Meat and Beer

Beef, it's whats for dinner. And suds to wash it down.

So, we have wanted to order a large quantity of beef for quite some time now and finally rounded up enough people to share in this endeavor with us. We spoke with our favorite meat purveyors at the market, Underwood Family Farm, and originally decided on a half cow which we were told would be around a hundred pounds. When they decided which cow to bring to the processor Christy told us it was a big'un so we moved to a quarter cow which would be about seventy-five pounds. Wednesday we got the email that the quarter cow came in at ninety-three pounds. It was very exciting and mildly terrifying. How the hell were we gonna get all that home to separate. We borrowed a large cooler from our neighbors and brought a couple of our own and at eight A.M. Saturday morning we set out for the market. Wow, that's a lot of beef. It was glorious, when she opened the cooler i felt like I was finally getting a glimpse into the Pulp Fiction Briefcase. Grassfed goodness of every variety. We split it up amongst five couples and families and I was perfectly happy to reserve for us, the oddball cuts. We got a couple of steaks but more importantly there was a piece of flap meat and ox tail and a soup bone and a tri-tip, oh happy day.

In other news I am very happy to report that Revolution Pizza has moved ever closer to becoming the best bar in Charlotte by removing from its taps the last of the large brewery beers. It is all craft brew all the time. The Guinness was replaced by Pisgah Nitro, a beautiful example of a Nitrogen conditioned stout. Other new additions include Pisgah Valdese, Great Lakes Edmond Fitzgerald, Left Hand 400lb monkey, and Flying Dog double IPA.

As mentioned above, Great Lakes Brewing Company has finally made its entry into the Charlotte Market. I would strongly recommend picking up a six pack. I myself am a big fan of the Eliot Ness, but they are all tasty. I was lucky enough to visit their brew pub last fall, in Cleveland, and I can only hope that they ship their seasonal brews, last years Octoberfest was the best I had all season and the Nosferatu is a dangerous thing. So go pick some up.

Finally, I would like to thank Brawley's for being awesome, I picked up a bottle of Avery Brabant, a beer of which there was only 694 cases made. It is a wild yeast beer, with no style precedent that was aged in Zinfandel barrels. I'm now hoping I can get another bottle so I can taste it and save the other bottle for a rainy day.

Cellaring, not always a good idea.

After a long week at work sometimes you just want to curl up with a nice beer and wash the world away. This was my plan last night. I was, however, foiled by the beer itself. I got home wanting something special, but not too special. I went to the cave and found a lovely bottle of Avery Samael from 2007. I have seen reviews that tis may not be the best cellaring beer but figured I had purchased mine a mere 3 mo. ago. Surely it would be fine. It was not fine and don't call me Shirley. It tasted like an oak flavored lollypop. There was no complexity left just sugar and oak and then some more oak with a little sugar on top. Lesson learned; drink the Samael.

With all that said; my night could not be ruined. Snow was falling, we dined with friends and to top it all off we went and saw The Slackers and danced the night away.

Today we are snowed in, such as that is in the South. and I am resting on the couch with a lovely glass of Warre's Warrior. Freshly pored it is a gorgeous deep purple. The nose is slightly hot with a great grape and current finish and a hint of tobacco. The taste is also a little spicy with huge plum and grape; slight blackberry on the back of the tongue.