Upcoming December 2014 Brewery Dinners

December 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment

I wanted to share a few upcoming brewery dinners that are being held this month in case you are interested.

Raven & Rose + Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Brewery Dinner

Tomorrow, you can get access to some incredible beers from Goose Island Brewery which you cannot always find here in Portland at the latest Brewery Dinner at Raven and Rose. This one is titled the Goose Island – Bourbon County Release dinner, and offers Goose Island cult favorite beers (with four of them being barrel aged beers aged in wine casks or bourbon barrels) with Raven and Rose’s English Style roast dinner.

The menu includes, for $75 a person, a welcome appetizer and beer pairing, followed by a Sunday Roast family style dinner along with a beer flight, and then a dessert with beer. This brings the total to 6 beers! The details of the menu include

Course 1: Welcome Snacks & Beer

Beer 1.IPA, a fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle, and long hop finish

Course 2: Salad

Field Greens, radishes, spiced pumpkin seeds, red wine vinaigrette

Course 3: Family style Mains and Sides for a English-style Roast Supper

Mains

Beef Tri-Tip

Oregon King Salmon

Portland Farmers’ Market Sides Like (depending on what is fresh at the Portland Farmers Market on Saturday – I have seen the staff there on more than one occassion loading up their carts!):

Oven-roasted Peppers & potatoes, olive oil, lemon, sea salt

Roasted Farm carrots & Beets, celery root puree

Fried Cauliflower, anchovy salt, sunflower seeds, manchego

Raven & Rose + Goose Island Bourbon County Stout December 2014 Brewery Dinners

Beer Flight for Course 2 and 3:
Beer 2.Class of ’88, The Class of ‘88 Belgian Style Ale was brewed in collaboration with Deschutes Brewery. brewed with whole flower Mt Hood hops, which were first introduced in 1988, then transferred to Muscat casks and aged with Michigan Riesling Grape juice and Oregon Pinot Noir grape must.
Beer 3.Matilda, dried fruit and clove aromas, a spicy yeast flavor, and a satisfying dry finish
Beer 4.Madame Rose, Brown Ale aged in French oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with the addition of Michigan cherries and heavily inoculated with Brettanomyces.
Beer 5.Bourbon County Stout, A liquid as dark and dense as a black hole with thick foam the color of a bourbon barrel. The nose is an intense
mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and smoke.

Course 4: Dessert Beer Pairing

Beer 6. Bourbon County Barley Wine, aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels this traditional English-style barleywine possesses the subtlety of flavor that only comes from a barrel that’s gone through many seasons of  ritual care

The beer dinner is tomorrow, December 7, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm in the Main Dining Room. If you are interested, please contact please email Natalia Toral at natalia@ravenandrosepdx.com. There are often Brewery Dinners at Raven & Rose (I think once a month) or beer specials.

Also, the Sunday Roast dinner is a weekly event at Raven & Rose that replaces the regular a la carte menu, priced at $35 per person for a table (all family style as would be the tradition so the price includes the whole dinner: roast, sauce, potatoes, and a choice of two sides for the table) and served only on Sunday. The dinner features roasts that change weekly like whole lamb on the rotisserie and slow-roasted local pork, each carved to-order for the table, and the sides based on whatever is fresh on the market.

For a peek at what the dinner might be like, check out the pictures and recap from.  A preview of the event attended by fellow blogger ladies Beer Musings from Portland and Salt. Water. Coffee.

Cocotte and Upright Brewing Dinner

Thursday December 11th at 6 PM Upright Brewing, which specializes in farmhouse style ales, has a very tasty beer pairing dinner planned at French restaurant Cocotte by chef Kat LeSueur herself. Farmhouse and French food? Sounds incredible! This will be an intimate dinner limited to only 18 tickets. Reserve a seat by emailing the brewery at uprightbrewing@gmail.com. $65.

Menu

  1. First – Cauliflower and Mushroom Raviolo with Aleppo Chili, Anchovy, Picholine Olives, Pecorino, Fir Tips
    Paired with the Copper and Theory Fifth Anniversary Saison
  2. Second – Apricot Puree, Bay Shrimp & Scallop Salad, Roasted Beets, Shaved Fennel, Grilled Pugliese, Fennel Pollen
    Paired with Jeux d’eau, barrel fermented with Oregon muscat
  3. Third – Charcuterie
    Paired with the Six, dark rye saison
  4. Fourth – Roasted Chicken Breast, Chicken Confit, Chicken Liver Mousse, Apple, Butternut Purée, Yolk
    Paired with Fantasia Reserve, single cask from 2010 peach harvest
  5. Fifth – Cheese Course
    Paired with Spollen Angel, Belgian-style tripel
  6. Sixth – Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding, Cinnamon Coconut Ice Cream, Coconut Coffee Caramel
    Paired with Coffee Stout, wine barrel aged with Extracto cold press

Whole Foods Pearl + Rev. Nat’s Hard Cider Brewery Dinner

I’ve attended brewery dinners at the Whole Foods Market in the Pearl in the past, such as this one with Hopworks that I recapped and this one with Burnside that I also recapped. For December 18, a Thursday, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm they are at it again, this time partnering with Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider. This is a huge bargain / value of a brewery dinner I think, the best that I know of in Portland at the moment. You get four courses with four pairings for a mere $40. The dinner also offers you an opportunity to hear from Reverend Nat himself to hear about how he is a cider rebel / revolutionary and evangelist.

The brewery dinner is set upstairs in the room they call the Mezz, which is near where the cafe is. They have done incredible jobs setting up beautiful dinners there before in the past: you will forget you are in a store! If you look carefully, you will see me in the photo in the back right!

Whole Foods Pearl Brewery dinners, this one is with Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) Whole Foods Pearl Brewery dinners, this one is with Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB)

Course 1

Gorgonzola cheesecake, tomato sauce, flat bread, basil oil 

Paired with Reverend Nat’s Hazelnut Abbey, a cider utilizing Starvation Valley cranberries, Albina City hazelnuts, organic Minneola tangelos and a touch of winter spices

Course 2

Cider brined trout, apples, greens, pickled fennel, creme fraiche and spiced almond 

Paired with Reverend Nat’s Revival, I think he is probably bringing Hard Apple which is a secret blend of Washington-grown apples and then they add piloncillo, dark brown evaporated cane juice, purchased direct from Michoacan, Mexico. Or, maybe he’ll bring the limited release Revival Dry, which is made with 2/3rds English and French bittersweet-bittersharp apples and 1/3rd American heirloom dessert apples and represents the first cider Reverend Nat ever made.

Course 3

Spiced crusted pork tenderloin with pickled onions, creamy shrimp hominy and yam Yukon whip

Paired with Reverend Nat’s Envy (one in the series of his 7 Deadly Sins ciders), this cider is big, as it is intensely hopped with 11 varieties of hops (boiled, bursted, whirlpooled, dry), a half-ton of dark muscovado and the finest northwest fresh-pressed apple juice

Course 4

Apple crumble with vanilla bean ice cream

Paired with Reverend Nat’s Providence, I’m not sure if he is bringing the Ginger Tonic (to which he adds to the cider pure squeezed ginger juice, hundreds of hand-cut fresh lemongrass stalks, the fresh-squeezed juice and zest of thousands of limes (zested by hand!) and top it off with hand-extracted quinine from the bark of the Peruvian cinchona tree) or the Traditional New England version, a traditional cider that follows a very old recipe dating from early 1600’s colonial America but additionally made with prime California raisins, dark Maldivian muscovado, whole Indonesian cinnamon and nutmeg and fermented to complete dryness on toasted American oak.

Whole Foods Pearl + Rev. Nat's Hard Cider December 2014 Brewery Dinners

To get tickets to this brewery dinner, you can sign up in the store or go to Eventbrite.com at this link. You can also try to win reservations for 2 people by going to the Whole Foods Facebook page here and leaving a comment!

Even if you can’t make either of these two brewery dinners, you definitely want to keep an eye out for future events, either for yourself or perhaps to give as a gift, as both Raven and Rose and Whole Foods offer brewery dinners often as part of a series.

Let me note even if you don’t drink beer often, one of the great things about pairing the beer with food is that it opens up a new way to appreciate the flavors in beer that you might not have realized when drinking beer by itself.

Furthermore, even if you are a beer drinker regularly, these events also give you access to the brewers in a very intimate atmosphere, which is a really unique opportunity.

Which of these brewery dinners interests you? Have you attended a brewery dinner before, and what did you think of it, what brewery was it with?

Cheers!

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Portland Center Stage Twist Your Dickens, version 2014

December 5, 2014 by 3 Comments

It’s December! And holiday time! This is my favorite time of year!

While I’m brimming with holiday spirit and cheer, F is more of a grouch. While I’m excited to see sparkling lights everywhere and decked out trees with shiny ornaments (this weekend is also the worthy Providence Festival of Trees at the Oregon Convention Center) and an excuse to wear sequins at holiday parties, he’s muttering about the crowds and the killed trees. If he could, he would stay inside at home every day. I used to get excited buying presents as a challenge of thoughtfulness and also because it’s fun to gift wrap with all that pretty paper, but with his influence we no longer exchange gifts, and we put up a fake instead of a real tree. What a Scrooge right?

In previous years I’ve spent the holiday with my family, ranging from Hawaii one year to Manhattan Beach in California if I didn’t go home to Chicago for Christmas. With all the travel I’ve done this year though, this year F and I are spending the holidays here at home in Portland. I was carefully looking for events and activities that could both fulfill my need for holiday cheer while not being too over the top for Grinchy F.

Enter the fact that earlier this week we went to Portland Center Stage‘s production of Twist Your Dickens, playing at the Armory (128 NW 11th Avenue, in the Pearl District) in the U.S. Bank Main Stage.
Portland Center Stage Twist Your Dickens poster, Art by Julia McNamara running November 22 - December 24, 2014
Art by Julia McNamara

This is a show that is a sketch comedy version of the famous Christmas Carol story by Charles Dickens, and because of that nature no single show is the same. Each cast can throw in their own spins into a production by adding new content to the general outline, and add to the fact that there is a fair amount of improv. In fact, specifically you may see your suggestion thrown into that night’s show!

Make sure you come at least 20 minutes before the show because in the lobby they are collecting written confessed misdeeds you have done (anonymous of course) in the Misdeeds Booth and may uses them in the show! There will also be calls for audience suggestions to incorporate in the show, so think of interesting year from the past, or a funny/scandalous occupation and hobby, and a holiday song for instance to fill in Mad Libs style for the cast…
Tell the Twist Your Dickens cast your misdeeds and they may end up in the Portland Center Stage show that night!

This seemed to the the perfect balance of Christmas cheer and satiric humor for a couple like us. And, I know I piqued his interest when I showed him on the PCS Facebook page how somehow, there would be a Dalek in this production (he is a big Dr. Who fan). Sold! We had a cheerful time and it was fun to hear F, who doesn’t laugh heartily often, do so during the show. I was surprised to see some really fun physical comedy in the second half of the show in addition to the verbal snarkiness that I was expecting and lots of references to pop culture.
Portland Center Stage The Second City’s A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens L-R: Nicholas Kessler as the Ghost of Christmas Future and Craig Cackowski as Scrooge with a Dalek-inspired robot from the future. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.
Twist Your Dickens L-R: Nicholas Kessler as the Ghost of Christmas Future and Craig Cackowski as Scrooge with a Dalek-inspired robot from the future. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

The running time for Twist Your Dicken is about 1 hour and 50 minutes, including an intermission. The show does have some risque material and language, so recommended for ages 14 years old or older.

Performance times:

  • Tuesday – Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m ($39-$63 except Saturday evening $49-$69)
  • Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. or Thursday matinees at noon ($36-52)

There is another Christmas show at Portland Center Stage show in the Ellen Bye Studio, Santaland Diaries, which is another classic comedic look at Christmas. Use the code word “Surprise” to get $10 off any full price adult tickets to either holiday show!
December 2014 at the Portland Center Stage located at the Gerding Theater at the Armory

Also keep in mind that on the first and third Saturdays of each month (so for December that means tomorrow December 6 and also on December 20), the Gerding Theater at the Armory hosts FREE public tours at noon that last 1 hour that include a total behind the scenes look, so you might want to come see the show and then tour, or tour and then see the show. To join the tour just meet at the concierge desk inside the lobby of the building slightly before noon (I’ve taken this tour before when seeing another play).

You might also consider, as a holiday present, a Sweetness and Spotlight package they are offering! It includes a voucher that is good for two tickets for any Portland Center Stage show in the season, PLUS a dozen Cupcake Jones cupcakes (those ones with the extra stuffing inside the cupcake) as a present for $80, a value of $160 – check here for the Holiday Package.

That includes opportunities for your gift recipient to see the Broadway comedy hit Other Dessert Cities, the smaller intimate musical show The Lion (One man, six guitars, and a true story of love, loss, family loyalty, and the redemptive power of music) or Three Days of Rain (the show you may have heard stars actors from the Portland-filmed NBC television series GRIMM: Silas Weir Mitchell / Monroe and Sasha Roiz /Captain Renard) and more!

Are you seeing any holiday shows or doing any special holiday entertainment activities this month, I’m interested to find more holiday things to do!?

Disclosure: I was invited to see this production, but I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

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Warming up with Flambée and Spaetzle at St Honoré

December 3, 2014 by 9 Comments

I am quite the fan of St. Honoré Boulangerie, which has three Portland locations. In particular, the one on SE Division at 3333 SE Division Street has their 1 year anniversary today! To celebrate, they are offering complimentary chouqettes when you buy any coffee drink from 7 -9 am. and from 4-7 pm tarte flambées and cider!
St Honoré Chouquettes (puffy baked pastry balls made with a pâte à choux and sprinkled with rock sugar) and in the back Grille Aux Pommes (Puff pastry baked with cider that is slowly cooked in the oven) Tarte Flambées at St Honoré. Here paired with a few sips of Beujolais Nouveau

Also, then tomorrow on Thursday, December 4th, Hot Club of Hawthorne will be playing live music (Chef Dominique described them as French Gypsy Jazz) from 6:00pm – 8:30pm while St Honoré offers an anniversary special of your choice of Tarte Flambée or Spaetzle, with a mini dessert, and a drink from their taps for $9.00 from from 5:00pm until they close!

I love both the Tarte Flambe or Spaetzle at St Honoré. I first fell in love with Spaetzle at local Alsatian restaurant Gruner, and then when I was in Germany. If you are not familiar, spaetzle is a soft egg noodle that is often small and thin, almost like tiny dumplings. They are more buttery and melt in your mouth than gnocchi, without being quite as filling as potato based gnocchi.

As soon as you walk into St Honoré, you can’t help but feel charmed by the French feel that includes small floral details balanced by tile and wood.

St. Honoré Boulangerie on SE Division in Portland St. Honoré Boulangerie on SE Division in Portland

You should definitely try the Tarte Flambées, which are Alsatian-style Flatbread pizzas baked to order. They offer about a dozen different options of tarte flambe, varying from my favorite the Lardon et Oignon (Bacon, fresh onions, crème fraîche, and Emmental cheese) to unusual combinations such as Fromage de Chèvre et Raisins (Olive oil and rosemary pached grapes, smoked fennel and goat cheese drizzled with honey) or one with squash and radicchio that was the chef’s special on another visit.

St. Honoré Boulangerie, Cider Program Media Preview, Tarte Flambée, an Alsatian-style Savory tart baked to order, this one is LARDON ET L'OIGNON Bacon lardon, fresh onions, crème fraiche St. Honoré Boulangerie, Cider Program Media Preview, Tarte Flambée, an Alsatian-style Savory tart baked to order, this one is a special one with crème fraîche sauce, apples, Fourme d'Ambert bleu cheese, baked and topped with arugula, toasted walnuts and a cider gastrique.

Now that winter’s cold weather is here and you want some warm comfort, you too should also check out the Spaetzle, like this one below with a cream sauce and Emmental cheese, with Carrots, green peas, mushrooms and onions so it’s also vegetarian. Tell me you don’t already feel comforted seeing the pictures. If it’s making you think it’s a bit like mac and cheese, you are right, but with the use of spaetzle it is more delicate. Other versions of their Spaetzle include one with caramelized cauliflower, leeks and tomato fondue and another one that offers Roasted pork loin, smoked apples and house-made sriracha sauce, topped with fresh breadcrumbs.

So, it doesn’t have to necessarily be a cheesy dish, but still offers some of that oozy melty comfort even without the cheese just because of the use of the spaetzle – you just have to vary up what you pair with the spaetzle. When I had it in Germany, it was just often simply in a bit of melted butter.

Spaetzle at St Honoré

Every time I dine here I imagine that this is my neighborhood little spot as I’m visiting a nice town in the northern part of France – it’s not fancy, but it’s still a very good taste of French living.

In fact, this dish, per an interview by the Oregonian of chef Dominique Geulin, spaetzle is the dish that is the equivalent of bringing home to him, just like Ratatouille did for that critic in the Disney movie with the chef rat. The article also includes a recipe and video of how to make spaetzle yourself.

Spaetzle at St Honoré, house-made tiny dumplings with a cream sauce and Emmental cheese, baked to order. This version is LÉGUMES with Carrots, green peas, mushrooms and onions

Hope there’s some tarte flambe and / or spaetzle in your future to cozy up to!

Have you had spaetzle at St Honoré before? Or spaetzle at all? What’s your favorite way to have it, or where have you had it before?

And happy 1 year anniversary St Honoré Division!

For a look at other treats at St Honoré Division, check out this previous post that included when I first visited them in anticipation of Cider Week.

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Holiday Ale Festival 2014 is coming!

December 1, 2014 by 9 Comments

This week from Wednesday to Sunday December 3 – 7 2014 is one of my favorite beer festivals, the Holiday Ale Festival. As in previous years, it takes place under heated tents at Pioneer Courthouse Square, with a view of the gigantic sparkling Christmas tree through the clear tent that will keep you dry no matter what the weather. With the Max line literally stopping only yards away and plenty of hotels nearby in the downtown area, you may choose to make it a whole “day away from home staycation”. I think the best time to visit, if you can, is during the daytime rather in the evening since that is the more popular and obvious time. The festival hours are 11 AM – 10 PM everyday but Sunday when the festival ends at 5 PM.

Photo of the setup of the Holiday Ale Festival in Pioneer Courthouse Square, photo by Timothy Horn Christmas Tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square, 2013
Photo Credit: First photo by Timothy Horn, second photo is mine

Under the tents are some tables and seating, gas heaters, port a potties, as well as a couple food vendors (this year featuring Bunk Sandwiches and Urban German Grill) so along with your 2014 admission mug and tokens, you have everything you need in one place, just bring money and friends! As long as you bring your wristband and mug back, you can get re-admitted any of the festival days, so also feel free to pace yourself and stretch out your visit to many.

Example goodness from Bunk Sandwiches, here are their samples of Cubano sandwiches Example goodness from Bunk Sandwiches, here are their samples of Cubano sandwiches
Example goodness from Bunk Sandwiches

Example goodness from Urban German Grill Example goodness from Urban German Grill
Example goodness from Urban German Grill

Make sure to check in your coat and any bags you may have (feel free to maybe get a little Christmas shopping in beforehand and then finish up at the Holiday Ale Fest!) because all proceeds from the bag and coat check at the Holiday Ale Fest, as well as the raffle located at the Coat Check (you don’t need to be present to win) and the root beer garden all benefit the Children’s Cancer Association. This worthy cause, CCA, works to impact the care and quality of life of children with cancer and other serious illnesses immediately by delivering resources, friendship, and helping quality of life today.

Besides the donation to the Children’s Cancer Association, what makes this particular beer festival unique to others is its focus on lots of dark beers and also aged beers. I love tasting the notes of chocolates, roast, coffee, toffee, molasses, caramels, nuts, etc. that you can often detect in dark beers. Some beers additionally are being brewed or aged with extra ingredients such as cranberries, cherry puree, maple syrup, habanero peppers, even pumpkin pie spice and there is a lot of flavor going on to add to the holiday spirit all around you. It seems the colder weather is season for these kind of flavors and thus “holiday ales”.
Holiday Ale Festival, photo courtesy Timothy Horn
Photo Credit: Timothy Horn

Add to that that most of these beers are also barrel aged, which means that as part of the process they sit in barrels and absorb the flavors of the barrels and some of the characteristic flavors of the previous liquid occupant of those barrels- and some of the options include wine barrels, whiskey barrels, rum barrels and more. You will get additional flavors of wood, vanilla, dark fruits, perhaps some sourness or heat or extra spice and possibly more from this treatment. If you are thinking that sounds a lot like getting the complexity of aromas and flavors like a wine or port you are exactly right.

Not only that, but the guidelines for this festival are that all the beers available at the event were made specifically for the event, blended specifically for the event, or a vintage beer – in other words the beer has not been released prior to the Holiday Ale Festival. So the beers of the festival are, in some cases, sometimes previews of beers that are coming but in most cases, one off special beers from the past or just made for the event!

Holiday Ale Festival 2014 logo
You only have until Wednesday to buy your tickets online and be able to use a card to pay. Admission at the door is CASH ONLY. Admission is $35 including the reusable plastic mug and 12 beer tickets. Remember you can exit and return using that mug as often as you’d like over the four days of the festival, and additional beer tickets are $1 each. If you buy your admission ahead of time, you also get 2 additional tickets and can use an expediated entry line.

One beer ticket is almost all cases will get you a 4 ounce sample pour. You can get a full mug pour for 4 tickets. There are some beers which may cost more tickets because they are more limited in quantity or are special taps (such as all the Limited Release Beers). You must be 21 and older to attend the event

I have taken a look at the beer list and wanted to point out a few highlighted beers I am excited to try when I attend Wednesday (I am working a half day and then enjoying the rest – see earlier comment about staycation, and this is a too conveniently located beercation to turn down!). My list here are only from the Standard Release Beers and not the Limited Release beers that you need to come at the right release time to enjoy. But, if you do come to the festival, make sure to see what Limited Release beers may be tapping during your visit!

This isn’t even my full list- just a snapshot of to help you see the kind of beers and to give you an idea of what the Holiday Ale Festival offers. I haven’t had these beers yet but the descriptions sound interesting to me…

  • 13 Virtues Brewingis presenting their Barrel-Aged MAX Stout which is a barrel aged Imperial Stout that has been aged in both Eastside Distillery and Bull Run Distillery Whiskey barrels for three to four months, giving off oak and vanilla notes and textured layers of deep, dark secrets. Succumb to temptation…
  • I wrote about this previously when reviewing Kell’s Brew Pub, but the Kells Brew Pub MIC Stout AKA Boom Roaster, a collaboration between homebrewer Natalie Baldwin and Kells head brewer Dave Fleming. It is an Imperial Coffee Milk Stout uses Sidamo coffee from Ristretto Roasters and was the People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice winner of the Willamette Week Beer Pro/Am, see if it’s a winner for you!
  • Republic Brewing Co. is bringing the cutely named Do You Want To Build A Snowman?, a Barrel-Aged Golden Blend using four different barrels from the cellar, including Cuvee de Bubba, Pinot Noir re-fermented Kolsch, Tequila Barrel Aged El Oso Lager and Demolition Derby barrels. Yeah, that’s all. Huge fruity notes of pineapple, strawberries and grapes snuggle up to spicy oak, tropical hop notes and a slight pleasing tartness
    Holiday Ale Festival photo, by Timothy Horn
    Photo Credit: Timothy Horn
  • Cascade Brewing is offering a beer they are calling Gingersnaps which is a NW Style Sour Strong Ale that is a blend of Red, Spiced Red and Spiced Quads aged in Bourbon and rum barrels for up to two years on spices including ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, and figs. Chocolate and rum hold down the low end while Bourbon and spice hit the high notes on the palate. The finish is a crescendo of raisins, dates, chocolate and ginger with a lingering boozy warmth. Sounds like sour yum to me.
  • Coalition Brewing is bringing supposedly their Loving Cup Male Porter’s big brother to the festival, an Imperial Maple Porter beer named Big Maple. This big brother beer is a blend of malts including Patagonia caramel 15 malt that adds a malty sweetness, while two different chocolate malts provide layers of roast and chocolate notes. Vermont grade A maple is added to the boil, bringing a subtle sweetness and maple aromatics. A whisper of smoke balances this winter treat. Enjoy this one-off beer while you can!
  • Ex Novo Brewing Co. did a collaboration with Moonstruck Chocolates to create a beer called Moonstriker, a Baltic Porter with Mexican Chocolate.
  • Fort George Brewery has created Santa’s Dinner Jacket, a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Red Ale that has been aging in Bull Run Distillery barrels. Sipped slowly and allowed to warm, this beer tells a story of time spent in the barrel infusing this heftily hopped ale with notes of port, sherry, caramel and toffee.
    Holiday Ale Festival picture, photo by Timothy Horn
    Photo Credit: Timothy Horn
  • It’s not always just about dark beers. How about a saison? Specifically, Gigantic Brewing has created Red Ryder BB Gun, a Saison with Cranberries that promises to be a balance of sweet and sour and spicy and tart.
  • Consider comparing the cranberries in that to Burnside Brewing Co. presenting Jingleberry, an Imperial Stout with Cranberries. Yes, that’s right. An imperial stout aged on fresh cranberries that features hints of cocoa and toffee.
  • It’s not always about the whiskey and bourbon barrels of course, like with the Lompoc Brewing Pinot Noir Barrel-Aged Cheval de Trait Belge, named in honor of Belgian work horses – one of the strongest breeds, this dark Belgian Style Strong Ale has been aging in Maryhill Winery Pinot Noir barrels for six months. It has a malty body and strong oak character, finishing dry with hints of chocolate and tobacco.
  • Or, how about the McMenamins Edgefield rum barrel aged Imperial Mexican Mocha Stout called Lord of Misrule brewed with cacao nibs, kilned coffee malt and habanero peppers, then aged in rum barrels post-fermentation for another taste of what barrel aging can produce?
    Holiday Ale Festival, photo by Timothy Horn
    Photo Credit: Timothy Horn
  • There are several chocolate flavors going on in various beer entrants to the festival, but what about White Chocolate Milk Stout? Yep, Oakshire Brewing is bringing one called Prestidigitation that is a beer Blonde in color, yet full-bodied and mildly sweet. This milk stout uses coffee, cocoa nibs and star anise to produce the flavors and aromas of a milk stout with the color of a pale ale.
  • I plan to do a face-off between two chocolate banana beers that are on deck for the Holiday Ale Festival- one from Old Town Brewing Co called Bluth’s Original Chocolate Banana Hefeweizen and described as a Chocolate Bavarian-Style Hefeweizen that is , straight from the description, basically a frozen banana with double the chocolate, nuts and two sticks. Brewed to Pop-Pop’s original (stolen) recipe to be a “cold banana in delicious brown treat.” Two-row, wheat and chocolate malts co-mingle with Mt. Hood hops and cocoa nibs. “There’s always money in the banana stand! No touching!”.
  • The previous beer then will be compared against Stickman Brewery‘s Big Black Banana, a Dunkelweizen for which the Stickmen brewers took their bananas foster beer (Bananas On Fire!) and dunked it in chocolate for the holidays. The Weihenstephan Weizen yeast provides banana and spice, the caramel comes from a good dose of Crystal 120 and Special B malts, and the chocolate from cocoa nibs and chocolate malt.
  • Chocolate and banana? Check. And how about Chocolate and Cherries? Check, thanks to Portland Brewing Co. bringing a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Cherry Stout brewed just for the 2014 Holiday Ale Festival. This brew boasts a huge malty backbone from seven different malts, a Northwest hop profile, and notes of roasted coffee balanced by delicious cherry flavors from an Oregon-grown sweet cherry puree.

Holiday Ale Festival, photo by Timothy Horn
Photo Credit: Timothy Horn

I hope this list has not been too overwhelming. Does anything stand out to you? Are you planning to attend or recommend the Holiday Ale Festival?

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Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite by Frank Bruni

November 28, 2014 by 2 Comments

For November the selected book subject for my online book club, The Kitchen Reader, was Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite by Frank Bruni. This memoir starts with how author Frank Bruni was born round / had a young childhood of being husky and loving food and promises to follow him through his youthful 20s to his heaviest of times (as a campaign correspondant, constantly on the road) to the point where most of us came to know the name of Frank Bruni: when he became the New York Times restaurant critic. The book promises to chronicle the struggle between someone who loves food but at the same time wants to be healthy – probably a tale so many of us know. What drew me in was not only that I knew he would become a famous restaurant critic, but that it was also the tale of that self-consciousness from a male perspective.

The first section of the book, Born Round, tells us the story of Frank from when he was a toddler bulimic who even at only in diapers wanted a third hamburger and had a ranked order of candy bars (Snickers beats 3 Musketeers because it has nuts, and Baby Ruth beats Snickers because it has more nuts, but KitKat ranked high because of its geometry and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup for it’s beautiful orange wrapper). His memories of his childhood or full of food memories. It also touched on a very common start to the love of so much food- family.

It’s true of Asian families as well as Frank’s family heritage here (Italian) that big feasts are a way to provide sense of security and sign of success and love. I loved one particular description where he explained the family dinner traditions he inherited were a “violent, thrilling sport” and “were more like gastronomic rugby matches, dishes colliding, tomato sauce splattering, cutlets flying… and Grandma’s fervent belief that you had to make and serve enough of every dish to guarantee plenty of untouched, extra food on the table at the end of an endless dinner. If there wasn’t some of every kind of food you’d served left over, it meant that you had perhaps run out of something before someone had gotten his or her fill of it. There was no shame greater than that.”
Grassa's Italian Sausage pasta with peppers, onions, basil, grana, escarole Grassa's meatballs

As he followed up the story of Grandma glaring and banging pots and dishes and utensils louder and complimenting other family members who were eating her fried dough frits (Frank’s favorite were stuffed with mozzarella and tomato suace, so much better than any pizza that wore its soul on the surface unlike these secrets you had to eat your way into, he explained), Frank summarized simply “For her, food was a currency and communicator like no other, trumpeting pride, establishing wealth, proving love. It gave her what bearings she had in the world.”

His mother took up the mantle, Frank explained, “Food was how she showed people the amount of time she was willing to spare for them, the sorts of sacrifices she was willing to make for them. But while it was part courtesy, it was also part boast. She wanted to demonstrate what she could pull off.”

You can probably use Frank’s description there to summarize the relationship of food in any culture in that food is something everyone must do to survive and is thus universal. More than your home or your looks or your clothes, what you eat and serve your friends and family is more indicative of wealth and success and relationship that doesn’t require translation or understanding of history or culture. This chapter also includes lots of family photos, which really helps you connect fully with Frank and the story.

I salivated and craved Italian food as Frank explained the rivalry between his grandmother and sister-in-laws of the family in that each had dishes she was known for: a frittata dense with green and red peppers and locatelli Romano cheese; a breaded fried veal cutlets and homemade ravioli and orecchiette, a casserole of mezzani and thin slices of fried eggplant. As the next generation (Frank’s mother and Frank’s aunts) rose with their signature dishes, Frank described pizza dolce, a fluffy cheesecake made with ricotta, I couldn’t help but look it up and make a version myself (I share the recipe here!). I still have manicotti on the list for December, and maybe lasagna in January to make…

Recipe for Whiskey and Orange Flavored Ricotta Cheese Cake with Chocolate, tastes lighter than a normal cheesecake

The second section, Yo-Yo Me, is when Frank goes into the details of the bulimic college years to the start of his 30s. This chapter is sometimes shallow, sometimes funny, sometimes sad but always frank and open… which what can you say, it is his 20s. It includes terrible but honest rationalizations and binge eating and other fad diets ranging from Metamucil and speed to diets of just all bread or just all salads. There is all the neurosis of dating less because of his perception of being flabby and disgusting, and the insecurities even when he did find some commitment for a while.

While women’s clothing certainly has an annoyance factor in that the same size in one store may not fit the same as in another store (and also often lack of functional pockets), Frank’s tale with tracking his waist sizes of his pants made me appreciate the kind of shame in the un-deniability of those numbers that are hidden by women’s clothing sizes and the larger variety of clothing like skirts, dresses, etc. to choose from. It was amusing to hear from a male perspective the idea of some clothing also being particularly flattering or having magical thinning powers though!

The third section, Ipso Fatso, goes into the circumstances as well as the mental and emotional mindset that brought Frank to his highest weight, combining the reality of aging family who pass away or who become distant as they begin their own families, the comfort of food when you are served possibly 8 potential meals on the campaign trail and exhausted from travel and deadlines. As Frank explains as he is now living in Manhattan with delivery menus where he would “spread the cartons and tins of food on the living room coffee table so I could survey and size up the bounty. I’d put on sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt: nothing that could cinch or cling. I’d put something trashy and brainless on television… and the world would shrink to just a few square feet around me and to the warm, uncomplicated, unremarkable ripple of gratification running through me.”
Pork belly sandwich from the food cart, Sideshow Eatery on SW 9th and Washington in Portland / The food cart has since closed Briskets food cart in Portland sampling of their brisket and you pick the sampling with the side you want: mac n cheese, maple bacon beans, slaw or potato salad

It is quite a juxtaposition to hear someone who as I was reading his writing and hearing his voice, is obviously so intelligent, while playing mindgames with himself in trying a diet of only fruit, or hiding in baggy full of pockets jackets (even in July or August), or the way he treat himself with a last-hurrah opportunity of cravings before he started his big change – a last-hurrah meal he admitted happened as often as once a week. It was a mix of wonderful because he is so articulate and engaging while terribly both ridiculous and sad as you go through with him his lowest points.

Chapter 4, the last section, Critical Eating, is the falling action of this food vs weight story, where Frank begins to find the balance he needs. It probably is not a surprise that it’s about exercise as well as not binging – but the key is finding what exercise and what combination of food planning works for each individual. I did not expect that after 3/4 of the book essentially is about Frank not having any control over food that once he becomes a restaurant writer and for a living has to eat often and constantly, that the planning ahead and certainty of many future meals ends up freeing him to a great extent. And, his love of food never ceased – it was just how he acted on it.

Overall, the sincerity of this book communicates successfully his love of food and his journey from the harsh self-judgement to the acceptance of where he is happy to be. Sometimes the book does get hard to read in hearing the various details, but I think the different stories he tells to illustrate those time periods of his life may resonate differently with various readers – so he tells multiple, rather than concisely telling one to illustrate his point. You will probably do what I did- glaze over some that you are less interested in. But that doesn’t negate that there is some great charm in this book, even as he is writing about details of a disorder that are disturbing but treated so matter of fact. And, it’s proof that even with a happy family and childhood, everyone has their own life struggles to face beneath the surface of what you may see in public.

There is a whole section early in the first quarter dedicated to Thanksgiving. It’s a fine recounting, starting from T minus 6 days that starts with a ruled steno notebook and multiple pages of planned dishes and every ingredient to T minus 4 days the five hours to drive among all the right stores/unloading perishable. As T day approaches, there’s the creation of a detailed time line of what can be assembled and what must be prepared to individual Post-its for every bowl and pan and package. And on T day, recalling the start at 11:30 and the platters of appetizers (including four pounds of chilled shrimp prepared at 7 AM and at noon the fact carving takes an hour because not only do you make a turkey but a separate turkey breast to serve sandwiches later in the day (“You must serve sandwiches later in the day” Frank explained seriously, and you find out sandwich time is at 5:30, only 3 hours after the dessert table that includes 6 pies and more was served). Doggie bags begin at 7:30 PM. It seriously sounds like the best crazy Thanksgiving ever.

And if that detailed holiday meal wasn’t enough, at the end of reading this book you will really have a craving for some Italian food.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe

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