Guinness Beer Ice Cream. Yes.

Note: This story ran Wednesday, July 25,2007 in the Oakland Tribune/Contra Costa Times

By Jolene Thym
OAKLAND TRIBUNE/MEDIANEWS STAFF
A giant scoop of gooey, sticky ice cream dotted with hunks of nut brittle or fresh, ripe fruit has always made David Lebovitz smile.
That, we can understand. But ice cream laced with olive oil? Pecorino cheese and pears? Orange and black pepper? Beer and chocolate? Avocado? Green peas? Sweet potatoes?
"I know it seems odd," Lebovitz says of the numerous less-than-mainstream ice cream recipes in his book, "The Perfect Scoop" (Ten Speed Press, $24.95). "But there really is nothing new about a lot of these ice cream flavors. They come from the long tradition of ice cream making.
"I travel a lot and since I love ice cream, I eat it everywhere I go. In Mexico, they have avocado ice cream and cheese ice cream with hunks of cheddar cheese in it. In India, they make an ice cream-like dessert flavored with rosewater or saffron," he says.
Asked if they taste good, Lebovitz says yes, they do. "I'm a person who doesn't like very sweet things. For me, there's nothing better than a little scoop of Roquefort ice cream on a poached pear….

For the rest of this story go here .  Meanwhile, here's the recipe for Beer Ice Cream:

         Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart
7 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. Set aside.

2. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.

3. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Per 1/2 cup: 337 calories, 5 g protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 22 g total fat, 12 g saturated fat, 157 mg cholesterol, 68 mg sodium, 1 g fiber. Calories from fat: 84 percent.

The Craft Beer Numbers Game

What exactly IS a craft beer? I don't really know – even though I've been drinking what I call craft beer and writing about for a decade, a definition's pretty fuzzy. There are things I know. Lagunitas Censored is a craft beer, so is Russian River Damnation.

But what about Blue Moon – the Belgian-style wit? It stands up well in taste tests against other wits, both American and Belgian. Perhaps it's a bit light for my preference, but very decent.

How about Redhook Longhammer IPA or Widmer Snowplow or Goose Island Bourbon Barrel Stout? Are those crafft beers? Well, the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO.-based craft beer trade group has decided that they are not craft beers. Reason: Big national brewers have invested in those companies.

Blue Moon's easy. It's owned by giant Coors.  But the others? Anheuser-Busch owns a percentage of each company. So, in the strange world of craft brewing, they're NOT craft brewers. Even though from a taste standpoint they're definitely craft beers.

The most amazing thing is that the association's decision has been so thorough that they don't even count sales from Redhood, Widmer or Goose Island in their tally of total craft beer sales in America. In fact, Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza says that if the excluded breweries were included, total craft beer sales would have been 1.1 million barrels higher.

That's a huge leap. The Brewers Association – with craft breweries partly owned by large brewers omitted – reported total sales of almost 6.7 million barrels in 2006. Add in the 1.1 million and you have nearly a 16 percent increase, a whopping jump from 6 million barrels sold in 2005.

That's not exactly small potatoes. Interesting fact, add in Blue Moon's approximately 800,000 barrels and one begins to get the real picture about Americans switch to non-mainstream, full-flavored beer. Add in other full-flavored  beer from big breweries and the number grows some more.

Sobering factoid: Anheuser-Busch alone shipped 102 million barrels in 2006, nearly half of all the beer sold in America.

My conclusion: We've come a long, long way, but most of the journey still lies ahead. Salud.  

   

Tags: Craft+Beer, Beer+Statistics

The Craft Beer Numbers Game

What exactly IS a craft beer? I don't really know – even though I've been drinking what I call craft beer and writing about for a decade, a definition's pretty fuzzy. There are things I know. Lagunitas Censored is a craft beer, so is Russian River Damnation.

But what about Blue Moon – the Belgian-style wit? It stands up well in taste tests against other wits, both American and Belgian. Perhaps it's a bit light for my preference, but very decent.

How about Redhook Longhammer IPA or Widmer Snowplow or Goose Island Bourbon Barrel Stout? Are those crafft beers? Well, the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO.-based craft beer trade group has decided that they are not craft beers. Reason: Big national brewers have invested in those companies.

Blue Moon's easy. It's owned by giant Coors.  But the others? Anheuser-Busch owns a percentage of each company. So, in the strange world of craft brewing, they're NOT craft brewers. Even though from a taste standpoint they're definitely craft beers.

The most amazing thing is that the association's decision has been so thorough that they don't even count sales from Redhood, Widmer or Goose Island in their tally of total craft beer sales in America. In fact, Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza says that if the excluded breweries were included, total craft beer sales would have been 1.1 million barrels higher.

That's a huge leap. The Brewers Association – with craft breweries partly owned by large brewers omitted – reported total sales of almost 6.7 million barrels in 2006. Add in the 1.1 million and you have nearly a 16 percent increase, a whopping jump from 6 million barrels sold in 2005.

That's not exactly small potatoes. Interesting fact, add in Blue Moon's approximately 800,000 barrels and one begins to get the real picture about Americans switch to non-mainstream, full-flavored beer. Add in other full-flavored  beer from big breweries and the number grows some more.

Sobering factoid: Anheuser-Busch alone shipped 102 million barrels in 2006, nearly half of all the beer sold in America.

My conclusion: We've come a long, long way, but most of the journey still lies ahead. Salud.  

   

Tags: Craft+Beer, Beer+Statistics

Those Nasty English Elves…

I wrote about an English beer with a catchy name – Seriously Bad Elf – in my Beer of the Week Column today.

Here’s a list of bottle shops in the Bay Area that are carrying the gift packs, according to the distributor, Manzo Beer & Ale, Mountain View.

East Bay

Berkeley:

Ledger’s Liquor, 1399 University Ave., (510) 54
Star Market, 3068 Claremont Ave., Berkeley, 94705, (510) 652-2490.
Whole Foods Market, 3000 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley, (510) 649-1333.

Concord:

Monument Wine and Spirits, 2250 Monument Blvd. (Just north of Oak Grove Road in the Safeway shopping center. (925) 682-1514

San Leandro:

Plaza Bottle Shop and Market, 15292 Liberty St., (on the bay side of the 580 fwy at 150th St., (510) 357-1810

San Ramon:
Jay Vee Liquors, 12191 Alcosta Blvd. (925) 828-1400.0-9243.J

South Bay

Campbell:
Whole Foods on Bascom Road and Hamilton

Cupertino:

Whole Foods Market, 20830 Stevens Creek Blvd., (408) 257-7000

Mountain View/Los Altos

Whole Foods Market, 4800 El Camino Real, (650) 559-0300.

San Francisco

City Beer Store, 1168 Folsom St.,#101. (415) 503-1033. Hours: Noon-10 p.m.The City Beer Store on Folsom between 8th & 7th St. Will also be selling individual bottles from the pack.

Anheuser-Busch Releases Sorgum Beer

Don’t think giant Anheuser-Busch has an ear and eye on the beer market?

Consider this. A-B announced this week that it’s “introducing the first nationally available sorghum, Redbridge.”

So who cares? Well sorghum, a native African plant, is the one grain that celiacs, people who are allergic to gluten, which is found in wheat and almost all other grains, can tolerate.

Beer made with fermented sorghum is widely available in Africa. I wrote about it last month and you can find that report here.

It’s great that A-B’s doing this. There are lots and lots of celiacs who like beer and haven’t been able to drink it.

It’s also a shot from a major conglomerate aimed straight at Bard’s Tale Beer Co., a still-tiny Lees Summit, MO. company started by a celiac. The beer, Dragon’s Gold, also made from sorghum, is being brewed under contract by Gordon Biersch in San Jose and is already available in more than 20 states.

Until now only Bard’s Tale and Lakefront Brewing, Milwaukee, WI., which makes New Grist, were the only two beers made in the United States that celiacs can drink. Only Bard’s Tale is distributed widely.

Gotta hand it to Big Bud, they’re attuned to the market. Celiac disease affects one out of every 133 people in the U.S., the Celiac Disease Foundation says.

I just did a taste test of the two, A-B’s Redbridge and Bard’s Tale Dragon’s Gold:

Redbridge**+, made with sorghum as the “primary” ingredient, Hallertau and Cascade hops, is a clear,light copper-colored lager. The aroma is a mix of grain and perhaps the hops. Taste is somewhat sweet that lasts into a moderately hoppy follow.

Dragon’s Breath**** has a rich, grainy nose – the sorghum, I guess – with a bit of fruit. Taste is dry and refreshing with an aromatic finish from the Hallertau hops.

Bottom line: If you like sweet beer, go with Redbridge. For a drier, more sophisticated taste that anyone, gluten allergy or not, try Dragon’s Breath.

I’ve posted my Nov. 6, 2006 Oakland Tribune/MediaNews beer column just below as a reference.

The Story Behind Bard’s Tale Ale

Here’s my Oakland Tribune/MediaNews Grouip column from Nov. 8 2006

BY WILLIAM BRAND
Ever wonder when someone says they have a wheat allergy?’ Most often, it’s very real. It’s called “Celiac Disease” and if you’re a person who enjoys beer, a celiac diagnosis is a total bummer.

Celiac Disease is a toxic reaction in the small intestine to gluten in cereal grains, especially wheat, barley and rye. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation it affects one of every 133 people in the U.S. It can cause weight loss, weight gain, skin rashes, depression and it can strike at any age.

Beer’s made with cereal grains, all containing gluten. Ergo no beer. Over the last few years, there have been attempts to make beer without grain, honey beers, weird rice beers. Yuk.

Well, if you’re a celiac and even if you aren’t there’s a real beer being brewed right here in San Jose just beginning to arrive in markets around the Bay Area. It’s Dragon’s Gold**** from the Bard’s Tale Beer Co., Lees Simmit, MO. It’s made with malted sorghum, a grain that – as far as a laboratory can detect – contains no measurable gluten.

What’s more. The beer’s delicious. It’s a dusty gold, fine, beery aroma and a lively head of crisp, white foam. The taste is dry with an unusual, but not off-putting grainy, nutlike sweetness in the background that lasts into a fine, aromatic Hallertau hop finish.

You don’t have to be a celiac to like this beer. It’s going to be a regular in my beer fridge. Right now, it’s only available at Beverages & More stores. But it will soon be widely available in the Bay Area, the company says.

Here’s the story. The beer is being brewed at Gordon-Biersch in San Jose under contract for Bard’s Tale Beer Co., founded by Craig Belser and Kevin Seplowitz.

Belser, who was a computer system analyst before he founded his beer company, explains he suffered from a wheat allergy as a child, but grew out of it. “Then when I was 35, it hit me again. They told me, `You can’t have any beer.’

“Well,” he said, “it’s not that I drink a case of beer of week, but not being able to drink beer had an impact on my lifestyle.”

So he became a home brewer, experimenting with various grains. He lives in the Kansas City area where there’s lots of grain. He also began analyzing beer and grain using his computer systems trouble-shooting skills. Eventually, he settled on a kind of sorghum.

“I made a beer that tasted like beer. It wasn’t a great beer, because I’m not a great brewer,” he said in a telephone interview. He hooked up with Seplowitz, who handles the business side of the company. They hired a brewer and spent months perfecting the recipe and learning about malting sorghum.

They contracted with a small New York brewery to make the beer commercially, but the attempt failed, Belser said. “We made beer grenades,” he said.

After more research, they signed on with Gordon-Biersch in San Jose. Dan Gordon, the co-founder took on the project and after months learning about brewing sorghum, finding a proper recipe that the yeast would like, they began cranking out the beer.

It apparently begins with a lager yeast, but fermentation is different, so the beer is actually a hybrid, both ale and lager. The little company has big plans. “We’re in 19 states and I could be national in six months,” Belser says.

I believe he may be right. This is a fine beer.

Sorghum beer, by the way, is extremely popular in Africa. Sorghum is a tropical grass that originated there. SABMiller makes the leading sorghum beer in Africa. But most is made by small brewers using wild yeast, is dark and sour and meant to be consumed within a few days of brewing. It’s immensely popular among Zulus.

More information on Celiac Disease can be found here. at: Information about Bard’s Tale Beer can be found here. . I’ve also posted some notes on sorghum beer in Africa here.

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