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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Lee's Adventure at Beer Camp

**On Wednesday, September 1st we're debuting the Ghidorah Double IPA from Beer Camp at 5 pm. First 45 people get a keeper glass. The following is Lee's account of making the Ghidorah at Sierra.**

So a few weeks back, I was invited to the Sierra Nevada Brewery to make a batch of beer on their Ultra-High-Tech Small brewhouse. Not knowing all the details, and considering it for...oh...less than 1 second, I caved in to the pressure and said "Hell YES! Absolutely!"



I have a huge amount of respect for Sierra Nevada. Not only for their consistently delicious beers, but a few of my classmates from UC Davis Brewing Science school went to work there right out of school, and relayed their stories of how cool it was to work there.

About a year ago, Sierra Nevada started doing a thing called "Beer Camp" where people can come participate in the beer-making process on their small-but-sophisticated pilot brewhouse, making 10 barrels at a time. They spent an insane amount of money on this Pilot brewhouse, adding all the bells and whistles of a large, automated brewery in order to get the most valid information from the process. This allows them to experiment with the goal of accurately replicating a pilot batch on their larger 200 barrel brewhouse. Genius, right!? Of course. What a great opportunity to see some cool engineering, make some tasty beer, and generally shuck-and-jive with some seriously smart, passionate people.


So, I packed up my tent, a few changes of clothes, my skate board, a couple of technical brewing resources, and headed off to camp!

Upon arrival, our host, Steve Grossman says "What hotel do you have?" Hotel? I thought this was beer camp! And I seriously hoped to test out the CAMP part of the adventure. I mentioned that, being summer in Chico, with warm nights, and plenty of open space, I was prepared to camp. Steve is the brother of the owner of Sierra Nevada, Ken Grossman, so they discussed the camping option. They thought the idea was reasonable enough--they looked at each other and said "That sounds fun. We know a place where you can camp..." and gave me directions.



The next day our crew focused on the recipe, with a lot of emphasis on Hop variety. While we toured the facilities, getting familiar with the brewery grounds by bike-car (equipped with a keg of beer and a tap), we were able to discuss all of the aspects of their production--from Growing barley and hops (they have about 30 acres of barley, and about 9 acres of hops), to treating wastewater, and developing energy from Photovoltaic (solar) and waste-water-developed methane to power hydrogen fuel cells.

On the final day, we set out to brew the Ghidorah Double IPA. But before brewing it, we crossed paths with Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. He was, of course, near the hop storage area, so we discussed some ideas for hopping this batch of beer. Why not get as much info as possible... and if anyone is an authority on hoppy beers, he certainly qualifies.



Once we had the recipe, the brewing process was fairly hands-off. We had the opportunity to add the hops, check out the pipe paths, test gravities, etc. And of course, taste the beer along the way.It would be a few weeks until we heard how the beer was coming along. But it was in safe hands.

Flash forward to September and here we are: we have the final product in-house at Blind Lady. A big 8.2% Double IPA. We are anxious to get familiar with it, and hope you have a chance to as well.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Meet the Brewer La Chouffe Lunch


Meet the Brewer La Chouffe Lunch
September 4th, 2010 - 12:30
$48

First Course, Paired with La Chouffe
House-made Bacon-Wrapped Diver Scallop, Fried Green Tomato,
Succotash, Grilled Prawn, Chilli Aioli
Vegetarian: House-Smoked Tofu, Fried Green Tomatoes, Succotash, Chilli Aioli
Vegan: House-Smoked Tofu, Pickled Corn Relish, Collard Greens

Second Course, Paired With Houblon Chouffe
Mole-Braised Meyer Ranch Short Ribs, Potato Gnocchi, Pepitas, Cotija Cheese, Fried Padron Peppers
Vegetarian/Vegan: Vegetables Stewed in Curry with Potato Gnocchi

Third Course, Paired with McChouffe
Dessert By Rachel Going, To Be Announced

To reserve a spot email Clea@BlindLadyAleHouse.com
Seating is limited. Menu subject to change.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Riding Bikes with the Dutch - Movie Trailer 5

We'll be showing this one Sunday, August 29th with a townie ride prior to th screenings. More details on the facebook event page.
TIME CHANGE
Second screening will now be a 9pm!
Check HERE for more details.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

[pelada] movie screening at BLAH

NEWPORT BEACH 2010 Award Winner Pelada
Comes to San Diego: August 23rd
Plus a Q&A with director and film subject
Gwendolyn Oxenham following the film!
$10 suggested donation.

A film about pick-up soccer in 25 countries around the world. From prisoners in Bolivia to moonshine brewers in Kenya, Pelada is the story of the people who play.

"To get a sense of Pelada's unique motivational quality, take the gut feeling a killer Nike commercial can evoke and imagine riding that high for 90 minutes." -Variety

Watch the trailer here

Monday, August 16, 2010

DrinkAbout Wed, August 18th


Follow DrinkAbout on facebook to stay updated
and watch sddrinkabout.com
...oh, and don't forget to pick up a t-shirt for $12 at BLAH

Friday, August 13, 2010

TOUR DE 5 CITIES


here are the basics so far...
event: Tour de Five Cities - A Benefit for SDCBC
date: sunday, august 15th
Ride time: 9am - lunch
route: aa bikes to silver strand loop end at blind lady - 30+ miles
start place: aa bikes for coffee, air and minor bike adjustments
cost: free
why: we're raising money for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition and all the awesome stuff the do 'cuz someone needs to do it!
how much money: 15% of the days food & drink sales will go to the SDCBC
who: BLAH, AA Bikes and SDCBC

Ride notes: this isn't a hard ride, but it isn't an easy one. We'll ride 20+ miles around the strand, take the 12:30 ferry to downtown and ride to blind lady for lunch. 30+ miles in total.

We updated the map.
Dowload PDF here
or
view it here




Benefit for San Diego County Bicycle Coalition will last entire day!
Sign up on our Facebook Event page to get updates

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Aaron LaMonica at Farmers' Market

Chef Aaron will be at the Adams Ave Farmers' Market this Wednesday (Aug 11th) for a cooking demo. Join him as he shops, preps and serves up some tasty, farm fresh food. What's he gonna make? We don't know, but he's thinking squash, eggplant, peaches and a grill. More info to come.

Who: Chef Aaron LaMonica of Blind Lady Ale House
What: Cooking Demo
When: Wednesday, August 11th at 5pm & 6pm
Where: Adams Ave Farmers' Market

Watch our blog and facebook event page for more detail.