KC Beerfest Beers Announced

Regular readers know I am a big fan of KC Beerfest because it is a great way to support two VERY important local organizations: Kansas City Free Health Clinic and the AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

This year’s fall installment of this great festival is October 16 @ 2:00PM out at The Legends. I’ve volunteered as a beer pourer at this event several times (although I’ll miss this one, grrrr) and it always goes well. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door, and the beer list looks pretty good, as usual. Unfortunately I can’t seem to copy/paste the list, but if you click the link it’ll take you over to the list.

Bell’s Oarsman Ale + Southern Tier Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale

After a show at the Sprint Center on Friday we found ourselves at Flying Saucer and I got a chance to try a couple beers off the chalkboard that I’ve never had before. I’d never even heard of these beers, so it was a nice change of pace to be able to taste a couple beers without any prior knowledge of what they’d be.

I was in the mood for something dark and complex, so when I saw a Bell’s beer on the board that I’d never heard of, and the fact that we are into Fall and colder months, I thought, “Well, the chances of this being a big, dark, complex beer from Bell’s is pretty good, so….” Imagine my surprise when our server brought be a pint of very light, golden beer topped by a fluffy white head!

On first sip I was surprised to taste what seemed to me a bit like a kölsch at first (minus that green grape undertone common to kölsch). I quickly changed my opinion and figured Bell’s Oarsman Ale was a pilsner. I was wrong, but not TOO far off, as they classify it as an American wheat, which tend to be beers that are clean, refreshing, not too hop-heavy and have a decent amount of carbonation, all of which describe Oarsman to a “T.”

According to Bell’s website, Oarsman Ale comes in at 4.0% and is designed to be a “session beer,” a term that comes from English pub society and is applied to beers that have low alcohol and can be enjoyed throughout an evening without leading to too much loss of sobriety. I like that the session beer trend seems to be picking up steam, and, according to what I’ve heard from brewers and homebrewers, good, flavorful low alcohol beers are much harder to make than good high alcohol beers, so a surprising amount of work goes into these beers from the brewer.

To me, Oarsman Ale tasted like a pilsner. Clean, refreshing, nicely balanced, and just a great beer that was a little on the malty side. I think it would be fantastic with food. I was a little disappointed in the fact that I was hoping for something dark and stout-y from Bell’s, but this was a pleasant surprise and I would strongly recommend this as a craft beer alternative to the Lite’s when you need a session beer or are having a party and what something good but not complicated for your guests with more limited palates. That said, even a seasoned beer drinker like myself will find plenty to like with this! On a side note, I absolutely love the label art for this beer. An all-around nice package!

My next beer choice off the new arrivals board was Phin and Matt’s, from Southern Tier. I have not had a lot of Southern Tier’s beers. The couple I’ve had in the past were a long time ago and I was just getting into craft beers in a more serious way, but I do remember the common complaint that they tend to be sweet and sticky or syrupy. I didn’t find that with Phin and Matt’s. I had absolutely no idea what I would be getting with this beer, and it arrived in a big beer snifter. The aroma was really unique, with a lot of fruity, floral character. I had no idea what was going to be inside!

Upon my first sip I told my table, “Wow, I’ve NEVER tasted anything like this” and I was really blown away. I got a huge flavor of floral, almost potpourri, fruits, just a gigantic melange of flavors I wasn’t expecting. I was very surprised this morning, then, when I looked the beer up and saw it classified as a simple “American Pale Ale.” APA’s tend to run the gamut from pretty lightly hopped, boring beers to more aggressive IPA-like beers as you go West, but this definitely was nothing like any APA I’ve ever had. For me, tasting this and, for example, Boulevard’s Pale Ale (which I also like, don’t get me wrong), in the same seating I wouldn’t even think they were the same beer. I looked at a few other reviews and no one else seems to think this is a standout beer, but I was really blown away by the complexity of it.

As I drank, my palate got a little attenuated to some of the less common flavors I was picking up and I started detecting the slightly more earthy and piney notes of the hops, but this retained that unusual fruitiness, flowery undertone with a bit of tartness throughout the glass and I was really impressed by this beer. Two big thumbs-up from me for this beer!

Flavored Simple Syrups

I’ve been on a kick recently of making flavored simple syrups. The inspiration comes from our local queen of artisanal snow cones (yes, I said artisanal and I meant it!), Lindsay Laricks and her company, Fresher Than Fresh. Anytime I see that sweet Shasta trailer parked in front of Hammerpress (during most First Fridays in the Crossroads) or on Sundays at the delightful little park at 17th and Summit close to Blue Bird Bistro, the West Local, etc., it brings a smile to my face. I need to thank FTF for helping me discover how cool that little up-and-coming neighborhood is, too. The lure of the snow cone helped me discover something I hadn’t experienced about Kansas City yet! lol

So, um, if you haven’t gotten off your butt and tried FTF yet, you need to before she closes up for the season, which is FAST approaching its end. To have to wait until next year is a travesty. She also makes freezer pops that are the same stuff, just in the classic shape we all know and love from our childhoods.

My inspiration to try to make some more of my own flavored syrups comes from Lindsay’s Espresso with Mexican Cane Sugar flavor. When you get this flavor (and you should!), they drizzle a little sweetened condensed milk on it, too. I know it sounds a little sketchy, but trust me.

The espresso flavor is to die for, but what was really intriguing was the subtle hint of warm spice in the background… was that cinnamon? Nutmeg? Allspice? All of the above??? I asked Lindsay and she confirmed it was cinnamon, so in preparation for the cold season ahead, I decided to give making my own version of this syrup a shot (no pun intended) so I could add it to my morning coffee when I wanted something a little different. Linday’s snow cone syrup also has a nice hint of carmelized sugar flavors, which I tried to reproduce, and maybe a little hint of molasses or something.

Making simple syrup is, well, simple. You take a cup of sugar and a cup of water, put them in a pan and boil until dissolved. They keep pretty well, although I read somewhere that making a more sugary syrup will keep longer, so to use a 2:1 sugar to water ratio in that case. I did just that about a year ago to have simple syrup on hand for Old Fashioned’s, and it kept unrefrigerated for all that time with no problem at all.

About a week ago I had some strawberries about to go bad and I made a 1:1 simple syrup with them, but didn’t refrigerate it, and the syrup had mold growing on it within a couple days. Word to the wise.

To make fruit-based syrups, like the strawberry one I just mentioned, which would work for any fruit as far as I can tell, simply add the 1:1 ratio of sugar and water to your pan, as well as chopped up fruit, and boil the lot until the sugar dissolves and fruit starts to break up and everything thickens. Remember, fruits have a lot of water in them, so boiling off some won’t be a problem. Once the syrup started cooking nicely I mashed the fruit up with a potato masher and kept on trucking. When I felt like it was done, I simply strained it through a fine wire mesh colander to get the seeds and stuff out. Worked like a charm and it was delicious, the one time I got to use it!

For the coffee-flavored syrup, I just made a small batch and decided to use the richer solution, so I did one cup sugar to 1/2 cup water. I wasn’t sure which type of sugar to use, as a trip down the cooking aisle of Whole Foods showed all kinds of possibilities. I also spotted “vegan sugar” which is truly the lowest form of manipulation of those poor souls, as there is no meat in sugar to begin with. So, vegans who fall for that ploy get to spend an extra dollar for the same sugar. Duh.

Anyway, I chose turbinado sugar, which is evaporated cane juice that still has some molasses in it. Basically chunky brown sugar, but a little “drier” and not as molasses-y. It’s that fancy big-crystal brown-colored sugar you see in the coffee shops. I thought it would have some caramel notes and etc.

So, I did one cup of turbinado, 1/2 cup water and for the coffee flavor itself, I used a few demitasse-spoonfuls of instant espresso. Cooked it up and then added a cinnamon stick to get some cinnamon notes like Lindsay had. I was surprised to see that the sugar dissolved completely very quickly, so I’m guessing that because the crystals are so large, that maybe there isn’t as much density, so one cup of turbinado is less sugar than a cup of regular white refined sugar. That said, it still tasted great. I wasn’t sure how long to leave the cinnamon in, so I probably let it boil with the sugar solution for a couple minutes. I was afraid of making a REALLY cinnamon-y concoction, which wasn’t what I was going for.

Once I figured it was done, I tossed the cinnamon stick and let it cool and poured it into my squirt bottle. The syrup is really dark and nice and thick. It may be a little strong on the coffee flavor, so next time I’ll back off the amount of instant espresso by about 50% I think. I don’t pick up the caramelized flavors I loved so much in Lindsay’s, so I’m thinking maybe cook it longer to cause some caramelization and add water back in, or maybe the flavors are there and are overpowered by the instant espresso/fact that I’m using the solution in a big cup of strong coffee. I wonder about adding a hint of vanilla after the solution cools, too. I could also be using the totally wrong sugar, so this is a work in progress, but a very acceptable first try and it tastes great in coffee. I got almost zero cinnamon flavor in mine, too, so the cinnamon sticks I bought at the grocery store are pretty weak and require a lot more cooking to get into the mix. I wonder if maybe using ground cinnamon would be the way to go.

This will give me something to do this winter! lol