Step away from the PBR

If I haven't made it clear yet, let me do it now: I love beer.  A simple combination of water, yeast, hops, and grain can create such incredible, effervescent results.  At UC Davis, I was lucky enough to study, however briefly, under Charlie Bamforth's tutelage.  Haven't heard of the legend?  Watch just about any documentary about beer and his Jack-O-Lantern grin will surely make an appearance.

Charlie Bamforth- professor, scientist, heartbreaker.

I'm an IPA kind of gal, something a lot of men have a hard time believing.  The hoppier, the better (my favorites are Dogfishhead's 90 minute, El Segundo's White Dog IPA, and, not surprisingly, Russian River's Pliny the Elder).  Of course, this means I'm a fairly inexperienced taster for many other categories of the golden fizzy stuff.  So when I was asked to participate in a Belgian tasting class at King's Row Pub in Pasadena, I was really excited.

After the two hour drive through downtown Los Angeles in rush hour traffic, I really needed a beer.  I was greeted instead with a hop-infused vodka distilled by Anchor Steam (who apparently also have a distillery...who knew?).  It smelled of hops, tasted less like vodka than expected, and sat heavy on the tongue.  Perhaps not something I'd drink every day, but it was truly interesting.  Bon Appétit did a review of the stuff quite literally days before my encounter.

The tasting consisted of a set of four Belgian and four American Belgian-style beers.  We were given advice on how to taste each brew by our instructor, trained cicerone and general bad-ass James Willis.  We tasted everything from Duvel to Allagash, grading each on their unique characteristics.  I had a terrible time guessing which beer was domestic and which was a true Belgian, which may have hurt my pride just a smidge.  The free IPA battered fish and chips helped me recover.

The head on this beer was so thick it reminded the whole table of merengue

I didn't realize Belgian ales could be so red!

Overall, the event was really interesting, informative, and tasty.  James is incredibly enthusiastic and educated in all things beer, which only further convinced me that everyone who is even remotely interested in the stuff should pay him a visit.

Want to learn more?  Check out my article, then hop on over to their website.  And with that awful pun, I'm off to do more exploring around my kitchen and my town.  Visit again soon!

Habañero tequila

A few years ago, at a dearly departed restaurant in Pasadena, I fell in love with a drink.  They called it a Lavender Screwdriver- freshly squeezed lemon juice, vodka, and lavender simple syrup served in a low ball with one cylindrical ice cube large enough to take sole responsibility for cooling the cocktail.  I've tried replicating it with little success and now I fear I will never taste the winning combination again.

Why the sad story?  Because it led me to try infusing!  Infusing alcohol (or simple syrups, as they did for the Screwdriver) is incredibly easy and seems just as impressive to your guests.  It takes little effort and you don't even need a recipe.  Mango rum, cherry vodka, fig flavored bourbon...all are possible and actually taste like the real thing, unlike those flavored monstrosities you can find in the grocery store.  I decided to be a little bold on my first adventure and use an ingredient I've never dared before- habañeros.

Really, the only two ingredients for this recipe are a bottle of tequila and a pepper or two

Wearing gloves while cutting these tiny peppers is mandatory

After cutting your peppers, wrap in cheese cloth and crush them in your jar

Cover with tequila...

And wait!

I let the peppers sit in the tequila in the fridge for about three days before taking them out.  Since I left the seeds intact, there was no need to infuse for any longer to get the right amount of heat.  And boy, did three days do the trick!  For any of the fruit flavored alcohols, the infusing time goes up to about a month and you'll need much more flavoring to get results (that jar should be packed with your selected fruit, with all seeds and rind removed).

The next step was to make a cocktail that you could drink without sweating.  So I came up with the following:

Habañero Grapefruit Margarita

Two parts fresh grapefruit juice
One part Habañero tequila
One or two wedges of lime
Sprinkle of sugar
Rock salt (for the rim)

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the juice, tequila, sugar, and lime juice (I like to throw the whole wedge in there).  Shake until well mixed.  Pour into a glass rimmed with salt and add a lime wedge.

Now, I loved this drink but some of my friends couldn't appreciate the added kick.  In fact, at a party I remember hearing a loud yell followed by groaning across the room after someone was tricked into taking a swig of my concoction.  What a pansy.