In the last couple of years, this loosely defined style has turned into a feeding frenzy driven by craft beer’s hyper-enthusiastic core. These are the beers that devotees will wait in line for, hoard, covet, trade and generally lust after.
Trip was organized by Diego Masiero, my Brazilian publisher of Radical Brewing, in coordination with Mondiale de la Bière and BrasilBrau (local equivalent to Craft Brewers Conference) in São Paulo. In addition to helping judge Mondiale, we had a Radical Brewing booth at BrasilBrau, and I gave a speech.
I had been researching and recreating antique vermouth recipes for some time before I was Invited to Northern Spain by Los Cerverceros Caseros, the Spanish homebrewers’ association. I was excited to see vermouth everywhere in Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid, and fascinated to see how the locals enjoyed it.
I was honored to be invited by ACCE (Asociación de Cerveceros Caseros Españoles, Spain’s homebrewing association) to give a presentation at their annual convention in Bilbao. Of course I accepted and used it as an opportunity to explore Northern Spain a bit. The homebrew conference was like they all are: lots of thrillingly geeky and enthusiastic brewers looking to exchange information and enjoy each other’s company—and beers.
In Mexico you don’t have to look very far to discover a panorama of exciting flavors! Much of the food there remains fiercely local and always shows a particular point of view. These photos show a few interesting aspects of my 2017 trip to Oaxaca and Mexico City, as well as a separate beer trip to Puebla and Cholula.
The purpose of the trip was to judge Slow Beer, a specialized competition highlighting ingredients of interest to the Slow Food organization, many of which are important in its ongoing programs. Ingredients ranged from seemingly commonplace items like coffee and vanilla, but often sourced from special regions or involving unique varieties, to much more exotic items like xoconostle, black sapote, chapulines and more.
I recently completed a months-long project to create labels for a new series of beers featuring a variety of tropical fruits. Within the larger range of Cervejaria Colorado labels I began several years ago, we wanted these to hang together and make a little sub-line all their own.
We were fortunate to have a man named Edoarda Branca walk into our pub one day last spring and sample some beers. He’s a fan of good craft beer in addition to being a enthusiast and North American representative of the family’s famous products, and was impressed enough by what we’re doing at Forbidden Root to start talking about a possible collaboration with us.
I was delighted to receive an invitation to present at a workshop by the Mexican Slow Beer delegation at the recent Slow Food Salone del Gusto in Torino, Italy.
This is the Italian dish, most famous in Emilglia-Romana, featuring a whole pig, boned out and stuffed with its own meat and herbs, roasted and typically sliced into slivers and served as rustic sandwiches. Having done a variety of “fake” porchetta creations in the past, I thought it would be fun to try to the real deal for the recent Chicago Beer Society picnic’s “Other Meat” category.