Chestnuts Roasting in a Copper Kettle Part 1

Thanks to Sylvia and PolarSnuggleBear for inviting me to write about one of my favorite subjects… BEER! I’m Gravy-Boy Johnson, an office stiff and an amateur beer enthusiast who occasionally works at Shenandoah Brewing Company, a craft brewery and Brew On Premises (meaning that customers can come in and brew their own beer) located in Alexandria, VA. SBC’s scrumptious Chocolate Donut Stout was recently featured on the Food Network show Unwrapped. You can watch it here.

A few weeks ago my wife (Mrs. Johnson) and I brewed an Imperial Chestnut Stout for the holidays. Neither of us (or anyone else we spoke to) had ever had a chestnut beer, so we figured we'd give it a try. We chose Imperial Stout as the style because it's hearty enough for the winter, and high enough in alcohol to guarantee that those who enjoy it will be very merry.

After considering several options on how to flavor the beer, we found a chestnut puree at a local gourmet store. SBC's brewmaster, Anning Smith, formulated the rest of the recipe for us based on the flavor profile we were looking to achieve, namely a bit of extra bitterness and roastiness to complement the sweetness of the puree. We also wanted a velvety sheen, not unlike that of Weyerbacher's Raspberry Imperial Stout (which I highly recommend). Here's what Anning came up with:

The ingredients

From Simply Foodies

Grains Smoked Malt Black Malt Black Barley Roasted Barley Special Roast Extra Special Malt From Simply Foodies Hops Bittering- Centennial and Warrior Finishing- Chinook From Simply Foodies Sugars & Yeast Pilsner Extract Corn Syrup Brewers Yeast From Simply Foodies Flavoring Adro Chestnut Puree (from Hungary, my great grandmother would have been so proud!) From Simply Foodies The Stats Starting Gravity Reading: 1094 Starting Volume: 15 Gallons Projected Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 9%-ish We will be bottling our stout up in a few weeks. I'll write another post to let you know how it comes out. Cheers!

Menu ideas for the week

Well it's been a while since I last updated.  I haven't been cooking or eating much because Jim's been out of town but this week I've got some yummy stuff on the menu.  Here're the next five meals:
Beef and Snow Peas
Lebanese lamb chops
Pasta with Asparagus, Shiitakes, and Lemon
Tomato and Garlic stuffed chicken cutlets.  For this recipe, I replace the parlsey with basil...yum!
Grilled Clams with lemon-ginger butter

Later this month, we'll have a write up from our beer guy (aka Gravyboy Johnson) who is out in the field making a chestnut stout for the holidays.  Here's  a quick pic to get you in the mood.