Peer To Beer – Brewing Consultancy
Your professional beer & brewing partner, from seed to sip.
I was drinking a Budweiser in NY recently and someone who had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale next to me at the bar engaged the conversation. He was on a mission to convince me to drink something more …”special”. Man I had an aluminum bottle, shiny Bud in NY, what else ?
I must say it’s easy to think that small is good and big is bad. For some reasons it “feels” right. Starbucks is so “everywhere” that it looks like the fast food of coffee. With so many small local organic gluten free hand made slow drip coffee shops around the corner the 3rd place comparison becomes even more tough.
When I tried my first Gose I really was… puzzled.
(If you’re not familiar, a Gose is a rather light beer, slightly sour with see salt, coriander and pretty often a fruit or another.)
I was wondering where we should draw a line between creativity and “whatever goes in”. I was stuck with the “why”…?
So let’s recap. First IPA with George Hodgson in the mid 19thC. Revival in US in the 80’s. Quick jump to IIPA and IIIPA bigger, bolder. Then all color variations to white IPA, red IPA, .. and black IPA (or CDA if you want… because a black beer can’t be pale right?). Then a whole lot of single hop and hop blends with all forms of additions: unique or multiples, early or late,…
I recently gave a training about beer styles to a group of students. During the tasting breakout sessions I was playing some music to keep everyone tuned. Then one of them said “I believe these Brett beers deserve some funk” (private beer geek joke). Yet I turned up the volume and drop a Play that Funky Music from Wild Cherry. That was a beautiful match to Goose Island Sofie and Boulevard tank 7 we were just tasting.
I’m not sure I’m a hophead or a foodie really, unless someone tells me but I’m definitely taking any opportunity to meet people sharing a passion for something I would call organic (#foodporn if you want). Can be music, beer, chocolate, cheese, wine, cooking…
I’m on my way back from Milano where I had a chance to talk Beer and food with Alessandro Borghese, top Italian chef.
I’ve been to St Louis a lot of times and not just for the Cardinals or the Arch. I was petrified the first time to learn it ranked #1 highest criminality in the US but with time I have learned where not to go… and in fairness it leaves a lot of very nice blocks to explore safely.
It probably grew a lot over the last 5 years, but I feel like every time I go there’s another brewery to discover. In the past I would mostly go to Pappy’s and the like to chill with a St Louis BBQ after a long day work!
During one of my trips to our R&D center of Rio de Janeiro, I managed to save some time for a getaway to Petropolis, to visit Bohemia brewery. Petropolis seems to be the great WE escape for people from Rio. One-hour scenic drive away from the chaos of the city.
I don’t know why systematically, when people set up a cheese diner, they only consider wine. Just like cheese = French = wine. I mean, seriously?
Cheese is not just French,… (hey there are more than 500 awesome cheeses in Belgium) and beer, by all mean (and I can relay the opinion of plenty of wine sommeliers), is a best option for cheese.
If you can ever do a stopover in Copenhagen… just do it. Do it in summer, when the days never end.
It’s what I did, taking advantage of a visit to a supplier I took an extra day to explore the city. In classic fashion I built a plan around beer and food scouting.
Mikkeller was on my plan of course. This guy has been gypsy brewing everywhere around the world, it was just normal I would come by in his home city. I have had occasions to try the beers from his twin bro’, under the Evil Twin brand and I visited his bar in Brooklyn a couple times (the highly rated minimalist Torst) but Mikkeller Copenhagen was on my bucket lis
