Beer Haiku Daily

Welcome to the October 2007 edition of The Session. The Session is a group writing project for beer bloggers that occurs on the first Friday of every month. Each month a new host is chosen and that host picks a theme. I am your host this month and the theme is Beer and Food.

“I am looking for posts about pairing beer with food or using beer as an ingredient in food. I hope to see recipes, pictures, tasting notes, stories, menus, reviews or anything else that fits the bill of fare. Whether you write about which beer goes best with chili dogs or give your family’s secret recipe for vegan stout stew or post pictures of those ale braised lamb shanks you had last week, I want to know every mouth watering detail.”

If you own a blog and want to participate, be sure to check out the announcement and full instructions. It’s easy and rewarding to join in the fun.

Here is the roundup of all contributions to The Session this month:

• Beer from the Motherland (pairing, recipe): Kieran Haslett-Moore from New Zealand leads off with mouthwatering descriptions of a beer and cheese pairing session he organized. He wraps up with an “incredibly indulgent recipe” for an ale and cheese dip.
• Akelas Biggins (recipe, pairing): The Dude takes us down to Texas and treats us to his famous Beer Butt Chicken. He is also kind enough to recommend a beer to go with it.
• Beer In Food (story, recipe): Bob Skilnik (author of Beer & Food: An American History) provides some background on the Lithuanian-American experience. He then risks life and limb to give us his mother-in-law’s secret kugelis recipe. Kugelis is a uniquely Lithuanian potato pudding dish that goes great with beer.
• Beer Haiku Daily (pairing, recipe): My own contribution consists of two haiku and a recipe for Portobello and Beer Chili.
• The Best of American Beer and Food (pairing, cooking): Please welcome Lucy Saunders to the beer blogging community. She developed an entire website on the topic of beer and food just for The Session! Okay, so maybe she’s also supporting her recently published book The Best of American Beer and Food.
• The Beer Nut (pairing, review): A story about the joys of curry and beer and a review of new “slow-brewed” lager called Time.
• The Barley Blog (recipes): Ray breaks out his wife’s recipe for Newcastle Pot Roast and gives us a bonus recipe for Turkey Gravy with Bourbon. Mmm… Bourbon Gravy…
• Hop Talk – Ron (story, pairing): Ron give some great advice for pairing beer and desert and reminisces about the event that opened his eyes about the combination.
• Appellation Beer (story, pairing, recipes): Stan shares Victory Brewing’s Smoked Gouda Cheese Loaves with Roasted Peppers and Balsamic Vinaigrette recipe. This was a personal favorite that didn’t make it into the 1990 book the Brewpub Cookbook that he and his wife put together.
• Seen Through a Glass (pairing): Lew Bryson will have multiple posts today celebrating the joy of beer with every meal. Without further ado it’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• Brewvana (story, pairing, recipe): J. Wilson makes a strong case for living well with good food and beer and then shares his special recipe for Doppel-Brat Stew.
• BoakandBaily.com (pairing, recipe): Boak and Baily brings us a lamb and pale ale pie, paired with Brakspear Triple. Yum.
• Stonch’s Beer Blog (food, beer): Stonch leaves the pairing of beer and food to others and demonstrates quite ably that it doesn’t take rocket science to enjoy a nice meal and a fine beer with friends.
• That’s The Spirit – Beaumont’s Beer Blog (story, pairing): Steve Beaumont takes us back to Munich and tempts our tastebuds with one of his “Hall of Fame beer and food pairings: Weissbier and Weisswurst.”
• The Brew Basement (cooking, recipe): Jason Tucker is quickly building a nice resource on cellaring beer and gives some great advice on cooking with aged brews. In particular rich aged ales can replace port in many recipes with surprisingly good results.
• Sioux Brew (recipe): Photographer Tim Hynds gives us a haiku, an apology, and a recipe for lambic sorbet. Looks tasty.
• The Brew Site (recipes): Jon gives us the recipe for the Oktoberfest braised pot roast he made last weekend and then reminds us of the decadent Guinness cupcakes he discovered in August
• Trouble Brewing (recipe): Eric Trimmer informed me of his Session post with a haiku:
  A beer reduction
  Over vanilla ice cream
  My Session entry
• Lyke 2 Drink (pairing, recipe): Rick laments the dearth of restaurants that take beer seriously and then describes a recent beer and food dinner he attended. He leaves us with a recipe for cheddar cheese soup.
• My Beer Pix (pairing): A day in the life of Beer Sage and Beer Molly. Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and a night cap.
• Beer Philosopher (pairing): In his first Session post, Shawn takes the FUD out of beer and food pairing. Like Stonch he believes that no expertise is required, just experiment and enjoy. There are no “beer police” that will take you to task for doing it wrong.
• Climbing (cooking): Another new participant in The Session describes his experiment with beer pancakes.
• A Good Beer Blog (cooking, pairing): Alan draws inspiration from Lucy Saunders’ Grilling with Beer and ‘cues up an “insane amount of meat”.
• Beer, Beats, and Bites (pairing): Greg describes his first opportunity to stand up in front of a bunch of strangers and host a beer pairing dinner at a private club. It sounds to me like it was a great success and this won’t be his last.
• The Lost Abbey Brewers Log (pairing): Tomme heaps praise on the amazing Chef Vince Marsaglia and can barely contain his enthusiasm as he describes in exquisite detail a recent beer dinner they created together.
• Hump’s Brewing (pairing): Josh pours a few words about that time honored pairing that everyone can get behind: pizza and beer.
• Beerjanglin’: A stong case is made for eating and drinking locally. A number of brewpubs and breweries within 100 miles of Albany New York are highlighted for their use of locally grown produce.
• Brookston Beer Bulletin (beer pairing): Jay Brooks uses haiku, pictures and words to describe the 10th annual beer dinner at the Northern California Homebrewers Festival. Wish I was there.

The Session for November will be hosted by Tomme Arthur of the Lost Abbey. Keep an eye on his site for an announcement of the next theme.

I have compiled a good round-up of all previous Sessions. Delve into the archives to find a treasure trove of beer themed writings, podcasts, pictures and other postings. It also includes information on how to volunteer as host. I will update this page every month.