I'm Savoring the Season

Since I had such a great time last year and met some really cool artisans and chefs, I'm participating in Savor the Season again this year!

Called "one of the top ten food and wine events in Southern California" by Biz Bash, Savor the Season 2008 is one of LA's premier food and wine galas featuring top Los Angeles chefs, live and silent auctions, music, wine, beer and spirits, all to benefit Break the Cycle, the leading organization that raises awareness and provides support for teen victims of domestic violence.

WHO:
Honorary Chef Andre Guerrero (MAX, The Oinkster) hosts a stellar line-up of Los Angeles' culinary talents:

• Aaron Robins, Boneyard Bistro
• Michael McDonald & Renee Ward, Brix@1601
• Lisa Field & Corinna Conti,Catering by Field
• Gerardo Ochoa, El Cholo
• Mike Garrett & Tommy Stoilkovich, Falcon
• Bijan Shokatfard, Geoffrey's
• Chad Minton, Jer-Ne at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey
• Scott Floyd, Salt Creek Grille
• Nano Crespo, Tasca Wine Bar

I'll be doing my beer chick thing in the Season's exclusive "Tasting Garden" that will be available to VIP guests to indulge their senses in an intimate tasting experience featuring fine foodstuffs from the following:

Beverly Hills Caviar, Brian Scheiner:
Scheiner will showcase a tasting of decadent black, red, and golden caviars from his artisan shop, which has provided clients with exclusive products for over thirty years. www.beverlyhillscaviar.com

The Beer Chick, Christina Perozzi: (me, yay!)
One of the West Coast's premier beer experts, Perozzi will share her expertise with a sampling of gourmet ales. www.christinaperozzi.com

Saltistry:
Joni Fay Hill & Denise Daclan - Saltistry will feature an extravagant sea salt tasting buffet of their artisan infusions. www.saltistry.com

Faerie's Finest:
Faerie Thompson - Faerie will showcase her fine flavored sugars, spice blends and cocktail rimmers. www.faeriesfinest.com

Madame Chocolat, Hasty Torres:
Decadent hand made bon bons and rich Belgian chocolates will headline Hasty's sweet tasting. www.madame-chocolat.com

Mo de Tea Cafe, Yosuke Sato:
Flavor-infused teas, such as fine jasmine and tart apples, will be among the many teas to taste. www.modeteacafe.com

Tutti Gelati, Ke Lin Kay & Carlos Molina:
This father/daughter team will serve an assortment of specialty gelatos and sorbets that reflect both traditional Italian flavors and fine ingredients. www.tuttiegelati.com

The Cheese Impresario, Barrie Lynn:
Barrie Lynn will share her gourmet expertise with guests as they choose from a variety of boutique cheeses. www.thecheeseimpresario.com

Girl Meets Grape, Bonnie Graves:
Sommelier and writer Bonnie Graves will share a unique champagne tasting experience. www.bonniegraves.com

SAVOR THE SEASON

WHEN:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
6 to 9 p.m.

WHERE:
Vibiana
210 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

A former cathedral, the luxurious and elegant Vibiana elevates events with sophisticated ambiance. For more information and photos, visit www.vibianala.com.

TICKETS & INFO:

• Tickets can be purchased online through www.savortheseason.org, or by calling Break the Cycle at 310.286.3383.
• General Admission, $100
• VIP Admission, $250 - VIP Lounge with exclusive access to The Tasting Garden
• Complimentary valet parking
• VIP Gift bags and Savor the Season Cookbook featuring recipes from participating chefs

About Break the Cycle:
Break the Cycle is a national nonprofit organization that engages, educates and empowers youth to build lives and communities free from domestic and dating violence, and provides youth with preventive education, safe spaces to get information and help, and activism opportunities. Founded in Los Angeles in 1996, Break the Cycle's events have raised over $2.5 million to support vital domestic violence services, making a difference in the lives of more than 200,000 young people. Please visit www.breakthecycle.org for more information.

Hope to see you there so we can drink good beer for a good cause.

InBev to Change Cardinals Uniforms

So, as you know, I was born in St. Louis, MO and grew up right outside. I'm a huge fan of the Cardinals and was raised on Budweiser. And as the whole world knows, Anheuser-Busch has just been taken over by InBev, a huge Belgian beer conglomerate. This may be big news in general but it is HUGE news in St. Louis! My friends and family keep sending me emails as if I have something to do with this (which I don't by the way!) or can do something about it (which I, obviously can't!) However, some St. Louisans are taking it all with a grain of salt.
(Don't put salt in your beer!)

Here's my favorite so far. And stay strong my St. Louis brothers and sisters!

InBev to Change Cardinals Uniforms

(Brussels) Anheuser-Busch has accepted a $52 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV to create the world's largest beer maker and end a month-long standoff. While pitching the deal in recent weeks, InBev chief executive Carlos Brito has said that he is "committed to the city of St. Louis" and that changes here would be minimal. One that Brito said will show up shortly after this weeks Major League Baseball All-Star event in New York will be a minor one in the long standing uniforms worn by the St. Louis Cardinal Baseball team.

First-baseman Albert Pujols, one of the first to try the new outfits said "while it may take a little time for Cardinal fans to fall in line behind the change, I personally like them a lot. They'll really be enjoyable during those hot, muggy days in late July and August. I expect all of the fans will be wearing them before the end of the season!"

Sporting goods stores around the St. Louis area report brisk sales of the new Cardinal memorabilia.

Click here for the picture of the new uniforms!

*Beer 4 Chicks does not claim any responsibility for this article or this picture!

The Session #17Better Late Than Never

"The Session," which has been deemed as "a monthly virtual beer tasting" is hosted by a different blogger each month, and each month has a different theme chosen by the host. And each month, really rad beer bloggers and brewers and authors join in. I don't really belong, but since this month's subject is about going against the grain and drinking anti-seasonally, I thought I'd give it a try.


Okay, so I'm going to try writing this session thing again. And its funny that this time the subject should be drinking anti-seasonally. Or should we just go with the broader picture and say non-conformity as it relates to beer. The reason why its funny is because I've only posted on one other Session out of the 16 previous Sessions, even though I've really wanted to join in and even though I very responsibly have "Blog the Session" repeating on my google calendar on the first Friday of every month. I'm having a moment of clarity and its apparent to me now that I hate authority, even my own.

As a matter of fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I probably started drinking craft beer to be a non-conformist. It wasn't conscious at the time, but now, looking back, I definitely wanted to differentiate myself from the cosmo drinking, "I'll just have something lite," girls I constantly found myself competing with. Big beers made me tougher, stronger, cooler - Belgians made me smarter, more sophisticated, more complicated than those stupid lollipop heads.

Hell, only five years ago, just being a beer drinking female living in this vast city of salad eaters, I was sadly considered, "unique" or even worse, "interesting." Now things have changed dramatically, which is awesome. And I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say with all of this other than anti-seasonal?..anti-conformity?..its been that way my whole beer drinking life. And to tell you the truth, the beer drinkers and brewers that I know are the biggest group of non-conformists I've ever met. Every one of them.

So, anti-seasonal beer drinking? I like drinking a Yulesmith in July at Lucky Baldwins as much as the next person; and I will down a Maibock anytime of year. But perhaps the more shocking fact is my guilty confession that my anti-conformity / anti-craft beer rules beer is one from my childhood (err..early adulthood,) from the town I was born in and raised near. When its cold out and the skies are gray...I keep one beer in the fridge for particularly depressive episodes: the beer that will wake me up from even my deepest winter doldrums - one single bottle of Budweiser. There, I said it...effing sue me.

One taste of it and I'm 16 (err... 21) again and I'm back sitting on my floating dock on our lake, with Richard Marx on the radio, and Coppertone, and my boyfriend Rob trying to get me to skinny dip. Ah, the days before I knew better about a lot of things - the days before I discovered complicated Belgians and Guns-n-Roses. It always reminds me not only of how innocent I was (aside from the underage drinking - and the skinny-dipping,) but how far I've come!

And.... Scene.

The Most Expensive Beer in the World

Well, the Alstrom brothers, who in their magazine - Beer Advocate - recently wrote a scathing article titled "Pay no more than $5" referring to the increasing cost of beer - well their heads are probably exploding over this one.

Behold, the most expensive beer in the world, Jacobsen Vintage No. 1. This beer is 2800 Danish Krone. Which today is the equivalent of ... wait for it.... wait for it....

Five hundred and Eighty Three Dollars - Almost Six HUNDRED dollars!

Only 600 (I'm assuming diamond) bottles of this 10.5% abv barleywine have been brewed and in a very short time the expensive brew has become a topic of heated discussion between beer connoisseurs and journalists alike. Could this beer be that good? Is this just a publicity stunt?

Truth be told, I don't understand what could be so special about this beer. Is the water source the tears of angels or something? The brewers say that its as the only contemporary beer that has ever been matured in J.C. Jacobsen's original crypt-like cellar from 1847. That the beer is matured for six months in new Swedish and new French oak barrels. "The project started as a wild idea and a wish to create a new type of beer that had never been seen before. During the aging process in new barrels, lots of chemical processes take place. Not all reactions are known but they taste wonderful," says Jens Eiken, Head Brewer at Jacobsen.

Again, according to the brewers, because I haven't tasted it, the beer has flavors of vanilla, smoke, caramel, dark fruits and port. "The bitterness is soft and intriguing. During the production and aging of the barleywine, Maillard reactions are continuously caused which adds caramel, nut and yeast aromas to the beer. In Jacobsen Vintage, you can taste different personalities in the beer in the form of Maillard, Schiff, Amador and Strecker." (Uh...what? Yeah, these names are all chemical reactions that can produce various aromatics and flavor compounds.)

Maybe its the artwork. Each bottle of Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 is labeled with an original hand stilled lithographic print made by the Danish artist Frans Kannik. The prints depict fables of Sif. Sif was married to the Nordic god Thor, who was often used by Carls Jacobsen as a symbol of strength.

Reading this back, I really don't mean to be snotty about this. To me, though...beer is supposed to be accessible. That's the draw. That's what I love about it. I'm not trying to be cheap. I don't prescribe to the Alstrom bros. $5 dollars a pint thing, hell, I'll even shell out $50 for a big bottle of some of the best beers in the world. But the point that I always make when I compare beer to wine is that even if you are drinking the best beers in the world, you are not paying the same kind of prices that you do for wine.

It has been reported that the reason that this beer is so expensive is that with such limited production, the beer wouldn't be exported from Denmark, where the beer is still a rare commodity. (It's primarily only sold in three high-end restaurants in Copenhagen.) Still, Gayot.com pointed out that Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 "costs 357 times more than Carlsberg’s main lager brand, Carlsberg Beer. Over the next two years, Carlsberg plans to follow up their upmarket foray by releasing two new, similarly priced creations."

I'm sure that this beer is a heavenly experience. I'd love to try it one day. But I hope that this is not the price trend that the beer world starts to follow. I'm afraid if that happened, there'd be another kind of micro-brew revolution to write about!

If you try it, tell me about it. I'll drink vicariously through you!

Like a Virgin

So, there's something that I have to tell you people. There is something that I have never done. There is a Trappist Ale that I've never tried before. But tonight, that's all going to change.

Beer from the Westvleteren Trappist Brewery is a treat bestowed on only the few who are 1) willing to reserve their ONE case (the maximum you are allowed to buy) by "beerphone;" 2) able to get to Belgium; and, 3)able to drive to the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren to personally pick the beer up. OR those who have a hook-up like a fellow beer fanatic friend whose company headquarters are in Belgium! YEAH.

As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is only sold in order to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes. Trappist breweries are supposed to exist to make just enough money to help run the monastery and not necessarily to make a profit.

Modern commercial breweries might say "Vous etes fou!" to these selling methods, but the Father Abbott on the opening of their new brewery said, "We are no brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks." It is the only Trappist brewery where the monks still do all of the brewing with only FIVE monks running the brewery, with an additional five monks helping during bottling. Its no wonder this beer is so rare!

So, back to me. This morning my friend called me and said, "I have something for you." I told him to say "The eagle has landed," but I guess he forgot - Anyway... tonight he is bringing me the Westvleteren Blonde (green cap) a 5.8% ABV beer for me to try for the very first time. This style is relatively new (about 10 years old) but its comes from a brewing tradition that started in 1838. This Blonde style is the beer that replaced a previously produced lighter beer that served as the monks' table beer.

The brewery currently brews only three beers: the Blonde, Westvleteren 8 (blue cap,) 8% ABV and Westvleteren 12 (yellow cap,) at 10% ABV. The members of BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com (my two favorite websites), consistently rate the Westvleteren 12 as their most favorite beer. The 12 is considered by many to be the best beer in the world.

So here I go. Tonight, I become de-virginized. Tonight I drink Westvleteren.
I'll let you know how it was.

Helles Yeah!

With summer quickly approaching my palate has shifted towards the more crisp and refreshing and nuanced beers: beers that don't necessarily smack you over the head with huge flavors and high alcohol contents. Now - don't get me wrong girls... I love those beers too..its just that lately, I've been in the mood for something a little "lighter." OMG!!! I know... I said it. What? Has the self-proclaimed beer chick whose first article was titled "Turn Away From the Light?" gone loca?

Aside from writing about myself in the third person, the answer is no, la chica de la cerveza no esta loca! I have found a nice happy light colored pale lager style that, if done right, I like a lot; especially for summer: called Helles. Now...what the hell is a Helles beer?

The word "Helles" (pronounced hell-us) actually means "a light one" in German. But this light really only refers to the color of this beer and not necessarily the alcohol content. And, according to the German Beer Institute, "if there is one beer style that typifies the greatness of German, and especially of Bavarian beer-making, it is this straw-blond lager." The subtlety of flavor from a Helles challenges the palate, in the best way.

Don't get Pilsners and Helles confused. This style is a Bavarian style (Southern Germany) not the Bohemian style that Pilsners are. This beer looks like a Pilsner, but its not. It looks like a dazzling blond sparkling beer, but because it is a full-bodied beer with more malty characteristics, this style is extremely satisfying to the sophisticated beer drinker. You may think you're drinking a light-bodied beer because usually, this style - like many lagers - has virtually no nose. These beers should be dry, but never harsh, it should have some good hops but be delicately balanced and elegant. A great summer beer for cool beer chicks.

Here are some good Helles that I've enjoyed:

• Thomas Hooker Munich Style Golden Lager - Bloomfield, Connecticut
  
• Victory Brewing Company Victory Lager - Downingtown, Pennsylvania
  
• Stoudt's Gold Lager - Adamstown, Pennsylvania
  
• Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier - Aying, Germany
  
• Hofbrau Original - Munich, Germany