Budweiser American Ale Tasting

I came back from Saint Louis with an interesting video of a private tasting of Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser American Ale. Before I get to the video, a couple of observations.

It’s been a while since I can recall an extension of the Budweiser name, but just as A-B is positioning flagship brand Budweiser as The Great American Lager, their October-release Budweiser American Ale also waves the flag.

You can read into this whatever you please, but with well over 125 years of brewing heritage and battling for shelf space with foreign intertwined Molson-Coors and SABMiller, they can justifiably throw a little jingoism into the copper and get away with it.

When I wrote Beer & Food: An American History, I asked for the food recipe participation of breweries that were self-searching for their own bit of U.S. brewing industry heritage, brewing beers that were pre-Prohibition throwbacks, or in many cases, beers that were brewed with a bow to even earlier made ales. The results were the usages of a lot of beers in food recipes that included the words “colonial,” “molasses” or “corn” in their titled recipes or beer labels, not a bad thing (since that’s what I was looking for), but at the same time, the efforts were somewhat strained. The breweries were often 10 years old or less. It’s sort of hard to claim a historical brewing heritage when the brewery owner wasn’t even of drinking age a short decade ago. Love ‘em or not, A-B has American brewing heritage.

Before anybody starts moaning about this new Budweiser American Ale without tasting it, I say hold judgement until October. I thought that the bottled version that I enjoyed was the result of just what A-B personnel said they were striving for. The amber-colored beer was malty, with a nose that indicated a light dry-hopping of what I’m certain were Cascade hops and the muscle of 5.3% abv behind it. Budweiser American Ale was not, however, a hop-bomb, one of those toe-curling ales that have you burping up hop oils the next morning. It was, I don’t know how to put it any other way, it was…balanced. It was also very, very good in the bottle; I think it would be hard to put down, drawn fresh from the tap. And with the extensive A-B distribution network in place, it’s going to be near impossible to find an old beer on the shelves that has lost its hop nose, a complaint that I still have with some respected craft beers.

As for its pricing, we were informed that it would be priced at “…the low-end of craft beer prices.” I have a suspicion that this ale will be tied to the price of The Boston Beer Company’s Sam Adams Boston Lager. Living in the Chicagoland area, that means a good thing for beer drinkers as A-B tries to slide into the realm of craft-styled beers. I love competition, and with Boston Beer still hurting from their recent chipped bottle recall, I expect their pricing to also remain at “…the low-end of craft beer prices.” Should make for a good shelf fight.

To be sure, the A-B marketing machine will also be out in force in the next few months, emphasizing the company’s brewing heritage, the word “American” and their use of American brewing materials in this new ale.

They can get away with it. As one of John Wayne’s characters once said in a flag-waving movie; “No brag, just fact.”

This Beer Just Might CURE CANCER!

AVAILABLE LATE FEBRUARY 2008!

This year’s version of Reunion is an organic red rye ale, featuring a malt character balanced by spice notes from the rye, caraway seeds, and hops. Once again we have brewed Reunion in cooperation with Dan Del Grande at Bison Brewing.

The 2008 Reunion Ale celebrates the life of our dear friend and partner in this project - Virginia MacLean. Virginia lost her battle with Mutiple Myeloma on June 4, 2007. It was Virginia’s wish that we continue the mission of raising funds for The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research (IMBCR), so that others could benefit from their research. We know of no better way to honor her legacy.

Every day over 1,000 people are diagnosed with this currently incurable form of bone cancer. IMBCR is working on novel chemotherapy drugs to cure patients like Virginia. Every dollar and every day gets us closer to that cure. You can make it a reality. To learn more please visit: www.IMBCR.org.

 

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St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival – May 8-10

The date for this year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival will be May 8-10, and because it’s taking place so close to Chicago, I’m going to make it down here for some beers and the chance to video interview all the people who are putting this event together.

C’mon down and say “Hi!” I’ll be the guy with either a camera or beer in my hands…maybe both!

 

Tickets are on sale at www.stlbrewfest.com/#beginning. 

The seven participating brewers in this exciting event will include Alandale Brewery, Anheuser-Busch, Augusta Brewery, Morgan Street Brewery, O’Fallon Brewery, Schlafly Beer and Square One Brewery. 

In addition to sampling more than 60 styles of beer, area restaurateurs will also be on hand serving culinary fare paired with those different styles.  The festival will offer four sampling sessions and a VIP event: 

 

 

• VIP event on Thursday, May 8 at 7:20 p.m.
• Friday, May 9 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
• Friday, May 9 from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
• Saturday, May 10 from noon – 4 p.m.
• Saturday, May 10 from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.

 

 

Drinkz-N-Eatz-TV Soft Opening

I’ve decided to spin off a seperate HTML portal and blog of food and drink recipes using video and some podcasting too. As I get it up and running at full-speed, you’ll be able to enjoy a slew of video food recipes and listen to interviews with people in the drink and food trades.

You can go to UTube or other sites for this sort of thing, but if you do, you’ll also waste time wallowing through the junk out there to get to what you want. Drinkz-N-Eatz-TV makes it easier for the kitchen chef or the family bartender to watch and observe, and if so inclined, give any one of the posted recipes a shot at home.

In the next few months, I’ll be adding more of my own videos, along with the self-made smattering that’s now posted at http://drinkz-n-eatz-tv.com/ There will be no editoralizing, just taped and recorded recipes that are fun to prepare and are spiked with enough beer, wine and booze to make these recipes fun and easy to prepare.

So I’m looking for your input. If you have a favorite recipe out on the Web, let me know where it is, and if I can use it for content, I’ll get it up on the site. If you’re a brewer, vintner, distiller, importer, distributor and on and on, and would like to add some low-cost Internet exposure to your products, drop me a line. All it takes is a sample of your product, some sales and promo material and whatever, and I’ll include your product in an upcoming food or drink video for shits and grins…that’s it. Of course, if you’d like to add a banner or text message, you can check out the “Sponsers” tab at http://drinkz-n-eatz-tv.com/ Contact info is at the site and blog.

I’ll be heading to St. Louis on May 8 for the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival and hope to come back with a boatload of interviews and other interesting content to liven up the site. The seven participating brewers in this exciting event will include some smaller local breweries/brewpubs and Anheuser-Busch, so there will be a smattering of beers and much more for everyone. Stop by HERE for more info and a link for purchasing tickets. Say “Hi!” to me if you get there. I’ll be the big, balding (more like bald) guy pestering everybody for a video interview or a quote or two.

This is a “Soft Opening” for Drinkz-N-Eatz-TV, giving me a chance to find the bugs and work them out, and to start driving traffic to the site from Beer (& More) In Food and other sites I have up an running. Eventually I’ll formalize all of this when I feel comfortable with the level of content I have and know the concept is working…press releases and such. In the meantime, stop by  Drinkz-N-Eatz-TV and check it out.

Is The New-Formula Schlitz Overpriced?

Not having yet seen nor tasted the “Old” Schlitz-formula beer, I still managed to call the pricing of this beer in an earlier post.

“I imagine it will be priced somewhere between a higher-priced craft beer and a great quality pseudo-craft beer like Blue Moon.”

And that seems to be a problem with its sales.  As one liquor store sales manger has noted, label owner Pabst has overpriced it.

Part of the problem, he said, is Pabst’s pricing. At $9.99 for a 12-pack and $5.99 for a six-pack, it’s more expensive than Budweiser, about the same as Michelob and almost as expensive as more upscale brews such as Samuel Adams. “It’s just overpriced,” he said.

And that’s a shame because you know damn well that the only other thing that could give Schlitz a push in sales would be a strong marketing and sales campaign. But this is the Pabst Brewing Co., whose sales luck with its flagship brand has been based on a non-existent ad and/or media campaign, relying instead, on nostalgia and a good mix of shallow-pocketed college kids who look at the “popular-priced (read: cheap)” beer as a God send. in the case of Schlitz, Pabst has decided to position it as an expensive “super-premium” priced beer…and still use no marketing and sales oomph behind the brand.

A few years ago, I organized 2 study groups for a marketing consultant group that was working for Pabst, trying to understand why Old Style sales were so sluggish in Chicago, where it had once ruled supreme. Old Style was another beer in the Pabst Brewing Co.’s portfolio. We came up with a couple of viable options, but many of them began with the opening phrase, “You have to throw more money at the brand,” and when anyone said this, the beer distributors in the group just sighed as their eyes rolled over.

There’s a hell of a lot of baggage behind the demise of Schlitz, detailed in my book, Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago. Like Old Style before it, Schlitz was Chicago’s #1 selling beer, ignoring Budweiser’s reign as the nation’s top-selling beer. Today, it’s just another beer, unless Pabst gets serious about Schlitz and either runs a pantsload of sales, positioning the beer, or starts running an ad campaign.

 

Goose Island Nut Brown Ale-Braised Beef Ribs

Enjoy this while you can, even get out to the Clybourn location because it looks like this Goose Island location will close by the end of the year.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS                                                             

8 Beef short ribs
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup canola oil
4 large onions, diced
10 cloves garlic, 4 sliced and 6 whole
1/4 cup butter
4 bottles Goose Island Nut Brown Ale
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

Season the short ribs generously with salt and pepper and lightly dust with flour. In a large sauté pan, warm the canola oil over medium high heat until it starts to smoke. Add the short ribs and reduce the heat slightly. Brown the ribs on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. After browning, transfer ribs to a large stew pot.

In a separate pan, sauté onions and sliced garlic in the butter until onions become translucent. Add the garlic and onions to the ribs. Add the beer and simmer uncovered over low heat until the beer is reduced by one third. Cover the ribs with stock and add the molasses and tomato paste, whole garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Simmer covered 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender. Shake the pot periodically to prevent sticking.

Transfer ribs to a serving dish and cover to retain heat. Skim excess fat from the broth, discard the herbs and pass liquid through a sieve. Return liquid to a saucepan on medium heat. Reduce until thickened and pour over ribs.

Nutrition facts per serving: 966 calories, 57 g fat, 17 g saturated fat, 138 mg cholesterol, 74 g carbohydrates, 41 g protein, 519 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

Julio Ambriz, kitchen manager, Goose Island Brewpub

Geoffrey Baer at Channel 11, WTTW Talks About Schlitz Tied-Houses On “Chicago Tonight,” April 10, 7 P.M

I fed his producer a bunch of info about the former Schlitz saloons in Chicago. It’ll be interesting to see if I get a “Contributor” mention.

From the WTTW site;

Ask Geoffrey
Is there something in your neighborhood you’ve always wanted to know more about? Our resident Chicago expert Geoffrey Baer joins us to answer many of those questions in a new segment called “Ask Geoffrey.”

*******
I hope the topic gets the attention it deserves.

Voices: A brief history of beer

my view by metro

On Monday, breweries throughout the U.S. celebrated the 75th anniversary of the end of National Prohibition. The thing is, according to the Constitution, National Prohibition ended Dec. 5, 1933.

The “Noble Experiment” was caused by a confluence of events that eventually pitted prohibitionists against the “cabal” of German-American-owned saloons and breweries. Congress gradually fell under the relentless lobbying efforts of the well-financed Anti-Saloon League, showing a willingness to end the manufacture and sale of alcohol with the 1913 ratification of the 16th Amendment that brought us the income tax (on a side note, April 15 is just around the corner!). In 1920, Congress reveled in a whopping $5.4 billion in income taxes. The often-taxed-and-licensed drink trade was forgotten, the feds no longer needing the tax funds they produced.

MORE HERE

That Oh So Wonderful 3.2% Beer Of April 7, 1933

At this time in U.S. beer history, the brewing industry was still under the influence of German and German-American brewers. Lager was the most popular beer, not a surprise with wide-girthed Braumeisters still turning out the golden brew. One demonstrated point of their pride of product during the pre-Prohibition era was the brewers’ insistence of a lagering period of at least one month. Now with events as chaotic as they were prior to April 7, and with FDR’s delayed signing of the C-H bill on March 23, they would have had to be clairvoyant to have good-quality and properly aged beer conveniently ready for April 7.

So how did they do it? They used weak, and I would go as far as to claim inferior beer. In Chicago alone, there were 5 legally-licensed breweries that were pumping out real beer and then extracting the alcohol from the beer and selling it as “cereal beverage,” in other words, near beer. I made an earlier reference last April that the beer was “weak-assed” and some beer blogger made the remark with some disdain that there was nothing wrong with weak beer, or as geeks like to put it “session beer.” I agree; there is nothing wrong with lighter-alcohol session beers. If your group is babbling at the bar after something like 3 barleywines or Imperial Stouts, it might be an early end to your little bier klatsch…and that’s no fun. But think about what you would do if you were a brewer back then. How would you handle the grain and hops bill if you knew that in the final process, you would be required to boil the hell out of the beer and collect the vapors of alcohol for shipment to a government-bonded warehouse where alcohol was stored? Would you start with a nice heaving load of fine Moravian malts, maybe throw some crystal malt in for color and a little more body, and then dip into your supply of “noble” hops for character; maybe some for bittering and then topping off the batch with a touch for some added nose?

Of course not! You’d probably use some indifferent malt—and certainly not a lot—and most likely the minimum amount of hops (and who knows how old those hops were?) Why strive for a quality brew when you knew that the beers would be stripped of alcohol and then, either at the local speakeasy or on the delivery truck, the beer would be injected with alcohol through the bung-hole of the wooden barrel, giving rise to the Roaring Twenties speakeasy standby, “needle beer?”

To give you another example of the quality of the beer that was consumed on April 7 and somewhat beyond, city and federal agents were hitting the streets and testing beers in Chicago on April 7, 1933 to make sure the brewers were conforming to the 3.2% alcohol limit. Not one beer sample was in violation. On the contrary, the agents remarked that the beers were well below the legal limit. Why? Because the beer that rolled into the streets of the U.S.A. on April 7 was the indifferent beer that had been brewed for alcohol extraction, brewed to be near beer. It was brewed with the least amount of grains and hops and probably hard to argue that it had been aged for at least a month. What would be the purpose?

After the euphoria and initial beer supplies ran out throughout U.S. breweries, the suds factories started turning out “green” beer, beers that demonstrated little lagering, if any at all. It became so bad that Blatz (and others) began running full-page newspaper ads, thanking FDR for bringing “Democratic” beer back to the masses while pledging to the President and all beer drinkers in the country that they would release no beer, despite the demand, until it had gone through a proper period of maturation. That wasn’t “session beer,” my blogging critic, that was shit beer they were drinking in the aftermath of April 7, 1933.

New Beer’s Eve: Happy days were here again

By Jim Kavanagh 

(CNN) — At the stroke of midnight, American beer drinkers were no longer breaking the law when they broke open a beer.

Breweries and beer lovers around the country are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the return of beer on April 7, 1933, as the Prohibition era was drawing to a close.

It wasn’t quite the end of Prohibition, and it wasn’t quite beer, but after 14 thirsty years, it was close enough.

—snip—

Bob Skilnik, author of eight books about beer, including “Beer & Food: An American History,” holds that the December date is more significant and that the quickly brewed April 7 beer probably was of poor quality.

More At CNN.com

Readers have to realize where the beer that night came from. It was beer that was ready to be dealcoholized. The pre-Prohibition brewers used to make a big deal about the length of their beers’ maturation…at least one month. The C-H Bill, however, gave them only 2 weeks to get beer bottled or kegged and ready for the market.

You can be sure that any beer that was about to be stripped of its alcohol was a beer without the choicest hops or a decent grain bill. What would be the purpose if the beer was going to be stripped of alcohol?

This became more obvious as the beer continued to flow from the breweries in the later weeks. The public started to complain that the beer tasted “green,” i.e., not mature. Pabst even started a newspaper campaign that pledged that no beer would leave their brewery until it was ready.

So people can talk nostalgically about the 3.2% beer all they want, call it “session beer” or “small” beer or whatever; it was poorly crafted beer ready for a vigorous boiling to extract the alcohol.

 

Original Formula Schlitz Coming Back to Chicago!!

I can’t wait! This is the beer I was raised on, long before certain people at Schlitz got greedy, leading to Schlitz beer becoming known as “Schitz” beer.

The story of the rise and fall of Schlitz, especially in Chicago where it held the top beer sales position for years, is described in my best-selling book,  Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago.

The downfall of Schlitz, combined with a bottler’s strike at Anheuser-Busch in 1976 allowed Old Style, a sleeper brand that had been in Chicago since the early 1900s, to take over the Chicagoland beer market. OS distributors took their battle for supremacy to neighborhood taverns, bottle by bottle and case by case until the brand dominated more than 40% of the local beer market.

The problems of the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company were brought upon themselves and a board of directors who refused to acknowledge their production mistakes, the sudden death of CEO Bob Uihlein, Jr., and no real leader to take over the business when Bob died, a leader who could handle the meddlesome Uihleins.

At one point, G. Heileman and owner Russ Cleary were poised to buy Schlitz when the Uihlein family-dominated board of directors decided to end it all and sell. At the last minute, the Justice Department stopped the sale, claiming an unfair dominance of the market with the merger. It was a sham of a claim since the combination of G. Heileman and Schlitz would have held about 16% of the national market while Anheuser-Busch already held around 27%.

From Wall Street down through the brewing industry itself, the merger was considered to be a life saver for Schlitz and a boost to G. Heileman which was trying to shed the mantle of being just a regional brewery. It was a perfect match. The feds thought otherwise.

Stroh eventually brought Schlitz but the merger was a disaster. After the family-owned Stroh gave up in 1999, the Schlitz label went to Pabst.

What most beer drinkers don’t realize is that while Pabst owns the label, they actually don’t own any breweries. Their portfolio of once proud regional brands are now brewed by Miller.

I really hope they bring back the original formula and make the brand available again as a draft, bottled and canned product. After Stroh closed, you could only get canned Schlitz beer, which dried up a lot of draft accounts in Chicago. It was a staple at Southport Lanes, for instance

The problem now is, how do you reposition Schlitz as a premium or super-premium beer? It’s had no advertising budget, no media exposure, no nothing for years, just a reputation as a cheap beer that sat on shelves and accumulated dust. The trick will be to be able to convince young beer drinkers that Schlitz is once again a quality product and worth every penny. I imagine it will be priced somewhere between a higher-priced craft beer and a great quality pseudo-craft beer like Blue Moon.

Chicago was it’s number 1 market. It might have been the beer that made Milwaukee famous, but it was Chicago beer drinkers who really made it so.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

April 7th is Not the 75th Anniversary of the End of National Prohibition–News Release

“What was was once a trite beer history canard has become an outright lie,” says beer historian Bob Skilnik. “I can only hope that the apparent rewriting of U.S. brewing history is either an innocent result of poor research and not a shameful display of industry greed, just for the sake of a bump in beer sales.”

(PRWEB) April 3, 2008 — Bob Skilnik, author of “Beer & Food: An American History” (ISBN 0977808610, Jefferson Press, Hardcover, $24.95), argues that industry embellishments and poor research have distorted the true date of Repeal on December 5, 1933, which signified the revocation of the 18th Amendment and the enactment of the 21st Amendment and brought back the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic beverages.

“Congressional events leading up to April 7, 1933 allowed only the resumption of sales for legal beer with an alcoholic strength of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight (abw), weak by today’s standards. Congress had earlier passed the so-called Cullen-Harrison Bill which redefined what constituted a legally ‘intoxicating’ beverage. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill on March 23, 1933. The bill’s passage took the teeth out of the bite of the Volstead Act of 1919 and raised the Prohibition-era legal limit of alcoholic drinks from .05% abw to 3.2% abw.”

MORE HERE

BEER SALES STOPPED AT CHICAGO’S WRIGLEY FIELD!!!

They lost the opener…

(4-3 to Milwaukee).

Kosher Bison with Beer

That’s right! And if you go to Jewish Exponent, you can also get info on kosher venison. Maybe try some He’Brew Beer from the Shmaltz Brewing Company as part of the marinade.

Get your glatt-kosher bison here.

Oy!

Bison Shoulder Roast
(Meat)

1 bison shoulder roast (about 8 lbs.)
2 Tbsps. garlic powder
2 Tbsps. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsps. soy sauce
2 Tbsps. brown sugar
1 bottle dry red wine
1 1/2 cups beer
2 medium onions, sliced

Rub the garlic powder, pepper, soy sauce and sugar onto the meat.

Place in a non-metallic bowl.

Pour the wine and beer over the roast. Scatter the sliced onions around it. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Place the meat and marinade in a covered baking dish.

Roast uncovered for 3 hours at 300°.

Let the roast stand for about 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serves 12 to 14.
 

After Throwing Your Grandmother Under The Bus, Barack Beer Fits The Bill

Obamamania has intoxicated many of America’s liberal primary and caucus goers, but in Kenya it has been elevated to a higher level - 6% alcohol content to be exact - in what is now the hottest selling item in the country. Senator Beer.

Barack Obama has consistently drawn big crowds at his rallies and this growing popularity, embraced mostly by the younger voters who provide much of the excitement and the hoopla about Obama, has been called “Obamamania”. The mania’s counterpart in Kenya is in a brown bottle that is served in jugs. Obama’a father was from Kenya, which is why the citizens of the country identify with the Illinois Senator and have made him their role model. The brewery was smart enough, however, to avoid using the name “Barack,” so as not to encourage lawsuits.

In depressed areas of Kenya, people drink cheap brews which are sometimes spiked with traditional spirits, that have on some occasions proved lethal. An enterprising brewer (East African Breweries Ltd) took note of the fame generated by Obama and introduced a cheap brew that was safe and lower in alcohol content. Kenyan beer normally have as much as 40% alcohol. The brewery’s low alcohol lager effort is “Senator Keg” beer that patrons simply refer to as “Obama”. The depressed economy has made beer drinkers switch to cheaper beer, and what better way to pass the time talking about politics and life itself, than a glass of Obama.

Raising a glass of Obama apparently raises their hopes too.nor be accused of disrespect to the Senator. Fears of encouraging alcoholism because of its low price is being disputed by its low alcohol, which brewers contend is supportive of responsible consumption. Kenyans can therefore get tipsy on Obama, and can still grow up as responsible citizens - much like their idol’s experiments with substances. Whatever Obama says in speeches, you can expect Kenyans hearing it on radio or watching on TV to say, “I’ll drink to that.” I’d prefer something like “Six of these, are you’ll go home riding dirty!” but then again, I’m no copywriter.

The county could also start exporting the product while he remains hot in the American media, and may well be its number one US export! (Calling Tony Resko). They can then create a high end brand called “President Dark Beer” in time for the Inauguration. But the possibility of a whole generation of Kenyans and even Americans getting a little high on Senator Beer or President Dark Beer has tremendous commercial potential, especially if the beer came with mugs with handles the size of the candidates ears.

However, should he fail to win the Presidency, or even the Democratic Party’s nomination, he could always encourage his father’s countrymen to create another product. He can call it “Barack’s Brewed Beer”, like its namesake, it’s all foam - no beer.

A Beer Drinker’s Disappointment–Hamburger No Longer America’s #1 Sandwich

Yeah, I know. Everyone’s worried about their health, their heart, balancing their HDL vs. their LDL and all that rot. But me, I’m a beef man; give me steak, or on a warm summer night, a hamburger off the grill.

But I just ran across this article and it makes me wonder what has happened to American cuisine? As this article in Restaurants and Institutions notes, the grilled chicken-breast sandwich now is the most-often menued item.

In the same sense, the article also points out that what’s old is new again.

Club sandwich: The classic layered look is back in vogue. Among commercial operators that menu sandwiches, the venerable club trails only hamburgers and cheeseburgers as a top seller and also is No. 3 on the list of sandwiches commercial operations say are increasing in sales.

Turkey sandwich: As I like to think of it…a Club Sandwich without the bacon. Simple yet elegant, turkey sandwiches appear among the top sellers for both commercial and noncommercial operations. Turkey reappears on the list of sandwiches that are increasing in sales for both industry segments as well.

Dismissing culinary globalism (paninis, focaccias, wraps, etc.), the Philly cheesesteak sandwich is also hot, and since it’s beef, I’m on it. The chopped-beef-and-cheese concoction is among the top 10 on both the top-seller and thinking-about-adding lists for commercial operators.

My only objection with a cheesesteak is…the cheese. Who the hell puts cheese goo on beef?

Come to Chicago. We’ll show you how to make a beef sandwich, a hot Italian beef sandwich, the Italian bread dipped in a jus (”gravy”) and topped with giardiniera, a condiment made with serrano peppers (called “sport” peppers in Chicago), with other assorted vegetables, such as bell peppers, olives, celery, pimentos, carrots and cauliflower and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes, all marinated in vegetable oil, olive oil, soybean oil or any combination of the three oils.

Since there’s so much going on in your mouth with this delight, a simple American pilsner works just fine as a wash. Anything else would distract from the mess of one of these monsters.

Grilled chicken sandwiches? You’re gonna die anyway. I’d rather go with a belly full of beef than a scraggly “range chicken” sandwich.

I went through dozens of pages looking for an “authentic” Chicago-style beef sandwich recipe and discarded everyone of them that used something other than a top inside round. You could get away with a top round too, but anything else means the recipe preparer doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. This one, supposedly from Buona Beef looks pretty good and if your last name is Buonavolanto, who am I to argue?

Three tips;

1. If you or a friend or neighbor has an electric meat slicer, like at a deli, make a deal with them to slice the beef as thin as possible and then give them some of the action. Like most Chicagoans, I don’t have one of these slicers laying around the house…but I gotta guy.

2. Warm the juice (”the gravy”) and add just enough of the sliced beef for the serving. Don’t dump all the beef into the gravy or overheat the beef, otherwise it’ll curl up and get tough. If somebody wants another sandwich, heat up some more gravy and add a single serving of beef.

3. Slice 8 to 10 green peppers and 2 red peppers (for color contrast) into 1/4 inch slices, longways. In a frying pan, pour in 1/4 cup of olive oil and heat until shimmering. Throw in the sliced peppers and cook until somewhat soft, but still with a little crispness in them. Add 2 tablespoons of dried oregano and 2 tablespoons of dried basil and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Stir, add 1/4 cup of water, place a lid on the frying pan and slow simmer for 10 minutes, taking the lid off after 5 minutes or until the water cooks off.

How do you put this all together? Open up a crisp bun, like a French roll, or cut a 6 inch wedge from a long piece of Italian bread, either dip one side in the gravy or spoon some gravy over the inside of the bread until it’s wet, take some tongs and throw on too many slices of beef, add some cooked sweet peppers and top it all off with giardiniera, the hotter, the better.

Chicago Style Italian Beef Sandwich, provided by Joe Buonavolanto Jr., co-owner of Buona Beef Restaurants.

* 9-10 lbs top inside beef round
* 3 garlic cloves, crushed
* 2 qt. water
* 1/2 cup chopped oregano
* 1/4 C. salt
* 1/4 C. black pepper
* 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
* 35 freshly baked French rolls (for smaller portions reduce ingredients portionally)

For roasting times, figure on 10-12 minutes per pound for medium. Check with a meat thermometer for an internal temperature of 130 degree Fahrenheit for rare, 140 degrees Fahrenheit for medium

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sirloin in roasting pan and dry roast for 15-20 minutes.

2. Remove pan from oven and add water, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Return to oven and roast at 350 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

3. Remove from oven. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Internal temperature will rise 5-10 degrees.

4. Slice the beef as thinly as possible.

5. Pour juice from the roasting pan into a smaller pot and heat, but don’t boil. If you have to stretch the juice a bit, add some ready-made beef broth. I like Wolfgang Puck’s beef stock. Add a pinch or two of dried oregano and basil to the juice. You should have about a good-sized quart, maybe a quart-and-a-half of beef gravy ready.

6. Add thinly sliced beef to some heated juice and warm meat through, but don’t let the meat sit long.

7. Dip bread in juice and pile beef high on freshly baked French rolls or Italian bread.

8. Garnish with sliced sweet bell peppers and hot giardinara. Makes 30-40 sandwiches depending on portion size. If you make them right, you’ll be lucky to get 25 sandwiches.

9. Grab a beer. Rinse; repeat.

There’s Nothing Shy About Blue Dawg Brewing’s Bold Blueberry Lager – Wild Blue

WEBWIRE – Monday, March 10, 2008

Tart and Tangy Beer Arrives this Spring to Refresh Palates Nationwide

ST. LOUIS . — Not suited for timid or reserved beer drinkers, Wild Blue’s defining taste characteristic is its kick of natural blueberry flavor. The Blue Dawg Brewing team carefully selected a blend of hops and barley malt to ensure they complemented and balanced Wild Blue’s dominant blueberry notes, resulting in a robust and aromatic beer with a refreshing, palate-cleansing finish.

Wild Blue is brewed with a blend of German hops from the Hallertau region in Bavaria and classic Aroma hops from the Willamette Valley in the Pacific Northwest. A combination of two- and six-row barley malt also was chosen specifically for this recipe. Beer lovers will appreciate this specialty fruit-infused lager’s striking burgundy color, ripe blueberry aroma and its ability to stand up to the strongest of foods.

“This beer is the real deal,” said Jill Vaughn, Wild Blue brewmaster. “With a distinct color and flavor, we’ve crafted a beer that truly stands out. I think it will surprise people, especially those who like to experiment when it comes to new drinks.”

To showcase Wild Blue’s reddish-purple color and slight pink head of foam and to allow its field-fresh blueberry aroma to escape to the nose, pour the beer into a glass with a larger rim. A traditional pilsner will do the trick; or for special occasions Vaughn suggests enjoying Wild Blue in a tulip-shaped glass. “A beer as distinct and unusual as Wild Blue deserves to be enjoyed in a special type of glass,” said Vaughn.

Brewers have been using fruit in beer for years, from Belgian lambics brewed with raspberries, cherries and peaches to fruit-flavored beer mixers like shandys and radlers – popular concoctions in Britain and Germany created to bring more refreshment to beer during the spring and summer months.

The unconventional spirit of this beer is conveyed in every aspect, from its taste to its label that features a cheeky, playful bulldog kicking a blueberry, which visually represents Blue Dawg Brewing – a group within Anheuser-Busch, Inc. that is responsible for the beer’s marketing, selling and advertising.

“We’re focusing our efforts on getting Wild Blue in adults’ hands at local food and film festivals and even fun events like pet parades, where dog lovers can get to know Wild Blue, with its feisty bulldog label,” said Jeff Pierson, innovation manager, Wild Blue. “We aren’t taking this beer down the traditional path. Wild Blue is going places we haven’t been before, and we know having the beer at places where adults like to get together, socialize and try new things will be key.”

Already a popular beer in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri, adults nationwide can now find this brew at select grocery and convenience stores. Craft beer enthusiasts also have given Wild Blue their stamp of approval with a gold medal in the fruit beer category at the North American Brewers Association’s 2006 North American Beer Awards, a competition that recognizes top beers by style.

When it comes to food pairings, it’s a common belief that heavier, darker drinks pair with meat and lighter, crisper drinks pair with fish. So it’s only natural that a full-flavored beer such as Wild Blue needs to be paired with a dish brimming with robust and intense flavors. Vaughn recommends matching Wild Blue with meat dishes, such as pork rib roast with fig and pistachio stuffing or pork tenderloin with apricot mustard. “There’s nothing shy about this beer, so don’t be afraid to match it with strong foods. You want foods with snap and punch, so they won’t get lost or be overpowered,” said Vaughn. “Or if you’re craving a salad, use a combination of greens like mesclun, arugula, escarole or romaine with some fresh herbs.”

Not only does Wild Blue complement full-flavored dishes, it makes an excellent recipe ingredient, like in one of Anheuser-Busch Executive Chef Sam Niemann’s favorites:

Wild Blue Vinaigrette Dressing

Blend 6-8 fresh hulled strawberries, ½ cup fresh raspberries, ½ cup fresh blueberries and 2 tablespoons white vinegar in a blender until smooth. Add ¼ cup red wine vinegar, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup Wild Blue; blend briefly until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill.

Wild Blue is brewed in Baldwinsville, N.Y., and contains 8 percent alcohol by volume.
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Nutritional info for Wild Blue here

Make St. Pat’s A National Holiday! (And Buy Guinness)

PUBLIC OUTCRY LEADS TO PETITION OF CONGRESS FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY NATIONAL HOLIDAY RECOGNITION
National survey results suggest millions believe St Patrick’s Day should be a national holiday

New York (February 14, 200 - In response to overwhelming public sentiment, the makers of Guinness, the world’s most famous Irish stout,
are supporting Proposition 3-17, a national effort to make St. Patrick’s Day an officially-recognized holiday in the United States. 

“Guinness supports the demands of adults around the U.S. to take a day off from work and celebrate their Irish spirit,” said Richard Nichols at Diageo, makers of Guinness stout.  “Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day are all observed, and now it is time for St. Patrick’s Day to have its place among these other important dates.”

The goal is to get at least one million petitioned signatures by midnight on March 16, 2008 so they can be presented to Congress the next day, St. Patrick’s Day.  In the thousands of local bars and retailstores where Guinness stout is sold, anyone who wants to support Proposition 3-17 can sign a petition, or visit www.Proposition317.com or text the word “SIGN” to 65579 to add their names to the petition. 

“My friends and I always get together for St. Patrick’s Day,” said Brandon Schad of Minneapolis.  “I don’t know why it’s not already an official holiday, but it falls on a Monday this year, so we’re making it a three-day weekend.” 

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day goes well beyond wearing a green shirt and talking of leprechauns.  According to a recent survey of men and women 21 years of age and older, when asked which they have done to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, 36% responded that they have watched or marched in a parade, 45% responded that they have toasted the day with a beer, and 59% responded that they have celebrated by eating traditional Irish food such as corned beef and cabbage.
 
And St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just for people of Irish ancestry.  Over half (57%) of those surveyed think everyone has a little bit of Irish in them on St. Patrick’s Day.  In fact, while 54% of respondents surveyed with Irish ancestry plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year, almost a third of U.S. residents who don’t claim Irish ancestry plan to
celebrate St Patrick’s Day as well.  Proposition 3-17 calls on the nation’s leaders in Washington, DC to grant the wish of the many people around the country who desire to spend the day celebrating with family and friends. 

“We think the public’s excitement about attending rallies and going out to pubs and stores where Guinness stout is sold to sign the petition to make the day official is a testament to the passion of the Irish - and would-be Irish - everywhere,” said Nichols.   

The survey also revealed that many people plan to celebrate sometime during the weekend leading up to this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on a Monday.  In addition to spearheading the petitioning of Congress for recognition as a national holiday, Diageo is promoting its commitment to responsible drinking by encouraging those who do decide to drink on St. Patrick’s Day, to do so responsibly. 

The United States has been leading the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day for centuries.  On March 17, 1762, the world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade kicked off in New York City.  More than two centuries later, there are parades held each year in more than 90 cities across the country commemorating St. Patrick’s Day.

The Current Scarcity of Hops and Malt (It’s Deja Vu All Over Again)

Awhile back, I pointed out that the current scarcity of hops was not an isolated event. It has happened before, but it should also be noted that the coinciding scarcity of barley (malt) has just as much to do, if not more, with the rise in the price of beer.

I mention this because of a few comments I made over at The Brew Site pertaining to the craft beer industry’s latest fascination with the canning of craft beer. In two of my books, Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago and Beer & Food: An American History, I’ve pointed out that in the brewing industry, the phrase “History repeats itself” is almost a mantra. Beer has been brewed in the old colonies and the eventual United States for centuries. And despite the surprise and subsequent gnashing of teeth when something goes wrong today, scarcity of brewing materials, for instance, or in the case of some enterprising craft breweries deciding to can their beer, these are not NEW occurrences. They’ve happened before, and a study of the failures and successes of the brewing industry of old might help today’s brewers from making mistakes that were made a century ago, or even just a few decades ago, or inspire them to capitalize on a long-forgotten or ignored, but successful practice, and resurrect it; the canning of beer, for instance.

But I digress. The following is a little tale of another period of grain scarcity and how the the brewing industry worked around this problem. You might not like the outcome, but the passage also heightens another observation that is often ignored by armchair beer historians. American beer has gone through many changes in its development, and according to your personal perspectives, these changes have been either good or bad.

When some beer writer who feels the need to critque a beer happens to mention National Prohibition, he usually opines with a profound statement that goes something like this; “Prohibition irrevocably changed the character of American beer.” Sure it makes good copy, but if you read Beer & Food: An American History, you’ll find that governmental restrictions on the use of grains in beer were in effect years before Prohibition. Hell, at one point, brewers were left with the mandate of producingbeer with an alcoholic strength of no more than 2.75% abv. But even before this period, beer had gone through a number of changes, most of them a result of government interference, wars, trade restrictions and such, and yet, more often than not, the American brewing industry found a way to work aro