Month: November 2013

Dining Down the Holiday Homestretch: Choucroute à la Gueuze

Dining Down the Holiday Homestretch: Choucroute à la Gueuze

Sauerkraut is one of those dishes that can assume multiple incarnations, some on the light side, and some with enough goose fat to sink the Bismarck. After three solid days of eating rich foods over the course of that American holiday of sublime overindulgence, I’m 

Fridays’ Liquiforic Links Round-Up

Fridays’ Liquiforic Links Round-Up

It’s that time of year in the U.S. again when the Thanksgiving feast gives way to food comas and the occasional hangover. And Black Friday. If carousing with the host of crazed Black Friday shoppers is not your thing, do what many a craft brewery 

The Barn and the Brewery: A Touch of Tradition and a Dash of Creativity Define Abandon

The Barn and the Brewery: A Touch of Tradition and a Dash of Creativity Define Abandon

Grape vines have long been cultivated in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, and the resulting wines – in particular, the Rieslings reminiscent of the Rhine and Mosel –  have spelled growing acclaim for the region. Keuka Lake, one of the eleven glacial 

Bourbon Squared: Maple-Glazed Pork Belly Meets Barrel-Aged Beer

Bourbon Squared: Maple-Glazed Pork Belly Meets Barrel-Aged Beer

’Tis the season for rich dishes that combat cold evenings. If you’re looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous turkey (or if you just plain like pork), this dish echoes the flavours and aromas of the bourbon barrel-aged beers I featured last weekend. It would 

Bourbon in Michigan: Barrel-Aged Beer along the Great Lakes

Bourbon in Michigan: Barrel-Aged Beer along the Great Lakes

With its rich aromas and flavours, bourbon barrel-aged beer evokes late fall hues and heralds the coming of winter. In this, the first of what I intend be an occasional series of posts tracking barrel-aged and sour beers across North America, I sample some of 

Celebration Time? Women and the Craft Beer World

Celebration Time? Women and the Craft Beer World

*The inspiration for this piece comes from early November’s The Session topic. Here’s a scenario that was making the rounds in many a cultural sensitivity workshop about a decade ago. It goes something like this: A doctor was driving home early one evening and came 

Milling against the Grain: Grimm Brothers Goes All-Germanic

Milling against the Grain: Grimm Brothers Goes All-Germanic

On a continent awash with American renditions of India Pale Ale, it’s a rare and pleasant surprise to come across a North American brewery that does not have an IPA of some sort on its menu. Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, just a stone’s throw away from 

Featured Beer: Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe “Bonator”

Featured Beer: Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe “Bonator”

Today’s featured beer is brought to you by the letter G for Germany. It’s also brought to you by a date: November 9, a rather infamous date in Germany’s often turbulent twentieth-century history. Many remember this date as the evening when an unexpected event ushered 

Never the Twain Shall Meet? Thoughts on The Great Beer Culture Debate of 2013

Never the Twain Shall Meet? Thoughts on The Great Beer Culture Debate of 2013

The early days of September 2013 are days that will not go down in infamy in many places. But in a small corner of the interwebs, the September installment of “The Session: Beer Blogging Friday” generated no small quantum of sound and fury. These sessions