Every time I’m near a well stocked cheese counter, I poke around, looking for an elusive round of Cowgirl Creamery’s Sir Francis Drake. This rare cheese is brought about by accident. When a batch of Mt. Tam doesn’t set correctly (or something – I don’t entirely understand it, and the Cowgirl Website doesn’t offer any [...]
The inaugural run of the SF Food Wars event was great fun, both to cook for and indulge in. My entry, Bourbon Duck Cheddar Mac ‘n Cheese was extremely well received, and we had a few people come back to taste “just to make sure it really was their favorite.” Here it is, in all [...]
I love summer at the farmer’s market. Suddenly the market explodes with fruit and vegetables, as kale and chard give way to tomatoes, peaches and squash. Bison Brewery is getting into a very summer farmer’s market state of mind too with their organic summer seasonal, Honey Basil Ale.
This unique brew is brewed with honey and [...]
Beer cocktails seem to be all the rage these days, and why not? Beer provides a complex set of flavors that can be blended into a drink to create something unique. 21st Amendment is diving head first into this trend, but with the added advantage of using beer brewed in house. The result are drinks [...]
Meet Peter.
Peter is getting married next weekend, to my cousin Juliet. As is customary leading up to a wedding, family members are put into service for planning everything. For my part, I was put in charge of beer service. We’ll be serving a homebrewed Vanilla Bean Ale which is a simple light ale, with [...]
We’re just a few days away from the start of the National Homebrewer’s Conference in Oakland, and beer aficianados from far away lands are starting to arrive in the city. City Beer Store is getting in on the action, and hosted a last minute tasting of beers from The Bruery. Patrick Rue made the trip [...]
Magnolia Brewpub is currently featuring the last of a special series of beers brewed with a farm-specific malt, from Branthill in East Anglia, UK. Currently available is the Branthill Longbarn ESB, in both regular CO2, and classic British cask options. I tried both.
Sometimes you don’t want all the trappings of an extravagant dinner, with carefully orchestrated service and silver changes after every course. Sometimes, it’s important to just have some straight forward take-out from the local taqueria, and use it as an opportunity to drink some fun beers. With this attitude in mind, Brian (of Red White and Brew fame) and I set about [...]
This past weekend Santa Rosa hosted it’s own local beer festival. This small festival was a delight to attend – the weather was perfect, the crowd energetic but respectful, the beer plentiful, and food included in the ticket price.
Pictures and tasting notes after the jump…
The farmer’s market this week revealed a special treat: teensy-winsy baby beets, with adorable little beer greens attached on top. These miniaturized beets are perfectly balanced with sweetness coming from the minuscule beet roots, and slight bitterness from the attached greens. With them being so photogenic and colorful, i kept them whole. In doing so, I avoided my least favorite [...]
