I’m just learning this brewing process and it’s about one of the most enjoyable problem solving exercises I’ve tackled in my life and I’ve tried a few.

This morning on the bus I was trying to walk my amateur self through the process of how I would modulate my beer’s alcohol level either higher or lower. My mind slowly, and stickily dragged it’s wheels back to information on Enzymes and how they effect the starches in the beer. I then remembered that, of course, more sugars in your wort equals more alcohol in your beer and vice versa. I then wanted to remember how specifically I could create more or less sugars in my wort.

When I got to work I googled this quandry and came across the on-line version of John Palmer’s “How To Brew”. It was exactly what I needed. From what I can tell just about every question a budding brewer might have is answered clearly, specifically and thoroughly.

The short answer to my question of how to control the sugar content in my homebrew was found on page 5 of Chapter 14:

A lower mash temperature, less than or equal to 150°F, yields a thinner bodied, drier beer. A higher mash temperature, greater than or equal to 156°F, yields a less fermentable, sweeter beer. This is where a brewer can really fine tune a wort to best produce a particular style of beer.

So this year I’m making my first ever Christmas Goose. Above is a before picture. I will then put it through the paces using a combination of recipes from Jacques Pepin, Julia Child and this recipe from Bonny Wolf of NPR which Brian sent me yesterday. This one is particularly interesting because of the information it provides on the delights of goose fat and the history of the goose on the American table.

This got me digging around to figure out exactly what has made the goose such an Icon of the European and to a lesser degree the American holiday table. Here’s a brief look at the mythological significance of the goose in ancient cultures:

“Feasting on geese has long been a tradition in the Old World, as is clear from ancient mythology. The prevalence of goose gods in numerous cultures attests to the ritual importance of geese and to the fact that these rituals date back to antiquity…The goose feast that came to characterize holiday celebrations in later times arise as a modern-day derivative of these ancient rites and sacrifices. People in Europe, Central Asia, North America, and North Africa customarily sacrified geese, particularly at the turn of the seasons. Like other migratory fowl, geese appeared and diappeared at crucial times in the yearly cycle, so eating them customairly accompanied ceremonial events in the solar and agricultural year. People have linked geese to the changing seasons for so long that originally the goose served as a sacrifice to the spirit of vegetation, in thanks for the harvest. After the goose was ceremonially killed, participants in the sacrifice feasted on its flesh in a ritual that they believed would ensure the regeneration of the Earth…Goose was served at the Celtic Samhain, or Halloween; the Germanic Yule, originally the first day of the new year; and Michaelmas, the ritual feast of the winter solstice. The Michaelmas feast is probably the most famous goose feast, apart from that at Christmas dinner…Turkeys, native to the New World, were more plentiful than geese during the period of early settlement. American settlers served turkey at Thanksgiving, making it the seasonal feast bird. In much of the Western world today, turkeys have replaced geese also at the Christmas feast; but for all practical purposes, these two birds share the same symbolism. Just as the people of the Old World connected geese to the sun, some of the North American tribes connected turkeys to the sun.”
—Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 105-6) You can find more history on this site should you desire it.

As far as beer pairing is concerned with goose it seems that dark rich beers are generally favored. According to this pairing chart Porters, Doppelbocks and Trappist beers all work well. I think I’ll likely pick up a Teufel Bock from Atwater Brewery out of Detroit. Had one of these a couple of months ago at a local joint, Jak’s tap in the west loop, and found it quite delightful. I’ll probably add a Trappist as well, possibly Chimay as it’s a popular beer which I rarely drink and am interested in trying again. That, however, is a decision that remains to be made.

I will also be composing a song and a prayer to the goose. I’ll let ya know how that works out. I leave you with what will hopefully be an after picture.

Merry Michealmas!!!

Remember being a kid and watching filmstrips about how robots were going to change our lives and free us from mundane tasks. Well, this isn’t exactly Johnny 5 but it is remote controlled and looks like a robot. What’s more you can build it yourself and best of all it makes drinks. The plans don’t seem terribly difficult or expensive and are fairly well laid out.
Here’s the official site, it’s got great pictures of all the materials used. It brings a tear to my bleary eye to see this perfect marriage of innovation genius and leisure. As the great Yakov Smirnoff would say, “America: What a country!”

Here’s a video of BAR2D2 in action

BAR2D2’s creator is continuing to tweak his invention. he recently added an automated drink maker so you can choose from a variety of drinks and have it made for you.

I was searching the internets, digging around for great beer themed vacations when I hit beertravelers.com and stumbled on a tradition from the small South Dakota town I grew up in, Brookings.

Brookings was generally not a very exciting place, just a regular little prairie town filled with good hearted honest folks of a mild temperament.  However, once a year in late June or early July Jim’s Tap, the best bar in town, hosts a Harley Ride Through Night when a bunch of bikers come to town and ride their bikes from the back beer garden through the bar and out onto main street.  I think it began as a stopping off point for folks on their way to Sturgis but the dates seem a bit early in the season for that these days.

Now, it’s been a good fifteen years since I’ve seen the spectacle and, as I remember, it seemed to get less and less renegade with each passing year but the earliest memories are pretty strong.
Long lines of gleaming bikes up and down both sides of main street, turning the sleepy little drag into a river of steel. Scantily clad women with a wild streak, strung out on the back of choppers lifting their shirts up above the bald heads of barrel chested ex cons as they boomed down the boulevard.  Jeez, I should get a job writing songs for The Boss:

Just watched some videos on youtube of the ride through and its definitely lost the hard, sometimes frightening edge, but why shouldn’t it, the edge is a harder and harder thing to find in this world.

All the same, I’m sticking to my memories and am inclined to believe that they are mostly true. Considering this tradition was started in 1971, I think it’s fair to say that the early population of enthusiasts included some folks who chose the road less traveled.
For what it’s worth Jim’s Tap is also a damn fine bar for a South Dakota town. Ever since I was wee one they’ve offered what they call “around the world” where in a brave soul pays something like $20, probably a bit more now, and gets 12 different brews from different parts of the world.  If you finish it before getting kicked out you get a t-shirt to boot.  I remember it being a popular past time of the ball players when I was a bat boy.  Anyrate, enough of the maudlin reminiscence, if your ever in Brookings get drunk at Jim’s. Tell ‘em I sent ya, I’d be curious to know if anyone in the place would know who the hell I was.

I’ve been on a mad heat for the custom design world of the internet to meet it’s worthy bride, the Koozie, for sometime now. Much to my delight I just ran across customink this afternoon, where now all of my custom koozie ambitions can come true.

The design tools aren’t perfect, but they do allow you to make quite a few choices and you can upload your own images. Minimum runs are 105 and come in at less than $2 dollars per Koozie. The site doesn’t offer the ability to market or sell your designs like threadless or cafepress, but you can email them to friends which is cool.

By the way, my roommate has already informed me that my design is base and classless, which, I thought, was the point of a koozie. So please lovely women of the world, swallow your righteous anger knowing that I have taken heed and am already a better man.

A week or so ago I knocked off work early and headed for  Small Bar, a favorite pub of ours here in Chicago, with some friends.  As I was enjoying a delicious local brew, the Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from the good people over at the Half Acre Beer Company and chatting pleasantly, a lull in the  conversation allowed me the opportunity to roll my head around the room a bit.  As I did so,  my eye was caught by a quote written on the chalkboard overlooking the barroom. Well, maybe it wasn’t the quote that caught my eye since I can’t remember it, but the name of the quoted: Michael Jackson. 

My immediate reaction was, “I’ll be dipped in shit, I had no idea that The King of Pop was a beer aficionado. I always thought he was more into Jesus juice.”

After reading the quote, it didn’t take long for me to put two and two together and realize that this was not the King of Pop but an all together different animal. My interest was piqued. 

But I’m lazy and I drink a lot, so, as with most things, I stuck that information somewhere behind Daisy Cutter number three and followed other pursuits.  Planning, of course, to explore more later.

That later turned out to be this afternoon when, while  searching for information on bear hunting or deer hunting, take your pick, I had a Freudian finger slip and accidentally typed “Beer Hunting“. What appeared at the top of the page was, Michael Jackson – Beer Hunter.

When I’m hit on the head with something twice in a short period of time I usually investigate it and who among us could not help but investigate a wonderful moniker like Beer Hunter. 

It sounds like the stuff of legend, a darkly clad figure slinking in and out of alleyways, ducking into barrooms, sitting in the corner, hiding behind a newspaper, one eye winking over the rim of a heavy stout, quietly ferreting out alcoholic deliciousness where ever it might hide. That would be a hell of a job, part Sherlock Holmes and part town drunk. I immediately wanted to be a Beer Hunter.

As it turns out Michael Jackson is, or was, one of the worlds foremost experts, not only on beer but also on Scotch Whisky. Unbelievable, how in the world can I not have heard of this man?  We share not only a wife but a sultry, smokey eyed mistress to boot.  

After a few hours of internet searches I am fairly convinced that I am one of the few people interested in such things as Beer and Whisky and not acquainted of this wonderful English Gentleman.  How I missed him is a mystery and I had to post about him in hopes of helping the others out there like me.

I have just purchased his book, The Ultimate Beer Guide.

Here’s a excerpt from the introduction to his Beer Companion:

“Within the world of food and drink there lives a family blessed with eternal life.  The family of the fermented, there is an elemental appeal to those foods and drinks that are fathered by fermentation.  There is within them a sense of the wild.”

Here’s a wonderful Michael Jackson video interview, chatting with the old chap shortly before his death in 2007.