Mouthgasm 2011

    Jennifer Litz, head of the Texas chapter of the Girls Pint Out ladies craft-beer appreciation secret society, approached me about wanting to do a beer and food pairing class with her group at our brewery. As we talked about it, I found myself continually drooling over the idea of the dishes that my wife and I had dreamed up. My lips quivered, my tongue pulsed, my throat swelled.... I was on the verge of a mouthgasm.
  
    On January 22, 2011 my wife, Keely, and I are hosting Mouthgasm 2011- a beer and food pairing experience. At Mouthgasm, we will be walking guests through the basics of beer and food pairing principles- balance, contrast, emphasis- and discussing the ins and outs of beer in the culinary realm. We're not professional chefs, food critics, or even foodies. We're food porn fetishists- we get our jollies on jellies, and so forth. Keely and I have been concocting concoctions in our kitchen for several years, and have found personal success, enjoyment, and beervana in our adventures, and in our mouths. We will be showing you how simple beer and food pairing is, and how incredibly fun and enriching it can be.

    After a short introduction and explanation of beer and food pairing, the evening will begin. You will be taken through a 4 course meal where each course is designed to be paired with a specific Ranger Creek beer. Soup, salad, entrée 1, entrée 2, all cooked up with care by 2 Tarts catering. We dreamed up the menu, and they are executing it for us. After we've walked through the dinner pairings, each beer will be return with 4 different desserts, each specifically crafted for that beer, to show the versatility of food and beer pairings, and how a single beer can accompany the sweet and the savory.  In case your interest isn't already piqued, here is the menu:

Course 1- Soup: Merguez Sausage Gumbo paired with South Texas Lager (Dortmunder-style lager)
Course 2- Salad: Bitter greens topped with gorgonzola and balsmaic vinaigrette paired with La Bestia      
                Aimable (Belgian-style dark strong ale) 
Course 3- Entree 1: Bison sliders w/Cotswold cheese and homemade OPA mustard paired with Oatmeal
                Pale Ale (American Pale Ale)
Course 4- Entree 2: Venison and roasted root vegetables paired with Mesquite Smoked Porter (mesquite smoked Robust Porter)

Dessert courses:
Homemade "Stadium" ice cream (vanilla-Dortmunder ice cream with caramel ribbon, salted peanuts) paired with South Texas Lager
Thai-style Coconut Curry Oatmeal Cookies paired with Oatmeal Pale Ale
Figs topped with goat cheese and honey paired with La Bestia Aimable
Decadent Chocolate cupcakes topped with dark chocolate ganache and brined bacon crumbles* paired with Mesquite Smoked Porter
* uncured bacon brined in Mesquite Smoked Porter and mesquite smoked sea salt, then cooked with mesquite smoked sea salt


    This evening of mouthgasmic proportions will take place at the Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling facility (4834 Whirlwind Dr. Ste 102, San Antonio, TX 78217) on January 22 at 6 pm. The cost is $35 per person and is open to anyone wanting to have a mouthgasm, or learn more about beer and food pairing. To RSVP, contact Jennifer Litz- jennifer@girlspintout.com. 30 spots available, so RSVP today!

Why You Should Become a Cicerone, Too

    I spent the last two years of my life managing a great independently owned beer bar chain in San Antonio and Austin, Texas called the Flying Saucer. The powers that be were always pushing us store managers to further our beer knowledge, to become more than just beer retailers and beer advocates, but rather to become certified beer judges and homebrewers, beer connoisseurs that could validate our establishment. When the Cicerone Certification program came along, they said anyone that took the exams would be paid for by the company. At the time, I had no idea what the program was, but I knew deeply as a beer server just how important it was. Any bar, any person, can pour a beer for someone. It takes a real understanding of where the beer came from, what type of glass to put it in, and most importantly the quality of the beer being poured and cleanliness of the glass it's being poured into to transform "any person" into a real craft beer advocate. I was up to the challenge.
    One morning when I was the opening manager, I hopped online and took the Certified Beer Server exam. Fifteen minutes and three cups of coffee later, I was a Certified Beer Server. It felt good, empowering, to know that I just put my knowledge to the test and proved to myself and my peers that I had the goods. Instantly I wanted more, though. There was a certain mystique and allure to the next (and at the time, highest) level of the Cicerone Certification Program. It seemed almost unattainable, and a challenge I wasn't sure I had what it took to complete. So I set to the task of developing my beer knowledge by reading, home brewing, and most importantly, drinking beer. Over the next year I worked hard at training my pallet to be able to indentify off-flavors, notice subtle nuances in beer aroma and flavor (all of the background notes), and learning more about the origins of beer styles. At times I felt dizzy with information, saturated with original gravities, cities of origin, food and beer pairing. It was the first time in my life that I ever had the zeal to study for an exam, to actually soak up knowledge, the first time chemistry and biology made sense to me. (Where were you in high school, Cicerone?!) Then in November, 2009, my time had come.
    I took my exam in Austin at a brewpub, proctored by another Texas Certified Cicerone™, with a coworker of mine. We had been sharing information and encouraging one another in anticipation of the exam. That afternoon we carpooled and shared last minute thoughts. We found ourselves the only two people taking the exam, but somehow I was at ease, confident. This was the biggest, longest, most involved test I have ever taken. When I took the ACT the one semester I went to college, I had multiple choice. This was all short answer and essays. There were certainly some questions I did not know the answers to, but I flew through the written portion thirsty for the opportunity to identify diacetyl and oxidation during the tasting portion. When I finished, I turned it in, said a silent prayer to Ninkasi, and hoped like hell that I didn't have my head up my ass.
     Just after Christmas I received an email from Ray Daniels. It was like getting a letter from a college you had applied to (I assume. I never applied to any...). I read the top and couldn't bring myself to go on. I didn't want to know if I failed, so I was ready to not know if I passed. With more curiosity than courage, I glanced down, past the word "Congratulations," to the part that had my scores. Holy cuss. I passed.
    Being a Certified Cicerone™ is awesome. Certainly there is a prestige and allure to it, but I'm not that cocky goddamit. I love being a Cicerone because it reminds me everyday that my beer knowledge has been certified and that I now have a duty to share that knowledge. When I was at the Flying Saucer I made sure that every glass that went out was clean as a whistle (beer clean), that the draft lines we poured from were cleaned regularly, that any beer that came back with the complaint of an off-flavor was checked for quality. I want to make certain that people enjoying craft beer can absolutely enjoy it. It may sound arrogant, but I mean it sincerely. Certified Cicerone™'s ensure quality.
    As a craft beer drinker, it is empowering to know that there are Certified Beer Judges and Certified Cicerone™'s out there making sure that beer is being made well, beer is being stored well, poured properly, and that I will receive the best possible beer when I go out. As a craft brewer it gives me confidence that my beer will be poured in clean lines and clean glassware at proper temperatures so that people can enjoy it how I intend it to be.
    The Cicerone Certification Program is all about education, and that is the difference between craft beer and crap beer. If we educate ourselves and educate each other, we become more of a community where choice and quality are amenities, not nice-to-haves. If you haven't, check out the Cicerone Certification Program, started by Ray Daniels (author of Designing Great Beers and Seibel Institute faculty) at Cicerone.org. The more Certified Cicerone™s there are out there fighting the good fight, the more certain we all will be that our beer will be fresh (or properly aged), and served with quality and integrity in mind.

Other Texas Certified Cicerone™s are: Brian Tarver (beer buyer at NW Military HEB and the first in TX)- San Antonio; Sam Wynne (Beer Guru at Flying Saucer)- Austin; Jeff Fryman- Richardson; Matt Quenette- Fort Worth