What are you doing March 26 and 27?

I'll tell you what you're doing.

You're going to the 2nd annual Myrtle Beach Beer Fest.

I'm planning to Tweet.

. . .

Fiesta Del Burro Loco -- translated

The Crazy Ass Party.

RJ Rockers' Son of a Peach

The RJ Rockers guys told me Son of a Peach would be on the Grand Strand about now -- I had met them at the inaugural Myrtle Beach Beer Fest sponsored by the Weekly Surge.

I tried Son of a Peach earlier this evening at Longbeard's, which is one of my favorite restaurants on the Grand Strand.

Longbeard's had draft pints of Son of a Peach for $4.

I'm going to keep my opinion of this peach-flavored beer to myself temporarily. I'll eventually say what I think, but have you tried it? What's your opinion? Use the comment link to let sound off.



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Sunday brunch beers

Personally, I think the best choices are lighter beers with no added fruit flavors.

Try Pilsner Urquell, Maisel's Weisse Kristall, or Duvel. Blonde ales might pass with brunch fare, too, but I think big domestic light beers probably will not offer a real flavor profile.

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Beer-food pairing notes from Myrtle Beach

The night before the beer fest, I went to the Brewmasters Dinner at TBonz Gill & Grill in Myrtle Beach.


The five-course dinner was hosted by Epstein of New South Brewing, which makes the TBonz brand beers.


As the evening progressed, Epstein offered some pointers worth passing along.


1. Beer-and-food pairings are subjective, but the first rule is simple: “The stronger the flavor, the stronger the beer,” Epstein said. So lighter beers went with lighter fare. The Lowcountry Light Lager was paired with the Tomato Florentine Soup, and the Market Street Wheat went with the salad.


2. Spicy foods – like beer-boiled shrimp with Old Bay or calamari with a spicy marinara sauce – go well with beers like the India Pale Ale, which relies on the bitterness of hops. (That bitterness will strike some palates as spicy.)


3. For steaks, you probably want something robust, like a red ale. “The red still has a little bit of a hop bite to it, but it relies more on malt character,” Epstein said. The Cooper River Red paired well with the New York Strip.


The big surprise for me: Irish Stout is sublime with cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce.

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Dominion Baltic Porter Winter Brew: The right kind of porter

I bought Dominion Baltic Porter Winter Brew at a Safeway in Reston, Va., this past Saturday evening.

Essentially a local beer, it was brewed at the nearby Old Dominion Brewing Co. in Ashburn, Va.

Porters and I haven't always gotten along. Sometimes they're too smoky for me; sometimes they're too bitter and dark, and I'm saying that as a fan of dark-roast coffees and dark chocolate.

Sipping the Baltic Porter this evening, I am relieved to taste one of the most agreeable roasted pine-nut flavors I've ever had in a beer.

The fine line between roasted nuts and burnt nuts is often crossed in brewing (and crossed in nightclubs, but that's another story).

This porter belongs in the rich, hearty, comfort-food category, as long as you like roasted flavors in your beers. Speaking of comfort foods, the Baltic Porter is a high-gravity beer, advertised at 7 percent alcohol by volume.

My six-pack of Baltic Porter was priced at $8.99.

Croissants Bistro & Bakery: New Year's Eve Chef's Tasting Menu

Note the available wine flights, listed at the end -- and, at the very end, the phone number for reservations. -- Colin


NEW YEAR'S EVE CHEF'S TASTING MENU
CROISSANTS BISTRO & BAKERY


Featuring Chef Bryan Bodle

$50

Amuse Bousche
Chef's choice to get you started

Appetizers:
your choice

Malpaque Oysters on the half shell, Bloody Mary Sorbet, Shaved Cucumber

Crepe Florentine, Light Tomato Cream

Preserved Duck Leg and Forest Mushroom Spring Roll, Sweet and Sour Au Jus

Salads:
your choice

Classic Caesar, shaved Parmesan, Thyme Garlic Bruschetta

or

Organic Baby Spinach Salad, warm Shallot, Bacon Vinaigrette,
Baby Tomato, Honey Pecans, Crumbled Clemson Bleu Cheese

Entree:
your choice

Pan Seared Yellow Fin Tuna "Au Poivre"
Nicoise accompaniments

Petite Filet and oven roasted half tail of Maine Lobster,
Saffron Potato Puree, Ratatouille Vinaigrette

Grill Roasted New Zealand Rack of Lamb
Soft herb creamy Polenta, fine roasted Bell Pepper- Olive Relish

Dessert:
Featuring Culinary Institute Student, Sara Johnson

Chocolate Hazelnut Crepes

or

Egg Nog Creme Brulee

Wine Flights available for additional charge:
Wine selections by Stephen Stroman
Champagne Flight
White Wine Flight
Red Wine Flight

843-448-2253
call for reservations

Drinking the 'Yellow Snow' at Longbeards

Sage advice like "don't eat the yellow snow" is not very meaningful on the Grand Strand, even if it lives on in the memory of some of our retired Yankee transplants.

Rogue Brewery, a left-coast beer maker with a sense of humor, offers us the opportunity to drink Yellow Snow, or Yellow Snow IPA, to be exact. I found it on tap at Longbeard's Bar and Grill, 5040 Carolina Forest Boulevard, which has one of the most incredible wood interiors I have ever seen in a restaurant.

IPAs, or India Pale Ales, can be a bit prickly for the novice beer drinker, and Yellow Snow certainly has its full-flavored impact. Fortunately, it's not as pungent as its namesake and accompanying pale, golden color would suggest - far from it. Like most brews from Rogue, I'll order it again.

Of course, we all know what "yellow snow" really refers to - it is snow that has turned yellow because either a dog took a leak or someone poured out a can of Busch Light.

Breckenridge Brewery's Agave WheatDuring my session at Longbeard's, I also tried Breckenridge Brewery's Agave Wheat. I haven't decided if I like it yet. It's an American-style unfiltered wheat beer made with the nectar of the Salmiana Agave, which makes for a distinctive taste.

I was treated to a taste of another Breckenridge brew on tap at Longbeard's, this one the Avalanche Ale, an American amber that goes easy on the hops and leans on the maltiness.

I enjoyed Longbeard's, its atmosphere, its beer, and its turkey melt. I'll be back.

In Carolina Forest, a big glass of Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat

A cold and rainy Saturday afternoon does not tend to inspire the drinking of summery wheat beers, but after a morning's work I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Carolina Forest (between Myrtle Beach and Conway, S.C.) and realized that the only thing on tap that I hadn't tried, or at least wasn't sure I had tried, was Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., based in Wisconsin, has made some small distribution forays into the Grand Strand.

I have this problem lately - I'll think about ordering a regular pint and then hear words like "the 23-ounce, please" coming out of my mouth. The barkeep brought an extra tall glass of glowing gold.

The weird thing about Leinie's Sunset Wheat - or, more likely, the weird thing about me - was the undeniable taste of blueberries that continued through the last ounce. Can taste buds hallucinate? Later, I read through the Leinekugel Web site's description of the beer a few times, and never saw the word "blueberry" in it.

So I'm crazy. But by the time I got to the bottom of the glass, I had associated the taste in my mouth with the blue tap handle and made the assumption that blueberry juice was added to the outstanding wheat beer.

The bill was $4.34. I can deal with that price for 23 ounces of a Leinie.

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Beer-food pairings article now archived online

Everyone talks about wine pairings, but not as many talk about beer pairings.

If you've ever wanted to know what beer to have with a certain food -- or what food to have with a certain beer -- I've got you covered.

Here's the link:

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/static/weeklysurge/2008%20archives/072408%20archives/main072408.html

Enjoy!

Article on beer-food pairings now archived online

Everyone talks about wine pairings, but not as many talk about beer pairings.

If you've ever wanted to know what beer to have with a certain food -- or what food to have with a certain beer -- I've got you covered.

Here's the link:

http://www.weeklysurge.com/2008%20archives/072408%20archives/main072408.html

Enjoy!

Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale with Chicken Salad

I had just written an article about beer-and-food pairings. I had not included chicken salad in the beer-and-food pairings mix, but the next day, a friend visited for lunch and we had chicken salad sandwiches with Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale.

Excellent pairing. My friend agreed. I knew it would be close. Rogue includes little pairing icons on its larger, single-sale bottles (one pint + six ounces), and the Morimoto Soba Ale included a fish icon and a bird icon. Morimoto Soba Ale was light enough and zippy enough to compliment white meat, even when that white meat is mixed with mayonnaise and grapes.

You can read the beer-and-food pairing article here.

Peter Reinhart wins another James Beard Award!

Peter Reinhart, my friend and an editorial adviser for LiturgicalCredo.com, won another James Beard Foundation Award last night in New York City.

His book, Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor, won in the Baking and Dessert cookbook category.

Read excerpts of Peter's writings, and find links to his books, here.

Peter teaches at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.

See all of last night's James Beard Award winners, here.

Congratulations, Peter!

-Colin Foote Burch