Short's Brewing The Soft Parade [Beer Review]
The label and the fact that Short’s Soft Parade is a fruit beer might have you wondering why I’m writing about it in February. Honestly it isn’t a summer beer. It isn’t a spring beer. It has no season and Soft Parade is available all year round, so clearly Short’s Brewing Company agrees with me.
The first time I tried Short’s Soft Parade I was at school in the U.P. (Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.) Friends had gone home to the northern Lower Peninsula and brought it back. I tried it. Thought it was weird. Decided I liked it. Weeks went by and out of nowhere I found myself wanting more. The next time my friends brought some back after a trip home I had more and, that time, I decided I loved it. It grew on me. Even now it seems as though I like Soft Parade more and more each time I drink it.
When first trying it, without reading the label, I couldn’t have told you exactly what the flavors were that I tasted. Now, of course, I realize it’s fruit. For anyone who has had fruit beer, that would instantly make you question the ability of my taste buds I have no doubt. The thing is, Soft Parade is unlike any other fruit type beer I have tasted. They usually smack you in the face with one specific fruit flavor. Or they are so sweet you don’t fancy drinking much, not even a single pint or bottle. Sometimes it’s a combination of too fruity and too sweet, but that isn’t the case with Soft Parade.
When you pour it Soft Parade smells crisp and bright with a beautiful red golden color, brighter and more pink than an amber. As you are pouring it the color of the beer, with the head rising, looks a bit like strawberries and water (or rum if you prefer) in a blender. The head rises to an off white eggshell. The first taste isn’t sweet or fruity. The high gravity ale hits you with rye and just a hint of fruit. I think the mix of the rye with a combination of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are what fooled me the first few times I tasted it. Some flavors dance alongside one another letting you taste one and then the other back and forth. Other flavors mix together and form something new, something harder to describe. That is what the Soft Parade combination was for me: something new.
If you take a sip and let it rest on your tongue for a bit the rye separates and comes to the forefront. The aftertaste leaves you with a bite of fruit. With 15 IBUs the hops don’t jump out at you much. It’s very drinkable which can get interesting at 8% ABV. The more you drink the more the fruit becomes a prominent taste rather than just an after bite. With each sip I could make a different argument as to which fruit stands out the strongest. Sometimes I am convinced it is the strawberry and the next sip it’s the blueberry and the raspberry. I can never decide.
Soft Parade is a good beer to drink with other beer. It’s palette cleansing without being too bright. You can drink anything around it and it stands up in flavor and interest. Drinking it in the middle of an evening of beer tasting brings out the fruit flavors a little stronger, in a good way.
(Speaking of drinking it with other beer, Short’s has an Oatmeal Stout with peanuts called Uber Goober. They blend it with the Soft Parade and call it PB&J Stout; available in November. I’m allergic to peanuts but not in an anaphylactic shock way so it won’t stop me from tasting and getting back to you. I’m extremely interested.)
Soft Parade always keeps me guessing. It is just as new and interesting and increasingly enjoyable each time I have some. The woman on the label may be in a beach chair, but I highly encourage you to drink some before beach weather. Soft Parade is appropriate on a snowy day…I promise! I’ve definitely stood around in the cold enjoying a bottle or two. It is absolutely one of my favorite beers.
Craft Beer & Chocolate Does It Again! Results Of Our Pairing Event At The Taza Chocolate Factory
As many of you know, on Saturday, February 11th we held a craft beer and chocolate pairing event at the Taza Chocolate Factory featuring their organic, fair trade chocolate being paired with craft beer from Peak Organic Brewing Company, Sixpoint, Narragansett and Slumbrew [Picture below from left: Devon from Drink Craft Beer; Zac from Narragansett; Rob from Peak Organic; Sarah from Drink Craft Beer]. The event was awesome, we had over 550 people come through the door and raised $1828 for The Greater Boston Food Bank! With that money, they can provide 4,570 meals to people in need! That can feed a family of four for a year and a half!
We'd like to thank everybody who made it out and came to the event! Thanks for donating the money and being so enjoyable to spend four hours with on Saturday [Picture Right: In the Taza Factory Store, the line for the second tasting station]!
And, especially, a huge thanks to Peak Organic, Sixpoint, Narragansett and Slumbrew for donating all the beer and to Taza Chocolate for donating all of the chocolate and letting us take over their shop for the whole day! We really couldn't have done it without each and every one of them!
Also, Boston.com's The Next Great Generation had a writer on hand to cover the event, so check out "Taza Chocolate And Drink Craft Beer Prove That Beer And Chocolate Make A Perfect Pair."
Cheers everyone, we look forward to seeing you all again soon!
For more pictures of the event, check out the album on our Facebook page!
-Jeff & Devon
Co-Founders of Drink Craft Beer
Crispin Lansdowne Cider [Review]
Crispin Artisinal Reserve Lansdowne (fermented with Irish Stout yeast and organic molasses) is cloudy, unfiltered comfort in a bomber. Somehow they managed to bottle the feeling of sitting fireside in a pub while the weather is whipping outside (you'll see what I mean). The 22 oz. bottle starts out instructing you to give it a "full bottoms-up tilt & swirl" to mix in the unfiltered apple-wine sediment and you are going to be glad you did! This is the first cider that I've had to switch over to the white Drink Craft Beer glass - it's my darkest & densest so far! After the initial fizz from the pour, you don't see any bubbles moving around and with the murky cedar brown coloring it looks like a true unfiltered non-alcoholic cider. I'm talking the gallon or quarts you buy in the fall, that you might have drank at an elementary school Halloween or Thanksgiving party, and that you now sometimes heat up and mull. That's what this looks like, with the same cloudy brown with the red undertones, no bubbles, the light only gets a few millimeters into the glass. Lansdowne doesn't have any perfect beer comparison in appearance but the closest would be a red/brown ale - no one is going to be mistaking this for anything but a cider. To be honest I'm not quite sure what to expect coming in for the sip.
Pulling up the glass, my nose finds the molasses first. And is that a little bit of honey mixed in with the apple scent? After checking the label, yup, in addition to having racked apple wine and organic molasses, their Lansdowne lists a "kiss of organic honey." At the end you barely get a bit of stout yeast. Maybe it's because it's on the label and was in my mind, but just barely sneaking up the nose.
Sipping at last, here comes a rich, winter-autumny flood. First that apple wine with the burnt sugary taste that molasses has, almost like a bite of burnt caramel candied apple. Right after that you get the slightly heavier mouth feel of the cider, a lot slicker & smoother than usual, probably due to the Irish Stout yeast. Not too shockingly the best way to describe it is that light but weighty stillness that a sip of stout has, not a flurry of carbonation like many other ciders. The apple notes are not that bright, crisp Macintosh or Gala feel, more a subtle Red or Golden Delicious. Every exhale is all molasses and burnt sugar with the stout trying to shoulder it's way up. The further you get into your glass, the apple fights its way back to the tasting ground, but that molasses & honey notes hold onto every single breath out. This is a bottle to bring out on that rainy or snowy weekend when you have a good pot of stew going, those earthy savory meals are going to be complimented by the warm molasses notes and still weight of Lansdowne. It's a little like a boozy equivalent of that old blanket your grandmother knitted that you grab on those chilly raw days. Snuggle up with this Lansdowne as well.
I bought a 22oz bottle of this cider at Bauer Wines & Spirits, Newbury Street, Boston.
Oatmeal Stout Chocolate Chili [Recipes]
[Editors Note: It's our pleasure to welcome another new author to our site! Chef John joins our team today along with the launch of a new recipes section on our site! Chef John has been a good friend of ours for many years and we're really excited to have him on board. He made some smoked beer can chicken tacos with pumpkin mole sauce this past fall and ever since then we've wanted him to do some writing for us. We hope you enjoy his first contribution to the site as much as we did. ]
While spending a Saturday night with good company and great cocktails at Backbar , a new spot in the heart of Union Square in Somerville, I was listening to Jeff and Devon talk about their next tasting at Taza. After a while they asked me if i would be interested in writing food recipes for their website. I'm always up for creating a new recipe so I was more than happy to. With beer and chocolate in mind, I figured, what would be better than a great chili? The Superbowl was right around the corner which gave me a great audience to test it out. This recipe provides great depth of flavor. When you take your first bite the oatmeal stout adds a richness and malt flavor. Then, the chocolate brings a dark color and sweetness. When you think it's over, you get hit with an onslaught of fire roasted peppers. It is great as a warm bowl topped with tortilla strips and slices of avocado and is also thick enough for a dip. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Ingredients:
2 oz Olive Oil
1/2 Spanish Onion Small Dice
5 Cloves Chopped Garlic
2 Serrano Chilis Fire Roasted, Peeled and Diced
1 Jalapeno Pepper Fire Roasted, Peeled and Diced
2 Poblano Peppers Fire Roasted, Peeled and Diced
2 Chipotles in Adobo Diced
3oz Adobo Sauce
1 1/2 lb Beef Brisket Medium Dice
12oz Mayflower Winter Oatmeal Stout
2 discs Guajillo Taza Chocolate (2.7oz)
1 disc Coffee Taza Chocolate (1.3oz)
2 oz Oregano
2 oz Whole Cumin Toasted and Ground
16oz Can Whole Tomatoes
32 oz Beef Stock
Salt To taste
Topping:
4 Corn Tortillas Cut in Strips and Baked
Sliced Avacado
Chopped Scallion
Sour Cream
Cooking Instructions:
1. Roast Peppers on Grill or on top of a gas range. If you do not have access to either you can coat them in oil and roast in the oven. Once charred cover for 10 minutes. Run under water and peel off skin, then chop.
2. Saute onion and peppers in oil in stock pot
3. Add brisket and cook util browned
4. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
5. Add oatmeal stout and simmer for 5 minutes
6. Toast cumin seeds in a small skillet until golden brown, grind
7. Add toasted and ground cumin, oregano, chipotles, adobo and Taza chocolates
8. Add canned tomatoes
9. Add 8 oz beef stock and simmer every half hour for 2 hours until brisket is tender.
10. Top with baked tortilla strips, sliced avocado, scallions and sour cream.
Enjoy!
Chef John
