Starting your beer cellar

So you’ve decided to start a beer cellar?  Congrats!  You are about to enter a realm of infinite possibility.  More and more beers these days are being made that beg for extended aging.  They are some of the most wonderfully complex and mouthwatering beers ever made. 

So why wait?  Why not drink them now in all their glory!?  Patience young grasshopper, one day you will see.

Although it is true that these beers are often glorious upon release, the complexity and maturity of these beers will only increase with time.

So first things first, what kind of beers will actually benefit from aging?  Knowing what beers will benefit from aging will help to save you endless grief and wasted time.  There are a few factors that can help you decide. 

The first factor is alcohol.  Beers with high alcohol content have great potential for aging as alcohol acts as a natural preservative.  Look for beer styles that generally have higher alcohol levels such as Barley Wines, Imperial Stouts, Vintage Beers, Belgian Strong Ales, etc.

Another indication of cellaring potential is bottle conditioning or bottle re-fermentation.  Beers that are bottled with yeast and have undergone additional fermentation inside the bottle make excellent candidates for extended aging as these beers continue to ferment and change inside the bottle.  Fermentation also eats up oxygen inside the bottle which, along with exposure to light, is the chief factor in beer deteriorating.

Beers that are bottled with a vintage year are also usually good bets for cellaring.  Usually this is done because the beers are very special releases with high alcohol and great complexity that can grow over time.

Next, how exactly do you cellar beer?  Well that part is simple.  Store them somewhere cool and dark and wait.  Exact temperatures and conditions seem to be a topic of some contention in the beer community.  Here’s a link to beeradvocate’s how to store beer page, they have all the info you’ll ever need on the specifics of the technical aspects.  http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store.  Their blog is also a great resource for all aspects of beer cellaring.

Here’s a link to BottleJockey’s Craft Beer Cellar Starters.  All of our favorites for our own cellars that we think would go good in yours.

/Products/Beer/Cellar-Starters

In closing after laying out all the “rules” of beer cellaring I encourage you to be bold and creative.  Cellar what ever you feel like for how ever long you feel like it.  Record the results, learn from them.

Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid. 

Stay classy and have patience,

Jordan.

The New Year is here! Make it a year of beer!

The New Year is here!  Make it a year of beer!

Happy New Years everyone!  Wow, what a year it has been here at BottleJockey.  If there is one thing that I noticed overall it was that 2012 was the year of the craft beer explosion.  People like you and me are starting to want, nay demand, a higher level of beer.

So what does this mean?  It means that craft beer producers are making even more exciting and interesting beers than ever before!  Trust me when I say, that’s a good thing.

So get excited!  Get pumped up!  I know I am!

Here are a few ways to get in on the buzz.

Number One:

Try new beers!  This may seem obvious but even the most experienced of beer drinkers has tried a miniscule fraction of beer types and styles available now a days.  So branch out and pick up something you’ve never tried.  You more than likely will get to have the joy of falling in love over and over again.

Number Two:

Get involved!  This may be as simple as reading up on the hundreds of great craft beer blogs around or just talking to someone about the beers you love.  Here at BottleJockey we LOVE to talk beer.  Come on in and talk to us, we can help you find beers you will love.  We also happen to be pretty up to date on the latest special releases and events.  So come talk to us!

Number Three:

Spread the love!  I was the first of my friends to fall head over heels in love with craft beer.  But I was not the last.  Share your favorite beers with your friends and the favor will be repaid ten fold.  The more people that love beer, the more amazing beers there will be.  Together we can change the world!

So come on into BottleJockey and pick up a few cold ones.  Or shop online here /Products/Beer/Craft-Beer

Stay Classy,
Jordan

Cooking with Wine, Beer and Spirits.

In my latest blog I gave up some of my top secret cocktails recipes.  In the spirit of sharing recipes I have decided to share a couple more recipes.  After all, cocktail recipes are all well and good, but what do you EAT with the cocktails?

The answer, my friends, shall herein be revealed.

First up, Wine.

Now wine is a classic ingredient in many of my signature dishes.  Marinades and sauces and glazes, oh my!  Wine I use primarily for flavor.  This dish though, features the wine much more prominently.  The wine is really what makes the dish what it is.  This dish is very summery and is a personal favorite when I want to cook to impress, mostly because the dish is surprisingly easy to make!  Now as for the wine I recommend you choose a wine that’s going to compliment the dish, something you would want to drink with the meal, because you will be drinking the wine you don’t use in the recipe!  What I’m saying is don’t cheap out, get a nice bottle.  Chardonnay works well because it is buttery like the dish itself.

White Wine Garlic Mussels

4 lbs live mussels

2 cups Chardonnay

 4 large shallots, finely chopped

 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/3 cup mixed fresh herbs, parsley or basil, chopped

6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Rinse and scrub mussels under cold water.  In a large pot over medium heat, combine wine, shallots, garlic, and salt. Simmer 5 minutes.  Add mussels.  Cover and increase heat to high.  Cook until all mussels are open, about 5 minutes.  Stir in herbs and butter.  Remove from heat.  Divide mussels and broth among four bowls.  I serve mine topped with fries, because the fries are wonderful with the broth as well.
 

The following recipe was kindly given to me by a customer here at BottleJockey.  It truly proves that sometimes the simplest dishes are the best dishes of all.  A simple marinade for barbequed steaks containing two ingredients, Jack Daniels and Blue Cheese.  I’ve also tried this recipe with bourbon and found it to be even better!

Bourbon & Blue Steaks

In a mixing bowl or Ziploc bag combine:

Jack Daniels or bourbon whiskey and Blue Cheese

Mix until smooth.  Add steaks and let marinade.  Marinating over night is preferred but if you’re in a rush just as long as you have time for will do.

Barbeque steaks to desired tenderness and voila!

The sweetness of the bourbon and the richness of the blue cheese really balance each other out and the result is total bliss of the senses.

The final recipe I will give is my beer based recipe.  Now I was just going to give a simple recipe for beer battering but  I decided to share a recipe I recently discovered.  Prepare yourself, because your life will NOT be the same after you taste this.

Guiness (that’s right, Guiness) Eggs Benedict

The easy way (using packet of hollandaise mix)

Simply replace ½ of the milk called for in the instructions on the packet with Guiness.

Poach your eggs, fry your ham or back bacon, toast your English muffins and stack ‘em up.

Top with the Guiness hollandaise.  Sha-bam!

 

Or for all you gourmets out there:

The hard way (making hollandaise from scratch)

You will need

4 egg yolks

3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 pinch ground pepper

1/4 cup of Guinness

1 cup butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

On medium low heat reduce ¼ cup of Guiness to 2 tablespoons or so.

Fill the bottom of a double boiler part-way with water. Make sure that water does not touch the top pan. Bring water to a gentle simmer. In the top of the double boiler, whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, pepper, and 1 tablespoon reduced Guiness.

Add the melted butter to egg yolk mixture 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time while whisking yolks constantly. If hollandaise begins to get too thick, add the remaining reduced Guiness a bit at a time. Continue whisking until all butter is in there. Whisk in salt, and then remove from heat.

The rest is the same!  Enjoy!

 

Hope you all enjoy these recipes as much as I do.

Stay Classy,

Jordan

 

 

Jordan's Top Secret Summer Cocktail Recipes

I consider myself more or less a purist on the cocktail front, I love the classics.  Old Fashioned’s, Dry Martini’s and Rusty Nail’s are a few of my personal favorites.  And while these cocktails can be enjoyable at any time, a summery and fresh cocktail on a hot summer’s day is just what the doctor ordered.

Now normally I wouldn’t consider anything like this, but for the purposes of “spreading the love” I have decided to share with you a few of my own personal top secret recipes for great summer cocktails.

I love to experiment and try new and different methods and recipes and the following recipe is definitely a bit out of the ordinary.  After reading many an enthusiastic blog about infusing vodkas, I decided to try the one I had been most curious about.  Bacon Infused Vodka.  That’s right, Bacon.

To make this is an involved process requiring a couple days of prep.  First you must dice a pound of bacon fine and fry it up real crispy.  Drain all excess fat and lay cooked bacon out on paper towel.  Pat dry the excess fat still clinging to the bacon with some more paper towel.  Next pour bacon into a large metal mixing bowl and pour in a 40 of the vodka of your choice and let sit, the longer you let sit the more bacony the vodka.  Using cheesecloth, strain the bacon from the infused vodka and into a couple of mason jars.  Freeze overnight, this will cause any remaining fat to freeze and become separated from the vodka making it easy to scoop off the top.

And there you have it.  Bacon Vodka.  Also works very nicely with bourbon.  I forgot to mention that the vodka soaked bacon bits that remain are delicious as well.

Jordan’s Bacon Caesar

Rim glass with celery salt and finely crushed bacon bits and fill with ice.

2 oz Bacon Infused Vodka

1 dash Tabasco Sauce

1 dash Worcestershire

Fill with Clamato and stir. 

Garnish with a slice of crispy bacon, a slice of lime and two spicy pickled green beans.

 

Caesars are a great drink for a summer brunch, barbeque or beach day.  For those that like a savory cocktail this is the one.

 Next up is my version of the Mojito. 

A little interesting side note, the Mojito is Fidel Castro’s favorite drink.  Cool, huh?

Anyways…  My Mojito differs from the traditional in two ways.  First I do NOT use sugar.  For sweetener I use Triple Sec.  I find it adds another dimension of citrus and tropical flavorings to the drink.  Triple Sec I consider my secret weapon when it comes to cocktails.  So versatile, and at 35% alcohol it adds a bit of a kick of its own. 

Secondly I prefer to use authentic Cuban rum.  Havana Club 7 year is preferred, but white rum works too.  I personally like the nice iced tea colour the drink comes out when using aged rum as opposed to white rum.  Also, aged rum is more flavorful.

The Jordan Mojito

In a tall glass muddle several mint leaves, and squeeze the juice of a quarter lime into the bottom.

Fill glass with ice on top of the mint and lime quarter.

2 oz Aged Rum

2/3 oz Triple Sec

Fill with club soda and stir.

Garnish with slice of lime and mint leaves.

 

The last recipe I’ll share with you is one that I invented myself.  This one is another result of infusing liquors.  For this I infused my own raspberry gin.  The process is very simple, fill a mason jar 1/3 full of ripe raspberries and pour in a 26 of gin.  Let sit, a week is good, two weeks is better.  My uncle starts the infusion in the summer and doesn’t drink it until Christmas time, but I find after two weeks it’s as good as any time after that.

As for the name of the drink, don’t ask.  You don’t want to know, trust me.

 

The Frosty Williams

In a rocks glass muddle three ripe raspberries and a basil leaf. 

Crack in two grinds of black pepper (optional).  Fill glass with Ice.

2 oz Raspberry Infused Gin

2/3 oz Triple Sec

Fill with club soda and garnish with a basil leaf and a raspberry.

That’s it for now, depending on how generous I’m feeling I may share a few more in a later blog, but I guess you’ll just have to check back and see.

Stay classy,

Jordan

Summer is Here, Time for Beer!

Well, it’s finally here.  All those months of rain have not been in vain.  That’s right, the sun is upon us and it’s time for the patio and beach to reign supreme.  And let me tell you, nothing is going to quench your thirst like a perfect summer beer.

On those heat scorched days, not just any old beer will do.  What you want is something crisp, something fresh but most of all something refreshing.  There are a few styles of beer that I find really hit the spot. 

First up, Hefeweizen.  Hefeweizen is traditionally a German wheat beer that is cloudy and unfiltered and often has wonderful flavours of banana and clove.  Although I personally think the Germans do it best, there are some incredible examples from local breweries.  Howe Sound’s King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen and Granville Island’s Robson Street Hefeweizen are personal favorites.

Next up is another wheat based beer, Belgian Wits.  These beers are exceptionally thirst quenching and are often flavored with spices such as coriander and orange peel.  Very low in bitterness and very fruity, these beers are always in my fridge in the summer months.  You have to try Upright Wit from Portland.  Upright specializes in Belgian style beers with a unique North West twist and they do it right, let me tell you.

Another personal favorite summer beer is a Saison. Saisons have to be the all time best summer beer, because that’s really what they were designed for.  Saison’s were traditionally brewed on farms in southern Belgium for the farmhands to drink while working in the summer heat.  While some amazing Saisons are still brewed there today, my current favorites come from Upright Brewing. 

My all time number one summer beer is the Deschutes Brewing Twilight Summer Ale.  An American Golden Ale, this beer is slightly fruity, but finishes dry with mild hop notes.  Incredible!  When I think summer beer, this is number one every time.

Hope no matter what you reach for I hope it hits the spot just right!

Stay classy and drink real beer,

Jordan

All these beers can be found right here:

/Products/Beer/Craft-Beer

 

Trappist Beer, the Beer of Belgian Monks.

 

Being a bit of a beer freak, I love to hear about interesting things happening in the world of beer.  To me the story of the beer is almost as important as the beer itself.  Naturally, I am drawn to the beers of Belgium.  There is no place in the world that has more of a history with beer than Europe.  One place in particular is known for its interesting and unique brewing traditions, and that place is Belgium.

In Belgium, beer is more than a drink; it’s a way of life.  It is also home to one of the most amazing and interesting brewing groups in the world, the Trappist Monks.  There are eight Trappist monasteries in the world, six of them being in Belgium, and they brew some of the best and most sought after beers in the world. 

There are very strict rules and regulations that go along with being a true and authentic “Trappist” brewery.   

• The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery by the monks themselves or under their direct supervision.  

• The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and run in accordance to a monastic way of life.

• The brewery is not intended to be for-profit.  The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the building and grounds, with whatever is left over donated to charity.

• Trappist breweries and constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality they strive to achieve.

Because the breweries are non-profit, the beer they make is only available in small quantities, making some of the rarer brews nearly impossible to find in North America.  The one beer in particular I will mention is Westvleteren 12.  This beer is not exported anywhere, is made in extremely low quantities and is also widely regarded as the single best beer ever made.

The only way to obtain this beer legally is to call the monastery itself and place your order (you are not permitted to order more than 24 bottles).  Then you must fly to Belgium, drive to the monastery and pick it up in person.  You are then not allowed to order more for sixty days.  Resale of their products is strictly forbidden.

How could you not be intrigued by this beer?  I know I am.  So how will you ever taste this elusive, magnificent beer?  Well unless you have plans on visiting Belgium anytime soon, I have a second best.

There is another brewery in Belgium, known as St. Bernardus.  St. Bernardus brewery was built under the supervision of the monks of the Westvleteren brewery and they brewed beer for Westvleteren until the partnership dissolved.  Fortunately, many of the recipes remained.  The St. Bernardus Abt 12 is brewed based on the original recipe for Westvleteren 12.  While I have not had the Westvleteren, I have had the St. Bernardus, and it is amazing.  It’s rich and complex and has aromas and flavours of flambéed bananas and cocoa.  I recommend it highly and I hope that knowing a bit about its history makes the experience all the more enjoyable for you.

Stay classy and drink real beer.

-Jordan

Interested in Belgian beers?  Find them here at this link, including the St. Bernardus Abt 12!

Abbey Ales/Trappists

 

Let's talk Scotch

Alright, let’s talk Scotch.

First thing you’ll need to know is I am and have always been a lover of whisky. My weakness in particular is Scotch.  Though I believe the disease to be genetic, passed to me by my father, there are other theories to how this sickness can be contracted.  I once heard a man say, “You do what you want to me, as long as the apology includes a bottle of single malt.”  Though not sure I completely agree, I thought it was a good demonstration of the cult like appreciation of Scotch whisky.

I remember my first dram fondly, as it was the moment I first found the new love of my life.

Ever since then I have devoted myself to a lifelong quest to truly understand and appreciate the world of scotch.  So here we go… but first-

There is a stereotypical image in your mind you must shatter, the image of the typical scotch drinker. Imagine for me, if you will, the typical scotch drinker.  Are they… Old?  Snobbish?  Sitting in a red velvet chair whilst a cozy fire crackles in the hearth?  Bollocks I say!  Scotch is hip, it’s happening and even, dare I say it… cool. 

If you’re new to Scotch, start at the bottom.  There’s no point in spending a hundred plus dollars on a bottle of Scotch if your palate is untrained to it.  A decent bottle of blended scotch is a good place to start.  I recommend Johnnie Walker Red Label.  From there move up to the Black Label or simple single malts such Glenlivet 12yr or Glenfiddich 12yr.  Glenfiddich 12yr is my staple scotch just because it’s the best bang for your buck that I have found.

That being said, scotch is about experimentation.  Trying new scotches broadens your knowledge and soon you will be able to pick out the characteristics and styles you like most from the heavy peated malts to the light and floral and everything in between.  Like fine wine, there is a seemingly endless variety.

Feel like spoiling yourself a bit?  The Balvenie Double Wood 12yr is a sure bet.  Matured in both bourbon and sherry casks, it has subtle fruitiness and vanilla notes. 

Never be afraid to try something new.

Stay classy,

Jordan