Moka d'Oro and Tripe in Bronx

Tripe soup, (or cow belly) with Moka d'Oro coffee on Arthur Avenue, Bronx is worth the trip, even if you have a hard time finding it.  

Moka d'Oro is fresh, locally roasted NYC coffee that few if any competing brands can match.   Many high end restaurants in NY use it, and you can taste the difference.

The tripe on Arthur Avenue speaks for itself.

Steely Dan on Bernard Purdie (the Purdie Shuffle)

Through the Ale, Darkly: Goose Island Pub's Pepe Nero and Revolution's Eugene Porter

Here's the Dark Ale I made early this year, which included dark malt, honey, pumpkin, spruce and two hops (Citra and Willamete hops).  So while it came out tasty, with massive froth, strongly hopped and spruced with a tannic but thin if not a little under malted mouth feel, it's sure no baseline for a dark ale.  

Nevertheless after ordering a Pepe Nero at AB-Imbev's Goose Island airport pub at O'Hare, I'm completely convinced I should have dropped in a half cup of black, cracked pepper corns because Pepe Nero is outstanding, and pepper is kind of the missing link with in the Christmas Spruce I made.  The next time I fill the buckets to I make any kind of thin dark ale, it's certainly going to include a few varieties of cracked pepper to counteract any thinning.

After reading their respective websites, and talking to a few insiders, I still can't tell if AB-Imbev simply bought out or just hog tied Pepe Nero when it rolled up the Goose Island production beer portfolio (including 312 Wheat and Honker) in 2010, and thereby extending it's foot hold into the fast growing craft brewing market while maintaining its massive, locked up shelf space in bars, beer delis and beer distributors across the nation, or if it left it and other Goose Island brew pub brands alone (including Matilda, Sophia, Pere and Pepe).


John Hall's son, Greg Hall, who I hear tell invented some of these outstanding brew pub beers, left the Goose Island brew pub upon the sale of the Goose brand to AB-Imbev and now makes beer at the new, South side production brewery that Chicago beer guru Randy Moser has put together (called 5 Rabbit), so it's an open question whether and how much influence AB-Imbev has on Pepe and the other North Clybourn brands, as 5 Rabbit introduces Missionario, (a wheat beer made with Muscat grape must and almonds).

Pepe Nero has a very nice balance malts, with slight hop in aroma and flavor, with a smooth mouth feel, and not thin as it's description as Belgian style or Saison would suggest.  It has a Beer Advocate score of 87.  I don't agree.

Pepe Nero recipe:

Style: Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale
Alcohol by Volume: 6.4%
International Bitterness Units: 30
Color: Mahogany
Hops: Pilgrim, Saaz
Malt: Pilsner, Rye, Crystal Rye, Black Malt

Nero was a nice follow up after a draft Green Line, which as hoppy and low ABV.

Revolution Brewing's Eugene Porter is another nice, dark Chicago beer with strong, tasty flavors.  It has a Beer Advocate score of 90.

Revolution describes it as "A striking, robust porter full of warmth and chocolate malt. Eugene is a robust porter named after Eugene V. Debs, an American union leader and activist who led the Pullman Railroad strike in 1894. An assortment of Belgian specialty malts form a complex structure of toasted grain and caramel flavors. Dark chocolate malt makes this porter black as night and infuses it with its distinct intense, chocolate essence".    

I found the Eugene Porter holds up so well in the cans, and is on par with the draft at the brew pub in Logan Square. There are chocolate notes, but it hasen't been particularly malty to my taste, which makes me thinks chocolate nibs are in the house when they brew it. 

Statistically, it's ABV  6.8% and IBU  28

Chia Seed Juice Adjunct

Chias seeds, which are a nutritional super food, have a slimey, yet unoffensive quality that makes them big fun in a variety of healthful juice recipes, not limited to kambucha or cold tea mixes.

I use them with great effect in cherry, kale, spinach and grapefruit mixtures.  Simply add water to hydrate them, and you're doing some high level chia business in no time.

Dandelion Hibiscus and Dandelion Tangerine Wine Fermenting

Dandelion is the base for both of these jugs. The red wine has Hibiscus tea to augment the flavor of the dandelion buds.  The orange jug has tangerine added to it. 

Both also have lemon, citric acid, and various sugars, including honey, corn sugar, organic brown sugar, and Montreche yeast.

Both required about a gallon of dandelion bud juice, and I'll be adding more over the course of the fermentation.

Blue Point Toasted Lager

Mildly bready, not much aroma, but a pronounced thick, flavorful malt served within a very cloudy genre, as if wheat bier had abducted the batch but released it in time to be raised by its biological parents.  Yeah, that wierd.

Low hops as suggested, maybe a noble hop on second thought. I'm not Googing this one to check. 

Parlor was attentive, $$$$$ and very upper east side, circa 1995.  The same dudes are buying Elaine's in case you want to reserve a table for Regis and Woody with enough space for your Hoverround.

Donald Fagen talks about "Chain Lightning"

There's really not a lot to say....

RTB2: "Tears Of Rage" (Ryan Thomas Becker cover in JJ's Pizza, Denton, TX)

Extraordinary and EPIC.

Compare, Allman Brothers at the Beacon, with giant horns:

Beet Tops, Spinach, and Ginger

I know it looks like chocolate, and with a little flavored chocolate flavored Wheat Grass powder it would taste as much, but the ginger is the guiding flavor here, so you'd need to swap out the ginger for something more chocolate friendly, like maybe orange or cherry.  

So, not to preach and teach, but drinking beer, wine and cider, comes with a lot of the same issues one confronts drinking soda (empty calories that don't really promote health), so every so often, say, twice per day, I juice it up to fight the drift into Beerlandia, which just means more opportunities to chase interesting, "amazing", "delishhhhhhous" new flavaz, playaz! 

Spring Harvest Time for The Dandelion Wine

So, you see them everywhere, adding as much color to lawns as disdain from Homeowners and Lawn keepers, but of course you know there's a cadre of fanatical #homemadewine devotees who've been biding their time all winter, waiting for the right time to pounce on these other "kind buds" for the production of Dandelion wine varieties, sweetened with all manner of sugars, from cherries to plain cane. 

I picked these along a steep hill, akimbo to a parking lot, and got them soaking in boiling water withing 2 hours.  I've kept them soaking for a day, adding lemon juice to bring the acid up high enough to preserve them, before adding a variety of sugars, including orange, cherry and cane.



There should be plenty of wine, but I'm going to set aside a batch for ultra high potassium Kambucha this year, to see where that goes. 

I'm thinking along these lines: carbonated dandelion tea, sweetened back with honey and maybe Cherry juice.  Here are some photos of the stages of Dandelion wine production, from field, to plucking to the big soak, and fermentation. 



Here's how it starts:

You'll need to soak the buds for 24 to 48 hours before you add sugars and yeast.

After the addition of orange juice and cane sugar, we're using Red Star, Montrachet yeast, which is more of an experiment than a known entity in this recipe's evolution.  Sure, others have used it for white wines, but my preference is the Epic EC-1118 for white grapes, and funky stuff, such as pumpkin, cherry or plum based wines.  But since I'm plum out of EC-1118, I'm going to bite my lip and take a trip on this gallon. 

This is the kind of thing one eats "while you're at it", as you're harvesting Dandelion buds to make wine.  Take the extra 3 seconds to pick a few leaves from the weed, rince, boil and "Bob's your uncle". 

Cooked dandelions with garlic taste great, and are loaded with potassium and iron. I juice them too, but the raw taste is a little bitter, the way eating dirt is a little dirty, so adjusting the other flavors is vital (lemon, grapefruit juice and apple help).

Fermentation started straight away with the Montrachet in this gallon, in spite of the high acid from citric juices

Still gathering the juice, adding citric acid and cane sugar to preserve it while I head to Fairway to get some cherry, blueberry, or apple juice for other sugars.

The Band - Up On Cripple Creek - Ed Sullivan show 1969