The Oktoberfest has a huge following throughout the rest of the world, giving rise to many Oktoberfest inspired beers and the creation of festivals at which to drink them.  Our Beltramo’s Beer Tasting will be giving you the opportunity to try some traditional German Oktoberfest beers alongside some excellent interpretations from the U.S.

Try all eight of these great Oktoberfest beers for $5 on Friday 5^th October from 4:30-6:30.

Beck’s Oktoberfest

Paulaner Oktoberfest

Hofbrau Oktoberfest

Hacker-Pschorr Ocktoberfest

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

Pyramid Oktoberfest

Widmer Brothers Okto Festival

Shiner Oktoberfest

Christian B., Beltramo’s Wine & Beer Consultant

However, this seemingly simple beverage can leave the average consumer overwhelmed with choices, from crisp and citrusy IPAs all the way through to rich and smooth Porters and Stouts.  There is also the question of how to serve beer and how to decipher the label to give you some idea of what lies beneath; particularly our Belgian and German beers, what exactly is a Doppelbock?  Who are the Trappist Monks and what on earth do they have to do with beer?

For the beer connoisseur, more concerned with hunting down a limited edition bottling or enjoying the subtle differences between Cascade, Centennial, Fuggles and Goldings Hops, there is an endless supply of old favorites and new and exciting creations to quench the endless thirst of the serious beer drinker.

However deep your level of immersion goes in the beer world, Beltramo’s is here to help.  In the near future our Tasting Room, once exclusive to wine, will be transforming on certain Friday nights into The Beer Cellar, and opening its doors for your chance to sample from our extensive range of beers.  So keep an eye on our website for the first Beltramo’s beer tasting event!

Christian B., Beltramo’s Wine & Beer Consultant

********UPDATE********

Beltramo’s Friday Night Beer Cellar Presents

Pilsners: Old World & New

Friday, August 31, 2012

4:30-6:30pm

Taste all seven beers for $5.  No reservation required.  More info here: http://www.beltramos.com/events/i0986410ug

     “Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer.” – Henry Lawson

Bread and Beer are cousins. Whisky and Beer are cousins too, but Beer and Whisky get to party together all the time. Why there doesn’t seem to be as much love between the former two has always been much of a mystery to me. I mean, they used to be a lot more close in ye olden days (Ex. The Plowman’s Lunch: bread, cheese, and beer), but they’ve kind of had a falling out lately.

Here’s where I could do some ranting. I might, for instance, feel inclined to rail against the recent trend of carb-bashing that has swept our calorie-obsessed culture over the past few years. People concerned about their waistline make the choice between Beer OR bread. I could be very bitter about this, my friends, but I would prefer to just sip on a nicely refreshing hoppy and bitter Beer. Yes, my friends, I would rather focus on the matter at hand and find a solution in order to get these two old friends back together. What will it take? I believe the answer lies in a double feature of sorts. Or better yet, a buddy flick starring both these tasty titans.

What I want is bread made with Beer. Dark, bold Beer to make a hearty and flavorful bread. I’m talking about banana bread made with Stout. So I implore you to put down the caloric calculator and try this recipe on for size next time you’re in the kitchen.

• 1 mashed banana
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground clove
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup toasted chopped pecans
• 1 cup golden raisins, packed
• 1 cup Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mash the banana and combine with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Separately, sift together the wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and all the ground spices. Add the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients in parts, alternately with the Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout to ensure the ingredients are completely blended. Then fold in the chopped pecans and raisins.

Pour the batter into a medium bread pan and bake for one hour. When you take the bread out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes before taking it outand letting it rest on a cooling rack.

This bread is dense. Black hole dense. It’s heavy and dark and packed with flavor. The Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout adds heft and notes of coffee and chocolate, while the golden raisins and spices brighten up the scene a little and add some flare. Tying it all together is the creamy banana. Here we have Beer and bread back together again, and thick as thieves! I like to warm up a slice in either the microwave or toaster and then spread the bread with butter and paired with a glass of milk. Who says Beer isn’t for breakfast?

 Cheers!

 Neal F., Beltramo’s Spirits Staff

PANIC!

Men, we can watch numerous commercials, view bill-boards, read the print ads and yet, February 14^th will catch us unaware, scrambling to purchase cards, flowers and gifts on the way home from work. Restaurant reservations? Who are we kidding, they were booked months ago. Dinner?  Oops, order take-out from that cute Italian place you went to last summer. Plans for the evening?  Oh no, you’re in TROUBLE.

Help is at hand my friends. You can create your own tasting experience at home with an appropriately themed subject: alcoholic libations and chocolate.  You can choose from wine, beer or spirits or any combination thereof. I write this to aid my fellow man and prove once again, the staff at Beltramo’s will go the extra mile to help our customers.

The pairing of wine and chocolate is a contentious subject amongst those in the wine profession. I hold firmly to the ideal that most wine does not pair with cocoa, but I offer you solutions to that conundrum.

We shall have 3 courses tonight. To begin the night’s festivities we shall start with sparkling wines move through to some English beers and finish with two fortified wines.  If time and your constitution permit try all of my recommendations; this will greatly enhance your evening.

Sparkling Wines

I recommend serving milk chocolate with these.

2010 Saracco Moscato D’Asti    $13.99 

The nose reveals pit fruits, vibrant apricots and peaches. The wine is sweet yet balanced and exhibits a fine bubble structure and a silky finish.

 Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco Centenario Amibile Grasparossa di Castelvetro    $10.99 

This is a frizzante wine. A delicious foamy mousse begins and is followed by dark, dark raspberries. Rich and sumptuous, a mouth full of sweet berries. A rich finish.

 Beers

A dark chocolate will work here: one that is around 65% cocoa.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout    ($3.79 available in-store)

A very dark beer, sweet but not too sweet, with a creamy, milk chocolate flavor and hints of coffee on the finish, nicely balanced.

Samuel Smiths Taddy Porter    ($3.49 available in-store)

Intense flavors of roasted barley, dry and tangy with a slight smoky quality, followed with delicious notes of coffee and caramel.

Fortified Wines

A dark, bittersweet chocolate for this course.

2009 M. Chapoutier Banyuls    $21.99 

From the South of France, abutting the Spanish border comes the world famous Banyuls.  The wine is rich and full-bodied yet delicate and with great acidic balance. Black plums and Bing cherries on the nose with orange rind and raisons on the mid-palate followed with espresso on the finish.

Meyer Family Port NV    $29.99 

Baked plums and cooking spices, mace, cinnamon and allspice on the front. A mid-palate of lush cherries and cassis and a long, lingering finish.

James DB,  Beltramo’s Wine Consultant