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High Gravs and Specialty: New Brews
What made this festival so much better than last year was the selection of high gravity and specialty beers served.
New Belgium really brought it by only tapping beers in their Lips of Faith series including the sour beauty La Folie, the exotic Cocoa Mole, and the Quad-like Super Cru. They also poured Shift, their new canned summer lager which certainly will have a spot in my fridge all summer long. It was wonderfully quenching.
Brooklyn reminded me that the Sorachi Ace is a work of wonder, while also impressing me with the Blast!, an Imperial IPA, and their Brewmaster Series Maple Porter.
Starr Hill had bottles of their Double Platinum Imperial IPA, and like the Northern Lights, it seemed to have just a little extra bit of sessionability making it a top candidate for my perfect summer beer line-up.
Posted on April 12th, 2012
At last years ENBF we came prepared with notebook in hand and took notes on all 40+ beers that we tried. It was fun, but also it slowed down our pace, and we missed a lot of breweries and special tappings. With such a bigger selection this year, including new Nashville breweries and some out-of-towners who are coming soon to the market, we decided that this year we were just going to lay back and let the waves of frothy suds wash over us like a stone in a riverbed. Here's what hooked us...
First taste: Goose IslandKnowing Goose Island was pouring the Bourbon County Coffee Stout, I made it a mission to hit em up first. It's kind of one of those beers that I was embarrassed I hadn't had before. It's a little like not knowing who Nirvana is. The beer was everything I wanted it to be- a perfect marriage of roasty notes and bourbon tones with no trace of booze despite the 13% ABV. Goose Island are currently working out the logistics of coming to town. The estimate I most recently heard (and remember people love to be really optimistic about these things) is that GI should be here at the end of summer.
New Nashville Breweries: First TasteThis years fest marked the arrival of several new Nashville based breweries, several so new that they don't even have commercial brewery space yet. Naturally, its going to be quite an exciting time the next few years as our lovely town finally provides its public with great locally made beer in soon-to-be just about every neighborhood. Here's who I think will define Nashville brewing...
Yazoo, Blackstone, Jackalope and Calfkiller - I spent only a few seconds on each of these breweries, mainly because they are well established here in the city and already brew many of my favorites including Yazoo's Rye Saison and SUE, Blackstone's St. Charles Porter, Jackalope's Thunder Ann Pale and Rompo Red Rye, and just about every Calfkiller I've tasted. All of these guys and gals are well ahead of the curve here in the city and as long as they continue to brew great stuff, they'll stick around. Now for the n00bs...
Fat Bottom Brewing - I'm the type of pup who likes to get the bad news out of the way first. Unfortunately, of all the new breweries soon to open up shop, my least two favorites are the two that are opening soonest. Now Fat Bottom, as of this tasting, is certainly the better of the two that are going into the newly remodeled Fluffo Mattress Factory building on East Nashville's Main Street. What's even more encouraging is that their beer already tasted better than the first time I tried their brews a month or so ago. Their Ginger Wheat was nicely refreshing without too much ginger influence, be it sweet or spicy, while their Black IPA was earthy and soothing. Their beers also took a different path than anything by their closest neighbors Yazoo and Jackalope, tasting very malty without the fruity flavors that are a result of higher fermentation temperatures. This will definately distinguish them from what's already in town and may increase their chances of success.
Broadcast Brewing Company- As much as I want to encourage all new brewing ventures, I have to be completely honest in my reviews. Broadcast had 4 beers on tap, 2 completely unmemorable and 2 that memorably tasted like medicine- something akin to a honey-lemon cough drop, and not in the good way like Brooklyn Brewery's Concoction. Now I certainly am not going to forget about this brewery, and like with Fat Bottom above, my next taste of Broadcast may sway my opinion in the other direction. This is, after all, a sample very very early in Broadcast's timeline, and with several more months before they open their doors, I completely expect to taste some better brews.
Nashvillion Beers - Holding the title for best new local beer is certainly Nashvillion. Their Poolside IPA was not only the best local brew that I tasted, but it also is the best IPA I've ever tasted from Nashville. These folks aren't going to have a brewery/taproom until at least late this year and probably even later, but they have their sights on East Nashville. I welcome them with open paws.
Black Abbey Brewing Company - A close second to Nashvillion was Black Abbey. I expected some big, dark Belgian style brews because of the name (and that would be a welcome addition to the Nashville repetroir, but I was actually greeted with some very solid, sessionable ales including an awesome Black IPA. (And who knows, maybe the Quads are just a closely guarded secret as of this moment) These guys also aren't anywhere close to having a taproom either, but they're looking at the 12th South neighborhood. And if their darker image is any indication, they may have the coolest looking taproom in town when it finally gets built.
First Taste: Out-of-townersJust as there were more high-grav and in-town breweries, the festival was rich with smaller, out-of-town breweries that may not come to Tennessee anytime soon, which made them so much more special.
After turning the corner from Black Abbey (at about 2:55pm), I was greeted by the Nebraska Brewing Company and a beautifully Xeroxed sign saying that the Melange a Trois would be tapped at 3pm. It was a lucky moment because what they were tapping was the best beer of the festival and easily one of my Top 5 beers of all-time. The brew was a Belgian Strong Golden Ale aged for 6 months in Chardonnay barrels. The marraige was perfect as the malty and yeasty tones joined the ripe Chardonnay fruit and bottle conditioning for a very Champaign-like experience. It was so good, I completely forget what their Hop God tasted like.
Other highlights include Hat Trick Brewing from St. Louis (who had a very interesting Tropical Kolsch brewed with tropical fruits), Lost Coast Brewery from Eureka, CA (with their awesomely refreshing Tangerine Wheat), and Straight to Ale from Huntsville (brewing solid examples of hard-to-brew styles).
To the breweries who made awesome beer, thank you!
To those I missed, like I said last year, if it's meant to be we'll meet someday.
Posted on February 8th, 2012
Woof! Sometimes I can't seem to figure out that Millie cat. So our favorite local butcher updated their Facebook a while back saying how it's always a sausage fest in their building. Naturally that really got my tail wagging, and when I exclaimed my excitement to Millie she just walked away cackling. I don't see what was so funny. Who doesn't love a sausage fest?Anyways, with our wallets not endowed enough to support daily lamb and steak consumption, we have been enjoying many a hot link from the Porter Road Butcher. I made some delicious white bean and chicken chili-cheese dogs with their bratwurst for the Superbowl; however, with many of my dawgs over to distract me and many whiskey and cokes, needless to say no blog update about that. I will say that Millie needs to drop her haughtiness and update about our Superbowl cocktail. I think we should call it the Classy B&B as it was made with Benchmark No. 8 Bourbon and off-brand Bubba Cola.
Perhaps even more delicious was a very quick little dinner I threw together to match one of those several beers I picked up from my Christmas St. Louis adventure. If you remember, I made a scrumptious appetizer featuring shitake mushrooms, fennel fronds and Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese. Using just the fronds left me with a lot of fennel. I had never bought fennel before so I went back to the cookbook that inspired me to buy it in the first place.
The Trout Point Lodge cookbook told me that melting goat cheese on caramelized fennel might just border on a spiritual experience. With that and some PRB. Kielbasa, I knew I could throw together a super easy meal that would pair perfectly alongside the Schlafly Rye Bock that I picked up from the taproom.And holy holy holy the combination of goat cheese and Bock beer. I grabbed a bit of Tumelo Farm's Pondhopper, a semi-hard goats cheese made with a local brew featuring Cascade hops which gave the wedge a little bit more fruity edge. Tasting it alongside of the beer was akin to spreading the cheese's creaminess on the Bock's pure breadiness. The fennel added its intense anise flavor which was a welcome addition to the Bock's earthy hoppiness. And the sausage? Well, come on. Sausage and a German-style beer doesn't need to be explained.
This may have been the best pairing I've arranged, which also sort of is a testament of how keeping it simple is really the best. No complicated cooking here. Just quality ingredients. The only preparation it took was to toss the fennel in oil and roast it for 30 minutes. Bone appetit!
by Jack on January 31st, 2012
Well like all great meals, that last beer and cheese pairing left me with an intense desire to get my paws in the kitchen to find the next great food epiphany, as well as a belly full of shitakes! It also reminded me that it's about time I started breaking open that bounty of brews I picked up in St. Louis. I bought them not so I could blog about a bunch of beer we can't get here in Tennessee, but with the intention of finding the best food pairing for each. The Barleywine was pretty easy to think about. Like I said, the sensei recommended it with Stilton, so I did a simple variation on that theme. But the other brews in my secret stash aren't going to be so easy. With the attraction of the label as well as coming from a company that I've raved about before, I decided that I'd work on a pairing for Jolly Pumpkin's Baudelair IO.
Being a Jolly Pumpkin brew, it's already a given that it's going to be distinctive and even a little weird, like me! The Dexter, MI brewery has made a name for itself brewing incredibly rustic, traditional farmhouse style beers, employing open fermentations in oak casks and never pasturizing or filtering. The result is, again, very distinctive with a touch of tartness and the characteristic JP yeasty 'funk' making an appearance in every bottle.
The Baudelaire IO, like the vast majority of JP's brews, is a Siason with the unique twist of being brewed with hibiscus flowers, rose petals and rose hips. As the batch/bottling label indicated, this was tasted at just about a year old, which made for quite a tasty beer. Typically, young JPs have a bit more brash of a character, with yet-to-be-fully-integrated sour and funky elements. After a year, though, the Baudelaire IO acquired an incredibly velvety texture, with neither the tartness, funkiness or hibiscus flavors dominating the presentation. The nose was simply amazing, mixing intense floral flavors with red fruits, nectarines, mandarin oranges, pepper and clove with a soft blanket of that yeast funk. This is one of the best JPs that I've licked up!
Since hibiscus seemed to be the dominant flavor in the brew, I did a little research on the flower to brainstorm the food pairing. Turns out that hibiscus tea is a very common thing to buy on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, as are falafel. For a brew I knew to have a medium body with a clensing acidity and dark floral flavors, I thought the pairing would work wonders.
And it did! The weight of the brew matched the weight of the falafel patties, while the beer had the yeasty creaminess to match the creaminess of the tahini sauce and the tartness to clear the palate for the next bite. The beer's citrus flavors tied into the lemon juice used judiciously in the dish, while the other flavors of flowers, funk and tree fruits added extra dimensions to the falafel's palate of herbs, spices and olive oil.
by Jack on January 19th, 2012
As I noted several days ago, with all the drinking I do, it's only a matter of time before I become a block-head... well umm, blocks of cheese that is.Anyways, I've also mentioned that my current foodie sensei is the brewmaster himself Garrett Oliver, with his book The Brewmaster's Table being my current guide to beer and food pairing. Pawing through about half the book, it's pretty clear that Oliver thinks Stilton cheese and Barleywine will save your soul faster and more effeciently than grape juice and stale crackers. And with such a large bounty of beer I brought home from my Christmas adventure to St. Louis, I decided I had to try a version of this classic pairing.
For the Barleywine, I picked up the Solstice D'hiver (Winter Solstice) by Montreal's Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel. We're pretty fortunate to get the Unibroue beers here in Tennessee, and when the label of this Canadian brew grabbed me, I hoped that I had found another Quebecian brewery that can turn out awesome versions of complex styles like Barleywines and Belgians. This brew had me sniffing out a very complex fruitiness weaving notes of cherry, figs and raisins into a dark, burnt caramel and coffee character. The palate was malty sweet with a sizable, but not offensive, booziness starting the finish.
For the cheese, I picked up a bit of Jasper Hill Creamery's Bayley Hazen Blue, which was what The Bloomy Rind handed me when I threw out the word Stilton. The cheese is made from the raw morning milk of Jasper Hills' Ayrshire breed cattle, a breed that is revered for its grazing abilities as it was forced to adapt to the rugged terrain of its native County of Ayr, Scotland. I'm glad I don't have to graze for my meals! However, it is because of this that these cows make ideal dairy cattle due to their abilities to produce large quantities of milk, and they're also favored because their milk has small fat globules, resulting in very clean and pure flavors in cheese. This wedge had a certain delicacy, both in creaminess and in flavor with less of that pungent, peppery flavor that describes many blues.
So, was the pairing harmonious? Well, it was good; then again good cheese and good beer are always something to bark about! But Oliver stresses the greatness of aged Barleywine with Stilton, and I can see why. A fresh Barleywine like this has too much of a boozy character. It's bolder presence dominated the more delicately flavored Blue. I'd either wait a few years on the Solstice or find a much more pungent and fruity cheese to match the burnt caramel character of the young beer.Of course the best thing about cooking is that you always can eat the mistakes (with the exception of that Hefe-inspired banana-clove sauce I tried to make, most revolting thing to come out of my kitchen). This wasn't really any sort of a mistake, just a near-miss, and it left me with a lot of Bayley Hazen to cook with.
The whole ordeal sent my train of thought into a direction encompassing the funky-earthiness of the cheese and the fruity-maltiness of the English-style beer. And in one of best $3 thrift store finds sitting on my bookshelf, the Trout Point Lodge Cookbook, I found the basis for a recipe that joins the cheese with savory shitake mushrooms and aromatic fennel. As this is more of an appetizer, I wouldn't recommend serving this dish with a Barleywine. Instead, I would opt for the malty and fruity Schlafly Winter ESB which can be found at a few places around town, including Midtown and Whole Foods. Bone appétit!Bayley Hazen Stuffed Shitakes
by Jack on January 17th, 2012
Some of our favorite treats about town are the seasonal beverages at Crema, made with home-made syrups and reductions and sometimes fun ingredients like coconut milk. With celebrating the launch of their new in-house roaster, it's been a minute since they've brought out new seasonal drinks. But the new year has brought out two new concoctions, and one of them may just be good enough to make me "shake" for.First up is their Zenzero, a milky 10oz latte sweetened with a house-made ginger-molasses syrup. Personally, I treat espresso like whiskey and try to leave it as unadulterated as possible (even one ice cube is too much for my cask-strength Lagavulin), so this is a little too milky for my tastes. But for someone who prefers a latte, the syrup adds some lovely tension between the balance of smoky molassas and bright ginger.
Secondly, and perhaps one of my favorite Crema seasonals so far, is the Bounty, a rediculously delicious 6oz latte made with coconut milk and house-made chocolate sauce and garnished with shaved Marcona almonds. Sound a bit like an Almond Joy? Yep, that's exactly how it tastes except with a dash of espresso and without that factory made flavor. It's doing a pretty good job rousing me from an exhausting yesterday full of cooking and chasing the tennis ball.
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