Bracket Of Peril Winner Is Annie S!

by A.J. Coltrane

Annie S. has won the Cheap Seat Eats Bracket Of Peril!

Annie correctly picked Louisville as the winner. The big bracket buster was Wichita State, which in retrospect maybe shouldn’t have been a shock — they lost to a very good Creighton team in their conference tournament prior to the big dance.

She wins these things all the time, so this win was a surprise to exactly NOBODY who knows her.

Your big prize of nothing is in the mail! Congratulations Annie!

—

Bill Cosby, the 2nd side of “Why Is There Air?” The Midol bit starts at 7:40, and his Temple Football bit starts at 11:57. If you listen to the Temple Football bit you’ll hear something that I quote fairly frequently…

March Showers Bring April Flowers*…

By Blaidd Drwg

Or do they?

Remember back a few weeks ago when I posted about the Mariners spring training stats and why you should not get excited about them. Well, 3 weeks into the season, the Mariners are 14th in the AL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. Remember when Brandon Maurer made the team with a nifty 1.50 ERA in the desert? He is currently sporting a 9.94 ERA in the bigs. Exactly why you don’t get excited about spring stats.

Rob Neyer wrote an interesting article about this very subject concerning Red Sox prospect Jackie Bradley Jr. It is a good read, but he has a great piece of wisdom about baseball’s March numbers:

Spring-training statistics are a lot of fun, but they’re merely a snapshot in time, and they describe the random nature of raw performance statistics as much as they describe fundamental abilities.

Basically making an assumption about how a player will perform over a season is about as useful as pulling a random block of 60 at-bats to do the same.

* I know that is not the saying, but it makes my point so I am going with it

Beer of the Week: Reuben's Brews Cask Imperial Rye IPA

The Cask Imperial Rye on the left and its sibling, the regular Imperial Rye on the right.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I keep all of my reviews in a notebook, which is why you see reviews for winter beers posted in the middle of spring – even posting 2 reviews a week; I have a backlog of about 30 to post. I usually write them in the order that I drank them, unless I have a bunch of beers from the same brewery; then I will break them up. On a rare occasion, I will drink something that is just so good that the review jumps to the front of the queue. This is one of those reviews.

I have written about Reuben’s Brews several times in this space. The short version – I really like their beer. They have been doing a weekly cask series – taking one of their beers and putting one of them on cask, usually dry hopped. It has led to some interesting variations of the beers that they are doing. This event usually takes place at 3 PM on Saturdays (check their FB site for details). Recently, they did a Double Dry Hopped Imperial Rye IPA on cask. Being a fan of the Imperial Rye IPA, I had to try this. Like its regular sibling, the beer clocks in at a hefty 8.4% ABV and 90+ IBU. Unlike it sibling, the second dry hopping was exclusively with citra hops.

It pours hazy orange in color with a pure white head. Intense hops permeate the nose with a strong background of rye and hints of grapefruit and citrus in the background. When you take a sip of this beer, it takes a second for the flavors to hit you, but when they do, it is like getting smacked by an oncoming truck. The beer starts out with a light bitterness before quickly yielding to strong rye and grain flavors with notes of toasted rye bread and a slight dryness. After lingering for a few seconds, the beer almost magically transitions into a burst of citrus peel and grapefruit in a very long and pleasant finish. There is some slight bitterness in the beer, but it complements the intense flavors that are present and aids the long transition between the flavors, acting as a bridge and helping this beer be extremely balanced; you could easily forget that you are drinking an 8.4% ABV beer.

I tasted this side by side with the regular version of the Imperial Rye, a beer I dearly love, and honestly, the cask version blew the doors off the regular version. After tasting the cask version, the regular, a fantastic beer in its own right, didn’t have the same level of intensity as its sibling. I am going to go on the record here as saying the cask version of the Imperial Rye IPA is one of the 10 best beers I have ever had and quite possibly in the top 5. Yes, it was that good. Next time it makes an appearance, you should be waiting in line for this beer when it gets tapped.

Reuben’s Brew’s Cask Imperial Rye IPA steps up to the podium with a perfect 5 pedestals out of 5.

I would have scored this beer a 6 out of 5, but since I really don’t do that, I leave you with this from This is Spinal Tap.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Brews Cask Imperial Rye IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Reuben’s Brew’s Cask Imperial Rye IPA steps up to the podium with a perfect 5 pedestals out of 5.

I would have scored this beer a 6 out of 5, but since I really don’t do that, I leave you with this from This is Spinal Tap.

Poutine in America

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I admit it, I love poutine ever since a fateful drunken late night in Montreal a number of years ago. If you want great poutine, Montreal is the place. For some reason, the Quebecois seem to all be able to make it well. In the U.S., not so much; heck, I can’t think of any great poutine I have had in non-Quebec Canada for that matter (there have been a few good ones, but none I would consider great).

Henry Goldman at Buzzfeed Food addresses the poutine issue in a rather fun read.

This may be the best description of poutine I have ever read:

When poutine is made properly, the gravy should be hot enough to melt the cheese curds and make the fries soggy. What you’re left with is an awesomely goopy, gravy-licous, hot potato mess. For people who enjoy a night of drinking, poutine works perfectly as a calorie-rich after-bar snack — or the most ideal hangover food in human history. You don’t have to be a drunk to enjoy it. You do, however, have to be unconcerned with eating more than 1500 calories in a single, carb-heavy cholesterol-soaked meal. And if you’re a real American, you shouldn’t be.

It is the ultimate drunk food, the ultimate hangover food and the ultimate potato dish. In Seattle, there is a pretty passible poutine at the Jolly Roger in Ballard and, despite Goldman’s comments, the one at Skillet is pretty good (but he is right, it is not poutine), but beyond that, I can’t think of any others that I would even remotely recommend – and I usually order it when it is on the menu.

Oh yeah, I agree with him also – the poutine at Au Pied de Cochon is probably the best I have ever had. I guess the foie gras doesn’t really hurt the dish too much.

Beer of the Week: Stone Collaboration La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Another week, another Stone collaboration beer review. I should qualify this by saying that we did a horizontal tasting of all of the Stone collaboration beers I had at that point, so you should be seeing the rest of these in the coming weeks. The La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado (say that 3 times fast) is the collaboration pumpkin beer done between The Bruery, Stone and Elysian (should I have been surprised). This beer made its debut at the 2011 Elysian Pumpkin Beer Festival and made an encore appearance at the 2012 fest. I am reviewing this beer from the 12 oz. bottle that I purchased at around $3.

From the Stone Website:

The eclectic mix of ingredients was selected to introduce a decidedly different spin on traditional pumpkin beers. “The taste starts with citrus and herbal notes, but then a very smooth roasted malt character comes into play,” Steele explains. “The yam and pumpkin make their appearance on the finish, with some Eastern-influenced spiciness and trace maple notes from the toasted fenugreek, combining with hints of birch. This is no pumpkin pie beer. No cloves. No nutmeg. No cinnamon.”

Malt bill: Pale, Rye, Crystal, Chocolate Rye, English Brown, Aromatic, and Honey malt
Hops bill: Warrior, Motueka
Adjuncts: Pumpkins (grown at Stone Farms), yams, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena
5% abv, 47 IBUs

This beer pours orange-amber in color. Lots of roasted pumpkin and birch dominate the nose of this beer with hints of lemon verbena in the background. The beer drinks like a soda – syrupy birch and toasted pumpkin are the dominant flavors, fading very quickly. There are slight notes of toffee and hers on the finish, but they come and go so quickly that you almost don’t realize they are there. The beer was more complex when I had it on tap – in the bottle it lacks the dominant pumpkin and roast that I was expecting. I am wondering, despite proper storage, if this beer was past its prime when I opened it.

It they ever decided to brew this beer again, I recommend that you try La Citrueille, especially if you like Pumpkin beers that showcase the pumpkin rather than the spice.

I was originally going to give this beer a rating, but considering that the bottle may have been bad and how much I did like the previous times I drank the beer, I am going to not score this beer at all. I would recommend drinking this beer fresh if you have the chance.

The First EarthBox Planting Of 2013

by A.J. Coltrane

The first planting of the year. According to the Sky Nursery gardening calendar all of these should work out.

The left side of the photo is the “front” of the “garden”.

From left to right:

Left Box: Bibb Lettuce (left), Romaine Lettuce (right)

Center Box: (left row, back to front) Parsley, Scallions, two Spinach. (right row) two Romaine, two Spinach

Right Box: (left) Brussels Sprouts, (right) Bok Choi

Shortly after these were planted it rained. Everything perked up.

The old memory card on the camera finally filled up. So I needed to check the new memory card:

and

The Best Way to Guard Lebron?

By Blaidd Drwg

When I played pickup basketball when I was younger, we used to say “no autopsy, no foul.”

I am pretty sure this would qualify as a foul. From Pearls Before Swine on 3/24.

On a side note, I love Snuffles (the cat) wearing shorts.

30 Great IPAs to Drink Before You Die?

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Firstwefeast.com recently came out with a list of the 30 IPA’s to drink before you die. This list is supposedly complied by the following “beer experts”:
•Mike Lovullo, specialty brands manager for Union Beer Distributors
•Jimmy Carbone, owner of Jimmy’s No. 43; host of Beer Sessions Radio; founder of the Good Beer Seal
•Julian Kurland, Beer Director, The Cannibal Beer & Butcher
•Samuel Merritt, founder of Civilization of Beer
•Greg Doroski, brewer at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.
•Mary Izett, beer journalist and host of Fuhmentaboudit!
•Anthony Finley, beer server at Proletariat
•John Holl, beer journalist and author of The American Craft Beer Cookbook
•Chris Schonberger, editor-in-chief of First We Feast

Do you want to guess how many Washington IPA’s made the list? Well, the answer to that would be 0. Think Oregon would fare better? You’d be wrong; exactly 0 Oregon IPA’s made the list. California dominated the list (no surprise) and I think that the beer list, because the experts all live on the east coast, really limited themselves to beers that are readily available there. Oh, and Pliny didn’t make the list, which is a huge surprise, considering Dogfish Head 120 Minute did, so they did not limit themselves to just single IPA’s. This is hardly a must drink before you die list.

The couple I agreed with –
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA – this is one of the better ones on the market.
Green Flash West Coast IPA – another great IPA from CA.

The one’s that I didn’t:
Cigar City Humidor Cedar Aged Jai Alai IPA – had it once, it was horrible.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA – meh, it is a fine IPA, but not one I would say that you have to run out and try.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale – another one that is fine, but Lagunitas Sucks is much better.
Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Wookey Jack – reviewed it a while back and it was fine, but not really going to blow you away.
Smuttynose IPA – I love Smuttynose beers, EXCEPT for their IPA. It is really non-descript.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra – Really, 2 Sierra Nevada beers on the list? They aren’t that good.

I doubt that you can honestly say that the “didn’t agree” with beers are any better than say Boundary Bay, Port Townsend, Ninkasi, Deschutes, Full Sail, Diamond Knot or Elysian’s IPAs. I think this might mean it is time to set up another blind IPA tasting…

The Earthboxes Are Here

by A.J. Coltrane

Continued from here.

Twelve days later and the Earthboxes have arrived. That seems to be about par for the course as far as these guys go and delivery time. (5-7 days to ship, 5 days for shipping.)

Dog toys in the foreground for size reference. I'm reminded of my dad always sticking a ruler next to stuff he'd photograph. — Dog toys in the foreground for size reference. I’m reminded of my dad always sticking a ruler next to stuff he’d photograph.

Of course, that means 24 cubic feet of potting soil to fill them up. 10 of the big bags of the stuff.

It's taller than it looks. I had to make two trips and fill up the back of the car each time. — It’s taller than it looks. I had to make two trips and fill up the back of the car each time.

Right now I’m leaning towards:

3 boxes of tomatoes (6 plants)

2 boxes of assorted peppers (12 plants)

1 box of zucchini (2 plants)

1 box of cucumbers (4 plants)

1 box of lettuces (8 plants. Hopefully something that can be continually harvested all summer.)

4 boxes of herbs (24 total plants. At least 6 basil, 4 parsley, 4 chives.. maybe some beans along the back of the boxes.)

I’ve got the Mother Earth News Almanac off of the bookshelf. (12th printing, March 1977. I paid $1.15 for it used, many years ago.) Maybe I can mix in some companion planting somehow..