Author: AJ

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Triple Hop Imperial IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

untitled2It is always nice when Reuben’s throws out a new IPA or a variation of one of their existing ones. There have been some fun versions of the Imperial Rye, Blimey and Imperial on cask and randalls, adding new depth of flavors to already tasty beers. A recent experiment with their Imperial IPA lead to triple hopping (and sadly I did not write down what that actually entailed), but it did produce an 80+ IBU, 8.4% ABV monster.

The beer pours golden orange in color with a creamy white head. Strong notes of citrus and citrus peel with hints of lemon and pine appear on the nose. The beer starts out with a touch of sweetness and grain before moving into a strong citrus middle with notes of orange, lemon and tangerine that linger pleasantly before the bitterness sets in with notes of orange peel. The finish is a combination of fruit and peel with hints of resin and just a touch of alcohol, which disappears after the first couple of sips. Very layered and complex with deep fruit notes and enough bitterness to round them out, yes surprisingly easy to drink.

Reuben’s Triple Hop Imperial IPA throws a strike with 4 turkeys out of 5.

Risotto with Porcini, Peas and Prosciutto – in Pictures

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I had forgotten I intended to do this. A few months back, I picked up an amazing few fresh porcinis and fresh english peas and made a risotto (the base recipe is here). Here is my result, in pictures.

Ingredients

Cooking

I forgot to include a picture of cooking the risotto, so sue me.

Assembly

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Luna dIPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

For the first couple of years of their existence, NW Peaks resisted brewing IPA’s, becoming the sort of anti-Northwest Brewery. They really had no reason to – they brewed some great beers in styles that were not always common, using different ingredients. That has slowly changed and NW Peaks threw its hat into the IPA arena first with the Challenger IPA and now with the Luna dIPA – their first crack at a double IPA. In NW Peaks fashion, they couldn’t just brew any old double IPA, they went out and brewed one using all Southern Hemisphere hops.

From the NW Peaks Website:

The name. The mountain. Luna is the center mountain of the Northern Picket range, arguably the most remote and inaccessible are of the N Cascades (along with the S. Pickets). There really is no good approach; any choice involves a lengthy slog and bushwhack. For those that venture into the area, the rewards are worth it as you are surrounded by gorgeous environs with a feeling of isolation. Since Luna Peak is the center of the N. Pickets including Mt Challenger (the namesake of our IPA), it was a perfect name for the bold and big double version of the style.

The Beer. Luna IPA is a beast of an IPA coming in at 9.5% ABV with about 3 pounds of hops per barrel. Luna starts with melon and tropical notes dominating the hop aroma and flavor. This leads to a crisp, hoppy bite, but one that doesn’t overwhelm your senses. Luna fermented dry (for the style), but the malt backbone, sweetness of the fruity hops, and alcohol warming support the hops harmoniously. The resulting beer is a great interpretation of the style that features unique hops, a full flavor profile, and pleasant drinkability.

untitle8dThe beer pours deep orange in color with a nice white head. There are strong notes of grain and citrus on the nose with hints of mellon and notes of wood. The beer starts off on the palate with just a touch of grain before moving quickly int a significant profile of mellon and tropical fruit with a hint of sweetness, reminding me of eating a juicy cantaloupe. The finish brings additional flavors of pineapple and passion fruit with a tiny amount of bitterness that lingers for what seems like forever and brings just a touch of warming heat from the alcohol. The beer is incredibly well balanced and different, its complexity hides the fact that this beer is a monster and you can easily drink 2 or 3 in one sitting without feeling like you have killed you palate like with most double IPA’s.

NW Peaks Luna dIPA sends Alice to the moon with 5 Pows! Right in the kissers out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Sound Brewery Mayan Cave Bear

By Iron Chef Leftovers

untitledThere are some beers that are available once a year in a very limited window that are worth the wait. These generally tend to be really over the top hoppy IPA’s that have a huge following. For me, it is the obscure styles of dark beers, generally ones that have been sitting in a barrel aging. Sound Brewing Mayan Cave Bear has been a bit of a white whale for me – the last couple of releases I wasn’t able to get to try the beer and I have been wanting to for quite a while since their Imperial Stout – Ursus Spelaeus is one of my favorites. Fortunately for me I went to the cask festival and Mayan Cave Bear was available, so I figured what better time to try it.

The beer pours jet black with significant amounts of vanilla, chocolate and coffee with hints of malt and chilies on the nose. The beer starts off with huge notes of chocolate and coffee on the palate before throwing in a hint of green chili pepper that brings a touch of heat to the party, but not in an overpowering way, and some fruitiness from the pepper. The beer finishes long with chocolate, coffee, toffee, roast malt and a pleasant background heat that ties this beer altogether. The beer is big and complex and 10% ABV but well balanced and smooth making it easy to drink. This beer is one I probably couldn’t drink all day, but it would be a great one to have a snifter or 2 of on a cold winter day.

Sound Brewery Mayan Cave Beer staves off extinction with a spectacular 5 human sacrifices out of 5.

World Cup Thoughts

By Blaidd Drwg

For those who actually care about the US-Germany game, basically unless the US gets blown out and the Portugal-Ghana game is also a blowout, the US should advance. Here is the table for the results and possible outcomes:

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The real purpose of this article is about the disgust that I currently am feeling toward the international team I actually follow – Italy. For the second consecutive World Cup, they have failed to advance to the knockout stage. Both of their losses were embarrassing – they had absolutely no answer to Costa Rica bringing up their back line and instead of adjusting the game plan to account for it; they just kept trying the same things over and over hoping they would start working. Basically, by forcing the Italians to make a number of long runs in the first half, the Costa Rican defense effectively tired out the Italian attackers and made them a non-factor in the second half. I might have forgiven Italian coach Cesare Prandelli for that if it weren’t for the Uruguay game.

Italy just needed a draw to advance and unfortunately the new look Azzurri seemed much like the old-look version – it was obvious they were content to play keep-away with the ball and play for a 0-0 result. That plan backfired horribly when Uruguay scored and then the Italian side was down to 10 men thanks to a stupid challenge by Claudio Marchisio which drew a (deservedly) red card. Once again, Italy should have changed its game plan before that. Uruguay was playing for the win, and had a number of good chances early in the game, but were denied thanks to Gigi Buffon and some great saves. That should have been the wakeup call to switch to a more offensive minded strategy, but Prandelli didn’t. Heck, the only reason why Italy even beat England is that England is in far worse shape right now than the Italian squad.

Fortunately, Prandelli realized his mistakes and did the right thing and resigned from the national team after the loss. They really need to get a coach in there to get this team out of their defensive mindset. There is plenty of fire-power on this roster, so why the hell would you play a defensive minded 3-5-2 set the way they did against Uruguay or the even worse 4-5-1 against Costa Rica. The Azzurri need to get out of the 20th century mindset of defense wins games and go on the offensive and bring us back to glory.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Belgian Tripel

By Iron Chef Leftovers

imagesCAAR87MMIn the strictest sense of the word, this beer is technically not a Populuxe beer, it is something that one of their brewers brewed as a home-brew batch. It is getting put under the Populuxe category because of the connection the the brewery and I really don’t want to lose the notes that I took on the beer, especially since I love Belgian triples. The bottle was also a gift from the brewer for my birthday, so it was a one time deal.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with a nice white head. Very grain foreword on the nose with significant amounts of Belgian yeast and hints of spice and cloves on the nose. the beer stars out with just a hint of grain and boozy alcohol before moving very quickly into the realm of Belgian character – yeast and bread dominate at first before moving off into a nicely spiced middle and then bering joined with a pleasant sweetness and notes of yeast and bread that linger nicely on the finish with hints of nutmeg and cloves rounding out the beer. There is just a touch of warming alcohol at the end of the beer, reminding you that it is not a small beer to be drinking. The beer is well balanced and enjoyable throughout the experience and as the beer warms, deeper flavors of orange peel and banana come to the party making this a deep and complex beer to be enjoyed on a cool spring day.

Populuxe Belgian Tripel pulls into 3rd base standing up with 4 triples out of 5.

A New Approach To The NBA Draft

by A.J. Coltrane

From this Grantland link.

The Sacramento Kings are crowdsourcing the NBA draft this year. They solicited input from all non-professional basketball analysts on the internet. They selected nine of those people to video conference with the Kings’ decision makers.

Four of those analysts are going to accompany the team to the draft.

It seems to me to be a *very* smart thing to do. I’ll be paying attention to the outcome.

For what it’s worth — I really like their Noah Vonleh option. I think he’s going to be a terrific player for a long time. I’m not sure that everyone agrees, though Chad Ford has him at #5 on his Big Board.

—–

Here’s a short ESPN piece that talks about what stats tend to translate from college to the NBA.

Beer of the Week: Bad Jimmy’s Blood Orange And Honey Wheat Ale

By Iron Chef Leftovers

1398797369618I always temper my expectations when it comes to beers involving blood oranges. Blood oranges are one of my favorite flavors, but when it comes to putting them into beers, you either get so much blood orange flavor that the beer is completely overwhelmed or so little blood orange flavor that it is barely noticeable. As a result of this, I had some apprehension about trying the blood orange and honey wheat from Bad Jimmy’s. The beer clocked in at a hefty 6.5% ABV and 20 IBU.

The beer pours light hazy pale in color with light notes of honey and blood orange peel with hints of wheat in the background. The beer starts out with a light, slightly astringent, bitterness from the blood orange peel before becoming gradually sweeter, first from the blood orange juice and then from the honey before fading out. There are very light grain and orange notes ion the finish, but the beer is lacking much in the way of actual wheat character which is strangely lost despite the lack of bold flavors from the honey or orange. The beer lacked balance and missed out on the chance to elevate itself with a great paring of ingredients.

Bad Jimmy’s Blood Orange And Honey Wheat Ale harvests just 2 combines out of 5.

Cooking for Ferran Adria

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Could you imagine having to cook a meal for a man who many consider the best chef on the planet? How about one involving 50 courses? That is what the folks over at Modernist Cuisine did earlier this month when Ferran Adria came for a visit. The video montage looks amazing, I just wish I knew exactly what everything in it was. There is just some of the most beautiful food you will ever see here.

For your viewing pleasure: