h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Battista's new partner Liv writes about Tres Carnales.

http://vueweekly.com/dish/story/three_amigos1/

And... ......?

http://vueweekly.com/dish/story/spot_of_beer/

Did you notice that Liv doesn't mention actually tasting anything at Tres Carnales?

Hmm, now that you mention it... It certainly is more of a 'human interest' angle(possibly just 'riding the same wave'-so to speak-as the recent Journal article about friends as business partners).

I'll be going back in any case, I temporarily overlooked the agua horchata(wonderfully refreshing beverage) & I'm rather eager to try the tacos al pastor. Juicy shaved slow-roastrd pork loin on a soft tortilla. Or the arrachera, marinated flank steak. And although the pulled pork torta-true to it's name-Did 'pull' me I have to sample the chorizo torta.

The rajas con crema, roasted poblano pepper with corn sound interesting as a meatless side dish too( but I'm making myself hungry).

I think it was the arrachera that was supposed to be on my torta.

In a-any case...

R & B Brewing Company Raven Cream Ale(650ml bottle) 4.8%abv, 18ibu
( http://www.r-and-b.com/?page_id=4 )

The pour

A clear light cola brown, fairly ample reddish tinges. Bit of carbonation. Two finger pillowy pale tan head diminishes very quickly. Very nice dense lacing!

Aroma

Primarily a rather subtle roasty malty sweetness...hints of toffee/burnt sugar.

Taste

Wonderfully malty smooth and well-balanced...hint of toffee & a slight nuttiness...a subtle chocolate undertone. Lighter bodied with a dry vaguely bready/yeasty finish.

Quite the compliment to some newly purchased Wensleydale cheese with blueberries. The Cream subtley highlighting the fruitiness of the berries(which is quite subdued by the cheese otherwise...at least imho).

Wellington County Brewing Silver Wheat Ale 473ml can, 4%abv

The pour

Pours a very effervescent clear gold colour. Pillowy two finger head with little retention...bit of lacing.

Aroma

An earthy/grainy, nicely-rounded quality, well-balanced in other words...bit of malty sweetness.

Taste

Crisp & clean, well-balanced...bit wheaty..some tanginess, but very vague & citrusy unlike the applish quality of the Alley Kat White Tail. Rather a smooth neutral finish. Lighter bodied refreshing wheat ale.

Great with the Capriny goat cheese on a stoneground cracker.

you're getting ahead of me. I've been out all day and now it's getting to be bed time.

O-k, back to the creaminess...

Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale(here's to you Rory Gallagher*raises glass*) 440ml can, 4.3%abv

The pour

WHOA, almost pure pale tan foam! Just a sliver of cola brown ale at the bottom of the glass-I believe Rory-or his spirit-is 'in the house'! Settles to a clear light cola brown...minimum carbonation evident. Barely a finger of tight pale tan head - Very nice dense lacing!

Aroma

Malty sweet...bit toffee-ish.

Taste

Much like the Raven, but the hops exhibiting a sour note(not quite musty)& being just a touch more prevalent than in the Raven. Very similar, a lighter body & slightly less yeasty finish - just a hint of saltiness.

Strikes a rather curious balance with Rosenborg Blue cheese on wasa rye. Ale & cheese subtley/tentatively(you get kind of a feeling that this Could go wrong at Any moment...but of course it doesn't)complimenting each other/

That cream ale sounds interesting. I may have to pick some up (and a large glass).

And I suppose before I forget aout it...

Unibroue Terrible(I assume that's the French pronunciation, silent 'e')750ml, 10.5%abv

The pour

Cola brown with three finger sudsy pale tan head(little retention). Bit of carbonation evident - very good lacing!

Aroma

Malty dark fruits and alcohol...vanilla & a bit of spice(cinnamon/clove/...nutmeg).

Taste

Malt and fruit(dark fruit, black cherry-red grape) with some caramel sweetness...bit of clove. Nice drying finish to every sip. Medium to fuller bodied...slightly peppery aftertaste. Tres bon/well done Unibroue! More than a little Chimay-like.

Wonderful with Green & Black's White Chocolate. And I must admit that until about 2003 the chocolate snob in me simply rolled his eyes at the mere mention of white chocolate('oh puh-lease, pretender to the throne or what?) I find though that it goes very nicely with fruity ales such as this one. The fruit sort of cutting through the cocoa butter creaminess.

Ooooh! I haven't tried that one yet.

Dieu du Ciel! Fumisterie Hemp Beer
341 ml/5.5%


I tried this once before and quite enjoyed it but didn't make notes. Now I'll open the second bottle. . .



Cloudy, strong-tea-brown with just a ring of head but lots of bubbles.

The aroma seems a touch acidic and I'm having trouble detecting much else with my nose.

But, I very big flavour! Malt and spicy and bitter hops with a good full body rolling about. I'm not sure what flavour the hemp seeds are contributing, but there's certainly a lot going on here. It's a bit smoky and earthy and always the hops come along at the finish to clean things up with a nice mouth-tightening bitterness.


Very nice.

Mark it on your calendar, I have The Beer Wench, by way of Mike's Passion For The Pint blog informs me that Thurs. Aug. 4th has been designated International IPA Day.

http://passionforthepint.com/fresh-brews-best-beer-cities-ipaday-and-more/

And in terms of cooking with beer ...another solid success, although not quite the resounding succes that the 'malt bomb' Dark Force orzo turned out to be. The cooking actually involved two different beers...sadly not enough of the second to leave too much of an initial impression. It must've been the reading about pairing American Craft beer with the Thanksging meal(yes, even the turkey). Su, after momentary hesitation when shopping, my lates mole was made with turkey breast cutlets as opposed to chicken. I marinated the turkey overnight in the Paddock Wood/Sherbrooke Heartstopper Hot Choc. Stout(with the addition of a cinnamon stick & a few sprigs of dried epazote) The later, I added a couple splashes of the Norwegian Wood to the mole sauce.. Then, ale number three...the maltiness of my last bottle of St. Ambroise Scotch Ale was a nice match for the rich chocolate undertones of the mole sauce. And it must've been the mild hopping, but I found the ale quite accomodating as far as the spice quotient too.

Linking to another beer...

A cold leftover plate of rice, beans & bell pepper with a bit of sauce, went rather well with a can of The Trailhead Vienna Lager. The pairing made more of an impression as both warmed slightly. A vaguely malty earthiness came to the surface...even a slight hop-enhanced chili pepper tingle with an ever-as-subtle warming.

http://www.wellingtonbrewery.ca/?page_id=25

After some palate-cleansing(& glass-rinsing), the Trailhead gradually proved itself very compatable with one of those chocolate-covered gingerbread cookies. Very little(if any)reaction initially, but the lager dragged the candied orange peel into full view, so to speak. It also brought out a clove/nutmeg flavour

I tried one of those Irish Cream Ales. Kilkenny is a Guinness product, and, like the big cans of Guinness which `produce such a wonderful head, the cans are supercharged with nitrogen, which produces tiny and multitudinous bubbles, and they have a 'widget' in each can. It's a (largely successful I understand) attempt to reproduce the effect of an old fashioned pint pulled through long lines from a cask deep in the cellar under the pub bar. But you knew all that.

Speaking of attempts to reproduce . . .



I think I may have mentioned a few months back that I was experimenting with a kit homebrew IPA to which I added some hop pellets in the rough kit-brew equivalent of the end of the boil. Well!! I'm enjoying a pint just now (with a side of Laphroaig) and, my oh my, what a difference a little judicious experimentation makes to a kit-brew!

A big lasting head, lovely malt and hop aroma and a very pleasant hoppy bitterness in the mouth.

Very happy.

Dieu du Ciel! Chaman Imperial Pale Ale

341 ml/9%



The Pour:

Cloudy (that'll be the wheat, I guess) and copper coloured with about a pinky of head hanging around for a bit.


The Aroma:

Fruity. Some grassy hops deep down.


The Taste:

Very fruity and very, very hoppy! But the hoppiness is not just a thin bitterness, it is a complex hop flavour which includes bitterness.


Very nice.

Yes experimentation(within reason....although Mikkeller seems to stretch the limits of comfortable/conventional reason now'n'then)can indeed produce some fine results!

I see on Jason Foster's blog that Yellowhead Brewing has a little restaurant/pub open one day a week(Sat). I may have to drift over from the downtown farmers' mkt. for a Reuben & a couple pints of their lager.

http://www.onbeer.org

Amber's is having a little sausage and beer thing tomorrow afternoon which I understand Mr Foster will attend. I had an invite from Jim but my parents arranged to be marries sixty years ago tomorrow, so, O pretty much have to miss beer and sausages.

On that experimentation note, rather lower-key sucesses but successes nonetheless in my latest cooking with beer endeavour. Beer Geeks Pork'n'Beans...using a Norwegian Wood marinated pork cutlet, plain ol' Heinz Baked Beans in tomato sauce & a few dehydrated apple slices. I should've let the pork marinate another 32 hours or so and cooked that today, but*sigh*live & learn . As I say, low-key success-glimmers or little bright spots but nothing terribly outstanding.(but speaking of terribley...more plans laid, so to speak). The Norwegian Wood-and a bit of cumin-as a marinade gave the pork a subtle malty earthiness. Although some of said malt was doubtless from the can of Wellington Country Dark Ale I had alongside the meal. I found the beans unusally tasty after a gentle steaming with the dehydrated apple slices-and a few splashes of the Nordic brew. And the maltiness of the Wellington County was a nice finishing touch. It gave an interesting more savoury-than-sweet taste to the blend of tomato sauce, beans and apple.

And a reheated leftover plate(with another cutlet and freshly julienned zuchini/courgette for U.K. readers)took on a bit more depth. The Alley Kat Amber seemed a bit more apropriate than the Wellington Mon. afternoon. The pork seemed...um, 'porkier' if you know what I mean....a slight somewhat salty quality to it. Whether it was the Amber or N/W that was responsible, the tomato sauce washed zuchini & dehydrated apple took on an enhanced vegetal quality - it struck me a bit like garden-fresh green peas. An unexpected combination was when the Amber washed over a bite of the pork with a clove of crushed garlic - I got an almost chili pepper spiciness. True, not Totally unlike garlic but with a just the tiniest bit of mild chili pepper in the background

apropos of nothing in particular . . . .




I bought more Scotch today.



I also came across a case of Sherbrooke's 'Great Canadian Fruit Salad' in their cooler. That was a blast from the past I just had to buy.

Dieu du Ciel!
Rescousse Altbier (German Style Red Ale)

341 ml/5%

At first I thought that was a bear on the label, but now I look at it again and I'd say it's a badger.

This is another Dieu du Ciel! with wheat in the list of ingredients. I'm expecting cloudy and smooth.



The Pour:

Half a pinky of very light brown head over a dark, very red, cloudy body.

The Aroma:

Hops dominate. Grassy, earthy and herbal.

The Taste:

Definitely smooth, but a little light bodied (watery?). Again, the hop flavours dominate, very similar to the aroma. As the badger in the blizzard on the label might suggest, Rescousse is a winter ale, I think, with the summery, gardeny aromas and flavours offering a warming hint of spring when snow is falling outside.

Certainly very pleasant.