Beer of the Week: Pike Monk’s Uncle

By Iron Chef Leftovers

There was a time where I really liked Pike’s beers. They were at the minimum solid and usually bordering on spectacular and were always a nice go-to when I was down at Pike Place Market and in the mood for a beer. They changed brewers and company focus a couple of years ago and the beers have not been the same since. I decided to give them another shot on a recent trip down to the market and they had one of my favorites of theirs – Monk’s Uncle on tap.

The gritty details from the Pike website:

OG (ORIGINAL GRAVITY): 1.075

ALCOHOL VOLUME: 9.00%

MALT VARIETIES: Organic Pale, Organic Pils, Wheat, Aromatic

HOP VARIETIES: Nugget, Saaz

IBU (BITTER UNIT): 38

COLOR: Straw

YEAST: Belgian ale

FLAVOR PROFILE: Big, full bodied & complex with a yeasty nose, fruity esters & malty dryness.

The beer pours golden yellow in color with heavy notes of grain and yeast and light notes of orange and coriander on the nose. The beers starts off bready with lots of alcohol notes before moving further into a Belgian character – notes of citrus and yeast occupy the middle of the beer and the beer finishes bready with spice and coriander couple with a significant alcohol burn at the back of the throat. Once you move past the alcohol, there is a relatively pleasant dry yeast character that is almost toast like. The beer, however seems out of balance because of the alcohol, making this one almost too hot to drink (it feels like the rushed it out before it had a chance to mellow). The alcohol diminishes some as the beer warms, but not enough to save it. A Belgian triple should be an exercise in warming, bready, yeasty goodness that is smooth and complex and this beer was none of that. I remember this being so much better than it was.

Pike Monk’s Uncle sings and out of tune 2 chants out of 5.

Fouling Out in the NBA

By Blaidd Drwg

The Lakers managed to invoke a little known NBA rule last week in their game with the Cavs. They came into the game with only 8 players dressed. Two of them got injured and one fouled out, leaving them with just 5 players for the 4^th quarter. With 3:32 left, that is when it got really bizarre. From ESPN.com:

Sacre committed his sixth foul with 3:32 remaining but stayed in the game because D’Antoni was out of healthy bodies. The Lakers were assessed a technical foul.

“That was just crazy,” Sacre said. “When I got my sixth foul, I was just like, ‘Oh, dang!’ Then I got to come back in, so I thought it was something special. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Each side has to have five players on the court at all times during an NBA game. With the Lakers down to five healthy players, D’Antoni was informed by the officials that he could leave Sacre on the floor and any additional foul on the center would also result in a technical.

I really wonder what would have happened if someone else got hurt. Would they just leave the lifeless body lying on the floor? In case you were wondering, the Lakers ended up winning the game by 11.

http://player.espn.com/player.js?playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&adSetCode=91cDU6NuXTGKz3OdjOxFdAgJVtQcKJnI&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:10412601&thruParam_espn-ui%5BautoPlay%5D=false&thruParam_espn-ui%5BplayRelatedExternally%5D=true

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Snowfield 2013

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I love the winter warmer style of beer – malty but not too sweet with plenty of character to get you through a cold evening. I was excited back in December to see that NW Peaks was bringing back their Snowfield beer, a wonderful winter warmer.

From the NW Peaks website:

The name. The mountain. With a name like Snowfield, we couldn’t resist naming our winter beer after it. Additionally, Snowfield is a mountain that takes more effort and time to climb. While it weighs in at a mere 8,347′ and Washington’s 90th highest peak, it stands 6,500′ above the Pyramid Lake trailhead with multiple ‘ups and downs’ and glaciers en route. The Pyramid Lake trailhead is right off hwy 20 just S of Diablo dam. While the trail is nothing to write home about, once into the Colonial basin views are truly spectacular with the whole N Cascades park within view and Snowfield a half day’s hard work from there. But we digress, we just loved that climb so much, just like the beer, that we could ramble on forever.

The Beer.This is our latest version of the Snowfield. We used largely the same ingredients, but played with the ratios and yeast. This year, we used the American yeast that ferments clean and dry, pushing the hop aroma forefront. We also added another variety of hops – Sorachi Ace – to increase the lemon/citrus aroma to play off the chocolate notes from the malt. The result is a nicely balanced winter beer featuring notes of chocolate and citrus hops. While not a heavy hitter in ABV for winter beers (6.6%) Snowfield is still a great winter beer, perfect to warm you up on a dark winter evening.

Malts: ESB, chocolate, honey, crystal. Hops: centennial, sorachi ace. ABV: ~6.6%

The beer pours dark brown in color with a cream colored head. It shows loads of malt on the nose with hints of dried fruit and chocolate coupled with a subtle note of spices. The beer starts out on the palate with lots of pleasantly sweet malt before moving into deeper flavors – first with roasted chocolate before transitioning into hints of dried fruit and finishing with a mild and pleasant hop bitterness that mingles with the other flavors in an extremely long finish. The beer drinks deep and complex with a great balance of malt and dark roasted flavors to warm you up on a cold winter day.

NW Peaks Snowfield 2013 straps in and goes for a hike with 4 snowshoes out of 5.

Beer of the Week: New Belgium Lips of Faith Heavenly Feijoa

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Let me be right up front, I had absolutely no idea what Feijoa was prior to buying this beer. I did end up buying it because it was collaboration with one of my favorite breweries – Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! out of Montreal. In case you are wondering, the exclamation point is actually part of their name and it translates roughly as Oh My God!, which is the reaction that you have with a good number of their beers. They were one of the first craft brewers in Montreal and have been at it a long time. Just a handful of their beers get bottled and even fewer make their way out to the west coast. You can find them occasionally at the better bottle shops. The Lips of Faith was available in 22 oz. bottles for around $7 and the beer clocked in at a robust 9.4% ABV.

About the beer, well I will let New Belgium’s website fill you in on the details:

Heavenly Feijoa Tripel combines Dieu du Ciel!’s love of hibiscus flowers with New Belgium’s passion for strange and worldly fruit. Feijoa, also known as pineapple guava, has a sweet, aromatic flavor, which makes the aroma of Heavenly Feijoa Tripel luscious and tropical. The beer has Belgian yeast and Nelson Sauvin hops, combining to make a sweet fruit taste, mild spicy tones and a sharp bite. Hibiscus adds a cranberry tartness and an ambrosial quality to the color.

The beer pours deep golden, almost toasted brown in color with yeast and malt dominating the nose and hints of floral hibiscus and light pineapple hiding in the background. The palate is interesting – the beer starts out with noticeable Belgian yeast moving quickly into a mild dry tartness, similar to what you would find in a beer made with cranberries, before changing direction and bringing out a sweet mango and pineapple component that decides to stick around a bit longer than the first few notes of the beer. The finish is dry with hints of banana and coriander coupled with a slightly floral character of hibiscus. The flavor progress quickly when the beer is first served, but as it warms they become more distinct and linger for longer periods of time, providing a nice transition and balance into the complex flavors. The alcohol was completely unnoticed despite its high ABV and this beer was an interesting exercise in deep and tropical character.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Heavenly Feijoa rocks in and cries out 4 No Hiding Places out of 5.

Onions Are Durable

by A.J. Coltrane

Stir fry ingredients ready to go. Bunch onions from the backyard and King of the North peppers from the freezer:

That’s about 1/4 pound of cleaned onions.

Here are the same bunch onions in July. Tiny!

What’s remarkable is that yesterday the neighborhood looked like this:

There’s still snow on the ground today. I’d never have guessed it was possible to harvest during snow season, but there it is.

In retrospect, the onions could use more elbow room this fall. I took the “bunch” in “bunch onions” too literally. I’m guessing the right answer is to wait until the basil is done for the year and spread out the onion through the entire box.

Idaho – Famous…Wines?

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I would have never guessed that Idaho isn’t just a wine region, they grow potatoes and have tons of outdoor activites too!

This funny video was put together by the Idaho Wine Commission. It is worth the 3 minutes of your time to watch it.

Because It’s The Winter Olympics

by A.J. Coltrane

and

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Xtra Dry Hopped Cask IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Another day, another cask review from our friends at Populuxe. Populuxe, the beer to drink if you are looking to drink cask beer on a Thursday night. This time they decided to double dry hop their IPA with, well, I don’t remember what they hopped the beer with because I forgot to write it down in my notes.

The beer pours hazy orange in color with hops and citrus (mostly grapefruit) dominating the nose. The beer is surprisingly mild to drink – fruity wish very little bitterness up front before moving more toward a solid foundation of grain and then gravitating back toward citrus – reminds me of juicy fruit gum. Smooth with just a hint of hop bitterness and burn, reminding you this is an IPA but it is by no means palate blowing. Smooth and easy drinking, a great version of an IPA that you could easily find yourself having more than one.

The Populuxe XTRA Dry Hopped Cask IPA is gonna move ya with a happy 4 packs of gum out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Boatswain Chocolate Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It may seem a bit strange, but Trader Joe’s actually has a decent beer selection with a combination of some of the larger local breweries like Fremont and Ninkasi (sometimes at slightly cheaper prices than anywhere else) and bigger nationally available craft beers. In looking at the shelves, I saw Boatswain Chocolate Stout at $1.99 for a 22 oz. bottle. I figured, for that price, it was worth giving it a shot, but I didn’t have high expectations for the beer. Boatswain is brewed by Rhinelander Brewing, a company that mostly contract brews for craft breweries. The description of the beer from the TJ’s website:

Cocoa beans were the Aztec’s gold standard – they were used as currency and were the key ingredient in the king’s coveted chocolate drink. No longer used as coins, they are still used to create venerated brews. Case in point: Boatswain Chocolate Stout. As it states right on the front of the label, this bold bomber is “brewed with cocoa powder.” It presents aromas and flavors of dark chocolate and coffee with assertive, tangy hops and caramel maltiness. While it sounds like you might need a fork to enjoy this, it’s actually super drinkable. And it’s a respectable 5.4% alcohol by volume. Brewed for us in limited quantities to assure the quality, this beer delivers craft, without the crazy price – each 22 ounce bottle is just $1.99*.

The beer pours jet black with a light tan head and notes of hops and light roasted malt dominate the nose with mild notes of chocolate and coffee supporting. There are strong notes of malt on the front of the palate before fading quickly into a very mild chocolate flavor, which also makes a very brief appearance, before finishing in a slightly bitter, coffee-like finish that decides to stick around for a while. The bitterness is interesting (it felt like it may have been from hops), and leaves a slight resin burn on the back of the throat, which does throw the beer slightly out of balance. Not a bad beer, but could use a slightly more pronounced chocolate component to balance out the stronger coffee notes.

This isn’t the best chocolate beer that you are ever going to drink, but it isn’t terrible and, considering the price, it might be a good beer to try to introduce someone to the world of darker beers.

Boatswain Chocolate Stout rows into the picture with a creaky 3 skiffs out of 5.

The Blaidd Drwg 2014 Mariners Report

How hard is it to get excited about the Mariners? Well, let’s take a look at their off-season so far:

Signed Robinson Cano – 10 years/$240 million

Signed Corey Hart – 1 year/$6 million

Signed Willie Bloomquist – 2 years(!)/$5.8 million

Signed John Buck – 1 year/$1 million

Signed Franklin Gutierrez (!!!) – 1 year/$1 million

Signed Endy Chavez to a Minor League Deal (YAHOO!)

Signed Scott Baket to a Minor League Deal

Traded Carter Capps for Logan Morrison.

I know a bunch of Mariner fans are really excited by the Cano signing, but, as I have written before, I don’t think that it benefits the team. The Mariners aren’t near contending and I honestly think that they are probably 2-3 years from POTENTIALLY being there, and by the time they get there, Cano will be in the decline phase of his career and that contract is going to look horrible. That contract is so bad that I know Yankee fans who are happy their team didn’t offer Cano anywhere near those years or dollars – and these are people who think Cano is the best player in the league. That should tell you something. It also probably means that the Mariners have given up on Nick Franklin since he no longer has a position to play. So much for the youth movement.

The other problem with all of those signings is that you don’t really improve on the positions that you have deficiencies in. One of the Mariners biggest issues was lousy outfield defense. There is absolutely no way that the Mariners should have every put Raul Ibanez in LF for the 100+ games that he was (the Colossus of Rhodes has more range than Raul) and they had the revolving door in both CF and RF and on occasion were playing 3 left fielders in their outfield at any given time. So what do they do, go out and replace Ibanez and Morse with Hart and Morrison – basically 2 OF who are horrible defensively and probably aren’t any better offensively than Ibanez and Morse. Add to that they still don’t have a centerfielder (I think they have given up on Ackley there too) or a right fielder. Kind of makes you miss the days of Ichiro, doesn’t it.

The catching situation is definitely up in the air. The John Buck signing is an important one because it tells me that the M’s still have questions about Zunino’s ability to hit at the MLB level. Buck isn’t going to win an MVP award, but he is decent enough to catch about 2/3 of your team’s games, so this didn’t strike me as a “sign a backup guy” type move. My prediction is that Buck is your opening day catcher and Zunino starts the year in Tacoma.

The M’s didn’t address the need for another starting pitcher. Sure they have a bunch of young guns in the system, but you never know how those guys are going to hold up over a full season (take a look at Brandon Maurer last year) so you need an insurance policy. The 2 best starters left on the market are Ubaldo Jiminez and Ervin Santana. It is probably going to take a 4 year/ $50 – $60 million dollar deal to land one of those guys and I have the feeling that the M’s will sign one of the two of them and then regret that move by the end of the season. The problem is that neither is consistent enough to warrant the money you will have to spend for them and there is a good chance that neither would be pitching for the Mariners by the end of their contract should they get signed by the team. The M’s need to show fans they are trying to win and the way they seem to approach that is by overpaying for talent. The other option is to sign a scrap heap started (see Joe Saunders last year, that is what the Scott Baker deal is this year) and hope that the young guns actually can contribute. If they don’t, you probably just lost another 20% of your already eroded fan base.

The other two guys whose names keep getting associated with the Mariners are Kendrys Morales and Nelson Cruz. Both guys were looking for huge contracts and neither one is going to get one, so at least if you sign them, you probably can do it on a one year deal. The issue is that you already have a bunch of horrible defense/1B/DH/LF types on the roster and how much of an improvement are these guys anyway over the mass of players you have?

We still have a few weeks before the start of spring training and there is always the possibility that the Mariners will make some unexpected moves, but right now, this looks and feels like a 77-80 win team at best. On the bright side, at least the Astros will keep the M’s from finishing last in the division and I am willing to bet that Zdurencik gets fired if this team is not playing at least .500 ball at the all-star break.

Oh, in case you don’t agree with me, Dave Schoenfield is much more pessimistic about the Mariners outlook:

Yes, signing Cano will make the Mariners interesting at the start of the season. But … well, what else is there? The Mariners are desperately counting on their young players — Mike Zunino, Brad Miller, Dustin Ackley (is he still a young player?), Justin Smoak (ditto) and Michael Saunders (ditto) to improve — and all have huge question marks. They’re counting on two rookies in Taijuan Walker and James Paxton for the rotation. They hope Hart and Morrison are healthy, but even then they’re basically replacing the production Morales provided last year. Cano should be great, but I’m having trouble seeing where the improvement is going to come from unless Walker and Paxton are much better than anticipated.

Prediction: 74-88