Stout and Steak... Again

As I am sure you are aware, this is not the first time BeerBasics has taken up this subject. A fine editorial offering on why beer is for breakfast can be found here… Why Stout with Steak and Eggs . My all-time favorite stout and steak story will take you to Montreal and you will find out Why Stout goes with ... "Hanger" Steak.

What I have here is a picture of a pint of stout accompanied by a plate holding roasted Yukon fingerling potatoes, something green, a cup of horseradish spiked dairy and the tastiest beefiest flavored cut of beef that there is, Hanger Steak. (See above.) As I can’t recall the name of the Stout or the name given to that particular dish or the type of green stuff in the picture the establishment and the brew will remain anonymous. Nevertheless, it is too important a topic not to press on. Let me begin at the beginning…

Fillet Mignon is too tender to my teeth. New York Strip is missing the flavor that comes from a less marbled cut of beef. The same can be said for Prime Rib, T-Bone and Sirloin. There are none to compare to this cut of beef.

When it is seared or charred on the outside and finished to a bit under 120F the sweet but Carbon- rich flavors of the outside well-cooked layer of meat is complemented and echoed by the roasted malts in a Stout.

The warm-rare portion of the meat finds complement and echo-flavors when the sweeter malt flavors are introduced to the mélange. Should there be a bitter bite of hop tang in the finish, the slightly sweet flavors of the rare meat make a nice balance.

The roasted, buttery Yukon fingerlings add a texture contrast with a base of roasted potato to balance the robust flavors of the beef and beer.

And then there is the ambiance…  Choose well my friends, for all the finest flavors and taste delights in all the world can be thrown out of focus when it’s the wrong place and the wrong time. But that’s another story…

Celebrations…

(Gratuitous “beer picture”…)

(L-R: Sierra Bigfoot ‘98, Hardy ‘92, Hardy '08, Courage RIS ’93, Sam Adams Tripple Bock ’95)

Thank you Sam @samswaterfront  for a tasty “Father’s Day” gift…

Yesterday, the sixteenth day of June twenty thousand and thirteen in the presently accepted calendar used by the majority of the persons who inhabit the North American continent was marked as “Father’s Day”.

Click on the above link if you care to learn about the origins of this particular celebration,

But I digress…

Celebrations are markers we use to remember things that are special to us. If an event is not celebrated it falls into that collection of events that pass like the ripples in a stream of water. Seeming to be there but really only an echo of a motion, a reaction to something unrecorded.

Celebrating something gives it a time and place. Important events in the rites and rituals of the society we live in are marked with celebrations that have become traditions. These celebrations become the milestones of our lives… birthdays, graduations, marriages, births and funerals are all societally scripted. Organized religions have their own calendars of Feast Days and Holy Days. All of these are important in knitting the fabrics of our lives.

And then… there is celebration that leers, jeers and taunts. The need to rage triumphant tugs at all of our egos but the prevalence of in-your-face explosions of self-importance proves that empty drums make the loudest noise. This is where celebration becomes not a milestone but a nasty speed bump.

The celebration that I hold dear is not only the celebration of milestone, or religion but of the moment.

The moment that glass of beer is set in front of me is a celebration. There will never again be a moment in my life when this particular beer will be sipped and I will be in a particular time and place. Everything about the moment is, in the true sense of the word, unique. This quiet celebration is one that I find comforting, a reflection on life and a learning experience that becomes a library of memories that, together with the fabric of my life woven by the celebrations of society and religion, are forming a long history and hopefully a bit longer future.

Beer is for…

Beer is for adding to the enjoyment of life. It adds meat to discussions, spice to conversation and pause for refreshment. I offer the following two instances that, without that beer, would not have been as memorable as they were.

The first is a plate of Shrimp and Grits as served up for lunch recently at Char #4 on Smith Street in Brooklyn, NY.

Note the can of Six Point Brewery Righteous Rye Ale, be also advised that they serve the beer with a Bourbon back (extra) as part of a bar-special.

That said the slight pepper flavor of the Righteous Rye and the sweet sting of the Bourbon were refreshing after the smoky-spicy sauce and the moist sweet shrimp. All is based on the grainy grits that hold the flavors together physically by absorbing the sauce and as a texture contrast to the shrimp.

But that was lunch…

A recent supper time found me at 1800 on a Friday not seated on a bar stool. This is not a good thing in this part of Brooklyn because by that time all the folks who stay in their offices during the day are set free to populate pubs, bars and taverns that can use the business but not the bustle.

In this case Bar Karma was with me and I was able to seek refuge from the crowds and from a summer rain-storm at a place I may have mentioned before… Chez Moi.

Pictured below was the entrée of line-caught Cod on a bed of grilled asparagus and steamed fingerling potatoes sauced with a beurre blanc.

Note that the beer is a Kronenbourg 1664, a mass produced French beer with a light malty medium body and a crisp-tang touch of mixed hops providing flavor and almost no aroma.

That said, the acidic touch added by the two slices of lemon and the herbal accents of the Rosemary under the lemon slices echoed the hop tang, the potatoes echoed the malt and the rich sauce was balanced by both the starch/malt and citric/herbal/hop flavors.

Could a white wine have accomplished the same accommodations? It is possible but I believe it would involve two glasses of different white wines to match the flavor flexibility of the Kronenbourg 1664 in this case.

Full disclosure… I had two beers and a Calvados for desert.

Brews & News 13 June ‘13

Philly Beer Week Wrap Up

The beer was flowing at Philly Beer Week 2013 according to Philly’s beer-maven “Joe Six Pack”… it’s worth a read “Joe Six Pack’s favorite beers from Philly Beer Week 2013”.

Beer is Mixing it Up

As summer approaches beer is mixing it up. That is to say beer has caught the attention of “mixologists” and is now being featured in Beer Cocktails. Read on…Summer Shandies from Tasting Table.

Some of the news from the folks at Grand Teton features their 25^th Anniversary Celebration, read all about it at Grand Teton.

News from the homebrew front…

The American Homebrewers Association has released the results of its fourth annual Homebrew Supply Shop Survey, which tells the story of booming homebrewing businesses.

Highlights from the survey include:

·         Homebrew Beginners: The majority of shops (80 percent) experienced increased sales of beginner homebrew equipment kits, signifying a considerable boost in interest in the hobby.

·         New Lease on Brewing: In 2013, 43 percent of responding shops said they have been open for three years or less, up from 34 percent in 2012, indicating considerable growth in new shop openings.

·         Beer vs. Wine: Sales of beer ingredients outpaced wine ingredients among home beverage supply retailers, with an average of 35 percent of retail revenue coming from beer ingredients versus 21 percent from wine ingredients.

And that’s the news that’s fit to print…Until next time… Cheers!

Three favorites…

Favorites are both easy to come by (if you have limited choices it’s no contest) or quite difficult to determine (if you have a world of choices), If you are luck you will never have a favorite because something better comes along and there you go.

Nevertheless, I am going to present what I feel are the three best “beer photos” I have ever taken and tell you why.

The following are three of over 10,000 photos in the “Beer” folder. As I am sure you can understand, these three were selected from the first culling of the photos. That said, you can be assured that more will follow.

These three are all beer-related and span over twenty five years. Only one, as you can see actually is a picture of beer. All of that noted…

First is a picture of August Busch III chatting with a group of journalists at the Elk Mountain hop farm. There are two reasons I lead with this picture. First of all “Three Sticks” impressed me as someone who knew not only his profession but also how it meshed with family and the history of an industry that is both an art and a science. There were no hard-ball questions but the answers were concise and direct to the point. It made for easy note taking. The second reason I include this photo is that it was taken on a “press trip” sponsored by A-B to get our input on a product introduction. That happened on a Saturday morning when the group was gathered in a classroom environment and presented with, as I remember it, at least a dozen tastes of beers from straw-blond lager to opaque stouts. (The result was their introduction of the extensions to the Michelob line of specialty-beers. The experience left me with the impression that here was a massive company that could be producing the most interesting beers in the world if they wanted to. Why didn’t they?

Next is a favorite for two reasons. The first is “Monster” the cat and protector-of-the grain at the Brooklyn Brewery. “Monster” no longer prowls the brewery but this photo proves that no brewery should be without a feline friend. The second reason I really like this picture is because I first met Garrett Oliver, the brewer at Brooklyn Brewery, in 1987 or thereabouts. Nevertheless he was an enthusiastic and flamboyant homebrewer and one of the founders of the New York City Homebrewers Guild. It is my firm belief that this picture catches the two personalities at their “truest” moment and… it’s a damn good photo.

Finally the picture of beer…

In my mind there is no doubt the French fried potatoes done in the Belgian style are the perfect companion to a chilly pint of wheat beer. Pictured here is what I offer as an almost perfect example of this synthesis. The potatoes were turned out by the kitchen of Bar Tabac on Smith Street in Brooklyn. The wheat beer is Colomba Biere Blanche de Corse. Enjoy! I know I did…