First of all… WOW, this is a monster beer! Strong, dark roasted malt with a earthy scent, which creates an intoxicating aroma. Bitches Brew has a very dark brown color. Strong yet very smooth complex taste with a sweet, roasted finish.

Bitches Brew is a fusion of imperial stout, honey, and gesho root made for the 40th Anniversary of Miles Davis’ album Bitches Brew. This album was originally released in 1970 and was Miles’ first gold album. Just like the Jazz/rock fusion that Miles created in the 70’s, the beer “Bitches Brew” takes on a handful of ingredients and makes a perfect blend.

Bitches Brew is available now in limited release. If you can get your hands on a bottle, I recommend at least two! I was able to get it from my local QFC (http://www.QFC.com) in University Village (Seattle, WA) from Don Konopka. Thanks for sharing this beer with me Don!

Plus, you can get the two-disc 40th anniversary edition of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew CDs starting August 31, 2010.

There is a whole lot more behind this beer! Go to Dogfish.com’s Bitches Brew website (http://www.Dogfish.com). Also, check out the official Bitches Brew website (http://www.LegacyRecordings.com)

A while back I had the pleasure of eating dinner at Silver Peak Restaurant & Brewery in Reno, Nevada (http://www.silverpeakbrewery.com). After I ordered the appetizers and beer sampler I kept the menu. I usually keep the menu at a brewery, just in case I miss something. Dinner came and gone and I thought to myself, how about dessert? I went through the menu and I saw a “Beer Float”! Not a root beer float, yes, a Beer Float. Most of you are already pairing in your minds a lager or pilsner with ice cream. Stop! That may not work!

Let’s go deeper, or shall I say darker… some stouts and porters use toffee or chocolate to offer a different experience. Silver Peak Brewery’s beer float was mocha ice cream with their regular house brew of Peavine Porter. I remembered the creamy sweetness and then ending with a chocolate-coffee note.

Pouring Young's Dbl Chocolate Stout

Since that beautiful new beer experience, I’ve been bringing beer floats to parties and watching faces turn from “Yuck!” to “Hey, this stuff is good”.

Here are two great starter pairings for beer floats. First, I am pairing the Young’s Double Chocolate Stout (http://www.wellsandyoungs.co.uk) with chocolate-chip ice cream. The vanilla, not the mint chip. I feel the mint would be too much. Also, I wouldn’t buy the cheap brand or the sugar-free ice creams!

Get a spoon!

On the Young’s Beer Float I could taste the pleasant hops along with a nice chocolaty finish. I recommend getting a spoon so that you can try the ice cream and beer at the same time.

Young's Dbl Chocolate Stout and ice cream

I brought this same beer float pairing to a super bowl party a while back. I ended up bringing about 8 cans of the Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. People at the party were thinking I was a little optimistic. When it came time for dessert, the beer float was a hit. Even some who don’t drink beer were all over the beer float! What I found is people will take the first bite and think something is different. The second bite, their minds are questioning, “can this work, beer and ice cream?” By the third try they are usually hooked and proclaiming they had their first beer float!

Rogue's Chocolate Stout

I also tried it with Rogue’s Chocolate Stout (http://www.rogue.com) with the same chocolate chip ice cream. The aroma has a stronger hops/earthy scent. The finish was creamy (of course) with a roasted malt after taste.

Rogue's Chocolate Stout and chocolate chip ice cream

All in all, you really can’t go wrong with either Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Rogue’s Chocolate Stout. Both are a home run for parties or just an after dinner dessert beer.

Enjoy!

Ah, the Belgian-White from Brewery Ommegang (http://www.ommegang.com) and a Porter from Victory Brewing company (http://www.victorybeer.com) are the topic of today’s comic strip beer review. Ommegang’s Witte Witbier is one of the many prides of Ommegang earning a silver in belgian-whites in 2008 World Beer Cup. And, if you like your porters strong and toffee-sweet you have to try Victory’s Baltic Porter! This Porter style was originated in the 18th Century.

Beer Review on Ommegang Brewery's Witte Witbier

Brewery: Ommegang Brewery
Location: Cooperstown, NY
Website: http://www.ommegang.com

Beer Review on Victory Brewing Company's Baltic Thunder

Brewery: Victory Brewing Company
Location: Downingtown, PA
Website: http://www.victorybeer.com

Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout and Cookies

No moon to be seen, and Thievery Corporation’s “Shaolin Satellite” rides the airwaves.  A dark bottle with Japanese writing on it beckons me from the fridge.  I have been waiting for the night that she called, and I can almost hear the bottle’s hypnotic owl hooting.

I feel excited and find myself reminiscing.  For a moment, I’m a teenage boy again, eagerly looking into an eerie cave that must be explored.  It feels good.

Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

Choosing a tulip glass, I carry the Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout (http://www.hitachinonest.com) into my room and sit down at my desk.  Simple black writing on the back of the bottle with a bit of smudging speaks of the long trip from Japan.  The bottle cap owl is soon released, with a small bit of smoke to aid her flight.

The Owl Knows

The pour into the glass is smooth, and a rich, dark chocolate aroma is already strongly evident as a large, inviting caramel-colored head develops.  Darker and lighter shades of caramel paint themselves across the rich, creamy head, inviting me in!

Hitachino Head

Looking into the glass, I feel as if I’m some ancient wizard or seer scrying the future.  And I foresee a freaking sip!

Scrying a Hitachino sip

Diving through the heavy, seductive coffee and chocolate aromas, my upper lip finds itself covered in a dark caramel milkshake of a mustache.  I’m grinning like the teenage freshman seduced by the senior at homecoming, and I’m finding the journey quite lovely.  The strong and HEAVY whiff of semi-dark chocolate, mixing with a slightly less strong but just as distinctive Sumatran aroma, has transformed into beauty on my tongue.

Curving from the smell of semisweet chocolate to the taste of dark chocolate coffee leaves me to smile in her aftertaste.  The pitch black stout that light could not pierce dances across the mouth with ease, while the beer’s lighter wet body balances out the strong aromas.  I swallow, and the chocolate turns from a semi-dark to DARK in its finish, lingering on the tongue with the coffee coming to the fore again.  The flavors seem to be “nesting” across my mouth.  LOL!  Yet I like them there…

Toffee and sweet chocolate cookies

I hadn’t planned it, but I feel toffee and sweet chocolate cookies pulling me into the kitchen.  Soon I’m sipping the Hitachino Espresso Stout in between small bites of cookie and finding this brings the coffee to the fore in yet another shade of flavor.

Sitting back and contemplating my many wonderful sips, I realize that like calling coffee, maple, chocolate, and caramel the color “brown,” calling this beer “chocolate” or “coffee” is a disservice.  For this alluring owl of a beer flies across many shades and dimensions.  Even with no moon visible tonight, I found 5 stars!

The cat pushes the door open, and I jump a bit as my eyes settle on a quote kept on my desk.

“Love all.  Trust few.  Do wrong to none.”
-William Shakespeare

No more sipping for me, as I down the last bit in the gulp I’ve been yearning for since the beginning!  Raising my empty glass to love, I shiver…for I feel large, blinking, luminous eyes on my back…

Wood Fire Oven

If you have ever been lucky enough to travel through the country- side of places like Italy, Greece, and France, you have noticed almost every home has a curiosity in their back yard. Resembling an igloo or a beehive, it’s a pizza and bread oven.  Wood burning, live fire cooking, has been around for hundreds of years (probably thousands) and there is something special about cooking outdoors in a wood fired oven that makes food taste especially good. I have coveted an oven for my own back yard for years, and finally have realized my dream and a new pizza oven is currently installed in my back yard.   Now what to do with it?  Of course, pizza party!

The time and effort it took to get the oven in place notwithstanding, the oven is an instant party!  Everyone wants in on the act, so put your friends to work.

Making the pizza dough

We made our dough from scratch and then prepared the toppings for the pizzas.  We had the traditional ones, like Margarita, made with fresh mozzrella and fresh basil, a pepperoni pizza, a salami pizza, and plain cheese.  These were accompanied with a great Paso Robles zinfandel, Opolo’s 2008 Mountain Zin (http://www.opolo.com).  Some guest enjoyed the pizzas with some Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (http://www.firestonewalker.com). A great combination, either way.

Ecluse w/italian sausage pizza

Then we started to get creative, with the pizza toppings.  We tried a red pepper puree, with goat cheese, also nicely accompanied with Paso Robles wines, this time an Ecluse 2007 Zinfandel (http://www.eclusewines.com). We also paired the Ecluse with an Italian Sausage pizza that was a real knock out.  Then we tried a combination based on a dish from the Kona Brewing Company in Kona, Hawaii (http://www.konabrewingco.com).  We made a pizza with roasted garlic, gorgonzola cheese, and a little mozzrella.  The crispy crust of the pizza went great with the garlic playing off the gorgonzola.

Ecluse w/red pepper puree and goat cheese pizza

Pizza in the oven

The time it takes to cook a pizza in a wood-burning oven is amazing.  In as little as 90 seconds, you have a delicious pizza with a crisp crust and bubbly topping.  So you can cook up lots of pizzas, with all kinds of toppings, to please every one of your guests.

Wood-fired oysters

In addition to the pizzas, we prepared roasted oysters. Placed in the oven on a cooking sheet until they opened up, dressed with a little lemon and wine vinegar with some shallots, they went fantastically with a Deschutes Mirror Pond (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com), as well as a very crisp sauvgion blanc that balanced well with the sharpness of the wine vinegar.

Just to make sure everyone had enough to eat, we roasted some large shrimp, marinated in olive oil and garlic and parsley.  They came out of the oven so surprisingly tender and juicy.  Some of our guests paired the shrimp with Kona Brewing Company’s Longboard Lager (http://www.konabrewingco.com), while some of us went back to Paso Robles again, this time with a Jack Creek 2008 pinot noir (http://www.jackcreekcellars.com). So fruity and lush, it was just delicious.

Everyone was amazed and pleased with all our pizzas and accompaniments and are looking forward to our next venture into wood fired cooking again.

We will continue to experiment and learn how to use the oven to make great pizzas, bread and all kinds of other dishes.

Warming up the wood-fire oven