Guinness Irish Stew

Last year I made a batch of chili on Super Bowl Sunday, but this year I decided to go with a Guinness Irish Stew. The latest issue of DRAFT Magazine featured a few slow cooker recipes that included a simple yet tasting looking recipe for one.

I got up a little after 7am (which I had to do anyway to let the dog out) to begin the preparations. I started by cutting up the stew meat, dusting it with salt and pepper and then coating it with flour before browning it in a hot and smoking cast iron skillet. I then added two bottles of Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout to the pan and let it cook for a minute more before pouring the entire mixture into the crock-pot. I also deglazed the pan with some more Guinness to ensure I got all the tasty brown bits off the bottom. The remaining ingredients of chopped up carrots, celery and mushrooms, a small bag of frozen pearl onions, garlic, thyme and beef stock where also added. The lid was closed and it was left to cook on low for almost 10 hours.

It turned out to be more of a "stoup" (thinner then a stew but thicker then a soup), probably due to extra moisture from the fresh mushrooms that I put in which were not called for in the original recipe. I add mushrooms to almost everything and I thought the stew was just crying out for them. However, the flavour was great and the meat was extremely tender and falling apart in the pot. I'd certainly make it again, but I'd probably add a little less beer or broth if adding mushrooms. I'd also like to try it with different stouts to see how the beer affects the flavour.

Three Bastards at the Ginger Man

Perhaps inspired by the upcomfing Stone'd for Six Days event, the Ginger Man apparently wants you give you some love from Stone Brewing as well.

For only $11.25 you can get a flight of Arrogant Bastard Ale, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and Double Bastard with a Bavarian style pretzel. Not sure why there's a pretzel thrown in on that deal, but I do like their soft pretzels. Only available while supplies last.

Get Stone'd For Six Days

Thanks to a collaboration between the Petrol Station and the Flying Saucer, starting on Monday, February 15th, you can get Stone'd for six days. The two bars will be hosting a vertical tasting of Stone's Russian Imperial Stout which will alternate between the locations. Each night, the host location will feature a different vintage:

Feb. 15: The Flying Saucer - 2009
Feb. 16: Petrol Station - 2008
Feb. 17: The Saucer - 2008 (Rare Bourbon-Barrel-Aged)
Feb. 18: Petrol Station - 2007
Feb. 19: The Saucer - 2006
Feb. 20: Petrol Station 2005

The kegs are tapped at 7:00pm and pints will be priced at $6 ~ $8 each. Get a punchcard the first night and if you get Stone'd each night, you'll be rewarded with an Old Guardian Barley Wine glass.

The full story, including a video on how the collaboration came to be, is available at the Beer, TX blog.

Camp Beer II

Another Camp Beer event was announced last night and apparently half of the 30 tickets are already sold as of this morning. For $50 a ticket, the participants will be able to sample around 20 different beers, most of which are not available for purchase in Texas. Kevin Floyd, the beer master at the Anvil Bar, will also be talking about the various beers being served.

The next session will be on Sunday, March 28th from 3:oopm ~ 6:oopm and the location will be provided to those that purchase a ticket. Tickets and more information about the event, including a list of the beer that may make an appearance, is available at the website.

Well, there's now one less ticket... I just bought mine.

---- UPDATE ----

Camp Beer II is officially sold out and in less then 24hrs. If you missed out this time, its already been announced that there will be a Beer Camp III and they're doubling the number of tickets to 60.

U.K. Unveils Safer Pint Glass

Nearly 87,000 injuries occur a year in the U.K. due to fights involving broken pint glasses and its prompted the government to consider implementing a new safer beer glass. Apparently this is an issue that they've been working on for awhile as two new prototypes have just been unveiled:

The first new design features a clear plastic coating around the inside of the glass which can be applied to existing glasses. The second and more expensive design is a whole new glass made up of two thin glass walls bonded together with resin. Both designs prevent the glass from breaking up into shards when smashed.

Their solution just seems to addresses the number and severity of injuries, but does nothing to address the issue of the fights themselves. Won't they just hit each other with the new sturdier glass? I can't recall ever seeing a bar fight that involved someone using a smashed beer glass. Is this just an issue in the U.K.? Soccer hooligans?

The full story and more information is available at the BBC website.

Red Lion Pub on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

The Red Lion Pub will be featured on Monday's episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on The Food Network (9:00pm CST, check your local listings for time and channel).

Guy Fieri and triple D taped segments at a few different Houston area eateries last year which have been airing in this season's episodes. I've had a few pints at the Red Lion over the years, but I've never tried their food. I've always heard great things about it and apparently, so did Guy. The Red Lion is hosting a viewing party at the pub on Monday night to watch the episode.

The Usual

The Usual Pub has been on my list of local beer bars to visit since I heard about it last year, but I never got around to visiting (drove past it a few times) until last Saturday. I stopped by late in the afternoon after having lunch at the Petrol station. It was basically empty except for a band doing a sound check on stage. The bartender was friendly and she told me that The Usual Pub had been open for about a year and before that the building had been a "massage parlour". Don't know if that's true or not, but it makes for an interesting story. Its pretty small and dark inside, but has a large patio outside. Its also far enough off the popular Washington Ave strip that parking is easy to find. They have about 10 rotating taps of craft beer and quite a large and broad range of styles in the bottle. Regardless of what you're in the mood for, it certainly shouldn't be hard to find a few good selections here. I had a pint of Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout and then a Full Sail Session Dark Lager in the bottle. I don't know if it would become my "usual", but I'd certainly visit it more often if I lived nearby.

Beer Wars Available On Every Media Type

When it was originally released, Beer Wars was shown at a limited number of theatres for one night only. However, that independent film about small craft breweries battling with large corporations has joined with some of the largest corporations in the media world to make it available on DVD, via On Demand on various cable systems and for digital download. The full list of media options are available on the Beer Wars website and includes Netflix, Comcast and Amazon.

Lunch at the Petrol Station

I decided to treat myself to lunch and a beer at the Petrol Station on Saturday after getting a few chores done around the house. There's nothing more satisfying then a well deserved beer. I rarely get over to the Petrol Station as its nowhere near where I live, work or normally hangout in Houston. On my last visit, I had the curry chicken salad sandwich which was excellent. I've heard great things about their burgers, but I decided on the meatloaf sandwich instead with a pint of the Palo Santo Marron from Dogfish Head. The slab of meatloaf was thick and juicy and served in a crusty french roll. The Palo Santo was very smooth for being 12%ABV. Flavours of caramel, vanilla, oak and dark fruits. I followed that up with a Bear Republic Heritage and then a Moylan's Hopsickle. The Hopsickle was a complete hop bomb after the sweeter Palo Santo and Heritage.

The place is definitely worth getting over too. Can't wait to try it when the weather is nice and I can sit outside on the large patio areas. Check their Facebook page for information on upcoming events and updates of what's currently on tap.

Southern Star 2nd Anniversary and Pro-Am Competition

A few things to pass along from the recent Southern Star Brewing newsletter:

Their 2nd Anniversary party is Saturday, March 27th from 4pm ~ 8pm at the brewery in Conroe. Admission is $10 in advance or $15 at the door and includes live entertainment, beer and a special anniversary pint glass. The party is limited to 300 people and reservations can be made by calling (936) 441-2739.

Southern Star is also having another Pro-Am competition with the winning recipe being brewed at the brewery and released as a new addition to their Pro-Am line as well as entered in the Pro-AM competition at this year's GABF. The full list of rules and requirements for entering can be found on their website.

Their Buried Hatchet Stout was recently released in a four pack of cans and I have a few in my fridge, but haven't had the chance to try it yet. Hopefully I'll find an opportunity this weekend.

La Moule Roquefort at the Broken Spoke Cafe

My wife had made plans to have lunch on Saturday with a friend who lives in the Washington Ave area which was the perfect excuse for me to visit the nearby Broken Spoke Cafe after dropping her off. Roy de la Garza, the owner of the Broken Spoken Cafe, stopped by the table to say hi and I took that opportunity to ask him about the various styles of mussels on the menu. I typically just have the traditional style which is steamed and served in a white wine broth, but I wanted to try something new. He explained the different sauces and highly recommended La Moule Roquefort which is mussels with a creamy blue cheese sauce. I am a fan of blue cheese, so I ordered some up with a bowl of the frites and a Chimay White on tap.

The mussels were served on the half-shell on a plate and covered with the cheese sauce which is very different from the traditional style of a big pot of mussels in the whole shells soaking in a broth. The mussels were large and meaty and the blue cheese was not overpowering and still let the flavours of the mussels come through. I used the frites to clean up the extra sauce from the shells and contemplated just licking them clean. The frites are too good to leave any behind, so I slowly snacked on them after the mussels were gone while sipping on a Kwak (served in the funky traditional glass).

The beer selection looks like it may have increased since my last visit and they're a good example of a restaurant that understands the benefits of offering good beer. The beer is all served in the proper glassware and the servers are all knowledgeable about the beers they offer.

An Agrarian Austin Amber

Just flipping though the pages of this month's issue of DRAFT Magazine and noticed Austin Amber from Independence Brewing in the Beer Reviews section. They gave it a respectable score of 86. I've probably read hundreds of beer reviews over the years and I've never seen the word agrarian used. Someone at Draft Magazine get a thesaurus for Christmas? I'm still not sure if its meant to be good or bad. You can read the full review in the current issue and also online.

Gifts of Beer from South of the Equator

The friend who came over last Sunday to help me drink beer brought me back a few beers from Brazil when he was down there recently for his wedding. Someone taking the time and effort to bring back beer for me while at their own wedding certainly deserves a blog post about it.

The first two are the Golden Ale and Red Ale Especial from Cervejaria Baden Baden, the third one is the Rauchbier from Eisnbahn and the fourth is Medieval from Cervejaria Backer.

Unfortunately, two of the websites indicated above are only available in Portuguese. If you want to know more about these breweries and your Portuguese is only as good as mine (nonexistent), I suggest you buy my friend Cory a pint in exchange for his translation services.

I look forward to trying these beers in the very near future and I thank my friend Cory for hauling them back for me.

Beer and TPB on a Sunny Sunday Afternoon

I invited a friend over on Sunday afternoon to enjoy a few beers and watch the latest Trailer Park Boys movie. And since he appreciates craft beer as well as Canadian comedic mockumentary television, I dug a few things out of my cellar to share:

Great Lakes - Dortmunder Gold (2007)
Issaquah Brewhouse (Rogue) - Menage a Frog
Sam Adams - Hallertau Imperial Pilsner (2007)
Great Lakes - Holy Moses White Ale (2007)
Saint Arnold - Stout (2005)
Saint Arnold - Stout (2006)
Rogue - Smoke Ale
New Belgium - Frambozen (2005)

Since it was a Sunday afternoon, I stuck to a lighter selection. Had it been a Saturday night, I would have dug out the bigger beers.

My friend brought over the Noble Pils which is the latest seasonal offering from Sam Adams. Its a German Pilsner brewed with all five of the Noble Hops. Light and refreshing with a strong hoppy finish. Would be a great beer to release for the summer instead of late fall and early spring.

The Saint Arnold Stout from 2005 had lost most of its carbonation and finished with a soy sauce flavour. Drinkable, but not overly enjoyable. However, the 2006 release still had full carbonation and flavours of dark roasted malts with a hint of chocolate.

The raspberry flavours seemed to have intensified over time in the 2005 Frambozen and the finish has become a little more tart and sour.

I picked up the Smoke Ale while visiting Rogue in Newport, OR last fall. For being called Smoke Ale, the smoke qualities were a little underwhelming and delicate. Although it did have a smokey aroma and flavour to start, that smokiness was wiped out by flavours of sweet tea in the finish. It would have been nice if that smoke flavour carried all the way through in to the finish.

I enjoyed the Menage a Frog from the Issaquah Brewhouse (Rogue) a little more when I had it on tap then in the bottle. Seemed a little sweeter then I remember it being. A big caramel flavour with hints of fruit and spices into a grassy finish.

Bashah by BrewDog and Stone Brewing

I've been giving my liver and waistline a break over the past few weeks after consuming a lot of great food, beer and other festive cocktails during the holiday season. However, when I got home from work yesterday, I decided to crack open the bottle of bashah, a collaboration beer from BrewDog and Stone Brewing. Almost pitch black in the glass with a tan foamy head. Very light aroma of roasted malts. Smooth creamy mouthfeel. Flavours of dark chocolate and burnt coffee with light grapefruit and pine notes. Maybe a little fruitiness if I reach for it. A dry and slightly bitter finish but with a little of the pine returning at the very end. I think I noticed some of the flavours though because I was trying to. It's labeled as a "Black Belgian Style Double India Pale Ale" which sounds interesting enough, but I'd probably just identify it as an American stout or porter if someone handed me a glass of it in a pub and I hadn't read the made up style definition. I wouldn't call it a bad beer, but considering that one 12oz bottle is the price of most other sixpacks, its not one that I'll seek out again.

I checked out some reviews for this beer on other blogs and forums after I had written my own and they seemed to be all over the board. Everything from great and complex to sloppy and watery. The expectations on collaborative beers can be high, particularly when you bring two high profile breweries together and living up to that hype will be difficult. Add in the fact that they produced a style of beer that hasn't been done before and its not really a surprise that the reviews are mixed.

First post of 2010

I've been lacking in my attention to this blog lately. My parents came down from Canada to celebrate the holidays with us, so I haven't had as much free time lately for regular updates. Although, I have been posting messages and photos using Twitter as I worked my way through my stock of holiday beers. However, I received so many beers as gifts this year that the amount of beer in my cellar has actually increased (to my wife's dismay). The bitter cold weather that we're continuing to experience has certainly been great for drinking the various stouts, porters and other strong ales that I've been saving though.

A Very Beery Christmas

My wife's family has a white elephant gift exchange at Christmas and I managed to steal a bag of mixed craft beer from her grandfather (who doesn't drink anyway) and defend it from being stolen from me (fortunately, not too many of them like to drink craft beer). Later on, I was also given a box of mixed beer from my in-laws as a Christmas gift. I ended up receiving 24 bottles (almost all bombers) of various great craft beer for Christmas. It even included a couple that I hadn't tried yet such as the Blue Moon Grand Cru and the Hopus Ale. I lined up all the bottles on a work bench in the garage and took a quick photo before I started in on them:






I received all these after my brother-in-law and I drank the magnum of Anchor Christmas Ale, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve (2008), St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and a bottle of my own homebrewed Holiday Cheer from last year. The entire day was finished off by enjoying a bottle of Stone Russion Imperial Stout while sitting in the hot tub outside. Here's a few more Christmas beer photos :

Overall, it was probably one of the "beeriest" Christmases ever.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Jester King Releases Sketches of New Brewery

Jester King Brewery has completed the blueprints of the brewery and released sketches on their website of what it will look like.

It looks like a pretty ambitious build-out for a startup brewery, but I wish them lots of luck in the new year.

Preparing my Holiday Beers

I'm still basking in the luxury of having a dedicated beer fridge in the garage. Today I dug around for all the holiday beers that I have in my vast beer cellar and moved the ones I'm ready to drink into the beer fridge. Here's a partial list of what I'm preparing to enjoy this holiday season:

Affligem - Noel (2007)
Anchor - Christmas (2009 Magnum)
Boulevard Brewing - Nut Cracker (2009)
Brasserie Dubuisson - Scaldis Noel (2008)
Brouwerij Lefebvre - Hopus Ale (2009)
Bridgeport Brewing - Ebenezer (2008)
De Koninck - Winter Koninck (2008)
Huyghe Brewery - Delirium Noel (2007)
Mikkeller - Santa's Little Helper (2009)
New Belgium - Frambrozen (2005/2008/2009)
Pike Brewing - Auld Acquaintance (2009)
Ridgeway Brewing - Santa's Butt (2007)
Ridgeway Brewing - Warm Welcome (2007)
Rogue - Santa's Private Reserve (2008)
Sam Adam's - Old Fezziwig (2008)
Samuel Smith - Winter Welcome (2009)
St. Bernardus - Christmas (2009)
Young's - Winter Warmer (2007)

There's a few other seasonals and other random beers also in there like Fade to Black, Howl, 2 Below and regular beers from Independence Brewing. I tried to limit my purchase of new holiday beers this year and I also didn't brew a holiday ale for the first time in many years (mainly because our kitchen was torn up). I figured I'd use this holiday season to drink up my stock of brewed beers and other cellared beer (some of which probably shouldn't have been kept this long as it is).