Pork Chops & Chicken

Captains Meeting / BBQ At The Fishers

We had a post festival captains meeting at our good friends house the Fishers last Thursday. Post beer festival meeting with the captains who graciously help me run the show. We just had the BeerAdvocate American Craft Beer Festival at the Seaport and World Trade center in Boston in June. We normally host them at the BCA in the South End but to a much smaller gathering. This festival at the Seaport was nearly ten thousand people.

This was a hard fest to pull off, but we made it and now my captains and I needed to unwind and talk it out. But not without beers and a little BBQ first!

 

 

We started out with some spreads and dips which sadly I didn't get a picture of. Then Matt McGrath, who had been quietly working on the grill, presented us with some homebrews. It was a 2005 Belgian style triple. He paired it with grilled stuffed apricots wrapped in prosciutto.It was stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts. This pairing was delicious although a tad messy as the apricots were super soft. The beer had aged nicely as it was well rounded on the edges. No sharp steel-y malt tastes but a light and crisp tripel with subtle notes of citrus. It was very soft and delicate but again delicious. Keeping all the sample glasses from past festivals serves it's purpose well.



While Matt was grilling the apricots her also had been roasting fresh garlic in Schlenkerla Urbock on the grill. Then he mashed/pureed it for a dip. It wound up being great on the burgers.

 

Other foods being served were onion burgers with cheese, teriyaki marinated chicken strips, and hot dogs made by Adam Fisher and Abby Williamson. My Baked Beans with Maple Bacon. Sauteed Kale with a spicy butternut squash puree made by Alana Rivera. And an onion, tomato, and basil tart made by Tyler Hougaboom.

   

 

Then we enjoyed homebrews from Adam along with my Dried Tart Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies with pecans and almond extract.

Adam served us with:

10W40 - approx. 17% Abv. - Its loosely based off of a Foriegn Extra Stout. Brewed on 11/24/02 and bottled on 5/8/03.

10W40 Take 2 - 15% Abv. - Don't remember exactly but this one had some weird sugars in it like Molasses, Honey, etc. Brew on 11/23/03 and bottled on 4/21/04.

Really good stuff!

So that's how we roll. A mellow low-key BBQ with some awesome homebrews, good food, and great friends around.

Savor Washington D.C. 2009

Okay I am finally ready to blog about Savor in D.C. I have been avoiding this blog post. Not for any reason in particular though. I just haven't felt like blogging until after the American Craft Beer Festival was over. For those of you who don't know, I manage the BeerAdvocate.com beer festivals and help organize them as well as staff the volunteers for the festivals. The ACBF needed over 300 volunteers. So there was a lot to do and I just didn't feel like blogging. But now that it is all over, I am back!

The deal with Savor. Savor was created to highlight food and beer pairings at a finer level by the Brewers Association. They began this event last year over a 2 day period showcasing fine foods paired with exceptional craft beers. This year they only had the event on one day.

As someone who hosts beer dinners for a living through BeerAdvocate.com, I am always interested in the various interpretations and presentations of beer and food combination's. Also, BeerAdvocate.com happens to be one of the sponsors for this event. And for what this event costs ($95 a head) it's good to be a sponsor.

Here is a list of the participating breweries this year.

Breweries for Savor

And the list of food and the food and beer pairings.

Menu

Pairings



When we first arrived, we were hustled around the side of the National Building Museum to the VIP entrance and didn't have to wait in the massive line.

 

I was able to get inside with only a few moments to snap some pictures before the guests entered.



Cheese and accouterments.



Flying Fish Brewing Co. Abbey Dubbel with Moroccan Spiced Lamb Burgers and Exit 4 American Trippel with Cherrywood Grilled Steak Skewers.



Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA with Grilled Beef Skewers with Fire and Spice. Merry Monk's Ale Belgian Style Tripel with Flautas De Pato.



Smuttynose Brewing Co. with Passion Fruit-Mango Mousse cups and Gravitation Quad with Black Bean and Shitake Mushroom Quesadillas.

 

Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. Xtra Gold American Tripel with Maryland Crab Cake Sliders (I am giggling at the "Contains Shellfish" warning on the sign. Their effing crab cakes! Come on people.) Captains Reserve Imperial IPA with Maytag Blue Cheese.

Boscos Brewing Co. Ghost River Hefeweizen with Chicken Breast A La Blanche De Chambly (Sauce is made with Unibroue's Blanche De Chambly, a white ale made in Canada.) Ghost River Golden with Grilled Beef Skewers with Fire and Spice.

 

A few extras I spied lingering around. Kingsbury Chocolates Espresso cups. I am not sure which cheese this is. It's either gouda or gruyere with roasted red peppers. The chocolate was by the Great Divide Table though not the right pairing it went with the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti (Imperial Stout) that Great Divide had.

More beef skewers. Boring. But the beers were not boring at all. Sexual Chocolate is awesome.

Nice fatties. Chesapeake Bay oysters.

Espresso Sambuca Parfaits

Crystal shot glasses layered with Sambuca flavored cream
Spiked with chocolate bits
Topping an espresso pudding
Garnished with striped chocolate sticks and a delicate chocolate wafer.

That is Alec Lopez's hand from The Dive Bar and The Armsby Abbey holding this cup for display. I wanted to explain what this was according to the description. This was more like some espresso jello with cream on top. While it tasted fantastic, the texture was a little creepy.

This was to be paired with Schafly's Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Jicama and Green Papaya summer rolls with Schafly's Oak aged Barleywine.

Sprecher Abbey Triple with Vegetarian Samosas.

 

Breckenridge Brewing Co. 471 IPA with Andouille Sausage en croute.

 

Sierra Nevada Brown Saison with Shrimp Satay and ginger.

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale with Southwestern Black Bean Soup.

 

Heiner Brau Maerzen with Pulled Pork BBQ sliders.

 

Avery Brewing Co. Brabant Barrel Aged Wild Ale with Open Faced Tenderloin Paninis. Since the ones at Avery were decimated, I found them again at the Capitol City Brewing Co. (Arlington) paired their Amber Waves Ale. They even had the Scallop Burgers with Cilantro Lime Mayo too.

And who could pass up Russian River? I just wanted the Pliny the Elder. I didn't care about the pairings, plus they looked like shit by the time I got over there. I just wanted to say hi to Natalie and Vinnie. Vinnie Cilurzo is arguably the man who created the Double IPA craze in the states and makes one of the best in the country. 

And last but not least Allagash. I started with the Passion Fruit-Mango cups and I ended with them. They were delicious and pretty.

 

Over all the experience was good, but I have to say the food was rather disappointing. The event cost $95 per person. And the food was repeated over and over at various tables. I only took pictures when I saw something new. But the amount of beer and brewers and repeated food was staggering.

The food quality was okay, but I still think that even if they had no choice but to repeat the food, it should have been awesome. It was okay but basically it was wedding appetizer food and nothing was really extraordinary.

The beer and the selections were great. But this event is supposed to be a food and beer event. If I were a foodie, or a novice to beer trying to understand this event or the hype around food and beer, I wouldn't get it. I would think this is one expensive ass happy hour.

I am not trying to impugn the efforts that the Brewers Association went through to make this event happen, but it could have been 100 times better and I will tell you why.

Last year they had much more variety or maybe it was just a higher caliber of food. But the problem with last years event, it was held on two days and at times where everyone was starving. 5pm on Friday, 12 and 5 pm on Saturday. As soon as everyone entered the venue the food was wiped out. All the pairings were wrong on each table because they had to scramble to replace what was wiped out with pairing food from other places.

Again as a novice to beer or foodie, I wouldn't have understood it. Since nothing matched, and everything was replaced with Elbow chocolates and duck purses. It would have just seemed like an expensive way to spend the afternoon with snacks and beers.

This year they had one shot to get it right. One session, 7:30 until 11pm. They handled the amount of food okay but it wasn't all that for the price. I suppose if you look at it as an all you can eat and drink for $95 bucks, I guess that's a good deal, but the purpose of this event wasn't supposed to be a free for all. It was supposed to be an awesome food and beer event. It was only okay and only the beer was stellar.

The side events around Savor were much better. The Lupulin Reunulin event at RFD the day before Savor was awesome. BeerAdvocate.com had held a pub crawl all day leading up to this event. This event was a speaker panel of the "Big Dicks" moderated by the ever so lovely Julie Johnson of All About Beer. Ken Grossman and his son Brian of Sierra Nevada joined in on the action too.

The "Big Dicks" are a bunch of brewers we like to call the cool kids, the popular guys in the industry. Sam (Levi's) Calagione of Dogfish Head, (Pretty Boy) Adam Avery of Avery Brewing Co., Rob (Dirty) Tod of Allagash, Tomme (You ruined my beer, now I hate you!) Arthur of Lost Abbey, and Vinnie (Where the fuck is RR in Mass.?) Cilurzo of Russian River (not pictured because his ass was late to the party). Everyone talks about their beers, everyone wants to meet them and hang out with them.

It's all good fellas and all in love. Really, I am good friends with all of them, but I have to bust their balls. Each one of their nick names is an inside joke. Except for Sam who really was a Levi's Jeans model back in the day. It's okay to ask him about that too.

With this event we tasted 16 beers and listened to this panel discuss the beers and drink them together. It was an awesome event. We noticed everyone around us was smashed by the end of this event, and I couldn't help but think what pussies when I had been on a pub crawl all day and was barely buzzed. I had to laugh at that.

One guy nearly got his ass kicked by me during this event though. He was rudely shooshing us and I mean being a straight up bitch about it, those who were standing in the back of the room. It was a social event, drinks were flowing, how can you expect people to be dead silent? And on top of that it wasn't even that bad or loud. I told this douche bag, whom was so rude and pretty much deserved a beat down, that he was rude after the event. He got holier than thou saying he spent $40 bucks to get into the event. Big Hairy Deal! I spent $40 bones too. So did everyone else. I made Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski owners of The Dive Bar and The Armsby Abbey, laugh out loud when the crybaby was still crying about the price, I told him "I will fuck you up" right to his face. I meant it too. He was such a bitch for that. Alas he didn't spoil the night, the mood, or all of my fun.

I am not really that hardcore to fight a guy, but I did want to dump beer all over this guys head. Sadly though, it is true that I do have a foul mouth.

But that night was not about crybabies. It was a fun gathering of friends and industry folk. Lots of laughing and information about these beers being discussed. And the "Big Dicks" cutting it up on stage.

After Savor on Saturday, it was also Adam Avery's 50th 43rd birthday. I left Savor early with the Ladies Of Cambridge Commons from Boston. We went and got a drink or six. Then Todd Alström (my husband) called me to tell me everyone was at Matchbox. So I headed over there.

On the way over I got into a dance battle with some Queens on the streets of D.C. They were clearly humoring me, but then we broke out into Voguing and the shit got serious fast. But I won! Ya Betta Ax Somebody! Totally true story. I battled and won for my peeps!

Then I met up with Sherri (I thought her name was hot ass bitch the entire weekend. She is gorgeous!) and Alec again. Greg Koch of Stone was there along with Adam Avery, and a bunch of other people at Matchbox. Poor Adam though. A crazy girl grabbed a hold of him and really became aggressive with her um "affections" towards him. Yeah her husband was standing right behind her while she told everyone at the bar that she would totally Bone Adam and that her husband wouldn't care because Adam was a celebrity and they loved his beers. Yeah her husband looked rightfully upset and "unthrilled" with his wife. As were we all. Poor Adam indeed. What a way to spend his birthday! Surviving a near rape. It's what you get though when you're Pretty Boy Adam I suppose.

We had a great laugh at his expense for that though. I will owe him some drinks for that.

All in all the weekend was good. I preferred the events before and after Savor the most and the company we kept. Not to mention the great new people we met. Savor was okay, but they better make next years flawless. The beers were the only thing holding it together this year for an other wise very expensive, yet mediocre food and beer event.

Greg Koch's Full Keynote Speech From 2009 Craft Brewers Conference

A few weeks ago when I posted the funny pic Greg Koch snapping a picture of himself behind a crowd of 1700 people at the Craft Brewers Conference along with the now famous "I Am A Craft Brewer" video, I promised to post the full Keynote speech when it was available. Well here it is.

Now the full speech that sparked the "I Am A Craft Brewer" video clip. This speech is 46 minutes long, but very thought provoking and hilarious.

And yes Todd and Jason Alström really did get up and sing along with Will Meyers of Cambridge Brewing Company and Greg Koch. Watch the video at exactly the 30 minute mark to find out what I am talking about.

This video starts off with the IAACB video but that is how the speech began so watch it again and it goes right into the speech.

2009 Craft Brewer's Convention Keynote from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

Ladies, Don't Look At Me To Start Your Beer Revolution

[Illustration by Kyle T. Webster | BA mag #27]

This is my very first article to ever be published. It was published in the Beer Advocate Magazine April Issue # 27. You can subscribe to BA and get a subscription of the Magazine or order special back issues of the mag.

Beer Advocate Magazine

This article was briefly mentioned during the Women In Beer Panel at the Craft Brewers Conference which I was on this year and is part of an on going discussion about women in the beer industry and how women and beer are perceived in general.

This article is more or less a manifesto, a proverbial "kick in the skirt" to those women who are not sure that the beer world is "safe" for them. A slap down to those who think the beer world is so "male dominated" yet sit on the sidelines and do nothing about it. Or worse yet perpetuate the perceived "male dominance" by forming women exclusive groups. Doing to the men what has been done to them for so many years. Bleh!

In the weeks to come as I get the audio from my panel discussion at the CBC, I will blog that panel discussion and add some more depth to my answers and the panel over all.

There is certainly a generational gap when it comes to these issues. The women who have had to forge their careers, and the women today who enter with the luxuries of a more female friendly environment. I don't mean or aim to piss all over those who have worked hard to be taken seriously. But I don't support the effort to make beer only about them or their issues either.

I am taking a stance now once and for all, no special treatments or marketing ploys for women when it comes to beer. The beer should be about the beer. Women and men alike will drink it if it is worth it's salt. Beware of the marketing angles that tell you women need special treatment, or special attention and care in order to drink more beer. Down with separating the houses, and trying to capitalize on women as though we were weak, stereotypical, and worst of all, predictable. Enjoy the reading. As always comments are appreciated.

Click the images to enlarge.

 

 

 

I Am A Craft Brewer

This video was first shown at the Craft Brewers Conference 2009 that took place here in Boston. This video is now viral and spreading fast. Please help pass it on whether it's through my site or the video link itself.

Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing Co. gave the keynote speech at this years CBC and offered a room full of 1700 craft brewing professionals an affirmation. I was lucky enough to be present when this was first aired.

This was Greg actually twittering during the keynote speech and took a picture of the crowd. Image via Greg's iPhone.

 

Big room. Thank god the crowd at my panel discussion at the CBC was significantly less than that.

A Note about this video:

"I Am A Craft Brewer" is a collaborative video representing the camaraderie, character and integrity of the American Craft Brewing movement. Created by Greg Koch, CEO of the Stone Brewing Co. and Chris & Jared of Redtail Media...and more than 35 amazing craft brewers from all over the country. The video was shown to a packed audience of 1700 craft brewers and industry members at the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference as an introduction to Greg's Keynote Speech entitled "Be Remarkable: Collaboration Ethics Camaraderie Passion." As is tradition for the CBC Keynote, a toast to the audience was offered. This time, the beers offered for the toast were all collaboratively brewed craft beers including Isabella Proximus, Collaboration Not Litigation, AleSmith/Mikkeller/Stone Belgian Style Triple, Jolly Pumpkin/Nøgne-Ø/Stone Special Holiday Ale, and 2009 Symposium Ale "Audacity of Hops."

When the entire Keynote speech is posted, I will blog that video too. The entire speech was awesome and worth spreading.

Todd's Birthday Menu

This Monday I held a surprise birthday party for my husband at The Publick House and Monk's Cell in Brookline, Mass.







My husband is Todd Alström, the co-founder and co-owner of BeerAdvocate.com. He celebrated his 40th birthday on Jan. 10. That is what inspired the London trip I have recently blogged about.

Thanks to the efforts of the head chef Brent D. Mimeault, and the owner and personal friend David Ciccolo, we successfully pulled off a wonderful party for Todd.

Todd had no idea because the party was after his birthday. We tricked him with a fake ploy of a forgotten wallet in a drunken moment to come back to the bar and pick it up. Low and behold, his friends lay in wait to completely catch him off guard.

It was inspired by two great friends. Kate Baker and Suzanne Schalow of Cambridge Commons. Kate recently celebrated her birthday with a huge surprise party thrown for her by Suzanne. When people had found out about Todd's big iconic 40th, they were disapointed that they were not able to share his birthday with him.

In talking to David, we decided the best course of action was to "Bring Belgium to Todd." Todd really wanted to go back to Belgium for his birthday, but sadly we were just not able to afford it this time around. London was signifcantly cheaper so we went there instead.

The Publick House being the most well known Belgian Beer Bar in the US at this point, was the ideal location.

This was the menu for Todd's party. I sadly did not take pictures of this glorious spread, but I thought the menu should displayed.




We also had two very delicious homemade cakes. A Ghiradelli chocolate pudding cake with white frosting, and a peanut-butter cake with milk chocolate frosting. These cakes were made by our good friend Honah Lee.



That is the milk chocolate and peanut-butter cake. "Old Balls" is my loving pet name for my "old" husband.

Candice Alstrom To Speak @ Craft Brewers Conference

[That's so not me in the pic, but I liked the thumbs up. I am congratulating myself here.]

I just got invited to be on a panel of speakers at the up and coming Craft Brewers Conference that will be in Boston this year on April 21-24.

I am very excited. It is my first panel to speak on and for this event, it's kind of a big deal.

"I don't know how to put this... but, I'm kind of a big deal... people know me... I'm very important... I have many leather-bound books... and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." Ron Burgundy, Anchorman.

The topic is:

Beer according to Women:
How women brew, present, pair, and sell beer (yes, gender matters!)

To be moderated by Sebbie Buhler of Rogue Ales.

This is very exciting news for me. I will be there not only representing Beer Advocate, but women as well.

This is taken from the CBC website for any of you who are interested in what the CBC is.

What is the Craft Brewers Conference?

This is the only industry event that serves both brewpubs and breweries.

For professional brewers, the Craft Brewers Conference is the number one environment in North America for concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing to improve brewery quality and performance. The conference is also a great social event with over 2,600 beerfolk enjoying craft brews together. BrewExpo America® allows exhibitors and buyers to develop profitable business relationships and helps brewing and brewery restaurant professionals encounter the latest and the best that industry vendors have to offer.

Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to be a part of the conference and trade show for the brewing and brewpub industry!

Who organizes the Craft Brewers Conference?

The Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America® is presented by the Brewers Association, a recognized leader in the national and international brewing arena.

The Aztec Beer Dinner

This beer dinner was truly one of the highlights of my career. It deserves to be mentioned and described based on how great it turned out. Sadly for being such an amazing dinner, I didn't manage to get one single picture of the food and the courses we served. I remember everything in perfect detail. Enough to talk about and discuss some of the amazing concepts an ideas that you can do when it comes to beer and food pairings.

This idea came to me randomly. I was at a wonderful restaurant in North Hampton, Mass. called The Sierra Grill. The owner, O'Brien Tomalin and I were talking about all of the amazing dinners he has hosted there before. One of the dinners he mentioned is a staple dinner that he does annually called the Big Beer and Big Game dinner. This is all about big game meats like elk and venison. Thinking about the venison, I told O'Brien about a dinner I had recently done called the Beer and Chocolate dinner. I paired every single course with chocolate, cheese, and beer. Our main course was grilled venison with a cocoa Madeira glaze and blue cheese foam. Absolutely incredible. We talked about doing something fun like that together.

The idea of doing an Aztec beer dinner popped up in my head. Thinking about the chocolates, and recent threads on Beer Advocate in the food forums asking what pairs well with spices and chilies, it was only natural that my focus immediately went towards Latin American cultures.

The dinner never progressed with The Sierra Grill. I was pretty bummed about it too. The restaurant is very good and they take proper care of their beers and give you incredible pairings and portions. I still had the idea on my head though. I mentioned it to a few friends. The reaction was pretty much, "Aztec Beer dinner? What's that going to be like?" I had no idea just yet. I just knew spices and chocolates and one beer called Southern Tier Choklat. But I had to make it different from the beer and chocolate dinner.

The place I normally host my beer dinners at Upstairs On The Square, came to me and said we need to do another beer dinner. I told them the timing was perfect because I had been sitting on this idea about the Aztec culture, but I wasn't sure where to go with it yet.

When I plan a beer dinner, unless I am so sure of what the menu should be or has to have on it, I bring in a selection of beers with Head Chef Steve Brand and Wine Director Matt Reiser of UOTS, to sit down and formally taste them. From the beers, we construct a menu. For this dinner particularly I knew I had to use Negra Modelo, and Southern Tier Choklat (Mayan influence chocolate). Negra Modelo was the most important to me. One because beer snobs need to know that you can drink Macro beers and pair them just as well as you can with any craft beer. And two because Negra Modelo stands alone when it comes to typical Mexican beers. It's the only choice when the other options are Tecate, Sol, or Corona. It's also part of the culture and I will explain later on in this post. Negra Modelo is an underrated beer when it comes to Mexican and Latin American cultures. It works so well with a lot of the foods.

I brought the Negra Modelo, and the Southern Tier Choklat, as well as a few German selections. This tasting was right after I came back from a Tour of Southern Bavaria. I selected Ayinger Dunkel and in a last minute panic not sure if I should or not I grabbed a bottle of Schlenkerla Urbock (Rauchbier). I was thinking about the smoked flavors and smoked meats. I knew smoking meats and jerky was big in the culture. I also did light research before this pre-tasting and found out that there was a fermented honey drink that the priests would drink. So I had a vintage bottle of Brother Adams Bragget from Atlantic Brewing Company. I don't honestly remember the rest of the beers I brought to taste out. I knew we would be using 3 of the beers aforementioned. I was curious about the Negra Modelo vs. the Ayinger Dunkel. Both similar in styles, steely and coppery malt flavors. Ayinger is a far superior beer, but in the end it had to be highlighted that Negra Modelo can be treated to a proper pairing. The Schlenkerla Urbock was chosen by the chef on sight. He snatched the bottle up and said "I know this beer, I love this beer, we have to use it in some way." I was grateful for that. It's not something everyone is in love with based on it's huge smokey flavors, but I personally love it.

So with the beers selected, Negra Modelo, Brother Adams Bragget, Schlenkerla Urbock, and Southern Tier's Choklat, this is what we came up with. This was a fusion dinner with traditional ingredients. These beers chosen in a slight random nature, have an awesome correlation to the time period of the Aztecs which I will explain with each course.

 

It's important to note that while the Aztec empire no longer remains intact, a lot of their culture, agriculture, and what they ate is still reflected in Latin American culture today.

The Aztecs believing that one of their gods would come back in the form of a pale man, were met with the Spanish Conquistadors. Pale men with blond hair and beards. The Aztecs offered them their gold and foods. The Conquistadors in turn brought the Aztecs small pox and other diseases. They then conquered them with the help of surrounding tribes who didn't want to be under the Aztec rule anymore. 

What the Aztecs gave back to the Conquistadors among a serious amount of gold and riches were beans, squash, tomatoes, chills, corn, avocados, sweet potatoes, vanilla, peanuts, pineapples, and the papaya.

Seems like a fair trade. (Sarcastic.)

First Course: Market Ceviche with Lime and Avocado paired with Negra Modelo

Beer: Negra Modelo
Style: Vienna Lager
ABV: 5.4%

Negra Modelo has a long history with Latin America. It was first brewed in 1925. It's is a Vienna Lager style although Beer Advocate has it listed as a Munich Dunkel. That was the reason why I selected the Ayinger Dunkel as a back up in case the Negro Modelo did not go over well because they are both so similar in styles. Everyone agreed that we had to highlight the Negra Modelo. Both have the same characteristics. Dark in color, coppery or steel-y malts, and sweet biscuit flavors. The origins for Mexico were Austrian Brewers who came to Latin American and started brewing their styles of beer in the late 19th century.

Seafood was a big part of daily life for many Aztecs. For this course we paired Negra Modello with a ceviche that included large pieces of scallops and shrimps dressed in lime and cilantro, on a bed of avocado.

The seafood was lush and fresh and served in huge portions. Not minced but in whole pieces. It was lightly dressed in lime and cilantro. The lime tied in the flavors of the beer. The steel-y malt flavors and the citric acid cut into each other and allowed the raw flavors of the beer and seafood to be met with balance. You normally add a lime to your Negra Modelo so the lime dressing acted as the lime for the beer. One of the few times fruit in beer is acceptable is in Mexican beers. The avocado was more of a puree that the seafood sat on.

Delicious course over all. Simple preparation and yet packed full of flavors. A most excellent start to the dinner.

Second Course: White Bean Puree with Duck Prosciutto and Honey Drizzled Squash paired with Brother Adam's Bragget

Beer: Atlantic Brewing Company 2006 Brother Adam's Bragget
Style: Braggot
ABV: 11.8%

The style of beer known as Braggot has it's orgins from around the time period of the Aztec culture. Between the 1200's and 1400's. Early Aztec origins on the timeline. Braggot is, in rough terms, a supped up mead. Mead is fermented honey and water, while braggot has the addition of grains and spices. Brother Adam's Bragget uses 2000 lbs. of honey and cellars it for a year before bottling. It is best served about 2 years after the year it was bottled. And note that the style of beer is braggot, but Atlantic Brewing Company purposely named their beer Bragget.

The Aztec priests used to drink a kind of fermented honey drink. Not to be confused with chica. It was coincidental that the time period of the Aztec and the time period of braggot correlates together. The Braggot simulating the fermented honey drink. I read about the priests and instantly thought of braggots.

This course truly encompasses a lot of the ingredients native to the Aztec culture. The Muscovy duck was a big part of their diet. As well as beans and squash, and honey.

For this course we had originally intended for the duck to be more like a prosciutto chip to dip into the white bean puree, but instead we had it thinly sliced and draped on top. It was presented as white bean puree in a small cup draped with the duck prosciutto with a salad of squash drizzled in honey and topped with toasted pepitas.

The honey flavors married perfectly with the sweet squash. The duck prosciutto added the right amount of fatty flavors to cut through the heavy honey sweetness and bring out the wildflower flavors in the honey used in the braggot. The white bean puree added the perfect texture to balance out the dish. Even the toasted pepitas added just enough flavor to enhance the braggot.

A truly playful dish that worked in so many different ways. From the historical aspect to the flavor explosions from all of the different elements coming together. Nothing in the flavors over powered one and other, and the beer, despite it's strength in alcohol did not trump the food flavors. It is a very delicate tasting beer despite the ABV.




Third Course: Spiced Chicken with Mole, Corn Spaetzel paired with Schlenkerla Urbock

Beer: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
Style: Rauchbier
ABV: 6.6%

Another happy accident of history when it comes to the time period of this beer and the Aztec culture. Originally we had planned for this beer because of the smoking and drying of meats frequently used by the Aztecs. We wanted the smokiness of the beer to highlight that. But upon research of the brewery, it began in 1405. Right smack in the middle of the Aztec timeline. So while the smoke is represented, the brewery itself has it's place with the timeline.

Rauchbiers are heavily smoked beers. Opening this beer and immediately you think of bacon and eggs. The way they taste, is the way nearly all beers once upon a time tasted like. When drying the grains or Kilning, they placed them under wood burning fires. This would in turn leave a smoked flavor on the grains and the outcome would be smokey flavored beers. It wasn't until the addition of modern tools for kilning that the beer lost it's smokey flavors.

Schlenkerla has mastered this tradition of smoked beers and continues the tradition on today. They smoke their beers with beechwood. They have a small fire where you can pitch some wood into to simulate what the brewing process is like, but the true methods are a tightly kept secret. The original brew pub is still in existence in Bamberg, Germany. And the brewery had been handed down from the same family generation after generation.

The dish itself however, is not exactly true to form for the Aztec culture. While chocolates and chilies in the mole sauce were very prevalent, as well as corn, one of the biggest and key ingredients in Latin America, the chicken was not native. Chickens were brought over by Europeans. The Aztecs ate venison, dog, iguana, duck, seafood, geese and other wild foul. Since I had already used venison for a previous beer dinner, I thought it best that we skip the venison. We settled on chicken, only because we knew that it would be the best thing for the mole.

Steve Brand the head chef was so in love with the Urbock, he wanted to go all out and honor this beer. So he made a corn spaetzel to accompany the meal and keep some German flair in this dish as well as keep it primarily Aztec with it's ingredients.

The Mole was perfect. Just the right amount of chocolate and chilies with not a lot of heat from the chilies. The chicken was cooked to perfection. It was spiced and then pan seared leaving a crispy skin and perfectly juicy meat inside. Everyone grilled the chef after the dinner about how he prepared the chicken. It laid on a bed of mole sauce. The flavors were rich and paired amazingly with the beer. The Urbock is a deep, dark ale with heavy smoked flavors. It has big smoke flavor but actually finishes sweet. The spiced chicken was enhanced by the smoked flavors and the mole and chilies played with the complex flavors of the malts from the beer. The corn spaetzel also brought out the sweet flavors on the beer.

This was almost the "piece de resistance" course. Even some friends of mine who were fiercely against the beer due to the heavy smoked flavors, loved this course. But we haven't talked about the dessert course yet.

Fourth Course: Ancho Chili Chocolate Bread Pudding with Southern Tier Choklat

Beer: Southen Tier Choklat
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 11%

This beer was the very first thing thought of when considering doing the Aztec Beer dinner. Most people are familiar with chocolate and Latin American cultures. It's all over the place and it's origins are old. But the interesting part about the Aztecs, was that they used to drink their chocolate cold and usually it was served or poured for the rulers and gods. So we used this beer to represent that aspect. The brewery itself goes into the Mayan aspect of chocolate. But most cultures of this region respected and cultivated chocolate.

Making sure that we used chilies properly for this dinner, we used ancho chilies in the bread pudding. It turned out perfectly. It had the slightest hint of heat from the spices. It also sat on a bed of vanilla cream sauce. Vanilla is very big in Latin America.

Normally I don't like to pair similar flavors on top of one and other. Chocolate on chocolate. It can be over kill. But the chocolate in the beer was very bitter. And being a stout it was very thick. So adding the sweet chocolate bread pudding brought out the raw chocolate flavors on both. The sweet and the bitter combining to tame each other and marry at the same time. The vanilla also helped tame the bitterness on the beer and make for a much smoother finish. Sometimes beers like this are so big and hard to drink. When you add something so sweet to it, it tones it down and makes for a more drinkable beer. The chilies added that slight bit of heat to make the course absolutely fun.

All in all this beer dinner was simply amazing. Chef Steve Brand really knocked this one out of the park. And the beers held their own to such marvelous pairings. This kind of dinner is something that I personally love because it shows you how creative you can be when it comes to pairings and how far you can go. Beer can be paired with anything and almost always pairs better with food.

From Russia, With Love

My job is the most amazing job ever. I get to plan and host beer dinners around the city of Boston for BeerAdvocate.com.

One of the places I do most of my beer dinners and tastings at is Upstairs On The Square in Harvard Square. Matt P. Reiser the Wine Director, whom is a great friend of mine, allows Beer Advocate to really do whatever we like when it comes to beer pairings. We have had a lot of fun and much success with some of the events.

Head Chef Steve Brand, has an excellent knowledge of food and loves beer. When we put our heads together along with Matt, we have come up with some extraordinary ideas. Sadly one of the more amazing dinners I hosted with them, called the Aztec Beer Dinner, a fusion of Aztec culture ingredients in modern day preparation paired with beer, I didn't get any pictures to blog about. All I can tell you is that it was out of this world. But I don't know if it was better than the Beer and Chocolate dinner where we paired every course with beer, cheese, and chocolate.

The Russian Beer Dinner came to us as an idea from a personal friend of mine named Abby Williamson Fisher who was attending the Aztec Beer Dinner and thought it might be a good idea to try and host a Russian pairing. Me and Matt both agreed provided she would discuss the culture and translate for us. The Russian language is by far one of the hardest I have ever tried to attempt. Abby who has spent A few years between Russia and Georgia agreed to help us plan. We decided to use only Russian and Russian style beers to match the cuisine.

Initially I did not want to go the traditional route with this dinner. I heard many people curious about the idea of Russian food, but did not want to see borscht on the menu. I personally like beets and especially borscht. So too bad for them, we chose a traditional menu and sold the dinner out anyway.

Welcoming Course: Mushroom and Onion Plemini paired with Kvass

Beer: Kvass (4 different commercial varieties)
Style: Kvass
ABV: 0-2.0%

Our welcoming course was a little bit funny. Originally we had intended for the welcoming course to be Pierogi. Not to be mistaken for the Polish Perogies. The Polish version is type of dumpling generally stuffed with potato and many variations from there. It varies all over Eastern Europe and Slavic countries. We were aiming for this particular recipe. A bread pocket filled with mushrooms and onions. Pierogi = yeast bread pocket, while perogie = unleavened dough pockets. In the roughest sense of the word. Small confusion but one that turned out to be just as amazing.

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{Image via Wikipedia}

Instead of the bread pockets, we were served Plemini's instead. The flavor profile was the same. Mushrooms and onions.

{Image via From Russia, With Love tasting}

This course was served with a Russian drink called Kvass. Kvass is basic origins of beer. It is around 5,000 years old, made from hardened bread or croutons and water. It ferments and can be flavored with fruits and spices.


{Image via Wikipedia}

This is how the Sumerians discovered beer over 9,000 years ago. They are the first ones to brew beer. The women primarily were the worlds first brewers. The Egyptian's also carried on with this tradition of drinking fermented bread drinks. At some point it was carried into Europe and Eastern Europe and many styles and variations like Kvass still exist. Kvass is low in alcohol and is still made today in home kitchens. You can even find kvass carts around Russia. Today it is also commercially produced like soda. The commercial variations have no alcohol or very little. And even the homemade versions are very low in alcohol content.

So with the origins nearly as old as the original beer makers, it was only natural that we use this product. They have an awesome raisin-y taste with deep bread notes. It's mot unusual and not what you would expect if you ahve never tasted Kvass before. But it was sweet and delicious. They made for an excellent pair with mushrooms and onions.

The First Course: Traditional Blini's with Caviar and Russian Budweiser

Beer: Bud
Style: Lager
ABV: 5%



In the middle of planning for this dinner, I instantly thought about a brewer I had met in Germany. I was on a beer writers tour of Southern Bavaria. One of the places we stopped off at was the Anheuser-Busch hop farms. It was there where they showed us commercial hop farming and prepared for us an amazing beer dinner all paired with A-B products. This is when I met Paul King. The Brew Master of Budweiser Russia. We were drinking Budweiser made from London. I noticed it was different. Darker in color, more amber, maltier and sweeter, and no husky, grainy taste on the finish. It was actually very good.

Thinking of how nice Paul was in Germany, I wondered if Bud from Russia would taste different and if there was a way to get some for this dinner. I was almost sure it would be better than ours. I asked my husband (Todd Alstrom) to contact A-B and see if they would actually send us some for this tasting. Well they did and it was amazing. The label looks like it is American, but the back had all the Russian writing on it. And the incorporated some sampling labels on to it including when they sent it out to us.







This was hard for me to imagine because it was a beer I had never tried before. I was banking on it being malty like the version from London. The thought behind it was that the sweet malt would help balance with the creme fraiche, the egg and salty caviar tastes.

We did a classic blini set up with boiled egg and creme fraiche, only the blini was made from corn. The caviar was a flying fish roe. The Budweiser was malty and did not have that nasty grain taste that the American version has. It was delicious and crisp and very fresh. And it really went well with the corn blini's. It drew out the natural sweetness on the blini and allowed the individual flavors of the roe to come out and play without overwhelming the dish. Excellent, Excellent, Excellent pairing.

The Second Course: Traditional Borscht with Baltika #9

Beer: Balitka #9 Extra
Style: Euro Strong Lager
ABV: 8%



This was another worrisome course for me in the planning stages. I wasn't sure of this pairing until I actually tasted it.

When thinking of borscht the first thing that comes to mind is beets. Traditionally borscht is made with a meat stock and has actual pieces of meat in it. It's a very hearty, warming, and comforting soup. Russians have to contend with some seriously cold temperatures. They need foods rich, hearty and warming to help them contend with the weather.

In doing research for this paring I kept coming across information about weisse beers with borscht. Sure that makes sense if it was vegetarian and beet heavy. But real borscht has meat and meat stock in it. I couldn't see this paring working very well together. Taste is subjective, but still I wanted to ace this one. Also in looking at reviews for Baltika #8 (wheat beer) on Beer Advocate, I was not thrilled with this prospect.

I had to find a way to incorporate Balitka into the dinner, based on what a force they are in Russia today. They are one of the largest breweries in Russia and Europe. It's like denying Budweiser it's place in the American beer culture. It's that big.

I looked around for other Balika products that could fit for this pairing instead. I came across Baltika #9. The reviews on Beer Advocate were not as strong as I had hoped for despite having a decent rating. But the flavor profile was matching what I had in mind. Baltika #9 is a categorized as strong European lager. It's 8% in ABV. The reviews claimed it to be too sweet and boozy. I believe it scored mixed reviews because they didn't understand the style of strong lager or its purpose for the regions they tend to dominate. It's supposed to be big and warming with a lot of alcohol. Again it goes back to the Russians needing to stay warm in their climates. So naturally they are going to brew lagers bigger. Some of the reviewers dismissed this concept and went full on into reviewing this beer in an overly critical manner.

This beer had a coppery malty taste and very big and upfront sweetness, but not overwhelming as suggested by the reviews. The coppery malt took on the dill flavors from the cream and sugary beets like they were made for each other. This paring was a long shot for me because I haven't had the beer and was going against the majority of reviews and style suggestion. It more than paid off in the best ways possible. The meat in the stew was soft and added just the right touch of richness. The beer was not too sweet or alcoholic for this pairing. Usually if a beer is described as too boozy it can be hard to pair with the right food for fear that the alcohol will overwhelm the pairing. If you taste too much alcohol or one flavor dominates instead of marries with the paring, then it's a wrong pairing. This pairing was far from wrong and may have been one of the best courses according to some of the reactions and comments we heard from some of the attendees of this dinner.

The Third Course: Beef Stroganoff with Victory Baltic Thunder

Beer: Victory Baltic Thunder
Style: Baltic Porter/ Imperial Porter
ABV: 8.5%



Once we decided that traditional was the way to go with this menu, we all suggested Beef Stroganoff for the main course. Sauteed or braised beef in a sour cream sauce.

Our version was not heavy on the sour cream but more about the perfected braised beef. It did have mushrooms and sat on a traditional bed of noodles. It was absolutely phenomenal despite my husbands stroganoff at home which is still the very best I have had.

We already knew we were going to use a Baltic Porter in some capacity for this dinner. It makes obvious sense. Baltic Porters are basically kicked up English porters. The Russians when visiting beer centric cultures like England, discovered these tasty brews. But to get them across the icy North Seas without freezing over, they had to make them stronger in alcohol. All over the Nordic countries you will find a variation of this beer and it will be stronger the it's original English style.

Victory's Baltic Thunder is a slightly modified version of a beer called Perkunos Hammer from Heavyweight Brewing Company. The short story is that Heavyweight closed and Victory picked up the rights to brew the beer. There was some issues with the name Perkunos Hammer, so they changed it to Baltic Thunder. Perkunos is the Baltic god of thunder in Nordic cultures.

The beer itself is very rich and full bodied, rich notes of molasses, toffee, chocolate, and roasted malts. Even hints of berries or fruit which is a classic flavor profile of Nordic variations of Baltic Porters. Less found in Eastern European versions.

Those flavors combined with the richness of the of the braised meat were a match made in heaven. Heavy meats and heavy beers with cold weather just make for a divine paring. The light cream was actually perfect in softening some of the heavier notes on the beer without totally subduing them.

The Fourth Course: Ptichye Moloko Cake With Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Beer: Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10%



Ptichye Moloko literally translates to Birds Milk. In Russia and Poland there are these candies that you can find every where made of marshmallow dipped in chocolate.


{Image via Wikipedia}

Vladimir Guralnik, head of pastry or confections at a restaurant in Russia called the Praga is famed for creating a luxurious cake version of this dessert.

I knew some how we had to incorporate this kind of dessert in to our dinner and in looking for the name of the candy, I found that there was a cake version of this. The pastry chef at UOTS, had made his version with a thick layer of chocolate to coat the cake, a layer of soft cake, mallow center, cake top. It came out better than I could have imagined. I was expecting cake bottom and a huge topping of the mallow and covered in chocolate. It looks pretty in that version, but the way ours was prepared, was much tastier.

Now considering how full and strong Imperial Stouts, I knew we would need to make sure that the chocolate coating was not thin like on the candy. It needed to be heavy. And then we needed something tart to off set all of the rich flavors and sugars. So we simply added tart strawberries to the plate. I believe they were simply made more tart with lemon juice based sauce. But I am not 100% sure on that.

Russian Imperial Stouts were brewed for the court of Catherine II of Russia. They again were originally from England but to make the transport and to satisfy the daily lifestyle of Russia it is brewed to be stronger. Imperial in beer terms usually means double, extra, or stronger.

Stone IRS, is no lightweight. It's one of the top rated beers on Beer Advocate. It is very bold, robust, in your face, and yet balanced at the same time. Like the porter earlier tasted, this has big roasted malt flavors, chocolate, and fruit flavors. The difference is that the tastes are all forward in the palate and yet smoothed out but the alcohol of this beer. It's quite strong but very smooth.

All three parts to the dessert were heavenly. The chocolate and the beer married perfectly, while the strawberries toned the overwhelming chocolate and beer flavors to allow the cake and mallow to not be trumped.


All in all this was a spectacular beer dinner. The pairings were amazing. The effort put in by Steve Brand and his team along with Abby who toasted us at each course with a Russian toast, to Matt Reiser whom allows us to continue to do these killer pairings.