THIRD COURSE
Beer-Braised Pekin Duck Pyramid Pasta and Spiced Pine Nuts
Paired with Deschutes Black Butte Porter
This pairing was sick! The earthiness of the duck stuffed in succulent pyramid pockets with roasted, spicy, and grassy pine nuts harmonized perfectly with this delicate smoky and toasty Porter.
FOURTH COURSE
Roasted Suzuki, Saison DuPont-Braised Mussels, Japanese Leeks, and Dry Cured Chorizo
Paired with Saison DuPont
See page 194 for the chef’s notes on why this is an amazing pairing.
CHEESE COURSE
Mothais Goat Cheese, Quince Crepe, Lambic Gastrique, and Frisée
Paired with Cantillon Iris Gueuze
This may have been the best pairing of the evening. This special cheese was aged in 100% humidity, making for one funky dairy product. Paired with the barnyard, earthy, immensely sour, and bone-dry unblended Lambic Ale—forget about it. This was a truly inspired combination.
DESSERTS
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout Beer Cake
Salted Corn Nuts and Reissdorf Kölsch Ale Sorbet
Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale Chocolates
Blackberry and Peach Lambic Jell-O Shots
Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout Float
We love beer and dessert pairings. This one knocked it out of the park and really showed how beer could be used in massively creative ways. James Beard Award nominee pastry chef Catherine Schimenti made a cake, sorbet, chocolates, Jell-O shots, and an ice cream float, all using beer and all delicious.
BhD: Get Your Doctorate in Beer, Become a Beer Sommelier
Do you want to be known as Dr. Beer? Sir Brews-a-lot? The Honor able Master of Ale? Queen of the Malt? Well, that’s never going to happen. We aren’t quite saving people’s lives here (though we are vastly improving them) or curing diseases, so don’t expect to be knighted because of your beer knowledge (unless you live in Belgium, where they do that for real). You may be asked to preside as a beer judge at a beer festival, but don’t show up in robes with a gavel. Look, we chose the terms beer expert and beer sommelier because when we started, there wasn’t really a word for what we do. There is no all-encompassing term for someone who can guide you on a quality Beer Journey, create inspiring beer pairings, or professionally host a beer dinner, so we just chose what we thought made sense. So if you’re looking for a beer sommelier box on job surveys, don’t hold your breath. And there are many respectable beer writers, experts, lovers, and brewers who have never been certified, so don’t think that this is something you have to do to be a valued member of the craft beer world.
There is a way to get some respect in the upper echelons of the beer world, however, but they involve a dreaded four-letter word: test. So if you want to prove to the world that you know enough about beer to school anyone, crack the books and brew the coffee—it’s time to cram. You can take a beer equivalent of the famous master wine sommelier test, and there are a few choices.
CICERONE: Pronounced SIS-UH-ROHN, this is a special title for a beer expert who has passed a trademarked beer test. Run by Ray Daniels—beer judge, beer author, and the president of the Craft Beer Institute—this is a serious program that is highly regarded as the sommelier test of the beer world. Cicerone is an English word referring to, as quoted from the website (www.cicerone.org): “one who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest.” Sounds a bit complicated, eh? This website offers an intensive test for those who want to be taken seriously as beer experts.
BEER JUDGE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM: Affectionately called the BJCP (www.bjcp.org), this program offers a test that certifies one to be, you guessed it, a beer judge. Now anyone may consider themselves a good judge of beer, but this program gets specific with its test and is the go-to in the craft beer world for specific style guidelines and rules about brewing those styles.
AMERICAN BREWERS GUILD : If you want to become a brewer, you can take courses with the ABG, based in Vermont, and learn it all. They have a program titled the CraftBrewers Apprenticeship (CBA), in which you learn everything in a 28-week program, including an apprenticeship at a working brewery. Visit www.abgbrew.com for more information.
GREATBREWERS.COM: This website was created by beer educators Eric McKay of L. Knife and Son, a giant in beer distribution, and Sam Merritt, formerly of the Brooklyn Brewery and currently of Civilization of Beer, which offers beer knowledge and tutorials through the website www.civilizationofbeer.com. GreatBrewers is run by a passionate group of beer wholesalers and offers users the Great Beer Test (GBT), which is a 20-question quiz about the history of beer, brewing process, styles, and more. The questions for each quiz are randomly drawn from a bank of continually changing questions. They also offer a 100-question test for the brave. Go through their education process, and you can be dubbed Beer Authority. Their passion here is education of the beer-going public; not as serious as Cicerone, but a great test for your continuing brew education.
LOCAL HOMEBREW CLUB OR ASSOCIATION: Be sure to seek out your local homebrew clubs. This is the best way to get your feet wet in brewing. They will often offer lessons in brewing and a great space to give it a try. Local homebrew associations may also have beer-centric events like style contests, for which you can enter your homebrew and get some good feedback while tasting the fruits of other homebrew laborers.
Okay, hit the books. Perhaps you are ready to go back to school, study for the Cicerone, or take a class through the American Brewer’s Guild. Or maybe you prefer to be homeschooled, where you can find every last brewing book or history on beer and study in the comfort of your own living room with a beer by your side.
Lay out the tablecloth and chill your beer. Or just get the BBQ going—whatever you like, as long as craft beer is a part of your gatherings. People are eager to have new dining experiences, and if you give them a beer tasting or dinner, they will be grateful. Even if you know your group is made up of wine lovers, be bold; give them quality beer backed with your love and knowledge of it, and watch them follow your lead. Those you least expected to love beer will be hosting a beer tasting next week. We hope, by now, you are a master of beer and understand it on a philosophical level. Hell, you even described the last beer you had as “a bit too diacetyl” for your liking and mused that the addition of some Fuggles hops might make for a better balance. It looks like it’s time for us to let you go, to leave you to your own decisions. Oh, we’ll always be right here for you, even if you don’t need us anymore. Go... be free. See the world. Continue on your never-ending Beer Journey. We’ll run into you along the way.
CONCLUSION
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
When we first learned about the finer points of beer, we promised that we would take what we learned and pass it along. We feel that we’ve done that with this book. You are one of the converted, and now you can spread the word of great craft beer all over the world.
As you travel along on your Beer Journey, your path will cross with other beer explorers. You’ll laugh at the Neophyte mistakes newbie beer drinkers are making. (They’re so cute, aren’t they?) You’ll have deep conversations over a session beer with your Sophomore beer-drinking friends. You’ll give knowing glances over a rich, complex vintage Trappist Ale with your Devout brethren. You’ll take it all the way and dare to drink a shockingly hoppy 12% Quad IPA. Yeah! High five! Right here!
You’ll bring beer home, stocking your fridge so that you’ll always have what you need. Hell, you might even start a collection (we’re so proud). Your friends will remember your beer pairings at the last dinner party and begin a Beer Journey of their own. You’ll even make your own beer and, with a sense of accomplishment, proudly label the bottles with your name. You’ll philosophize about beer, and you’ll never stop searching, reaching, tasting, and learning, until you take that final Beer Journey in the sky. If you take nothing else from this book, we hope
you will embrace the fleeting pleasure of a craft beer passing your lips. The impermanence of life is celebrated in great beer, to be consumed as a thing of beauty—not held onto for too long.
So, that’s it. The only thing we can do now is to let go and hope that we raised you right. Cheers to you. Enjoy your new enlightened life.
Make us proud and always remember ... beer is good.
Glossary
Here are your beer terms. Now that you are a bona fide part of the beer world, you gotta speak the lingo.
ABV (alcohol by volume) Standard measurement of the amount of alcohol present in a beverage.
Adjunct Unmalted grain (such as oats, rye, or wheat) and other sugar sources added as a supplement to malted barley for brewing.
Ale Beer made with top fermenting yeast at warm temperatures.
All grain/full mash A brew made with all grains—like raw malted barley—instead of malt extracts. This requires space and time, and is quite advanced in the brewing world. This is often the practice of professional brewers.
Alt (Old German) Refers to German-style beer, similar to Pale Ale.
AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) Meaning “controlled term of origin,” this is a certification designated to agricultural products produced in certain regions of France.
Aroma hops Added last to the boil, meant to lend hop aromas without bitterness or flavor.
Attenuation Amount of fermentation that has occurred and how much the original gravity has decreased. Refers to the final ABV.
Bacteria Single-celled organisms responsible for a vast diversity of human experience, from disease to digestion, medicine, cheese making, pickling, and fermentation.
Barrel Traditionally made of wood, a cylindrical vessel with a 31-gallon capacity (this capacity is particular to barrels intended for beer). Can also be filled with monkeys.
Base malt Malt used as the main source of sugar for fermentation.
Bavarian Reference to the German state of Bavaria, an area thickly populated with breweries.
Beer-can chicken A recipe that uses a beer can shoved up a chicken’s butt.
Beer-geek Us. And possibly you.
Beer snob One who uses his or her knowledge of beer to exclude, alienate, and judge rather than share, guide, and spread the love.
Bianco (Italian) White.
Bittering hops Used early in the boil to bitter the beer, not to add aroma.
Blanche (French) White.
Blanco (Spanish) White.
Bohemian Reference to the region of Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) that boasts the cities of Budweis and Plzen.
Bottle conditioned Carbonated by living yeast in the bottle.
Brettanomyces Genus of yeast often employed in brewing.
CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Group devoted to the protection of quality beer.
Cask Wooden barrel used to ferment or mature beer, wine, and other potent potables.
Cask conditioned Carbonated by a second fermentation in the barrel. CO2 Carbon dioxide.
Coupler Connecter that joins a tap to a keg.
Creamer faucet See Nitrogen tap.
Decoction Mashing technique by which a portion of the mash is removed and boiled, then returned to the whole to raise the temperature.
Dégorgement (French) See Disgorgement.
Devout Believer in beer.
Disgorgement Process for removal of sediments accumulated in the neck of a bottle during riddling.
Dry-hopped Beer in which hops are added after fermentation to lend supplementary hoppy character.
Dunkel (German) Dark.
Esters Compounds responsible for most fruity aromas in beer.
Extraction The process of transferring an ingredient’s flavor, aroma, color, and essence into the final product. In beer, this usually refers to the process of extracting the flavor from the malt into the wort through boiling, much like one would with tea leaves.
Fermentation Metabolic process by which yeast convert sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Final gravity Measurement of the density of the wort after fermentation. By comparing the original gravity and final gravity, you can calculate the ABV.
Flavor hops Used later in the boil to add flavor and slight aroma.
Flavorings Extras added to some beers solely for flavor, such as fruits, some spices, and coffee.
Gluten Protein present in many grains, such as wheat and barley.
Grist Mixture of grains that are crushed in a mill and prepared for mashing.
Gruit Medieval herb blend used to flavor beer before the widespread use of hops.
Half barrel Vessel with the standard capacity of 15.5 gallons of beer.
Hefe (German) Yeast.
Helles/heller (German) Pale.
Hop pellets Little things that look like gross vitamins, used by most homebrewers in lieu of dried or fresh hops.
Hop-head A person addicted to the bitterness characteristic of hoppy beers.
Hops Flower cones of the hop plant, used in brewing for their aroma and bitterness. Originally employed for their preservative powers.
Hydrometer Device that measures the density of a liquid against the density of water. Taking a measurement of the density of the beer before and after fermentation helps you figure out the ABV of the brew.
IBU (international bitterness unit) Scale for the measurement of bitterness in beer.
Kolner Stangen/Stange (German) Stick or, as we were told (by a leering drunken German ex pat), pole or rod.
Lager Beer made with bottom-fermenting yeast at cold temperatures. The term lagering traditionally refers to a prolonged, cold-storage maturation.
Malt Grain (usually barley) that has germinated and been dried or roasted.
Malt extract Concentrated liquid formed from wort that contains the sugars needed for brewing. This is what most homebrewers use.
Mash Process in which the crushed grains are mixed into hot water, and enzymes change the starch into fermentable (sometimes unfermentable) sugars for the yeast to eat.
Mash tun Vessel that contains the mash during all-grain brewing.
Methodé champenoise (French) Traditional method of Champagne production, in which secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle.
Microbrew The product of a brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels per year.
Mouthfeel Sensation in the mouth exclusive of flavor, as texture, body, and carbonation.
Neophyte Beer newbie.
Nitrogen tap Tap system that introduces nitrogen into beer during the pour, resulting in creamy texture and weighty mouthfeel.
Original gravity Measurement of the density of the liquid wort before fermentation; important for later ABV determination.
Partial mash A wort made partially from grain and partially from malt extract.
Pasteurization Process of terminating microbial growth by means of heat.
Pitch Term for adding the yeast to the cooled wort, as in “Time to pitch the yeast!”
Priming Addition of sugar (priming sugar) to beer that has already fermented. This occurs as the beer is being bottle or kegged to promote more flavor nuances, more alcohol and carbonation, or all three.
Prohibition The bad time.
Promiscuous Experimenting with beer.
Rack Process of moving beer at different stages of homebrewing.
Rauch (German) Smoke; usually refers to lager made with smoked malts.
Remuage (French) See Riddling.
Riddling Method of slowly tipping a bottle from horizontal to vertical, allowing sediment to settle in the neck for removal.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast employed in brewing. Also know as brewer’s yeast.
Schwarz (German) Black; usually refers to a very dark lager.
Session/sessionable Beer with moderate to low alcohol content, suitable for drinking in quantity over a leisurely stretch of time.
Sophomore The newly initiated.
Sparging Comes after the mash, when grain
s are removed and the liquid is separated, becoming the wort.
Specialty malts Small amounts of malt used for flavoring and nuance. These can be steeped like tea instead of turned into a mash.
Steeping grains Used to add flavor, nuance, and color for brewers using a malt extract. These do not need to be converted to sugar and can be steeped like tea.
Terrior (French) Most often associated with wine, this is the flavor of the land, or the concept that the geographical origin of a food or drink lends flavor and character particular to the very soil of the region in which it grows.
Weisse (German) White; refers to a wheat beer. See also Weizen.
Weizen (German) Wheat; refers to a wheat beer. See also Weisse.
Wet-hopped Beer made with the addition of fresh, undried hops.
Wit (Flemish) White; usually refers to Belgian-style wheat beer.
Wort The gross name chosen for the liquid that is extracted from the mash. Pronounced WERT.
Yeast Single-celled fungi responsible for the fermentation process.
What, We’re Not Enough for You? Building a Library
Ferris Bueller said it best when he said, “The world moves pretty fast.” That sentiment couldn’t be truer than in the craft beer world. There’s always a new beer or a new craft brewery springing up. There’s always some kind of limited special release that’s only available for sale one day of the year when the moon’s full in June or something. To keep up with the beer times, we check our favorite beer-centric magazines, websites, and blogs. A few short years ago, people seeking beer information only had one or two resources. Of course we keep updated by writing and blogging on our own beer aficionado site and blog called the Naked Pint (www.thenakedpint.com). But in addition to craft brewery sites, nowadays there are lots of websites dedicated to beer out there. How do you know who’s giving the straight skinny? Here are a few of our favorites to get you started.
The Naked Pint Page 26