HUBba hubba
Jul 12, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Events
Hello All You Female Beer Enthusiasts!!
Coming right up – this Thursday’s Women Enjoying Beer event will feature HUB beers – Hopworks Urban Brewery, based out of Portland, OR. Perfectly appropriate especially since it’s Oregon Craft Beer Month!!
Hop to it and join us!
If you’ve saved your seat – you’re set. If you haven’t yet or know another woman to forward this to if they’d enjoy it, you can RSVP directly to me until end of day tomorrow (Tuesday the 13th) via this email or by calling 515.450.7757.
We’ll be at 4 Daughters Irish Pub in , OR. Plan on starting at 7 pm and going until 830. You’re very welcome to come early – enjoy dinner and drinks – and stay late (they are open until 11 pm). We’ll be up the stairs, to the back of the building.
Come ready to savor the flavors of these Organic Beers paired with fine 4 Daughters Irish Pub food. Matt, the very accommodating and beer happy chef, will again be taking good care of us.
It’s only $15 per woman – heck of a hot weather value!
Come quench your thirst for tasty quality beer and yummy foods. See you soon -
Slainte!
Ginger
Tags: 4 Daughters Irish Pub, beer and food, HUB beers, Medford OR, meet up
Jul 7, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Events, education
Come join us at 4 Daughters
The next Women Enjoying Beer meet up is coming up next week – July 15th, Thursday. This month we’ll meet at 4 Daughters Irish Pub in Medford.
In honor of Oregon Craft Beer Month, we’re featuring the realllllly tasty and diverse beers from Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) – Portland. Mmmmm!
Details:
- Thursday July 15th, 7 – 830 pm.
- Flight of 4 HUB beers and 4 matching foods (as usual feel free to supplement the evening with additional beer and food as you wish on your own, come early & stay late!).
- Only $15 per person for all the beer, food and fun.
- RSVP’s please by July 13th to me directly – this email or phone 515.450.7757.
Also – there is still room on the Oregon Craft Beer Rafting Trip put on by White Water Warehouse. What a fabulous opportunity to treat yourself and a friend to a great trip, fresh air, quality beer (Ninkasi) and meet new people – all in the splendor of the state of beautiful Oregon on the Rogue River. Details here.
fermenting wort
Speak up if you have requests of beers, locations, field trip destinations, and foods to try. Your input is valued and always encouraged.
We’re also very glad to be available to you for private events (beer, food, dinner parties, and the like). What a great way to celebrate friendships, business relationships, and employee appreciation by hosting a totally singular event for people who are important to you. Call me when it’s convenient for you to talk about the possibilities.
Get in touch today to save your seat – and one or three for friends joining you this month. Many thanks.
Cheers!
Ginger
Tags: 4 Daughters Irish Pub, HUB, meet ups, Ninkasi, Raft & Craft trip, White Water Warehouse
Three Cheers – In The Right Glass
Jun 7, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Myth Busting, craft beer, education
Here’s an article that’s headed in the right direction.
Makes me cringe when I see ice cold glasses used for ANY beer, whether it’s supposed to be served chilly or not. Beer is not supposed to be served frozen.
When giving any kind of event or education piece, this is a critical light bulb turn on. Here’s my analogy.
Say you have a garden ripened tomato. Do you store it in the fridge? If you do, what happens to the taste and flavors? What happens to the tomato? What then is your experience going to be like?
Beer, like garden tomatoes, needs to be served (preferably when possible – and it’s not being snobby) at its best temperature. We’re not talking about getting candy thermometer out. We’re talking about good uncommon sense. What temperature should it be served at, approximately? Lager? Crisp out of the fridge. Stout – let it warm up just a bit to really be able to enjoy all the flavors.
Do you see pourers of Guinness grabbing a frozen glass? Cold glass, fine. Frozen – the beer doesn’t really appreciate it , me thinks.
Plus who wants a bunch of frozen crystallized froth in their beer glass?
So pick your glassware, pick the right temp of the glassware. Double whammy for double the pleasure and authentic experience.
This isn’t being a snob. It’s knowing what you like and asking for it.
Tags: beer justice, glassware, temperature
Up & Coming Fabulous Events
Jun 1, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Celebration worthy, Events, Good People, education
1. Monthly Women Enjoying Beer meet up – June 10th, Thursday (usually the 2nd Thursday of the month), 7 – 830 pm. Join us at Standing Stone for 4 different beers from a variety of breweries. Full details here.
2. How about a White Water Rafting Trip with Beer?!? Joy Henkle of White Water Warehouse has graciously invited me to join one of their fantastic trips. You can join us for a tremendous experience July 18 – 20. Contact Joy here to get details and make your reservations.
This is a first effort on a beautiful collaboration of a first class outdoor experience complemented by world class beer. We’ll do beer tastings intentionally & carefully paired with tasty foods the two nights we are out.
Rafting and beer – what an incredible combination! For those of you who have asked for trips, here’s your first opportunity.
3. July 8th – Full on Mexican Beer & Food dinner for our monthly meet up. We’ll have a delicious summery Mexican beers paired with courses of freshly prepared Mexican Food, by a Mexican chef.
Mmmmmmm! Is your mouth watering yet??
Tags: July 8th, June 10th, monthly meet ups, rafting and beer trip, White Water Warehouse
Brewing in 10 Steps
May 21, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, education
fermentation
I recently took advantage of a training session on the brewing process.
In 10 simplified steps – here it is.
- Milling – the grain in the mill. Breaking the grain open, not crushing them, to access the endosperm (starch).
- Mashing – adding hot water to the grist (grain). Begins sugar extraction and breaking down of starches.
- Lauter – separating the liquids (sugars) from the solids (grain) – and Sparge – hot water sprayed on top of the grain to wash away (into the wort) the last remaining sugars.
-
a grant
Boil
– sterilizing the liquid (safety) and heating up the wort to access the hops (bitterness and essential oils). - Whirlpool – liquid and solid separation
- Knockout – wort out of the (boiling) kettle to the fermenters, heat exchange happens here too.
- Fermentation (Fx) – yeast is added and away it goes to feast on the fermentable sugars.
- Conditioning (maturation) – chills and lets yeast drop out of solution.
- Filtering (or fining) – removes the yeast
- Serve and drink!
Tags: boil, brewing process, conditioning, fermentation, filtering, knockout, lauter, mashing, maturation, milling, serving, sparge, whirlpool
Southern Oregon Brewing Hospitality
May 17, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Celebration worthy, Events, education
Many Thanks to Scott, Justin, Kristen, and Tom for Thursday night’s success.
Southern Oregon Brewing was our host location for May’s monthly meet up – with resounding success.
Women Enjoying Beer and Cheese
We had 24+ women show up just for the event – most had reserved a spot and we had some more fabulous women come join us to the groups benefit. More truly is merrier! Thanks to everyone who came to enjoy the SOB beer and cheese pairing.
To the patrons who were in the taproom already enjoying beer, wondering what was happening when Anna and I began setting up – cheers! Thanks for being game to let us (unknowingly) interrupt your Thursday night.
Cheese is a classic to pair with beer. Why?
Because like cheese, beer has many complexities that, since it’s a living thing (yeast and all), has infinite possibilities of what flavors may develop. Yes, you can plan some, yet since yeasts and molds are rather independently spirited organisms, in the end it can be a surprise.
The SOB beers and cheeses we paired:
- 1. Gold Ale with Monterrey Jack
- 2. Pale Ale with medium Cheddar
- 3. IPA with Camembert
- 4. Porter with Caved Aged Swiss Gruyere
- 5. Black IPA with Gorgonzola
How’s that sound?
Good beer and food references:
p.s. Happy American Craft Beer Week – May 17th – 23rd – we’ll be at SSBC celebrating tonight from 6 – 8
Tags: American Craft Beer Week, beer and cheese pairing, Lucy Saunders, Randy Mosher, Southern Oregon Brewing
Lost and Found
May 11, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, craft beer
Lost Continent – yet another tasty, quality release from Grand Teton Brewing Company.
It’s out now - if I were you, I’d go try to find some.
This release of Lost Continent is an updated version of the last time they let us enjoy it. It’s got a full hoppy drier flavor profile. They’ve used a variety of hops in it - all from the (American) Pacific Northwest.
Galena, Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo, Summit, and Cascade. Wow – it’s a winning combination.
The fruity and floral flavors – like a traditional Double IPA – complement nicely a variety of foods including full flavored Asian foods and roast meats like pork and chicken.
Refreshing, tasty, light bodied, drinkable, hop forward.
A great way to enjoy it would be to share it with friends and dessert – like a citrus tart.
Cheers GTBC!
Tags: double IPA, hops. Grand Teton Brewing Company, Lost Continent
Sweet Lemon
May 5, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Events, education
Scott, Brewer, and Anna, WEB, at SOB
A big thanks to Sarah Lemon and the Mail Tribune for this accurate and well written piece. Thanks to Bob for the photo as well.
We still have some seats awaiting for the May 13th Event at Southern Oregon Brewing. Call or email to save your seat for high quality tasty beer paired with yummy cheeses.
Thanks!!
Windy’s Good
Apr 5, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Events, Good People, craft beer, education
streets of Chicago
Here I am – in the Windy City – otherwise known as Chicago, Illinois, USA. Why?
The Craft Brewers Conference and Brew Expo happens Wednesday night through Saturday pm with the cherry on top being the World Beer Cup awards announced at the Gala Saturday night.
Already ran across – or rather intersected on the sidewalk – Bob Pease, Chris Pryor, (saw Paul Gatza) as well as the fabulous Simon and Roger, Alex, Stephen….who else? Well, there will be lots of opportunity to see all the fine folk of the brewing community.
There will be some we’ll miss – Jennifer, Rebecca, Rebecca (yes, two different ones), Brian, Rhonda, and others.
So I best get some good sleep tonight as the Briess malt plant tour leaves the city at 630 am, returns around 1030 tomorrow night.
Tough job, I know….
Tags: Brewers Association, CBC, Chicago
Beer & Dessert Today
Apr 1, 2010 Beer & Other Edibles, Events, craft beer, education
Come join us tonight from 700 – 830 pm for Beer & Dessert.
Call for your seat please – it’s sure to be enlightening, tasty and fun.
After all, beer is a social beverage when enjoyed responsibly. The affordable luxury, as Sam and others say, which is very true.
The joy of good beer is enhanced by great company.
Hope to see you soon!
Tags: beer and dessert