Tag Archives: Beer Culture

Happy Pancake Day

pancakes frying in duck and bacon fat!

It’s Pancake Day, which is a big deal. Not many foods have a day, but pancakes do, so let’s celebrate! Those who do not like pancakes (who are these people?) may refer to today as Shrove Tuesday or, if you are a New Orleans native, Mardis Gras, but not me. Today I celebrate Pancake Day. These fluffy round disks drenched in a coma inducing glop of sticky syrup are delicious, and they make life better. Sure, pancakes are a prime example of sloppy food and they are far from gourmet, but I do not care. I’m not a gourmand after all; I am a beer drinker in search of good food, and pancakes are just that.

I did a quick Google search for “beer pancakes” and apparently beer pancakes are already a thing. Add beer to flour, eggs, butter, baking power and apply heat – viola, beer pancakes. Some articles online argue that the carbonation in beer gives the pancake a greater rise, making for a fluffier and more delicate texture. Others claim that the malt flavour enhances the pancake by adding an additional layer of malty sweetness. One recipe even claims that real beer (beer with yeast sediment) will further increase the pancakes rise as the yeast will convert starch (flour in the batter) to alcohol and C0_2, providing an additional lift. I’m not sure how real these claims are as many sound like a bit of stretch. I think people just like putting beer in their food as an excuse to drink more beer, which is fine by me. But validating these claims is not today’s purpose. Pancake Day is a day of feasting, so let’s feast.

Pouring beer into pancake batter seems like a waste of beer to me, but I am curious. There is no need to justify mixing beer with pancake batter and I know that the outcome will most likely be neutral, neither enhancing nor detracting from the pancake-y goodness. I like beer and I like pancakes, so why not put the two together and see what happens?

Beer Pancakes

Pancakes are what happen – delicious fluffy pancakes. The beer didn’t do much to improve the pancake – the texture may have been a bit lighter than usual. Nonetheless a pancake feast was had. If you are interested in making your own beer pancakes, the instructions are simple. Replace all or some of the wet ingredients with beer, and make pancakes as usual.

Happy Pancake Day!

Cheers,

Erik

PS> To make your pancake experience that much better, always use two eggs when the recipe calls for one or two eggs, use melted butter, not canola oil, and fry the pancakes in a layer of animal fat to get the edges crispy – bacon or duck fat preferably.

Seasonal Beer is not Very Seasonal

It seems we have lost touch with when foods are in season. Eating and drinking seasonally is not exactly convenient, it pretty much the exact opposite. Adapting our dietary habits based on nature’s timing is hard; it takes time, and commitment. In our modern industrial food culture, where canned, frozen or fresh flown in from somewhere warm, is available year round, seasonal eating is only for the die-hards. I like to think I have what it takes to let nature control my diet, but my unrelenting food urges, which are not always linked to nature, frequently lead me astray. One has to give up control of their daily food intake and let the world’s natural timing dictate what and when they will eat. And that is hard.

We do not control the sun or the rain and we certainly cannot mandate a pumpkin to be ready for harvest come August 1^st, – which is roughly when a pumpkin should be harvest-able in order to get pumpkin ale to market by September 15^th. That is of course if the pumpkin is local, fresh and in season.

I like pumpkins a lot. I’m a gourd guy I guess. I eagerly await the pumpkin harvest every year. Typically pumpkins reach the market starting September 15th, but are considered to be at their peak after they have had some time in the early autumn sun and after a light frost. Thanksgiving is the best time to start eating pumpkin. So how is it that I can buy pumpkin ale before the key ingredient, pumpkin, hasn’t reached harvest-able maturity?

Further down this path, In British Columbia Raspberry season starts July 1st. Many raspberry seasonals also happen to be released starting July 1st. Something isn’t adding up.

Proper ale takes a minimum of six weeks from start to finish before it can be consider fit for consumption. With this in mind we should drink pumpkin ale starting mid November and raspberry ale from mid August through to Thanksgiving. But herein lies the problem; we want pumpkin ale at the Thanksgiving table. Beer marketers know this, and brewers are forced to source out of season, imported, or frozen ingredients for an upcoming seasonal release.

Some of beer culture’s greatest celebrations are linked to the harvest. Oktoberfest is a celebration of the summer harvest and the beginning of the brewing season. Unable to brew lager beer in the summer months, drinkers liberally imbibe in the reaming cave aged Marzen in order to make room for the fresh lager soon to come. With glycol cooling brewers can lager beer all summer long and this annual celebration is no longer necessary, but it is so much fun we have kept the party alive and well.

Even beer styles have been shaped by the seasons. Saison, directly translated as season, is a classic example. Originally brewed in a farmhouse during the autumn and winter months, Saisons were aged into the summer where farm workers quenched thier thirst with a snappy effervescent beer. Refrigeration and digital temperate controls have changed how Saisons are brewed, which I’m sure has changed the flavour profile.

As a beer fanatic and an enthusiastic eater I like to think seasonality has remained a mainstay of modern beer culture, but it hasn’t. Brewing with what nature provides is not easy. Seasonal brewing pushes consumer demand to the back seat. When consumer demand remains a top priority for business owners, the boundaries of the season get pushed. The idea of releasing pumpkin ale one month after thanksgiving, and even after Halloween, may seem counter-intuitive, but it isn’t.

Optically, yes, beer is very seasonal, but the way we brew and the way we consume is far from it. Like being part of a movement, it feels good to be a seasonal drinker. We like to feel an emotional connection to Mother Nature, but the effort to make a real connection is too great a commitment for most brewery owners, so marketers fake it.

Industry and nature do not mix all that well. Marketers love the image, but hate the reality. To be a seasonal brewery one has to err on the side of nature and quality rather than the timing of consumer demand.

Are there enough die-hards out there to support a seasonal brewery? I would love to see a brewery say, it will be ready when it is ready, and it will be damn good… when it is ready of course. It would take guts to say this and it would be a business risk, but it would be cool – it would also be a great point of differentiation.

Cheers,

Erik

Note:

There are some bright spots. The resurgence of local hop production in BC has created a hyper-seasonal wet hopped ale trend. And Belgium’s lambic breweries hold true to the seasonal limitation of wild fermentation.

Australia: Beer in Sydney and Brisbane

I recently spent a few weeks in Australia, driving down the East coast from Cairns to Sydney. Australia immediately reminded me a lot of Canada, just warmer and more tropical. Australia also reminded me a lot of the UK and there’s a good reason for this. Unlike Canada, immigration to Australia was almost exclusively from the UK and Ireland until the fifties. As such, Australia boasts much more of a pub culture than Canada. It’s possible they’ve taken drinking and partying to levels beyond those of the old countries. People in Australia love to party. When you throw in some pretty nice beaches, you might say I enjoyed my time there.

You know what? Nobody in Australia drinks Fosters, or at least I never once saw any. Australians do drink a lot of beer though, and I was mostly impressed with the selection. The area between Cairns and North Brisbane is not densely populated. We stayed in a few small towns along the way down and most decent bars and restaurants had a quaffable beer selection. There were many macro lagers available, but also tasty pale ales from Coopers, James Squire, and Fat Yak. We did encounter the odd craft beer as well, particularly at higher-end restaurants. The most common craft brand we came across was Pretty Things, from Fremantle, Western Australia. You can buy their beer at the better Vancouver beer stores. One other note about beer in Australia, it’s very expensive, like $5 for a ~300ml ‘schooneer’ or $10 a pint, yikes.

Archive Beer Boutique bar in Brisbane

It wasn’t until Brisbane that we found a truly fantastic beer bar. The Archive Beer Boutique menu lists hundreds of Australian beers of all different styles. I noticed that most of the breweries were located in the southern portion of the country, where the climate is more suited to brewing and drinking interesting beer. I was disappointed that our beer was served in chilled glasses, no need for those if you want to actually taste beery goodness. We had a Bridge Road IPA and a Holgate Chocolate Temptress. Both were good, though not as impeccable as what can be found here on the west coast of North America.

Beers at Archive Beer Boutique in Brisbane

In Sydney we visited the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, which was established in 1841 making it the oldest active brewpub in Australia. It’s highly recommended to stay there, though we didn’t. The location is fantastic and the establishment is very atmospheric, like a classy English pub. We tried each of their beers, preferring the Nelson’s Blood Porter and the Old Admiral Strong Ale. The beers here were brewed in the English style and, while good, did not especially stand out. I still recommend a visit here.

Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in Sydney

Rachel enjoying a schooner at Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in Sydney

Australia is too hot for me, can you tell?

We also visited the Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe in Sydney, an upscale brewpub. I found the atmosphere to be very strange. The downtown Central Business District location might have something to do with the overall stuffiness of the joint. Not to worry, it’s all about the beer and they had a good many styles available. We tried the Kolsch, Honey Ale, IPA, and Framboise Foment. All were good, none were outstanding. I can’t say I loved hanging out at this place; it lacked the cosiness I expect of a brewpub. If you’re into beer, it’s still worth checking out if in Sydney, but don’t plan a day around it.

The bar at Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe in Sydney

Beers with Rachel at Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe in Sydney

Framboise Foment and Kolsch at Redoak

Australia was great, but it’s good to be back in BC.

Cheers,

Chris

Beer in Thailand and Cambodia

I recently spent some time in Thailand and Cambodia, which are very cool places that just happen to be far too hot. As ever on my travels, I made an effort to observe the beer scene. You may be surprised to know that beer is the most commonly consumed alcoholic beverage in both of these countries. There are a few reasons for this, those being that beer is relatively cheap, wine spoils in the climate, and beer can be served icy cold. Those locals who can afford to drink, drink locally made beer.

There were many times when I felt like I absolutely needed a beer because I was so freaking hot. In Canada, we beer nerds often lament marketing that promotes subzero beer temperatures, and for good reason. In Southeast Asia, such advertisements are most appealing. Many establishments often serve beer with ice in it, which might seem sacrilegious to us westerners, but is almost necessary in the tropics. One downside is the health risk ice made with sketchy tap water poses. I chanced my wellbeing on many occasions, if only to feel a few degrees cooler for a few moments. I didn’t die once.

Drinking Chang on Khao San Road, so hot in Bangkok

We mostly came across lager beer, as befitting the climate, but did see the occasional import ale from prominent beer drinking countries. I never ordered one, considering that beer quickly warms up to above room temperature within minutes, practically spewing condensation all over the place.

Most of us are quite familiar with the few Thai beer brands because we frequently come across them in western Thai restaurants. Change, Singha, and Leo rule the roost, mostly because the only competition comes from locally brewed Heineken, Tiger for India, or Beer Lao from Laos. We started off ordering regular Chang because it was the cheapest and it was cold and it didn’t really matter what it tasted like. We paid about $1 for a 330ml bottle and $2 for a 650ml bottle. We quickly tired of regular Chang (terrible tasting adjunct lager) and switched to Singha and Chang Export, which are made with actual malt and taste much better! We weren’t really saving much money drinking the cheaper Chang. Chang and Chang Export are brewed by Thai Beverage Plc and Singha and Leo are brewed by Boon Rawd Brewery, both in Bangkok. Nothing to write home about beer wise, though I’m doing it anyway.

Sweaty Singha in Koh Samui

In Cambodia, we mostly drank Angkor Lager, which is similar to Chang and would also cost about a $1 or less. I was pleased to find that Angkor brews a very tasty Export Stout, which is a very high alcohol stout. Many former British colonies brewed high alcohol stout (to prevent spoilage in the tropics, alcohol kills bacteria), but Cambodia was a French colony. I haven’t been able to figure out why Export Stout exists in Cambodia, does anyone know? The other beer available in Cambodia is Kingdom Pilsner, which was also fairly generic. Both Angkor and Kingdom breweries are located in Cambodia.

Angkor Lager in Phnom Penh

If you know nothing of Cambodia, educate yourself. The Khmer Rouge regime killed more than 25% of the population and almost all modern Cambodians are missing family members. Cambodia was a decent place before 1976 and is now one of the most corrupt and poor countries in the world. Worse, the US aided the Khmer Rouge before they took power and recognized them as Cambodia’s official government well into the 90s. Most Cambodians have lived and still live a life of poverty and terror, with no help from the west. As such, tourism is one of the biggest industries in Cambodia and Cambodians make most of the clothes you are wearing. Despite all this, Cambodians are friendly happy people. As a westerner, think about Cambodia the next time you hate your life because you’re stuck in traffic or because of something else trivial. Above all, go visit Cambodia and do some good with your extra money.

Angkor Export Stout? Hooray!

Cheers,

Chris

Central City Bacon Tasting Menu

Beer loves bacon Back in the colonies one of my favorite breweries is doing something extremely rad. Central City is offering a bacon tasting menu all September using bacon cured with their own beer. The three course menu only costs $35 and features bacon and corn cakes paired with Red Racer Lager, country bacon terrine with Red Racer ESB, and maple chocolate bacon cheesecake prepared with Red Racer Stout. Can you believe that? A three course meal and beer pairings for $35 based on bacon, the world’s most delicious food (fat and salt, mmmm)! I might have to fly back for this.

Cheers,

Chris

Love Good Beer

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Tag Archives: Beer Culture

Happy Pancake Day

Seasonal Beer is not Very Seasonal

Australia: Beer in Sydney and Brisbane

Beer in Thailand and Cambodia

Central City Bacon Tasting Menu