Drunken Crayfish

Got Australia brews beer for dogs
U.S. beer drinkers to buy 21 million cases for Memorial Day
Artisan brew takes its place next to wine on the tables of top restaurants
Passion for chocolate becomes an Indulgence

Do you know that?
Truly artisanal Brasserie La Caracole is located in a small village Falmignoul, Province of Namur, Wallonia in southern Belgium, close to the French border. Their products are being distributed in Belgium, Italy, France, Holland, Switzerland and Japan. Their portfolio consists of four stock ales: Caracole 8% abv, Nostradamus 9.5% abv, Saxo 8% abv, Troublette 5% abv All beers are presented in 11.2 fl. oz. / 33 ml. metal crown bottles as well as in 25.4 fl. oz. / 750ml champagne bottles with cork and metal cage. All styles are bottle conditioned (second fermentation with yeast in the bottle), unfiltered and unpasteurized. Nostradamus and Saxo are also available in 20L kegs. The recurring theme on each label is that of spiral snail shell from which the brewery takes its name. Apparently the snail is the emblem of Namur and the word for a snail in local Namurois dialect is “Caracole”.

Troublette from Brasserie Caracole is an artisanal Wallonian white ale. Lightly spiced wheat beer of great complexity, starts off with aroma of mangoes, apples, citric fruit, wheat, yeast and finishes with slight sourness.

Got Milk? Make Beer

Some very resourceful milk producers in Japan have found a way to use that surplus milk, by making it into beer.

Now you can drink your beer and get your calcium too. And the peasants rejoiced! A liquer shop owner in Japan’s largest dairy farming region has come up with a way to use surplus milk.

According to Chitoshi Nakahara, head of the Nakahara liquor shop on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, they came up with the idea after hearing of surplus milk. The dairy farmers disposed of nearly 900 tons of milk last march due to over production, according to the Japan Dairy Association.

Nakahara’s new brew is called “Bilk”. Yes, it’s a combination of milk and beer. About 30 percent milk but it also contains hops and the rest of the production process is about the same as with any other beer. Nakahara’s shop started selling the brew on February 1st after spending about six months developing the beer with a local brewer. It has a slightly milky scent but other than that, it tastes just like any other beer.

Bilk is available in six local shops in Japan or by mail order, but due to the heavy media attention, Nakahara is currently out of stock. The are working on making more as long as the cows don’t run dry. Some very resourceful milk producers in Japan have found a way to use that surplus milk, by making it into beer

Australia brews beer for dogs

With no age limit on drinking, a no-alcohol beer brewed especially for dogs has proved a hit for an Australian pet shop.

Dog Beer, or DB, was designed by Sydney pet supplies store owner Elise Schumacher after she noticed her own dogs, named Louis and Vuitton, leaping for drops of beer.

“The slogan is, ‘Shout your best friend a beer’,” Schumacher told Reuters. “I have drunk it. It tastes like beef and smells like beer.”

Schumacher, whose shop also sells liver-flavored fortune cookies for canines, said ordinary beer is bad for dogs.

The special beer is packaged in brown bottles identical to those of normal beers and is sold in local cafes and for barbecues. It also costs as much as regular beer, with customers forking out A$5 ($4.76) a bottle.

“It is popular with the guys with their dogs. Lots of people also pick up a few bottles as presents for people who have dogs,” she said. “We have sold just hundreds of bottles.” (Reuters)

U.S. beer drinkers to buy 21 million cases for Memorial Day

Memorial Day kicks off prime beer-drinking season, and this year, U.S. adults are expected to buy a whopping 21 million cases (worth $381 million retail) in major supermarkets alone during the two weeks surrounding the holiday, according to the latest category data from The Nielsen Company.

That makes Memorial Day second only to July 4th in terms of the year’s biggest suds days. In fact, volume-wise, those two weeks account for fully 5% of total annual beer sales.

More good news for brewers: During the summer as a whole, premium beer (which includes Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors and Coors Light) accounts for half of all sales.

But might the troubled economy put a damper on this summer’s chugging?

Not if year-to-date patterns continue. While overall beer sales were flat three to five years ago, when there was a short-lived shift away from brews and toward wine and spirits, it seems the death of beer was greatly exaggerated. Beer dollar sales have been growing at about 2.5% to 3% for the past few years (they were up by 3.4% for year-end ’07), and the pattern has continued thus far in 2008, according to Nick Lake, VP/client service, beverage/alcohol for Nielsen.

(Lake adds that, while beer growth has rebounded, wine and spirits have also continued to grow-meaning, of course, that U.S. adults are drinking more alcoholic beverages, of all kinds, than ever.)

Who’s drinking all this beer? Boomers are no shirkers, but Millennials (age 21 to 30) have the edge. The younger crowd spends 47% of their alcoholic budgets on beer, compared to 27% on hard liquor and 26% on wine.

And while premium domestic beers continue to be their dominant choice, Millennials are more adventurous than their elders. They are much more inclined to buy imported and craft (smaller-brewery) brands –a factor of having grown up with a “wider flavor palette” than Boomers, explains Lake. “This started back when they were kids, with the wide variety of juice boxes available to them, and it’s continued on as they’ve aged, with today’s wider palette of alcoholic beverages,” he says.

The category as a whole has also seen a marked shift toward growth in premium and higher-end brands (including imports and craft brands) over the past few years, notes Lake. Among other patterns, this has led to an increased selection of “seasonal” beers coming from craft brewers.

Traditionally, craft brewers produced just three special, seasonal selections each year, for winter, fall (Oktoberfest season), and summer. Now, these companies are ramping up for summer, offering a number of special seasonal choices that tend to be on the lighter side and infused with spices and fruit flavors, Lake reports.

Artisan brew takes its place next to wine on the tables of top restaurants

If you think ordering a brew will get some haughty sommelier all hopped up, think again. Wine experts have been cheating on their grapes with a little malt, hops and yeast.

In recent years beer has gone from blue collar to white linen. Beverage directors at fine-dining establishments are not only beefing up their beer menus, but some are even replacing wine pairings with brews. The French Laundry in Yountville serves ale with cured veal heart canapes, at the Fifth Floor in San Francisco it’s stout with chocolate macaroons, at Per Se in New York an English brown-style beer goes with washed rind cow’s milk cheese, and at Rosemary’s restaurant in Las Vegas there’s a Belgian variety with pan-seared shrimp.

Sommeliers credit their interest in the sudsy drink, long thought of in America as the perfect accompaniment to hot dogs and pretzels, to the abundance of artisan beers coming onto the market, and say they are elevating it to its rightful gastronomic status.

“We’re not talking Bud Light,” says Paul Roberts, the corporate wine and beverage director for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, which includes the French Laundry and Per Se.

Both restaurants, where multicourse meals can run into the hundreds of dollars, carry nine to 10 handcrafted beers and serve them instead of wine when the staff thinks it will complement the food better.

“On average beer will make an appearance once a night on the pairing menu with people who are more experimental,” says Per Se sommelier James Hayes. “Some people are looking for creativity, others are looking for luxury, and almost everyone is looking for flavor. Beer still falls into the creative category. But it doesn’t mean it can’t overlap into the luxury category too.”

Passion for chocolate becomes an Indulgence

While on her honeymoon in Europe, Julie Waterman found a new love. Wherever she and her husband went, she found beautiful and delicious chocolates tempting her.

It was in Belgium that she knew she was really hooked. She loaded up on rich Belgian chocolate to bring home for herself and others. Chocolate – and truffles in particular – became an all-consuming passion.

“All the chocolate was so beautiful everywhere, but Belgium was my favorite,” said Waterman. “That’s how I came to use Belgian chocolate.”

Although she was a music major in her final year of college and should have been studying, she found herself immersed in learning more about chocolate. She worked through a process of trial and error, making chocolates and testing out flavor combinations. “I didn’t take a class. I just bought a ton of books and looked online. Then I’d take that advice and try it out, see what worked and what didn’t,” she said.

She began creating chocolate gifts and truffles for family and friends, and that led to making favors for music recitals and other events. Word spread and people kept asking for her creations. During a busy Valentine’s Day week last year, she realized she might want to think about this as a business.

Last November, she and her husband, a labor and employment attorney, took the leap and began Indulgence Chocolatiers in Waukesha.

“I’m a very creative thinker, and he’s very logical,” said Waterman. “It’s a good combination.”

Truffles and gift-box sales make up about half her business. Indulgence Chocolatiers has gained notice for its truffles, available in 12 regular flavours.

Waterman’s creativity takes over when experimenting with flavors and creating desserts for the catering side of the business. Seasonal flavor favorites have included pumpkin pie and candy cane, and she’s thinking citrus for spring. She also looks forward to getting into the kitchen and designing recipes based on customer descriptions and requests.

“My favorite part is when you try, and then someone tastes something, and by the look on their face you know you’ve nailed it,” Waterman said.

Her busy season, which includes weddings and major holidays, typically runs from the end of April through the end of February. She’s just teamed up with Grapes & Grain in Mequon for wine and chocolate tastings, and in August she’ll be at the new Milwaukee Wine Festival.

Eventually, Waterman hopes to have a retail store of her own.

“I’m always developing new flavors and perfecting things,” she said. “I pride myself on patience and attention to detail, the taste, the consistency and the look. I can definitely never rush the process. Chocolate doesn’t care what my schedule is.”