goodness fit the bill.

Cowboys need beer too

Arizona is not exactly a beer paradise. We love the state; the ecological diversity, the adventure activities, the margaritas, and some tasty cuisine. Beer? Eh.

We begin our tour in Tucson, a perennial favorite of ours for the city vibe, the trails, and the best museum/zoo we have ever seen. And they have these freakin huge cacti.

Thunder canyon Brewery- Well reviewed regardless of the strip mall setting. Sadly, I don't agree. "Orange u Glad" it sucked, so someone poured orange juice concentrate into a hefe? Really? This is what I call a chick beer. Smell the disdain.

The ESB and the Amber were decent examples of style but not particularly stellar. The amber was definetely drinkable with some piney/citrus hops. The food was so unremarkable, not only did I not take notes, but I also have no idea what we ate.

1702 beer bar- In a near-campus strip mall, we found the beer snob bar. And it was good. We sat at the bar facing the wall of taps the likes of which are not often seen in the South or Midwest (Green Flash, AZ breweries like Barrio, Papago, Four Peaks). I drank an Eel River Old Ale; not the best for the warm weather with its full body and slick finish. Too vanilla and honey for my taste, it had a bit too much hop aroma for style but other than that it would have been a deent Old Ale for winter drinking- what the hell was I thinking in Tucson? Drew allowed me to sample his New Belgium Fleur Missere- a perfect warm weather drink: carbonated, citrusy hops, herbal, grassy, barnyard, even some grapefruit. I really thought it was a cross between a saison and a blond with the yeasty aromas and brett flavors but its a Belgian Pale. So I need to study more...

Overall 1702 was a great place for a beer, very local and the bartenders knew their beers. We didn't get a chance to try the food but we were impressed overall by the place.

Local Tuscon brewery Nimbus was one we'd hit in the past. Lacking time on this trip, we skipped the industrial-location of the brewpub but did pick up some Old Monkeyshine for camping. Its a lighter Old ale style, or a heavier/maltier cask ale. Its higher ABV probably prevented its dark fruits, nutty and biscuity malts from being too sweet. Well carbonated, with only a hint of earthy/floral hops in the aroma and taste. Maybe a high ABV, sweeter mild? Nice full body, and smooth. It was great for a windy desert camping nightcap, and a private train room.

Having never been in North Arizona, we planned a drive through Flagstaff and the Painted Desert all the way to New Mexico. Stopping through historic-cool downtown Flagstaff, we hit the Beaver Street brewpub. Typical beers: a stout, IPA, amber, etc. The stout was a thick chewy oatmeal, chocolate, toasty malts. The amber, 'red' ale, was a balanced easy-drinking beer. We reccomend the interesting meatloaf sandwich, tasty but very filling. We also munched on the Green Goddess grilled salmon salad- just for a bit of green in a vast pub-food sea. The food and the beers fit the bill after a day of driving.