by | December 21, 2011 · 4:52 pm

Holiday Eats

I’ll use any excuse to go out to eat. Holidays just happen to be a yearly built-in excuse. Over the past week, many restaurants have been visited, family functions have brought mass quantities of foods, and jeans have gotten a little tighter. It’s all worth it.
First up – family dinner. My extended family in Awesometown recently got a Big Green Egg, so we went down to enjoy some pulled pork that had been sitting on the smoker for hours. We supplied the homemade mac and cheese and baked beans. I ate until I hurt, then ate some more.
Yesterday I took my family to Two Guys from Italy – a restaurant in Moorpark that is owned by a German woman and sells amazing German food. Oh yeah, they make Italian food too. I ordered a cappuccino, which was delicious, even though I still don’t know what a cappuccino is. How is it different from a latte? Someone please explain.
I also ordered one of my latest obsessions (which I actually first tried at Two Guys from Italy) – jägerschnitzel. I’ve discovered it’s quite difficult to take a good picture of pork that’s been pounded flat, dredged in panko, fried and smothered in a wine and mushroom gravy, served alongside deliciously buttery dumplings called spaetzle. Trust trust me on the fact that it tastes delicious.
Today we checked out a brand new place in Newbury Park called La Cucina di Venti <– my Yelp review. I ordered the Mushroom Ravioli – I know, you’re asking yourself, mushrooms?? But Bexter hates/used to hate mushrooms! I may have been officially converted. This sounded good on the menu and tasted drop-dead GORGEOUS in my mouth. Possibly the best ravioli I’ve ever had, mushroom or not!
For dessert my mumsie ordered the limoncello gelato flute – light, refreshing and zesty, PLUS you get to keep the glass!
I ordered the rich and luscious tiramisu. Seriously, the most heavenly Italian meal I’ve ever consumed.
At the end of a busy holiday day, I like to have a warming glass of imperial stout. I’m repping Enegren’s latest beer Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout because it’s amazing. Narcissism explosion commence – go check out Enegren’s newly launched website to see more pics I took. Narcissism explosion over.

That skims the top of my holiday eats so far! I’ll be sure to eat a lot more over the next few days before my excuses run out.

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by | December 19, 2011 · 12:05 pm

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

That title is an abbreviated version of the true name: Vanilla Porter Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies. Since it’s the holiday season, Christmas cookies are high on my to-do list. Sipping winter warmers (i.e. stouts, porters, strong ales, etc.) is also very important. By my brilliant skills of deduction, I also factored this in: Beer in brownies = good. Therefore, beer in cookies = excellent. It’s mathematical, but don’t worry: I’ve got you covered.
[gmc_recipe 5692]

I used whole wheat flour in my recipe, but I think my next batch will have plain white flour.
The dough will seem pretty dry, but I promise, it works out.
Roll the dough into 1 inch balls.
Use all of your post-mall-shopping aggression and jab your thumb into the centers of each ball. If you need to pretend it’s the eye of that evil person who elbowed you in the stomach as s/he grabbed the last Tickle-Me-Elmo that your youngest niece has been begging you for since the beginning of the year and won’t love you unless you are somehow able to get it to her by Christmas, I won’t judge you.
Place one cherry in the eye-socket center of the indent.
Melt the chocolate chips into the condensed milk, add the 4 tsp of Vanilla Porter and cherry juice and stir well. It should be thin enough that it falls evenly from the spoon when you lift it, but not so thin that it doesn’t cling to the cherry.
Drizzle enough frosting to completely cover the cherry, and then some.
Bake at 350 for ten minutes, then let them cool on the cookie sheet for a little bit before you transfer them to a wire rack, otherwise they fall apart and you will be forced to consume the ones that don’t make it.
It’s an arduous process, consuming those poor, unpretty cookies.

I’m off to tempt fate and visit a terrifying place full of homicidal people – the mall. Wish me luck, please.

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by | December 16, 2011 · 12:46 pm

Celebrating Freedom

I finished/aced both of my classes and finals! I’ve been taking online classes since I travel so much and don’t have time to actually show up to a class in person, and on Wednesday I completed them! Now I can put all of my focus where it belongs – Studying for the Cicerone test. My cousin Allie also finished her midterms, so we decided that it was time for a day of celebration.
Everyone should celebrate with deep fried foods. Doesn’t matter what the occasion is: Get a new puppy? Eat something deep fried. Birthday? Eat something deep Fried. Diagnosed with high cholesterol? Well, maybe have only half of something that’s deep fried…
I just had to get another look at that delicious, crispy goodness. Le sigh.
After walking around the harbor, we headed over to downtown Ventura, did a little bit of Christmas shopping and ended up at Bernadette’s on Main for a relaxing drink in the sunset.
Allie got her wine and I got a pint of Figueroa Mountain Davy Brown which they recently got on tap – warm and nutty with a hint of sweet caramel. Easy drinkability – case in point?
Example 1.
Example 2.
Then we got “creative” and decided that taking ridiculous amounts of pictures of sunglasses and us modeling the sunglasses would be a good idea. It wasn’t.
Beer + pretending to model with a pensive look = Same boring face I always make.
Wine + someone who is actually a model = Classy palm tree reflections and beauty.

I’m off to bake mass quantities of Christmas cookies! I’m sure no one out there is tired of seeing Christmas cookie posts!

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by | December 12, 2011 · 5:14 pm

Barrio Brewing

While in Tucson for my final trip of the year (yaaaaay!), I had one night off to visit a brewery. After scanning my lovely WhereBeer app, I decided on Barrio Brewing – close by and good ratings.
Since it was a Friday night, the place was completely packed. They had a “seat yourself” policy, so rather than wait around and fight for a table in the brewery, we opted to head next door to the bar section.
FLIGHT! If I’ve never been to a brewery before, I always opt for a sampler. They had twelve, so I split this with the table.
Not a fan of their Raspberry Ale that had “real raspberry flavor”. Not quite sure what that’s supposed to mean, but it didn’t smell or taste natural. For the most part, all the other beers were good! I would’ve gone with their Copperhead Pale Ale if I’d gotten a pint afterwards, but as it was twelve shared samplers was more than plenty for me.
Didn’t really understand the decor, but thought it was cool!
All dressed up for the holidays. Overall this is a nice place stuffed to the brim with locals and a gorgeous brewery that smelled clean and looked sparkly as all breweries that aren’t in the middle of a brew should look!

I spent a long day on the road home today. We ended up taking a different highway home and I started to notice something strange…
Through that blur, perhaps you can see where it says “United States”. We spent a large part of the drive tracing the Mexican border.
That in the distance is the long fence that lines the southern section of the country. I had nine hours on the road being stopped by four separate border controls and fighting a downpour that made California drivers forget how to drive and spin out all across the freeways: aka a fun drive!

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by | December 9, 2011 · 7:24 am

Wurstküche

I was introduced to an epic place in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. I helped out with an event for Enegren Brewing and was treated to delicious foods and beers after.
I realized just now that I already used this picture, but since I’m a hotel (Edit: I’ve studied for years to be able to call myself a hotel. I didn’t mean to type “at a hotel” like many of you may have thought…) and it took ten minutes to upload, I’m leaving it in. I’m sure you’ll forgive me – plus it’s a gorgeous pic.
Wurstküche is a sausage sammich haven with twenty-four imported beers on tap. When you enter the front, you’re greeted by a tiny little white room with a line full of people, all of who are holding Belgian beers that have been served into proper glassware. I knew that this was the right place for me. After you’ve placed your order and have your beer in hand, you walk down a long corridor toward what sounds like the center of a dance club.
The room in the back is filled with long family-style picnic tables with crowds of people. Apparently this place is packed at all times of the day – and for a good reason.
Commander Matt ordered a Weihenstephaner Dunkelweizen and I grabbed a Reissdorf Kölsch. I’ve never had a Kölsch before this night – at least not a legit one (must be brewed in Cologne, Germany under the Kölsch-Convention which states how Kölsch is to be defined). This beer was extremely clear, highly carbonated with a bready aroma and crisp taste with an extremely faint end of bittering hops. Summer beer, anyone? High drinkability, especially at 4.8%ABV!
This meal lit up my night! Mango-chicken sausage smothered with whole grain mustard, caramelized onions and sweet peppers. The wonderfully crispy fries on the side were generously dipped in sundried tomato mayo and melted in my mouth. Looking at this picture (not the best picture due to the dark lighting) is making me salivate right now…
Since it was late at night and so dark inside, I would like to apologize for the fact that these pictures are not up to par. In order to make up for this, I’m offering to go back to eat more fries and sausages and take more pictures in the daytime: for the sake of the blog, of course.

I’m selfless like that.

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by | December 6, 2011 · 2:39 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: 7

Last night we had our monthly Ladies at Ladyface: The Fermentables and Comestibles Education and Tippling Society meeting at Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie. With The Beer Chicks visiting and a White Elephant beer exchange, I was looking forward to a thrilling night.
My mumsie and I arrived early and stuffed ourselves with pork belly served over sweet potato cakes and macaroni and cheese with bacon and jalapeño. The mac and cheese was to DIE for! Just spicy enough to give you the sniffles with bits of deliciously crunchy bacon sprinkled throughout and covered with a browned crust of potato chips. I paired that with Ladyface’s Weizenbock and melted into my chair with happiness.
I had to peel myself away after a lovely and relaxing hour in order to join my fellow ladies.
We started with a tasting of winter beers. Lise brought her nut brown with some wonderful labeling.
Her Baltic Sea Dog porter had even better labeling thanks to her 10 year-old niece who has a future career as a beer label designer.
Cyrena treated us to their seasonal ale from the cellar: Fantôme De Noel, as well as a pitcher of La Trappistine to go around the table.
I brought a bottle of my Christmas Popper Vanilla Porter. I’ve named it that because I brewed it on purpose so it would just “pop” out of the bottle in a celebratory way. It comes with its own personalized bucket, as I also planned. I’m sticking with that explanation.
I was thrilled with the outcome. It’s exactly what I had in mind when I made it.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the festivity of the beer as well as the taste! Win win!
The Beer Chicks, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune, were in attendance last night and participated in our White Elephant beer swap. They’d actually heard of/read my blog! Internal happiness spaz-out may have occurred… We had a good three hours of chatting about beer, life, bottle shops, brewing processes and everything in between. I walked away with two wonderful things:
An autographed book: The Naked Pint!
The Weihenstephaner Vitus was my draw – from the oldest brewery in the world! My mumsie got the Westoek X, which she will be sharing I’m sure.

It was the perfect way to really begin the holiday season! Bring on the lovely malts!

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by | December 3, 2011 · 5:01 pm

Off-Flavor Tasting

On Monday, Cyrena Nouzille offered up an off-flavor tasting at Ladyface Alehouse to those who were serious about learning. Needless to say, I was in attendance in preparation for my Cicerone test and just because I love learning everything beer.
I came geekily-prepared.
Unfortunately, my notes were not enough to prepare me for the horror that was ahead. We began with oxidation in Ladyface’s La Blonde. Have you ever chewed on an old tube of lipstick? Well, why haven’t you? Do that and you’ll know exactly how this beer smelled and tasted. Horrifying.
DMS – This one was tough for me. I couldn’t really smell or taste the cooked-corn/canned vegetable when the beer was cold. After about ten minutes, the beer started to warm up and I got a disgusting facepunch of DMS.
Diacetyl was another one I had trouble with when it was cold. The only thing I could notice was a slickness on the tongue. Once it warmed up, the aroma of butter and buttery popcorn flavor was impossible not to notice!
The Siebel kit comes with 24 different off-flavor vials. We went through eight of the most common.
Acetaldehyde – an apple aroma/flavor: sign of a young or “green” beer. Mercaptan – sewage aroma/flavor: sign of autolysis (death of yeast). Metallic – metallic (durr) flavor: sign of minerals in the brew water/old brewery equipment. Isovaleric – sweaty socks aroma/flavor: sign of stale and oxidized hops. Microbial infection – slightly sweet/sour funk (actually similar to some saisons I’ve had): sign of nasty bacteria . Papery – stale lipstick aroma/flavor: sign of oxidization. DMS – cooked corn/vegetal aroma/flavor: sign of wort that’s been cooled too slowly/closed kettle during the boil. Diacetyl – buttery/butterscotch aroma/flavor: sign of weak or stressed yeast.
We had a group of about eight people for the tasting, plus another three who came in later to partake.
For some reason, the pitchers didn’t get finished. No idea why that was.

After the trauma had worn off a few days later, I worked an event with Enegren Brewing out in downtown LA.
Just for kicks, here’s a picture of me carrying a 50lb keg on my (now bruised) shoulder whilst wearing heels and a skirt. I’m bomb like that.
Happy Saturday! I’m off to a client’s house for gourmet food and red wine!

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by | November 29, 2011 · 12:55 pm

Iron Fist Brewing Company

Read about the previous visits: Hess Brewing, Ballast Point, Stone Brewing Company and Bistro.

Our final stop for the San Diego trip was at Iron Fist Brewing Company – another place that wasn’t open on Tuesdays, but allowed us in to check it out.
Iron Fist is located in a relatively large facility and has done incredibly well with distribution, especially considering it’s just over a year old. If you’re lucky enough to live in Southern California or Hawaii, their delicious brews can be found there!
One of the owners/brewers gave us a tour of the place and we got to try some beer straight from the fermentor.
They’d recently made a beer called Martial Law: a Belgian Strong Ale with cognac soaked oak chips and sour cherries thrown straight into the fermentor. On tap, this is absolutely delightful! It’s always nice to try something that’s completely out of the ordinary, especially when it works out so well!

We also got a chance to try some Velvet Glove (my dad’s personal favorite) on nitro!
I was hoping for a growler of this, but as you can see from the simple taster above it didn’t work out… Nitro + growler does not work. Sadness. I got a growler of the regular Velvet Glove instead.
Their growlers are ridiculously heavy-duty and awesome! They’re a bit more pricey than most growlers I’ve gotten, but well worth it for the design. This will be the new centerpiece in my room. It’s that incredible.
Seriously heavy duty.
All growlers aspire to this, I’m sure.
I’m hoping to get down there one last time before Martial Law is gone for good (it’s only going to be brewed twice… So far…).

That ends our brewery tour! Next to catch up with posts about crazy amounts of Thanksgiving foods and the off-flavor tasting I went to for my Cicerone studies last night.

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by | November 28, 2011 · 2:24 pm

Stone Brewing Company

After Ballast Point, it was time for fooding! We headed over to Stone Brewing for lunch. Once Matt dragged me away from gazing adoringly at the brewery, we walked around the beer gardens while we waited for an outdoor table.
This place is absolutely stunning!
Buddha – a preview of how I was going to look and feel after consuming foods.
I ordered the Vertical Epic 11.11.11. I am absolutely in love with this beer. The beautiful deep maroon beer is topped with a creamy, lacy head that emanates the slight aroma of cinnamon, a hint of chiles and clove. This tastes like heaven – honestly. Wonderfully malty with a hint of cinnamon and a slight kiss of chiles – not enough to be bitter or spicy, but just enough to give a warm essence of happiness and the aura of a cool autumn evening. The tail end features a slight bite of hops, rounding out what might be my favorite beer to date. It’s that good.
We perused the menu, placed our orders and were treated to a personal tour while we waited for our food thanks to Commander Matt’s friend from high school who’s currently employed there.
The regular tour had already taken off, as you can see in the bottom right, but we got to walk straight up the stairs and get a closer look.
We stared into the line of never-ending fermentors.
A look inside the mash tun. Glorious.
The view looking into the bistro area. As you can imagine, the view into the brewery is a million times as magnificent.
DROOL.
After walking around in a dazed, happy stupor, we returned to the table and were immediately greeted by one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had at a brewpub.We split the prime rib melt – thin slices of tender beef covered in a smoky mayo, studded with bits of Anaheim chiles and topped with a slice of jalapeño havarti…
…and the Mac ‘n Beer Cheese – drenched in Stone Smoked Porter and garlic beer cheese with generous slices of Stone Smoked Porter sausage hidden throughout. Both dishes were demolished.

After the meal, this Buddha was rolled out to the car and we headed to our final destination – Iron Fist Brewing – Coming soon!

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by | November 27, 2011 · 4:12 pm

Ballast Point Brewing

After visiting Hess Brewing, we drove over to Ballast Point, one of the few breweries that was actually open on a Tuesday.
There were two other people in the place when we arrived around 11am.
We grabbed four tasters and took them over to the newly expanded area of the tasting room.
We got a selection of the beers from the specialties section at the bottom of the board: Sculpin IPA, Piper Down Scottish Ale, Oktoberfest Marzen and what I believe was the Sea Monster Imperial Stout whose name unfortunately has been erased from the beer-cam so I might be inadvertently lying to you… All good beers, but the Oktoberfest and the Sea Monster were my favorites – amazing malty/roasty (respectively) aroma to both and really rich flavor and mouthfeel.

After having a few sips, a mysterious man sporting protective eyewear emerged from behind the bar, equipped us with protective eyerwear of our own, and took us for a personal tour of the distillery. Begin picture binge…now:

This used to be a regular beer fermentor that Premier flipped upside down and turned into a distiller. Commander Matt explained a little of this to me and even after that I understand only about .00003% about how this works, so I’ll just say words that have to do with it: head, heart, tail. I won’t pretend to know any more than that.
Source

Part three and four coming soon – Stone Brewing and Iron Fist Brewing!

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