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Brian Petro

World of Beer Craft

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Mmmmm...beer

September 7th is National Beer Lover’s Day, and we are living in a golden age of beer. The whole industry has evolved a great deal in the last thirty years, from a time when the market was dominated by lager beers and the craft beer industry was limited. There were a few notable craft exceptions, such as Yuengling and Anchor Steam, but Sam Adams was a long way off. Craft breweries are now growing at an astounding rate, with 725 being in development as of June of this year, and volume of craft beer brewed has grown 14% through the first half of this year.  That growth shows no sign of stopping as American craft brewers are exploring different flavors (21st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon is a good example) and styles (Dogfish Head revived classic brews through their Ancient Ale series).

The mainstream brewers have been feeling the heat. While they still have a very comfortable share of the overall beer market (Anheuser-Busch ImBev has 53% of it in the U.S.), they recognize the need to diversify their portfolio of beers to adapt to the growth of the craft beer market and the shifting tastes of consumers. Budweiser’s recent acquisition of Goose Island (some feel a reaction to Miller purchasing Leinenkugel’s) shows the power of the craft beer movement. Budweiser went out of their way to ensure the public that Goose Island will still be run in the same way, just with the resources of Anheuser-Busch ImBev behind it.

Beer, in its purest form, can be made with just four ingredients: malted barley, water, yeast, and hops. This was the basis of the Reinheitsgebot, or German Beer Purity Law, one of the first laws dealing with the production of liquor. The staggering number of beers that are available are made with these simple ingredients, prepared in a variety of ways, and in some cases with extra elements and flavors added to the brewing process. That same variety can be broken down into two different overall styles of beer: lagers and ales. All beers, for the most part, fall into one of these two very broad categories.

Lager can only be enjoyed by people with curly moustaches

Lager – This is the most popular beer style in the United States. When you go to a Kroger or Meijer for a beer run, the bulk of the beer that you see are lager beers. From Molson Canadian to Budweiser to Dos Equis, lager beers have a broad range of tastes and flavors. Lager beers are bottom fermenting, which means that the yeast sits at the bottom of the vessel the beer is being fermented in. They also ferment slowly, which means they have to be stored for a while before they are ready for consumption. Lager beers were stored in caves or cellars, developing a beer that is ideally fermented at 40 – 50 degrees Fahrenheit. “Lager” comes from the German word for “store” or “camp”, and that is what the beer does. Most of the lagers you find will contain barley, water, hops, yeast, and rice or corn.  It is the rice and corn that many people who love beer will take exception to. They are both used as fillers, which do not add flavor to the beer, and make the beer a little thinner in the mouth. The rice and corn do add some sugar to the brew for the yeast to grab on to, which increases the alcohol content. Most lagers are in the 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) range, but can get as high as 14%. Lagers strive for consistent and milder flavor.

Ales – Ales are very English, and everything that lagers are not. Ale historically was differentiated from beer by the fact that it did not use hops during the brewing process. Hops were later added to offset the sweetness that is imparted by the malted barley, and they have been used for that purpose ever since.  Not only do the hops add some balance in flavor, they also preserve the beer. Ales are top fermenting, which means the yeast rises to the top and ferments there, becoming part of the foam at the top of the vessel. Ales are fermented at higher temperature, usually between 60 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit. They ferment very quickly at such high temperatures, which make them a little more volatile and full bodied in terms of flavor. Brewed at too high a temperature, it will release other flavors that may be unintended by the brewer.  Most of the ales you will find are pale ales, such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Great Lakes Brewing Company Burning River. Budweiser American Ale is one of the more full bodied ales at your local grocer. Ales range from 3% to 8% ABV, with styles that can go somewhat higher. Ales have a fuller flavor profile, from sweet with more malt or spicier or bitter with more hops. They can also be served at closer to room temperature with little loss of flavor.

The following beer types fall under one of the major styles. You can easily find any of these types in your local grocery store.

India Pale Ale (IPA) – India Pale Ales have been booming in the stores, with most craft breweries creating this intensely flavorful style of beer. Magic Hat’s 9 Hex IPA, Moerlein’s Northern Liberties IPA (from Cincinnati), and Great Lakes Brewing Company Commodore Perry are more popular versions of this type of ale. IPAs were created when English brewers needed to move vast amounts of ale from England to India. The traditional ales Englishmen enjoyed would spoil on the long journey, giving the men there a bad beer to drink. It was discovered that hops helped to preserve the freshness of the beer on the long journey, so the new ales they brewed has higher levels of hops and malt in them, but the hops usually won out. IPAs have a very bitter character to them, depending on the amount of hops in the brew. American IPAs have a little bit more of a grapefruit or citrus note, due to the type of hops that we grow in America. This is a beer style for someone looking for bold flavors with a little more kick, since many IPAs are 6 – 9% ABV.

Hoegaarden's special glass

Witbier – When you are looking for a witbier (“white beer”), look no further than Coor’s Blue Moon for a very popular example of this type of ale. Anheuser-Busch’s Shock Top and Hoegaarden’s Original White Ale are also great examples of this style, made popular in Belgium and Germany. These ales are typically cloudy and light in appearance, due to the use of unfiltered wheat from the brewing process being in the container. Witbier’s flavors come from not only the wheat and high level of carbonation, but also the coriander, orange peel, and other spices that are added during fermentation. Many people like to drink these beers with either an orange or lemon, but that can obscure some of the more subtle flavors. Hoegaarden has even developed its own glass in which to enjoy their beer best. Witbiers are typically 4 – 6% ABV, but some of them can get as high as 10%.

Stouts – Before the barley is malted (allowed to germinate a little before it is stopped, which helps release the sugars for fermenting), it is roasted, which gives the beer a much darker color and deeper, richer flavor. That rich, roasted flavor is often enhanced in American stouts through the addition of chocolate or coffee flavors, sometimes hops are also added to enrich the flavors. These ales are deep brown or brownish red, reflecting the roasted quality of the barley used. The phrase “stout” and “porter” are often used interchangeably, though porters use different types of malts and aren’t always roasted. The most famous stout in the U.S. is Guinness, but many craft brewers also offer their own stouts, like Mt. Carmel Stout. Stouts usually do not have a great deal of sugars in them while they are fermenting, which often lead to lower ABVs in the 4 – 7% range. However, some stouts can get as high as 10 % ABV.

All of the types of beer mentioned above can be found at your local grocery, as can all of the beers mentioned. These five styles and types are the most popular I found at the stores I went to, but by no means is a complete list of beers. If you are looking to expand your palate with expert guidance, there are a few great places to do so. The Trolley Stop in the Oregon District has a beer tasting for $20 on the first Wednesday of every month. Nine tastes of beer, plus a great education on beer styles and how to taste. Archer’s Tavern cracks open a new craft beer keg every Wednesday night at 5 PM, and offer a great menu to boot. Arrow Wine also has a beer tasting from 5 to 7 PM every Friday night, offering five beer samples to start your weekend off right. Celebrate the day by checking out a new beer, or enjoying one of your favorites at your local bar. Cheers!

Two at the Very Most

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Martini anyone?

It seems highly appropriate that National Martini Day also falls on Father’s Day; dads of the 50’s and 60’s (now granddads) enjoyed this cocktail in its prime. It was a manly drink, right up there with brandy and whiskey. It was not only the drink of entertainers and people who were hip, it was the drink of powerful and influential men as well. You could see many of the members of the Rat Pack (most notably Dean Martin) sipping on them as well as two of the heads of the Allied forces, FDR and Winston Churchill. Churchill was very particular about his martinis; it was chilled gin in a cocktail glass, while giving a nod to a bottle of vermouth in the corner of the room. The phrase “a three martini lunch” even comes from this era, when executives would go out and drink fairly heavily at lunch, then come back and do a solid(ish) afternoons work. Vodka helped with that particular lunch choice, since you could come back from it without smelling of juniper. It was when men were real men, women were real women, and cocktails were real cocktails. It wasn’t too long after this era that the cocktail went into semi-obscurity.

Interestingly enough, it was a group of four women that brought the martini craze back in full force, and started a debate among bar tenders and mixologists about what a martini is. The ladies in Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw especially, brought into the limelight a martini that was created in the 1970’s, the Cosmopolitan. It was the opposite of the “manly” drink of the 50’s; sweet, fruity, and pink. Instead of being consumed by the powerful and influential men of the day, it was being consumed by the women other women wanted to be like and could relate to. This brought out an entire group of cocktails chilled and served in the iconic cocktail glass (Therapy Café has a pretty impressive list of them), and a debate about what a martini actually is.

Are you a martini or not?

The debate rages on in various articles and conversations about what a martini actually is. Purists will say that a martini is a combination of two ounces of gin, a half ounce of dry vermouth, well chilled and served in a cocktail glass. They may also grudgingly admit to vodka being substituted for the gin. But, they will balk at even the inference that a Cosmopolitan or an Apple Martini are true martinis. They are cocktails served in a fancy glass. The other camp understands the flexibility (and occasional laziness) of the English language. Martini has come to represent a category of cocktails, served in a chilled cocktail glass, with typically a hefty amount of spirits and a scant amount of mixer. This definition allows for the wide variety of flavors and color we can currently find on cocktail menus across the Miami Valley. I was in the former camp, but have come around to the latter camp. A martini is a fixture of the bar scene, and has done the leg work to transcend the original definition of the drink.

The origins of the martini are shrouded in a little mystery. Some say it was created in Italy, some say it was created in New York. The most common details state that our tale begins back in the 1860’s, near the town of Martinez, on the outskirts of San Francisco. The drink was (possibly) made for the local miners (or someone traveling to the local mines) at the Occidental Hotel. It was composed of two ounces of sweet vermouth, one ounce of gin, a little maraschino juice, and a dash of bitters. This original recipe was made with Martini and Rossi vermouth, which may be where they pulled the eventual name from (it was originally requested as a Martinez). It may have also been created by the famous Jerry Thomas, who was the greatest bar tender of his day, and one of the reasons we have so many recipes from the era. By the beginning of the 20th century, it had simplified to equal parts gin and dry vermouth, with a little bit of orange bitters thrown in for good measure. We would now call that a wet martini. As the century progressed, and we decided alcohol was bad, the martini became drier and drier, eventually settling on a recipe of about a 5:1 ratio of gin to vermouth. Some people (like Churchill) have removed the vermouth entirely, choosing to just have a well chilled glass of gin in a fancy glass, also known as a dry martini. It wasn’t too long after World War Two that vodka hit the scene, and any cocktail that had gin in it quickly developed a vodka counterpart, including the martini.

Bond...James Bond

Before Carrie Bradshaw thrust the Cosmo into national prominence, James Bond was popularizing little known vodka based martinis. Ian Fleming created his own special martini in his first James Bond book (Casino Royale), called the Vesper. As we all know, the man likes his martinis “shaken, not stirred”. Why does it matter how the ingredients get mixed? It comes back to the fact that, at the heart of it, liquors are chemicals. And, what you are doing when you are shaking versus stirring is affecting the flavor of the drink through temperature and altering density. Shaking is a violent action, and it chills the liquors inside the tin at a much quicker rate. It also breaks up the vermouth a little more, helping it to blend better into the vodka or gin (like shaking dressing after it settled). It adds more oxygen and water to the drink, making the drink feel a little lighter as it goes over your tongue. If you want a colder, lighter drink, shake it. If you are looking for a drink where the flavor is richer, and there is much less dilution, then stirring is the way to go. You will also end up with less ice in the drink, as shaking will break off little shards of ice that the strainer will not catch. The ice and chilling is very important to the modern martini. It adds just enough water to take away some of the bite of the gin and the vermouth.

Of course, you discerning readers would like to know where in the Dayton area you can find a good one. Let’s start on Wednesday, where you can go to the aforementioned Therapy Café and enjoy their Martini Wednesday, where you can enjoy low cost martinis all night. You can then move to the Belmont area with Martini Thursdays at Tempest Lounge, where they will be offering more inexpensive martinis for you to test out. Of course, when you think martini, you think Germany. Boulevard Haus in the Oregon District also has a nice list of flavorful martinis. If you are looking for a classic martini, always get a good vodka (Buckeye is a good and local one), or a good gin (find Watershed Gin if you want to stay in Ohio, or my personal favorite, Hendricks), Chill it well, and sip slowly. And in the immortal words of James Thurber: “One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.” Happy Father’s Day!

Recipes for you to try at home:

The Martinez (The Original)

2 oz. Sweet Vermouth
1 oz. Plymouth Gin (any fine gin will do)
1 dash of Agnostura Bitters
2 dashes Maraschino

Combine all of the ingredients into a tall mixing glass. Stir for thirty seconds to properly chill, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Martini (Modern Version)

The traditional cocktail glass

1.5 oz. Gin (or Vodka, your choice)
.5 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Pratt and Martini and Rossi are both good brands)

Combine all of the ingredients into a tall mixing glass. Stir for thirty seconds to properly chill, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Typical garnishes include Spanish olives, cocktail onions (a Gibson), or a twist of lemon. Adding and ounce of olive juice (or olive juice to taste) will make it dirty.

The Cosmopolitan (Modern Classic)

1.25 oz. Vodka (Buckeye is good, Absolut Citron will enhance the citrus flavor)
.5 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice
.5 oz. Orange Liqueur
1 oz. Cranberry juice
1 Wedge of lemon (garnish)

Combine all of the ingredients into a tall mixing glass. Stir for thirty seconds to properly chill, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Run the wedge of lemon around the rim of the glass, and then cut the meat of the lemon out of the center. Twist over the cocktail so it looks like a pig’s tail, drop it in.

Silk in a Glass

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Louis XIII

T-Pain wants to buy you a draaaank.

During T-Pain’s song “Buy U A Drank”, Yung Joc discusses buying a few shots of Louis XIII cognac for himself and a lady friend. If you are going to discuss cognac, one of the things that should be included is the role that hip hop music played in not only increasing the visibility of the liquor, but how it revived a dying industry. In the late 1990’s, cognac sales were evaporating. The Asian markets, cognac’s largest market at the time, were in a tail spin, and Europeans were discovering the joys of single malt scotch. No one was particularly interested in this painstakingly made, elegant, complicated spirit. Then almost overnight, with the release of Busta Rhymes’ “Pass the Courvosier”, cognac was jumping up the liquor charts, hitting over $1 billion in sales in just the U.S.A. alone by 2003. Cognac was back, and a small region in France could not be happier.

Cognac has always enjoyed a reputation of being a high class, refined drink. (I have yet to hear the story of crazy college benders on cognac.) Part of the reason it is such a high cost drink is the strict limitations that are put upon it by the French government. There are only three grapes that can be used to make 90% of what goes in a bottle of cognac: Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche, and Colombard. There are even restrictions on what grapes can make up that last 10%. Those grapes must be grown in a region of France about 310 sq. mi., or a little smaller than Indianapolis, IN. The chalky soil of the region (and the more and softer the chalk, the better) produces a grape that is higher in acid. This grape would produce a terrible wine, but it is perfect for distilling. The distillation of cognac can only be done from November through March, and must be done in copper pot stills, called alembics. Copper is used because it will not change the flavor of the product being produced in it. Remember, all of this is legally required.

The aging process

That is just growing it. Now we can start creating it. At first, the growers pick and squeeze the grapes in October as if they were producing wine. For two to three weeks, the grape juice gets to just relax and ferment like nature intended. Ultimately it produces a low alcohol (7-8% ABV), acidic wine they then run through the pot still, extracting the eau-de-vie (water of life), getting rid of the too weak and too strong flavors, and finally ending up at a respectable, 70% ABV beverage. All of this has to be (legally) finished by March 31st following the October harvest. This liquid ambrosia is then poured into charred oaken casks where it straightens up, and after two years, is free to become the finest spirit in the world. During the aging process, the raw spirit absorbs the flavor of the oak and gets deeper in color. Oak is not air tight, either. Millions of bottles of cognac evaporate every year during the maturation process, a portion that cognac makers refer to as the “angel’s share”. Angels like it so much that they are the second largest market for cognac, after the United States. The longer the eau-de-vie is allowed to stay in the cask, the deeper and richer the final product is going to be. While the minimum is two years, most cognacs are aged far longer than that, some going as long as fifty years in the cask.

After two paragraphs, you would think the story about creating cognac was complete. There is one final phase: blending. You do not simply crack open a cask and start bottling it. Every house that makes cognac has a master blender, whose job it is to taste and smell each of the different liquids coming out of the casks, across a wide variety of years and regions, and then combines them into a single spirit with a consistent taste. As the current cellar master at Remy Martin puts it, she “has to manage the present, and predict the future” when preparing the blends. Each blend is then married and then bottled, though sometimes it is allowed some time to fully blend in large glass storage units before bottling for the public. After it is bottled, it gets labeled. Remember the blending part? When you look on a bottle of cognac, it is going to have one of the following designations:

  • VS – Very Special – the youngest cognac in the blend is two years old
  • VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale – the youngest cognac in the blend was stored at least four years, usually in aged oak
  • XO – Extra Old – the youngest cognac in the blend was stored for at least six years, usually closer to fifteen and up

There are other designations, such as Napoleon (a grade equal to XO), Extra (usually older than an XO), or Hors d’âge (equal to XO, but indicates a longer time in the cask). Most of these are more for marketing, to let people know how much longer the cognac as been in touch with the oak.

The traditional tulip glass

Time for those shots Yung Joc bought us. Cognac is not just something you experience only on the taste buds, but with your nose and eyes as well. Traditionally, the best way to enjoy a cognac is in a tulip shaped glass. A brandy snifter can do the same work, but it does not have the extra lip of glass that is helpful for the full cognac experience, as we shall read shortly. After pouring it, you can first start by taking in the color. Remember, the longer a cognac has been aged, the richer and deeper the color. The youngest are a light gold color; the oldest can be amber or even red. After you have enjoyed the color, put it up to your nose and smell it, enjoying the fruity, oaky, and earthy aromas often associated with the liquor. The tulip glass aids in this, driving the bouquet straight to the nose. As you are drinking it in with your eyes and nose, your hand is warming up the cognac, releasing even more of the flavor. After you have done all of this, bring it to your lips and savor away.

But what to savor? And where? The big four when it comes to cognac are Hennessy, Remy Martin, Courvoisier, and Martell. You can find at least one in most bars, usually a VS, just in case someone asks. L’Auberge has one of the widest selections in the area, with Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Remy Martin in VS, VSOP, and XO. Some places like Fleming’s may have Louis XIII, but the finest cognacs are hard to find in the area. All of the bartenders and managers I spoke to said the same thing: there is not much of a demand for them. But, there are enough good ones out there that you should be able to find one to try. But if you do want to try Louis XIII, let T-Pain buy it for you. It really is $150 a pour.

If you are looking to try one in a cocktail, here is an oldie but a goodie. It was listed in Imbibe’s Top 25 Most Influential cocktails of all time: the Sidecar.

The Sidecar

1 oz. cognac (VS or VSOP’s are recommended for cocktails. I would try Remy Martin.)
1 oz. orange liqueur
1 oz. lemon juice
Cracked Ice
Pour ingredients into a shaker, shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sugared rim is optional.

Hecho en Mexico – The Story of Tequila

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Humorous tequila image

Not yet, but the day is young...

Most people have one of two reactions when they think about tequila. The first reaction is “You mean that delicious nectar that is grown and distilled in Mexico? Bring me a shot of it on the rocks, my good man!” The second reaction is a feeling of nausea, a tentative look towards the restroom, and blurry memories of a night on the town. The last thing you remember is someone shouting “Hey, let’s shoot some tequila!”

It is Cinco de Mayo, and we are going to celebrate all things Mexican. And as far as liquors go, it does not get any more Mexican than tequila. Tequila is the first distilled spirit on the North American continent, and we have the Spaniards to thank for that. When the conquistadors invaded Mexico in the 16th century, they had more pressing problems than making nice with the natives and establishing a place to stay: it is a long trip across the Atlantic, and they needed a stiff drink. The stuff the natives had, called pulque, tasted awful. The Spaniards applied some distilling techniques they used to create brandy and turned the stuff drinkable, developing what we  know as mescal.

Mescal is the broader liquor category that tequila falls into. Think sparkling wine and champagne. Tequila, however, has some pretty strict standards that must be adhered to before the liquid inside can be called tequila. First, the agave used to make the tequila must be the Weber’s blue agave, a plant that can get over 6 feet high. Secondly, that plant must be grown in the Jalisco state in Western Mexico. Third, at least 51% of the liquor in the bottle has to come from the agave; the rest can be from other plants. The best tequilas are 100% blue agave, and most will announce that on the label. All of this is regulated and inspected by the Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM), which controls whether or not the bottle you buy is full of tequila or mescal. If you do not see NOM on the label, usually with a number near it, you do not have real tequila. These are all standards that are enforced by international law.

And before we move along, let us address the worm. The worm is never, ever, ever in tequila. If you find a worm in your bottle, you have a mescal, and a poor one at that. Some distilleries will add the worm (a larval form of a moth), to the bottle as a gimmick, but generally it is a bad sign if it slips into your bottle unannounced. Fortunately, they do not drink much while they are in there, and if you choose to eat it, you add some protein to your diet.

Decisions, decisions...

What  type of tequila do you like to drink? Were you aware there were types? If not, here is a list of the officially recognized types of tequila:

  • Silver (blanco) – if it is aged at all, it is for two months in steel or neutral oak barrels. Typically, it is bottled right after distillation.
  • Gold (oro) – sometimes known as joven (young), it is a blend of blanco and reposado tequilas.
  • Rested (reposado) – aged a minimum of two months, a maximum of one year, in oak barrels.
  • Aged (anejo) – aged a minimum of one year, but less than three years, in small oak barrels.
  • Extra Aged (extra anejo) – aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels

Most bars tend to carry blanco, oro, and reposado for your drinking pleasure. The more aged the tequila, the more the agave taste becomes mellowed by the contact with the wood. You will only find anejo and up in better Mexican restaurants and better restaurants in general.

When you mention sipping tequila on the rocks, as I prefer to do, most people will make a horrible face and look at you oddly. Because we all know how to drink tequila: you lick your hand between the thumb and forefinger, put some salt on it, lick the salt, shoot the tequila, and slam a lime wedge (or a lemon wedge, depending on where you are from). This is also known as using training wheels. You read that right, training wheels. And most of us, when we began drinking it, were trying to kill the awful taste of cheap tequila. But over the last few decades tequila has really matured. Brands like Patron, Cabo Wabo, 1800, Don Julio, and Jose Cuervo among many others have brought the reputation of tequila up from a hard party drink to a sophisticated sipping drink. Other lesser known (and well rated) brands include el Espolon, Tezon, Herradura, and Partida. Finding them in restaurants may be more difficult, but well worth the search.

Everyone in Dayton knows where to get the best margarita: Elsa’s Bad Juan rises head and shoulders above all other margaritas around these parts. Pepito’s in Kettering also makes a strong run at the top, at least according to activedayton.com’s latest “Best of” polls. And speaking of Best of  be sure and check out some of these great  Cinco de Mayo deals around the city. If you are going to stay home and party, here are two tequila drinks you can mix for you and your guests.

Salted rim, lime garnished margartiaThe Traditional Margarita

1.5 oz. tequila
1 oz. triple sec
.5 oz. lime juice
Salt
Lime wedge

Using the lime wedge, wet the edge of the margarita glass you will be drinking from. On a plate, spread out a layer of salt, then run the outside of the wetted rim through the salt to create a rim. In a cocktail shaker, combine the tequila, triple sec, and lime juice with ice and shake well. Strain the shaken ingredients into the glass over ice. Enjoy.

This recipe puts a great deal of emphasis on the flavor of the tequila. If you want something with a little less of that flavor, add 2 to 4 oz. sweet and sour mix, depending on your tastes.

Now, if we are really celebrating Mexico and her heritage, how about trying the most popular tequila based drink south of the border, the Paloma.

The Paloma

2 oz. tequila
.5 oz. lime juice
Grapefruit soda (go with Jarritos for the holiday)

In a tall glass, combine the tequila and lime juice. Add your ice, then top it off with the grapefruit soda. Jarritos is available at Kroger, so finding it should not be difficult. Some recipes call for a pinch of salt as well, or a salt rimmed glass.

Do you know a place that secretly has amazing margaritas? Or has an exceptional selection of tequilas to try? Leave a comment down below and share the wisdom with the rest of us. After all, when Cinco de Mayo is all said and done, this may be the only way we can remember where we ended the evening. Enjoy!

Friday Night Lites

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Mexican VacationSummer is right around the corner, and we all know what that means. Warm weather, going out and having a good time, pool parties with friends…and of course, vacations! Which also means now is the time that we are revisiting those New Year’s Eve resolutions (maybe renewing them for Lent?) to eat better and start working out a little more. So there goes all the little pleasures; bread, desserts, and of course, drinks. Everyone knows that you have to cut out alcohol if you want to lose weight and live healthier, right?

While there are pros and cons to alcohol consumption from a general health standpoint, we want to look good in a bathing suit at the moment. Right now, let’s just stick to the info that matters: calories and carbohydrates. The calories in alcohol are, for the most part, empty. You do not get an energy boost from them, and they do not really fill you up. But, calories are calories, and they all count to your caloric intake for the day. As far as carbohydrates go, not all liquors contain them. Beer, liqueurs, and wines are the major culprits when it comes to carbohydrates, so they are avoidable during a night on the town. But without the carbohydrates (which at least provide a little actual energy), that makes the calories even emptier.

All of that sounds like bad news. Until we start looking closer at what you are drinking. Let’s start with the best bang for your caloric buck, wine. The breadth of wines you can go out and find is amazing, containing a wide variety of flavor profiles; everything from deep and peppery to light and fruity. At a standard serving of 5 oz., red and white wines contain a scant 120 calories. Just stay out of the reach of dessert wines, which will hit you in the gut with 200 calories for the same serving.  The only, very slight drawback to wine could be the fact that every serving has a carb or two.  Literally, they carry one or two grams of carbohydrates per glass.

If you are hitting the Atkins or any other low-carb sort of diet, start turning your gaze towards the hard liquors like rum, whiskey, vodka, and gin. All of these drinks contain zero carbohydrates. They do carry a higher calorie count than wine does, handing out about 100 calories per standard (1.5 oz.) shot. And if you are not a straight liquor drinker, you can add soda water, water or diet soda to reduce the impact on your taste buds without putting additional stress on your belt. If that does still not taste right, add a splash of fruit juice. Lemon or lime juice will add more flavor than anything else to the mix and you can pull in the heavy hitters like orange juice or cranberry juice if needed. Remember, just a splash to get the flavor in.

Beer is next in the hierarchy of what to drink while you are watching your weight. You can find quite a few light beers to sip in any bar or restaurant you go to. You can start at 55 calorie, 1.9 g. of carbs Bud Select 55, and get all the way to Sam Adams Light with 119 calories and 9.6 g. of carbs if you want to stay on the lighter side of the beer world. By and large, the average light beer is going to have about 100 calories and 5 g. of carbohydrates per 12 oz. bottle. You are drinking much more by volume than you are with wines and liquor, which is also a benefit if you are looking for something to just sip most of the night.

Stay as far away as you can from liqueurs. Shun them at all costs. Liqueur examples are Godiva Chocolate, DeKuyper Peachtree Schnapps, and Jaegermeister. While their calorie range varies from 70 to 130, their carbohydrate count is crazy, with most stuffing in about 10 g. of carbs. And that is in a 1.5 oz. serving. What they add to most of your drinks (outside extra minutes on the treadmill) is flavor. And while a chocolate martini or Mai Tai sound absolutely lovely, the respective 438 and 350 calories they add to your evening may not strike the right chord with your exercise regiment. A chocolate martini, from a calorie standpoint, is roughly equivalent to eating four Godiva dark chocolate truffles, or one McDonald’s double cheeseburger.

So what is a party animal to do? Here are a few tips to drink smarter while trying to shed some lbs.:

1. Have a glass of water/diet soda between each cocktail.Classic Margarita
Not only will this help reduce how quickly you are drinking (and thus taking in more fuel to burn), it will also mitigate the hangover you will have the next day. Working out with a severe headache and slight nausea is not a good time, and if you do, it is going to be a poor work out. Just trust me on this one.

2. Drink simple cocktails. If you are a fan of the Skinny Girl Margarita, it has around 100 calories in it. Why? It has only silver tequila, a splash of orange liqueur, and lime juice. It is just over 2 oz. in the glass, but has the punch of the standard 8 oz. margarita with about one third of the calories. Most of the modern cocktails we enjoy are huge (compared to most classic cocktails), so there is much more filler. The filler is where you are getting the calories. You can also order many cocktails short, which will give you less mixer. Cut down the filler, cut down the calories.  If you want more options for skinny drinks, there are quite a few here.

3. Make a drinking plan for the night, and stick to it. You have a work out regiment. When you make dinner, you know what you are going to make. When you go out for the evening, budget how many cocktails you will be having. That way you know how many calories you will be taking in and can plan some of your other activities around it.

Alcohol and dieting do not need to be mutually exclusive. You can still have some drinks with your friends while getting ready for summer. If you are looking in the area, check out Fleming’s at The Greene, who has a “5 for $6 at 7” bar menu that includes a few 100 calorie drinks. On Monday nights, Therapy Café offers a range of skinny cocktails. They are limited now to Mondays, but if demand goes up, who knows what they will do. If you know of any others, feel free to share them in the comments section below. See you on the beach!



The Darker, Richer Side Of The Beer Spectrum, The Stout.

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My brother and I were hanging out with an Ireland native a few years back, chatting and drinking beer. St. Patrick ’s Day was right around the corner, and  we asked him if the Irish drink green beer, like we do here in the United States. He looked at us and answered “No self respecting Irishman would be caught drinking a beer light enough to be dyed green.” St. Patrick ’s Day is the perfect opportunity to introduce yourself to the darker, richer side of the beer spectrum, the stout.

Initially, stout referred to any beer that was stronger than normal. For years, stout pale ales and brown ales were brewed in many parts of England. Stout was first associated with the darker,  porter style of beer in London in the 18th century by Arthur Guinness, and eventually instead of referring to the drink as “stout porter”, people started referring to the drink as “stout”. There is very little difference today between stouts and porters. Porters tend to use malted barley, and stouts use unmalted roasted barley. Some say it is the amount of water that is added when brewing. There really is no consensus at to a true difference. What you do get from stouts (and porters) is generally a deep, rich, roasted flavor with a hint of bitterness, much like you would get from a full bodied coffee or a dark chocolate.

Stouts have been gaining popularity in recent years, but there are still plenty of misconceptions about it. Many of them came from marketing campaigns before calories and carbs were bad. Stouts were long advertised as filling and healthful, especially milk stouts (brewed with milk sugars, which do not ferment well and lower the alcohol content) and oatmeal stouts (which adds oatmeal to the list of ingredients, giving it a sweeter taste and thicker feel). They were sold to athletes, workers, and nursing mothers because of their high carbohydrate content. While stouts still have a higher than average amounts of carbs, the calorie count and alcohol content can be relatively low. Guinness weighs in at 4.1% alcohol by volume (ABV), which is about the same as you would get in a Bud Light. Guinness also has just sixteen more calories than Bud Light in a 12 oz. bottle. Guinness is almost as light as Bud Light.

Guinness has been judiciously used in this article because when people think of stout, they think of Guinness. If you are going out for St. Pats that is probably the stout you have on your mind, but hold up. Maybe you should explore a little. Chappy’s Tap Room and Grille has a wide range of stouts, such as Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (a personal favorite), Rogue Imperial Stout, and much hailed Lion Stout. If you are a little closer to downtown, South Park Tavern has its own selection of great beers, including Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and Murphy’s (a little lighter and sweeter than Guinness). If you are planning a little party at your place, you can stock up at Belmont Party Supply, where they have a full range of fine stouts from all over the world. Mt. Carmel Stout and Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Edmund Fitzgerald are delicious Ohio stouts, and Samuel Adams Imperial Stout is a smooth, rich treat for your taste buds. Southern Tier Brewery, also available at Belmont, offers delicacies such as Chokolat, Crème Brule, and Mokah stouts.

If you do plan on going out and celebrating with a traditional pint of fresh poured Guinness, then heading over to The Dublin Pub should be your location of choice. They pride themselves on pouring the Perfect Pint, and it is a very unique ritual to drinking Guinness. It takes 119 seconds to pour it, and The Dublin Pub has made it part of their art. Their kegs have the appropriate blend of nitrogen and carbon dioxide to ensure the waterfall effect that is also part of pouring the Perfect Pint. If you are still on the fence about trying a straight stout, The Dublin Pub also offers quite a few variations. Guinness layers nicely on a variety of beers, such as hard cider (Black Velvet or a Snakebite), Blue Moon (Black and Blue), Newcastle (Black Castle or Black and Brown), or the traditional Bass (Black and Tan). The young lady I spoke with said they would layer Guinness on most any beer they had, as long as you ask nicely.

On St. Patrick’s Day, we get to be a little Irish. Celebrate that little part of by introducing yourself to a traditional Irish beer. There are plenty of options out there, and many establishments have their beer lists online for you to look over.  And remember, no beers that are dyed green. Slainte!