The Other Bird

I, like most of the people in this country, except this guy, had more than my fill of turkey last Thursday. But, the day before Thanksgiving, it was another bird that I was after. Visiting my sister in Nashville, I knew my trip wouldn't be complete without dining at the legendary, Prince Hot Chicken Shack. Despite our imminent date with a deep fried turkey, my sister was a good sport and took me to Prince's the day before Thanksgiving.

Since this was to be probably my one and only time at Prince's,

I decided to jump into the deep end and order their extra-hot half chicken (all the chicken is battered and fried). I waited patiently in line, reached the order window and said, "one half chicken, extra-hot please."

The lady at the window responded, "Have you ever had the extra-hot before?"

Me: "No"

Her: "Well, then today's not going to be the day that you do. It's too hot for someone who doesn't know what they're getting into."

I stood, dumbfounded, but recovered and assured her that I could certainly handle the extra-hot.

She replied, "It ain't hot like tabasco sauce or a jalapeno, that there is child's play, you'll be lucky if you can even handle the medium."

Not looking to start any trouble, but not wanting the trip to be complete waste, I bargained with her a little and she let me walk away with the merely hot chicken.

And, hot it was. Not incendiary, but a long and lingering heat, inescapable as the sauce and grease coated everything within a three foot radius of me. Delicious, crispy, very well seasoned skin and moist meat rounded out the experience. Unfortunately, Prince's does not serve beer. But, luckily Nashville has some great watering holes and we had no problem finding some local brews from Yazoo and Boscos. The Germantown Alt at Boscos really hit the spot.

Pretty Things

Around for about a year now, Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project from Cambridge, MA is starting to show up in more and more places. Recently, I had their Baby Tree Quadruple at 4th Ave Pub. This strong abbey style ale gets a dosing of dried California plums, which intensify the already present stone fruit aromas and flavors. I'm looking forward to sampling the rest of their line-up; hewing towards new world interpretations of ancient European styles, they seem to be one of the more innovative breweries to open in awhile. Also, this video, one of many on their site, is great.

Philly

I've always wanted to visit Monk's, the famed Belgian beer bar and restaurant, in Philly. Despite being close and easily accessible by public transit, until last weekend, I hadn't been to Philly in the nine years that I've lived in NYC. A quick ride on the 10AM Saturday morning Bolt Bus, had me at Monk's in time for lunch.

Unfortunately, the focus of my trip wasn't entirely beer related. I, along with a group of intrepid runners/beer aficionados, were there to run the Philly marathon. A little Duvel Green and Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza to carbo load pre-race and then more than a little Elysian Pale Ale, Russian River Damnation and Weihestephaner Dunkle to recover post-race made the marathon all the more enjoyable. Not that the race wasn't enjoyable on its own: beautiful course, great weather and good organization.

Of course, being famished probably doesn't make me a discerning critic, but the food (mussels, burgers, charcrouterie, fries and other French/Belgian classics) hit the spot and the beer of course tastes all the better when you feel like you've earned it.

Turkey Day Beers

Traditional York Thanksgiving Grilled Turkey

For those of you charged with providing the booze at Thanksgiving dinner next week, the NY Times has a good list of wines, but why not try beer? If not for the whole meal, grab a bottle for at least one of the courses.

The piece I did for FNM has a nice matrix of 750ml beers, all under $30 and organized by course.

A couple that didn't make the list but are some of my personal favorites:

Southampton Biere de Garde - Striking a nice balance between toasty roasted malt and fruity esters, this is a great beer and style in general for handling the whole array of traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

Jolly Pumpkin Fuego del Otono - Some funky aromas and sour flavors may discourage non-beer geeks at the table, but they will be rewarded with rounded oak and caramel flavors as the beer opens up

Ommegang Rare Vos - Low ABV, great caramel malt flavor with some faint licorice notes from the addition of star anise, this beer is great to start on and can easily segue into dinner

Brasserie a Vapeur Saison de Pipaix - Crisp with loads of citrus (curacao and sweet orange) and spice (pepper, ginger, coriander and roast chicory), another versatile beer that is equally at home with tart cranberry sauce as it is with sage and sausage stuffing.

Birrificio Grado Plato Strada San Felice - Brewed with chestnuts that really come through in the aroma and flavor, works well with roast turkey but may be better with a slice of pie. This beer is definitely not one-note though, plenty of fruity esters and alcohol warmth add to the complexity.

Have more than 8 beer drinkers at the table? While 750ml bottles are great to share amongst 2-4 people, you have to buy several of each to share with larger groups. Instead, consider going for a magnum (1.5L) or jeroboam (3.0L). These brews aren't just huge replicas of their smaller brethren. Bottle conditioning in these behemoths allows the beer to develop slightly different flavors as the yeast continues to work. Also, many are aged longer than normal bottle conditioned beers, yielding a softer, more nuanced product.

Duvel, Corsedonk and several other Belgians seem to be pretty widely available. Check with your local microbrewer, distributor and beer store and see what they have. I know Sly Fox and Hair of the Dog have Jeroboams from time to time. I'd love to hear of more American breweries with large bottles in the comments.

Home Brew for the Holidays

Fermentation is underway on my Belgian style Amber Ale. And, yes, it is next to my bed, a consequence of brewing in a city apartment. Although, nothing is more comforting at night than the click - click of the airlock, letting me know that the yeast is hard at work, or inviting in the morning than the aroma of fermenting wort.

The recipe is based on a standard Belgian Ale recipe from Randy Mosher's invaluable book, Radical Brewing. I highly recommend this book to home brewers and beer enthusiasts alike.

I did a partial mash with some crushed Belgian aromatic and crystal malts, then used pale and amber malt extract with some turbinado sugar to round out the grain bill. Moderate additions of Northern Brewer and Saaz hops are there for balance. Tangerine peel, coriander, star anise, green cardamom and grains of paradise were added at the end,in small quantities, to lend some spice and character. The goal is for the spices to be subtle but discernible.

It will be transferred to a secondary soon and then bottled just in time for the holidays.

Getting ready to brew: Iodophor solution for sanitizing equipment, spices and orange peel, hop plugs, malt extract, turbinado sugar, muslin bags, hydrometer, thermometer, notes and copy of Radical Brewing. At this point, I'd already crushed the grains in my corona mill and started them soaking in 152F water.

VSK at the BT

Very Special Keg night is upon us, the annual celebration of fine and rare beers held at the Blind Tiger. Here's this year's list. The event is Wednesday evening. Also, Blind Tiger sister bar, Spring Lounge, is rocking a NY centric beer list all week - check both out.

The VSK List:
Del Borgo/Dogfish Head My Antonia
Sierra Nevada Limb and Life (in collaboration with Dogfish Head)
Allagash Interlude '07
Lagunitas Barrel Aged Ruben and the Jets
Goose Island Demolition
Stone Vertical Epic '06
Dogfish Pangea
Dogfish 120 redux'08(via Randall)
Brooklyn Backbreaker (cask)
North Coast Old Rasputin 10th Anniversary (aged in bourbon barrels)
Brouwerij De Regenboog Wostyntje '08 (mustard seed ale)
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout '04
JW Lees Harvest Ale aged in a Calvados Cask (Wooden Pin)
Bear Republic Apex '08 (imperial IPA)
Rogue Chatoe Rogue Wet Hop
Rockies Fresh Trak (fresh hop)
Captain Lawrence Nor'Easter
Southampton Saison
Chelsea Imperial Mild Aged in Bourbon Barrels
Blue Point 10th Anniversary IPA
Smuttynose Big A IPA '07
Kuhnhenn All Hallows (Pumpkin Ale)
Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine
Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine '07
Great Divide Hoss Lager (Vienna Lager)
Lefthand Goosinator
Firestone Walker Nector Black Xantus (IMP STOUT, BOURBON BARREL AGED, INFUSED WITH COFFEE)
Farnum Hill Cider Semi Dry
Magic Hat Sour Notion
Picobrouwerij Alvinne Melchior (Belgian Strong Ale)

Old Dogs, New Tricks

A lot of beer geeks, especially recent converts, unjustly look down on some of the bigger craft breweries like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. I guess it's backlash for making it as a business in a culture that is always rooting for the little, local guy. It is easy to forget that these breweries were once the little guys, and that they were standing up to the industrial brewing complex in a country, that at the time, didn't recognize or appreciate quality beer. Sure, their flagship beers, Sam's Boston Lager and Sierra's Pale Ale aren't terribly exciting when compared to some of the beers out their today, but they are decent, well brewed and easy to find representations of classic styles. Stuck in airport or at a birthday party at a non-beer bar? Chances are you can get one or the other, if not both, and that's a good thing, it shows how far craft beer has come.

Thankfully these breweries don't just rest on their laurels, both still have that trailblazing spirit that got them here today, and both turn out some pretty adventurous brews on a more limited scale. Recently, I was at the Blind Tiger where they had 23 Sierra beers on tap - most of which I've never had.

The main point of this post though, is to talk about some incredible Sam Adams brews, from their extreme line, I was lucky enough to sample the other night.

Dopplebock - Chewy, toffee like, fantastic example of the traditional German Brew

Tripplebock - Aged 15 years, no carbonation, briney and soy like before quickly blossoming into ripe stone fruit, really unique beer

Utopia - The world's strongest beer, clocking in at just over 27%. Aged in different barrels (sherry, madeira, beer...) and then blended, this beer rivals any fine cognac or fortified wine, as it should, being priced comparitively. This year's version really picked up some bright notes from the madeira cask but had an overall rich, rounded, nutty body.

Most yeast strains die out around 13%ABV, over the years Sam Adams has been able to breed kind of a super yeast by selecting strains that were still alive in high ABV beers/wines. MIT is now assisting them in further improving their super yeast strain - crazy stuff.

Great beers that really challenge people's notions of what beer is and what its limitations are - and that's a good thing.