The blog, Seattle Beer News, recently posted a poll on “What type of beer would you like to see more of in Seattle?”
Here is what he said:
I recently had a conversation with someone looking to open up a brewery in Seattle who asked me what I think the Seattle beer scene could use more of. I know my answer, but what do you all think?
I don’t have any issue with asking the question. It is a valid one. There are a ton of breweries opening up and many of them are producing some very good and different beers, but they don’t cover everything that is out there.
Where I have an issue is with someone who is looking to open up a brewery asking that question. First, if you are planning on the capital outlay for a brewery, wouldn’t you think you would have already done enough market research on your own to answer the question already? Heck, all they need to do is go to a beer festival and ask the 400 or so hard core beer drinkers what they would like to see. Second, just because a people say they want more barrel aged beers or Belgian style beers, doesn’t mean that they will actually buy them. Third, shouldn’t you produce beers that are to the brewer’s strength rather than trying to fill a market niche? There is a ton of competition out there and if your brewer makes a stellar stout, wouldn’t you want to put that out on the market to get people familiar with your beer instead of making something that may or may not be any good and ruining your reputation? Plenty of breweries have proven that you can make a name with a style that is already “over-represented” in the market (Fremont Brewing and Black Raven come to mind).
So to all you aspiring brewers, brew what you love and what you are good at and then brew the unusual or under-represented styles. People around here are going to try a new beer regardless, you might as well make it your best one and get people hooked.
I really love things that are braised. Tender chunks of meat, rich unctuous sauces, loads of flavor, the ideal comfort food on a cold day. Braising’s dirty little secret is that you really should make it one day in advance and reheat it the next day. It gives the sauce a chance to infuse itself and increase the flavor.
One of my favorite braises is a classic Belgian dish, Beef Carbonnade. It uses an inexpensive cut of meat, a handful of ingredients and very little prep to produce what I think is the perfect example of what beef stew is. It also combines two of my favorite things – meat and beer. The below recipe was originally taken from Cook’s Illustrated and I have made a few modifications, most notably the amount of liquid used in the dish. My biggest problem with the recipe is that there was not enough sauce, so I took care of that. Also, the original recipe calls for equal parts of chicken stock and beef stock. I replaced that with only chicken stock and I think it actually turned out better. Then again, I was using my homemade stock, which is about 1000 times better than anything that you can get in a store.
Serve over rice, potatoes, pasta, frites or just in a bowl with some bread on the side. The leftovers will freeze nicely for 3-6 months.
The Software
3 1/2 pounds blade steaks, 1-inch-thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds yellow onions (about 3 medium), halved and sliced about 1/4-inch-thick (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups Belgian brown beer
4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, tied with kitchen twine
2 bay leaves
The Recipe
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees.
Dry beef thoroughly with paper towels, then season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; add about one-third of beef to pot.
Cook without moving pieces until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes; using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until second side is well browned, about 5 minutes longer.
Transfer browned beef to medium bowl.
Repeat with additional 2 teaspoons oil and half of remaining beef. (If drippings in bottom of pot are very dark, add about 1/2 cup of above-listed chicken or beef broth and scrape pan bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; pour liquid into bowl with browned beef, then proceed.)
Repeat once more with 2 teaspoons oil and remaining beef.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now-empty Dutch oven; reduce heat to medium-low.
Add onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and tomato paste; cook, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until onions have released some moisture, about 5 minutes.
Increase heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes.
Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated and flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
Stir in stock, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits;
Stir in beer, thyme, bay, browned beef with any accumulated juices.
Increase heat to medium-high and bring to full simmer, stirring occasionally; cover partially, then place pot in oven.
Cook until fork inserted into beef meets little resistance, about 2 – 3 hours.
Discard thyme and bay.
Remove about 2 1/2 cups of the sauce to a saucepan and reduce over medium heat by 1/2.
Add the reduced sauce back to the pot with the beef.
Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and serve to a grateful public. (Can be cooled and refrigerated in airtight container for up to 4 days; reheat over medium-low heat.)
Notes
You can probably use any low hop beer for this recipe, but I prefer to use either the Belgian beer Duval (about $8 for a 750 ML bottle) or the Trader Joe’s Vintage Brown Ale (about $4.50 for a 750 ML bottle). The Belgian beers are malty and sweet and will really enhance the sauce. You won’t use the entire thing, so drink with the meal. I have been contemplating trying this recipe with skipping the searing step for 2/3 of the beef. The meat that is above the liquid will brown during the braise, so it might actually save some time that would be used for searing. I would still want to sear 1/3 of it to build the fond in the bottom of the pan (the browned bits), because there is a ton of flavor in that. The recipe also originally called for 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar. I removed it since I didn’t think it really added anything to the braise.
…pint or 3 of Pliny the Elder on tap, a comfortable seat and 2 TV’s to watch Duke lose to Lehigh, Michigan Lose to Ohio and a hell of a finish between St. Louis and Purdue. Thanks to Noble Fir in Ballard for hosting and Mrs. Iron Chef for joining me.
Overall, this was one heck of a day of basketball!
A few weeks ago, I saw an announcement for the DNA project – a joint brewing project between three of my favorite breweries: Diamond Knot, North Sound Brewing and Anacortes Brewing. The collectively brewed 3 beers and released them on Tuesday, March 6th at the new Anacortes Brewing owned – H20 restaurant. Of course, being the sucker for beer and having nothing better to do on a Tuesday night, I trekked the 75 miles each way to Anacortes for the release. All three beers were great, and it was an overall fun night; well worth the drive. Now for the beers:
Hoppy Lager by Diamond Knot
Smells like a summer day – a lager that you want to drink on a sunny, 75 degree summer day on your back patio. Crisp and dry with a barely noticeable hint of hops. Lightly malted with a short, clean finish, enhanced by a hint of hops as the beer fades from the palate. A fine lager and one I would order in a second on a warm day, but not the beer I was in the mood for on a 35 degree evening.
4 sheepshanks out of 5
Red Rye Oat – North Sound Brewing
A red ale. Distinctive rye character on the nose with subtle whiffs of oatmeal. Slightly sweet and malty with hints of hops. A long finish of oats, rye and caraway. Dry, almost tannic on the tongue (in a good way). Reminds me of a very light rye bread.
4.5 whinnies out of 5
Big Black and Hoppy – Anacortes Brewing
A black IPA. Plenty of malt on the nose with a hint of hops. The initial taste is a hop bomb on the palate with a slight lingering bitterness, but not cloyingly hoppy nor overpowering with its alcohol despite its 9.8% ABV. Floral notes give way to a wonderful chocolaty and malty finish. Extraordinarily smooth; hangs around on the palate for a very long time (I mean minutes worth of lingering) in a wonderfully pleasant way. Reminds me of both a stellar IPA and a wonderful porter. Perfect for a cold winter day and paired wonderfully with the burger I had for dinner.
4.5 blackouts out of 5
There are 2 more release events scheduled for these beers – on March 13th at the Empire Ale House in Mount Vernon and March 21st at the Diamond Knot Alehouse on Front Street in Mukilteo. I would highly recommend trying all 3 of these beers at one of these events – especially since you will have the opportunity to talk to the brewers at the same time.
Photos from Hops & Props, a benefit/ beer event at the Museum of Flight.
The VIP pre-event
Next year we’ll skip the VIP dinner. Too much talking by the speakers. Too little drinking and tasting. Ostensibly it was a Pike beer and food pairing. It was mostly a lecture, and a numbing one at that. I think we sat there about 25 minutes before we were allowed to taste the first actual beer, and the event ran over its alloted 1 hour timeframe due to the windbag element.
I’m always the most amped about the piston-powered planes. The black plane on the left is either the same model that the Red Baron piloted, or a very close relative.
A view of one of the buffets. The sandwiches were mostly bread. I think they might have attempted to be a little “classier” the last couple of years as compared to this year, but after some beverages I’m not arguing with a tasty corn dog.
The very sluggishly moving coat check line.
A portion of the coat check line. The moral: Don’t bring a coat to these events.
I think the last couple of years there were more people that came to the event for the airplanes. It seems to have shifted to more of a beer crowd, and some of the lines were really long.
Having said all of that: I’d highly recommend this event — it’s probably my favorite event every year.
Last weekend, Coltrane, Annie S., Mrs. Iron Chef and I ventured to the Bell Harbor Conference Center for the 3rd Annual Belgianfest, presented by the Washington Beer Commission. Thirty plus breweries, 70+ Belgian style beers and 600 people graced the new venue for what is rapidly becoming a great event. The beers ranged from golden and abbey style beers on the lighter end of the taste spectrum to heavy wood aged and sour beers on the other end of the spectrum, most of which were high in alcohol. I took copious amounts of notes, but I didn’t take notes on everything that I had. After a couple of hours, palate fatigue set in, so I stopped writing things down. Here is what I had (listed by order of their appearance in the Belgianfest program):
The lines at the men's rooms were long. Total Johnsonfest.
American Brewing Company
• Big Pucker – a beer that lives up to its name. Lip puckering sour all the way through with no hint of wood. Like sucking on a sour patch kid all day.
Anacortes Brewing
• Dubbel- slightly sweet and off dry, hints of hops with honey and sugar on the back of the palate.
• Trippel – a very characteristic Belgian Trippel on the front of the palate, with a refreshing crispness on the back, with subtle banana hints teasing you the entire way.
• Sour Red – A great beer to introduce someone to sour beers. Slightly sour with the initial hit on the palate but fading into a malty red ale with hints of wood. Not overpoweringly sour like most brett beers.
Black Raven Brewing
• Cask Saison – Off-dry on the front of palate yielding to a malty saison with a hint of sour. Nicely balanced and not overwhelming.
Diamond Knot
• Strong Belgian IPA – great hop character on the initial sip that does not overpower with a long finish reminiscent of an abbey beer. If you drank this one blind, you would not be sure if you were drinking an IPA or an abbey beer.
Elliott Bay Brewing
• Long Black Veil – drinks like a wonderful dry stout with a hint of sweetness on the finish from the Belgian yeast. A beer worth sipping on a cold winter day.
Engine House No. 9
• Love Child Kriek – a crisp beer that had overtones of oak with a hint of cherries on the back of the palate. Too much oak, not enough cherry, but not unenjoyable.
Fremont Brewing
• Return of the Blood Funnel Saison – heavy citrus notes on the palate and the nose give way to a crisp ending. Very refreshing and reminiscent of an aranchata.
Sweet waffle with brie and basil. I think they've shrunk since we first saw them. Still, a hit everytime.
Gallagher’s Where U Brew
• The Monk – orange and coriander on the nose and palate. A supercharged version of a Celis White.
• Black Imperial Belgium – a confusing beer with fruity overtones and a malty finish. Liquid dark bread. Did I detect some Rye or Caraway in this beer?
Hales Ales
• Tres Fem – collaboration brew. Tart cherries and malt dominate this beer. Made me want to get a pint and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and make a float.
Schooner Exact
• Biere de SODO – a beer with a confused identity in a very good way. It first wants to be a pilsner, then Belgian ale and then an IPA. Throw in a slight funkiness at the end and you have 3 great beers in one.
Silver City
• The Giant Made Of Shadows – lots of dried fruit with a distinctive Tempranillo hit on the back of the palate from aging in Tempranillo barrels. This beer paired wonderfully with a piece of 85% dark chocolate.
• Nutcracker 2005 Special Brown Ale – a very crisp beer. Yeast gives way to citrus fruit with a pleasant oak finish. Really great for a 7 year old beer (and that was by design).
• La Fat 2007 – a Belgian/Scotch hybrid. Lots of toffee and caramel but no noticeable oak or Belgian character.
Snipes Mountain
• Darkstrong – a “sweet and sour” beer. Lots of sugar on the front of the palate with a sour finish. Detected hints of chocolate but none of the rye malt that it was made with.
Wingman
• Black Widow – subtle hints of Cab Sav on the nose and a touch of oak on the finish, but predominately figs and dried fruit. Didn’t pick up much of the Belgian character, but it hid its 11.4% alcohol really well.
Not Iron Chef Leftovers' floral cursive, in case you were wondering.
So many great beers. I loved the trend of brewing more common styles with Belgian yeast strains and I am starting to see a lot more restraint with the use of wood in Washington beers – for so long, oak dominated most barrel aged beers brewed here. The brewers are still using the oak, but tuning it back and really letting the beer shine. It was nice to see some new breweries at the event and a few aged beers making an appearance. Overall, it was a fun 4 hours of beer tasting.
My top 3 for the day:
The Bronze Monk goes to:
Silver City – The Giant Made Of Shadows. I love Tempranillo and was happy to see someone use a Tempranillo barrel in brewing.
The Silver Farmhouse goes to:
Anacortes Brewing – Sour Red. So balanced, I probably could drink this one all day long and be very happy (and it has nothing to do with my love of Anacortes beers).
The Gold Abbey goes to:
Schooner Exact – Biere de SODO – I really loved that you could taste all of the individual components in this beer. The pilsner characteristics were there without being overwhelmed by the hops and the Belgian characteristics really displayed without being overrun buy the bret that was present. I want to drink this beer again and again.
Note: Respect for the Aged Day is a Japanese holiday celebrated annually to honor elderly citizens.
I happened to go into {REDACTED}* today looking to purchase a bottle of Sam Adams Infinitum since a friend of mine highly recommended it and {REDACTED} had it last time I was in there.
Well, they didn’t have it, so I decided to see if there was anything else interesting. They had an IPA from Driftwood Brewing in Victoria BC which I picked up. Last time Mrs. Iron Chef and I were in Victoria, our bartender at a wine bar and I got into a beer discussion and he highly recommended Driftwood. I didn’t get a chance to sample it, so I picked up a bottle. As I was looking, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that got me excited. Then another, and another. When all was said and done, these fine specimens followed me home…
Yep. I purchased 5 bottles of Pliny the Elder. No, I won't tell you where I got them, but if you are nice, I might share them with you.
No limit, so I cleaned them out. If they had more, I would have bought it. I am one very happy Iron Chef right now. It was like Christmas in January.
* I {REDACTED} the name of the establishment where I made my purchase because, well, I like that I have a source of potentially getting Pliny that doesn’t limit me to one beer a day.
Nine little IPAs, all in a row, waiting for someone to drink them...
One IPA blind tasting was not enough for the Iron Chef, so we had to do another one. Same rules as the first, once again with 5 tasters, but a slightly different cast of characters – Port Townsend Hop Diggity replaced Harpoon IPA, Skagit River Sculler’s IPA replaced Avery Maharaja, Ninkasi Tricerahops replaced Laughing Dog Alpha Dog and Port Brewing Wipeout IPA replaced Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. The beers were ranked 1-9 with 1 being the best. This time around, no one except me knew what the beers were. The results:
Beer (Previous Finish)
Judge 1
Judge 2
Judge 3
Judge 4
Judge 5
Total Score
Firestone Walker DIPA (6T)
1
3
9
1
2
16
Pliny the Elder (1)
7
4
1
2
4
18
Port Brewing Wipeout IPA (NA)
2
6
2
5
5
20
Anacortes IPA (4)
8
1
5
6
1
21
Diamond Knot Industrial IPA (3)
3
2
8
3
8
24
Ninkasi Tricerahops (NA)
5
5
7
4
6
27
Port Townsend Hop Diggity (NA)
2
8
6
9
3
28
Boundary Bay IPA (1)
4
7
4
7
9
31
Skagit River Sculler’s IPA (NA)
6
9
3
8
7
33
Your top 4 beers of the competition...
In the interest of disclosure, I am Judge 5; all others will remain nameless to avoid the wrath of disgruntled beer drinkers everywhere.
Let me stress – finishing at the bottom of the rankings is in no way an indication of a bad beer. If anything, the general comments this time around was that the beers were very difficult to rank as there were a number of them that were liked equally. That definitely shows up in the voting totals with less than 10 points separating 5th from 1st and just 17 points separating first from last (it was 25 points the last time around). The similarity of the beers was by design and had an inadvertent consequence of making it harder on the judging – all of the beers ranged on the higher end of the IBU scale, with Diamond Knot coming in at the low of 72 and 5 of the beers topping 100 IBU.
Some interesting results in this one – Pliny remained near the top again, but Firestone seemed to be the clear favorite this time around after a disappointing showing last time (and almost not being part of the competition this time around). Port Brewing made it a clean sweep at the top for the California beers by finishing 3rd. Anacortes again finished 4th, despite it getting 2 “best in show” votes and previous winner, Boundary Bay fell hard to 8th.
Once again there was great conversation surrounding what everyone liked and did not like and much food and beer was consumed in the festivities.
Numbers 5-9; all still winners in my book!
Based on the feedback, I think that the scoring will be handled differently for The Great Blind IPA Challenge, Episode 3: Revenge of the Simcoe (It is a play on Star Wars Ep.3 in case you are wondering and Simcoe is a variety of hops).
Hello to everyone who got here through the Gary’s Games And Hobbies Facebook page!
Obviously, our principal focus here isn’t just games — it’s sports, food, and beer too.. it’s all the Good Stuff. You like all those things, right? (At least the games, food, and beer part anyway.)
A couple of minor site changes: I’ve added a Recent Comments section to the right hand column, and I’ve added a new page describing our GNOIF — Game Night Of Indeterminate Frequency. (See the tab at the top for how we host our game night. It seems to work pretty well.)
Anyway, poke around, and we’d love to hear from you.
And speaking of beer – I believe we may be going to Chuck’s this weekend. Iron Chef Leftovers is a regular customer there and says it’s a great place.. I haven’t been yet, somehow.
In case you don’t know Pearls writer Stephan Pastis is a beer lover, which makes this strip from 12/21 even funnier.
It is obvious that Rat is drinking a Bud, which is owned by Inbev, a Belgian company. Here is a list of the top 50 brewers by volume in the US from beerinfo.com:
Top 50 Breweries by Volume
1. Anheuser-Busch Inc.
2. MillerCoors Brewing Co.
3. Pabst
4. D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc.
5. Boston Beer Co.
6. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
7. New Belgium Brewing Co.
8. North American Breweries
9. Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.
10. Spoetzl Brewery
11. Deschutes Brewery
12. Independent Brewers United
13. Matt Brewing Co.
14. Minhas Craft Brewery
15. Bell’s Brewery, Inc.
16. Harpoon Brewery
17. Boulevard Brewing Co.
18. Goose Island Beer Co.
19. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
20. Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co.
21. Long Trail Brewing Co.
22. August Schell Brewing Co.
23. Stone Brewing Co.
24. Abita Brewing Co.
25. Brooklyn Brewery
26. Lagunitas Brewing Co.
27. Full Sail Brewing Co.
28. Shipyard Brewing Co.
29. Summit Brewing Co.
30. New Glarus Brewing Co.
31. Great Lakes Brewing Co.
32. Anchor Brewing Co.
33. Iron City Brewing Co.
34. Kona Brewery LLC
35. Rogue Ales
36. Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
37. Winery Exchange Inc. / World Brews
38. Sweetwater Brewing Co.
39. Mendocino Brewing Co.
40. Flying Dog Brewery
41. Victory Brewing Co.
42. Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.
43. BJ’s Chicago Pizza & Brewery
44. Stevens Point Brewery Co.
45. Odell Brewing Co.
46. BridgePort Brewing Co.
47. Cold Spring Brewing Co.
48. Rock Bottom Brewery
49. Oskar Blues Brewery
50. Straub Brewery
Numbers one and 2 are both owned by foreign companies, which makes Pabst the largest American-owned brewery in the country. What is interesting is that the top 3 make up something like 80% of the production of beer in the US. Apparently the American double standard of “Buy American” doesn’t apply here. We will buy Fords, which in a large number of cases are built in Mexico, because they are an “American” company, but we won’t buy Toyotas, which are largely built in the US, because they are not an “American” company.
I did find it interesting that the only Washington breweries on the list are Craft Brew Alliance, which make Red Hook, among others, and North American Brewers, which makes Pyramid, among others. There isn’t a single independent Washington brewery on the list.
You know what, I am fine with that. Just more good Washington beer that stays in Washington.
FlatbreadGarden 