Beer waiting for showtime. We also had a couple old barrel staves.

I just wrapped up the four-day International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference. On the first day, I presented a session on barrel-aged beers with Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. We went into the history and science of barrel aging, then after our 60 attendees were sufficiently thirsty, did a tasting with six of our favorite barrel-aged brews.

Here was our tasting lineup. Garrett wrote up the Brooklyn beers, I did the rest. More importantly though, Garrett brought the beer.

Allagash Curieux brought together bourbon barrel aging and a Belgian style that rarely saw oak. The Portland, Maine-based Allagash consistently brews some of the finest Belgian-style beer in the world and Curieux is further proof, matching the fruity, spicy character of a strong pale Belgian with the smoother bourbon and vanilla notes it draws from eights weeks in Jim Beam barrels.

Brooklyn Black Ops, so named because it originated as a secret beer the existence of which only the five members of the brewhouse were aware, is an imperial stout aged for four months in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, and then re-fermented in the bottle with Champagne yeast. Aging at cool temperatures gives the beer a smoother integration of the oak flavors than is often seen, and despite its strength of 11% by volume, bottle re-fermentation gives it a powerful, yet elegant palate. At only 1400 cases per year, it is the most exclusive beer that the brewery sells to the public.

Brooklyn Cuvee Elijah is what the brewery refers to as a “Ghost Bottle” – a beer that the brewery has made, but does not sell to the public. The beer originated last winter as the draught-only “Brewmaster’s Reserve” beer called Brooklyn Cuvee Noire. This was essentially a strong stout fermented with a Belgian yeast strain, which gave the original beer a dry, spicy flavor profile along with chocolate and coffee notes.

Cuvee Elijah is a barrel-aged version that is reserved for special events. The barrels are Elijah Craig 12 year barrels from Heaven Hill distillery, and the beer spent four months aging there before re-fermentation in the bottle.

Goose Island Lolita draws inspiration from the Belgian framboise, a sour raspberry lambic. The Chicago brewers ferment a classic Belgian pale ale, then age the beer in Chardonnay barrels with raspberries and a culture of the wild brettanomyces yeast.

Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale recreates the India Pale Ale as Japan first brewed it in the 19th Century. The base beer mirrored imported British IPAs, but without a steady supply of European oak, Japanese brewers turned to the cedar casks traditionally used for sake. The English and American hops in this pale ale show off cedar’s talent for blending with and complementing hops’ spicy, citrus flavors.

Nebraska Brewing Melange a Trois ages for six months in French oak Chardonnay barrel before bottling. This Belgian-style strong pale ale (10% by volume) is robust enough to stand up to oak and tannins from the extended barrel conditioning, which results in a drink that almost feels equal parts white wine and ale.

My favorite: Summit Black Ale

Mmmm beer. 2011 was a good year for it. Over at my beer blog, 195Bottles, I compiled the best and worst of the 300-some beers I reviewed over the last 12 months. For those that prefer to cut to the chase, here’s my highlight and lowlight:

Summit Black Ale
Summit Brewing Company
American Black Ale | 6.50% ABV

4.47/5
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A little research shows this is the same brewer that made up the very very tasty India Rye Ale last year. This beer does what many dark ales fail, or at least fail to master, the balancing the lighter upfront hoppy notes with the rich dark malts. This beer smells like fresh grapefruit and citrus fruit sitting on top of toasty cocoa barley. Yum. The flavor follows up with a bigger malt kick and hint of wheat and caramel sneaking in as the pine and orange peel build on the chocolate malt throughout the finish. This is one of the best black IPAs I’ve had, right up with, maybe above, Deschutes’ Hop in the Dark.

Palma Louca Pale Pilsner
Cervejaria Kaiser
German Pilsener | 4.50% ABV

1.95/5
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

I hope nobody is seriously calling this mess a German pilsner. I don’t usually walk away from a beer, but I left nearly half of this at the bar. This tasted like well water with lemon cookie ground up and mixed in. Yes, the body was watery. No, it wasn’t refreshing or pleasant. Steer clear.

My favorite homebrewing book.

October’s been going quite well thus far. Last Sunday while loitering in Barnes & Noble I found my book (and immediately improved its placement). Does it’s look good? You can order the Brewer’s Apprentice here.

I also just got word from the IACP—the International Association of Culinary Professionals, not the International Association of Chiefs of Police—that my proposed session on barrel-aged beer was approved. At their annual conference, I’ll be leading a 90-minute class with the Brooklyn Brewery’s Brewmaster, Garrett Oliver. Garrett’s generous enough to dig into the brewery’s barrel room to serve up some never-released goodies. It’s going to be fun. And it’s going to be f’ing delicious.

Back at Bicycling.com, I also got tapped for a radio interview with Hinesight on the Minneapolis CBS station, WCCO. We had a pleasant little chat about fall rides, Surly Bikes, and winter commuting. You can take a listen here.

This week my advanced copy of the Brewer’s Apprentice arrived in the mail and then I saw the book go up on Amazon.com. Come October 1, it should land in bookstores as well. Life is good.

As much as I enjoyed researching and writing this homebrewing book along with my co-author Greg Koch from Stone Brewing, it’s a relief to finally have the time to brew beer instead of just write about it. My current batch is a Belgian IPA with a good helping of home-grown hops tossed into the brew kettle.

(L-R) Keiser, me, Crosby, Frankie

I try to rarely complain about my job (Bicycling mag online editor) because on a whole, it’s massively cool. I write and edit articles about bikes—riding, racing, fixing, and anything else you can do with a bike in polite company.

So as part of covering this summer’s Tour de France, I got to follow the race for eight stage. I joined out photographer, James Startt, and the video crew (pictured) in Brittany, and followed the race until it hit the Pyrenees near Spain.

A typical day saw us leave the hotel at 9 a.m., to arrive at the Tour’s start town two hours before the riders take off. We’d get settled in the start village and read L’Equipe (or if your French is as mediocre as mind, look at the results and pretend to read the articles). Also, because I can’t travel anywhere without trying the local food, and the start villages always had local cheese and meat, I’d make myself a little brunch.

In the hour before the start we’d stake out the team buses to interview riders and coaches, then head out on course about 20 minutes before the riders left. I usually traveled with James, so we’d stop once to photograph the breakaway and peloton, and then a second time if we could find a place for lunch.

James Startt doing his thing.

Eventually we’d make it to the press room in the finish town. There’d be more running around and chasing down riders for interviews and then about three hours of writing and editing.

Quitting time was often determined by what time our hotel’s restaurant closed and how far the drive was. Dinner was almost never open late enough or close enough, so I sat by for more than a few harrowing drives with squealing car tires on one-lane mountain passes.

We’d stumble in the restaurant around 10 p.m. after several calls to assure them we were just around the corner so they should really hold the kitchen just a few more minutes. I’d eat whatever was local or definitively French—steak tartare, andouillette, lots of duck– and then find some way to include a local cheese in the meal.

No, I didn’t go to France to eat and drink. But frankly, after covering this race all month and working four straight weekends, I’d rather talk about the gluttony than the work. I’m sure you understand.

A couple culinary highlights were:

–Drinking locally brewed and distilled Calvados in Normandy

–Fresh, unpasturized goat and sheep cheese

–Eating a cassoulet in a 13th Century village while the power kept going out

–Finally trying hippocras, a mead/wine hybrid drink

–Honorable mention: all the other cheeses. So many cheeses, so little time.

Johnny Hoogerland limped up to the podium for his polka dot climber’s jersey. He received 30-odd stitched after a French TV car sent him crashing into a barbed wire fence.

Fueled by bikes and beer.

It was a long winter and not just because the endless freezing rain. Back in August I started working on an advanced (or at least non-beginner) homebrewing book with Stone Brewing CEO Greg Koch. I had a blast working with Greg on the roughly 20 chapters, but it also made for a few late night December through February.

I think Greg described the project best as a great book to read when you want to think about brewing. Each chapter is focused on one aspect of brewing — anything from Belgian lambics to aroma hops — and has a feature interview with an expert pro brewer. A few of the interviewees include Lost Abbey’s Tomme Arthur, Russian River’s Vinnie Cilurzo, and Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione. I think I did a fine job keeping the technical stuff lively, but these guys ensured it’ll be a hell of a read.

The Brewer’s Apprentice will hit shelves in October this year. Check it out.

Interestingly enough, from my health research work I know there’s a Spanish study that was interpreted by many to show that beer hydrates better after a workout than water. From reading the study and personal experience, I’d count on water and sports drink if I’m worried about hydration levels. However, when water isn’t a concern (besides, most beer is about 94% H2O), these are what I’d drink.

A long night of research

Earlier this summer I was invited by friends at the FCI to give a demonstration on beer and cheese pairing for their students. The only thing more fun than having a captive audience for 90 minutes as I went on about my two favorite food groups was the research. Many good cheeses were eaten and many fine beers consumed, but here’s the lineup I settled on.

The was no clear crowd favorite, but rather lots of mixed, strong opinions (a good thing I think). I thought cheddar and IPA were a natural match. Many agreed, but some folks just weren’t tasting it. My personal favorites though were the tripel with aged goat cheese and then the stilton and barleywine. The Belgian/goat pairing was a recent revelation for me, while the stinky blue and barleywine is a beer and cheese pairing classic.

Pairing 1: German Hefeweizen (Sierra Nevada Kellerweis) with Fresh Goat’s Milk Cheese (Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Chevre)

Pairing 2: American Amber Lager (Brooklyn Lager) with aged Fontina (used a last-minute sub and I forgot the name)

Pairing 3: American IPA (Union Jack IPA) with Sharp Cheddar (Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar)

Pairing 4: Belgian Tripel (Allagash Tripel Reserve) with Ripened Goat’s Milk Cheese (Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog)

Pairing 5: American Brown Ale (Rogue Hazelnut Brown) with Manchego (El Trigal Aged Manchego)

Pairing 6: American Barleywine (Green Flash Barleywine) with Blue Stilton (Colston Bassett)

Give me a shout if you want to chat about beer and cheese. I’m more than happy to go on at length about it.

Check out my Portfolio page. I just added a clip from July’s Runner’s World. I’ve had a few projects with Runner’s World lately, but this was by far the most exciting. It was one of those articles where there were enough great side-stories that I could have gone on interviewing racers for months.

Every year about a thousand runner’s run, walk, and stumble 150 miles across Morocco’s Sahara Dessert. Amazingly, more than 90% of racers finish. They deal with everything from near-debilitating blisters to scorpion bites, but can’t seem to get enough of the race. Take a read for yourself.