Because I can be easily tricked into over-enthusiasiasm, especially about beer-related things, I decided sometime in February or March to attempt something that is, granted, probably not my smartest or best idea, but a challenge that I felt I could not turn down (ironic, since I was the only one challenging myself).  I had read about a guy in Iowa who was doing (or had recently done – I’m confused by the Christian calendar still) a Beer-Only Fast for the 46 days of Lent, in homage to German monks of old, who would fast for the entirety of Lent and consume only Dopplebock to sustain them (hence the name Sustainor Dopplebock).  According to the article, it was a surreal and spiritual experience, and the dude lost 25lbs.

Cool.

I could not or would not wait until the next time Lent rolled around, not did I want to simply rip off the intellectual property of this no doubt now skinny and enlightened brewer, so devised an alternate plan of my own.

Day -1:  On the last day of March, 2012, I sat in my basement with my brother-in-law (The Grunt), wife and kids and contemplated the rules for this potential beer project, while shoveling in pan-Asian fare as sort of a sacrilicious “last supper’.  Granted, I subsequently went without food for 30 days, but this was genuinely one of the best meals I can remember having, and it came with a brilliant (if I do say so myself) pairing with Stone’s 11-11-11 Vertical Epic (dark ale with Hatch Green Chili).  If you’re having anything Asian and remotely spicy, GO FIND THIS BEER.  If you’re going to starve yourself for 30 days, I suggest a substantially less memorable last meal.  Like I said, I’m not the brightest knife on the tree.  Norman McClean is haunted by rivers?  I’m haunted by egg rolls.

(to be continued)

I have a question for you.  Want to know how to really tell if you love food?  Go 30 days without eating.

Because I can be easily tricked into over-enthusiasm, especially about beer-related things, I decided sometime in February or March to attempt something that is, granted, probably not my smartest or best idea, but a challenge that I felt I could not turn down (ironic, since I was the only one challenging myself).  I had read about a guy in Iowa who was doing (or had recently done – I’m confused by the Christian calendar still) a Beer-Only Fast for the 46 days of Lent, in homage to German monks of old, who would fast for the entirety of Lent and consume only Dopplebock to sustain them (hence the name Sustainor Dopplebock).  According to the article, it was a surreal and spiritual experience, and the dude lost 25lbs.

Cool.

I could not or would not wait until the next time Lent rolled around, not did I want to simply rip off the intellectual property of this no doubt now skinny and enlightened brewer, so devised an alternate plan of my own.

Day -1:  On the last day of March, 2012, I sat in my basement with my brother-in-law (The Grunt), wife and kids and contemplated the rules for this potential beer project, while shoveling in pan-Asian fare as sort of a sacrilicious “last supper’.  Granted, I subsequently went without food for 30 days, but this was genuinely one of the best meals I can remember having, and it came with a brilliant (if I do say so myself) pairing with Stone’s 11-11-11 Vertical Epic (dark ale with Hatch Green Chili).  If you’re having anything Asian and remotely spicy, GO FIND THIS BEER.  If you’re going to starve yourself for 30 days, I suggest a substantially less memorable last meal.  Like I said, I’m not the brightest knife on the tree.  Norman McClean is haunted by rivers?  I’m haunted by egg rolls.

(to be continued)

Schell’s Stag Series #5 – Czech Dark Lager

http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beer-and-food/features/show?title=craft-beers-spin-on-classic-wine-pairings

The title of this post is of course  a not-so-clever allusion to the movie Sixth Sense, a movie that I call a “one watch wonder” (not to be confused with “one hit wonder”) because of the twist at the end…awesome the first time, but not worth watching again because you know the end already.  I am feeling philosophical, as I often am after emerging from the shower, where it is easy to be contemplative.  In this case, it is more direct, as I had recently been suffering from a bout of fuzzy ear, which happens to me about every 4-5 months or so these days (what am I, old?).  I woke up 4 days ago unable to hear completely out of my left ear.  After dozens of Q-tips, hijacking baby Linus’ ear wax softening medication, and double daily rounds of ear irrigation (with that bulb thing they give to baby’s at the hospital), I honestly thought while I was sitting in the shower with water pounding my head, and echoing oddly in my cranium because of the difference in hearing on both sides, that I really might have a medical issue.  I had decided to go really full-bore aggressive with the baby-bulb one last time, and after a dozen or so attempts, had given up  hope that it was going to work.  As I sat (yes, I sometimes sit in the shower – try it sometime, it’s delightful), considered a trip to Urgent Care, and sipped on a delicious Broken Shovel Golden Ale from Subzero Brewing (yes, I sometimes drink beer in the shower – you want to fight about it!?) all of the sudden “POP!”… my hearing was back.

And what a relief.

If you are a neurotic, control freak, to-do-list type like me, there is almost nothing more satisfying than the relief of an unresolved Issue finally being taken care of and dropped from The List.  In this case, it got me thinking about how much you take your senses (and sometimes your health) for granted.  Just this week, Grampa Pete texted me as he often does to give notes on one version of our recent beer experiment, a red rye ale….”Tastes like butterscotch!”  As I have just finished “Evaluating Beer” by Charlie Papazian, and am trying to absorb the more scientific points of beer tasting and and evaluation, I immediately thought of diacetyl, a naturally occurring fermentation by-product in beer that is almost always present, but usually in undetectable levels.  It is even called for, or at least appropriate, in some beer styles, and is said to resemble butter or butterscotch.  But I had tasted this particular version of our red rye ale several times and never experienced that particular flavor sensation.  It would seem like something one would remember.  Anyways, I cracked a bottle of my own and sure enough, a waff of butterscotch immediately blew my metaphorical socks off (real socks still attached – it’s chilly in my basement).  After a sip, and a dram, and a guzzle, it was all I could taste.  I couldn’t NOT taste it.   I even intentionally tried to will myself not to taste it, or ignore it or something, which could actually be accomplished with some degree of mental flexing or denial maybe.

I think this points out and really crystallizes some things I’ve been reading lately.  One, once you acquire and really recognize the taste of something in beer, you have much more aptitude for recognition of this flavor forever thereafter.  This is why there are novice beer judges, master beer judges, and grand master beer judges.  Two, everyone has different sensitivities and capacities for tasting different flavors, based on experience, and also based on simple human genetic variation.  There are certain people that are completely incapable of tasting diacetyl.  This is why more established beer companies use a panel of beer tasters for quality control (otherwise known as “dream job”), rather than rely on a single taster or the brewmaster themself.  And three, you don’t know what you don’t know…you take for granted the things things like flavor recognition or senses or aspects of the basic human experience that you don’t know exist because you haven’t experienced them yourself yet.  I mean seriously…can you imagine what it might be like to smell with the precision of a canine, or fly with sonar like a bat?  Here’s hoping that a secret military agency is working on an elixir that grants human beings one superpower of their choice, and I’m going with super beer flavor tasting.  If smell is really 50% of the experience of taste like you read here and there, dogs must freaking LOVE beer, right?  Here boy!

Please join us this coming Sunday, March 25th for a special brew day at Subzero Brewing.  Due to an unusual and disturbing run of June fertility, there are a ridiculous number of March birthdays in our families, and so we have chosen to do a special brew day complete with birthday cake and a special menu featuring turduken and soul food to celebrate.  In addition, we are also celebrating the unusual but not at all disturbing run of balmy Minnesota weather this spring (fingers crossed) with a special set of recipes in the parti-gyle style.  First wort run-off is going to be used to make a 10 gallon batch of a Tropical Triple IPA, and the second run-off a very light Single Hop Pale Ale featuring a brand new hop from New Zealand called Green Bullet, supposedly with notes of citrus and cedar (weird-cool, right?).

We will be starting a bit later than usual (11am) to accommodate the late risers (includes many of us) and nap times, and to let the meat go super low and slow for most of the day.  Menu will feature the aforementioned turduken, Memphis-style ribs, hot dogs for the kids, baked beans, decadent mac n’ cheese, and slow-cooked greens.  Feel free to contribute with a veggie or other side…or sixer to match (ie. Southern style beer…Abita?  Shiner?).  We’ll have some beer to share, as usual, as well.  Hope to see you there!

*From “The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver”, 2012

As some of you may know I am in the process of training to take a Cicerone Certification test sometime in the next 6-12 months.  A Cicerone is the beer equivalent of a Sommelier, and a relatively new program as far as being able to get “official” certification.  The training, however is not so official, and instead puts the onus on the trainee to learn as much about making, serving, appreciating, and tasting beer as possible.  If this sounds awesome, and like a convenient excuse to drink more great beer, you are not wrong.  Having had a nice head start with several years of bartending in my graduate school days, good friends in Michigan who own a brewpub and brewery, 8+ years of homebrewing, and of course, a well exercised liver, I am now in the final preparation phase and trying to fill in any gaps.  With the wonders of the internets, this is actually pretty easy to do these days, as all the information is pretty much out there waiting to be absorbed.  And as Subzero Brewing, we have started to assemble a nice little library, as well.  Our beer bible, if you will, is the newly available Oxford Companion to Beer, edited by Brooklyn Brewery’s Garret Oliver, which contains thousands of entries on almost any term you could think of that pertains to beer and brewing (“patersbier” is the only one I have looked up and not found so far although this type of beer is mentioned in other context and names).  So, as I reference this great book every time I run across a question I don’t know the answer too, I thought I might bring you along on my journey from time to time with readings from the good book.  Sacrilicious.

The history of beer and brewing is particularly important for a Cicerone, as beer styles have been established and recognized as a result of geography, technical innovation, and major political/historical events.  Most people who are into beer have heard of Abbey beers and Trappist beers, but may not know that they are separate categories.  An “abbey beer” is made in the style of Trappist beers, but the term Trappist “comprise(s) an ‘appelation (controlee),’ an indicator of origin….As of 2011 only seven breweries in the world are allowed to use the Trappist designation, but this was not always so.”  In essence the appelation was created in 1962 to protect the officially recognized monastaries and Cistercian monks who produce Trappist beer.  Of the 7 monastaries, 6 are in Belgium, and 1 is in Amsterdam.  Here they are:

Chimay (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont)

Rochefort (Abbaye Notre-Dame de St. Remy)

Orval (Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval)

Westmalle (Abdij der Trappisten Westmalle)

Westvleteren (St Sixtus Abdij)

Achel (St. Benedictus-Abdij)

La Trappe (Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven)

I think any good Cicerone would have all the Trappist breweries memorized, at least by their more common names (ie. the beer name), so as a visual person I am writing this post in order to create a mneumonic device for myself.  CROWWAL.  Hopefully you can pick out which is the Dutch monastery by the name.  There are probably more convenient acronyms, but I had to stick the Dutch monastery at the end to distinguish it from the others (spoiler).  So there you go…hope you learned something today.