Slow-Cooker Beef Stew with Stout (Darkling Oatmeal Stout – Cannery Brewing)


With it being the season for St Patrick’s Day I decided I wanted to make a stew with a stout in an nod to Irish tradition.  I did a search and came up with this recipe from the Food Network as my source.

Ingredients List:

2 Pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces unpeeled
1 Pound peeled carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Large Onions finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons parsley fresh
12oz of stout (Darkling Oatmeal Stout – Cannery Brewing)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One 4 pound boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 cups chicken broth

In your slow cooker place the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, parsley, stout, olive oil, brown sugar and tomato paste.

In a bowl mix flower, salt and pepper.

Take your cut steak and place it into the flour mix.  Coat them and shake off the excess.

In a medium sized skillet melt the butter and canola oil over medium to high heat.  Sear the batches of beef for aprox 2 minutes and place them into the crock pot.

Once all of the beef is all cooked add 1 cup of chicken broth into the skillet and scrape all of the leftovers and then drain it into the stew.

Next add the last two cups of chicken broth to the slow cooker and cover it.  Cook on high for 6 hours.

And here is the finished product.  This is a hearty stew for sure.

While I have probably had better stews this one did not take a ton of time to prepair and it was ready to eat when I got home.  I enjoyed it and I will all week!

The Noble Pig Brewhouse – Kamloops


Up until recently I had only been able to sample the beer from The Noble Pit Brewhouse in Kamloops at a few different beer festivals as I do not make it up to Kamloops very often.  I have now changed this as I spent the long weekend camping in the area.

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Located in downtown Kamloops this is a great location for a brewpub.  The restaurant/pub side of the Noble Pig is very nice looping with wood accents everywhere and a stone fireplace in the middle.   They even have a canoe hung from the ceiling that is a large bank of lights.

The Noble Pig has a great food menu with all kinds of interesting options.  I had the Bison Bolognese and it was awesome!  I love the fact that as much as humanly possible the kitchen here sources all vegetable and meat from local suppliers.  Even the Bison comes from a farm in the Kamloops area.  It is always good to support local business!

The building that houses this brewpub was not designed with a brewery in mind and because of this the brewery is shoehorned in where it fits.  The brew house is located on the main level on the far side of the bar.  There are windows that let you look into where the beer is brewed.  I was able to get a tour so I was able to get photos behind the door.  Once the beers are brewed here they are piped down into the basement where the fermentors are located.

Once done at the brew house I was led down into the basement where the rest of the brewery is located.  When you first enter the cooler you will find the bright tanks and kegs the last step of the brewing process when the beer is finished.  The beer is actually served right from these tanks to the bar.  Some keg products are also served as when a tank gets low they transfer to kegs so they can open up a tank for more beer.  Exiting out the back of the cooler you finally come to the fermentors.  This brewery is small and with only 3 fermentors there is not a huge amount of beer being produced at one time.

Due to this limited space their neighbor brewery Red Collar Brewing has made a deal so that they can brew some of their beer at their brewery to keep up with demand.  I find it fitting as Red Collar Brewing’s brewmaster is the original brewmaster at The Noble Pig.  If you are looking for good beer and great food while in Kamloops look no further than the Noble Pig.

Full sized photos found here.

The Noble Pig Brewhouse
http://thenoblepig.ca
650 Victoria Street
Kamloops, BC
778.471.5999

Maui Brewing Long Table Dinner (Hop & Vine) – April 2, 2015


On April 2nd, 2015 I was lucky enough to attend a Maui Brewing Long Table Dinner at the Hop & Vine Tap house in Burnaby.

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As can be noticed on the menu there was also a wine option for people that do not like beer.  I did not even take a second to look at the wines though as I am not a fan of wine.

Maui Brewing was being launched in BC the entire week.  Beerthirst is responsible for bringing in their beer and I am happy that they got the contract as I really liked Maui Brewing when I was in Hawaii.

For this dinner we were very lucky to have the National Sales Manager Pete Scheider from Maui Brewing in house to talk about each beer.  Pete Scheider is very knowledgeable about the breweries beers and was great at telling us all kinds of information on each beer.

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Once everyone was seated the dinner began.  Pete got up and spoke about each beer before each course and so did Scott of the Hop & Vine Tap House who spoke about the food they were pairing.

Course 1
Bikini Blonde Lager
“Wild Mushroom Salad”
Wild Mushrooms, citrus and thyme salad served with garlic crostini

Let me start by saying I love mushrooms so I was very excited to try this salad.  The multiple different wild mushrooms were very tasty on their own but the citrus and thyme dressing was great!  The Bikini Blonde Lager really matched up nicely as it was fairly citrusy as well.

Course 2
Mana Wheat
“Tuna Poke”
Tuna poke with tropical fruits, chili, lime and seaweed

This beer is huge on pineapple and great for a summer day.  I love Tuna Poke also and a great summer beach beer goes well with a Seafood dish for sure.  The pineapple in the beer and in the food both cut through the mild spice well.  I personally wish that the Poke was seared a little bit as I prefer my Tuna Poke with a mild sear.  I don’t like fully raw fish.

Course 3
Big Swell India Pale Ale
“Chili Coconut Prawns”
Chili and coconut crusted prawns served with a wasabi beurre blanc.

This beer has a great malt profile with a ton of hops.  I do not eat prawns but my girlfriend said that they were awesome which was easy to believe as she ate mine as well as hers.  The chili and wasabi sauce really tasted good though and really accentuate the hops bitterness.

Course 4
Lorenzini Double IPA
“Pulled Pork”
Pulled pork with burnt citrus and pickled onions on a brioche bun

The Lorenzini Double IPA is quite earthy with a sweet bloody orange and tangerine with lots of bitterness.  The bun had some caramel notes with some great tang from the pickled onions and the pork was very tasty.  This was my favourite course of the five!

Course 5
Coconut Porter
“Coconut Cream Pie”
Toasted coconut cream pie topped with whipped cream

The coconut porter had flavours of chocolate, coconut, malty, sweet and some earth.  The pie was full of coconut, cream and sweetness with a great graham cracker crust.  The roasty earthy notes of the beer are a great juxtaposition to the sweetness and graham cracker crust.

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I really enjoyed this dinner and had a great time sitting beside Pete Scheider of Maui Brewing and the guys from Beerthirst and the crew from Kooner Hospitality Group.  I look forward to checking out more of these dinners in the future as not only do they pick great beer but they pair it with awesome food!

Full sized photos.

Hop & Vine Tap House
http://www.hoptaphouse.ca/
1601 Burnwood Avenue
Burnaby, BC
(604)421-1092

Spud Shack’s ELFin Good Advent Calendar – New Westminster


Spud Avent Advert

The Spud Shack Fry Co in New Westminster is holing a really awesome promotion from December 1 to 20th.  December 20 happens to be their anniversary!  The promotion is an in house craft beer Advent Calendar!  There will be food specials and drink specials and other fun promotional deals.  If someone comes every single day they will be entered into a contest to win free poutine for a year but they have to make it every day of the promotion.  When you scan your daily Loyaltree promo code you will be entered into a contest.  The grand prize is not yet determined but it will be a “really awesome gift basket” in their words.  So make sure you head out there and enjoy craft beer and awesome poutine and everything else they have to offer!

Here is day one’s deal!

Spud Advent 1

Spud Shack is located in
352-800 Carnarvon Street
Phone: 604.553.2582
E-mail: info@spudshack.ca

Stone Brewing Brewmaster Dinner (Biercraft Bisto) – October 23, 2014


With Stone Brewing launching in Western Canada they have been involved in all kinds of events to help celebrate the occasion.  One of the last events in this week long launch was a brewmaster dinner at Biercraft Bistro on Cambie Street.  On October 23rd, 2014 the Stone Brewing crew came out to Biercraft and Don Farion of Biercraft and Bomber Brewing created some amazing dishes.

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This dinner was comprised of 4 courses and 5 beer.  arriving at the dinner we were seated in the back portion of the restaurant where it was laid out with a menu and some Stone Brewing coasters.

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Before the dinner started Don came out and talked a bit about the dinner and how the night would go.  After Don spoke one of the representatives of Stone Brewing got up and did some talking about who they are and what they do.  They made sure to stress that Stone Brewing tries to push the boundaries of brewing and enjoy every second of it!

Course 1

Tom Ka Gai
Thai curried lime and coconut soup with chicken and shiitake mushrooms
paired with Stone IPA and Stone Cali-Belgique (same beer but with a Belgian yeast)

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To ensure that the soup stayed hot while the Stone guys spoke as well as Don the first part of the soup was brought out without the broth and then it was added when it was time to dig in.  The soup had a great spice hit from the curry with some semi sweet notes, citrus and coconut.  The chicken and mushrooms were awesome.  Although both beer paired very well with this dish the Cali-Belgique was the winner as the Belgian yeast and citrus notes really came together nicely.

Course 2

Beef Tenderloin “Salad”
Seared-rare, soy glazed filet and roasted root vegetables
Paired with Arrogant Bastard Ale

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I had a ton of fun with with this “salad” as calling this a salad was almost as arrogant as the beer it was paired with.  Lots of soy and an earthy touch’s are found with the potatoes and parsnip.  The seared steak was amazingly flavourful and tender.  The Arrogant Bastard ale paired well with this dish as it had a great earthy malty backbone and the hops bitterness cut into the saltiness of the soy.  I would take this meat and potato salad any day!

Course 3
Dijon-Crusted Chicken Supreme
German potato salad, creamed corn
paired with Go To IPA

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The Dijon mustered that was put on the chicken before breading it made for some of the best chicken I have had in a very long time.  The potato salad also had some Dijon on it and the cream corn had a ton of flavour.  I think they said the Dijon was actually made by or for Stone Brewing.  The tang from the Dijon really went well with the citrusy India Session Ale and its bitterness.

Course 4
Cheese Plate
Aged cheddar, English Stilton, Danish blue, fruit and crackers
Paired with Ruination Imperial IPA

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The aged cheddar was just that much more pronounced with a sip of the Ruination Imperial IPA.  The English Stilton was delectable.  The frozen grapes actually cut through the hops bitterness and accentuates the malts.

Here are a few photos of the people at the event.

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This has to be one of the best brewmaster dinners that I have ever gone to.  The food was to die for and the pairings were spot on.  Not one part of the meal was out of place with the food.  I really commend both the Stone Brewing guys and the staff at Biercraft Cambie for putting on an amazing dinner.

Biercraft Cambie
http://biercraft.com/cambie/
3305 Cambie Street,
Vancouver, BC
604-874-6900

Stone Brewing
www.stonebrewing.com/