Beer-braised beans

Last night I made another beer-related dish that I thought I'd share with everyone. It is extremely easy, but preserves the flavor of the beer quite well!

This recipe for braised pinto beans is ridiculously simple, which really allows the beer to come through in the final product. I made the beans using my pressure cooker, but canned would do fine as well.

Notes on a Brewday: St. Edhar 8

Ah, the middle ages.

What is it about monastic beers that's so evocative of older times? The time capsule-like nature of Old World breweries in cloistered communities? The romance of a religious order living outside the flow of secular time, preserving the traditions of brewing, manuscript illumination, healing, and so on and so forth, intact through the centuries?

Whatever.

Vlaai met witbier

Cooking with beer can be a real challenge, due to the fact that beer is often one of the only sources of bitterness in a person's diet. Bitterness is a taste that is rarely considered desirable in cooking, as it tends to invoke a negative response on the palate. Part of the reason may come from the primal association of bitterness with poison. Conversely, many animals seek out sweetness, because sweetness often indicates fat, sugar, and protein - all the things we find desirable in our diets.

Simple

"Simple isn't the same as easy," someone once wrote about Luther Perkins' guitar playing. In any art where the craft of production is vital to the outcome - music, brewing, cooking ... - the prospect of stripping things down and going minimalist is exhilarating and risky. Uncluttered sparseness is kinda scary in an era of big, bombastic, over the top beers.

New Year's Champagne Cake

Start the New Year right: with champagne cake!

Soar with Sorghum!

There's a product that we carry at Northern Brewer which occasionally gets some attention from customers. Usually, this attention is a begrudging acknowledgment of anticipated frustration, and it is directed towards White Sorghum syrup. This is a high maltose, gluten-free extract syrup made from sorghum by Briess Malt in Chilton, WI.

Brewer's Log: My Comeback

First thing: clean all these!

Now two months after my wedding, my wallet has restored its modest dripping of funds, enough to get brew back into both fermenters & kegs.

I came into the wedding plans with the fervor to supply all my reception's beer intake. But, thanks to MN liquor statutes, I am left with a complete glass carboy & plastic bucket army. As I get back onto my feet, here's a rundown of my exploits in stocking our home with the gift of grain:

Steamed Mussels with Saffron-Dubbel Broth

Serves four appetizer or two entree portions

Chip's Vlog: Coolin' Out with Chizzer Wizzer

[editor's note: this piece originally appeared in the Brewing TV blog]

Recently, I asked Dawson to concoct a recipe for me that would use some miscellaneous ingredients that I had sitting around the brewroom, freezer, and fridge. They included: Wyeast Leuven Pale smack pack, 1 oz Cluster whole leaf hops, 4 oz Centennial whole leaf hops (from Dawson's 2009 backyard crop), and some Carafa III.

Chip's Vlog: Saison Noire brewday

[editor's note: this piece originally appeared in the Brewing TV blog]

Hello, brewguys and brewgals. BTV videoman Chip Walton here with a quick video from a recent brewday... actually it was hot & steamy brewnight. After getting burned out on the debate and drinking way too much of all three Cascadian Dark Ale, Black IPA and American-Style India Black Ale... I needed something something DARK, but not hoppy at all. The cure for this hop-burnout-itis? A Saison Noire! Something spicy for this hot summer in the city.

Video here!

Session Beers

Some factors have been merging recently, bringing me to write this blog post on session beers, and I'll talk about each of them in turn: brewing a run of 4-5 batches in a row of above-6% ABV beer, drinking some truly amazing low-gravity beers, checking out The Session Beer Project blog, and listening to Mark Stutrud's keynote address at the NHC this year.

Chip's Open/Closed Patersbier

[editor's note: this piece was originally published on the Brewing TV blog]



Hello everyone. Chip Walton, the guy behind the camera, here.

When Michael Dawson (or Jake Keeler) says JUMP - I say HOW HIGH?! In Episode 6, Dawson issued our first Brewing TV Challenge. He suggested viewers brew a five-gallon batch of Patersbier, split it into two 2.5-gallon batches, ferment one closed, ferment one open. I took this challenge to heart.

Notes on a Brewday: Saison Regalitarian

Distressing over the fact that most of my beers are either Belgian-inspired or IPAs, I decided to purchase a sack of Castle Pilsner malt. I should declare an aside here - this is currently my favorite malt, in part because it makes a great base for any pale Belgian-style recipe, and in part because it always yields perfect runoff at the proper crush - no vorlaufing needed.

Pretty fly for a Weiss guy

... or "Everything I needed to know about open fermentation I learned from NB Milwaukee."

Gasto Non Grata roll call

Some of the Northern Brewer crew were on hand for the most recent Gastro Non Grata show. GNG, is a local event that combines great local chefs, adult beverages, and rock and roll. During the show, we brewed a batch of beer as a demo. If you can brew beer next to a stage at a show, you can brew beer pretty much anywhere.

Cooking with the Belgians

I want to start by saying that this is the best cookbook I've ever bought.

Say it Belgian

I love it when you talk Flemish to me. 

 Geuze? Geuze gueze gueze ... geuze. Geuze!

Lawnmowers and Weddings.

Summer is just around the corner, which means that the season for weddings and lawnmower beers is also around the corner.