Black and Blue: Smoke em' if you got em'

Please note the photo above. Do you notice anything? Here's a hint: I live in Ontario, and no one has underlined with a sharpie what they find offensive about the label.

Well, while everyone is sipping the St. Ambroise Stout Imperiale Russe, I am here feeling a little french as well. I have been looking at my stash of Aphrodisiaque from Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel! and I couldn't take it any longer. It was screaming "drink me!" Who am I to say "no!" to such a seductive bottle?

Just today I had picked up a hunk of smoked blue raw cow cheese from Quebec (Blue Haze!) and knew this would fit just right.

The smoke hints amongst the cocoa, espresso, vanilla, ripe red fruits, molasses and touch of breadyness in the nose of the Aphrodisiaque would pair perfectly with the smokey, funky, ripe blue cheese that this beast is.

The body of the beer even pairs well. Both are rich and creamy. The ripe fruit and sweet malt tones of the beer compliment the funk of the blue. Both are buttery going down. Honestly, this is poetry in pairing cheese and beer. Both are complex, but neither are all that complicated.

A match made in heaven or up in smoke, cocoa, and vanilla!

By the by, check out one of my best friends in the world. Chris Newell A.K.A. Zen. Whether you like Hip-Hop or not, he's got some pretty gnarly rhymes and beats. Everything he touches is creative and catches your eyes or ears. Not a one trick pony by any means.

www.myspace.com/zenistheillest

Fast - Cask -Nation: Real or Not, Here it Comes!

This morning I awoke to some early morning news of a development in cask ale. Fast Cask by Marston's will be released in the form of Pedigree and Hobgoblin during Cask Ale Week, March 29th - April 5th).

The idea is that the yeast is taken late from Primary fermentation and then replaced in the secondary (cask) with "beads" of yeast that settle the beer bright and quickly without the use of finings. Live yeast is technically not in the cask itself like real traditional cask ales, yet it still undergoes a secondary fermentation due to the development in yeast "beads" that act like sponges and ferment the sugars still left in t

he beer.

Why you ask? Well, it seems this development will allow more bars and pubs to sell cask ale. It seems storage and tap space make it difficult to have a lot of horizontal casks lying around. These Fast Cask's can be stored upright, can deal with a lot movement or turbulence in transportation and still be served almost instantly due to the technology of the "beads". Normally the yeast needs time to settle if disrupted from it's happy settled state in the cellar and then moved to the serving station at the bar.

Another thing to note is that now the beer settles bright without the use of finings or isinglass (tropical fish bladders) which makes vegans happy campers. Now even the strictest vegetarian can enjoy cask ale.

You can read more about this on Pete Brown's Beer Blog, who had the exclusive release of this information.

My standing on this is that it is a good idea. Just think of all the cask ales over seas can now be transported to North America with ease, no worries of bursting, going stale, or questionable freshness. I'm sure all brewers in the Burton-on-Trent area came up with this before shipping those casks of Pale Ale to India. This is also great for bars and pubs with no real cellar space, for those vegans who were always curious about the idea of "real" beer.

Okay, the other side of the coin is that, no it's not traditional. It's not "real" yeast. It may have some different character differences. I am also a little bit of a purist in the inside. I don't mind waiting a little while longer for a good ale. Today, in a local organic grocery store I noticed a lot of instant "organic" products, such as instant microwaveable rice, instant dinners, instant hummus, mac n' cheese, microwave this and microwave that, and even an over priced form of Mr. Noodle, all with the "organic" title (also note a lot of these products will actually give a percentage of the ingredients that are actually organic). Nutritional value didn't sway to far from the big brands either. I see a cycle trend coming along with this. It's a trend for the working class, the busy folk who have too much time to sit in an office, work outside, do odd jobs, but no time to cook. Pre-made. Can we have a blast to the past of t.v. dinners of meatloaf, potatoes, mushy peas, and some gelatinous substance in the middle? Except, this time we have "organic" or in the case of our cask: "Real". Good things take time. To be appreciated they

take time. If everything in life was fast, quick and easy ( I see a "that's what she said" joke in there somewhere) we will form a fast-beer-nation. Big golden "C" everywhere Fast Cask or another big brand form of it is served.

Now that I mention it, it'd be nice to have some big flashing sign over bars serving cask when traveling. It's not always easy to find, if it's even there. Could save a lot of frustration, perhaps?

I guess I worry that this development in secondary fermentation may lead to Quickie-Cask Cans (I should patent that) purchased at your local beer merchant, or cask vending machines for that matter (I think one part of my brain just said "cool!"). Will all of my favourite pubs become so crowded that I cannot get in? Or will slow cask take shadow to Fast Cask?

Okay, I am going a little far with this when in fact, I do support the idea. Honestly, this is good for business. Having cask ale available to more people around England and maybe even world wide will mean more cask ale for me, that will be less hard to find, traditional or fast. At least for those who don't not fully support the idea, Marston's will still produce regular real cask ale with real yeast, nice and slow, settled the good old fashioned way.

Though, there is nothing wrong with that little quite pub that serves a pint of fresh, real, traditional cask ale with no more than a handful of regulars chattering over a pint of glory.

It All Goes Under Your Nose

What do you think of when you think the word "beer"? Do you simply see a bottle, green or brown? Do you see a golden fizzy drink? Do you see mountains that turn blue when the time is just right? Do you see a pint of an black opaque molasses looking beverage? Do you see a creamy, hazy weissbier with that huge rocky white head? Do you see musical notes? Do you black out or go blind(if you do go blind, please reconsider drinking the blue stuff under the sink... it's not beer)?

I pose the questions above because at the end of it all, it simply goes under your nose. This week I had a bunch of friends from Newfoundland visit the city. Most had the weekend off and simply wanted to shop, party/drink, and eat at different restaurants. The idea of having a few drinks at a pub came up, and this got me kind of excited because I was put to the test to see if I could find them something different that they have never had before but might like. Well, I enjoy a good challenge.

So, we hit the pub. A few ladies claimed not to like beer and it only took a sleek looking glass of the famed Denison's Weissbier full of cloves, banana esters, lemon, bready notes, and with it's high carbonation, it was a quick win.

Some tend to think that if it's dark it's a stout, heavy, or just "gross." One one of the bunch claimed that he would drink anything as long as it wasn't a stout. You know, "for a laugh!" Durham's Hop Addict had an amusing tap handle and sealed the deal for the first round. Well, as I figured he was just going to get it past his tongue as quick as possible, because that is the custom of most drinkers unaware of what an IPA is or what hops actually contribute to a beer. I simply purposed he smell the beer before drinking and think of citrus and pine. "Grapefruit, it's grapefruit!" Followed by, "this is kind of bitter, but it's enjoyable. I just want to drink this slowly."

After a few drinks they were ready to head to their hotel, not before stopping into the LCBO for more alcoholic beverages for when they got thirsty again. Surprisingly I noticed quite a few go straight for the OCB's Discovery Pack #4. Some others went for Steam Whistle for it's green bottle that was local but looked similar enough to the European import brands that they were familiar with. Others just picked up the "coolest" looking cans they could find and a bottle of rum for good luck.

Most people don't care to pour a beer into a glass, appreciate the colour or aroma, and simply describe the appearance of the beer on the label itself. How sad for some fantastic brews lacking in the arts department. We all know of a few that need not go mentioned.

The one thing I did notice is that people never rejected a "dark" beer when they couldn't see the colour of it within the walls of a brown glass bottle. The idea was just to try something new, try something local. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Drink the beverages of Ontario because they don't frequent Newfoundland all that often. It has been nice to see Mill St. get the Organic Lager onto the rock. A safe brew to add to the small beer selection that exists on the island.

This weekend has proved that even the most stubborn people are willing to try something new. Baby steps, but they are willing, especially in a dare or party situation. As long as someone breaks out a guitar and sings celtic jingles revolving around the subject matter of booze, boats, and women, then someone will drink something as long as it's called alcohol. Preferably beer it seems.

The other issue to note here is the importance of a label. Should we all have labels of horses, dogs, or no images at all. Should there be swirls and bright colours, a cute brand name, or a commercial on the television that one person remembered?

As much as I'd like to be idealistic and fight for the idea of a label or name not mattering, it really does. The label will sell a beer to a stranger, and the product itself will keep them coming back. If the second time they come back and it's not consistent like the mainstream counter parts then that could also pose problems.

After reading Pete Brown's blog about comparing beer to wine, I too thought it may indeed be fruitless to compare beer to wine or compare beer to anything but that golden fizzy stuff. Though, it is not a lost hope to get people to try new things. Beer is still meant to be fun, drinkable and for most, a social beverage. Sometimes a small selection of craft beer is better than a big. I keep thinking "baby steps."

At least, at the end of all of this I know that people will indeed seek out new things, and some will never look at a mainstream "IPA" the same way again.

At the end of the day, I feel like I've done my part for craft beer. The movement is in the right direction. I think this calls for a drink.

Cheers!