Women Enjoying Beer

Beer & Cheese, Cooking with Beer, and Beer & Chocolate

Apr 23, 2012 Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events

All of these were edutainment sessions I lead at last weekend’s inaugural Rogue Valley Wine (Beer) and Food Fest. As promised, we post the menus instead of handing out papers that invariably get recycled and not used.

Thanks to Lillie Belle Chocolates and Full Sail Brewing for the donation of their goods for the sessions. We’re also glad to feature the high quality Rogue Creamery cheese. Plus a thank you to Harry & David for letting us use their cool stage set up for best guest experience – Tim, Jeff, Kari, Brenda and crew. As well as Chateau of Hidden Jungle for his help with the beer.

Enjoy these ideas ~

Beer and Chocolate:

• Full Sail Phil’s Existential Alt with Lillie Belle Perfect Illusion chocolate
• Full Sail Session Black with Lillie Belle Purple Haze chocolate
• Walk About IPA with Lillie Belle Lavender sea salt caramel

Beer and Cheese:

• Rumiano whole Monterey Jack cheese with Walkabout IPA
• Rumiano New York Sharp Cheddar with LTD 5
• Rogue Creamery Flora Nelle blue with Full Sail Alt

Cooking with Beer:

The ideas here are innumerable and I riffed on using beer in all sorts of cooking applications. In addition to these I shared, here are a few more:

• Dressings made with porters like a deep rich balsamic vinaigrette
• Roasting red meats with deeply fruity beers
• Quick breads with Belgians and hefeweizens
• Sauces and reductions with flavors that fit

Tags: Full Sail Brewing, Hidden Jungle, Lillie Belle Chocolates, Rogue Creamery, Rogue Valley Wine & Food Fest, Walkabout Brewing

Exploded View of the IBLP, Part 2: Tools

Apr 18, 2012 Beer, Education & Training, Something To Think About

In yesterday’s post, starting to expound on the Individual Beer Learning Plan (IBLP), we covered Topics. Today we cover Tools. Dig in.

What tool can help you learn about this piece of brewing equipment?

Tools:

What’s available to you? What can you find tool wise that can help your quest to learn about beer? Where are these resources and how will you go about discovering them? Keep reading.

Are the resources online? The incredible and almost taken for granted World Wide Web that’s at fingertip reach is an extraordinary resource. You can find virtually everything you’d want and if you don’t you can create it yourself! There are hundreds of sites to choose from so root around and see what resonates, what you like, and keep searching and returning.

Is offline more your style? Then by all means, go for it that way. Books, magazines – “walk the stacks”, journals, newspapers, and so on are voluminous and very mine-able.

What about your local library? You support your local brewery so support your local library. The success of libraries depends on usage. Help them out by helping yourself. Plus many if not most libraries these days also have free internet access so you can double up your efforts. It’s also a great place to preview books and magazines to see if you want to buy them as well.

Are there hard publications you can pick up at your favorite local? There are a handful of free beer publications that get distributed around the country. Some pubs, breweries, taprooms, and beer stores have them available for the taking. Take them with you.

Are there people to talk with and follow? You may find a few people online that make you shout “YES!” when you read what they’re sharing. Go ahead and contact them if they have a contact page and let them know you like their work and would like to chat with them. Maybe they have suggestions for you as well. The only thing lost is if you don’t ask.

What of classes and seminars? Lots of communities will offer classes through community education, extension programs or educational institutions. Make some phone calls to find out who offers what. The superb bonus to taking classes is you’ll meet other beer-interested people. Maybe they become a resource or study friend or both.

Conferences and tutorials one on one? If there’s an accomplished brewer or home brewer in your area, call them to see when they’d have time to talk with you. If you do this, have some specific things in mind to talk about and be mindful of their time. Brewing is a lot of work and takes up a lot of time – be respectful and stay on time. Both groups – professionals and home brewers – are enthusiastic, have different facets to share and are generally happy to talk with people who want to know more about beer.

Where can you volunteer to learn more while participating? That small thing called a “Beer Festival” is relatively common. A quick internet search will yield plentiful listings of festivals involving beer. Contact the organizers or a favored brewery and ask if they’re looking for volunteer help. From set up to serving to tear down, chances are good a willing and energetic person is welcome. And it’s a lot of fun to work with brewery and distributors staff on festivals and events. States differ on laws per volunteer servers and any permits needed so be sure to ask about that, when appropriate.

Part 1: Topics

More to come

Tags: IBLP, Individual Beer Learning Plan, tools

Exploded View Of The IBLP, Part 1: Topics

Apr 16, 2012 Beer, Education & Training, Something To Think About

The Individual Beer Learning Plan (IBLP) is an idea to help you learn about beer, whomever you may be and however advanced or beginner your knowledge is.

In the original post about IBLP, we posited several facets of the plan. The next few days will take us through some of the big information pockets of your plan. Today = Topics.

Topics as they relate to beer can go in infinite directions. Since we’re all unique and our beer experiences are therefore singular to us as well, we can start with big components that will inherit everyone’s experiences and allow room for all.

Let’s break it down.

Topics:

What do you want to learn? What do you specifically want to know? Are there general things you want to know or do you want to dig into the particulars? It’ll be very helpful to yourself and anyone you tap into to help you learn if you can answer this first. Saying “I want to learn everything!” is too broad to begin with. Do your homework, figure out where to start. The great thing is you can start anywhere. You’ll double back eventually, no matter what, anyway.

What's your plan?

The brewing process? Learning the actual process of what it takes to make beer is an excellent foundational place to start. When you know the basic steps of brewing, you can add more of the subtleties and then go as deep as you wish with the science part of the process.

Ingredients? Start with the basic 4 – water, grain, hops, yeast – and go from there. There are loads of other ingredients brewers currently use and have previously used – and will use in the future! With as wide open as the recipes are this day in beer, there are almost no limits.

Pairing tips? Ahhhh – beer and food together. This, my friends is where the Magic Happens. Flavor is where the whole “what should I drink”, “what should I eat” conversation begins. When you know what you like to drink and what you like to eat, then it’s time to play Garanimals with them together. Mix and Match, Try and Taste. The best case scenario: you’ll want to share it with everyone you know and repeat it. Worst case scenario: you simply won’t repeat it and move on. 

The herstory behind it all? Women have been brewers for literally ever. Once you get that crucial piece of the puzzle placed, then dig in. Find out and read about the personalities, characters and folks who’ve been in the landscape, at whatever stage it might be. Chris’ book, Fermenting Revolution, is a favorite of mine for this reason.  ‘History’ has been pretty one-sided. Get all sides covered by investigating the female side of beer as well.

Industry information? Do you know what Distributors do? How many ‘tiers’ are there in the American Alcohol system? How many should there be? Besides the consumer, who can buy beer and how so? Do you know some of the many intricacies of the American system? Learning more will elevate your beer activism – just make sure you seek out all sides of the conversation. It’s easy to villanize or neglect a side you’re not very open to, which may be human yet is grossly unfair.

Consumer information? How do consumers in America, and all other places for that matter, get their information about beer? Is it freely available? Do you have to seek it out? Can you get it to come to you? There are tuns of app’s alone on beer, although I’m not sure there’s anyone looking at accuracy of info vs. opinions. If a brewery website stinks, tell them! Call the brewery and ask them your questions that aren’t being answered online. It’s startling how many beer companies are poor at the info they put out there. Some are good, very few are excellent at it, many are sorely in need of professional help (not from a friend or relative who will work for beer). Tell them what you like, what you want to know and what they need to include. If they are glad for the input, keep supporting them. If they’re offended or do nothing, find another brand. Seriously.

Do you want to get into beer as a profession? Start contacting brands that appeal to you and get to know them before you ask them for work. Before you call to do any kind of informational chit chat though, do your homework. Know the basics of the business be researching them online and at your local library and wherever else they can be found. Never be a know-it-all. That’s a turn off and arrogance is never attractive nor a quality hiring bodies are looking for.

Do you want to be able to impress your friends with your knowledge? Then get a piece of paper and start drafting your IBLP today. Doodle your notes and soon enough you’ll have a jumping off point. Impress yourself by getting organized first, then jump!

Tomorrow: Tools

Tags: IBLP, Individual Beer Learning Plan, Topics

Glassware Studio And Beer

Apr 13, 2012 Beer & Food, Celebration Worthy, Education & Training, Events, Good People, Women and Beer

gorgeous hand blown Gathering Glass globes

Gathering Glass hosted the Women Enjoying Beer Monthly meet-up last night with a full house in attendance. Keith and Scott, the studio owners and operators, were very welcoming helpful and glad to enjoy tasting the beers and foods on the menu.

A little background: We met at a glass blowing studio because Keith and Scott generously donated 30 hand blown ornaments for a fundraising festival we were part of last year. Bringing almost 30 women to the studio to learn about them, beer glassware and do our usual tasting of 4 beers + foods was a natural fit.

LOTS of questions were asked, most we were able to cram in, some will wait until next time. There’s so much to share about beer and to have a unique host location spurs even more curiosity, which is a big part of learning.

There’s never a lack of engagement, questions, and fun at these events. If you’re a business that could benefit from a lively group of women visiting to learn about beer on a regular basis, call us. We can help you set it up for success from the start.

If you’re a female consumer who enjoys learning about beer, seek these opportunities out. We realize there are still too few to satisfy and recognize (with full respect) that women want to know more about beer. That said, ask your local establishments to put them on. Smart businesses will react.

There's Moylan's in that glass!

Here’s the menu we enjoyed:

Moylan’s generously provided beer (Thanks so much!) for the evening and we mapped out the 4 choices. As far as food went, we suggested some things from the strolling “pick the goodies you want” selection and encouraged them to mix, match and discover as well.

Beers tasted:

• Tipperary Pale Ale
• Dragoon’s Dry Irish Stout
• Ryan Sullivan’s Imperial Stout
• Old Blarney Barleywine

Having both a ‘regular’ stout and an imperial was a particular bonus. We had one after the other and attendees could experience them very close together, which is an effective learning technique.

Foods available:

Mixed nuts, yogurt covered raisins, mission figs, black licorice bites, (dried) veggie chips, animal cookies, dried cranberries, dark chocolate malted milk balls, Wasabi peas, fresh french bread, and cheeses (medium cheddar, Monterey jack, Cojack, provolone).

Tags: Dragoon's Dry Irish Stout, Gathering Glass Studio, glass blowing, Moylan's Brewery, Old Blarney Barleywine, Ryan Sullivan's Imperial Stout, Tipperary Pale Ale

3 More At Swig & Stitch

Apr 11, 2012 Assumptions & Myth Busting, Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events, Good People, Women and Beer

Swig & Stitch is the brainchild of business person, Sandi Globus, Fabric of Vision. Last night was another great session of Sandi teaching useful sewing techniques around specific projects. Interspersed in the lessons by Sandi I lead attendees through 3 different beer and food tastings and pairings.

The goal is fun and useful education for all. And the monthly events succeed smashingly! Our host is very happy to have us, it’s a perfect spot and every month we’re getting ‘veterans’ and newbies.

Here’s the menu we explored (all beers on draught):

• Guinness with roasted garlic humus and fresh carrots, celery, and slivered french bread
• Lindeman’s Framboise with fresh sliced Bartlett pears, Granny Smith apples and red grapes
• Boneyard’s Hop Venom with lightly deep-fried fresh jalapeno slices (YUM!)

Exploration and consideration are the names of this game. Go exploring yourself and discover tasty things. Doing it with friends is even better.

Tags: 4 Daughters Irish Pub, beer and food tasting, Boneyard, Fabric of Vision, Guinness, Lindeman's, sewing techniques

2012 Spring Beer & Wine Fest Session: Cooking With Beer

Apr 10, 2012 Beer, Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events

Saturday’s 2012 Spring Beer & Wine Fest found us on the Educational Chef’s Stage sharing all sorts of great ideas on Cooking With Beer. (Friday’s session info here)

Beer has become a favorite ingredient of mine in cooking. It’s so versatile that once you start cooking with it, you can see why. Replace thinner liquids with beers, being careful to find complementary beer styles to replace. Here are a few of the many ideas we shared with a great audience.

• Sauces with Porters
• Gravies with Stouts
• Muffins with Hefeweizens
• Breads with Pale Ales
• Soups: Gazpacho with Chili Beers
• Crockpot: Red meats (like ribs) with fruit beers
• sauteing & simmering
• Baking: Chocolate cakes with stouts
• Beerinades: Pilnser with lime/garlic/cilantro for Carne Asada
• Ice creams with Imperial Stouts
• Desserts: fruit cobbler with Belgians
• Crusts & doughs: pizza crust with IPA’s

The list goes on and on. The Crux is to have fun using beer as ingredient. There are no failures – just lessons to repeat and recipes to try only once.

Thanks to Bridget and our hosts at the Fest for letting us Bring Beer To Life!

EXTRA TIP: Freeze any left over beer in ice cube trays to portions out in future cooking.

Tags: 2012 Spring Beer & Wine Fest, cooking with beer

Spring Beer & Wine Fest 2012 WEB Educational Sessions

Apr 9, 2012 Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events

Spring Beer & Wine Fest 2012

Friday found us at the annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest in Portland, Oregon.

We gave a tasty Beer & Cheese pairing session on the stage Friday with much success. As promised to fest goers – and is our habit to post menus following events – here’s the line up we featured:

• Ninkasi Brewing’s seasonal Spring Reign with Willamette Valley Cheese Company’s Boerenkaas
• Mt. Tabor Brewing’s Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) with Rogue Creamery‘s Flora Nelle
• Calapooia Brewing’s Chili Pepper Beer with Cypress Grove Pepper Chevre

The fun-loving attendees of the session learned to smell their beer and name some of the characteristics, including colors and flavors. It’s important to educate everyone on the value of being able to talk specifics about beer. 

Tomorrow: The Saturday Cooking With Beer ideas imparted at the Spring Beer & Wine Fest.

Tags: 2012 Spring Beer & Wine Fest, beer and cheese, Calapooia Brewing, Cypress Grove Chevre, Mt Tabor Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, Portland OR, Rogue Creamery, Willamette Valley Cheese Company

Individual Beer Learning Plan (IBLP)

Apr 5, 2012 Beer, Education & Training, Something To Think About

An Individual Beer Learning Plan or IBLP can be a superb part of the learning curve for consumers and professionals alike.

Plotting out the what you want to learn (topics), what is available to you to learn (tools), where it’s available (location), how you can go about accomplishing your goals (plan), what kind of investment it’ll take (budget), and who will you tap into (people).

Topics: What do you want to learn. The brewing process? Ingredients? Pairing tips? The herstory behind it all? Industry information? Consumer information? Do you want to get into beer as a profession? Do you want to be able to impress your friends with your knowledge?

Tools: What’s available to you? Are the resources online? Offline? At your local library? Are they hard publications you can pick up at your favorite local? Are they people to talk with and follow? What of classes and seminars? Conferences and tutorials one on one? Where can you volunteer to learn more while participating?

Location: Where can you find and get all the tools you need? Are they close by or father away? How do you get to them – or get them to you?

Plan: What’s the schema for making it happen? How will you plot out the tools you find that appeal to what you want to learn? Is there transportation involved? Are there registrations and ‘paperwork’ to fill out? Is the plan logical with your life and lifestyle?

Budget: What’s realistic for your goals? What’s a stretch goal? How can you commit to your plan within the parameters of your funds? Are there scholarships available? Are you ready to ask for help if it’s part of your plan?

People: The most critical item in your IBLP. Besides the commitment you make to your self, who will you contact? Who will you call, email or otherwise meet to help you into and through the process? How will you make sure to thank and show appreciation to those who help you out?

Learning about beer is as casual or intense as you wish it to be. Making a plan will be a productive and clarifying process to get you going on a topic you love already.

Caveat: It’s a slippery slope – this learning about beer! the more you get in, the deeper you usually want to go. Have fun sliding ~

Tags: budget, IBLP, Individual Beer Learning Plan, location, people, plan, resources, time, tools

5 Pointers “To Do” for Women’s Beer Groups

Apr 3, 2012 Assumptions & Myth Busting, Beer, Education & Training, Events, Marketing, Women and Beer

1. Use the words “Women” or “Females”. These are words with respect and equality. Any other titles or labels are not progress oriented.

2. Assume everyone wants to enjoy and explore flavors. One of the most common questions WEB gets asked is “What kinds of beer to women like?” Response: Ones with Flavor. Everyone likes different flavors and starting with the flavor conversation is how you’ll make progress.

3. Do your homework. Before you hold an event or host a group, ask some qualified women (meaning – women who drink beer) what kinds of flavors they like – and don’t limit it to beer flavors. Make it wide open to include any and all kinds of flavors.

4. Make sure the atmosphere is comfortable temperature wise (including the bathroom), seating wise, and per table height. Make sure the bar isn’t elbows-on-the-kids-table height. Turn the music down, but not off, and make sure it’s appropriate. Distracting music will only detract from any education you and the consumer are trying to accomplish.

5. Enjoy. Listen, learn, ask questions, provide responses with no judgement. Thank the women who participate and invite them back.

Yes, simple’s good. And effective.

Tags: atmosphere, flavor, homework, noise, respectful titles, tips for women's beer groups

Beer & Cheese, Beer & Cheese, Beer & Cheese!

Mar 19, 2012 Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events

At the recent 8th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival, we had the pleasure to conduct the inaugural Beer & Cheese pairing session. Our friends at the Rogue Creamery (event hosts) were gracious, had everything together and the events was sold out - SRO even! Proof positive that festivals and events should offer fun educational sessions for the guests and attendees.

A BIG THANK YOU to Tom, Tasha, David, Carey, Anna, Francis, and the whole crew of Rogue Creamery for putting on such a well run and well received festival. Seriously – it’s one of our favorites because it goes sooooo smoothly.  And it’s very well attended because of that – the guests have a great time, which also makes it a good investment for us as well.

Sue & Larry, great helpers, prep the cheese

The audience in the cozy room were engaged, polite and had some terrific questions about beer specifically. A bonus for me as the leader of the session was that friend and colleague Matt Van Wyk, brewer of Oakshire Brewing, was also in attendance.

I’m one of those people who always welcomes anyone in the room – most especially the folks who are directly tied to the going-ons. Matt supplied 2 of the 4 beers I chose to pair for the session. He was gracious, fun and chimed in & answered questions with thoroughness and tact. I know the guests enjoyed having a brewer in the mix as well, particularly one that could speak to the beers in front of us.

The other brewer was in fact at the festival, as their brewery booth, enlightening more folks about beer – Larry Chase, Standing Stone.

Matt Van Wyk and other guests at the tasting

Since we rarely hand out paper programs that people have to then schlep around or toss or recycle, we always post menus on our site following an event. As promised, here’s the tasty line up we used to edutain and converse about.

• Standing Stone Amber Ale with Pholia Farms Takelma cheese
• Standing Stone I Love Oregon Ale with Willamette Valley Cheese Company Havarti - the creaminess really stood out with the beer.
• Oakshire Brewing Watershed IPA with Rogue’s Flora Nelle, natural-rinded bleu cheese
• Oakshire Brewing Overcast Espresso Stout with Rogue’s Pistol Point cheese, with paprika and chipotle

The line up was a great cross-section of beers and foods to pair. The best ingredient of the tasting: The People. We’re already excited to get back to it next year.

As requested, we’ll cover why beer and cheese do in fact pair so nicely later this week. Thanks to Australian guest Mashka for asking. Stay tuned!

Tags: 2012 Oregon Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, Oakshire Brewing, Pholia Farms, Pistol Point, Rogue Creamery, Standing Stone Brewing Company, Willamette Valley Cheese Company