Petrus Aged Ale-- Absurdly Good.

 

I ran across this in my beer dungeon yesterday, and it turned out to be a good antidote for processing family tragedy.  It was a reliable name, and it was as good as it gets-- perhaps the best sour brewers on the planet with apologies to nobody. 

You'll find them online here:

https://petrussourbeer.com/en

Doc's Hopped Cider and Salmon

Not sure if I've said enough about Doc's Cider over in the black soils of Warwick on Little York Road, but I ran across photo of a fish we paired up with Doc's Hopped Cider last fall, after going to the Orchard for hilarious, fun apple picking. This pairing was a grand slam-- I can tell you about it, and show you, but you need to git some with some version of this Honey Lemon roasted salmon recipe and taste it.  I don't know how it was made-- the cook is not talking.

Doc's Hopped Cider is my favorite cider by it's own self-- pure genius, the kind that makes home brewers and cider makers say "I wish I thought of that" (even if they did, making small batches in the garage years before Doc went big with it) but stand this Doc's Hopped Cider along side "fishy" fish like yonder salmon and you'll get a perfect couple.  The cider has a that thin white wine-ish profile to start, albeit obviously apple based, as all ciders that are not those big, cloying sweet commercial production ciders... (on tap in woody bars, imported from UK, but shall remain un-named, and undrank).  But then the dry hopping that makes a plain old cider about 340% more interesting and all the food superlatives that we all apparently never tire of hearing and saying... which is in and of itself, amaaaaaaazing.

I mean-- look, it's taken a dip since it's 2013 peak, but it's still hovering, and buzzing from mouths from LA to Johannesburg.. Perth, Singapore-- Fk it, add Hong Kong, see,  https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Amazing&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CAmazing%3B%2Cc0

I thought "Amazing" jumped the shark a long time ago, but now Landscapers use it when they are closing sales... to cut your grass (true story), which closed the deal-- I cut it myself.  What am I, 101?  And you know what-- my grass looked AMAAAAAAZINGK!

Nevertheless, if you know what's good for you, don't wait for another COVID19 Apple Picking Season this fall, you should get out of town for some fresh air this spring, maybe drive up to Warwick, NY for Doc's Cider orchard, with 31,043 other people on the weekends, or during the week with just 332.  They have those graduates or students from Culinary Institute of America cooking pizza and making salads and things that pair well with the product. Sometimes there's live music, but you'll want to call ahead for all that.  

Here's the way:

https://docscider.com/orchard/

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Marketing Tricks of the Trade-- Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

 

April 2, 2021 Way of the Cross led by Pope Francis

Cape Cod Ginger-- Ginger Original Beer/Ale, Served Cold or Hot...

 

Real Ginger "Ale", or "Beer", Organic, fresh, non ethanol-- all around great new beverage in 5 actual fruit flavors-- you can see an interview with the Massachusetts owner and developer who built the bottle line himself, like a volcano surfing one man show:

See Video:

https://vimeo.com/435160535

In contrast to, say Reed's Ginger Beer, which will blow your face off with the heat of the ginger, this is akin to the Canadian version, mellowed down for polite company-- a kind of new improved "Canada Dry" or old Schweep's was it, which are super sweet, mild.. soda-ish-- and tame by contrast to both Reed's, Jamaica's Award winning Dg Brand Ginger Soda, and this new Cape Cod Ginger, making it a welcome addition to what's on the shelves in the US.

Of course, there's always the Homebrewing for you DYIers-- naturally fermented-- high in natural probiotic version you can try out for yourself, which is as easy as this:

Get fresh Ginger-- peel half of the skin off, but leave some skin.  

Blend it in your Nutrabullet or whatever.  

Save some peel which has the good yeast that will feed on the sugar you'll add to ferment the beverage, man--- Now add to make a mixture of organic cane sugar in a container (Mason jar) with an open lid-- with paper towel or coffee filter over top (to stop insects) and leave it overnight, maybe a few days-- that's called a "Ginger Bug" which will begin the fermenting the Ginger and Sugar mixture.  When you see bubbles, transfer it to a Mason Jar with a lid and seal it. 

It will naturally carbonate.  You'll gave natural "soda" with probiotics, started from the good bacteria from the ginger peel.   

If you add enough sugar or Dextrose (corn sugar), you could generate a beverage with ethanol-- making an actual Ginger Beer beer that could go way beyond feeding your gut microbe with probiotics to getting you bombed on the ethanol... but let's not get crazy for now, okay?

It's kind of ironic to be sampling this great new, if mild take on "Ginger Beer", as I finish a book on the "golden age" of Piracy, 200 years ago, featuring the strong connection between early shipping companies and individuals in Massachusetts who ventured down to the Caribbean's Pirate Republics, defectors who started out as "Privateers" with permission from the British crown to steal and plunder Spanish ships only to be outlawed and left to fend for themselves with a particular set of skills, taking ships and cargo, such as Ginger from where it was grown... by slaves. 

I can envision a Pirate like Captain Morgan, or say, Jonny Depp fresh out of rehab-- clean and sober on the label in a new slick bottle, or can-- like RedBull-- with a tie in to another Pirate movie.  Hell, I may write the owner to put Taurine in it and make a Ginger Energy Drink and White Label it with my own pirate. Hell, I might dress up as the pirate to be on the label!  Wouldn't that be cool?  

Source Brewing, Colt's Neck NJ-- Thought Virus IPA

After last night's Home Brewed Porter Cider, and some Home made wine, and other wines from Napa, we rocked over to Source Brewing in Colt's Neck NJ for liquid lunch that included just snack foods-- you have to bring your own actual food there. 

Nevertheless, pressed for time, we had just one-- I ordered him a Spring Saison, which was light and mild, frothy and a bit clouded but delightful.  He didn't like it-- strickly a pils guy, but I did. 

I also like the Dark humorously named "Thought Virus" IPA they brewed to light up the scenery as you can see in the photos.  Although-- their rap from the website betrays no irony about using the word "Virus" in naming a beer.  On the contrary, there is some narrative about learned helplessness and the principles of brainwashing, all of which went right over and around my head. 

But it was a nice beer-- a bit thin, but smelly and bitter in a great hoppy way.  And the Wit bier looking head on both beers were inspirational.  

According to their website, Thought Virus is brewed with "flaked oats and wheat and double dry hopped with Cashmere, Azacca, and Simcoe.".  

I did not get all or any of the flavor notes they mention on the web-- fruits and pines.  I got a thin mouth feel, floral hops.  I nice Wheat IPA cross training style. 

I wanted to try the Nitro stout and he wanted a lager, but the outdoor service was slow, we were pressed for time, and he had a headache from the Beasty Boys blasting out the back in the yard. 

Source is a great spot with clean equipment (I love to see that) and friendly folks pouring the pours.  Plenty of places to bring food, including the produce heavy supermarket next door with a big deli counter.  

Home Brew Review-- Hopped Porter Cider or "Graf" (Oh bother).

Last night after a long drive to see a close friend who's wife went to a vineyard for a night with her friends, we opened one of my home brewed Hopped Porter Cider bombs (yes, I know, it's what some beer-Sci-Fi-Horror geekanoids are calling "Graf" on the internet (see the link footnote) based on a Stephen King's "Dark Tower", but I like names that include the beer style being mixed with cider to make ghoulish "Graf", that like, literally describe the beverage... here... man). 

Please do volunteer for that conversation after trying to ordering "Graf" at your local Craft Brewery that's blasting heavy metal with the staff that appears to be working for beer rations.  Be sure to explain the part about Dark Tower by Stephen King.*

Nevertheless, this was a "Graf" batch that I made in October after boiling out a 5 gallon pot of malted porter style barley I had laying around for the purpose, and adding several rounds of hops, and dry hopping the whole thing with what I had left with hops I also had lying around for years-- in ziplocks in the fridge. 

The wort was mixed with fresh pressed Apple must from a NY State vineyard.

It was outstanding. It came out much better than I thought, everything about it was why one should take the time, effort and expense to home brew. It was thicker than any cider (and did not give me a headache like EVERY cider), it was just slightly malty, almost imperceptible in fact, it smelled fresh and great, and hoppy but sweet, not cheezy and sour.  It was lingering on the palate in a good way, sightly bitter after the gulp.  The head was clean and lovely.  

Love this stuff-- it's simple to make too.  Boil malted porter for 40 mins, add hops at lower heat for another 15 mins, let cool, add hops on top of the must, and mix in an organic apple cider, which can cool it down enough to reach the 90s... 90F which is when you can add Nottingham yeast as I did, or something similar-- Saison, or even EC1118, a white wine yeast that would not make me mad at you.   Wait 10 days and put in bottles (use PET plastic-- no BPA to keep it really simple, which I did not do-- I bottled mine with American flag caps and the very fancy label you can see in the photo here. 

I only got one photo, because me and my chum were talking, laughing and drinking this and a few wine-- including one I made last October too...  a great mix of 3 grapes I'll post about when I get some photos (he thought it was still too young and acidic).


*See also:

https://youtu.be/KLbRBl6p4Ec