BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!!!

Goodness, I certainly did have a wonderful birthday!! I got lovely beers from friends AND the awesome Wrigley Field original silkscreens pictured below from Spels. They are created by a process of collaging original designs onto canvas and are hand-created for each customer by Stephen Fowler. He has lots of Chicago images, animals, all really cool stuff. Check out more handmade art from geministudioart.com.

As usual, I stretched my birthday celebration out for the whole week, beginning with the New Holland dinner at The Publican, continuing with dinner at The Hopleaf on my actual birthday. And, sometime in the next week or so, we will go to dinner in Indiana with my parents.

I know. I'm 44. I shouldn't insist on such a birthday fuss. But I love it!!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT PART 2

Thursday is my birthday. Thank you for my present, Brad Fuller.

Malty lager, white lager, hoppy lager. . .

Do you know what I love about my job? Well, plenty, but right now, I am thinking specifically of how much I am learning every day about tastes and smells. For example, the Coney Island line of lagers . . . Today, I was at Twisted Spoke, talking to Shawn about Carny Friday, the Friday promotion in which they are offering the Coney Island beers on special. He asked me what kind of lager the Albino Python was. I explained that that one is a white lager, very unusual, spicy and somewhat yeasty, which is weird for a lager, with lots of coriander and orange peel -- much more complex than, oh, say, the "great American lager". Then I described the Sword Swallower -- which I have talked about in this blog before. I love it! It is a full-bodied lager with an intense hoppiness in the finish. And, not least, the Coney Island Lager, which is a nice malty, caramelly example of the style, balanced nicely with just enough hop. Smooth, definitely malt-forward. And I was proud and happy, because I knew that all three of these beers were lagers, all three were different, and I knew exactly why they were different.

I know. It's the little things.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Thursday is my birthday.

I Heart The Publican

Last night was the New Holland Brewer's Dinner at The Publican. I mean, really. Is it strange to be in love with a restaurant? I mean, of course my family and my beloved cats take precedence over my relatively new love affair, but if you have the opportunity to visit The Publican, you'll get what I mean. The dinner was just lovely. Four courses perfectly paired with New Holland beers. There was even one beer that was handcrafted a couple of months ago at the New Holland brewery that was a collaboration between the fine brewers at NH (John and Jeff and company) and Chef Paul Kahan and Director of Beer, Michael McAvena. Courses ranged from heirloom tomatoes with charred burrata (which is a delicious cheese, who knew!) This was paired with Golden Cap Saison style ale, about which I have waxed poetic many times in this blogosphere. Second course was sand dabs with sweetbreads, artichokes, and corn. We were a little iffy about the sweetbreads, as my family and myself are basically Indiana folk who tend to shy away from intestines and such, but they were absolutely delicious. We all had sweetbread seconds. This was paired with the biere de garde collaboration brew -- so good. I might have to go have another one tomorrow evening! Next, prosciutto, the best I have ever tasted, paired with Charkoota Rye, the NH brew made partially with smoked malt and rye. I am developing a taste for smoked malt beers, I must confess. And for my money, there's nothing better with ham, bacon, or other piggy deliciousness. Next beer was Blue Sunday. All I will say about this beer is I want a bottle for my birthday. It is a fantastic oak-aged sour ale. We lapped this up with the main course, confit suckling pig. We finished up with Pilgrim's Dole wheatwine and ricotta ice cream served with almond financier, which is not a banking professional but is in fact sort of a dense pound cake type of thing.

OHHH it was so good! We had such a good time! Such good food and beer! And my new dear love not only has amazing food and beer, which certainly is enough, but there is lovely hand soap at the big handwashing station located OUTSIDE the water closets! Unbelievable, but true. I am so happy to have The Publican as an account. I can't move in, but you can bet I will be there as OFTEN as I can.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

I had New Glarus Spotted Cow on Sunday. Also Crack'd Wheat. Jealous?

Just a quiet night with a Golden Cap and a Bad Cat

That's right, I'm drinking a New Holland Golden Cap Saison.

It's only available for a couple more months now, and it is light and refreshing and delicious and complex all at the same time. My artsy photo of it was not especially successful. The artsy photo of the cat in the sunshine came out better. And the ad for CartoonTown? I was just having a little nostalgia moment.

Today, I could use some shelter . . . so I'm having a Shelter Pale Ale

Tonight, we went to Indiana for my stepdad Bill's retirement party. He is retiring from BP (formerly Amoco) oil refinery after 25-ish years of work. BP stands for British Petroleum, and coincidentally it also stands for my stepdad, whose name is Bill Piechota. And now BP and BP are parting ways. Bill is retiring a bit early due to some convoluted money thing where he will get more money now than if he retired two years from now, and also to take care of my mother. My mother has congestive heart failure and is retaining fluid like nobody's business. And she seems to have a bunch of other issues, mostly heart related. She went into cardiac arrest five or six years ago, and then four years ago she was diagnosed with and battled breast cancer. It's a bad combination -- turns out chemotherapy is extremely cardiotoxic. She got through the cancer, but she has had a rough road ever since.

My mother's and my relationship has always had its ups and downs, probably like most women's relationships with their (opinionated, controlling, stubborn) mother. I have to say, though, that it is really hard to see her this way -- frail, barely able to walk, confused -- she can't even remember recipes! Not at all the big strong German woman who used to insist that we rearrange furniture in the middle of the night. It's really, really weird and harder than I thought, and probably harder than I think, as I am busy even now tamping down the feelings with alcohol.

I chose a Shelter Pale Ale from Dogfish Head, because I couldn't wait to get back tonight to the SHELTER of my home and hearth. Well, we don't really have a hearth. But we will someday. Shelter Pale Ale has not been available in Illinois for a few years -- it is their pretty-straightforward-but-delicious-and-well-executed American Pale, brewed with Delaware barley and hopped with Willamette and Columbus. These hops have a much less astringent, much milder quality than the familiar citrusy Cascade hop. This is a fairly malty pale ale, nicely balanced with just a touch of hop bitterness.

I should have gone out and gotten my mom some Scotch tonight. After the day she had today, she really wanted a drink. So I am thinking of her tonight as I drink my beer, and hope she can get some sleep.

Julie & Julia, and a Saturday without plans

Last night, we went to Brasserie Jo, a local French bistro which is part of the considerable Lettuce Entertain You group of restaurants, after which we went to see JULIE AND JULIA, the film based on the book and blog of the same name, and Julia Child's autobiography. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food and beer. But it was a lovely evening, and the movie was really good! Meryl Streep!! I love her!! Go see it. It is a great movie for those of us who like food-related semi-nonfiction films. At Brasserie Jo, I had some kind of chicken dish off the special Julia Child menu called Poulet a le Diable, or something like that. It was a boneless butterflied chicken breast with lemon and herbs and breadcrumbs and was delicious! And we had some onion tart and beer croquettes, which were like light little beer cheese fried balls. They were great, like French bar food, I wanted a bucket of them to bring home.

The movie was really entertaining. Meryl Streep seems to be having such a good time. Amy Adams is not really like what I think the woman who wrote the blog and book is probably like, but she is cute and perky and you can't help but like her. I am almost finished with the book. After which I am going to read Ellen Burstyn's memoir (which I got at the sidewalk sale last week, if you will recall) and then I think I will read the Julia Child autobiography. Julia Child is a new heroine of mine, as I did not realize she did not discover her talent and passion for food and cooking until she was about the age I am now, and she was one of those people who saw the good in everybody and the best in any situation. I try to do that, but am not always successful. Oh -- BEER! I almost forgot to blog about beer! Last night, I drank a Domaine Du Page French Country Ale, brewed by the Two Brothers brewery out of local Noblesville, Illinois. I probably would have opted for a Belgian beer that I sell, except for the fact that it always seems silly to pay $12.00 for a Chimay Cinq Cents at a restaurant when I have one in my fridge. And the Domaine Du Page is a nice malty food beer. It went well with the chicken, but it went REALLY well with the fancy French fried cheese balls.

Tonight, I am enjoying the afterglow of a Saturday with nothing in particular to do. Had breakfast, tried unsuccessfully to buy Cubs tickets for next week, got Dairy Queen, watched a little of FINDING NEMO, watched the Cubs win (yeah!), and now am watching Mel Brooks' HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1. There is not a lot better than a Saturday with nothing to do. Now, I am drinking a GREAT LAKES GLOCKENSPIEL, which is a dunkel weizenbock style. What does this mean? It is a German-style dark wheat beer (so, a wheat beer brewed with dark roasty malts which produces a light in body, somewhat sweet and caramelly but has the banana and clove notes of a great German wheat beer) The most popular beer I know if this style is the Schneider AVENTINUS. It is a great strong (8%) dark but light in body and flavor, beer for the summertime. When I was a little child, one of my favorite books was entitled GORDON AND HIS GLOCKENSPIEL, so I was familiar with the term. The word is the German for "bells ringing". Gordon's Glockenspiel was one of those xylophone-looking things that marching band percussion sections have. This beer was named for a big cuckoo-clock type chimes and figurines thing in Munich.

What the hell? Why does AMC have so many male-enhancement drug commericals?

Really, go see the movie. And read the book. And eat the food.

A beautiful beer with which to end the week, and a shout-out to my buddies

Tonight, many of my beer colleagues are on their way to the lovely burg of Madison, Wisconsin for the Great Taste of the Midwest. I wish I could be there, but 'twas not to be, not this year. While I am holding down the Chicago fort, I send much love, luck and much fantastic tasting to my friends at Three Floyds, Great Lakes, Founders, Arcadia, New Holland, and all the other breweries taking part. Since my favorite local beers are on my mind, I decided to celebrate the weekend with one of them -- DRAGON'S MILK, from New Holland. It's a barrel-aged stout, aged in Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels. It is lovely from smell to swallow, with lots of vanilla in the nose, oaky and caramelly with a creamy ivory head. At 10% ABV and softly sweet, it is the sort of beer you want to enjoy in your favorite leather chair with your feet up, maybe some interesting creamy cheeses or a dark chocolate chewy brownie, and some reality television such as TOP CHEF. Thanks and congratulations to John, Fred, Phil, Isaac and all my friends at New Holland. I'm hoping to get there for Pork-a-palooza!

Tomorrow, I am having dinner with my friends at Brasserie Jo, the Lettuce Entertain You French brasserie, after which we are seeing JULIE & JULIA. I am newly inspired by Julia Child -- I am reading the book upon which the film is based , and I had no idea she was such a joyful free spirit, and did not start learning to cook until almost my age! So, since I am in a congratulatory mood, congrats to Meryl Streep and Amy Adams -- loved them in DOUBT, looking forward to seeing them in this film. Will blog tomorrow about French food and beer! Au Revoir!

IF you live in Chicago -- GET TICKETS TO SPRING AWAKENINGS!

Tonight, we went to see Spring Awakenings, which is a Broadway musical here on tour. For those who have not heard of it, it won a Tony award, I forget which one. It is a play from the late 1800's which has been adapted and added songs by Duncan Sheik, of "Barely Breathing" fame. The play was banned in the 1800's because it deals with topics like teen sex, S&M, homosexuality -- stuff that is no big deal nowadays when you see it on cable, and even network TV, sometimes, but just wasn't talked about back then. The music is great -- Sheik uses modern-day language in most of the songs, although some of them sound like the lyrics may have been adapted from the original script. The most popular song from the show is the production number, "Totally Fucked". Very catchy. Anyway, I really liked it -- very simple set, not much in the way of costumes, very intelligent staging, and I think the music is original and smart and could listen to it over and over in the car, which is my measure of how good something is. If you can get tickets, get them, go see it.

After we saw the show, we went to popular Chicago theater restaurant Petterino's. I had a Delirium Tremens, a Belgian golden ale which, as all their PR stuff says, has been rated the best beer in the world. And it is good. It is not my FAVORITE Belgian golden or Triple style by any means -- it is pretty sticky sweet, not too much hops -- but it is super popular, in my opinion because of the pink elephant on the label and the painted white bottle. And, it is 8.5% ABV so it is a time-saving beverage!

It was great to sit around after a show talking theater with theater people, little bit of beer talk, spent some nice casual time with people I love but don't see that often. Made me feel like I was in college again, only I did not have to use a fake ID to get a beer.

I'm in the mood for something old and fruity!

I'm having an ECHT KRIEKENBIER from the lovely small family brewery of Verhaeghe. For the most part, this little brewery supplies oud bruin and pilsners to the locals in Vichte, Belgium. They do a variety of oud bruins and flemish sour ales. Echt Kriekenbier is a West-Flemish red-brown ale matured in oak casks, with 150g of cherries added. Cherries add some sweetness to the beer--oud bruins are traditionally pretty sour. I love them, but this is a beer for a palate that has been around the block, beer-wise, a few times. I wouldn't give this to someone you were trying to convert to better beer from, say, Coors Light. It is light in body, mildly effervescent, tart and sour like a dark-cherry extremely complex jolly rancher, and a beautiful dark cherry red color. I actually have cherries in my fridge right now that are the same color. Served cold, it's really refreshing, and now that warm summer weather is finally here, why not ditch the lemony American wheat beers for a day or two and go sour?

Every once in a GREAT while . . . I drink beer that I don't sell.

It's a lazy Sunday. I am so excited to finally have had a lazy Sunday!! Seems like it's been weeks since we had a day with nothing we had to do. So, we had a little breakfast at SVEA -- I had a Swedish Tease, which is two eggs, bacon, and a Swedish pancake. I have to have toast with my over-easy eggs and bacon, so I get toast, too. They don't have a liquor license so no breakfast stout with this meal. ANYWAY . . . then Andersonville had a sidewalk sale!! We got a whole bag of books INCLUDING two books I was planning to buy anyway for only $14.00! Among the treasures: Don't Know Much About the Bible and Ellen Burstyn's memoir. Then, we rummaged through the $1.00 bin of organic bamboo clothing at Skinstinct and got a few things.

And now it's Sunday night . . . and I am having two beers. Both of these I obtained through the magic of the beer-sales trade, as in I traded samples with a couple of salespeople from other companies. It's the most cost-effective way to try stuff! First beer: HARPOON SUMMER BEER. Harpoon has been around since the late 80's, out of Boston and Vermont. And I say of all their beers I have tried: Not bad. I'll drink 'em. They have an year-round IPA and some seasonal offerings. I've had their holiday beer, and I'll drink their IPA if I'm somewhere where they don't sell beer that I sell. And I think they are all -- oooh, I hate to use this word -- very drinkable!! They are not super-complex, the summer beer tastes like light wheat and lemon zest, I sucked it down pretty quickly -- it was good! As I remember, the holiday beer tastes like cinnamon sugar, but I'll taste it again this year and let you know. Second Beer: LUCKY KAT by Magic Hat Brewery. Okay. I like this too. Yes, I have regrettably disparaged the Magic Hat beers on my blog before, but the Cheshire Cat is on the label and the liquid is not half bad. So if you are at a gathering and there is a brightly colored 12-pack of Magic Hat beer -- this is the one I'd reach for.

So proud of my SUESSICAL THE MUSICAL friends

It's a veritable art gallery! Today, I saw two performances of SUESSICAL JR. at the Towle Theater in Hammond. It is a broadway musical condensed and simpified so that younger perfomers can learn it and put it up in a relatively short time. As in, this group had 45 hours. Three weeks, three hours a weekday, to put up an hour and ten minute musical. And, my apologies to all involved with other shows I've seen this year, this was my favorite. The kids ranged in age from seven to 15 years old, and the talent was really remarkable. And, yeah, I am a longtime Dr. Suess aficionado. Just a lovely, sweet show. Entertaining, touching and only seventy minutes? Everything you could want in a Broadway-type musical. Seriously.

I have recently agreed to direct the non-musical show KISSING at the Towle in the Spring of 2010. (2010. Huh.) It will be my goal to keep KISSING under an hour and 20, but we'll have intermission.

So, after a Dr. Suess musical, I reached for a whimsical animal-themed label in my fridge. Three Floyds again -- what can I say? APOCALYPSE COW is a double IPA with an intense citrus character and a malty sweetness augmented with a creaminess provided by the addition of lactose malt sugar. So good! So hoppy, yet so smooth! But it's gone for the season now, so I am afraid you are out of luck if you haven't gotten your hands on one yet. As the immortal Theodore Geisel said, From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!