I hate to play favorites in the blogosphere. I would love to use the analogy of “Mama Wench” and say that picking a favorite blogger is like picking a favorite child — I love each and every one of them in their own special ways. But that just sounds creepy. Especially since 1. I am younger than the majority of other bloggers and 2. I have an aversion to children and 3. I have been known to try to trade my uterus for a spare liver.

But I digress. The point is this: every beer blogger has his or her own craft beer personality and style of advocating craft beer. Each has their own goals and aspirations for their site. And whereas I respect and appreciate all my fellow bloggers, the human side of me cannot help but pick favorites, here and there, despite my wish to remain as neutral as possible.

Case and point: New Brew Thursday. These guys are more than just hilarious and entertaining video beer bloggers. They are some of the biggest craft beer evangelists that I know and, more importantly, they are some of the best friends I have ever had. And we are talking about true friends, not the kind that you party a lot with and then know nothing about — the kind that open their homes and hearts to you when you need it the most, even if it is the most inopportune moment for them.

Photo credit: John Holzer

A few weeks ago, New Brew Thursday hosted me at their studio, where we enjoyed lots of really amazing craft beers, amazing chicken curry, lots of laughs and talked about the awesomeness of Kern River Brewing and the Just Outstanding IPA. If you haven’t seen the video, it is definitely worth checking out. If you have seen the video, it is definitely worth watching again. And again. And again.

Special thanks to New Brew Thursday for being amazing friends, amazing craft beer advocates and amazing video professionals. I love you all You are soooooooo GOOGLE!

June 17 : Just Outstanding IPA : Kern River Brewing with Special Guest The Beer Wench from New Brew Thursday on Vimeo.

This week everyone’s favorite Mutineer, The Beer Wench ( a.k.a Ashley Routson ), pays the studio a visit and it gets GOOGLE! We crack open a couple of bottles Kern River Brewing Companies Just Outstanding IPA and it lives up to the name. We also enjoy some mighty fine spicy Indian food made by our lovely producer Yvonne.

We crack wise about craft beer, tell a few inside jokes, and have a round about good time. You also get to see Stephen with a partial beard, no beard, and a full beard. Ahh the magic of video.

This weeks master pairing find Stephen back in Dr. Bill’s Kitchen for a lesson on lemons, and a delicious breakfast pairing.

Also this week, our craft beer advocate offers to buy you a beer!

Recently, I was given a rare opportunity to taste a vertical of ORVAL vintages.

The 3 different vintages included:

• April 2009 –> 5 months old
• May 2007 –> 1 year nine months old
• October 2002 –> 7 years old

The 7 year Orval was probably the “oldest” beer that I’ve tasted. I found it rather amusing to drink a beer that was made before I was of legal drinking age.

The Orval Trappist monastery is unique in crafting the only Trappist beer with Brettanomyces. Unlike many wild yeast brewers who use spontaneous fermentation to get the “Brett” characteristic, the Orval brewers inoculate their beer with Brett at bottling. Essentially, this means that Orval is bottle conditioned with Brettanomyces (aka goes through a secondary fermentation in the bottle with wild yeast).

Orval is arguably the most unique of all the Trappist beers. Brasserie d’Orval brews just one beer — Orval. Orval is its own unique style. It is not a Trippel or a Dubbel or a Saison or a Lambic. Orval is Orval. However, Orval itself comes in many different forms. As Orval ages, its characteristics change dramatically — a result of being inoculated with Brett.

Many beers change with age, but none change quite like Orval. Young Orvals are characterized by a fresh hop bouquet, fruity esters and a pronounced bitterness. After 9 months, Orval undergoes a complete change. The once fresh hop bouquet turns into an old-fashioned hop aroma and the pronounced bitterness fades as caramel malt flavors become more prominent. Although “Brett” may start to show signs prior to the 9 month landmark, it really starts to shine through 9 months after bottling.

The Orval recipe is very similar to an English IPA.  Three different malts, two types of hops, Belgian candied sugar, complex fermentation with multiple yeasts, dry-hopping and bottle conditioning all contibute to its great character and complexity. (In addition to using Brett, Orval is also the only Trappist brewery that dry hops).

For me, being able to taste a vertical of three different vintages of Orval was an amazing and rather eye-opening experience. My video does not give it any justice. Either way, I hope that you can find some value in it! Cheers!

ORVAL is currently imported by Merchant Du Vin. For more information on where to find Orval — visit the Merchant Du Vin website! Cheers!

At the end of August, a good friend and I embarked upon the cross country road trip of a lifetime. The road trip had multiple purposes — 1. it was my big move from Florida to California (my whole life actually fit into a Dodge Neon = ridiculous) 2. it was the preliminary launch of our (Shana’s and mine) social media expose called Project Y-ine (a research project focused on studying and observing the drinking habits of Generation Y) and 3. it was an opportunity to travel for beer events all throughout the South.

The one destination that neither of us had ever been to and had been anticipating since the beginning of the trip was Austin, Tx. Austin is the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of The World” and is known for being a young, hip, liberal & very artsy city. And, of course, it is also known for having a kickass food & beverage scene.

Prior to our visit, my friend Chris from the blog Beer Town Austin set up a few beer events and Texas beer tastings with two local bars. One such bar was Uncle Billy’s Brew and Que. They have developed quite the reputation amongst beer geeks — both local and national. The GM, Ryan, was extremely hospitable and took me on a tour of the brewpub brewing facilities.

Here is the video footage of the behind the scenes tour of Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que:

(I apologize in advance for the darkness of the video. This is my first attempt at editing and I know that I have a lot of kinks to work out. Bear with me …)

As you may recall, I recently had the honor of being flown to Charleston, SC to attend an all-expense-paid, super special beer dinner co-hosted by the Culinary Institute of Charleston and Samuel Adams.

Prior to the actual event, I was sent the invitation above — which listed the various courses and pairings for the beer dinner. Other than knowing the tentative list of food & beers, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from the evening.

And any expectations that I might have had, were completely blown out of the water.

There were several highlights of the night –one of which included meeting and conversing with the phenomenal team of chefs from the Culinary Institute of Charleston.

Two such chefs were Chef David Vagasky and Chef Ben Black — the brilliant talent behind the fantastic appetizer spread.

The Wench & Chef David Vagasky

The Wench & Chef Ben Black

At the end of the evening, I got the opportunity to interview the main chef behind the entire orchestration of the Samuel Adams beer dinner, Chef Michael Carmel. Chef Carmel is the Department Chair of Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of Charleston-Trident technical College. He is a Culinary Institute of America graduate, 1978 as well as holds a bachelor’s degree from Long Island University, master’s degree at National-Louis University and he is currently pursuing a doctorate degree.

The music in the background of the video is fairly loud, which makes the interview difficult to hear. This is only my second use of video on my blog, so I will note this for future posts. Oh and disclaimer number two, this interview was unplanned and completely off-the-cusp. So if I stutter, sorry Either way, I hope that at least some of it is entertaining and informative.

THE BEER WENCH INTERVIEWS CHEF MICHAEL CARMEL

CHEERS!