Grumpy Beer Geek

Here I am, sitting in Magnolia Gastropub, 4 beers deep into their excellent strong beer menu. Only 2 to go, listening to Grateful Dead. oh how I hate the Grateful Dead, but I love this place. It’s, the beer…

Gose To Heaven – imperial hefewiezen? Strong banana flavor, but in a good way. Nice, strong, an sweet.

Man, it’s tough to blog during Strong Beer Month. Drunk wife sitting next to me, making fun of me. iPhone spell correction making a mockery of my prose. Damn hard knock life.

Promised Land Imperial IPA – damn nice double IPA.

Old Magnolia Thunderpussy Barleywine – snicker – a damn nice, if a little less sweet than expected barleywine. Dark, complex, and hot.

Now, speaking of dark. The shining dark star, Smokestack Lightning Imperial Stout. I could drown as a happy man in this amazing beer! Rich, dark, wonderful.

Superbowl? Superbeer!

This just in… Beergeeks celebrating the winter solstice had their celebration ruined by annoying football fans. I wa knee deep in 20+ holiday beers when all of a sudden the Bears / Packers game appeared on the TVs here at Toronado. Instantly a rowdy group of swill drinking (overheard: can I get a Bud?) dorks descended on the bar. As I ordered my first Anchor Christmas ale of the evening, these football fanatics start yelling an shouting a the TVs like the players could hear them.

In other news, football watchers tend to refer to their favorite team as ‘we’ – as if their drinking beer 2500 miles away somehow makes them part of the experience. Unknown why this is – will do more research and report back.

Maybe I need to start some sort of a tag and release program to track their movements.
Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Interesting that the brand that labels itself as the “American Beer” will soon be part of a Belgian beer maker.  To that end, Samual Adams will, once the sale goes through, be the largest US Brewer and Bud will be just another over-priced import.

Oh how the times have changed.

(Please note, there is a healthy addition of sarcasm in the above post.  Your mileage may vary.)

It’s finally here. After a 2 year break, hosting a homebrew club meeting at our place seemed like the perfect time to post the next version of my Cincinnati Chili recipe. Changes this time include increase in the amount of meat, more cayenne (perhaps a little too much), pureeing the onion and garlic, switching to dark cocoa powder, and a further refining of the spices.

I think the results are fantastic. Perhaps the best ever! Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Cincinnati Style Chili Batch 16

3 lbs lean ground beef (extra fine grind if possible) — 80% lean
2 14oz cans Swansen’s Beef Broth (less salt version) chilled
1 and 1/2 cups cold water

1 can tomato sauce – (16 oz)
1 medium white onion, pureed in food processor
3 cloves garlic, peeled and pureed with onion

First spice addition (at beginning)
1/2 tsp dark cocoa powder (Hershey’s Dark)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp dark molasses
1 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp chili powder (dark)
1 tsp (Morton) kosher salt
4 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Second spice addition (at end)
1 tbsp chili powder (dark)
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper (to taste)
2 tsp (morton) kosher salt (to taste)
1 tbsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mace
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp dark cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Gather all the spices, sauces, and etc. for the first spice addition In one container before starting — makes it easier.

If you use frozen ground beef, let sit in the COLD broth until it is matched the temp and it is no longer frozen. Failure to do this will result in lumpy chili. Use a potato masher or heavy whisk to help break it up if needed.

Place broth over medium-low heat and add the ground beef. Stir the ground beef into the cold liquid. Continue to stir as the water is heated. The ground beef will nearly dissolve into the water developing into a paste. Once dissolved, increase heat to high.

Add the tomato sauce, onion puree, and first spice addition and continue to stir until the chili comes to a strong boil. Turn down the heat to maintain a medium simmer. Let simmer for 2 hours covered. You can put it in a slow cooker/crock pot and let go all day for better results.

When nearly done cooking, add the second spice addition, stir for 2-3 minutes to make sure that it is completely incorporated and remove from heat.

Refrigerate for 2-3 days before reheating and serving for best results.  This allows you to pull off the fat which will collect at the top when chilled.  Otherwise try to pull off the top with a ladle.

Serve as traditionally served or as you wish. I prefer over spaghetti with shredded cheese (3-way).

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an Indiana Sucks post.  I thought I might be free from the pain….  But this one was just too perfect of an example why the red state known of Indiana is at least 75 years behind the coastal states:

Indiana Teacher suspended for giving student a book

Perry Township teacher Connie Heermann a 27 year teaching veteran, was suspended from her job at Perry Meridian High School for a year and a half without pay, for giving her high school English class the book Freedom Writer’s Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.

Apparently, the book was objectionable to the Perry Township school board because it contains swear words.

Yes, swear words. Oh, my stars and garters. Heavens to Murgatroid.

In addition to said swear words, it also contains inspirational stories of how inner city kids from very poor circumstances were inspired by their teacher’s introducing them to first-person journals from Anne Frank and others to write journals of the poverty and suffering around them, achieve in school, and go on to college. A very worthy book, it seems to me.

If you live there and your are offended by this, write a letter and get out!

Syndicated from Brookston Beer Bulletin

The following action alert has been issued by the California Small Brewers Association through the Support Your Local Brewery consumer beer activist network, in the hopes of generating grassroots support from beer lovers in California. Please help if you can.

Dear Beer Activist,

The craft brewers of California need your help!

A bill sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, AB 1245 (Torrico) is being heard in committee this Tuesday, June 24th. This bill would significantly expand the limits on what a brewer can give away to a retailer. Currently, a brewer can only give away small items of minimal value to a retailer or consumer. The law in place now helps create an equal playing field for both small and large breweries. This law has helped the craft brewing industry flourish in California.

Anheuser-Busch wants to increase the limit 1,600% so they can use give-ways as an inducement to gain placements at stores, bars and restaurants. Craft brewers – because we are small, independent businesses which brew with passion and typically do not have large marketing budgets – cannot afford to compete with the big brewers on this level. Passing this bill will allow large corporate brewers to “buy” placements at craft beers expense.

You may thinking to yourself, but don’t I want breweries to give me free stuff? That’s a reasonable initial reaction, but think about it this way. Most of the craft breweries that make the beer you love can’t afford to give away anything and that hasn’t stopped you from buying their beer. You prefer their beer because it tastes good. You didn’t need a free keychain or some other bauble to convince you that their beer is good. So it begs the question, what sort of beer company does need to give away free crap, in effect buying market share instead of earning it? It’s probably the sort of beer that you don’t want to drink in the first place. But by allowing this bill to pass, those beer companies will be able to buy more and more customer loyalty, and that will be mean less and less good beer for you and your friends. So while it may seem counter-intuitive to tell your Senator not to allow you to potentially receive more free stuff, it’s that fact which will make your message that much more powerful. Tell your elected representative that you’d rather support and buy beer from small, local craft beer companies that make the beer you love, than be given free crap by companies whose products are in many cases not made locally and do not support California’s economy or small business community.

The action alert continues:

The craft brewers of California will be at a distinct disadvantage if this bill passes, therefore limiting the choice and availability of craft beers in the marketplace.

There are five Senators who have indicated they haven’t made up their minds and could end up voting against our local breweries. They are:

• Senator Wiggins (Mendocino, Humboldt parts of Sonoma County)
• Senator Harman (Huntington Beach area)
• Senator Denham (Central valley Modesto area)
• Senator Yee (parts of San Francisco County)
• Senator Wyland (parts of San Diego County)

If you are in one of these areas, we need your help. Please read on. If you are not sure who your Senator is, you can easily and quickly find out here.

If you are in the district of one of the five Senators above, please write a letter to fax or email; or call your Senators office no later than Monday, June 23rd.

Let your Senator know that you are opposed to AB 1245 and that this bill is anti-small business and against the best interests of the craft brewers in California.

• Senator Wiggins phone 916.651.4002 / fax 916.323.6958 / e-mail
• Senator Harman phone 916.651.4035 / fax 916.445.9263 / email
• Senator Denhamphone 916.651.4012 / fax 916.445.0773 / email
• Senator Yee phone 916.651.4008 / fax 916.327.2186 / email
• Senator Wyland phone 916.651.4038 / fax 916.446.7382 / email

Thanks for supporting your local brewery!

The California Small Brewers Association

Send questions to Tom McCormick.

YouTube – Front Fell Off

This damn thing has sat dormant for too long. Time to get this moving again.

I’m working on redesigning and getting some new stuff added. But after all, this is my personal blog — it’s going to be disorganized just like I am.

I’ll leave you with this thought — a new term for movies that is analogous to “Jumping the Shark” for TV — “Nuking the Fridge”. (Hat tip to Jeff L. for that one) If you haven’t seen the new Raiders of the Lost Ark movie that may not make sense.

Cheers!

Very sorry to hear of the passing of perhaps the greatest beer writer in history, Michael Jackson. Mr. Jackson, better known as The Beer Hunter passed away last night in his home in London. I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Jackson a few times while working for Real Beer. He was a good and very knowledgeable man. One of his methods of beer writing others could learn from still, never say anything bad about a beer, just don’t say anything at all. That points to how revered a mention by Mr. Jackson was by all brewers.

Some of his work is available online here: http://www.beerhunter.com

Update: His last column can be found here: http://www.allaboutbeer.com/

Some reaction around the web:

http://www.realbeer.com/blog/?p=632 (a great, quick obituary by Real Beer Editor, Stan Hieronymus)
http://www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com/michael-jackson-passes-away/
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/ (including his final published article)
http://appellationbeer.com/blog/more-than-a-moment-of-silence-for-michael-jackson/

Hop Talk has more links.