Not Your "Standard" Ice Cream

In light of these hot summer months and to celebrate National Ice Cream Month, I decided to "brew" something different with some friends this past week.

While perusing the St. Louis FEAST magazine (a great monthly periodical highlighting St. Louis' food culture) I found an intriguing article about food collaborations. Now we all know beer and dairy go well together and both share similar creative processes like the aging of cheese. I've had my fair share of Irish Stout cheddar and other fanciful beer cheese's but never beer ice cream.

The very thought made me think root beer float. Maybe a heavy Russian imperial stout or porter served with some vanilla bean ice cream. Not so in this case.

I Scream Cakes Pear Saison ice cream inspired this endeavor to create something I've never tried before. I contacted them via Facebook and was given a rough cut of their recipe for a small batch. (Their normal recipe makes 5 gallons, not sure where I would put all of that.) They collaborated with 4 Hands Brewing Co. by utilizing their Pyrus, a fall saison brewed with pear juice.

Light bulbs went off, I had to try this. I contacted some friends who have an ice cream maker and similar passion for beer and off we went.

Basically all you need for this is a good vanilla ice cream recipe...minus the vanilla. Makes sense when you're looking to get the flavor from the beer and fruit. I decided to go with Prairie Standard as our beer and use dried apricots instead of pears. We boiled a few bottles of the beer, then added the dry apricots to simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. We then pureed the mixture until smooth. On the side we combined 2 oz of almond paste and 1/4 cup of honey. Once the ice cream mixture was prepared we drizzled the almond/honey paste throughout, then mixed the now chilled apricot beer mixture into the ice cream. Let that freeze overnight and enjoy.

Sounds perfect, right? Unfortunately our ice cream mixture was a bit on the soupy side and after it froze it did not have the ice cream texture we normally expect. It still worked but seems to have more ice and not enough cream. Instead of half n half we may use milk next time.

The overall flavor was good in my opinion. You got plenty of beer flavor and the apricots complemented it well with a slight tart yet sweet flavor. This is definitely something to experiment with. I'd really like to combine a chocolate stout with some fresh raspberry ice cream...but I'd better finish this batch first. 

Where's my spoon?

Let's Cultivate the Craft in Oklahoma - by D'Wain Carthen

On a recent trip to Boulder, CO my wife and I met up with some good friends of ours to FATE Brewing Company for some eats and general imbibing. Great beers and dining. During conversation with one of the servers we were asked if we were from the area. Jessica (my beautiful wife) and I said we were from Oklahoma. To which the server responded,

"Isn't that a beer desert?!"

NOOOO!  

No fault of his own…I suppose. He explained he has a friend who lives in Bartlesville, and that is where he got the description from. He didn't ask about the beer scene, instead he had a predetermined opinion from a local that is not in touch with the local beer culture.

I proudly informed my good man that we had great breweries such as Prairie Artisan Ales that may be invading his area soon. How great would it be to have people from other states be introduced to Oklahoma brew with Prairie Bomb? Oh, you thought this was a beer desert?  That beer is a 100 on Ratebeer and a 99 on Beeradvocate. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

There are two things we must have in order to change our image. First, we need to educate ourselves as beer citizens. Study beer. In this case, studying involves drinking (Yay), reading (with a beer), and discussing (not slurring).

Drinking is a pretty obvious method, but be sure you try new beers. Instead of the same big beer six pack, venture out with a mix-a-six. Try something you have had before and maybe did not particularly like.

Your taste buds change over time. Remember broccoli, you hated it as a kid, now, well more than likely that has changed. You may have not liked the Marshall Atlas IPA when you first tried it, but upon further review it's delicious. There are going to be beers you like and others you despise, but it is all in getting out of your comfort zone. We have not been drinking beer as long as we have been eating food, so we have a lot 

to learn…and drink.

Reading is fundamental!  Read books like Ultimate Beer by Michael Jackson or Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher. Learn about the history of beer, the various styles, the region's they come from, and each of their characteristics. Unearthing the mysteries of beer will give you a better appreciation and enhance your enjoyment ten fold. As a bonus, you can impress your friends with this beer knowledge because even stuff in the first couple of chapters is not common knowledge.  It is also a good excuse to read and drink beer (as if you needed an excuse).  Don’t be satisfied with drinking a Stella because it sounds fancy. If you read up you will know Stella is actually the Belgian PBR. It is sold for just $1.10 per pint in Belgium. They just have a great marketing campaign to make it look prestigious.  Knowledge bomb!

Reading and drinking leads to the best part; talking about beer. This is why I started writing about beer. Tell your buddies about great beers you have enjoyed, fun times about hunting for one offs, home brewing, beer festivals and so much more.  

The whole idea is about sharing. They still learn. You will learn.  Go to local beer festivals.  The Harvest Festival hosted by Mcnellies  (http://mcnellies.com) is a great festival.  They also host Beer Universities about once per quarter.  Follow Mcnellie’s on Facebook for info.  If you have read my first post you’ll know that Biergarten hosts beer tastings.  Tap Werks also hosts the Oklahoma Craft Beer Festival. Wild Brew is a festival that celebrates Oklahoma craft beer and raises money for the Sutton Avian Research Center.

We have a good beer scene budding in Oklahoma, but you have to go out see people, try beer, and talk about it for it to grow.  

Don’t think I forgot about the second part!  We have to have good beer to enjoy! However, we cannot settle for the same ole same ole.  Brewers like Chase Healey are doing some amazing things with beer right here in our great state.  Personally, I like to see breweries get wicked with their brews.  Don’t come out to the beer festival with the same lineup time after time.  Bring out the firkins!  Experiment.  This is where the beer imbiber and brewer really come together.  There are going to be beers that the people love and some that they don’t, but if you bring out a small batch of something that is great, you’re a hero at the festival.  If people don’t like it, hey you only did a small batch.

That is why the Prairie Artisan tent is always busy at the festivals.  That is why I love the Saddlebag series by Mustang Brewing.  I recently had the Dragon’s Breath, which is a chili pepper infused IPA.

Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  

Let's get out and Cultivate the Craft Oklahoma. We've armed you with knowledge, now go learn and spread the good word of Oklahoma craft beer.

Cheers!

Summer of Beer

Ah, summer. Here again to oppress us with it's heat waves and droughts. Luckily we have a multitude of beers and places to enjoy beer to beat the heat. Until Oklahoma breweries can serve up free samples here are some neighboring breweries you can visit for a mini vacation.

Not long ago I made a trek with some friends up to Missouri along I-44 to visit a few breweries in a day. We started at Public House Brewing Company in Rolla. Driving past the city so many times I never thought it would actually have a brew pub in it'd downtown area. This great brew pub has a nice lounge area and large seating capacity. While they don't serve much food you can bring your own in. We sampled 6 beers they currently had on tap from Rod's Cream Ale to Revelations Stout. Their Bird and Baby Mild was my favorite and rightly so as it won the 2011 GABF bronze medal for English Mild.

After we picked up some imprinted discus and bumper stickers from Public House we made our way south to Bucyrus, MO. A small community an hour south of Rolla, pretty much the middle of nowhere, there's a big red barn located near the Piney River. Just so happens that is the name of the brewery as well. Piney was developed by Brian and Jolene Durham who took their love of craft beer and transformed their barn into a brewery/canning facility/bar and lounge. We had a rather informal tour from one of the brewers which are always the best where we viewed their 7-barrel brew house and canning machine. Their beers reflect the Ozark community as easy drinking beers that you can take in a can on float trips. Their Firefly Ale now called Float Trip Ale is a 4.5% Blonde Ale is perfect for such an occasion. They have live music on Saturdays and plenty of merch and beer to take back with you.

We had to tear ourselves away from the beautiful countryside to venture into the big city of Springfield, MO and Mother's Brewing Company. Marked by the large white silo we were a little close to closing time but able to get about 20 samples in a dish washing rack.We took it out to their lawn area where people were playing bocce ball and gearing up for a night out. Mother's offers some very sought after, flavorful year round beers as well as seasonal releases. They recently released a farmhouse ale called Spring Batch for their spring seasonal and MILF, a wonderful Imperial Stout. What put me over the top was their Black Cherry Sherry Thang which prompted me to buy a stainless steel growler of it. Check them out soon as they are a three hour drive from Tulsa and will be celebrating Springfield Craft Beer Week starting July 14th.

You'd think we were done by then but ohhhh no. For dinner we made our way to Springfield Brewing Company. They offer great American cuisine and several year round beers as well as seasonals and special one-offs. A great end to a great day of beer in our neighbor state of Missouri. And that was just the southeast corner! It's a great way to take a mini-vacation and stock up on great local craft beer.

This land is our land!

On a recent visit to one of the Hideaway Pizza locations here in Tulsa I had an epiphany. Oklahoma restaurants that serve beer should be working to put our local beers on a pedestal. Think about it. As people who love beer, any time we travel out of state, our sights are set on trying local brews. In fact, many of those trips are probably made with the purpose of finding new beers indigenous to where we are traveling. We could also be eager to revisiting an old hometown location and taking a drink down memory lane with a nice pint of an old favorite. Oklahoma has beer lovers. We have great beers like Coop DNR, Marshall Pub Ale and Anthem Golden One that we can share with those who travel to our red dirt nation.

Don’t get me wrong. There are places where you can get great local beers in Oklahoma. Specifically in Tulsa, it goes without saying that you can go to McNellie’s (Downtown), R Bar (Brookside), or Main Street Tavern (Broken Arrow) and get an excellent selection of local drafts and equally outstanding food to enjoy with them. Unfortunately, the Hideaway location I patronized only had 2 of 7 Oklahoma draughts available and the same amount could be ordered in a bottle.

I will be the first to tell you that I know nothing about the back-office operations of running a restaurant. Like millions of Americans, I watch Food Network (love Chopped) and I thoroughly enjoy finding local eateries via Yelp, but by no means can I run a restaurant. However, those that do know how to run a restaurant should stay aware of the beers available in the area.

I remember the first time I visited the beautiful city of Boulder, CO. My best friend, Jeremy, lives there and I headed out there with a couple of buddies to visit him in the hospital after he had been in an accident. After busting Jeremy’s chops for a while we decided to give him some rest and explore the city. We stumbled upon Pearl St. If you have been there, you know this area is awesome. There are tons of shops and places to eat up and down the street. After finding some food, I was on the hunt for coffee. However, as we walked by one particular store I heard a band playing inside and a guy sitting outside on a bar stool says to us, “You guys like t-shirts?” I’m thinking, “Yeah…what dude doesn't?” He then follows up with “ We've got t-shirts, live music, and free beer.” WHOA! You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention! There was no catch. My buddies and I ventured in, enjoyed some Boulder Beer with our live music and each bought a t-shirt. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the shop, but they have an awesome approach to business. Could this happen at Boomtown Tees? Let’s make it happen!

Oklahoma should be doing things like this for beer…for our state! 405,918…where ya at?! If we are going build our craft beer culture we need our beers readily available to thirsty patrons eating in local stablishments. Convenience is king and everyone should know more about the beer around them. When I first moved to Tulsa, I knew nothing about beer. In fact, I didn't like beer at the time. All I knew were the standard commercial beers that we all see ads for during sporting events. A great friend of mine said, “Dude, we have to go to McNellie’s.” I am the adventurous type, so when I saw all of the brews available I went nuts. I tried random beers, asked the servers about the beers, asked those with me about beers they liked, researched them, etc.

That was 6 years ago.

Oklahoma’s craft beer scene as evolved tremendously since that time. We have great places like BierGarten, McNellie’s, R Bar in Tulsa, and Tap Werks in OKC providing us with a fantastic selection of beer daily and hosting beer events, but we have to get involved. Tap Werks is presenting the Oklahoma Craft Beer Festival at their location in Bricktown on May 18th. If you have not bought your tickets do so NOW! This is a great way to try a variety of beers and meet great beer folks. I have my ticket. Let’s have a beer!

-Cheers, D’Wain.

Tulsa Craft Beer Week review by D'Wain Carthen

Cheers, gang! My name is D’Wain Carthen and I enjoy drinking good beer. Simply put, I am a 29-year-old dude, from Oklahoma, that likes to meet people and partake in excellent brews and great conversations. The Tulsa beer scene is at its boiling point and I want to help bring attention to the beer available in our great city and in Oklahoma. I am not a beer snob. Snobs don’t share. I want to include you in my experiences with beer, so that we can all learn a bit more about what we drink and who we are.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the BierGarten Finale tasting event hosted by the one and only Freddy Lamport. He has been a major advocate for craft beer in Tulsa for a number of years now through his amazing store BierGarten, located in Jenks. April 15th – 20th marked the inaugural Tulsa Craft Beer Week. As an organizer of the festivities that took place, it was only fitting that the event be held at Freddy’s establishment.

We had several events throughout the week including several at the awesome R-Bar on Brookside. Of the eleven beer gatherings, R-Bar hosted five of them. Not to be outdone, the Tulsa craft beer veteran, McNellie’s, had just as many events. Each establishment had an event just about every night. We had beer dinners, tap takeovers, firkin nights, pint nights, OH MY! More beer, please! Any fan of craft beer that was within 100 miles of Tulsa had no excuse to be anywhere else in the state.

I almost missed out on the beer-tasting finale, myself. I waited too long and the event actually sold out before I was able to get tickets. I was bummed! So, on Friday I headed to BierGarten to grab some beer and heal my bruised soul. Freddy asked if I was coming to Saturday’s event, to which I had to regretfully respond that I was not due to my procrastination. This is when Freddy came through in the clutch and asked if I would be willing to work at the festival. Uhhh…yeah, dude! Who would turn down this opportunity?

BierGarten’s finale was scheduled from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday. It featured some of our awesome local breweries such as Coop Ale Works (Oklahoma City), Marshall Brewing (Tulsa), Choc Beer Co. (Krebs), and the exciting newcomer Prairie Artisan Ales (Krebs). I had the chance to try some great beers and discuss the event with fellow beer nerds. One of my favorite offerings was the Habanero Wheat (#15) from the Fellowship of Oklahoma Ale Makers (FOAM) tent. It started with a smoky nose, quickly transformed into an apple cider middle, and finished with a hint of habanero. If this beer were landscape, it would be a cabin in the woods. Many of my buddies and other attendees had high-praise for #15, but there was one naysayer, THE BREWER! I had the pleasure of discussing this great creation with home brew wizard, Shelly. She wanted there to be more smoke and more spice from the habanero. Unfortunately, Shelly did not get what she wanted, but we all enjoyed the insane journey her beer took us on. I also had the opportunity to try Prairie’s “Bomb!” This M80 is a Russian Imperial Stout brewed with Tulsa’s own Nordaggio’s coffee. If you’re like me and love craft beer and a great cup of coffee, this brew will wake you up! With beers like Shelly’s Habanero concoction and Prairie’s Bomb!, this is an event that Tulsa must keep alive!

Cheers to BierGarten, Shelly, and all the good folks who attended!

Sharing is Caring

Too often I see people starting a business with intentions to make a lot of money and what normally happens is they don't get very far out of the starting gate. I believe passion for your work/craft truly makes your business successful. Passion is defined by those who put sweat and blood in it like it is going to save the world. I feel this is reflected in a lot of local businesses in the beer industry around Tulsa, OK be it a brewery or liquor store. Passion for crafting drinkable beer is truly an art just like cooking.

Another great thing about passion for craft beer is that those who create it and love it want to share it with everyone. Don't drink craft beer? I know so many people that can start you off in the right path and break the 30 pack hum drum. So with this passion of sharing be it online through Facebook/Twitter, at R Bar & Grill sampling flights or hopefully sampling at your local brewery if HB 1341 is passed, I wanted to share some advice and images.

Photo by: Prairie Artisan Ales

Just recently Prairie Artisan Ales released a Kickstarter project to help fund their 100% oak barrel aged brewing house. This is a unique and inspiring way to help out a local brewery that has already established themselves in the market and spreading the "Made in Oklahoma" message.

Chase and Colin share quite a bit on Facebook from label concepts to ingredients in their recipes. I encourage you to follow along if you have any general interest in creating your own brand of beers.

Another passion of mine personally is volunteering and charities. Just yesterday I found an event called Okie Brews for CureResearch 2013. This is a beer tasting event with local Oklahoma breweries like COOP Ale Works and Mustang Brewing Co. taking place April 18th in Tulsa. Here is the description from there event site:



"CureSearch for Children’s Cancer is a national non-profit (501(c)(3)) foundation whose mission is to fund and support children’s cancer research and provide information and resources to all those affected by children’s cancer. CureSearch raises funds for promising research conducted at more than 180 hospitals in the United States, including Saint Francis Children’s Hospital in Tulsa and the OU Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. For more information, please call 800-458-6223 or visit us online at www.curesearch.org "

Image by: OkieBrews 2013

We plan on attending and encourage our members as well to come out. While I am in the sharing mood I have come up with a contest for those who want to join us but may need a little more incentive. 

Anyone that signs up with Beer Is OK from now until April 15th will be entered into a drawing for tickets to the 2013 Okie Brews for CureResearch event. We will select two lucky people to represent Beer Is OK and hob nob with Oklahoma brewers and sample their craft beers. Please head over to www.beerisok.com and sign up today on our home page.

In closing make sure to include sharing everyday whether it be a home brew tip or a few dollars to a local charity, sharing makes everything more successful. 

Prost!

Brian W.

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher: A book report

An unexpected Christmas present from my youngest brother turned into a book I will refer to through the rest of my beer snob career. Randy Mosher is a well known author for book, 'Radical Brewing' and digging deep into the history and revealing why so many are passionate for this liquid libation. 'Tasting Beer' takes you on a journey of beer's inception and it's rise to fame through the centuries. Randy breaks down the anatomy of beer to style, color, taste, history for you to have a more memorable experience with your beer and appreciate the art form of crafting a good beer. As a member of the AHA and Chicago Beer Society, Randy is the ultimate enthusiast that can inspire and bring out the true beer lover in anybody.

I really couldn't put this book down and almost found myself drinking a beer each time I picked it up to try and deconstruct what was in it and solve the mysteries of craft beer along with Randy. You will learn more than you can retain and I have a feeling I will be reading this again and using the dictionary provided as well or the multitude of charts for SRM (Standard Reference Method), IBU's, proper glassware, food and cheese pairings and so much more.

Probably the most enticing reading lies in chapters 9 and beyond where Randy breaks down every beer style  with complete history, profile and suggested beers to try from British ales to lagers to American craft beer. Recently I went back to reference Belgian strong dark ales while drinking a Dogfish Head Raison D'etre and gained a better appreciation for the complexity of the malts and rich finish of the beer. Now if that doesn't scream beer geek...

I encourage you to put this book on your reading list if you ever wanted to gain a fuller appreciation for the beer you drink or if you are an avid cook and want to start pairing with beer. Randy breaks it all down in simple language and great layout for you to go back and reference with ease. You can find it online for sale almost anywhere and as I write this there is a copy sitting in Martin Regional Library in Tulsa, OK.

So what are you waiting for, go grab a copy, crack open an Oklahoma craft beer and enjoy!