As part of Philly Beer Week, a celebration of craft beer, I’ll be there next month for a tasting of specialty brews and chocolate foods, both sweet and savory, including a spice rub made with cocoa nibs from the Askinosie artisanal chocolate company  in Springfield, MO.  Carol Stoudt, who just celebrated 20 years in craft beer, will be there, as will Jim Javenkoski and Enrique Suarez of Unibroue. I’ll bring cookbooks, as well as samples of Clipper City’s Holy Sheet dubbel.

Sweet & Savory: Craft Beer & Chocolate

Devil’s Alley

1907 Chestnut St.

215-751-0707

www.devilsalleybarandgrill.com

Sunday, March 9, Noon-3 p.m., $25, RSVP with credit card

A five-course tasting with savory BBQ from chef MichaelYeamans, based on recipes from Lucy Saunders’ cookbooks:

Ancho chile and cocoa rubbed pork tenderloin 

 - Served with Clipper City Holy Sheet

Grilled chicken with Chocolate Mole Sauce 

- Served with Unibroue’s Maudite

Beef brisket with chocolate nibs spice rub 

- Served with Stoudt’s Smooth Hoperator

Chocolate truffle and varietal chocolate

-  Served with Unibroue’s Trois Pistoles and Terrible

Call Devil’s Alley  215-751-0707 to reserve - it’s going to be a truly hot chocolate tasting!

Shane Randel, one of the advocates for better beer in Boise and one of the people profiled in The Best of American Beer & Food, has left the Front Door.   However, the owners promise that craft beer and food will still be featured. Read about it in this article from the Idaho Statesman, which also mentions the many fabulous beer feasts Randel organized with craft brewers such as Full Sail and Lagunitas. 

If you love hoppy American craft brews, then you probably know there’s an acute shortage of hops. At the Milwaukee Ale House’s Midwinter Beer Fest, I spoke with a brewer who talked about importing hops from Argentina! Now, help is at hand with a most generous offer from Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company, brewers of the Samuel Adams line of craft brews. Koch has offered up to 20,000 pounds of hops from the 2007 harvest to sell, at the original cost, to needy craft brewers. The application process is detailed on the website, samueladams.com, under the “hop sharing program” icon. It’s a huge act of generosity, to share a key brewing ingredient when it is so scarce.(I’m also grateful to Jim Koch for the kind things he had to say about the cookbook on the cover - thanks again!)

Tuscarora Mill ”We Cook the Best of American Beer and Food!”

Join me at a beer dinner with Clipper City’s Hugh Sisson and Chef Patrick Dinh, to celebrate craft beer at the table at Tuskies.

Shawn Malone and Chef Dinh, with Hugh Sisson and Tom Cizauskas, bring me back to Virginia for a 7-course tasting.

1)    Lager Steamed Mushroom  Dumplings with Marzhon Sweet and Sour Sauce served with Gold Medal winning Balto MarzHon

2) Angry Lobster Szechuan Style served with Small Craft Warning Uber Pils

3) Grilled Rainbow Trout with Mission  Fig Butter and Green Cardamom Lentils served with fresh cask Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale

4) Fennel Crusted Rack of Lamb with Barley Risotto, Peg Leg Stout Sauce  served with a 2nd fresh cask of Peg Leg Imperial Stout

5) Holy Sheet Braised Short Ribs with Raclette Potatoes served with Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale

6) Cheese Intermezzo of Tilston Point Blue Cheese with nut bread, pear coulis, and frisee served with Below Decks Barleywine (2007 vintage)

7) Coconut cream pie (mmm, a Southern favorite) served with Hang Ten Weizen Dopplebock

Dinner begins at 7pm. Book signing and meet-and-greet at 6:30. Cost is $65 per person, inclusive. Reservations required. Call the Tuscarora Mill at (703) 771-9300 and ask for Shawn or John.

Wednesday, March 5, Tuscarora Mill 

203 Harrison St SE

Leesburg, VA   20175

(703) 771-9300

http://www.tuskies.com

Come meet Hugh Sisson of Clipper City and Chef Ian Morrison of the Royal Mile Pub next month, Tuesday, March 4, as they host a book signing and dinner to celebrate the cookbook.  Chef Ian Morrison creates a six course menu, pairing Clipper City’s beers with recipes from my cookbook, The Best of American Beer and Food. And thanks to Tom Cizauskas who put me in touch with Brewer Hugh Sisson and Chef Ian as I was writing the cookbook last year! 

1) Passed Hors d’oeuvres  paired with the reception ale, Oxford Raspberry Wheat- Stuffed Mushrooms, Smoked Salmon Crostini, and more

2) “Surf N’ Turf” Tasting - Mini Burgers and Cheese Stuffed Shrimp w/ Bacon  (both from Lucy’s book)  served with Gold-Medal winning Balto MarzHon

3) Asiago Cheese Soup with Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale

4) Butter Poached Lobster Tail with  Vanilla Beurre Blanc over Lobster Claw Mashed Potatoes, paired with Small Craft Warning Uber Pils

5) Braised Beef Short Ribs with Pomegranates  accompanied by glazed parsnips and carrots with the Peg Leg Imperial Stout

6) Lemon Thai Basil Sorbet (Ian’s mom’s recipe in Lucy’s book!) with a fresh cask of Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale

Dinner begins at 7pm. Book signing and meet-and-greet starts at 6:30. Cost is $55 per person. Reservations required. Call the Royal Mile Pub at (301) 946-4511 and ask for Chef Ian or Amanda.

Tuesday, March 4 at the Royal Mile Pub

2407 Price Avenue

Wheaton, MD  20902

(301) 946-4511

http://www.royalmilepub.com/ 

Mmm, barley wines. Among the most food-friendly of beer styles, barley wines match up mellifluously with some of the world’s richest and most flavorful foodstuffs. From aged Stilton, duck rillettes, bittersweet chocolate, or even snack foods such as toasted glazed walnuts, I love the peppery nose hit from the higher alcohol found in intensely spirituous barley wines.

Barley Wine Glazed Walnuts

2 cups shelled walnut halves
1/2 cup barley wine
1/2 cup sweet cream butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch ground white pepper or cayenne
2 teaspoons sea salt, finely ground, or to taste
Soak walnuts in barley wine in shallow dish or zip-seal plastic bag at least 1 hour, stirring or turning several times. Place nuts and barley wine mixture in large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, and add butter, brown sugar, pinch of pepper, and finely ground sea salt as desired. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to coat evenly. (Don’t use plastic utensil as the syrup is hot.) Cook and stir until liquid has mostly evaporated and nuts are sticky and glazed. Pour glazed nuts onto nonstick baking sheet, and spread out to cool. When cool enough to handle, break clumps and place in serving bowl. They will be a bit sticky but delicious with a goblet of barley wine.

David from Musings Over a Pint tried the Barleywine Banana Split recipe from the Best of American Beer and Food in time for this month’s session. Here’s his take - with the addition of what sounds like a fantastic chocolate sauce!

Join me on Friday, February 1, at 11:15 AM EST, as the Sirius radio channel devoted to Martha Stewart Everyday Food will be featuring Super Bowl party tips, with host Sandy Gluck. Chefs from every NFL city will be preparing their signature dishes for the Taste of the NFL - and Martha Radio is there in Phoenix. Tune in Friday morning and Saturday evening for recipes, menu ideas and all the goodies for hosting a fun Super Bowl party - including craft beer pairing tips! Here’s the link:

http://www.sirius.com/marthastewartlivingradio

Here’s a review with a nice round-up of Superbowl recipes from food writer Marialisa Calta, published in the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Douglas, Arizona. I like her advice that party food should be self-contained and portable, so as not to obscure the sightlines!

I also got a call from Bill Brand of What’s on Tap, the California Craft Beer Newsletter asking for recommendations on beer and potato chip pairings…and here you go:

Barbecue flavored potato chips - Brown ale - sweet and spicy!

Vinegar and salt flavored potato chips - American wheat ale - fruity esters match with tangy vinegar

Dill flavored potato chips - Bold craft pilsner - hoppy meets herbal on the palate

Beer flavored potato chips - India pale ale - because beer chips taste sweet, salty and malty

Plain potato chips - Farmhouse ale - in homage to frites, which predate the potato chip by, oh, a few centuries.

Add your suggestions…

For decades, Anheuser-Busch has held exclusive beer sponsorships at stadiums, festivals, even culinary cook-offs such as Memphis in May. But now, the biggest brewer in America seems to wish to appear somewhat smaller, more approachable, as a sponsor of next month’s Charleston Food & Wine Festival under the imprimatur of Here’s to Beer. Both the A-B brewmaster and Chef Brent Wertz from the A-B resort, the Kingsmill Spa, will be talking ’bout beer and food pairings at the festival, with celebrity chefs such as Carrie Nahabedian of Naha in Chicago, and Chris Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Hope that the foodies who visit Charleston for the fest will also go out of their way to sample the local Palmetto Brewing Co. Porter or the new COAST Brewing Co.’s HopArt IPA.

We’ll have another craft beer and cheese tasting class at Fromagination in Madison, WI, on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Class size is limited to 15, so sign up early. The theme? Winter warmers, of course. Happy holidays!