The Release of 5 Rabbit Vida Y Muerte

This Thursday 5 Rabbit will be releasing their seasonal "Vida Y Muerte", Day of the Dead Marzen-style beer. They'll be celebrating this release on Thursday, September 26th at the Hopleaf in Andersonville along with special guest, Brewmaster John J. Hall.  The party starts at 7pm.

Chicago Beer Gals - September Event

Ladies, please join us for an evening at the Brew Camp Classroom. This month we'll be focused 100% on Craft Cider!

We’ll be providing a tasting of Midwest made hard ciders as well as some fall snacks.
*This event will have Gluten-free options

Special guests:
Holly Christopher and Michelle Foik from Virtue Cider
Kate Bernot, Nightlife Reporter for Redeye Chicago

Limited seats are available, advanced tickets through Brew Camp -> HERE

Have questions about the event? Want to be a future guest speaker? Feel free to email me.

Beer + Chocolate = Love

For those chocoholics it's difficult to believe that your favorite desserts could get any better. However, stout has a distinctive flavor derived from the massive amounts of dark malts and a creamy body that give cakes and other chocolate desserts an intense, dark chocolate flavor that is not-too-sweet. Below are two of my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Mole Stout Truffles with caramel malt garnish

STOUT INFUSED TRUFFLES
Ingredients:

- 8 oz Chocolate, 62% Cacao Semisweet, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
- 4 TBSP Stout (see suggestions below)
- 8 oz Dark Chocolate, 71% Cacao, chopped
- 2 TBSP Fleur de Sel Salt, or other garnish to top (optional) - I used crushed 20L Caramel malt which added a touch of sweet, crunchy texture

Directions:

Take 8 oz of semisweet chocolate and chop into small pieces (which will help the chocolate melt faster). Place in a stainless steel bowl that will fit on top of a small pan filled with a few inches of water (double boiler). Place the pan over medium heat (a rapid boil will make the chocolate burn too fast). Be careful as to not get any water into the chocolate. Add the cream and beer of choice. With a spatula, stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the cream/beer has been incorporated into the chocolate. Remove from heat and let sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes, or until the mixture is the consistency of peanut butter. You can speed this process up by placing the bowl into the refrigerator, stirring every few minutes. 

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using a melon baller or a teaspoon, make small uniform balls and place onto the wax paper. Trying not to over handle the chocolate mixture too much, causing them to melt - use your palms to roll each into a round ball and place back onto the wax paper. Once all the chocolate has been rolled, place the plate back into the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or until firm. 

Take the 8 oz of dark chocolate, chop into small pieces, add to another stainless steel bowl. Place over a small pan on medium heat as before and stir with a spatula until chocolate has melted. Take a cake cooling rack, and place a piece of wax paper underneath. Remove your truffles the refrigerator, one at a time, drop into the melted chocolate, turning with a skewer or small untensil, until the truffle is fully coated. Remove from the melted chocolate, place on the rack, and place a pinch of salt (or garnish) on top of each before it cools. Once the chocolate has hardened, place into a covered container and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

*Beer suggestions: Any traditional dry or oatmeal stouts work. Some of my favorites are Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Arcadia Cocoa Loco, Founders Breakfast Stout, Rogue Chocolate Stout, Southern Tier Jah-va Coffee Stout, Ska Mole Stout.
** Added Tip: The higher alcohol content of the beer, the more difficult it is to get the chocolate filling to the right consistency. I was rather ambitious with my first batch and decided to make Goose Island Bourbon County Stout truffles. It was an absolutely delicious, but a little more difficult to hold it's rounded shaped treat. For my second batch I used Ska Brewing Mole Stout which is around 5% - the consistency was much more desirable.

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Cocoa Loco Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

CHOCOLATE STOUT CUPCAKES
Cake Ingredients: 

- 1 cup stout (see suggestions below)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder - 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar - 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs - 3/4 cup sour cream


Icing Ingredients:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 pound dark or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

In another medium mixing bowl combine the stout, softened butter. Beat in eggs. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Lightly grease 24 muffin tins (or use muffin liners). Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 10 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 10 to 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool.

Icing Directions:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Frost cupcakes with a small knife or spatula. Or for an added tip spoon frosting into a resealable bag, cut a small end off of a bottom corner to use as a piping bag. Frost in a circular motion. Dust with cocoa powder or sprinkles.

*Beer suggestions: Any traditional dry or oatmeal stouts work. Some of my favorites are Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Arcadia Cocoa Loco, Founders Breakfast Stout, Rogue Chocolate Stout, Southern Tier Jah-va Coffee Stout, Ska Mole Stout.

For a 3-layer cake version, double the ingredients and follow these instructions.
Cake Directions: Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

Icing Directions: Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours. Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. 

Makes 12 servings.


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Chocolate Dessert Pairings

Of course chocolate desserts marry well with a dark, creamy stout or bourbon-aged Imperial Stout, but if you're looking to mix it up a bit lambics and krieks are a fantastic choice. These Belgian style fruit beers are lighter in body and sweeter in flavor, nicely balancing rich desserts and also appeal well to the wine drinkers.

Featured here are an Verhaeghe Echt Kriekenbier (Cherry Kriek), Lindemans Framboise (Raspberry) Lambic and a Chapeau Banana Lambic which was surprisingly clean and crisp.

Naughty, Nice Or Just Plain Thirsty?

Introducing our latest homebrew endeavor - Naughty or Nice Holiday Cider. After discovering some fantastic, very sessionable English style craft ciders this past year we were interested to tackle the feat ourselves. With the Midwest, and Michigan in particular having unfortunately sparse apple crops this year, finding fresh apple cider without preservatives proved to be quite a challenge.

After stalking many Chicago farmers markets we finally found success during a visit to VerHages Fruit Farm and Cider Mill in Kalamazoo, MI. Fresh cider was being pressed on site. It was fascinating to watch just how natural and simple the process still remains.

Our recipe included: 4 gallons of unpasteurized fresh apple cider4 cups sugar (dissolved in 1 gallon cider heated to 165)12oz fresh cranberries (flash boiled in 1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup water for 5 minutes to pop the skins and help release sugar)Nutmeg Ale Yeast versus Champagne yeast (which I was not a fan of as it seems to bring the flavor closer to wine than cider in my opinion). An Ale yeast would potentially bring more flavor and also work harder on all of those fermentable sugars projecting a ABV of 7-8%, nearly double your typical cider.Campden tabs (1 per gallon)The cider fermented for a week and was filtered into secondary to discard of the cranberries. Some additional nutmeg as well as clarifier were added. After three weeks in a secondary fermenation the cider was unbelievably clear but the flavor had become substantially dry and tart. We decided to back sweeten, which also served as a primer for bottling with 1 can of 100% apple juice concentrate which worked quite well to balance out the tartness.(OG: 1.050/FG: 1.000) 

Any further questions on specifics, feel free to reach out and ask. Managing the sugar and controlling the residual sweetness was definitely more challenging than expected and resources were much more limited than with beer recipe forums and books. I learned the most by asking fellow brewers and experimenting throughout the process.

Follow us on twitter at @hail2theale

The Beer Geek's Christmas List

Upcycled Notebooks - This is my favorite thing I've found this year! The Roaming Pint sells 3 packs of notebooks made from used 6-pack beer carriers. You can choose from an assortment of Regional breweries or send in your own cartons for a custom design order. Perfect for taking beer notes and making lists at home or on the go - it's the perfect size. theroamingpint.com/store/notebooks ($10-12) 

The Pop Chart Lab Beer Poster - Signed and numbered by the artist this comprehensive collection of over 89 varieties of beer including glassware is a beer geek’s dream. ($32)

http://popchartlab.com/collections/prints/products/the-very-very-many-varieties-of-beer

Custom Bottle Caps - For the serious homebrewer, packaging is an important aspect. Bottlemark sells a large variety of bottle cap designs or allows you to upload your OWN designs. They sell Gift Certificates as well - $10 gets you 55 caps (5 gallon batch). www.bottlemark.com

Build A 6-Pack - at Bottles & Cans. Chicago’s newest craft beer, wine and spirits store, located right in the heart of North Center has an unbelievable selection. The build your own aspect makes for a fun gift for any beer enthusiast ($12-20) www.bottlesandcanschicago.com

Brew Classes at Brew Camp - Offering classes spanning from the basics to the more intermediate you will leave feeling enlightened and full of beer knowledge. ($10-20)

www.brewcamp.com

BeerSmith 2.0. - This inexpensive homebrewing software is a helpful tool for those looking to branch out and start building and tracking recipes. ($27)

www.beersmith.com

Beer Geek T-shirts - from www.Brewershirts.com. Ladies, Men, font collectors, lobster lovers - there are plenty of geek-shirts to go around! ($15-20) 

Bottle Opener iPhone Case - This durable phone case has a built-in stainless steel bottle opener. Nerdy - yes. Practical - pretty much! Made by Be A Headcase, but best price is on amazon.com ($13)

BeerAdvocate Magazine - Always well written and designed - my favorite of the beer magazines because of the in depth culture and hometown style features. ($14.99)

www.beeradvocate.com

Beer Knowledge - Staple reference guides for tasters and brewers alike. (www.amazon.com)

Tasting Beer (Randy Mosher), $12

Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation (Jamil Zainasheff), $12

Hop Variety Handbook (Dan Woodske), $10

Brewing Classic Styles (Jamil Zainasheff/John Palmer), $12

  

The Return of Punkim Ale!

Last fall's Punkim Ale was probably one of my favorite beers I've brewed. I'll admit that I'm always ready for summer to end so that the more robust seasonal beers can start replacing the over abundance of hoppy IPAs. Since I'm always looking to improve on my recipes and techniques I did some additional research and taste testing to see how I could make Punkim Ale 2.0 even better. I felt as though I was able to achieve the right blend of "conservative spicing" but I was craving a bit more malt in the body. I used Zainasheff & Palmer's "Brewing Classic Styles" Pumpkin Ale as a guide, with some slight variations to the specialty malts. This recipe had much more caramel malts and less bittering hops than my last recipe. Their spice combination was spot on, but I added it in three different stages of fermentation rather than solely at the end of the boil as I had in the past.

This time around I was enamored with the idea of creating a glow-in-the-dark label. Who drinks beer in the dark you may ask? I have no idea, but it sounded flippin cool. I simplified the label design from last year a bit to open up more white space for the florescent paint to adhere to. I also sprayed the beer caps (prior to bottling) with many light coats of the paint as well. There was however, a flaw to the plan - the fluorescent paint requires significant light exposure to keep the glowing capability "charged"... and as you may know light exposure is not a friend to bottled beer. The initial label did have a nice little glow but as time went on it faded out.

Upon talking with a friend I learned that quinine (the bittering agent found in tonic water) naturally glows under black light. I wonder if anyone has tried adding quinine in primary fermentation to attempt making a glow-in-the-dark beer or what affect that would have on the flavor?

Punkim Ale 2.0 making its debute at the company Halloween party!