Sheltered Girl Meets World

Drank: Extreme Beer at Dogfish Head Brewery (Milton, DE)

Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, DE.

"Delaware? Why do you want to go to Delaware?"

"To go to a brewery, Dogfish Head.  Have you heard of it?  They were on a TV show on Discovery."

"No, what do they brew?"

"Ohh well, they do interesting beers.  There was one where they brewed a beer out of corn that had been chewed by their staff.  The saliva from the chewing let the starch break down into fermentable sugars."

"I.. see.."

That was the reaction when I told friend/co-workers I was taking a day off, driving 9.5 hours with two friends to visit a brewery that I had only seen on TV that brews beer with spit.  Surprisingly, they weren't interested in a souvenir.

The bottling line - go go go go!

Dogfish Head is known to produce 'extreme' high alcohol by volume (ABV) beers.  The Peruvian brew, Chicha (the spit beer), is just one of many beers they produce based on traditional brewing methods.  They are also well known for their India Pale Ale's (IPA's) which are continuously hopped, meaning that hops are added constantly to the length of the boil time of the wort (60, 90 or 120 minutes).  The result is a wonderfully easy-to-drink hoppy beer in the 60 minute, to the slightly more pungent 90 minute, to the powerful and sweet 15-20% ABV in the 120 minute.

'Oooh Me So Hoppy' The dry hopping system that feeds the hops into the beer.

On arrival to Milton, DE, we headed straight to the brewery where we put on our safety glasses and prepared to see the inner workings of one of the fastest growing craft brewers in the United States.  Inside we saw the original brewing set up where founder Sam Calagione started brewing.  At the time the tiny set up was considered the smallest commercial brewery and is minute compared to the giant kettles and fermenters currently installed.  For me the highlight of the tour was seeing the fast working bottling line and the wonderfully massive (10,000 gallon/37,900 litre) wooden barrels.

The large specially made wooden fermenting barrels.

At the end of the tour we were able to sample four beers: Tweason'ale, Raison D'Etre, Burton Baton and 120 Minute IPA.  These were very different from any beer I've ever had - high ABV, fruity, bold!  Out of the four we tried the 120 Minute IPA was my favourite - I loved the boozy sweetness.  After savouring the samples we spent the next 45 minutes making detailed plans on how we were spending our duty/tax free alcohol limit and whether it would fit comfortably in my Sunfire.

After much agony, I decided to spend my limit on Tweason'ale, World Wide Stout, Chicory Stout, 90 Minute IPA and 120 Minute IPA in bottles - no keg this trip.  As for Chicha, it's only available at Dogfish Head's brewpub where they test recipies and do limited runs.  Sadly it wasn't available when we visited for dinner, guess I'll have to plan a return trip.

Attended: Festibière d'Hiver (Gatineau, Quebec)

Serving hot 2009 BDT Messe de Minuit at the ice bar. Reminded me of hot apple cider.

 As much of a beer lover that I am I have not tried many of the craft beers available in Quebec.  Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to attend Festibière d'Hiver, Winter Beerfest, hosted at the Château Cartier in Gatineau, Quebec.

Admission was free but beer samples and food required tickets which could be bought for 50 cents / ticket.  For the average 5% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer 4 tickets were required for a 120ml sample but if you wanted to be adventurous and try some of the higher ABV beers you could expect to shell out 6-10 tickets.  The food available seemed perfect for a beerfest - bison pogo, foie gras poutine, beer risotto to name a few and were sold in small portions for anywhere from 6-10 tickets.

Sipping on my Milk Stout by the bon fire.

I tried a wide variety of beers from a wheaty Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue to a creamy Vache Folle Milk Stout from Charlevoix to the oh so delicious aged Messe de Minuit from BDT served hot at the ice bar.  The latter being my favorite beer of the evening because enjoying it warm, huddled around the blazing bon fire felt perfect.

I want to learn more about Quebec breweries and their beer and will have to do my homework before the summer edition of the Gatineau Beerfest.  I just hope the summer event can top an ice bar and dog sled rides..

Lining up to get the beer that will save us from the cold.

Sipping high ABV beer by the bonfire makes a person feel very warm.

Go: 8th Annual Carefor Chocolate Brunch and Competition

(2011 Carefor Chocolate Competition Champ - Pasticceria Gelateria)

Last March I bought tickets to the Carefor Brunch and Chocolate competition.  I'd like to say I bought the tickets to support Carefor's home health care and community service work but the only thing I was supporting was my love for chocolate.  I wasn't disappointed either - chocolate was everywhere; mini chocolate bars were piled high in the center of each table, a chocolate fountain was flowing and this was before the ten competitors started serving their decadent chocolate desserts!

This year I am very excited to be joining Executive Chef Michael Blackie of Le Café, Chef Christian Faure of Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa Citizen Food Editor Ron Eade and fellow bloggers Don and Claire from FoodiePrints to help judge the entries.  The competition will be tough as 2011 champions Sucré Salé and Pasticceria Gelateria look to defend their title from past competitors Fratelli, The Joy of Gluten Free, Todric's Fine Dining & Catering and new competitors Brookstreet Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn.

Tickets can be purchased online for $75 (adult) or $40 (child, age 4-12).  It is being held at the Centurion Conference & Event Centre located at 170 Colonnade Rd. on Saturday, March 10 from 10am to 2pm.  More information can be found at http://www.careforchocolate.com.

Not going but want to follow the event?  Check out #CareforChocolate on Twitter!

Eaten: Devilled Eggs, Brisket and Ribs @ Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

(I didn't know dinosaurs could ride motorcycles)

My New Years Resolution is to travel more but due to budget constraints I won't be able to go country hopping.  Instead, I'm planning several small trips to nearby provinces and states with one or two big trips in between.  To help me save as much money as possible when travelling to the USA I drove to Syracuse, NY to open a chequing account at Chase.  Using XE, a currency trading site, I'll transfer funds from my Canadian chequing account to my American chequing account and avoid nasty service fees when I do American transactions.  In theory, anyway.  After opening the chequing account and eating lots of free Hershey kisses at the bank, we drove to downtown Syracuse to the popular Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

(The Swag Sampler Plate - Devilled eggs, wings, shrimp and fried green tomatoes)

Part biker bar, part southern BBQ restaurant Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a local Syracuse favourite that has both the locals and tourists lining up around the corner for a table.  The boyfriend and I arrived shortly after the doors opened for lunch and we were seated without problem.  As we ordered and ate we watched the restaurant fill up - first it was the waiting area, then the bar, then the area near the washrooms, then the line started forming outside the restaurant.  As Dinosaur Bar-B-Que doesn't take reservations, you'll probably have to wait for a table - is it worth it?

YES.  GET IN LINE NOW.

(Tres Hombres - Pulled pork, 1/4 rack of ribs, beef brisket and two sides)

Since this was my first time at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que I shared the Swag Sampler appetizer plate and ordered the Tres Hombres as my main.  I was told by the waitress that it was a good introduction to their BBQ.  The appetizer sampler came with wings, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and devilled eggs.  It was good, I particularly enjoyed the devilled eggs and wings smothered in their Sensuous Slathering sauce but it was only a warm up for the main course.  The Tres Hombres, a beautiful trio of pulled pork, 1/4 rack of ribs, tender, tender beef brisket and two of their homemade sides (bar-b-que beans and mac 'n cheese for me) is what got me drooling.  The brisket is tender, moist; the ribs fall apart in your mouth when you bite into them and you can taste a slight smoke flavour thanks to the wood fuelled BBQ pit.  Even the sides, which sometimes aren't so good at BBQ restaurants, were delicious; the bar-b-que beans made with pulled pork and the mac 'n cheese moist and gooey with 5 different cheeses.  My least favourite thing on the plate was, surprisingly, the pulled pork which seemed a little dry compared to the other meat on the plate.

Oh, and did I mention the beer selection?  With great breweries like Southern Tier, Brooklyn Brewery and Sierra Nevada (to name of a few) part of a 22 draught and over 40 bottle list, it's a craft beer lovers dream!  The best part is that you can take any of those beers home in a growler for the cost of a growler ($4.50) and pitcher (cost varies beer to beer).

I'm looking forward to my next visit and highly recommend that if you're close to Syracuse that you get in line for a pint and a rack of ribs.