Dieu Du Ciel - Solstice d'hiver

*not a Unibroue product

Montreal's Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel is churning out insane beers, one after another.  The Solstice d'hiver (or Winter Solstice) is no exception.  A huge 9.8% ABV Barley Wine, viscous and deep mahogany in color, with a fantastic hoppy nose rich in bananas and apples.  It explodes with a dense head of tiny bubbles, unfortunately little to no lacing.  Rich, fruity and tart, this beer is full of subtle flavor profiles bringing a different experience to every sip.  Raisins, molasses, cherries and caramel to name a few with many more on the tongue.  Let it warm up to allow all those flavors to shine through.  Drinkability is wonderfully high, coming on smooth and warm.  The high alcohol content barely making an appearance until you've finished most of the bottle.

Pair with good company and music for the full experience. Cheers!

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild Ale

Stopped in for a quick shop at Sherbrooke today looking for something I haven't tried yet.  They have a shelf dedicated to new beer as soon as you walk in, and lately it's been stocked with a variety of tasty treats.  I noticed a few Dogfish bottles I have yet to try (Chicory Stout, Burton Baton Imperial IPA, and the Squall IPA...drooool).  I picked up a bottle of the Burton for later consumption and plan to hit up some friends to go in on the $28 bottle of Squall.  Also in the bag I added a bottle of Fuller's 2010 Vintage Ale to cellar and for tonight a bomber of Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild Ale.  Recently I had the opportunity to sample a bottle of their Lucky 13 Mondo Large Red Ale, which absolutely blew my mind, as well as the "Censored" Copper Ale.

The Little Sumpin' Wild Ale is a seasonal beer brewed every September, using a ton of malted wheat and Belgian Westmalle yeast.  She pours a clear golden copper, with a gorgeous white frothy head that slowly crawls away leaving moderately heavy lacing.  Huge on the nose with tons of citrusy aroma, grapefruit and orange mostly.  Smells rich and sweet, the Belgian yeast highlighted nicely.

Quite the hoppy flavor, coming off a little sharp at the end and leaving a slight acrid aftertaste.  Nothing overly obnoxious, but still a flavor that lingers long after the party is over.  Luckily the mad amount of malts (barley and wheat) give it some sweet body, well rounded flavor, and fairly enjoyable balance.  If only the hops could have been handled a little better it could have been very satisfying.  It has a smooth textural feeling in the mouth, a buttery finish that I found interesting, and for a fairly high ABV beer (8.85%) the presence of alcohol is barely detectable.

The Belgian flavor is something I have yet to find a love for.  I can appreciate the character these yeast strains bring to the table but for some reason I just can't fall in love with it.  I see plenty of the Belgian beers leaving the bar at work, unfortunately most of the ones I've tried disagree with my tastes.  This one I find makes good use of the yeast, adding appropriate North American hop varieties and plenty of viscous malts to produce a delicious flavor profile.  A well crafted beer, despite the runaway hops.  Although not something I would buy again, just because of my personal tastes, it's still something I would recommend to a friend.  I really like this brewery and think they craft amazing beer.  In the case of this particular beer, don't listen to me, go buy it for yourself and see what you think.  It could very well be your perfect drink.

New Look

So I'm attempting to redesign the look of this blog, and so far not finding myself happy with any of the results.  Bare with me while I search for a suitable look.

Also, I'm planning on attending the Vancouver Craft Beer Week this year, being held May 6th- 14th! Unfortunately I probably won't be able to attend the entire festival, so I'm asking around:

If you were to going to Vancouver Craft Beer Week but had to choose between attending the opening ceremonies or the closing ceremonies....which would you choose?!?


Thanks for the input.
Cheers!


I am a Canadian Craft Brewer from VancouverCBW on Vimeo.


Here's another inspiring video I found featuring some top notch American Craft Brewers.  I love this stuff.

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!