A few highlights and pictures from a great weekend at NCHF:

Helping cook and serve the Friday night dinner:

Besides getting to taste and jot down some thoughts on the Friday night feast, I also got to see a bit behind the scenes and help put the dinner together.  Of course when i say “help” I really mean “stood around drinking beer, taking a few pictures, and generally being useless.”  I was amazing by all of the pieces that go into making a dinner like this happen.  Ingredients are really only the the first step – there are the logistics, the people, the technique, and the mechanics of making an event like this come together. Sean really expressed his chef title by doing what needed to be done: he was as hands on with the food as he needed to be, but really, much of that part was done when he crafted the recipes.  Now he supervised, delegated, tasted, and generally kept the machine running.  It’s a far cry from the image of a chef that’s often crafted on Food TV these days, and much more in line the reality of pulling of an event like this in reality.  Just about the only food I touched was chopping some cilantro, and dumping some onions in the soup. 

Then during dinner, I was a waiter for two great sections of tables.  Although a few beer pairings later some rougher exchanges were held, many surrounding the idea that I was not my tables “beer wench” (someone else was assigned that duty – i only brought food) and that other term they were using was inappropriate in such a family setting.  Of course, it was nothing that couldn’t be settled with another course and pint. It was a round, delicious dinner, and being a part of it made it even more fun.  In between deliveries I’d sneak bites, pictures, and a sip of beer, then run off for the next round. 

    
   
     

 

Homebrew Beer Highlights:

There was a lot of beer being poured.  A lot.  I couldn’t possibly taste all of it.  I tried, I really did, but there is only so much one can take before you end up with a dead palate.   Here are a few of my favorites from the day. 

Silicon Valley Sudzer‘s Sour Brunette and Habanero Wings

Great, great beer.  Had a brett sour twist with a malty brunette finish (“No Blondes!” the sign proudly proclaimed.)  It reminded me of Jolly Pumpkin’s La Roja, and was the perfect pairing with their habanero wings, fresh of the grill.  These things were hot – hot off the grill, and hot with a fiery habanero sauce.  My mouth was lit up for more than a few minutes afterwards… but it was worth it. 

 

 

 

Washoe Zephyr Zymurgists Meads and Homebrews - 

Wow, did Washoe bring some great beers, and startlingly amazing assortment of meads. On the beers

Quadruple Sour with Cherry  - tart, dry, with a great nice sour finish.  I’d love to barrel age some of it. 

Black Pepper Pilsner – Exactly what it sounds like.  I don’t know if i could drink a full pint of it, but it was an adventurous way to spice a beer, and it paid off.   The pepper was spicy and unexpected, especially against a light, well crafted pilsner. There could be some fun to be had pairing this dish with other pepper favorites – such as steak au poivre,  or a tomato dish as a twist on the bloody mary effect. 

Berliner Weisse – light, tart, and refreshing, just what ne wants on a hot day standing in the sun. 

Meads – Oh, the meads.  These guys had a mead fanatic on hand, who was pour a wide variety of meads, from wild flower honey mead, to raspberry, to my favorite, the sour cherry mead.  Eat tasted like the fermentables that went into them, and were carefully balanced wines in their own right. Some were sweeter than others, but all were amazingly crafted to bring out the source ingredients.  Laid out on the table together, they looked like an apothecary’s collection of potions. 

  

  

 

The Homebrewers: 

Really, what makes an event like “beer camp” so much fun is the people.  Brought together by a social lubricant like craft beer, it is a naturally jovial and fun place. Outside of the occasionally individual who had had one too many, the vast majority of the brewers and festival goers I met were a pleasure to be around. (Sadly, there were apparently some who didn’t engage in the kind of behavior I’m proud to see at male dominated events like this.)  Many clubs embraced the themes of the weekend whole heartedly, and wore costumes.  Some didn’t break character for any reason.  There were pirate attacks and wandering bagpipes all afternoon.

 

   

   

 

Long after the sun set, everyone stayed out late, cracking bottles of homebrew and artisanal commercial beers alike, and pouring for anyone who wanted to try a new beer.  When it was dark enough, I broke out the tripod, and wander around the camp sight snapping off a few long exposures.

 

  

 

One weekend felt almost jam packed with beer stimulation – the dinner, the brewers, the beer, the sun, then more beer.  Of course, just a few hours at camp can feel a lot longer than it really is.

So that was beer camp.  I can’t wait to go back next summer. 

 

 

 

PS – As usual, there are even more pictures than I know what to do with. 

Tags: homebrew, nchf

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 4:25 am and is filed under Stories, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.