Building a Better Homemade Beverage

Last year (2012) I asked friends and fans for ideas about flavors and styles of home-fermented beverages I should try. Huge responses came in for mango and cranberry, and oddly enough quite a few also came in for savory ingredients including chili peppers. Here's how that worked out:

• A mango infused mead, which started with a base of orange and vanilla (a current fave) is done and ready to drink!
• A cranberry wine, and a mead variant, will take final forms later in the spring. All the base wine is clear and aging right now. 
• Both our lemon and lime beers have consistently shown well at home, and the lemon (a riff on a Shandy) took a first place last year. 
• A three-chili mead won Best in Show at a regional competition last Fall. Once I can grow peppers outside again this year, a new batch of this is on the list. And I'm going to go bigger than one gallon!

Clearly our collective efforts (and I say our) were successful. Got any more crazy ideas?

Jason

Valentine’s Day in Three Beverages

Valentine’s Day is three weeks from tomorrow. I proposed to my wife of over 15 years on Valentine’s Day weekend back in 1996 so we joyously celebrate the occasion each year. This year our public celebration will be done in three drinks, each inspired from our home fermentations, beverage adventures and the romantic themes of the holiday. This week I am sharing drink number one, a mead/beer cocktail. On each of the next two Wednesdays the romantic beverage tour will continue.  Enjoy!

What would Valentine’s Day be without chocolate? I always think of fruity, sweet chocolate treats for this day and that is the theme I am going to apply in this week’s drink. Beer cocktails or beer blends aren't a new idea. The very classic one is the black and tan. Imperial Stout and cherry flavored hard cider is the version I've made most often. Generally 50/50 beer to cider. I call them Cherry Bombs!

I’ve riffed on this concept a number of times with both cider and mead.  In honor of mead, Romance by the Glass and our friends at Moonlight Meadery I will be using a mead this time.

Friends & Lovers

8 ounces of Margot's Chocolate Stout from 2012

8 ounces Moonlight Meadery Paramour

pint glass

The flavors of red & black fruits wrapped in bitter chocolate and bubbles is pretty damn sweet! This is a two-fer in a drink. A well made chocolate stout will attract beer drinkers. The explosion of fruit flavors and gentle sweetness from the mead softens the beer for some and amplifies the creation to a cocktail for others! Everybody has something to love!

Go find somebody to love and give them a squeeze!

Jason

p.s. Try Moonlight Meadery Wicked with a rich, chocolaty stout as well. Check out the cocktail and pairing ideas at the Moonlight Meadery web site for more ideas. 

Session-able Beers

After I selected a couple beers to enjoy while I was working on bottling several batches of wine, mead and beer it occurred to me that part of my selection criteria might make for an interesting blog post.

Two of the bottles I picked out were filled with the Ancient Fire 2012 Mild English Ale. This beer was my first attempt at this style, a Mild and in sub-category 11A of the BJCP style guidelines for those familiar with the BJCP program, a style that when made correctly should have an ABV of 2.8% to 4.5%. Mine came in somewhere between 3.75% and 4% when it was finished. That alcohol content potentially qualifies it as a session beer, a term that is warmly debated in some circles, although before I claim victory for that designation to be applied to my beer let's explore what a session beer actually should be more broadly.

I like the definition of a session beer from the folks over at the Session Beer Project.  It is packaged neatly as a set of bullets and covers both objective AND subjective concerns about a beer you might find in your glass. They say that a session beer should be:

• 4.5% alcohol by volume or less
• flavorful enough to be interesting
• balanced enough for multiple pints
• conducive to conversation
• reasonably priced

I've got the first bullet covered with my Mild. The next three are subjective and all I can say is that my English Mild is somewhat interesting, easily quaffable by the pint or three and has in fact inspired conversation amongst several kinds of people including some in my brew club as well as others that are typically light American beer drinkers. The last bullet applies only in that I made the beer myself and it does turn out to be pretty cheap in the homemade, small-batch context. Would others call it a session beer? Maybe. I do.

Where did the term session beer originate?

The term originated in Britain and was quite literal, meaning a beer that could be drunk in sizable quantity during a session, e.g. a social event, workday break, etc., without the onset of intoxication. The honest origin is that alcohol was taxed so creating lower alcohol, but flavorful and drinkable, beers was more advantageous for brewers. Many of the contemporary British beers commonly associated with this definition do in fact contain alcohol of less than 4% ABV, although such beers are harder to find being made in the US. Historically even the premium ales (the next step up in British beer parlance) would have likely topped out around 4% ABV, but would have been considered too strong for a session beer. The Fullers line of pub beers, including the Chiswick Bitter (3.5%) , London Pride (4.1%) and ESB (5.5%) are a close approximation of the classic session, premium and strong tiered British beer scale.

Why did I select my Mild for my "work" beer? Well, mostly because of the lower alcohol content, but also because the flavors are mild and won't wreck my palate so that I can't properly taste the products I am bottling. At bottling time a solid taste is the last line of defense in making sure what goes in the bottle is as good as it can be. A last minute adjustment, sugar or acid perhaps, might be called for based on how the product smells and tastes. And a beer that won't overpower my senses, and who really wants to drink water while they do this work anyway, is a solid fit here.

When you are out and about what beers might you find that would fit all five of the bullets above, making it a true session beer?

You may find the Fuller's beers at some bars, including the British Beer Company, but both the bottled and kegged versions for import to the US are generally above the 4-4.5% ABV mark. Guinness on draft is typically about 4.3% ABV, but I personally don't find it interesting enough for a "true" session beer.

The beers from Notch brewing, brewed in several locations in New England, range from 2.8% to 4.5% ABV for the bottled versions and in the high 3's for their cask series. I've had the Notch Session Ale (4.5%) before and do think it is an interesting beer, although it is right at the cutoff for the alcohol content.

There are others session-able beers out there and at beer bars and brew pubs that serve cask ales you might actually find more than one version to try at any one time. Check the beer menu at any new bar you visit, most will have the ABV noted making it easy to find something session-able if desired.

Cheers!

Jason

Session Beer References 

• Session Beer Project
• Beer Advocate
• Brew Your Own Magazine
• Notch Session
• DINGS Beer Blog

Blogging to Remember

In March of this year I posted a review of several samples from Crispin Cider that I had received. One in particular, The Saint, caught my attention then and inspired me to create something similarly influenced at home. Having posted the review on my blog I am able to go back and consider what I recall experiencing about the cider, and what I shared with readers. Here's what I wrote in March:

The Saint Artisanal Reserve

Pale, almost cream colored & unfiltered.
Smells like sweet cider & spices.
6.9% ABV
Tartness in the finish.
Yeasty, with spicy sweet bread flavors.

The flavor combination reminded me of the warm apple gallete w/ caramel sauce and bourbon cream glaze I had over Christmas.

This is one that I would stock at home and could have a good deal of fun with in different pairing scenarios. Dessert pairings are the first to spring to mind, but I also think a roast pork tenderloin would make for a good match as well.
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The marketing sheet for The Saint at Crispin's web site reads like a dream. It speaks of floral, yeasty and herbal notes in the nose and a silky mouthfeel. I recall telling Margot than I couldn't quite identify the savory element to the cider, something earthy and likely from the maple syrup. I didn't note that, and I'm not sure why.

For my own version of this beverage I used local New Hampshire syrup from Ben's Sugar Shack and cider from a Sunnycrest Farm in town.The Belgian Trappist High Gravity beer yeast was something familiar from my homebrew projects. The fermentation proceeded slowly and the aromas the few times I checked were sweet and spicy creating lots of hope for the final product. As it reached the end of fermentation I was able to detect the richness of the syrup in the mouth with now subtle hints of sweet spices, a transition I was hoping for. The nose is bready and yeasty. The cider stayed just this side of dry imparting a slight amount of fruitiness as well. Not bad. I've got some time yet before I can taste it absent of the influences of the lees and trapped CO2, but I'm happy so far with the direction the drink is going in.

( This shot is of fermenting cider, in the outer ring, from 2009. )

Read, Cider Free or Die, for highlights from the brew club cider buy and what's brewing this year.

In my review above I also mention food pairings. One of the things I liked the most about Crispin's web site when I was visiting to get to know their products was their section on Food Pairings. Several types of information from recipes, pairing suggestions to entire cider dinner menus are available at their site. Lots of really great ideas after you've read about their products, found them at the local store and now want to get your drink on.

I've no doubt paired cider with food hundreds of times, and quite a few with real intent because it was the best match to be had. I've used it in sauces, dressings and drinks.The acidity and gentle fruitiness of ciders has them playing in with similarly structured white wines like Soave or dry Seyval Blanc.If the cider is flavored or otherwise brewed with specialty ingredients it is wise to take those into a account for any pairings.

In the pairing suggestion from my review I mention roast pork. An herbed roast pork is going to have big flavor on the outside with soft white flesh inside. The acidity of cider would help focus and refine the herbs and the earthy character from the syrup and beer yeast will impart a rustic feel to the bite. I'm hungry now. I was looking around for a picture of an herb encrusted pork loin from my own kitchen and came up with nothing. Now I'm really hungry!

Sparkling ciders in particular offer a familiar experience, with the best versions being dry, tart and a bit yeasty much like small lot Champagne. Artisinal ciders made from heirloom apples and fermented dry can be mistaken for unique French sparklers. Sparkling beverages have a food pairing advantage in just that one difference, they are sparkling. The crispness and effervescence is palate cleansing.Whether it is with fried foods as snacks, roast turkey & gravy, Helene's pork stuffing, baked root vegetables, mashed potatoes or just some cheese can crackers, who is going to turn down some bubbly?

Taking this stroll back through the review and the homebrew project it inspired was fun.I'm definitely looking
forward to breaking out cider over the long weekend to while away time with family and friends with. I expect lots of cheering, yelling or otherwise laughing at the TV over some cider on Turkey Day. I've also got a new bottle of Scotch to try with my dad, but that's a review for another time.

Cheers!

Jason

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”