MR.BEER® Community

I got a last-minute invite to a Beer Dinner hosted by Bj's Restaurant and Brewhouse yesterday, and decided to check it out. The menu featured items from the BJ's regular menu paired with a diverse selection beers from the Flanders region of Belgium. In general, the food was  no match for the beer, but there were a couple of very nice pairings. Here's my report:

Before the dinner began, we were treated to a brand new Belgian Tripel released by Papago Brewing in Arizona (the beer is actually brewed in Belgium, by Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.) called Oude Zuipers, which roughly translates to "old drunk" or "old boozer." The beer was strong, at 11% ABV, with a coppery color and a sweetish, slightly spicy aroma and flavor. The Alcohol was noticable but not overpowering, which was nice. 

Our second beer was Brugse Zot, a Belgian Blonde (or pale, depending on who you ask).  Slightly hazy, with a dry finish, this beer seemed a bit plain initially, but developed nicely as it warmed in the glass. It showcased soft Grainy sweetness with fruity Esters including pear and a hint of banana. The Bitterness was just there to balance things out, which it did perfectly.

We get a surprising number of requests for an estimation of the number of calories in our recipes. I say surprising, because the caloric content of my beer has never been of central importance to me. Color, Bitterness, and ABV are all numbers that I tend to focus on, because they speak more to the flavor of beer than a count of calories or carbohydrates. As such, my standard answer to questions like these is often, "if you need to ask, it's probably too many."

Get ready, homebrewers -- National Homebrew day is May 7th!

 To celebrate, the American Homebrew Association created Big Brew, an annual event that celebrates homebrew in all its glory. Each year, Big Brew is held on the first Saturday in May. 

What is Big Brew? Basically, brewers get together all over the world with one goal in mind: brew a whole lot of beer. Oh, and there's a communal toast at noon central time, where homebrewers everywhere raise their glasses as one. Sounds good to me. 

There are official big brew sites registered from here to Timbuktu. Click here to find a site near you, but be sure to raise your glass even if you can't make it to an official gathering.