Caesar Salad paired with Son of Wrath IIPA

I had the privilege of attending Dust Bowl Brewing’s first beer dinner Monday evening, where they paired five courses of food with beers brewed by Don Oliver, Dust Bowl’s head brewer.  It was also a privilege to share the evening with our good friends, the Josts and the Verscheldens:) We decided to meet at the Josts and take a fifteen minute stroll to Dust Bowl’s Taproom, to avoid any possible issues with driving and multiple ales.  We arrived at 6:30 and were greeted by Don and co-owner Brett Honoré at the door.  I loved that Brett mentioned my recent homebrewer profile in the Turlock Journal, that ran alongside a great article about Don and Steve at Barley & Wine, our local homebrew supply store.

We ordered up a starter ale for the evening and I got my favorite, Don’s Red IPA.  Sadly, this ale will probably be going away soon as it relies heavily on Galaxy hops that are just not available in the quantities Don needs to brew this beer (or the Galaxy Pale Ale as well).  Get it while it lasts!

Wild Mushroom Soup paired with Buckwheat Ale

Don was the Master of Ceremony for the evening’s event, and before every course, Dust Bowl’s chef, Abel Larios, came out of the kitchen and described the food we’d be seeing shortly.  That was followed up by Don describing the beer, and the nuances of how the beer and food flavors would either complement (sweet to sweet) or contrast with (bitter to sweet or salty) each other.  He announced the first course, a Caesar Salad, paired with his Son of Wrath Double IPA.  The saltiness of the anchovies in the salad paired beautifully with the aggressiveness of the hops in IIPA.  This pairing was a hit!

The second course was an amazing wild mushroom cream soup – chock full of chunks of mushrooms, paired with Don’s Buckwheat Ale.  When I broke the skin (cream soups do this:) an aromatic burst of mushroom assaulted my nose, and a taste followed, by the Buckwheat Ale, proved to be a truly wonderful experience.  I’ve always like the Buckwheat Ale, as it is one of the signature ales that Dust Bowl puts out there.  I’m hoping to see this in bottles for retail sales some day!

Crab Cake paired with Red IPA

The third course was an amazing, piping hot crab cake, smothered in Hollandaise sauce, with perfectly cooked asparagus arranged on top.  This was paired with my favorite, the Red IPA!  I mentioned to the ale server that the Red IPA was my favorite of the Dust Bowl brews, and he returned with an additional Red IPA after serving all of the other guests.  A very nice touch indeed!  The crab cake was perfectly cooked, and the Red IPA was a great paring to go with the flavors the course offered.

The fourth course was the main dish, an amazing filet mignon, covered in an mushroom sauce made with Don’s Stock Ale.  This was paired with a Scotch Ale that complemented the steak well.  The filet was cooked rare, to perfection, and the sauce made for an culinary orgasmic experience when paired with the Scotch Ale.  I savored this course and lingered over each bite.  I take great pride in my ability to cook beef at home, and rarely order red meat when I dine out, but this was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Filet Mignon paired with Scotch Ale

We had yet to see a previously unreleased Dust Bowl ale, hinted at by Don in the weeks leading up to the dinner, so I figured we’d see it in the dessert course.  Sure enough, Don announced that we’d soon be enjoying a new beer to Dust Bowl’s line-up, a Russian Imperial Stout, paired with a raspberry drizzled chocolate lava cake.  The RIS was nice and dry, and paired beautifully with the sweetness of the chocolate cake.  It was a perfect final course to an amazing dinner!

Overall, for a first attempt, these folks hit a home run!  Don’s beers are a given, but the food we were served was amazing.  Cold dishes were cold, as they should be, and all four cooked courses arrived at the table at the appropriate temperature.  That’s no small task considering they were serving sixty plus diners.  Most amazingly, Abel’s filets were spot on!  I could tell there was much thought put into the beer and food pairings, and the result was exceptional.  Portion sizes on both the ales and food were perfect.  I left the taproom pleasantly full, not feeling bloated by a overdoing it on either.  The service by the Dust Bowl staff was top notch.  All of the servers worked the entire room, always there when you needed them, without being pesky:)

Raspberry Drizzled Lava Cake paired with Russian Imperial Stout

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Dust Bowl.  It doesn’t hurt that I met Don through our love of homebrewing, and he has a following of us that realize he’s living the dream many of us homebrewers have.  These folks brew great ales, and have brought some much needed life to Turlock’s downtown.  They are exactly the kind of business we need to revitalize our beautiful historic downtown area.  I’m looking forward to more of Dust Bowl’s special events, if this is any indication of what is to come.

Here’s a photo gallery of the evening’s fun!  Warning – lots of toasts!

Well done, Dust Bowl, well done:)

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Happy Fourth Birthday to The LazyBrewer!

Today marks the four year anniversary of The Lazy Brewer!  I really wondered if I’d see this day.  I started this site as an experiment – of myself.  I wondered if I’d take the time to post regularly.  At this point, I’ve exceeded my own expectations and have posted 150 times.  The updates are coming less frequently, but hopefully they are of higher quality. The most highly sought out posts, via search engines, on the Lazy Brewer include my imperial red ale, my black IPA and information about Dust Bowl Brewing.

If the Lazy Brewer has made your life any more interesting than it already is, please open your favorite ale, and raise a toast (and maybe leave a comment:) to the Lazy Brewer.

Cheers!

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See you Saturday at Barley & Wine!

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Merry Christmas!

This has been an interesting year.  In general, it’s been a good year.  I have a wonderful family, amazing friends and all of the things most folks associate with “the good life”.  Here’s to an even better 2011!

Life is good!

Merry Christmas to all of the Lazy Brewer’s readers.  Open a special ale and share it with someone you love:)

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30th Anniversary!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of my wife, Brenda, and I. Mrs. Lazy Brewer doesn’t read this blog, so this post isn’t really being written for her eyes. But, today is a landmark day. Many people don’t reach their 30th anniversary, even with multiple wives/husbands. We did it with just each other – and a couple of kids!

Brenda puts up with all of my quirks, obsessions and hobbies. She keeps our lives in order and is the foundation of our home. She is the glue of our family. And I love her:)

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The Brew Sculpture in Action

As several of the Lazy Brewer’s readers have pointed out, it been a while since my last post. It’s been a mix of general real life busyness, and sheer laziness. I’m brewing a German Hefeweizen as I type this (on a new toy – but more on that later:) and enjoying the aromas only those of you who brew can understand.  I’ve brewed several times since last posting in January, including an IPA, an American Brown Ale, and a Russian Imperial Stout. Friday I brewed a Belgian Wit and then today a German Hefeweizen.  I’m trying to get several of the crowd-pleasing summer ales ready to go before the summer drinking season starts.

Today’s brew is the last of an era.  The next brew I do will be my 100th batch!  I’ll be working on an original recipe for my centennial ale over the next week, and I’m 99% sure it will be an IPA (big surprise, huh?).  I want to brew an easy drinking, high flavor/aroma IPA that kind of goes back to the roots of my brewing – bittering with Columbus, flavoring with Centennials and then finishing with either Cascades or Amarillo (or both:).

So where am I in my brewing after 100 batches?  Well, I’m making consistently good ale, sometimes great ale.  I’ve tried brewing a lot of different styles.  Some of them have become favorite ales that weren’t on my beer radar five years ago.  I’ve really come to love the darker ales; browns, porters and particularly stouts.  Some wheat beers are now a part of my regular brewing routine, like wits and German hefeweizens – though I still have very little love for American hefeweizens.  I also really like the big beers; barley wines, imperial reds and old ales.  I’ve also learned what I really don’t care to drink – some of  the Belgians are just too much for me.  A Belgian Golden Strong Ale is the only keg I’ve poured out.  It was brewed to style, and came out nicely, I just didn’t like beer.  More than anything, I’ve learned that when it comes to brewing, time is your friend.  Letting beers finish out in the fermentor, and then giving them time to mellow, clear and generally become stellar ales is what conditioning is all about.  Finally, I’ve also learned that brewing is all about people.  Many of the best friends in my life are, or have been, brewers.  Brewing with them, and enjoying ales in their company, is what life is all about.  Also, seeing a non-brewer’s face light up when they are sipping one of your hand-crafted brews is priceless:)

Other recent events, in no particular order, that have kept me away from here are more than a bit of wine tasting, shuttering the doors on my ten year web hosting business (no tears here:), planning a trip to Italy in October, installing a commercial WordPress theme for this blog, and an impulse purchase of an iPad.  I may create individual posts about some of these things in the future:)

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Merry Christmas!

Another year is on the horizon, and it’s time to reflect on everything that is good in my life.  My family loves me and puts up with all my eccentricities, and I’m truly blessed to have some of the best friends in the world. I have a fun and challenging job. I get to travel to places that feel like home. I get to enjoy wonderful ales on a regular basis.  Life is good!

Merry Christmas to all of the Lazy Brewer’s readers.  Open a good ale and share it with someone you love:)

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The 2009 Teach a Friend to Brew Day Crew

Today’s Teach a Friend to Brew Day event was successful in several ways.  First and foremost, it was a wonder social event – many good (old) friends, some good (new) friends (I got to meet some local Twitter folks – Hi @AlexisDias !) and many friends of friends.  Homebrewing just seems to attract high quality people.  It’s one of my favorite things about the hobby:)

Between Brad and I, we brewed 20 gallons of ale, 10 of my annual TAFTBD IPA, and 10 of Brad’s German Hefeweizen.  My brew day went well, short of forgetting to add clarifier and yeast nutrient (I get distracted with so many fun people around:), and the IPA has been put to bed for a nice cozy fermentation.  Everything else aside, we made beer!

Most importantly, I think we may have picked up as many as four new homebrewers out of the event!  The Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day event is all about showing people how easy it is to brew great beer, showcasing the ales you’ve brewed and lighting the burner under new brewers.  I think we did that today:)

A Photo Gallery has been posted of the day’s activities for your viewing pleasure.

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I’ll have coffee and morning munchies early in the day, as well as sausages (John has offered to be the event’s GrillMaster:) and lunch munchies in the afternoon.  Additionally, attendees will have full run of the 8 ales I have on tap throughout the day:)  We should be done around 3:00 p.m.  My best guess is that there will be about fifteen attendees.

Last year’s event at Sociables was a huge success!

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Dust Bowl Brewings BevMo Tasting

Friday night, a group from the Central Valley Brewers Guild descended on our local BevMo for a tasting with our local up and coming brewery, Dust Bowl Brewing.  It was exciting to see our buddy, Don Oliver (of Sam Adams Longshot fame), standing in the 6′ x 6′ tasting box as we entered the store.  The box was already full when we got there, so we had to wait a few minutes to work our way in for tastes of his Hops of Wrath IPA, and two other pre-production brews, a white ale and a buckwheat ale.  The Hops of Wrath IPA is great, and I particularly liked the white ale.  Don told me he backed way off on the coriander for a more subtle spice profile in the ale.

We probably over stayed our welcome, but I was able to enjoy at least half a dozen tastes and Don was as gracious as always – answering questions and shooting the breeze during lulls in the action.  Don is also welcoming the CVBG with open arms for our September 2nd gathering, by opening up his brewery to us.  This guy remembers where he came from:)

Several of the CVBG folks wrapped up the evening by having dinner at our local Applebees, where Dust Bowl Brewing’s Hops of Wrath is on tap.  Here’s to hoping Dust Bowl Brewing continues to make inroads into local (and not so local:) pubs and restaurants.  These guys rock!

And congrats to Don on his upcoming wedding.  His girl was smart enough to wait and see him actually become a professional brewer before committing!

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Static electricity handprints on my milled grain tubs!

I’ve been a terrible blogging slacker lately.  I’ve brewed twice – 10 gallons of Two Hearted Ale and another 10 gallons of my house German Hefeweizen.  Unfortunately, work has been very busy as we prepare hundreds of new computers for a brand new middle school that is opening in early August.  I’m off until mid-July, but then it’s back to work earlier than usual to make sure we are ready for all the teaching staff and students as they make their way to a new campus.  I’ll be taking some time off next fall or winter to make up for the additional days I’ll be working this summer.  I hope to do something special with the time off that I normally couldn’t do because I’m working:)

Stephen and I are heading off to the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland on the 18-20 of this month, so hopefully I’ll have plenty to report here to make up for my month long blogging absence.  I’ll try and catch up on the activities of the last month sometime next week.  Lots of exciting things have been happening with our new brew club, the Central Valley Brewers Guild.

Eddy, the Boston Terrorist, is also keeping us busy.  Thankfully, he’s been sleeping through the night for the last three weeks.  I’m much more attentive in the daylight hours when I haven’t been up watering/pooing a puppy two or three times a night!  All in all, though, we do love us some Eddy in the Lazy Brewer household!

Finally, one of the most exciting thing to hit the Lazy Brewer’s household recently is an AT&T U-verse installation scheduled for this morning.  We’ve been TiVo fans for over six years, but one of our Series 2 TiVos gave up the ghost a couple weeks ago.  With U-verse hitting our neighborhood in the last couple months, the timing was right.  I’m really looking forward to HD programming for my Pioneer Plasma (Series 2 TiVos have never supported HD programming) and even more excited about getting an 18 MB Internet pipe.  I just hope the install goes well.  I hear the TV/Internet part usually goes well but the phone part (VoIP) can be sketchy.  Kind of ironic that the phone company has trouble with the phone part!

Again – sorry for the downtime.  More info to follow next week.

Cheers!

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Happy Birthday to The Lazy Brewer!

Today marks the one year anniversary of The Lazy Brewer!  I really wondered if I’d see this day.  I started this site as an experiment – of myself.  I wondered if I’d take the time to post regularly.  At this point, I’ve exceeded my own expectations and have posted 87 times.

If the Lazy Brewer has made your life any more interesting than it already is, please open your favorite ale, and raise a toast (and maybe leave a comment:) to the Lazy Brewer.

Cheers!

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