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!

Sherbrooke Neapolean Stout

This bottle has been sitting in my fridge for a good month now waiting patiently for me to drink it.  My brother in law gave it to me in hopes I would write about it and I didn't want to disappoint him.  In the few months of my blogs short life I have purchased/received many different varieties of beer with the intention of writing about them, but I've developed a terrible habit of drinking and not taking the time to write about it while the flavors and nuances are still within reach of my very short, short memory. Meanwhile I've made a point to drink as much beer as I could, and so far I've managed to drink a ton of beer.  A real achievement, my Mother will be so proud.  The writing.....not so good.  Fortunately for you, I will not give up.  But anyways, the beer.

Brewed by Alley Kat for Sherbrooke Liquor store,  this stout is a take on the ice cream flavor neapolitan.  Sherbrooke and Alley Kat have produced a number of beers with a wide range of unusual flavors created by local Edmonton home brewers.  The only other one that I've tried other than this was a red curry flavored beer, unfortunately that one didn't really do it for me or anyone else at the bar that got a sample.  I suppose they can't all be hits.  The Neapolean is a rich stout with the added flavors of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  It pours black and viscous with a thick mocha brown head.  The foam fades fairly quickly leaving small dimples of lacing behind.  From what I've read about flavored beers, adding oils to the brew virtually destroys any chance of achieving a decent head.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this beer developed a substantial head despite being artificially flavored.  It smells sweet and heavy with fruity notes of vanilla and coffee.  You can definitely taste the chocolate and vanilla with a bitter coffee like aftertaste, unfortunately the strawberry doesn't really come through at all.  The carbonation is extremely low and the hops are barely present, adding only a mild bitter touch at the end.  Overall an interesting beer, a little to sweet for my taste, but tasty nonetheless.  It didn't conjure up any old memories of devouring bowls of ice cream as a child, and for that I am disappointed, but it wouldn't deter me from recommending it to someone willing to try it out.

Corporation Brewpub.

Last night ended with a quick stop at Edmonton's one and only brewpub, Brewsters. It feels like your typical Alberta corporate restaurant only this restaurant has a gorgeous brewery built in the middle of it. I was accompanied by my friend Karl who used to serve, manage and even spent some time as the Brewmasters assistant at this particular location (Oliver Square).

Edmonton boasts a whopping five Brewsters locations, thirteen in total, the others being in Calgary and Regina, Saskatchewan (Regina being the birthplace). The Oliver location is actually the only Edmonton restaurant with an actual brewery, which apparently brews and shares a smaller amount of beer with the other locations. The rest of the beer being brewed in a large facility in Calgary and shipped around the province. They have an impressive amount of brews for such a small space, all available fresh from the tanks. Hand crafted by a talented German brewmaster. From what Karl tells me, this gent is the "creative brain" behind the Brewsters seasonal beers, and the most consistent brewer in the Alberta sector of Brewsters.

The restaurant itself is a cliche Alberta corporate eatery (this being a large building run by fresh faced post-teens, multiple dinning areas, two bars, Flat screen TV's everywhere, loud obnoxious pop music, and uninspired North American style bar food). But the beer....is actually decent.

I had the Brewsters sample platter consisting of five 5oz draft pours of my choice. I decided on: Czech Pilsner, Flying Frog Lager, Rig Pig Pale Ale, Lanigan's Irish Ale, and The Shaughnessy Stout. My seemingly 17 year old barkeep poured my platter, and I dove in. I brought a notebook with me to write stuff down, but between my conversation with Karl about beer and our current lives, I soon realized that my investigatory journalism skills are lacking and I was more into the drinking than the drink. Although, the beers that did stand out in my platter were 1) The Rig Pig Pale Ale. It had a potent hops punch right off the bat with a delightful full flavor and floral nose. Pale Amber in color, and a finish that decided to stick around for a while so you didn't lose interest in coming back for more. 2)The Shaughnessy Stout. Now, this stout isn't amazing, but its a smooth drink. A beginners stout if you will. Medium body with a nice mouth feel, not to complex. Creamy, dry and finishes fast and clean. The hops barely make an appearance. She's easy.

There are plenty more beers to try at Brewsters in the future. Next time I'l try to be more focus on the beer, but this trip was all about the good company. The sample platters are great when you want to try everything they have quickly, but the tiny glasses don't let the beers show their true colors. Its nearly impossible to agitate any life out of the brew, so getting a good deep breath of the aroma is tough. And they get warm fast, so if you want a crisp fresh drink at number 4 or 5 you must act fast.

Overall, since it's Edmonton's only brewpub you take what you can get. Try to block out the annoying kids and tv's in the background and admire the beautiful copper fermenting tanks behind the glass. The beer is fresh and extremely drinkable. They have a large patio in the summer so bring a friend and enjoy!

Gotta start somewhere...Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

I currently work in a busy University hang out with a fairly adventurous beer list. Working here has opened my eyes into the possibilities of what beer is and can be. I have since began my search for other beers available in my region, and the few beers brewed here in Edmonton.

But today I have decided to start this online rant with one of my regular after shift drinks:

Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

This particular beer is brewed in Oregon, USA. It pours velvety and viscous, with a deep coffee like color. The head settles to the top extremely thick, with tan-mocha colors.

This beer looks serious.

Its smells of lightly burnt coffee and dark chocolate. It really paints a picture of perfectly roasted dark malts.

The taste is rich, and coats your entire mouth. It has a slight bitterness, but nothing off putting. The coffee and chocolate flavors really shine through with a rich creamy texture brought to you by the the rolled oats. And there is a nice vanilla accent which adds to the sweetness of the brew. The hops are present adding the bitter, and rounding out the overall flavor of the beer.

Overall, I think this beer is something Rogue should be proud of. The roundness of this beer is enjoyable and extremely filling. It pours beautifully, looks super sexy, and is very satisfying to say the least.

I really enjoy all of the Rogue Brewery products that I have tasted so far, and I look forward writing about them. Stay tuned for more Rogue love.