I was catching up on some periodical reading this morning, looking through this month’s Playboy. The October issue featured the Big 10 and I came upon a blurb that included a tailgating recipe for a beer sauce for bratwursts inspired by Wisconsin’s love of sausages. The recipe itself comes from Bratwurst Pages, a Wisconsin-centric food website. Their two pieces of advice for enjoying bratwurst to the fullest are 1) use Sheboygan hard rolls, and 2) “never, ever defile them with yellow mustard.”

From the beginning, though, there are three steps to this method — simmering, grilling, and holding. Playboy leaves out the grilling and simmering part, and only lists the sauce recipe, which is referred to as a holding sauce. So first read his specific directions on what to do before the sauce comes into play.

The holding sauce recipe is enough for ten bratwursts and sounds pretty tasty to me. Here is the BratwurstPages Savory Beer Sauce:

For 10 brats, put the following ingredients in a pot:

• 2-14.5 ounce cans stewed tomatoes
• 2 bottles or cans beer
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Mix ingredients and bring to a simmer. Hold grilled brats in sauce until ready to eat. Do not let sauce boil.

Still, my favorite part is the way he ends the instructions. “In Wisconsin, nearly everyone drinks beer while grilling brats. Hey, it’s part of the culinary technique, so just do it.” Now that’s advice I can follow.

Senator Barack Obama holds a commanding lead over Senator John McCain – 10,238 votes (55 percent) to 8,411 votes (45 percent), as of October 21 — in The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium’s 2008 Presidential Election Poll.

Sixpoint Craft Ales in Brooklyn, New York has released an IPA called Hop Obama, though at 42-44 IBUs it doesn’t sound like too much of a hop bomb, at least not to my extreme west coast hop sensibilities. But perhaps a more centrist IPA is in keeping with Obama’s political leanings.

The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, hosted his first cheese and beer dinner October 20, with Sheana Davis providing the cheese knowledge portion of the dinner, with beers from San Francisco Brewers Guild. The dinner was sold out and began with four San Francisco beers and a variety of cheeses and other appetizers made using cheese, such as lamb cheeseburger sliders and tomato soup with a wedge of grilled cheese sandwich in each cup.

After the cheese and beer dinner. From left, Arne Johnson (Marin Brewing), Aron Derosey (Beach Chalet), Bruce Paton, Sheana Davis, Ben Spencer (Magnolia), Ron from 21A, Brenden Dobbel (Thirsty Bear) and Rich Higgins (Gordon Biersch).

For more photos from the cheese and beer dinner, visit the photo gallery.
 

Leave it to Alec Moss and the folks at Half Moon Bay Brewing to come up with a unique way to decide the election. Coincidentally, their beer line is named Maverick’s and they’ve come up with two new tap handles and labels for their popular Harbor Light Ale, which their website describes as “a light colored beer brewed with European malt and hops. Lager-like flavor and a light, clean aftertaste.” Though the beer is the same, they’ve labeled one beer for Barack Obama and another for John McCain. At the bar, the tap handle on the left features Obama and the tap handle on the right has McCain.

Half Moon Bay’s alection is then tracking sales of both the draft varieties and also 22 oz. bottles, which likewise feature two different labels for each of the candidates. Bottles can be found at the brewpub and also at select bay area retailers (and can be purchased online, but only in California).

So far, Obama has outsold McCain 5,048 to 1,336. I’m not sure how often it’s updated, but there is a tally online. As the Half Moon Bay alection puts it, vote early and often.

It’s no secret that I used to be a Star Trek fan. From the time I was a kid in the early 1970s, I watched the original series most afternoons after school. Once it hit its stride in season two or three, I thoroughly enjoyed The Next Generation, too. Nut I stopped there and never really watched the series that followed afterward, at least not beyond a few disappointing episodes of DS9. So overall, despite having owned a stuffed Tribble as a 10-year old, I was more of a Trekker than Trekkie, a small but important distinction in the world of fandom. So when I stumbled on this website earlier today, it made me want to dust off my old VHS copies of Star Trek. The only thing that prevented that was the fact that I got rid of them several years ago because I hadn’t watched them in many, many years.

Beer Trek is, of course, a drinking game. It’s hosted by Planet of the Geeks and bills itself as “The Greatest Star Trek Drinking Game in the Universe!” And while such boasting may be hard to prove, I certainly don’t know of a better one. It’s a standard enough take on the TV/movie watching type of drinking game, where everybody drinks whenever a certain action takes place on screen or whenever a character says a particular phrase. But with Beer Trek there appear to something on the order of 350 or more separate rules, not including footnoted rules and advanced rules, which even include meta-rules. Plus, the rules can be filtered for rules that are only good for the original series or one of the newer ones. It looks like the game has been up on the web for over ten years, but I never came across it until today. If you need a reason to drink while watching Star Trek, and lord knows it can’t hurt, this may be the perfect vehicle to make it through another viewing.

The Saturday night session of GABF always used to be the most crowded, most crazy night of the week, at least on the floor of the festival. With sold out crowds for every session, it’s no longer the most crowded, but it still retains the title of the craziest night. After a short break after the afternoon session, where the awards are handed out, the evening session begins right on time, at 5:30 p.m. Many brewery attendees don’t even go to the Saturday night session, because of its reputation, but I usually stay for as long as I can manage the crowds.

Waiting for the train to crazy town.

A sextet from San Francisco. From left: Adrienne McMullem, with 21st Amendment, Ben Spencer, from Magnolia, Sean Paxton, the homebrew chef, Ben’s wife, Shaun O’Sullivan, from 21sr Amendment, and Dave McLean, from Magnolia.

For many more photos from this year’s Great American Beer Festival Saturday night, visit the photo gallery.

People keep calling me names (or at least disparaging the things I keep writing) for pointing out the connection between John McCain and Anheuser-Busch, as if business and politics together is merely coincidental. Sorry boys and girls, but I will never believe that business intruding into politics is good for ordinary citizens or that it ever makes our lives any better. Its obvious ubiquitousness doesn’t make it any more right and is hardly a reason to give up and stop talking about it.

The problem is the contradiction between statements and actions. As Balko describes it:

McCain has never been shy about laying into what he feels are the excesses of capitalism, including the way lobbyists can bribe lawmakers to jigger the system to their liking. The problem for McCain is that the fortune he married into came by way of alcohol wholesaling, an industry that isn’t remotely free market, is awash in excess, and that wouldn’t exist were it not for rigorous system-jiggering from high-powered lobbyists.

Now I probably don’t have to tell you that I think the three-tier system does have some merits, though it has problems, too, and Balko goes on to highlight a number of those. I have many friends who work for beer distributors and most of the ones I know are hardworking, good people who have done much to raise the status of and, most importantly, the accessibility to craft beer.

The article spends most of its ink on detailing the history of how beer distributorships came into being and how they function. Many large retailers, notably Costco, would like to dismantle the three-tier system, and in fact they sued the State of Washington recently in a much-watched test case. Eventually, the court ruled against Costco in all but one of their arguments, citing a compelling state interest to regulate alcohol sales. But the fight is hardly over. Costco — and Balko — see the three-tier system as merely a way to keep a stranglehold on the pricing of alcohol and gouge customers, but that’s not entirely true, either.

The three-tier system, for all its flaws, does at least keep a relatively level playing field for all sizes of retailers, from the smallest mom and pop corner liquor store to the Costcos and Walmarts of the world. Dismantle it without a coherent new plan to regulate alcohol, as Costco vs. Washington sought to do, and a massive advantage will be given to large retailers, as well as the biggest beer companies. This would have enormous negative consequences for small, local craft brewers in gaining access to market and would likely put the brakes on thirty years of progress in re-invigorating America’s beer market, taking us from laughingstock to world leader in terms of quality and diversity in three short decades.

So what does this have to do with politics, again? Balko concludes by answering that question thusly:

But let’s get back to John McCain. What does the candidate lecturing Wall Street about greed think about the alcohol wholesaling industry? Is it fair? Should government be subsidizing (if not outright creating) an industry by forcing consumers to pay more for alcohol—for which they get little to no added value in return? And who’s greedier, the family who exploits that system to amass a small fortune, or the brokers and traders McCain derides for pursuing profits in a free market?

So is it “silly” or “unrealistic” (which are some of the gentler epithets lobbied at me) to worry that putting a President in the white house with ties to Anheuser-Busch specifically and the big alcohol lobby generally will not result in a boon for their interests? After all, businesses don’t donate money just to be good corporate citizens. There’s always some sort of quid pro quo. As Balko mentions obliquely, as a senator, McCain has usually recused “himself from federal legislation pertaining to alcohol regulation.” But if John McCain is elected President next month, he will no longer have that option. Does anybody really think his ties to A-B won’t matter under such circumstances? If not, your Kool-Aid must be better than mine, and well above 5% ABV.

Friday during GABF week, I was invited to the 2nd annual meeting of the Publican National Committee. Formed the previous year in Denver, Colorado, the group is made up of the owners of most prestigious beer bars in America. Founding members are Don Younger (Horse Brass; Portland, Oregon), Tom Peters (Monk’s Cafe; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Dave Keene (The Toronado; San Francisco, California), Chris Black (The Falling Rock; Denver, Colorado) and Matt Bonney and Matt VandenBerghe (Brouwer’s; Seattle, Washington). Dr. Bill is also an honorary member, as a publican without a pub.

Dinner was held at Sullivan’s, a wonderful steak house in LoDo.

The meeting commenced with copious amounts of fine wine, beer and spirits.

My entree of filet mignon, smothered in blue cheese crumble with a side of lobster tail.

Each year, the PNC plans to nominate one new member. This year, Ray Deter of d.b.a. was invited to become part of the PNC, but was unable to attend because he was opening a new bar.

The assembled members of the PNC … except one. Dave Keene and Tom Peters have their arms around an invisible Don Younger, who chose not to attend this year to protest his being named president the previous year. At last year’s inaugural event, Don stayed at the bar — where smoking was still permitted — and his absence at the table resulted in his election to the highest PNC office. Don is planning on attending next year so that he can impeach himself for failing to show this year.

The assembled members, Matt Bonney, Dave Keene, Tom Peters, Matt VandenBerghe and Chris Black, without Don Younger.

The entire PNC Convention attendees. Non-members there included myself, behind Dayna Guy (of Toronto’s beer bistro). Behind her is Matt Younts (from Click Wholesale Distributing in Seattle). On the right there’s Dr. Bill. Behind Chris is Cheryl Black, and all the way in the back is Ian Roberts (also from Brouwers), Dave Keene’s better half Jennifer, and the beer chef, Bruce Paton.

The next beer dinner of the Beer Chef at the Cathedral Hill Hotel will feature something a little more unusual. Instead of one brewery’s beers, it will feature a variety of San Francisco beers paired with various local cheese and dishes made with cheese. Also on hand will be Sheana Davis of The Epicurean Connection, who will conduct “A Beer and Cheese Pairing Education.”

It will be a four-course dinner and well worth the $75 price of admission. It will be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Monday, October 20, 2008, beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Call 415.674.3406 for reservations as soon as possible to insure a seat at the dinner.

The Menu:

Reception: 7:00 PM

Beer Chef’s Hors D’Oeuvre Selection and Cheese Tasting

Beer: A Selection of Beers from the San Francisco Brewers Guild

Dinner: 7:30 PM

First Course

Puree of Sugar Pie Pumpkin with Gratin of Beehive Full Moon Raw Milk Cheese

Beer: Thirsty Bear Ocktobearfest

Second Course:

Napoleon of Oven Roasted Pears and Delice de la Vallee Cheese with Peppercress

Beer: Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen

Third Course:

Olive Oil Poached Duck Breast with Carbonera of Duck Confit, Hobbs Bacon and Aged Gouda

Beer: 21st Amendment Diesel (Imperial Smoked Porter)

Fourth Course:

Mac and Cheese Custard with Franklin Teleme Cheese and Fig Compote

Beer: Magnolia Deep Ellum Dubbel

 
10.20

Dinner with the Brewmaster: Cheese & Beer

Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California
415.674.3406 [ website ]