Patti F. Smith

When I was teaching in former district, I had five students in one particular sixth grade class. The teacher was nice but had a chronic illness that necessitated frequent absences. I would “push in” to the class almost every day and eventually ended up teaching some lessons to the students. My favorite subject was math but a close second was language arts. I happened to be in the room during lessons on homophones/homographs/homonyms and I had a great time making up silly sentences with some of the words: I bow to your nice bow, It’s not fine that you want to fine me and (my personal favorite) Some produce produces stinky butt.

Luckily, our own local Produce Station does not produce “stinky butt” but does produce awesome food & drink. And lately, they’ve been producing an awesome beer selection! I am very excited to announce that the Produce Station is taking pre-orders for bottles of beer from both Right Brain & Greenbush. Yes, you read that right: both Right Brain and Greenbush are bottling! And you can order them and pick them up right here in Ann Arbor.

Beers available from Greenbush include Anger (black IPA), Closure (American Pale Ale), Dunegras (IPA) and Brother Benjamin (Imperial IPA). Right Brain choices include Northern Hawk Owl (amber ale), Naughty Girl Stout (mint stout), Second Coming IPA and Brewery Debauchery Wheat Wine. For a complete list of available beers, please see here and here. And while you’re at it, check out all of the other cool stuff at The Produce Station’s website.

General Manager Andrew Gorsuch tells me that the six packs will be available in February but you can order NOW! Just send him an email at producestation (at) producestation (dot) com.

Can you imagine?? Right Brain and Greenbush in bottles to help you get through the long, brutal month of February! You won’t want to tear your hair out or shed a tear over the crappy weather–you’ll have beer! Just watch the number of beers you drink; I don’t want your brain to get any number than it has to!

 

 

Despite stereotypes about my fine gender, I have never really been a chocolate fan. I enjoy Zingermans chocolate bars and I like Atwater’s Decadent Delight, but that’s really about it. But then I fell in love with Boyfriend Ken who I quickly learned is quite the chocolate connoisseur. He is also very difficult to shop for.

One day in early December, I was looking for chocolate Christmas presents for him. After shopping at the food co op, I meandered to the farmers’ market where I found the nice Mindo folks. I asked if it was possible to tour the facility and she said YES! I emailed them, got a very nice reply from co-owner Barbara and we were off to the races!

I love the story of how this company got started. Barbara’s husband Joe is originally from Ecuador (a top exporter of chocolate). They returned to the country, with the idea of buying some land, building a house and retiring. Until…

…they found out that the local folks in Ecuador couldn’t really enjoy their own bounty because so much was exported. (It would be like us not being to eat our cherries or drive our cars). So, that “retirement house” turned into a cafe/restaurant where they made chocolate brownies made from local cocoa beans. And those were such a hit that they expanded into the chocolate making business and…here we are! Folks in Ecuador and Michigan get to enjoy this awesome stuff and we got to see where it is made! I learned a ton and got to smell chocolate the whole time I was learning.

Okay first of all, I had NO idea that cocoa beans came from a huge pod. I just thought they sort of grew on trees like berries or something. Nature is awesome and if you don’t believe me, look at this:

This pod contains the beans that eventually make chocolate. This is either proof that God loves us and wants to be happy or that nature is totally rad or both!

According to Barbara, the beans are taken out and brought to their facility where they ferment the beans. She showed us pictures of the fermenters, which rely on gravity to mix the beans. The fermenters are arranged into stair steps and the beans filter down from step to step. Then they are taken out and put out to dry. (The pictures reminded me of drying hops! Lots of yumminess on large screens, happily drying and waiting for their next destination).

The beans are then roasted (can you even imagine how good that smells?!?) This is how good it looks, anyway:

The beans travel to Dexter to meet their destiny ~ chocolate, cocoa butter or cocoa powder! Mindo uses its own beans to make its cocoa butter. Personally, I think they should sell the stuff…I used a little tiny bit on my hands and it lasted for several luxurious hours.

It looks good enough to eat, doesn’t it??

The cocoa powder is pressed by hand. I did about three pumps and ready to sit down…Barbara and her crew do this for hours because they are awesome and they love us and want us to have good cocoa.

I could now spend about five paragraphs describing the chocolate to you but I am going to insist that you try it yourself instead. You can find it at the Peoples’ Food Co Op, Morgan & York, Arbor Farms, Plum Market, the farmers’ market and several other fine locations. If you want a real treat, go see Barbara and learn about this process in person!

So thanks to Boyfriend Ken and Barbara & Mindo, I am quickly fulfilling the stereotype of the chocolate loving woman. Next I’ll be wearing pink and painting my nails! Hmmm…well, maybe not!

Years ago, my friend Sarah & I were at the Summer Beer Fest. Our husbands-at-the-time were off somewhere and we were stumbling around trying to find some tent or another. Suddenly, like Kilimanjaro rising like Olympus above the Serengeti* there appeared this guy:

Well how cool, we declared. That sure would be neat. And then I sort of forgot about it….
….Until I started hearing about Chris Martinson who was determined to open a brewpub in Chelsea. The neurons in my brain fired, connected to other memories and I realized that Chris must be “the dude with the Chelsea brewpub shirt” (as Sarah & I creatively called him).

Clearly, Chris has stuff that I don’t (determination, drive, ambition**) because HOLY SHIT THERE IS NOW A BREWPUB IN CHELSEA! It opened to the public on Thursday and Boyfriend Ken & I checked it out on Friday.

We enjoyed three beers: a white ale, a porter and an IPA. We both really enjoyed the porter, which had a nice creamy head and lovely aroma. The mouthfeel was thick and smooth. Tasted perfect–roasty malt and well balanced. The Broad Reach IPA is a really big IPA (8% a.b.v.), heavy on the hops and citrusy and floral tasting. I really liked it, but Boyfriend Ken does not like American hops so he let me drink most of it (Score). The Silo White Ale was crisp and light. I’m not a huge fan of white ales, so I can’t give it a decent review but Boyfriend Ken really enjoyed it. (And trust me, he’s got really good taste!)

 

They look so happy together, don’t they?

We also had the hummus snack, which was really tasty. We got pita bread, pretzel chips and carrots for dipping. You will be proud to know that I ate the carrots first, even though I don’t always like eating orange things.

This was an impromptu trip and the place was packed. So no real camera plus a huge crowd means we didn’t get the in-depth sort of pictures that we would have liked to, but I think this one is pretty good:

From all accounts, the opening weekend was amazing and there will be lots more good times to come! More beer is being brewed and will be available soon. I can’t wait to go back! Congratulations to Chris and to the whole community of Chelsea. The dude with the Chelsea brewpub shirt has done great!

*Why yes I do bless the rains down in Africa! Thanks for asking!

**Just kidding. I really do have those things but I’m also plagued by laziness and a fondness for drinking beer instead of making it.

Hands down, my Beer of the Year is Atwater’s Decadent Delight. I first learned of this wonder from Beer Todd. Really, everything you learn should come from Beer Todd, but I digress. Ken & I have made at least a half dozen treks out to Atwater for this treat–and it is a treat! The nose is all chocolate (we could sometimes smell it across the kitchen when Boyfriend Ken opened a bottle) and the taste is pure cocoa. There are no coffee or oatmeal or any other underlying tastes in this beer–it’s all chocotastic.

Thanks for a wonderful beer, Atwater, and a cool space to drink it in!

Do not let the previous post fool you; there has been beer this past month. Three notable events stand out:

Holiday Ales tasting ~ Arbor Brewing’s monthly tasting was comprised of holiday ales such as Christmas spiced (think nutmeg & cinnamon) beers, winter warmers (which tend to be stronger, darker beers), and even a mead. My favorite was Samichlaus beer. Forgive me for being lazy but here is my review: http://mispymag.com/2012/12/drink-of-the-week-samichlaus/

Krampus ~ The annual Krampus party was held at the Corner Brewery on December 15th. Ken was sick, so I had to go alone. Fortunately, I knew enough people there that I did not lack for company so yay! This is a dress up party (as in “costume”) so I trotted out the penguin costume from Halloween and off I went. There was both a naughty beer and a nice beer brewed especially for that event. For the first time, I really enjoyed both! The “nice” was a peanut butter & jelly stout. A few years ago at the Summer Beer Fest, I felt completely drowned in peanut butter stouts; almost every brewery had one and they mostly fell into the “meh” category (with a few standouts). Also, one of the best peanut butter stouts I have had is my friend’s “Fat Elvis” peanut butter & banana stout that pours exclusively at Liberty Street.

It has been a few years since I had a peanut butter stout and this one made me very happy. There was a nice peanut taste but you could still taste the base stout beer. There was also a touch of fruit in the palate. Nice welcome back to the land of the peanut butter stout.

The “naughty” beer was a sour beer with tart fruit juice. I am not a huge fan of sour beers, so I sampled some before I bought (Smart I Is!). Another friend and I discussed this beer and agreed that it wasn’t too sour, which is why we both liked it. It had more of a tart taste from the fruit juice and it balanced well.

End of the World Pajama Party ~ For years, I have been hearing all sorts of bullshit about the world ending on 12/21/12. I had students who were very worried about it, despite my gentle reassurances that if these dumbasses couldn’t predict their own demise then I very much doubt they could predict the end of days but whatever. Fortunately, my Corner brewpub decided that if the world was going to flame out, we could at least go out wearing pajamas and drinking beer. Unfortunately, Ken had to work late and was melting with Tired so we missed another friend’s party 😦 but did manage to make an appearance at the Corner :). I had a mug of Espresso Love because if I was goin’ out, I was goin’ out with some E-Love.

Of course, we all* lived to see another day and here we are! Cheers!

*except those who didn’t, rest their souls

Time really does fly sometimes! I hate when people are all, “Life is short!LOL!” and “Time sure flies when you’re having fun! LOL!” (maybe I just object to LOL) because generally, I find that life is pretty long. Maybe not long in the sense of trees and turtles, but certainly longer than insects, flowers, cats, etc. But I have to confess that I can’t believe it’s been almost two months since I blogged about things I am drinking! I am simply appalled. So, to try to catch up, here we go!

Midnight Madness ~ this is an awesome annual event that takes place within walking distance of my home. Santa is out and about as are choirs and jugglers and shit. The downtown stores stay open later than usual and there is a huge outdoor market at the Kerrytown farmers’ market space. They have this mulled wine called Gluhwein (the “u” has those Motley Crue dots on top but I don’t know how to make those) that I tried for the first time. Bonus points because I also bought this cute little blue boot cup! I’m not a huge fan of wine but this was pretty good…I think I liked the mulling spices better than the actual wine. Love it or not, it was perfect for a chilly night.

Prohibition Class ~ My friend Tammy has monthly cocktail classes that Ken and I often attend. Once she mentioned getting a prize if you dressed up, well, I knew I had to go to this! Folks tend to think of flappers and fun dresses and high rollers when they think of Prohibition–and there is nothing wrong with that perception–but the reality is that it ended smack dab in the middle (sort of) of the Great Depression. So instead of dancing around in a silk suit while one drank his newly legal Sidecar, one likely was wearing an old suit that had been mended over and over and shoes that were too tight. To that end, I dressed like this:

That’s my $3 Goodwill dress and my illegitimate kid baby bump. Those are real newspapers on my feet and my dinner is slung over my shoulder. You can see my other illegitimate kid in my other arm. I tore up a T-shirt to make the rags in my hair and I dug underneath my porch (built pre-Prohibition but still) to get some real old dirt that I rubbed on my face. I’m happy to say that I won the gift card even though there were some other cute costumes.

My favorite drink of the evening was something called a Barbari Coast. Tammy made it for us after the event and I totally didn’t think I would like it because peep this–it has scotch, gin and creme de cocoa. That just sounds odd. But then you put cream in it and holy cow…much better than egg nog!

Failed Rankin Bass Night ~ A new event cropped up at the Farmers’ Market: an outdoor greens and gift market plus caroling. Oh yes! I had scheduled a girls’ night of watching Rankin Bass shows but suggested that we meet at the market first and then head down the hill to my house. Then another friend mentioned that Babo market was having a complimentary beer & wine tasting. We’ll do that, we decided, just stay a minute, have a beer taste or two, eat some cheese and then go watch the Heatmeister and Winter Warlock. Oh sure. We started with some absolutely delicious hot sangria wine at the market and also got to sing some carols! Then we meandered to Babo and that is sort of when things fell apart. The beer and wine pours were more than generous and there was all sorts of food out and before we knew it, we had abandoned that the thought of abandoning this amazing event and watching Rudolph. I really wish I could tell you the awesome beer that I tried, but it all sort of blurs together.

You note that most of the drinking has involved wine and cocktails. WHERE’S THE BEER?????? Hold on…the best is yet to come….

 

A couple of weeks ago, I piled myself into my car & drove up to Lansing. It is not often that I go up to Lansing because for some reason, I always think it’s like a four hour drive when in fact it is less than an hour. (Note: I am no allegiance to either UM or MSU so it’s not about that).

The dinner was put on by Vine & Brew in Okemos and was held at the charming Soup Spoon Cafe in downtown Lansing. When I walked in, I told the host my name and he seated me at a table. My friend Amy was joining me but she wasn’t there yet. At some point, I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back I found a free beer waiting for me! Amy showed up a few minutes later as did some spicy edamame. The beer was Founders Pale Ale and it paired perfectly with the spicy edamame. I’m a late comer to the idea of edamame but I really like it now…I really like squeezing the pod and making it “poop” out a bean 🙂

The first course was Arbor Brewing Company’s 2011 Flamboyant Wile Ale, served with a seared scallop, pancetta, roarin’ 40s blue cheese, smoked pear and a dollop of strawberry puree. Holy shit. The sour mixed very well with the pear, puree and blue cheese…that blue cheese was absolutely amazing. Amy & I found out that you can buy it for real at fine cheese stores, which is delightful. Also, there is a character on the Wire called Cheese. He is played by Method Man. He is a bad guy.

Next, we got Dogfish Head Noble Rot which was a beer I had never had before. It was paired with a cornmeal pancake, wine soaked raisins and…foie gras. Do you know what fois gras is? I thought it was cow liver pate and I was okay with that. It came in a cube and I thought well, okay, whatever and popped it in my mouth. Then I found out what it really was–it’s motherfucking GOOSE LIVER. Seriously? Oy. Did I just eat goose liver?!?! OTOH, geese can suck me. They shit all over the place and laugh when you step in it.

Next up was Jolly Pumpkin’s Maui Sobrehumano, another beer I hadn’t had before. It was, like all JP beers, amazingly sou but still very drinkable. It was paired with puff pastry, brie, ricotta, gruyere and cranberry port chutney. The sour beer and the cranberry chutney were perfect together and the cheeses were delicious.

Next was the main course and the only course that didn’t work for me. It featured a rare lamb chop. I do not eat rare food or medium rare food or medium food or even medium well food…if it is leaky blood juice, I do not put it in my mouth. My friend Amy & our tablemates happily took the chops off my hands, leaving me to enjoy the sweet potato puree and fried leeks. I also got a second helping of the puree when I told the nice server about my issues with blood. (Interestingly, I have seen blood coming out of people on several occasions and it never bothered me…of course, I didn’t have to eat the people afterwards). This course was paired with Stone’s 10th Anniversary Ruination. This beer was a little too strong for me and kind of killed the taste of the food. I think I would have liked it better on its own.

Lastly, we were treated to an absolutely amazing dessert–a chocolate bourbon truffle with macadamia nuts and bacon inside, topped with coffee foam and with a little pretzel “handle”. And…get ready for it…it was paired with Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Swwwwwoooonnnn! I’m glad they only gave us one of these courses because if it was like the Old Country Buffet, I’d still be there eating and drinking.

 

The restaurant was awesome and I heard something about more beer dinners to come! A great night…our tablemates were nice and chatty, the food was delicious and the beer was amazing…cheers!

 

It is true that, as a kid, I was not a huge fan of apple juice. My mom would faithfully buy Mott’s, Musselman’s and whatever else happened to show up on the grocery store’s shelf but I never really liked any of them. Once in awhile, we would go to the cider mill and get cider and even that didn’t thrill me. You could say that I disrespected the apple, not giving it it’s propers.

I might have gone my whole life without appreciating our apple friends if not for Boyfriend Ken. Ken really likes him some cider and dragged me (repeatedly) to the Dexter Cider Mill last year. It finally got to the point where I was enjoying the cider more than the donuts something that delighted both my palate and my ass.

Given that we both like ciders, Ken & I were excited to attend the Produce Station’s (un)Corked cider tasting at the Last Word. Seriously, the trifecta of one of my favorite markets (Produce Station), one of my favorite bars (LW) and yummy ciders from Vander Mill was almost too good to be true! Here are my favorites:

Vander Mill Michigan Wit ~ I was leery of this because, as I’m sure I’ve said before, I do not care for wit beers. They have a certain yeasty taste that I do not like (I do, however, enjoy the lyrical poetry of the Yeastie Girls) and don’t always feel great in my mouth (for other things that are or aren’t great in mouths, please see the aforementioned Yeastie’s). BUT this cider was excellent! It didn’t have that taste I don’t like and instead just tasted of apples with a hint of citrus at the end. In my tasting notes, I wrote down “pleasant” and I think that is still the best word to describe this wonderful drink.

Vander Mill Apple Blueberry Cider ~ I knew I’d like this even before I drank it because I like blueberries. Thought I’m not infrequently compared to Veruca Salt, I actually wouldn’t have minded being Violet Beauregard for a brief moment. 32 oz of blueberry concentrate is added to each keg of cider, giving us a semi-dry cider with a lovely splash of blueberry goodness. And you don’t turn blue when you drink it!

Vander Mill Cherry Hard Cider ~ Sometimes, cherry flavors are way too cloying and turn an otherwise good drink into something tasting like this guy just came bursting through your wall. Not so with this cider! Cherry wasn’t too overwhelming yet still very flavorful…a very nice blend!

So there you have it folks! A wonderful night with awesome ciders and even some cheese samples as well. For the record, I still don’t like apple juice that much, but I think it has more to do with the mental scarring caused by this stupid commercial than anything in the bottle….

Before I changed careers and became a teacher…before I moved to a college town…before I started following my religion again…September has always felt like the “new year” to me. The weather changes (sometimes drastically), people start buying new school clothes and there’s just a general feeling of settling into a new routine. Something else wonderful happens every fall: Oktoberfest beers start appearing at our favorite pubs!

 

The first Oktoberfest beer that I ever had was from the late, much missed Leopold Brothers in Ann Arbor. The deliciousness of their beer prompted me to investigate the beer more. A classic Oktoberfest should be malty but not overly sweet, have a light to moderate toasty malt aroma, low to moderate hop bitterness and overall smooth, clean and rich malty character. I’ve never brewed an Oktoberfest but for some reason, I can see recipes going horribly, horribly wrong; indeed, at least one Oktoberfest beer I’ve had this season was way too sweet and another just tasted like plain beer

This past week, Ashley’s had a special night featuring American made Oktoberfests. Interesting, the event coincided with the end of my Yom Kippur fast (thanks, ancient Hebrews, for hooking a sister up!). I summoned my friends Sarah & Susan for a girls’ night “break the fast” with me. In addition to copious amounts of food, I also enjoyed several of the beers:

Bell’s Octoberfest: I’ve had this beer in the bottle before and haven’t been too excited about it. I am so happy that I tried it on draft because it’s a totally different beer! The malt flavor is perfect—not too sweet or cloying but definitely present and deliciously toasty. Nice malt finish for this crisp and delicious beer.

Arbor Brewing’s Hoptoberfest: Now while it is true that there should not be a huge hop profile in an Oktoberfest beer, it also true that some bitterness is permissible. The BJCP guidelines (the rules you use for judging beers) allow for “moderate” hoppiness in this style of beer. The late addition of hops mos’ def’ gives this beer a kick of bitter flavor, but the hoppiness never overpowers the maltiness. It is a wonderfully balanced beer and should please those hop heads out there.

Avery Brewing Company’s Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest: Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining indeed! The malt was reminiscent of Mom’s freshly baked bread (if my mom baked bread, which she didn’t) and even some hints of pepper (reminding me of my friend Matt’s pepper bread). There was definitely an alcohol warming in my mouth as there should be—the beer is over 9% a.b.v. The alcohol taste does not in any way detract from the wonderful malt taste and aroma. If you are wondering what malt tastes like—drink this beer! I have read some reviews of this beer and people are saying that they picked up some bitterness…I must have missed this while I just basked in the bready wonderland.

The great news is that Oktoberfest season is far from over! And yes, smart asses, I know that it’s CRAY that Oktoberfest beers come out in September!! And why is it spelled with a K?!?! All I can say is to ask Mr. or Ms. Google about that noise…I’m just here to enjoy the beer!

Two weekend’s ago, Ann Arbor hosted its fifth annual Homegrown Festival. Yeah, yeah, I can hear all of the pot jokes you naughty folks are making but seriously folks, this thing is a winner.  The festival brings together farmers, gardeners, nonprofit groups, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers and brewers—all under one big tent! There was music, tons of food and a most wonderful beer tent where I am not at all ashamed to say I spent most of my time

Arbor Brewing Company was there and I got to have my first Green Giant Organic Imperial Pilsner of the season. Wolverine Brewing was there with their lovely amber lager. I also got me some Pepper Smoker from the Original Gravity and shared it with some friends who had never heard of a pepper beer before (??????!!!!). Jolly Pumpkin was in the house and Boyfriend Ken used most of his tickets enjoying their libations. We also tried some hard ciders from Spicer’s Carriage House Ciders (the one with the cinnamon was to die for) and some awesome mead from Superior Lakes mead. I am really starting to enjoy mead despite not being a huge fan of honey. I also had kombucha for the second time in my life (my first time being the night before, as described below). I went back for seconds on this because it was a unique ginger beer that tasted like nothing I had ever really had before. Nice job, Unity Vibrations! There were also wineries there: DeAngelis Cantina del Vino, Flying Otter, and Sandhill Crane. I promise to try you guys next year! J

The highlight for me was something I was directly involved with: the Homegrown Homebrew competition. I’m not one to brag, so you didn’t hear this from me, but I think that event was freaking AWESOME! We solicited beers, meads, wines and ciders made with local ingredients: oats, grains, honey, fruit, vegetables, etc. We got 20 entries that ran the gamut from a watermelon beer to sour cherry mead to apple wine to kombucha. The creativity amazed me! We were a very informal competition and so the night before the festival, my friends and I very informally sat around my dining room table to judge the beverages. There were some great brews and some of the decisions were tough—the meads and wines were fruity and yummy, the ciders ranged from dry to sweet and the beers were extremely creative. I must admit to being somewhat skeptical about the kombucha. For some ungodly reason, I thought that kombucha had yogurt in it and I do not abide yogurt. Imagine my delight when I found only gingery goodness.

Our winners were Michael Topham (best beer, North Blend Cascadian Dark Ale), Roger Burns (Cherry Bomb mead) and Karl Vernon (Sweet apple cider). Most Creative Use of Local Ingredients went to Dick Dyer for using locally grown and malted barley, local yeast from Marshall and hops from his backyard. Honorable mentions went to Beth Bashert for her ultra-local mead: my friend used honey and berries from her backyard and peaches from across the street! We also gave an honorable mention to Stephan Kinnar for his kombucha.

The wonderful folks at Adventures in Homebrewing, Original Gravity, Carving a Niche and the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild donated prizes and my friends at Arbor Brewing Company donated the snazzy posters that I hung around town.

We want to keep this competition going so please keep us in mind as you brew! At any rate, “remember remember” the second weekend in September for next year’s Homegrown Festival. And for those of you wanting that “other” homegrown stuff…well, the Hash Bash will happen in early April!