Goose Island Clybourn’s “Beer Academy”

Just after Black Friday, I wrote a long post with some substantial tasting notes about beer. I enjoyed writing it, but I also thought I came off as a bit of a beer wanker. Interestingly, my friend Jen wrote a comment demanding I go taste more things and write about them. Apparently she liked the commentary. Given her demands, I thought maybe I’d share a bit about how I learned to taste beers and write ’em up like that.

I learned to taste by trying a ton of beers. I learned to talk about taste and understand what I am (was) tasting by trying to hit every single Beer Academy Goose Island Clybourn has put on for the last two years. I have not, in fact, managed to attend all of them.… Continue reading →

So, you want to give a coffee gift…

Hi there, all. Bill here. I don’t have much to say on the blog these days, but Tasha asked me to make this post. I’ve had a few people ask me recently about gifting coffee stuff to people in their lives, and I wrote a pretty long email to one of them recently that contained my thoughts. Here’s an edited version thereof.

So, a couple of caveats before I start: I assume the person you’re purchasing for is into schmancy coffee to some degree. Someone who just likes a basic cup of coffee may not appreciate a bunch of this, but who knows? You might just start them onto a new hobby and some better coffee to drink. Also, I have no idea what your budget is: I’ll mention roughly how expensive things are, but that’s all you get.… Continue reading →

Defining? Evolving? Adjusting? Adapting? Something.

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  • Friday, December 7, 2012
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Even though it hasn’t been but a few days since I last wrote about food, I still feel as if I haven’t done so in ages. Undoubtedly, this is because I have not posted a recipe for months. Heck, as I type this, I realize I cannot remember the last time I did.

It’s difficult. I’ve long said, “I don’t really have a food blog.” It hasn’t felt right to claim “food blogger” status, even though I keep a blog, and it’s mostly about food. To me, “food blog” has always meant “an internet place were a person posts the recipes they’ve invented and love.”

This place? It’s not that. I’ve posted a few recipes I just kind of threw together, but I always make it very clear that what I did was basically on a whim and not tested in any way.… Continue reading →

This Must Be Why Professional Food Critics Go Twice.

As I type this, I’m eating my leftovers from last night’s dinner at Girl and the Goat. I’m glad we finally made it there. We’ve been interested in trying this restaurant since they opened about two years ago but, until last night, we hadn’t ever managed. Bill almost had the chance to go once (and on the company dime, no less!), but someone else scuttled that. He’s always been a touch grumpy about that.

I can’t say I blame him. But I’d’ve envied the hell out of him if he had gone.

Yesterday morning, he was looking at their online reservation form and found early dinner reservations. After confirming we had no dinner plans, he snapped up those reservations and told me he’d meet me at home to head out at 5:15pm.… Continue reading →

You Know You Want It – Homebrew and Home-Cookin’. (Giveaway)

I have this growler of homebrew. It contains a porter, brewed for me by a good friend about a year ago. I have one or two 12 oz bottles of the porter left too, but the growler is what I need to focus on right now.

You see, a growler is a lot of beer. Far more than one person ought to drink in one sitting. (Or, at least, far more than your blogger ought to drink in one sitting.) And once it’s opened, it needs to be consumed. By the next day, the beer will often be flat and/or oxidized.

And I really need to get to consuming it. You see, it turns out homebrewers are relatively possessive about things like their growlers. Especially their gorgeous, special-handled, flip-top growlers.… Continue reading →