Testing...Check...Check one.

This, to me, is one of the coolest things that's happened to me since I started my Beer Journey. I was invited to go on radio station KCRW and be interviewed by culinary maven Evan Kleiman about women and beer on her show Good Food. What? Yeah. How cool is that? I've been listening to this show in my car for years edge-u-micating myself on the stuff that kicks culinary ass, and now I'm on it. Hopefully kicking beer ass! Wait....that didn't sound right.

Anyway, I'm on the radio. Woot woot. For Southern Californians, my "Beer Chick" segment will air this Saturday, July 28. You can listen live during its air time, 11:00am-noon at 89.9-FM (Pacific), or thereafter from the archives at www.kcrw.com. You can also listen live over the internet at this website as well.

You can click here to see deets on the upcoming show. Thanks again for all your e-mails, keep 'em coming. I'm so excited. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it.

Beer Chick on TV

I'm on TV! I'm on TV!

Those of you who are local to L.A. can catch me on YourLA today at 3:00pm on NBC. For those of you not in the area, the segment will be posted soon online @ YourLaTv.com.

I went around to some of my favorite local beer spots (only one of them is a beer bar) and talk about and taste ...what?...Hmmm ...Now what did we taste and talk about?

Oh yeah. Beer...duh.

UPDATE:

Here it is!

Size Matters

So I was having a nice little beer tasting event the other day with Learn About Wine and I had, as my piece de resistance, a 3 Liter bottle of Craftsman Triple White Sage from Mark (I know, I know, I've mentioned this beer a lot. It's because TWS and I are in love OKAY? Leave me alone.) Anyway, the big bottle was really c-o-o-l and got me thinking. We (meaning American readers) are so used to the standard 12 oz. bottle that just seeing beer in a different size can be confusing and daunting. What do we call it? How much are we getting? Well...here you go!

The Stubbie - This unfortunate name is the general term for short glass bottles used for beer. They are shorter and fatter than your average bottle. The capacity is between 330ml (11.2 fl oz.) and 375 ml or (12.7 fl oz.) The advantages of this sized bottle is that the beer chills faster, they are easier to handle, there is less breakage, and - very important with me - tip less easily. These bottles are used more often in Europe, but you've seen them around - think Red Stripe bottles.

The Longneck - Uh...this is a type of beer bottle with a long neck. This is the industry standard bottle or ISB. ISB longnecks have a uniform capacity, height, weight and diameter and can be reused on average 16 times. The long neck offers a long cushion of air to absorb the pressure of carbonation to reduce the risk of exploding. The American longneck holds 12 fl oz. or 355 ml. FYI - The Canadian longneck holds 12 Imperial fl. oz. or 341 ml.

The Bomber - This is my favorite size bottle. A bomber is a 22 oz or 650ml glass bottle that craft, artisanal and specialty beers commonly come in. Bombers typically contain two to three servings of beer, which may be shared amongst friends...or not. They are also a popular bottle type with homebrewers. A 22 is commonly known as a "deuce-deuce" or "double-deuce," but please do me a favor and never call it that.

The Australian Longneck - In Australia, the most common volume of a longneck bottle is 750 ml or approximately 25 fl oz. Recently some brewers in Australia have even increased their longneck size to 800 ml or 27 fl oz. Dammit I love Australians! In Queensland a longneck is known as a "tallie." And in Western Australia its called a "king brown," which makes me laugh.

The Forty - Forties are more than three times as large as the standard American longneck. It is 40 fl oz. or 1.18 liters. Typically forties are associated with the beverage known as malt liquor baby yeah! (the name "Malt Liquor," by the way, is strictly a governmental regulation and refers to a type of beer that has a high abv and was considered too alcoholic to be marketed as "beer.") Don't drink it.

The Growler - A growler is a half gallon or 64 fl. oz. glass jug used to transport draught beer. They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs as a means to sell take-out beer. Some breweries also offer a one-liter version. Growlers generally are made of glass and have a tin or plastic screw-on cap or a hinged porcelain gasket cap which can provide freshness for a few days before losing carbonation. They usually have a handle ( I love bottles with handles) and can be used indefinitely.

FYI - Here are bottle sizes as they relate to wine:

Split = 187 ml or one quarter size a standard bottle
Half-Bottle = 375 ml or half a standard bottle.
Standard Bottle = 750 ml
Magnum = 1.5 liters or twice the standard bottle
Jeroboam also called Double Magnum = 3 liters or 4 standard bottles
Rehoboam = 4.5 liters or 6 standard standard bottles
Methusalem also called Imperial = 6 liters or 8 standard bottles
Salmanazer = 9 liters or 12 standard bottles. This is an entire case in one bottle.
Balthazar = 12 liters or 16 standard bottles.
Nebuchadnezzar = 12 to 16 liters (depending on the country of origin) or 16 to 20 btls.
Soverign = 50 liters or 67 standard bottles.

Thank you to wikipedia.org for a lot of this information.

The Sauce of Life - Grilling with Beer

Hungry to find my own kind, I recently corresponded with a fellow beer chick, the very accomplished Lucy Saunders. Besides being revered by the world's leading beer writers and experts (do Michael Jackson or the Alstrom brothers ring any bells?), she also has 20 years experience as an author, a cook and a teacher. She's also a Chicago girl, like myself, and believes that beer is food. Yeah, she pretty much rocks it. Oh, and she calls beer the "sauce of life." Which makes me smile for a couple of different reasons: one of which is that the quote comes from her most recent book called "Grilling with Beer." KEEP READING.

Now I know this is crazy. Because, while some of us chicks are now comfortable with having breached the masculine world of beer; grilling is a whole 'nother level of male. I feel a bit like Marlow in "Heart of Darkness," traveling into unknown territory a little scared and a little excited, but certain that I will be experiencing things I never have before. Hand me the Maudite, I'm ready for fire...heh heh...fire...FIRE!

You might be saying to yourself, "Big deal, beer and grilling, what's new?" But as Lucy herself says in her book, you probably "have summertime memories of sucking back ice-cold fizzy, yellow, cheap beer while charring burgers, hot dogs and chicken on the hibachi." This book is about something on the far side of the culinary planet from that experience.

Lucy writes about sauces, bastes, glazes, rubs, marinades and brines. She talks about nuance and flavors found in craft beer that "range from fruity, floral, citrusy, sweet, sour, spicy, herbal, earthy, toasty, roasted, smoky and burnt." She talks about craft beer providing a diversity of flavor that you simply won't find with any other beverage.

She's right you know.

So far, I've tried the "Mexican Dark Lager Mole," which was awesome. I used Craftsman Smoked Black Lager and the flavors and textures with the chocolate, chiles, cumin, coriander and pumpkin seeds were amazing (I cooked this recipe with chicken.)

I also had a great slow food experience with the "Dunkel Weiss & Spice Marinade" and a flank steak. I used the Aventinus Eisbock (a 12% wheat dopplebock - close enough). The steak was wonderful, there was wonderful herbacity, big spicy notes (I used extra red pepper flakes) and a deep, rich sweetness. I took Lucy's advice and used part of the marinade reduced as a sauce. Delish.

Here's a simple recipe from the book that looks really interesting:

Mustard Sage Glaze

1/2 cup prepared Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
1/2 cup amber ale
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper.

1. Whisk together all ingredients in medium bowl; brush
on chops, steak or chicken or fish during last 5 minutes
of cooking.

Makes 1 cup.

**Wonder what this recipe would taste like subbing the Craftsman Triple White Sage for the amber ale? Dare to dream.

Where can you find more from Lucy? She edits BeerCook.com. You can buy her book at http://www.grillingwithbeer.com. She also wrote a book called "Cooking with Beer" that is equally lauded. You can click here for more information.

You can also glean more of Lucy's knowledge in this month's issue of Beer Advocate (click here for a subscription.) In a column called "Last Call by Lucy Saunders: The Sizzle" She asks the question, "Must great taste be at the expense of good taste?"

You go girl!

A Great Exbeerience

Got invited to a great tasting at my good friends Natalie and Larry's house last week. They know a thing or two about beer. They are people after my own heart. They are both avid homebrewers, and Larry is a stalwart collector. He's got an "aging cabinet" and presented our brews in order of intensity and with stinky (read awesome) cheese pairings.

There were many beer knowledgeable women there as well. Go beer chicks! It just goes to show that people are doing beer tasting parties now, the way they used to do wine tastings. This was so much fun and a lot was learned.

One of the great treats of the night was that this party was attended by the very talented Victor Novak, Brewmaster at TAPS Brewery in Brea, CA. I always want to know what makes a brewmaster, so I googled him after our meeting and discovered this gem: "While attending the University of California at Berkeley, two revelations changed Victor's career course: his first taste of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a dining experience at Chez Panisse." (Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse is one of my personal heroes.)

"Inspired to learn the craft of fine beer making, Victor, a native of Southern California, moved back East and began working at the award-winning Dock Street Brewery in Philadelphia. There he apprenticed under a well-respected English Brewmaster who had served as Head Brewmaster of the Grand Metropolitan Breweries in London. Victor spent four years at Dock Street learning the European methods of brewing. He also traveled to Europe five times, researching the unique beer styles and crafting techniques in Britain, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. He has been brewing since 1992."

Here are some of my favorite beers from the tasting. The first one being one brewed by Victor himself. Yeah!

Taps Brewery Biere de Garde
Brea, CA
ABV: about 7.5%
Biere de Garde is a farmhouse style of beer that means "beer to keep or to store." I personally think that it means "beer I'll fight you over," but that's just me. Originally from French Flanders in the northeast, this ale is traditionally brewed in the spring and consumed throughout the summer. Taps describes it as "medium- to full-bodied, amber in color, a bit earthy, a touch acidic, and very drinkable." I say the balance was wonderful and there's nothing like being able to taste and discuss a beer with the person who brewed it. Excellent.
Go to http://www.tapsbrea.com/ for more information.

Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale
Cleveland, OH
ABV 6%
We made a couple of bad jokes about this beer tasting like Cleveland. BUT after sampling it....Cleveland must taste pretty good. This fruity pale ale is the bomb. Definite pineapple with vanilla and maple in the nose, but then hoppy bitterness and dryness in the finish, all keeping with the Bavarian Purity Law! (See Reinheitsge-what?).
Go to http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/ for more information.

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe Double IPA
Easton, PA
ABV 9.0%
So this is a Double IPA, which means that you are going to get BIG HOPS from this beer. The aromatics from this beer are huge, fresh, piney, grassy (as in p-o-t) and clean. I was expecting to cringe at the bitterness. But this beer has none of the harshness that huge hops can produce. That's because it was brewed exclusively using the specifically developed hop hybrid "Simcoe," According to their website, "this hybrid hops was created to allow maximum aromatic oils, along with low cohumulone(harshness) levels, so that brewers can really load up a lot of 'em in a beer and not have any harshness. Introduced by Weyerbacher in 2005 as a seasonal, this brew has garnered numbers so high on Beer Advocate, and been in such high demand by consumers, that we decided to add it to our year-round line-up in March 2007."
Go to http://www.weyerbacher.com/ for more information.

Dogfish Head Red & White
Milton, DE
ABV 10% (yeah!)
This beer is one of Dogfish Head's Limited Addition brews which are made and released once (or just a few times) a year. Red & White was released in February of 2007 and is a big, belgian style Wit (beer brewed with wheat) . Dogfish followed with the addition of the traditional wit flavorings of coriander and orange peel, but then took it a step further and fermented the beer with Pinot Noir grape juice. Then, they fermented a portion of the batch in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels and a portion of the batch in oak staves. Then the beer is blended together and bottled. This beer really is a fantastic balance of a citrusy, spicy, refreshing witbier and a robust Pinot Noir. Yummy yummy yummy in my tummy!
Go to http://www.dogfish.com/ for more information.

Who's Your Urban Daddy?

This is the absolutely last post I will post about myself.... for an entire WEEK! I promise! I just wanted to give a shout out to urbandaddy.com who thought that my beer tasting class this Sunday sounded fun and helped promote it. Thank you very much.

Urban Daddy is "an exclusive, daily email magazine devoted to keeping you in the know." They concentrate on nightlife, food, style, gear, leisure and travel in both New York and La La Land. Its exclusive though, (exclusivity being something new to me) ...Invite only! But you can request an invitation! They even called me "beautiful." Just wait for what they write after I get them drunk on great beer! I LOVE my Urban Daddy....he's so much nicer and more supportive than my suburban daddy.
Ciao ciao.
More to come very soon. And all about beer.... And none about me.
c to the p

PS. Heads up for the tasting....Beers you can only get in a bar: Craftsman Smoked Black Lager, Biere de Blanco and TRIPLE WHITE SAGE are making an appearance at my tasting. TWS isn't even at Father's Office yet. Forget about it. Seriously.

The Thrillist and Other Stuff

Hello everybody! I'm very excited today because I'm featured in The Thrillist. Well...maybe not ME per se, but it does feature The Library Bar in downtown Los Angeles.

Its featured because I helped develop their new beer list. I hope that they do it justice in serving it, but I think that it is a great, chill spot to have a great beer.

Click here to read The Thrillist: The List.
And click here to read the new beer menu that they will be featuring!

Also wanted to share with you a great feature on www.laist.com about Mark Jilg at Craftsman Brewery. The article gives good insight into Mark's beer philosophy. Click here to read it.

ALSO....I'm doing another Beer 101 class with Learn About Wine this Sunday from 3-5pm downtown Los Angeles. (I seem to be downtown a lot lately!) Click here for the info on it. I want to do summer beers and am open to suggestions if anyone has any favorites that they love.


And one more thing. I know that this is late notice, but Stone Brewing Co. is hosting an event called "Learn to be a Sommelier - Beer and Cheese" Mmmmm......beeeeeer and cheeeeese. This tasting is TONIGHT (May 16th) from 5:30 - 6:30pm at Surfas in Culver City for $10.

Hopefully its not sold out yet because Steve Wagner, the founder, president and brewmaster of Stone Brewing will be there. Click here for more information.