Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Can Pouring Robots

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What do you get for the beer lover who has everything? How about the new Asahi Robocco BeerBot, a beer pouring robot. It used to be available only in Japan, but now you can buy one anywhere in the world. For a mere $799 (plus $99 shipping) you can have one of your very own. They’re “gently used,” having been part of a Japanese contest that Asahi conducted. The robot features include the ability to store and refrigerate six cans, ensuring the perfect temperature with an internal sensor, a programmable voice (male, female, or custom), a cleaning mode, and most important for American sensibilities, a child lock.

To watch it action and see how it works, watch the video below. What was most amazing to me was that it pour in three stages. First, with the glass tilted it pours less then half into the mug, then stops to let the head settle. Second, it tilts the glass slightly more upright before pouring a bit more. Then lastly, it repositions the mug upright and pours the remainder of the can. It’s a beautiful pour. I wonder if it’s programmed to do it that way every time or if adjusts as it goes depending on the volatility of the beer?

Beer-Battered Fish and Chips

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MSNBC recently shared a tasty sounding recipe for beer-battered fish and chips. The recipe is taken from a new cookbook, “The Summer Shack Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Shore Food” by Jasper White. There’s even a video of it taken from the Today show. I’m hungry just looking at the ingredients. Yum.

Here’s the recipe for the batter:

INGREDIENTS
 

  • About 6 cups peanut, canola, or other vegetable oil for deep-frying
  • 1-1/2 pounds (or a little more) skinless fish fillets (large flounder and fluke, haddock, hake cod, Pollock, ocean perch, or tautog), cut into 4 thin (less than 3/4 inch) slices
  • About 3 tablespoons Spiced Seafood Salt, or salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1-cup all-purpose flour

 

For the batter:
 

  • 1 cup of cornstarch
  • One 12-ounce can beer or ale
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

 

DIRECTIONS
 

The batter can be made several hours in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.

  1. To make the batter: Combine the flour, cornstarch, beer, egg, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk well. The batter will be very light-slightly thinner than a regular pancake batter. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or up to 3 hours.
  2. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 F in a 4-to-5-quart Dutch oven over medium heat or in a deep fryer.
  3. While the oil is heating, dry the fish fillets between several thicknesses of paper towels. Season with the spiced salt (or salt and pepper). Drop the fillets into the batter and toss with tongs to coat evenly.
  4. When the oil is hot, lift the fillets one by one from the batter with the tongs, letting excess batter drip back into the bowl, and lower them into the oil, holding each fillet suspended in the oil for a few seconds to set the batter and prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The temperature of the oil will drop when the fish is added, but you overheated the oil, to 375 F, to compensate for this. Don’t let the oil come back over 350 F once it recovers. Fry the fillets until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer them to the paper towel-lined baking sheet with tongs. Serve the fish hot with the French Fries, coleslaw, tartar sauce, lemon wedges, and malt vinegar.

 

There’s also a recipe for “Boardwalk French Fries” to complete your meal. Sounds good to me. One of my favorite meals that my mother made was beer-battered fish and chips but, sadly, her recipe was lost when she passed away. As a result, I’m always looking for a close approximation of that comfort food from my childhood. This one looks pretty close, but who knows, I never really watched her make it. But there’s really only one way to find out. I guess I better get cooking.

Space Beer?

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On April 28, 2007, a UP Aerospace SL-2 rocket blasted off into space on a routine mission. It carried the ashes of deceased actor James Doohan, who portrayed “Scotty” on Star Trek (I actually met Doohan once in the early 1980s when I worked for a chain of videostores in North Carolina) along with Mercury 7 Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper and 200 other urns. SL-2 is short for UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft-2 , a rocket suborbital sounding rocket. UP Aerospace sends up four to six such commercial rockets each year.

In addition to the remains sent into space, the payload consists of photographs, seeds, science experiments, soccer jerseys and the secret payload of Microgravity Enterprises, Inc.. According to their website, Microgravity Enterprises goal is to “develop space-based products and make them available to the general public at low affordable prices.” Currently, the make Space2O, bottled water enriched with electrolytes that were flown in space aboard the SL-2, and Antimatter, an energy drink in which many of the ingredients have likewise flown in space.

All that Microgravity Enterprises, which calls itself a space commercialization company, will say about the latest flight is that their payload contained the ingredients with which they’ll make the “first true space beer”. Company spokeswoman Linda Strine “says said ingredients, the amounts and types of which are secret and patented, will be delivered next week to a ‘production facility’ that in the span of a month will generate an otherworldly brew called Comet Tail Ale. “We flew enough ingredients to support almost a year’s worth of production,” says Darryl Hupfer, VP of sales and marketing for Microgravity Enterprises.

They’re spinning it pretty good, but I suspect it was the yeast that they flew into space. And their client, most likely, is nearby Kellys Brewpub, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As reported last year in the New Mexico Business Weekly, Kellys sent some yeast up in one of UP Aerospace’s rockets before but since it failed to reach suborbit (meaning that it didn’t reach the 45 mile-high threshold that defines where “space” begins) they brewed a beer they called “Test Flight Amber Ale.”

I have mixed feelings about this project because it seems so gimmicky and I know that the rocketed ingredients won’t make the beer taste any differently. But I am a former space geek — reinvigorated somewhat by my son Porter’s obsession with all things space-related — so it also seems like a fun idea, too.

So I don’t wish to throw water on the fire or rain or their parade, but it also seems to be that this won’t be the “first true space beer” as the company claims. I’m pretty sure that the Apollo beer that was a contract beer around a decade ago used yeast that had been in space, too. It was in a distinctive blue bottle and they made an ale and a lager which was sold in six-packs. And I know that a German science experiment managed to get some yeast aboard one of the space shuttle flights. I know some of it they then used for research purposes, but I have a hard time believing they didn’t use at least some of it to brew a batch of beer.

Who knows, perhaps Kellys also sent a few hop pellets in the rocket, too. In the end, it may come down simply to how you define a “true space beer.”

 

Rogue Ales Brewery Tour

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Chris Garrett, a Rogue employee created this humorous tour of the main brewery in Newport, Oregon. I first saw it during a seminar about internet marketing at the Craft Brewrers Conference this year. The speaker singled it out as a good way to use humor to reach your customer, but toward the end of it Garrett makes a little dig at the brewery’s owner, Jack Joyce. Jack was in the audience at the time and told the attendees that Garrett had been fired. He said it with a straight face, but knowing Jack’s sense of humor it’s hard to tell whether he was joking or not. He probably was, at least I hope so. At any rate, I recently came across it on YouTube and thought I’d share it since it is entertaining.

Beer Cheese Fondue

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If you’re looking for something fun to try eating this Memorial weekend, this looks pretty tasty. It’s a recipe or “Beer Cheese Fondue,” which comes from Linda Larsen by way of About.com’s Busy Cooks

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 clove garlic, split in half
  • 2 cups beer
  • 1 lb. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 lb. mild Colby cheese, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp. ketchup
  • 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp. hot red pepper sauce

 

PREPARATION:

Rub fondue pot with garlic and discard garlic. Pour beer into pot and heat over low heat until steam begins rising from surface.

In heavy skillet cook onion in olive oil until tender. Stir into fondue along with remaining ingredients and, stirring constantly, cook over low heat until melted and blended.

You may add more cheese or beer to reach the desired consistency. Serve immediately with dippers, including bread cubes, hot cooked sausages, and vegetables.

Fondue is one of those cheesy dishes — yes, pun intended — that had its social heyday in the swinging seventies. My mother had a fondue set and threw fondue parties, as did many of her friends. I’ve also been to one fondue restaurant, which was actually pretty good. Maybe it’s making a comeback, it’s not one of those things I pay attention to. But cheeseball perception of not, it’s very tasty, especially if you love cheese as much as I do. Putting beer into it and enjoying it with beer, too, could make it a lot of fun as a meal, too. I’m willing to give it a try, at least. Who’s with me?

The If You Were A Beer Test

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I’m a sucker for quizzes of all stripes, be they tests of trivia, intelligence or knowledge. To me, the best pubs are the ones that host a trivia night once a week. My local when I lived in Cupertino, California, many years ago, the Britannia Arms, had a trivia league Tuesday nights with regular teams and season standings leading to a grand prize winner. It was great fun, and my only point is that I love to take tests. Weird, I know, but I even like to take those mostly meaningless personality tests. Case in point, there are a number of these that claim to determine what kind of beer you are based on a few questions about your personality. The latest one I stumbled upon, The If You Were A Beer Test, is on OK Cupid, an online dating website and was created by a 25-year old female member living in New York City, Gwendolyn Books.

There are nine simple questions, and she’s divided the quiz results into dark & bitter, working class, and genuine, presumably three questions apiece since my own score was 66% dark & bitter, 33% working class, 100% genuine and my own beer was Guinness, which the quiz claims as follows:

Okay, we all know Guinness is the best possible score on any “What Kind Of Beer Are You” test, so you can just go on and pat yourself on the back now. Like the world’s most famous brew, you’re genuine, you’ve got good taste, and you’re sophisticated. What else can I say, except congratulations?

If your friends didn’t score the same way, get ready for them to say: Guinness is too heavy; it’s an acquired taste; it’s too serious — and they probably think those things about you at times. But just brush ’em off. Everybody knows Guinness is the best. Cheers.

I don’t who she means by “everybody” but, of course, I don’t consider Guinness to be anywhere near the best. It’s not a bad beer per se, but it’s certainly lost its iconic status in my eyes, though I realize quite a number of people do still revere it. My wife, sadly, got Corona which, to her credit, she finds every bit as disgusting as I do. And in the end, that’s why as much I love these kinds of things they always tend to disappoint, because the range of beer in these things is decidedly narrow, despite the following cute little ditty that appears just before your beer personality is revealed.

If you were a beer, which would you be?
A Guinness, Sam Adams, or Old Milwaukee?

Do you have a thick head? Are you dark, are you skunked?
Aged at the hands of obscure Trappist Monks?

Are you stout, are you bitter, oaky like Fall,
Or like most of my coworkers, with no taste at all?

However you are, here’s one test you can’t flunk,
All beers are okay, so long as you’re drunk.

At least she’s aware of Trappist Monks, Samuel Adams and the fact that beer can be skunked (especially popular brands like Corona and Heineken), and that put this quizmaster above most, if not all, of the other similar quizzes I’ve taken in the past. Still, I only have myself to blame. I guess I’ll have to add to my growing list of things I’d like to do in my copious free time making a quiz that’s more geared toward the many different styles of beer and the many different personality types. That could be fun. With my personality, though, I’d probably end up a sour beer.

What kind of beer are you? Not much here you’re fond of? I feel your pain.

Make Your Own Beer Labels

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Courtesy of the folks at Australia’s Brewtopia, in New South Wales, you can make your own beer labels online. Brewtopia sells private label wine beer and bottled water that you can put your customized label on either with your company’s logo or for a wedding, anniversary or other event. I’m sure there must be something similar in the U.S., but I’ve never seen one that offered so many choices and ways to fool around making your own labels.

For the beer labels, there are a dozen basic templates that you can add your own graphics to, change the text and colors and generally muck about with it until you’re satisfied with the results. You’ll need a screen capture program if you want to keep the results of your efforts, because the work can’t be saved unless you’re in Australia and ready to buy your own contract beer. But it’s a great deal of fine if you just want to play around with your own labels.

Here are some of the labels I made for the Bulletin:
 

 

 

Water Beats Milk, Ties Beer

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I wasn’t even aware there was a competition among liquids, but apparently it’s pretty fierce. This year for the first time bottled water beat out milk, according to Beverage Digest, and was roughly equal to beer for the year 2006.

According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “If the trend continues, Americans could be drinking more bottled water than tap water within a few years.”

“Tap water is in trouble,” quipped John Sicher, publisher of industry newsletter Beverage Digest.

Beverage Digest’s figures showed average per capita consumption of bottled water grew from 11 to 21 gallons between 1996 and 2006. Consumption of milk dropped from 22.7 to 19.5 gallons over the 10-year span, while beer consumption was steady at 21.8. Soft drink consumption dropped from 52 to 50.9 gallons, according to the figures.

No word on whether the water in beer is added to the water figures.

New Albion Honored

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Last year, my friend and author Maureen Ogle was having a book release party at Anchor Brewery in San Francisco and she asked me to help her put together the guest list since I lived here and she was in Iowa. When she sent me her preliminary list of guests I was very surprised to see Jack McAuliffe’s name and address among them. It had been quite some time since anyone knew where McAuliffe was and I had heard he’d made it abundantly clear he wanted to keep it that way. I immediately asked about Jack, and Maureen told me that in the course of working on her book Ambitious Brew that she’d become good friends with him.

I mentioned all of this to Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing a week or so later and he told me that Jim Koch was looking for McAuliffe because he wanted the Brewers Association to honor him and New Albion Brewery for his great contribution to the craft beer industry. At GABF I let Koch that Maureen knew how to reach McAuliffe and the rest, as they say, is history. At this year’s Craft Brewers Conference, the Brewers Association Recognition Award was given to Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewing Company in Sonoma, California.

From the press release:

The Brewers Association Recognition Award went to Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewing Company. McAuliffe’s inspiration, enthusiasm and support have contributed to the development of American craft beer movement.

Steve Bradt, Head Brewer at Free State Brewing Company and Brewers Association Board of Directors member says, “As founder of what author Maureen Ogle calls ‘…the most important failed brewery industry’s history, the New Albion Brewing Co.’ Jack McAuliffe epitomizes the kind of tough, ingenious, and fiercely independent men and women who have come since in the Craft Brewing world. In fact, probably find reason to present him with each of the awards presented today, not just this one.”

Even though New Albion Brewery lasted only a few short years, it’s influence on the future of microbreweries cannot be underestimated. We all owe Jack a debt of gratitude. Pick up Ambitious Brew for the most thorough account of that period of history. Unfortunately, McAuliffe could be coaxed out of his self-imposed isolation. Instead, his assistant brewer, Don Barkley, was on hand to accept the honor on his behalf. After New Albion closed in 1982, Barkley went on to success as Mendocino Brewing’s brewer.

Bradt giving the Brewers Association Recognition Award to Don Barkley, who accepted it on behalf of Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewing Company, who was unable to be present.

Don Barkley reminisced about working at New Albion and about McAuliffe. Maureen Ogle asked me take a picture since she wasn’t able to be there either, and I decided I could make her feel more like she was actually there my shooting some video with my camera, so that’s what I did and it’s below here.