New Years in Brooklyn

This year at The Sugarbowl we decided we would welcome 2011 with a fantastic beer dinner, featuring a tasty menu and beer paring written by yours truly.  Brooklyn Brewery was the brand of choice for our trip, now it was just building a menu I could produce in small quarters and figure out which beer best suited each dish.  Our eight o'clock seating sold out in just over a week (55 seats), with many if not most of the patrons signing up without even knowing what they were getting themselves into.  This was my first chance to organize anything like this in my time at The Sugarbowl, so I didn't want to disappoint.  The menu reads as this:

~1^st~

Buttermilk Potato Soup

Crispy Shallot, Thyme, White Truffle Oil

Brooklyn Lager

~2^nd~

Baby Artisan Green Salad

Poached Italian Pear, MARKT Guanciale, Piave Veccio, Pecan, Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale

~3^rd~

Beef Short Rib Two Ways

Smoke Braised Boneless Short Rib & Grilled Korean Style Short Rib

Navy Beans, Rapini, Toasted Brioche

Brooklyn Brown Ale

~4^th~

Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream and Black Chocolate Stout

Beer Float

Pinocchio’s Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream

Brooklyn Imperial Black Chocolate Stout

Course One:  A puree of Yukon Gold potato and buttermilk, lightly spiced with with nutmeg and garnished with crispy fried shallots, fresh thyme and truffle oil.  I chose the Brooklyn Lager as a partner for this heavenly dish.  The soup, as subtle as it was, coated the mouth quite heavily so the clean and crisp lager kept the flavors neutral and let the effervescence keep the palate clean and ready.  The slight sweetness to the Brooklyn lager complemented the buttery sour kick from the buttermilk. Overall a rich and delightful start to the meal.

Course Two: Fresh baby heads of lettuce (green & red butter leaf, red Lolla Rossa, frisse and romaine) with lightly poached Italian pear, toasted pecans, Piave Veccio, and fresh Guanciale (graciously sent out by the talented Ryan Zuvich, Chef/Owner of Markt Artisan Deli in Nanaimo BC). Everything was brought together with a snappy apple cider vinaigrette.  We got the Brooklyn EIPA on tap a while back and I was blown away at how much fruitier it was than its bottled counterpart.  I knew this would be a great combination, with the fruits in the beer working well with the pear and and apple, and perky hops getting busy with the vinegar and salt from the Guanciale.  A great combination and a wonderful looking dish.  A fair amount going on but it tasted great.  For us in the kitchen, because of all the different components, this dish ended up being the toughest one to produce for such a large amount of people.  Fortunately nothing was going to get us down that night, and we pushed it out flawlessly.

*BREAK TIME* At this time we were momentarily pulled out of the kitchen for a celebratory shot of something boozy and butterscotchy.  A gift from the already pleased as punch owner of The Sugarbowl.  A foreshadowing of the remainder of our long....oh so long night/morning.

...back to work!

Course Three: Beef Short Ribs cooked two ways.  The first a boneless short rib roast slowly braised in Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and smoked water (What's that you say? Well, exactly that. A large basin of water is placed inside a smoker and literally smoked using Hickory and Applewood for a few hours.  Rendering a dark smoky liquid in which the beef is submerged and cooked in. Pure flavor country. Stick that in your pipe and......well you get the picture).  The second, a piece of Korean grilled short rib.  Korean style short rib is just a regular beef short rib that has been cut into 1/2 inch thick slices with four bones along the bottom.  A fatty and heavily salted piece of juicy beef heaven.  Along with these delicious meaty meats was stewed navy beans, rapini (also known as broccoli rabe) and brioche crouton.  Pared with this dish was the Brooklyn Brown Ale, a malty ale with a generous amount of hops added to the brew.  The rich flavors of the meal marrying well with the roast malt flavors of the beer.  Meanwhile the salt and fat from the beef working harmoniously with the hops, and the brioche bringing a pleasant vanilla presence to the whole situation.  In retrospect the rapini definitely would have benefited from a quick splash of fresh lemon juice, something I overlooked until after the dish had already gone out.  I guess you can't be perfect all the time. I am after all only half man half amazing, but I digress.


Course Four: Now, many would call this dish sacrilegious. A beer float....beer, with ice cream....all mixed together?  It's something I've played with as dessert specials here and there at the Sugarbowl, with positive feedback.  The thing with the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is that it's obviously the best choice for a dessert course, BUT it's absolutely not a beer for everyone.  Most people are not prepared for the full on assault of Imperial Stout madness that this beer guarantees.  How do you make a beer this big, this heavy and this powerful palatable for the common beer drinker?  Throw some locally made Bourbon vanilla ice cream in that shit, throw a straw in there and call it a float.  High fives all around.


Unfortunately at this moment I have zero photos from this fantastic evening to prove its fantasticalness, but I assure you it all happened.  By the sounds of it, these beer dinners will be a common occurrence at the bowl.  We are currently in talks with Alley Kat and Wild Rose (try the Cherry Porter!) to organize some future beer/food collaborations.  Keep you posted.


To everyone who attended out first beer dinner, thank you so very much for being our guinea pigs and I hope you had an enjoyable evening.  As for everyone else, Happy 2011!  Enjoy it, apparently its your last year to live.  Cheers!

Home Brew Keg Party!!

Last month I was invited to a keg party hosted by my buddy Chuck, who is an avid home brewer and a previous bartender at The Sugarbowl.  While working at the Bowl, we would often talk about the process of making beer and hear about Chucks adventures in home brewing.  Everyone knew Chuck liked his beer, but nobody had ever tasted his product....until now.

A few months ago Chuck started renting a heated garage and set up his micro-micro brewery, even going so far as to buying an old fridge and turning it into a 2x20L keg fridge with the two spouts coming out the side.  Sitting on two batches of beer just for himself can take a while to work through, and the longer it takes to cycle through a batch the longer it takes before he can play and experiment with new brews.  To combat this problem Chuck decided he would hold a monthly keg party, invite all of his friends to the garage and charge a minimum $5 donation to help pay for the cost of the product and a little left over to keep things going.  Well the idea was genius, and the parties are a huge success!

The Brewmaster
enthusiastically explaining the brewing process

The first kegger featured a delicious IPA, and a mind blowing Pumpkin Ale.  The IPA was crisp, fruity, and balanced extremely well.  From what I remember, Chuck calculated an IBU rating of 120 or something...if that was the case, it didn't show in the final product.  It was bitter, but a fine malt finish helped keep the extreme pucker at bay.  On the nose it was unlike any IPA I've ever experienced, smelling heavily of peach juice and other stone fruits.  An absolute delightful drink, along the same lines as the Raasted Grilløl....sharing similar flavor profiles.  The Pumpkin Ale, on the other hand, was out of this world.  Brewed with the pulp from a whole roasted fresh pumpkin and an appropriate amount of spices to warm it up, this beer was fantastic.  The pumpkin flavors were right upfront, without becoming too sweet or overpowering.  I've had a couple of other pumpkin ales that tasted almost synthetic, this was absolutely real.  The spices gave it a delightful pumpkin pie burst, ginger being a noticeable but savvy addition to the brew.  It was a clear golden amber color, quite viscous with a full flavor and decent hop aroma. Compared to any of the other Pumpkin Ales I've tried over the last couple of years, this one wins gold in my books.

Big ol'sack of two row malt

Yesterday was kegger #2, featuring an Irish Red Cream Ale and an imaginative Peated Malt Baltic Porter.  The porter was definitely the star of the evening, with the 20L keg drained in little over two hours. A round and rich roasted malt base and subtle hop profile, the smoke from the peated malt was barely present but still noticeable.  It added a unique flavor to the beer, leaving you wanting more.  I could have done with more smoke flavor, I'm pretty sure Chuck was looking for more smoke as well but played it safe with the first batch of this experimental brew.  Drinkability was dangerously high, and an 8% ABV made this fantastic beer a hit with everyone at the garage.  The Irish Red poured a rosy red hue, with a delicate frothy head.  Very smooth and a creamy texture brought on by using a small percentage of rice in the mash.  This beer was delicious and enjoyable, details at this point are fuzzy at best.  After a few of each, its hard not to feel pretty happy and carefree.  The great thing about these parties is the amount of people totally into beer and what goes into the beer.  Having like minded individuals, with equal if not greater love for the brew, to completely geek out with and not feel like a super nerd is such a fantastic atmosphere to be in.  I look forward to future keggers with Chuck and the gang, and I'll do my best to spread the word. Cheers!

Magpie - Big Rock Brewery

Big Rock Brewery, situated in Calgary Alberta, is probably Alberta's most successful "craft" brewery.  Every Albertan has swilled on pints of their Traditional Ale or Grasshopper Wheat Ale at some point in their lives, as these two beers have infiltrated almost every bar in the province.  Their roster of beers has grown over the years to include many different styles, some much better than others.....but most still not very good.  I've been told the beer used to be quite good in the early days of the breweries life, but as the popularity of the brewery grew, and the size of the brewery grew, the quality of the brew quickly began to wear thin.  New recipes, and cost cutting solutions have brought Big Rock's reputation to a stand still, putting them on par with the likes of Molson and other big adjunct beer producers (my opinion here, just saying).  But then word hit the streets that they would be re-releasing a discontinued hit from their past, beer geeks were getting stoked, and I had high hopes that maybe....just maybe, Big Rock could produce something worthy, perhaps even enjoyable.

Finding information and history on the Magpie is difficult.  It's a rye ale brewed by Big Rock ten years ago, back when "craft" was still the name of the game.  It seems to have made a quiet debut on the scene as their is still zero info about it on the website, as well as beer advocate.  As far as I know the only places in Edmonton to serve the Magpie is the Druid, and now for the month of December we're pouring pints at The Sugarbowl.  I've had a few pints in the last week or so, trying to get my head wrapped around this stuff.  Some of my beer geek friends were very excited about this product, and had great things to say about it....although these fond memories are at least a decade old. Here's to hoping.

The pint pours a light amber color, the head full of large dissipating bubbles and zero lacing.  On the nose it had a sweet undertone, pleasant hop character but that strange Big Rock smell is in full force.  I find all the Big Rock products to have a similar smell and taste, must be the water...I don't know. Either way it's not an overly enjoyable addition to the beer.  The flavor is sweet and malty, not sure what I'm looking for in a rye profile.  The only other rye beer I've tried is the  He'Brew Lenny's Double Rye IPA, which is fantastic and probably one of my favorite beers this year.  The Magpie I found to be a bit astringent on the tongue, thin and watery, and overall experience very tipical of a Big Rock beer.  If they're trying to coax experienced beer drinkers into buying in to this product, or any of their products for that matter, their going to have to start brewing a lot better than this. Nice try Big Rock, but your beer still sucks (my opinion here, just saying).

Alley Kat Cask Ale - Apple Wit

The Sugarbowl has had the opportunity to host Alley Kat's monthly cask ale night with great success for the past few months now. So far they've brought us cask versions of their Full Moon Pale Ale, Amber Ale, A Steam Beer, and a Chocolate Porter (My favorite so far).

Yesterday we sampled a cask version of their new 15th anniversary release, an Apple Wit. It poured hazy light orange in color with a light frothy head. Brewed with huge amounts of Granny Smith Apples, the unfiltered wit was full of sediment, and exploding with dreamy apple pie aromas. Drinking brought a rush of other flavors with a fresh sour apple cider base, with mild spicy notes, the yeast almost giving it the apple pie crust flavor. The lack of artificial carbonation in these cask ales really give the flavors a chance to shine and adding a heaviness, filling you up faster than usual. This was a great beer, and a delightful addition to their short list of anniversary releases. I'm looking forward to trying it again from the bottle.  I hope the rich flavors of this cask are brought along in the bottled version.

Aside from Alley Kat we've had another brewery Host a cask night with smashing success. Half Pints Brewery from Winnipeg, Manitoba came to the Sugarbowl along with Brewmaster/Owner, Dave Rudge. Dave brought along with him an Oktoberfest Lager. The cask sprayed the entire kitchen with beer when it was tapped, but the brew was delicious as was the other three Half Pint beers we featured that evening: Phil's Pils, Weizenheimer, and Pot Hole Porter. Currently on the feature list we are carrying their Stir Stick Stout, which I have yet to try.

Here's a short video of our kitchen being hosed with fresh cask beer. I was standing a little to close when she went off so the end of the video is mostly floor, but you get the idea.

Pike Brewery Dinner

Last Friday night we had the chance to enjoy an evening with Seattle brewery Pike Brewing Company, beer and Brewmaster Charles Finkel! The dinner took place at the Manor Bistro, consisting of a four course meal with beer pairings.

The meal started off strong with an amuse of Pike's "Dry Wit" a wonderfully floral Wit style beer, unfortunately my beer was molested by an orange slice while I was preoccupied which completely destroyed any aroma of the beer itself, and seriously masking any flavor. Beer + Fruit Garnish = Stupid.

The next course  was a delicious Stilton soup garnished with crispy parsnips and some sort of flavored oil paired with the Naughty Nellie Golden Ale. I thought the two worked really well together, the soup could have been the whole meal and I would have been happy.

Course three was a trio of salmon: Smoked Salmon, Basil cured Salmon, and a Salmon Tartar.  This, for me, was when things started to stray from good.  The Basil cured salmon was flavorless and a bit chewy, the salmon tartar was also seriously under seasoned and what flavor that existed wasn't very enjoyable.  The smoked salmon was delicious, salty and pleasantly smoky. There was some sort of yellow pepper puree and salsa garnish along with the dish that added nothing to the palette. I savored every morsel of the smoked salmon along with the paired Pale Ale which I found to be enjoyable. The hops maybe a bit over powering for the delicate salmon flavor, but worked well with the smoke. The disappointment of the food made the accompanying beer less memorable unfortunately. I think it was at this point in the evening when I started to focus more on my plate rather than my glass....chef habit.

Third course, entree.....ok, I'll try to be polite here. The beer, The Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale, was poured way before the food hit the tables. So by the time our meal came almost everyones beer was gone. But the beer was amazing and made a real impact on the evening I thought. This ale is brewed with a small percentage of peated Scottish malts adding tasty smoky sweetness and hints of Scotch Whisky to the brew, without adding boozy character which I find with most barrel aged Scotch ales.  The hops were subtle, doing well to not hinder the malty flavors from shining through. After completely enjoying almost all of my beer the food finally hit the table.  A free range chicken breast "stuffed" with Quebec Oka cheese and sage, eggplant cannelloni, some sort of roasted tomato sauce and grilled peppers. Now, when I see "stuffed" I assume the breast will be "stuffed". Rather the skin of the chicken was lifted and the cheese and sage placed under, the thing with this method of "stuffing" is that while the breast is being roasted the cheese has nothing containing it and just slithers out from under the skin and melts away...a complete waste. The chicken breast was at least juicy and tender, and delicious with the sauce. The cannelloni on the other hand was, in my opinion (and in the opinion of almost everyone at the table), a disaster. The eggplant was under seasoned and had nothing to make it short of boring, and wrapped around this bland mass was a severely al dante piece of pasta. The thing that really pissed me off about the dish aside from all of these things was the blatant over use pepper, which we already saw in the salmon course. Three massive pieces of grilled pepper, essentially an entire grilled pepper was the veggie portion of our plates. I didn't even eat it, out of spite, because it seemed like such a copout. I would have been happier with a side of boiled mushy carrots, at least it would have seemed like they tried. Overall third course fail, and thats not just my opinion but the unanimous opinion of the other seven people at my table. Sorry folks.

Image stolen from Jason Foster of onbeer.org

Fourth and final course, a bread pudding made with Pikes huge and delicious xxxxx Extra Stout was paired with the Old Bawdy barley wine.  The bread pudding was tasty, moist and spiced well. The fig compote on the pudding was enjoyable but cold, bringing an uncomfortable hot-cold complex to the dish which would have been more enjoyable if it had been all the same temperature.  The Old Bawdy blew my mind though! Granted it was my first barely wine experience, it was a perfect end to the meal. Heavy on all fronts, this extra malty and heavily hopped brew was balanced perfectly kicking the ass of any taste buds in its path. Four days later I still cannot stop thinking about it, and look forward to delving into the world that is barley wine. I cannot believe I have waited this long to try this style out.

Overall not a mind blowing evening, the beer being the star of the show most definitely. The company of Mr. Charles Finkel was a huge perk of the evening, bringing entertaining stories and history along with him despite the small room being extremely loud and some people not very engaged in his presence. I hope to one day enjoy his company again in a more comfortable setting, ideally working with him on my own terms to produce a beer dinner at the Sugarbowl....who knows. Here's to hoping. Cheers.

Thanksgiving WTF?

This Thanksgiving my wife and child spent the holiday in Calgary catching up with old/best friends, I decided to drive the other way and spend the day with my folks in Wainwright.

Wainwright is a smaller prairie community surrounded by rolling farms and a massive Canadian Forces training base.  Having grown up in this town I tend to generalize the people there as closed minded hicks, who swill the cheapest beer known to man just to get wasted and see who they can suck into a fight.  Maybe things have changed, it has been years since I've lived there and I don't (to my Mom's disappointment...sorry Mom) get out there as often as I probably should.  So this Thanksgiving, seeing that it would just be the three of us for dinner, Dad decided we would forgo the traditional turkey feast and indulge in sticky BBQ smoked pork ribs.  Of course ribs like these deserve a refreshing crisp beer along with it.  With my preconceived ideas about what Wainwright would have to offer in this department I settled on the fact I would probably be enjoying a Kokanee, or maybe if I was lucky a Stella, to wash down my saucy ribs.  Well smack my ass and call me Sally, we walk into the newly renovated Wainwright liquor store to a wall of some of the best available North American craft beer!  I couldn't believe it, a craft beer selection like this in my home town....things are really looking up!  Maybe I was wrong about this place, these hicks have some taste!  Are the piss swilling hicks a thing of the past?  It's probably too early to tell.

A little overwhelmed by the selection I'm only used to seeing at my trusty beer store in Edmonton, I jumped on a six pack of Red Racer Pale Ale for it's smooth easy drinking and powerful hoppy bite.  My Dad, having developed a taste for Alley Kat Charlie Flint Lager last time he was in Edmonton, was delighted to find it available and scooped one up post haste.  I also ventured into the equally impressive European import wall on the other side of the cooler and found a bottle of Brewdog's Hardcore IPA to be enjoyed on a later date.  Beer store success.  I walked out of that place shocked and proud.  Alberta has a long way to go in the craft beer world, but if Wainwright has jumped on board, I think we're doing alright.

NBC - Nelson Brewing Company

Here's a gem.  On our recent trip to the Kootenay's I was eager to try some of the products that NBC brews.  I had heard good things, and I vaguely remember trying their wheat beer while I lived in Victoria.  Unfortunately I haven't acquired a taste for the wheat beer yet, I know i know.....but it's just not my thing.

Nelson Brewing Company is a small craft brewery situated in Nelson BC, producing a handful of wonderfully flavored certified organic ales using traditional brewing recipes and methods. Their beer is not available at my beer store (Sherbrooke Liquor) so I had to try as much as I could while it was available. 

So the closer we got to Nelson I started to notice that almost every little restaurant and cafe we stopped at had these guys on tap.  Everyone had the Harvest Moon Hemp Ale and some carried the Wild Honey Ale.  That being said, the Harvest Moon Hemp was the first of their beers I sampled.

Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale - A German Kolsch style ale, this beer came out bright crisp and extremely refreshing.  Very clean on the palate, with a mild hop attendance.  A favorite of the locals, and only available on tap.  Every time I ordered one I happened to be sitting on some gorgeous patio which added major dramatic effect. (Insert photo of me with giant shit eating grin here)

Old Brewery Pale Ale - This tasty ale was given to me by my good buddy Scott, a resident of Nelson and manager of Little Mountain Liqour Store.  Well balanced, not overly hopped but definitely makes a appearance.  I suppose very typical of an English style pale ale, well rounded flavor with a noticeable bitter bite, and extremely easy to drink.

Paddywhack IPA - Pours a deep amber with a frothy head, medium lacing.  Wonderful on the nose with lots of citrus and pine and caramel notes.  Crisp and clean on the tongue, mildly astringent bitter that lingers.  Very piney, and mild malts.  Lots of hops in this beer. Medium body, but the malty base is slightly over shadowed by those incredible west coast hops. Overall a delightful beer.

Nelson After Dark - A British style mild dark ale, this beer was probably my favorite of all of the NBC beers I tried.  Rich and flavourful, medium body with lots of caramel, chocolate and coffee notes.  Fairly sweet on the tongue but balanced out nicely with a gentle hop hit.  The head is meager, disappears quickly and leaves very little lacing.  Despite how it looks it's not a heavy beer, which makes it quite refreshing.


With such a fantastic line of delicious beer, Nelson definitely stands out of the crowd with all of the rest.  Plus being an all organic brewery they have the upper hand on most, appealing to the earth forward thinkers.  The high quality of the ingredients used in these beers shines through magnificently, something I think all brewers should take into consideration.  I'm sure most craft brewers these days put huge amounts of thought into what goes into their beer, and where it's coming from, but NBC has put these thoughts into action and proudly produce liquid bottles of gold.  It's no wonder the locals are such loyal followers,  they're ahead of the game and they're winning.