June Beer Dinner – Pizza & Amber Ales

Nicole, Tibor and Dennis came over for a evening of amber ales and tasty food.  For the menu, Dennis brought over a fresh fruit tray for an appetizer, we made grilled pizzas, and Nicole and Tibor brought over Watergate Salad and 7 Layer Cookie Bars.  Everything was very good and the Amber Ales went well with everything.  I served two homebrewed Amber Ales – Peregrine and Citra Ace.  There was a split decision on these two and I will probably end up entering both into competitions.  We choose Widmer’s Drop Top Amber Ale as the best of the evening – all were good – Drop Top is a bit sweeter and went with the food very well.

For the commercial beers we sampled the following:

North Coast – Red Seal (5.5% ABV and 42 IBU)

Odell – Levity Amber Ale (5.1% ABV and 24 IBU)

Widmer – Drop Top Amber Ale (5.3% ABV and 18 IBU)

Alaskan – Amber (5.3% ABV and 18 IBU)

Full Sail – Amber (5.5% ABV and 31 IBU)

Red Seal - http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/beer-RedSeal.htm
Levity - http://odellbrewing.com/beer/levity-amber-ale/

Drop Top – http://widmerbrothers.com/beer/#drop-top-amber

Alaskan Amber - http://www.alaskanbeer.com/our-brew/year-round-beers/amber.html

Full Sail – Amber - http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/beers/amber.cfm

Pizza Dough Recipe - http://draftmag.com/recipes/detail/227

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce bottle or can brown ale, room temperature (I used an Amber Ale)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons instant yeast

21/2 cups bread flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

11/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

Whisk together the ale, oil and yeast in a medium bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Pulse together bread flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal and salt in a food processor fitted with a dough blade. With the motor running, add the ale mixture to the food processor. Pulse until the dough comes together, then process for 30 seconds. (You can also use a stand mixer or make the dough by hand. If using a stand mixer, mix the dough for 4-5 minutes with a dough hook; by hand, knead the dough about 10 minutes.) The dough should be smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

HOW TO: GRILL YOUR PIZZA
1. Preheat a grill to medium-high. Very generously coat a pizza peel, unrimmed baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet with cornmeal. Gather your pizza toppings together and put on a baking sheet or plate for easy transport. You’ll also want a large metal spatula or tongs. 2.  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut dough in half (or desired size). Roll and stretch one piece of dough into desired size and shape and transfer to the prepared peel or baking sheet. Head out to the grill.
3. Clean the grate of your grill. Using a single, quick motion, transfer the dough to the grill. Top with sauce and desired toppings; close the grill top. Grill the pizza until the underside is brown and crispy and the cheese is melted, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer to the peel or baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough and toppings.

Four from Cali – Alt, IPA, Smoked Porter and a Dubbel

Lagunitas – Lucky 13 Alt (8.9% ABV and 77 IBU) is what I would call an “Imperialized” version of an Alt-style beer.  I consider Alaskan Amber (5.3% ABV and 18 IBU) as the standard bearer for this German inspired old-style beer and Alaskan Amber is the flagship for Alaskan Brewing Co.  Lagunitas took the Alt-style and amped it up in both ABV and IBU.  Lucky 13 is an anniversary ale that pours orangey copper with a two-finger bubbly head.  This is a real treat and Lagunitas did a great job with taking a style and putting their own spin on it.  I have recommended it to a few friends and I look forward to hear their impressions.  I also appreciate that Lagunitas also thanks some of the initial craft brewers in the anniversary label thanking Anchor Steam and Rogue Ales. 

 Last night we had dinner with some friends and Randy had purchased some nice selections.  He picked Firestone Walker Union Jack (7.5% ABV) a really nice IPA for me and a Stone Smoked Porter ( ABV and IBU) for him along with a couple of bottles of Ovila Abbey Dubbel to enjoy with appetizers and dinner.  Union Jack is awesome and I am very happy that Firestone Walker is now being distributed in Colorado.  This is an excellent IPA and I will purchase it again.  I tasted a small sample of the Stone Smoked Porter (5.9% ABV and 53 IBU) and as I told Randy – I have liked everything I have tried from Stone.  Someday, I would like to do a side-by-side comparison of some of the noted smoked beers and pit Alaskan Smoked Porter vs. Stone Smoked Porter.  It was also very good to taste the Sierra Nevada – Ovila Abbey Dubbel (7.5% ABV) again (reviewed in the blog earlier) and it paired perfectly with marinated and grilled flank steak.  These four are very good beers from brewers in California and each did very well with four different styles.