Barley Blend from Chocolate Porter

Inspired by the spent grain flatbread I’ve had at Stone World Bistro (where it’s now called “Brewer’s Barley Cracker Bread”, perhaps because non-brewers are squeamish about the phrase “spent grain”), I took advantage of Chuck’s recent batch of Chocolate Porter to try my hand at making these treats. I searched for recipes in my numerous baking cookbooks and online, and found several recipes for spent-grain bread, but none for crackers. While reviewing the flatbread section of The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook, I decided that the malted barley is kind of like rolled oats, and so an adaption of the “Scottish Oat Cakes” recipe would be my jumping off point for my spent grain crackers.

Recipe for Scottish Oat Cakes, with Spent Grain Markup

I wanted my crackers to be part whole-wheat, and wanted to use less butter, oil, and sugar than in the oat cakes recipe, and I was hoping the residual moisture in the barley from the beer-making would help bind the crackers together.

I started out with 2 cups lightly packed barley which had been boiled from the beer and then mostly drained.

Two cups packed barley

I combined the barley with one cup each King Arthur All-Purpose flour and King Arthur Whole Wheat flour, added two tablespoons brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Mixing the dry ingredients

I then added 1/2 cup butter, slightly softened, and 4 tablespoons shortening, and creamed those into the flour and barley mixture. After mixing in the butter and shortening, I had a dough that held together loosely. I recommend adding 2-4 tablespoons of water to make the dough more cohesive, since my baked crackers had some crumbly edges.

Cracker dough after mixing in butter and shortening

The recipe recommends rolling out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cutting it into rectangular crackers, but I was going for a more rustic look. I used a cookie scoop to get uniformly-sized balls of dough, then squished them down to about 1/4 thick:

Dough squished into disks, before baking

I then baked the crackers at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, until fairly crispy. The resulting crackers had the flakiness of a pie crust, with extra chewiness from all the barley. The whole wheat flour and barley gave the crackers sweetness, but they weren’t overwhelmingly sweet.

Spent grain crackers, just out of the oven

We had the crackers with our dinner that night, as part of a cheese plate. We had three cheeses from Taste cheese shop -  Mimolette, Barely Buzzed (made with coffee – my favorite!), and Shropshire Blue.  We also paired our dinner with Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point.

Cheese Plate with Baguette and Spent Grain Crackers

Sculpin IPA

These crackers are a fun and tasty way to use some of the barley from beer-brewing, and I recommend making them if you get the chance!

Here’s our cow parade gallery:

Cheers!

St. Patrick's Day Feast

Serpent’s Stout, another great beer offering from The Lost Abbey:

Serpents Stout from The Lost Abbey

We saw Po’ Girl in concert for the second time this year, again thanks to Acoustic Music San Diego:

Po Girl

We ate a dragon fruit!

We attended the Creole Christmas chocolate tasting dinner at Eclipse Chocolat (I’m definitely looking forward to future dinners there!)

Smoked Tomato-Crawfish Bisque

Truffles from Eclipse

We saw Kenny Eng, Dave Booda, and Veronica May (an awesome musician AND Take Lessons music instructor!) at Lestat’s :

Veronica May

Dave Booda

We drank another of our Bruery beers:

Saison Rue - The Bruery

I made a cornbread recipe from Red Sage for our Christmas dinner:

Cute little corn sticks!

We visited the Main Tap Tavern in El Cajon (yep, East County finally gets a good beer bar AFTER we move!)

Sampler at Main Tap

Chuck got a new tapir:

Chuck and his new stuffed tapir

With our sourdough pizza, we drank Nørrebro North Bridge Extreme IPA, one of my picks from our trip to the Bottle Shop at Pizza Port Carlsbad (and possibly the first Danish beer I’ve had!)

North Bridge Extreme IPA

I tried to chase Athena out of my gym bag:

Athena has a New Years resolution to hit the gym!

Went to Lestat’s (again!) for Josh Damigo’s birthday concert, with Rob Dees and Bushwalla:

Rob Dees

Josh Damigo

Bushwalla

Drank Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout:

Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

And to top it all off and ring in the new year, we went to an awesome concert at the Casbah: Steve Poltz and the Cynics, Gregory Page, the Truckee Brothers, and the Rugburns!

Photo from Flickr member: Soaked In Sin

Texas Capitol, Night

We landed in Austin around 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday. Since we left San Diego ultra-early, I hadn’t bothered eating breakfast, so naturally we headed straight for tacos. We stopped at Taco Xpress, the first of three(!!) stops on our trip that Rachael Ray also visited on her Austin $40 a Day episode.

Taco Xpress

Taco Xpress was fun, with colorful decor and an impressive variety of tacos. To maximize our exploration potential, we got 1 each of four different types of tacos: Al Pastor, Barbacoa, Pollo Guisado, and Beef Fajita. The rich and tender barbacoa was my favorite, followed by pollo guisado. First noted differences between San Diego and Texas mexican food? The emphasis on tacos rather than burritos in Texas, defaulting to flour tortillas instead of corn for the tacos, and the salsas in Texas were less chile-based than in San Diego.

First taco fix complete, we headed over to our hotel, the Mansion at Judges’ Hill to get settled and plot the rest of our day. The hotel was all decked out for the holidays, and the courtyard reminded me a little bit of all the off-street courtyards dotting New Orleans.

After researching our music options for the evening, we headed out to wander around downtown, and made our way to Casino El Camino for dinner. (This place was featured by Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was a very Food Network day for us.) There, We split a Amarillo burger (with roasted chiles, chipotle mayo, and pepperjack cheese) and some chili cheese fries, and enjoyed some brewed-in-Texas Shiner Bock. The burger was ok, but the chili cheese fries were excellent! After dinner we headed over to the Amsterdam Cafe for our Austin music experience, choosing an intimate performance by two singer/songwriters, Jackie Bristow, just settling into Austin from New Zealand via Los Angeles, and Elizabeth Wills, returning to Austin from Colorado. We had a lot of fun at the show, as both singers shared stories and inspiration as they performed, and the folk/country music was well suited to the small setting.

Jackie Bristow

Elizabeth Wills

On Sunday, we woke bright and early (just kidding, we slept in til about 9!), and headed out to breakfast – tacos again! This time, we went to Torchy’s Tacos, which I discovered in the Austin Chronicle’s Best Of Austin awards. The goal of this visit was breakfast tacos, plus the Green Chili Queso  that won raves from the Chronicle. For good measure, I added a fried avocado taco to our order, just because I’ve never seen those on a menu before!

Torchys Green Chili Queso

Torchys Tacos: Bacon and Potato, Fried Avocado

The queso was addictive as promised, and the breakfast taco with potato and bacon was sheer yumminess. The fried avocado taco was a bit odd – I tried the avocados by themselves, and can see how that would make a tasty appetizer or garnish, but I think they got a little lost among the lettuce, tomato and cheese piled on top.

We spent Sunday afternoon museum hopping: we visited the O. Henry House museum first, and got a personal tour of the four-room museum. If interior pictures were allowed, there would be many close-ups of wallpaper included below, as the turn-of-century reproduction wallpaper featured at the museum was stylish and fun.

O. Henry House

We then visited the Austin Museum of Art, where we enjoyed the Texas Chair Project exhibit, featuring 80 different artists who created their own interpretations of a chair – each work was created in 6 months or less, and was required to fit in an 8x8x8 inch box – although some chairs got around this requirement in creative ways!

The Texas Chair Project

After our museum hopping, we stopped by Lovejoy’s for the first of our Austin-based beer sampling. We tried their Brown Ale (which my extensive tasting notes say was “kind of bitter, a little sour”), and 604 Stout (“dry, buttery flavor/mouthfeel”). Those are some good tasting notes! One of the cool things about Lovejoys was the delightfully weird art adorning the walls. My favorite was “Metamorph”, a large portrait of a sad-looking girl with antlers, but “Batalope” was fun too. From the Austin Chronicle:

BART FARAR: JACKALOPE MYSTERY THEATRE Recent works by this excellent artist in watercolor, ink, and pencil on wood. Reception: Wed., Nov. 5, 6-8pm. Exhibition: Through Nov. 30. Lovejoys, 604 Neches

We also headed down to the Congress Avenue Bridge to try to see the famous bat emergence, but unfortunately most of them seem to have migrated south for the winter already.

From the Congress Street Bridge at Twilight

Following our failed bat-watching adventure, we headed south of the city to The Salt Lick, a barbecue joint and our second stop in Rachael Ray’s footsteps for the trip. Eating at the Salt Lick, I am both happy and sad to report, was my first Barbecue-In-Texas-is-infinitely-better-than-in-San-Diego experience.

Yum-O! at the Salt Lick

I had the three-meat plate, so I got to sample all of their deliciously smoked goodies. The brisket was pretty good, but my favorites were the sausage and pork ribs – the ribs especially were amazingly tender and tasty – the meat was so good that I used hardly any bbq sauce (although both flavors were rather tasty – more savory/tart than the sweeter sauces that are more common in SD). The homemade pickles were also good, and so was the blackberry cobbler we shared for desert. It’s a little bit out of town, but the Salt Lick is definitely worth a visit.

After sleeping off our barbecue coma, we woke up on Monday morning ready for some breakfast and shopping! First things first – coffee and a full southern breakfast. We headed over to Hoover’s Cooking, another find from the Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin” lists.The Chronicle was touting the “hoe cakes” – pancakes made with cornmeal in the batter – so of course I had to get those:

Hoovers Cooking: Hoe Cakes and Grits

Plus (since I don’t know when I’ll next be in the south) it seemed like the perfect time to try grits, so I got an order of the Cheddar Garlic Grits (plus bacon. breakfast is always better with bacon). So that we could sample a wider variety of Hoover’s tempting pancakes, Chuck got Chicken ‘n’ Cakes, with sweet potato pancakes:

Hoovers Cooking: sweet potato pancakes and fried chicken

I did like the hoe cakes, but the sweet potato pancakes stole the show – they were rich and lightly sweet, and though I’m not sure I would identify the sweet potato by flavor, they were tastier than the average pancake. The grits were tasty too, although the garlicy kick threatened to overwhelm. I balanced it out with a little tabasco mix-in for a spicy garlic treat. (verdict on grits: they’re like cream of wheat, but with corn. they’re good spicy, would probably be ok with some brown sugar or maple syrup too (just not at the same time as garlic!)).

After breakfast, we went to the University of Texas co-op, where they sell EVERYTHING you can dream of, branded with a Texas Longhorn theme. Seriously – Jansport backpacks, Nike golf gear, cowboy boots, doggy sweaters, even crocs! – they’re all Texan now! The Caltech bookstore, I am sad to say, cannot compete.

Moo!

After the co-op, we headed to local bookseller BookPeople – a little bit smaller than Powell’s in Portland, but also less overwhelming! We browsed around for probably two hours, and I limited myself to only two books, both Texas-related (but I put a lot more on my Christmas wishlist as a result!).

My BookPeople Bounty

Next stop: more barbecue! For lunch we went to Lamberts Barbecue in downtown Austin. They call it “fancy barbecue”, and use interesting spice rubs for a fun twist on Texas classics. Between the two of us, we sampled the brisket, beef ribs, and pork ribs (plus mac and cheese). I didn’t write down my beer selection there, but I *think* it was a Live Oak IPA (or maybe the (512) IPA – tasting notes fail!) – in any case, it was a good IPA from one of the local breweries, and a good pairing with the barbecue.

Beef ribs and brisket at Lamberts

As much as I loved the pork ribs at the Salt Lick, I think the beef ribs at Lamberts were my favorite meat of the trip – so tender, with incredibly rich flavor. Really, everything there was good, and in a barbecue-induced ecstasy I decided that I should live in Texas (maybe if i live there I can even keep an okapi in my backyard! I hear the wildlife regulations aren’t quite as strict…).

And then, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the final Rachael Ray stop on the trip, the moment I’ve been dreaming about ever since that fateful $40-a-day episode: Allens Boots! I’ve been intending to buy cowboy boots for a while, and since we were going to Texas anyway, it only seemed natural to get them there…

Row upon row of boots!

With an almost endless expanse of boots, it was a little bit overwhelming to pick just one pair! After trying on a few, I finally picked the most perfect ones, although I’d be happy to make Allens Boots a birthday tradition!

My boots! Plus some jewelry...

As you can see above, I also got some jewelry at the Museum of Art to round out my “Happy Birthday to Me” presents. I like jewelry from museum shops – they always have stuff from fun local artists. And, I like cowboy boots!

Shopping mission accomplished, barbecue and tacos consumed, and an early morning flight waiting for us the next morning, the last thing to check off our Austin itinerary was a stop at the Draught House pub and brewery. A little bit north of the city, the Draft House has dozens of beers on tap, and is the perfect destination for sampling the local brews.

(512) Pecan Porter

My tasting notes from DraughtHouse:

• (512) Pecan Porter: this was the one local beer I was really hoping to try, and my excitement was well rewarded! My notes say “pecan scent, rich flavor”, but my remembered happiness is greater than that succinct description. It was my favorite of the evening.
• Saint Arnold Christmas Ale: “Christmas-y, copper”. Note to self: take better notes. I only had a few sips of this one, but “Christmas-y”  means “good”.
  

  Pepperoni Jalapeno Pizza, Double IPA and Century Stout

• Draught House Double IPA: “sweet scent/flavor, crisp bitterness, lingering bitter aftertaste”. If I remember correctly, not as flowery as a typical West Coast double – maybe different hops are used to give it the sweet scent insead.
• Draught House Century Stout: “strong coffee aroma; dry, strong roasted flavor”
• Oskar Blues Ten-Fidy Imperial Stout: ok, so Oskar Blues is in Colorado, but how you can dis someone who says “It’s time we mess with Texas”? I remembered Oskar Blues from last year’s Stone Anniversary festival, and since I haven’t seen it on draught in San Diego, ten-fidy was fair game. And, totally worth it. The extensive tasting notes say: “roasted coffee flavor, sweeter than Century”…really, these were all good beers, and I’m glad we got to try them. I think my pocket notebook would be improved if it had beer-tasting templates instead of blank sheets of paper. Someone should invent that.

Chuck enjoys his Christmas Ale

So there you have it – two and a half days, seven tacos, barbecue, beer, books, and boots! (but no bats!)  We had a great weekend in Austin, and I want to go again!

Last weekend, we spent some time in Orange County, hanging out at The Happiest Place On Earth with Chuck’s family. During my ritual pre-trip beer scouting, I noticed that The Bruery (whose beers we had sampled at the Stone Fest) was opening its tasting room that same weekend – what incredible luck!

So on Friday afternoon, we snuck away to the Bruery, only six miles away from our hotel (seriously, with such good beer SO close, how could you even think of going to Disneyland and not visiting the Bruery?):

I’d only learned about the Bruery at the Stone Anniversary festival, so I wasn’t sure what to expect at the opening of the tasting room – I was picturing an Alesmith-like, no frills tasting bar, crowded into a corner and surrounded by brewing equipment, with just a few people hangning around..the Bruery blew those expectations away! The place was hopping with people, and the tasting room was well appointed in a rustic  elegance way, almost as if a wine bar had been dropped into the middle of a brewery. It was also quite well attended – if opening day was any indication, the Bruery is well on its way to craft beer success.

They had a full menu of beers available for tasting, as well as a cheese pairing, growler fills, and bottles to go. We didn’t have time for a full tasting flight, so Chuck got a glass of Humulus Bruin, and I got a glass of the Cask-Melange#1, plus we snagged some bottles of the Saison Rue and Tripel (but haven’t tried them yet!). The Cask Melange was brilliant! A combination of Russian Imperial Stout and a Flemish Red, it was sweet, sour, velvety, fruity, creamy, roasty, and soooooo good! Between the Melange #1 and my Hoppy Okapi adventure, I’m all about beer blends! Sometimes the sour Belgians (which are all the rage this year and last) are a little too sour for me, but combining the bright sour flavor with the smooth dark Imperial Stout, and it’s a perfect pairing – the best qualities of the sour still come through, and the stout takes the edge off and allows me to enjoy the flavors without grimacing with every sip!

I’ll be trying to visit the Bruery again when they release the “Autumn Maple” (made with yams!) later this month – it’s fast becoming one of my favorite breweries.

On our way back from Anaheim on Sunday, we also managed to visit Pizza Port San Clemente, our final leg of the Pizza Port trifecta! I had a Pier Rat Porter and a Double IPA (I think it was Dana Point Double? – I don’t remember the name quite so much as the uber-bitterness!), and Chuck had a Way Heavy Scottish Ale. The beers, and the delicious pepperoni and garlic pizza, were the perfect end to our weekend road trip.

As a bonus (or was it an ulterior motive all along???) I managed to make some progress on my 101Things list with both of these breweries – #65 (visit a brewery (Bruery!) I hadn’t been to before), and #62 (Pizza Port San Clemente) are now complete!

I’d been reading the Eclipse blog for a few months, salivating over descriptions of sooo many kinds of Crème Fraîche cupcakes and tempting truffles, so when I finally made it to the shop, I really stocked up!

I got 2 each of five different truffle flavors, so Chuck and I could each try them all, plus three cupcakes we shared – this decadent selection provided us with desert for a good five days! The truffles included blackberry goat cheese (creamy chocolate chevre interior, chewy intense blackberry topping), double coconut milk caramel, salted coconut milk caramel, lavender sea-salted caramel (my favorite!), and caramel pecan. Can you tell I’m partial to caramel? The coconut milk truffles are actually vegan, which is an interesting piece of trivia, but the true genius of them is, of course, the rich coconut creaminess enrobed in the chocolate exterior. It’s like the chocolate version of coconut fried chicken, except inside out. Good analogy, I know.

The cupcakes I selected were Kentucky Bourbon Caramel and Marshmallow Almond, and I think that one in the middle was Butterscotch Rum. These were quite good as well – even though I’m more partial to the melt-in-your-mouth truffles, I’ll definitely be trying more Eclipse cupcakes in the future. The Kentucky Bourbon Caramel was my favorite of the three, for the richness of the caramel/bourbon/pecan combination, but the Marshmallow Almond was the most unique – I was expecting a marshmallow-creme-like texture in the filling, but there was a true, solid, chewy marshmallow in the middle of my cupcake. What an intriguing texture combination!

We went to Urban Solace for a weeknight dinner, having been lured by tales of macaroni and cheese, one of Chuck’s favorite restaurant barometers. Despite construction outside that made the restaurant a little difficult to get to, I was impressed by Urban Solace from the start – it had a very welcoming and atmosphere, with a good buzz of energy, but wasn’t overly loud. We settled in with some beers (Bear Republic Black Bear stout for me), and started dissecting the menu – how to choose when everything sounds so good? In the end, we settled on goat cheese and butternut squash dip for an appetizer: I was a little bit skeptical about this combination, but the execution was brilliant – the goat cheese added a rich creaminess to balance out the sweetness of the squash, and all was well with the world.

For dinner, I ordered the “Not Your Momma’s Meatloaf”, which was simply unbelievably good. It was made from ground lamb, with figs and pinenuts, and a fig au jus sauce, and served with crispy onions and mashed potatoes. (Also, it was wrapped in bacon, just in case the ground lamb didn’t provide a rich enough flavor!) This was easily the best meatloaf I’ve ever eaten, so good that I may have trouble ordering anything else on the menu because I know I’ll be missing the meatloaf. In the background of the picture, you can see Chuck’s chicken-and-dumpling dinner, and a side of the rich and creamy mac n’ cheese, which did live up to its hype. So Urban Solace has been given a place in our official North Park restaurant rotation.

Most recently (yesterday!) we made our first visit to Toronado, the San Diego version of a well known San Francisco beer bar that opened earlier this year. Toronado is very straightforward – it’s all about the beer, with a small menu of sausages and sandwiches for noshing. The variety of beers on tap is truly impressive, and the bottle list was far more extensive than the version they have online, but I knew exactly what I wanted the second I saw it – Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout!

photo from ratebeer.com

This is the first time I’ve come across this beer in the wild (after months of searching!), and I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. It was very dark with a strong coffee aroma that conveyed well into the flavor. Hooray for a beer worthy of its cuteness   For dinner I had a jalapeno cheddar sausage on baguette, with grilled onions and peppers, with a side of potato salad (topped with chives and bacon) – so simple, and very tasty. Chuck had their Reuben, and we both agree that it was excellent, second only to the legendary Reuben Tuesdays of the Linkery.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s better that we don’t live within walking distance of North Park – we might never cook again!

On Saturday we went to the Stone Brewing 12th Anniversary Party at the Cal State San Marcos campus. It was the fourth time we’ve been to the Stone Anniversary party, and I think yesterday’s event was the most enjoyable of the four.

We started our morning with a hearty breakfast from the La Creperie booth at the Little Italy mercato: eggs, bacon, cheese, and guacamole wrapped up inside a fresh crepe, it’s like a breakfast burrito with a French twist:

mmmmm, breakfast crepe

We then headed over to San Marcos, arriving at the campus about 25 minutes before our session began. The line was very long but well organized, hugging the walls of the buildings for shade, and once the gates were open we slowly wound our way down into the courtyard where the party was held. With more than forty breweries attending (typically with 2-4 beers each) and ten tasting tickets each, we set out to find beers that we’d never had before or that we rarely find on draught.

We started out at the Avery Brewing tent, where there’s always interesting beer to be found. I got Ale to the Chief, a “Presidential Pale Ale”, and Chuck had Fifteen, Avery’s unique anniversary ale in a slightly sour Belgian wild ale style.

After Avery we headed to Brew Dog, a brewery from Scotland that’s just over a year old and making their debut in our consciousness. At their booth I tried a double IPA, which was incredibly malty and smooth for an IPA, and Chuck tried their Imperial stout. Both of these beers were quite good, and I’ll definitely have Brew Dog beers again if I get the opportunity.

We then headed over to Port Brewing, where Chuck tried “Just Another Barrel“, a sour Belgian style ale from the Lost Abbey, and I sampled the Barbarian Barley Wine (from Pizza Port San Clemente according to Beer Advocate reviews). The barley wine was sweet and a little less strong than some barley wines – highly drinkable but perhaps not a rich as expected.

Somewhere along the way, Chuck picked up a fan club (maybe they’ve heard rumors of his homebrew prowess?):

We also tried Double Dead Guy and Imperial Red from the Rogue tent, which were both strong and good, but which I didn’t take very good notes on. The Rogue brewpub in Portland is one of our all-time favorites, with a great atmosphere and a great variety of beers, definitely worth a visit.

Nearing our halfway point, we sampled some of the European beers: I tried Urthel Hop-It, a Flemish interpretation of a West Coast IPA, it was one of the highlights of the day. Hildegard, the head brewer at Urthel, brewed a collaboration beer with Tomme of the Lost Abbey – read about it here; I think we bought a bottle of this earlier in the summer, but haven’t tried yet. Chuck tried an ale from La Trappe, also known as Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven, the only trappist brewery in the Netherlands.

In case you’re suffering from beer fatigue by now, let me tell you about Mike’s Beer Cheese… a much-cherished tradition of the Stone Anniversary parties is the opportunity to sample Mike’s Beer Cheese in several flavors. These are soft, spreadable cheeses, each made with a different stone ale and other seasonings – and they are good! My favorite was the sun dried tomato/Stone Pale Ale one, followed by the Ruination IPA/mustard cheese. The others are Napalm Double Bastard (it’s spicy, did you guess?), and one with Smoked Porter and garlic .

Alright, back to the beers! We got to try some beers from The Bruery in Orange County for the first time: Black Orchard, a black belgian wheat beer, and Humulus Bruin, a Belgian brown with good hoppiness and bitterness.

Also: A trippel from St. Feuillien (which tasted hoppier than a typical trippel); a double brown from Oceanside Aleworks, which Chuck has fond memories of; Scrimshaw Pilsner from North Coast Brewing. an IPA from Rubicon in Sacramento, which looks like a fun place to go if I ever find myself in Sacramento; and the Heirloom Blend Cider from Wandering Aengus Ciderworks in Salem, Oregon, which I highly recommend – not too sweet, not too dry, a good cider.

Another favorite tradition at the Anniversary parties is the Onion Ring tent – it always has a long line, since you can get a free sample or a whole plate of delicious Arrogant Bastard Ale-battered onion rings for only $3, but they’re well worth the wait:

These were also a great way to sample some sauces from Carlsbad Gourmet – there was a really good strawberry barbeque sauce that was my favorite, and several more flavors that were good as well.

Of course, no trip to the Stone Anniversary Party is complete without sampling some of Stone’s own brews, and this year was no exception. In the spirit of sticking with the more unusual beers, we visited their cask tent, where we tried Smoked Ported with Chipotle and the 12th Anniversary Ale.

I think having these beers on cask really brought out their flavors and unique characteristics. The porter with chipotle was quite spicy, with the chipotle adding a dryness to the usual smokiness of the Smoked Porter. The 12 Anniversary Ale on cask was the most impressive beer that we had on Saturday. We’d tried this, a Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, before at Stone World Bistro and in bottles, but the cask brought out a richness and depth of flavored that transformed this to a truly extraordinary beer experience.

See you next year for lucky number 13

And so last Saturday I took a field trip to Alpine, arriving at the brewery about an hour after the tasting room opened:

Alpine Brewing

I got a growler fill of Pure Hoppiness, and some bottles of Captain Stout:

Then I poured the Hoppy Okapis – I used just more that half stout, probably about a 60/40 ratio between stout and IPA. Unfortunately my layering skills are not up to spec – my Hoppy Okapis were not layered at all, as the stout and IPA mixed together into one velvety drink…I’m not sure whether the problem was my pouring technique or an insufficient density difference between the beers.

Hoppy Okapi: Captain Stout + Pure Hoppiness

I was disappointed by the lack of layering, but the flavor was everything I hoped for – the richness of Captain Stout combined with the bitterness of Pure Hoppiness made this SO much better than the typical black and tan – far richer and more complex, this drink is what I hope for whenever I try a “Black IPA” style beer, but I’m not sure it exists in the wild!

The Hoppy Okapi is my first completed goal from my 101 Things list (#21-Create a signature beer drink). Only 100 more to go!

Mmmmm, 19 handcrafted beers…since it was only about 11am when we arrived, there were only a handful of people at the restaurant, and our waitress was super friendly and sent the brewer over to chat with us. He mentioned that the pub’s first anniversary had just passed, and expressed his passion for brewing creative beers. So…19 beers, how to choose? I spent many minutes pondering the possibilities. The beers were listed on cute illustrated chalkboards:

Our waitress explained that there were two different seven-brew samplers offered, one of them featuring the stronger ales on the draught list, and I knew that destiny was calling me. With the sampler, I received tastes of: The Regulator Plum Ale, Highland Heather Scotch Ale, Spring Maibock, White Lightning, Sommer’s Espresso Stout, Old Wylie’s IPA, and Nobleman. I also got to taste Last Chance Vienna Lager, Shepard’s Crook Scottish Ale, Wicked West Coast Stout, and Perfectly Pomegranate – eleven beers tasted out of a possible 19 – not too bad for a Saturday morning!

So how did they measure up? I was actually surprised by some of my top picks! Breaking away from my traditional loves, I was quite smitten by some of the original flavors Rivertowne had to offer.

Nobleman – A German Alt Bier, with clean fresh hoppy flavor and a good level of bitterness, it struck me as an IPA-lite, in the best possible way – not overly thick or cloyingly bitter, this was refreshing and flavorful.

White Lightning – A spiced Belgium White, White Lightning also had a clean, fresh finish. This was a well-balanced beer – mildly fruity/flowery from the orange and grains of paradise, with just a hint of spiciness to tease the palate but not overwhelm.

Espresso Stout – Sweet and strong, with great coffee flavor, one of the best coffee beers I’ve ever tried.

Perfectly Pomegranate – Fruit beers are hard to get exactly right, but this is one of the exceptional ones – fruity and smooth, refreshing but not too sweet, this is a perfect summer beer.

The Plum Ale (a little bit of knock-you-over-the-head plum fun) and the IPA are also worth a shout out, though not quite as exceptional as the rest. Everything was actually quite pleasant and drinkable; the only one I probably wouldn’t drink again is the Lager – a fine example of its style, but not one of my favorite things. Also worth noting – the Pacino sandwich with homemade chips – yummy! Overall, Rivertowne was really great, and I’m happy that it was our first brewery visit of the trip.