Week 6 in the Year of Drinking Adventurously!

The Far East is not being well represented so far!  This week is another fail, I’m afraid.  The beverage to sample this week was supposed to be Huangjiu, which translates to ‘yellow wine’ or ‘yellow liquor’ but really isn’t quite either one.  Like Japanese sake, it’s a unique thing of its own.  Which I hope to try someday, maybe when I get back to San Fransisco for a visit.  I think I should be able to get back on track next week.

So, since I can’t tell you about Huangjiu, I’ve decided to torture you with the beer brewing adventure instead!  The first batch -a Belgian blonde ale- is kegged and ready for consumption.  Most brewers name their beers so this one is called:  Blondes Prefer Gentlemen.  The next batch is an English Ale so I want to name it Naughty Princess Meg! (Not that I’m a princess or anything…)  Here’s what it looks like:

I’m not really going to torture you with the process. You’ll need more than my blog to figure out how to brew your own beer.  Anyway, once it’s all cooked up, it goes into a fermenter, which is nothing more than a glorified 5-gallon bucket with a valve in the lid to release the air bubbles created by the yeast “burping” out CO2.  Next, it gets transferred to a glass “carboy” for secondary fermentation and to let the dissolved particulates settle to the bottom.

Three weeks or so later, it should be ready to go into a keg or bottles and chilled to your desired drinkable temperature.  We were able to drink Blondes Prefer Gentlemen this weekend in celebration of America’s biggest unofficial national holiday:  The Superbowl.

The first Sunday in February is a time of great rejoicing or great sorrow, depending on which football team wins.  It is also a great time of feasting and merrymaking.  At the party we attended, most of the gathered crowd cheered for the Broncos who eventually prevailed.  When your team isn’t playing (we’re in Philadelphia Eagles territory), the party is more about the food and drink. 

One of my few domestic skills is baking.  Not desserts, cakes, pies and the like… No, I bake bread:  Italian loaves, French baguettes, brioche, challah, cinnamon bread, English muffins, AND pizza and stromboli!  And yo, it’s Philly, so the native dish here is the cheese steak. The cheese steak Stromboli (actually 2 of them) I took to the party was filled with a grilled New York strip steak, sauteed peppers and onions, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese.  Served with my own marinara, it was wiped out in minutes!

Anyway, that was my Superbowl weekend.  I hope you all enjoyed yours! Weekend, that is, I know not everyone was glued to the fiasco that passes for the National Championship.  Back to drinking adventurously next week!