by Luke on September 30, 2007
Looking for a great dish to make today? try a Honey Whipped Ricotta With Berries. Pair this dessert with a seasonal Belgian-style dubbel ale (such as Allagash Double).
Honey Whipped Ricotta With Berries
- 2 cups whole-milk fresh ricotta cheese
- 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 4 tablespoons honey (orange blossom, preferably)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Grated zest of one lemon
- 4 cups mixed fresh berries
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
In a medium bowl, blend ricotta, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, honey, vanilla and lemon zest until smooth. Cover tightly and place in refrigerator to chill (can be made a day ahead). In another medium bowl, place berries, lemon juice and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix gently with a rubber spatula so as not to bruise berries. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Divide the ricotta into six chilled martini glasses. Serve berries over the ricotta.
by Luke on September 27, 2007
Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint by Bill Yenne is being called “A perfectly poured history of the world’s greatest beer.” It will be released on hardcover world-wide on October 5th, 2007. Sam Calagione, th owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and author of Brewing Up a Business, Extreme Brewing, and Beer or Wine?, says of the book,
“Joseph Conrad was wrong. The real journey into the Heart of Darkness is recounted within the pages of Bill Yenne’s fine book. Guinness (the beer) is a touchstone for brewers and beer lovers the world over. Guinness (the book) gives beer enthusiasts all the information and education necessary to take beer culture out of the clutches of light lagers and back into the dark ages. Cheers!”
From the inside front cover,
For millions of beer lovers the world over, a properly poured pint of Guinness Stout is as close to perfection as beer gets. Each year, fans of the legendary black liquidation enjoy two billion pints of the beer known for its distinctive creamy head and rich drinkability. Ireland’s most famous export, Guinness Stout—and the people who have brewed it—hold a unique place in the history of beer, business, and Ireland itself.
They say that good things come to those who wait. When you wait on a perfectly poured pint of Guinness Stout, you know you’re getting something good. It’s more than just a pint of beer; it’s a mouthwatering visual presentation of the quality and taste you’re about to enjoy. And millions wait patiently for their pint every day. To find out why, famed beer and beverage writer Bill Yenne talks to everyone from Guinness’s master brewer to typical pubgoers about the beer they hold dear. Whatever magic makes it so delicious, it’s powerful enough to soothe the souls of beer lovers from Dublin to Boston to Buenos Aires to Lagos, and everywhere in between.
But Guinness is more than a delicious beverage, it’s also the name of the remarkable family of brewers and entrepreneurs whose story is worthy of legend, and who occupy a prominent place in Irish history. In Guinness, Yenne traces the 250-year tale of the family and its namesake beer. Beginning with Arthur Guinness, the entrepreneur patriarch who first began brewing at St. James’s Gate, Dublin, in 1759, the story follows succeeding generations of the Guinness family through the years. Yenne follows not just the fortunes of the family Guinness, but also the development of the brand and the beer—from Arthur’s earliest porter to the beer that is enjoyed in 150 countries today.
For Guinness aficionados, this tale offers an inside look at a legendary brewing company and the craftsmanship and pride that go into every keg. For anyone who hopes to keep their business vibrant and dynamic for the next few centuries, the book offers important lessons on continuity, quality, and innovation. For everyone who loves a good beer story, Guinness offers a perfect pint more than two centuries in the pouring.
Sit back and enjoy. click the banner below to pre-order the book from amazon.com (it’ll make a great Christmas present). Cheers.
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by Luke on September 27, 2007
Houston, TX (PRWEB) September 27, 2007 — Beer’s image gains a step on wine as the first ever beer tasting kit, designed to train all levels of enthusiasts how to better taste and appreciate beer, is released for the growing craft beer movement by TasteYourBeer.com.
While the concept of a wine tasting kit has been around for a long time to help train the palates of wine drinkers, the concept of a beer tasting kit is new. “Lets face it, beer has an image issue and when most people think of beer they think of frat parties and football games. Beer is so much more than that. Most people don’t realize that beer has a much more diverse flavor profile than wine. Wine is basically made of grapes, water and yeast, but beer can draw upon literally hundreds of different ingredients to product an almost limitless flavor potential. It only makes sense that the beer drinker today could use a helping hand in understanding these flavors”, says Brian Lewis, owner of TasteYourBeer.com.
“Most people are ignorant of what good beer tastes like and what their choices are. Really, there is no such thing as a person who doesn’t like beer and anyone who says they don’t is unaware of what beer has to offer. With a little understanding there is a beer for everyone.”
The new Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit from TasteYourBeer.com is designed to help people better taste, appreciate, and learn about beer. Previously, if someone wanted to learn more about beer’s complex flavors and aromas first hand there were no simple options. They had to practically start a research project and invest the time of reading books or hunt online for scattered bits of information.
If someone wanted to discover the different hop flavors of beer there really were no options available to them other than brewing up a batch for themselves and experimenting with different recipes, which is what most of them did. Now, with the aid of a beer tasting kit, anyone from the beginner to the avid home brewer can learn to taste beer like a pro.
The main component of the kit is the thirteen different hop samples that provide a large range of aromas to the user. These are a key part of the kit due to the unfamiliar nature of hops to most people. “Most people wouldn’t know what a hop is if it came up and bit them on the nose. The hops really bring home to people the inner workings of beer. We feel like we are making beer discovery easier and more fun, now anyone can understand beer and get to know its soul. People will be able to talk intelligently about beer and distinguish the flavors like the most sophisticated wine sommelier.”
Also included is an in depth Beer Appreciation Guide to teach the user how to properly appreciate beer and how to use the kit. A Quick Start Guide is included for the impatient. To help train the eye, a color chart consisting of 12 different shades of beer is included. Finally, a scent refresher is provided to help reduce scent fatigue after repeated sniffs of hops and tastes of beer.
To complete the beer tasting experience, access to a pair of point and click, online databases are included with the kit. The Hop Database is an industry first, publicly available tool, which pairs hundreds of commercial beers with the hops that are found in them. The Terms Database consists of an extensive list of terms used to describe beer and possible causes of those characteristics. Both of these databases are currently open to the public at TasteYourBeer.com under the Know Your Beer section.
“By providing everything you would need, all in one package to explore some of the complexities of beer, I am hopeful that beer will gain its rightful image as a sophisticated beverage.”
While wine tasting parties are a common occurrence, hosting beer tasting parties is also a growing trend. The beer tasting kit also has a section devoted to helping people host beer tastings of their own. Available for download at TasteYourBeer.com are the resources needed for holding a beer tasting. Included are score sheets, placemats and even a custom beer bracket for holding a head to head beer competition, a la college basketball tournament.
The idea for TasteYourBeer.com occurred after a series of events that lead owner Brian Lewis to the idea. “I had a light bulb kind of moment that was a direct result of taking allergy medicine, home brewing, my wife not being able to read my mind and my desire to make everyone love beer as much as I do. I had recently started taking allergy medication after having no real sense of smell my whole life, a result of living in Houston. I was brewing a batch of homebrew and trying to explain to my wife how hops affect the beer’s flavor. In frustration I pulled the remaining bits of hops out of my fridge and told her to take a sniff and taste the beer. She complied and looked at me with a somewhat exasperated look on her face and said ‘Why didn’t you just say to do this to begin with?’”
“I also took a smell and thought, wow the flavor of the hops really jump out when you smell the hops and the taste the beer together. The essence of the beer had never come through so clearly because I could finally smell for the first time in my life. That’s when I realized that everyone should be able to experience what I was experiencing.”
For additional information or to acquire a sample Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit for a product review, please visit us. The Kit is currently available for purchase from our beer appreciation store and will be coming soon to select beer retailers.
About TasteYourBeer.com
TasteYourBeer.com was started in November of 2006 and is privately owned and operated in Houston, Texas. Our mission is to provide our customers with everything they need to appreciate their beer to its fullest and to broaden their horizons in the appreciation of beer.
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Read the original press release from PR Web here.
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by Luke on September 27, 2007
Barcelona, Spain: One of the largest individual studies of the effects of alcohol on the risk of breast cancer has concluded that it makes no difference whether a woman drinks wine, beer or spirits (liquor) – it is the alcohol itself (ethyl alcohol) and the quantity consumed that is likely to trigger the onset of cancer. The increased breast cancer risk from drinking three or more alcoholic drinks a day is similar to the increased breast cancer risk from smoking a packet of cigarettes or more a day
Speaking at a news briefing today (Thursday) at the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) in Barcelona, Dr Arthur Klatsky said: “Population studies have consistently linked drinking alcohol to an increased risk of female breast cancer, but there has been little data, most of it conflicting, about an independent role played by the choice of beverage type.”
Dr Klatsky, adjunct investigator in the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Oakland, USA, and his colleagues studied the drinking habits of 70,033 multi-ethnic women who had supplied information during health examinations between 1978-1985. By 2004, 2,829 of these women had been diagnosed with breast cancer. In one analysis, the researchers compared the choice of drink amongst women who tended to favour one type of drink over another with women who had no clear preference. They also looked for any association between the frequency of drinking one type of alcoholic drink over another. Finally, they examined the role of total alcohol intake, comparing it with women who drank less than one alcoholic drink a day.
They found that there was no difference in the risk of developing breast cancer between wine, beer or spirits. Even when wine was divided into red and white, there was no difference. However, when they looked at the relationship between breast cancer risk and total alcohol intake, the researchers found that women who drank between one and two alcoholic drinks per day increased their risk of breast cancer by 10% compared with light drinkers who drank less than one drink a day; and the risk of breast cancer increased by 30% in women who drank more than three drinks a day.
When they looked at specific groups, stratified according to age or ethnicity, the results were similar.
Dr Klatsky said: “Statistical analyses limited to strata of wine preferrers, beer preferrers, spririts preferrers or non-preferrers each showed that heavier drinking – compared to light drinking – was related to breast cancer risk in each group. This strongly confirms the relation of ethyl alcohol per se to increased risk.”
He continued: “A 30% increased risk is not trivial. To put it into context, it is not much different from the increased risk associated with women taking oestrogenic hormones. Incidentally, in this same study we have found that smoking a pack of cigarettes or more per day is related to a similar (30%) increased risk of breast cancer.”
Although breast cancer incidence varies between populations and only a small proportion of women are heavy drinkers, Dr Klatsky said that a 30% increase in the relative risk of breast cancer from heavy drinking might translate into approximately an extra 5% of all women developing breast cancer as a result of their habit.
Other studies, including research from the same authors, have shown that red wine can protect against heart attacks, but Dr Klatsky said that different mechanisms were probably at work.
“We think that the heart protection benefit from red wine is real, but is probably derived mostly from alcohol-induced higher HDL (‘good’) cholesterol, reduced blood clotting and reduced diabetes. None of these mechanisms are known to have anything to do with breast cancer. The coronary benefit from drinking red wine may also be related to favourable drinking patterns common among wine drinkers or to the favourable traits of wine drinkers, as evidenced by US and Danish studies.”
Dr Klatsky said that all medical advice needed to be personalised to the individual. “The only general statement that could be made as a result of our findings is that it provides more evidence for why heavy drinkers should quit or cut down.”
He concluded: “This has been fascinating research. Our group has been involved in studies of alcohol drinking and health for more than three decades, including in the area of heart disease. We are fortunate to have data available about a large, multi-ethnic population with a variety of drinking habits.”
###Contact: Emma Mason
wordmason@mac.com
34-932-308-832
ECCO-the European CanCer Conference
by Luke on September 26, 2007
Right on the heels of my recent interview with Jon Cadoux of Peak Organic Brewing, this evening I got to chat with Heather Conlin, the Special Projects Manager of Alaskan Brewing Co. Here is what she had to say:
What is your role at Alaskan Brewing?
My role has sort of evolved over time, but currently I work in human resources and am the special projects manager. So I do a lot of hiring, employee motivation, and performance reviews; my special projects have evolved, too. I started as a chemist in the brewery lab 7 years ago and then worked in both production and quality assurance, before settling on what I do now. My current special project is marketing, but I’ve worked with our I.T. department for the development of our production database, I’ve also worked on our website, and even on the retail side of the brewery. I’ve done a little bit of everything, really; we have a very collaborate environment here, you work where your interests lie. Alaskan Brewing has an active Rough Draft Program where employees from any department can participate – I’m currently working on convincing our brewer to try a Belgium Whit. It’s neat because we can really make those things happen.
How did you come to work there?
It’s funny; everyone has a story for how they end up in Alaska. Some people are born here but most people just sort of end up here – most people come on vacation and just never go home. I was born in Alaska but not technically raised there. But, after grad school—at the time having lived here none of my adult life—I decided to go home. So I packed up a 1974 motor home and headed out. When I got here, I looked for the best job available; I started at the university as an adjunct professor of business, but when I saw the brewery was hiring a chemist, I thought “how fun would that be” and before I knew it, they had hired me. And I’ve never been happier.
What is your favorite part about working for a brewery?
That every day is totally different: I wake up am and excited to come here. Also, you never know what the day is going to bring. The employees are what make it all happen – they’re passionate and are driving us to succeed every day; it’s an exciting environment to be in.
…About Alaska?
I’ve been fortunate to explore throughout the state recently and one of the things that’s so amazing is Alaska is HUGE, it is still very much a frontier – so really just the sheer size; but also the diversity of climates and the wildlife across the state. Believe it or not, Juneau is in the middle of a temperate rainforest, and right on the water, so we have all sorts of wild animals here that really are part of our lives. On the other hand, If you go further north, the terrain changes completely – I drove the Top of the World Highway through the artic tundra earlier this year. Every community in Alaska is so unique and the people here approach life with open eyes; there is a real can-do will about everyone and everyone is ready to take on life. It is harder to live life here, so relationships and bonds are a lot stronger.
What is the coastal CODE program and what is Alaskan Brewing Co. doing to help?
Well, Coastal CODE started earlier this year to coincide with the launch of our Alaskan IPA. We have a long history of corporate philanthropy and environmental stewardship, and saw the CODE program as an opportunity to give financially to both of those. The program is really both a call to action and a grant-making fund; it’s completely non-profit and run by a group called Ocean foundation. The program has an advisory board which meets quarterly and awards 3 grants a quarter to support coastal clean up, awareness, education, and our Paddle Out events. There is one such event going on in California right now—with one of the extreme athletes—to raise awareness about the harmful effects of plastics in the ocean. He is currently paddling the length of California and talking to people about how they can help at every stop along the way. We’re also planning beach cleanups around each of his stops. Really we’re just trying to get the community out there and aware of what’s going on with our oceans and their health.
Why should we care?
Oceans take up the largest percentage of mass on the earth and most people directly use the resources of the ocean in one way or another every day – we use it for recreation, fishing, and transportation – and people’s health depends on it. Every stream & river everywhere flows into the ocean, so even if you’re in a landlocked state, you are still directly tied to the ocean. Oceans are a very large piece of the puzzle when it comes to global warning, too, and Alaska especially sees the effects of that. Here’s a neat fact for you: 180 million Americans make a total of two billion visits to oceans a year, and 75% of all recreation in this country occurs within a ½ mile of our shorelines. We should all feel comfortable using our oceans and using them responsibly.
How can others get involved?
There are a number of ways people can be involved: start by visiting our website, www.coastalcode.org; there you can buy a t-shirt to show your support, and $5 of each sale goes directly to the fund. You can find volunteer info and links on the site, and you can donate directly to the fund. But best of all, drink our Alaskan IPA – 1% of all sales of the beer go directly to the fund, which is what is granted out to non-profits.
What is the IPA all about?
The IPA is currently available in 9 states, however only on the west coast (sorry). It’s the newest product in our product line and features awesome graphics inspired by the coast of Yakutat, AK – a well-known cold water surfing destination. We recently funded a two-week beach clean up there, and sent our entire Brew Crew to Yakutat to help clean. We cleaned a total of about seven tons of garbage from the beach. There is no natural barrier there to protect the beach from man-made elements, so the beach collects garbage that flows in from all over the world. We found some very “interesting” stuff.
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Hi and welcome to Blog About Beer. My name is Logan and I live just north of Portland, Oregon, a city that has more craft breweries than any other in the US. I'm a full time marketer, blogger, and dad to the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm also a homebrewing and craft beer fanatic.