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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Randy Mosher
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October 29 - November 10, 2014
Importers swear to me that a high-volume beer like Heineken can reach store shelves in as little as three weeks, which may be possible, but judging by the taste, this is just a dream for many brands, especially the lower-volume ones. The beer has a long journey: from brewery to docks to a ship across the ocean to the docks here, then through customs and off to the distributor’s warehouse, and finally to the shelves in the store, with every leg of this voyage promising conditions that are less than ideal.
Sommeliers, if you can get a beer or two in them, will grudgingly admit that wine has a long list of blind spots with food — more than just the asparagus conundrum — voids that beer happily fills. Various experts have thrown up their hands trying to pair wine with soup, salads, vegetables, mushrooms, cheese, dessert, and every spicy cuisine ever created. The wine world has done a very good job of convincing people that it is the only acceptable beverage for fine dining. And I have to say I do love a nice Langhe Rosso with a great steak. But with everything else, it is time for beer to take its
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AS WITH MAINSTREAM BEER, Americans have gotten used to the rubbery, plastic-wrapped grocery-store varieties of cheese. What passes in chain stores for Cheddar, Münster, Jack, Swiss, and all the rest are but limp imitations of the genuine thing. Real cheese is flavorful, funky, varied, sublime, and authentic. And some of the best stuff comes from some of the smallest producers, whether they are staunch traditionalists or bomb-throwing renegades. In other words, great cheese has a lot in common with craft beer.
What is really significant about craft brewing is that a bunch of guys and gals who started in their basements with improvised breweries and family financing have managed to take over the conceptual helm of beer in this country.
George Washington was kind enough to leave us a formula for eggnog, considerably more appetizing than his famous small beer recipe: “1 pint brandy, ½ pint rye whiskey, ½ pint Jamaica rum, ¼ pint sherry, [unspecified number of] eggs, 12 tablespoons sugar, 1½ quarts milk, 1 quart cream.” The eggs are separated and the sugar is creamed into the yolks, then the milk and cream are added, and then beaten egg whites. He counsels, “Let set in a cool place for several days, taste frequently.” Yeah, I bet he did.
