Michigan Brewery Tour, Conclusion and Addendum

I woke up Monday morning still with a sore leg.  It was not, however, nearly as sore as it was when I arrived on Sunday night.  Luckily, while I would have some biking to do in the morning, I would be meeting a friend early, who would be giving me a ride to the final breweries and finally to the train station.  There are many breweries also in Kalamazoo, but it appeared that many either did not open early or did not open on Monday, so while I was going to be able to visit them, I would not be able to try their beer.  The only brewery that I would be able to drink at would be the largest brewery in Michigan, Bell's Brewery.  Even if I would not drink at them, I did want to see them and see where they were, so after a quick breakfast, I made my way downtown, where most of the breweries were.  I was happy to find out that where I was, on the west side of town, was uphill from where the breweries were so it was an easy coast, even if it 5 miles to the closest brewery.  The first brewery I came to, Gonzo's BiggDogg Brewing, was important for me to go to, even if I wasn't drinking.  A few weeks before my trip, there was a group of 9 cyclists, that had left from Gonzo's for a monthly bike ride, they unfortunately met up with a driver of a pick up truck who was apparently intoxicated, who hit all of them and killed five.  Several hundred cyclists had a solidarity ride, leaving from Gonzo's and riding the route that the riders rode, about a week before I arrived there.  Gonzo's also made a beer to support the cyclists, with proceeds going to a local bicycle advocacy group,  While I couldn't drink here, I had to come to show my support.  After I paid my respects, I made my way to Brite Eyes Brewing Company, a Brewery and Coffee House with a cafe menu, Tibbs Brewing, a nano brewery using a one barrel system that really reminded me of an old-style soda fountain, Olde Peninsula Brewpub and Restaurant, which claims to be the oldest brewpub in Kalamazoo (I would have thought that to be Bell's, although it might be that while Bell's is the older brewery, Olde Peninsula may have had the first pub), and Boatyard Brewery before arriving at Bell's Eccentric Cafe about when it opened at 11 am.

I told my friend that I would meet him around noon, so I was early, but I figured I could manage to keep myself occupied.  Bell's Brewery started in 1985 in the location where their Eccentric Cafe and General Store are located.  From the outside, it's a large yellow brick building that resembles a factory or warehouse with the company store on one corner.  The entrance to the cafe is in the parking lot behind the general store and, I was happy to see, a large bike rack.  I parked my bike and went inside to come upon something that very definitely no longer looks like a factory or warehouse.  It still has high ceilings and a cement floor with mosaic tile further in, but it has timber ceilings and hardwood furniture.  There is also a very cool stained glass window opposite the entrance.  The bar is also looks like dark and heavy wood and there are about 20 taps with the present tap menu on the wall behind the bar.  It uses colorful labeled signs for each beer that hang on the big sign behind the bar and can easily be changed out.  I sat at a table in a corner where I could be close to a plug so I could charge my phone but I could also see, if not the door, than at least the bar.  As I was was waiting for my friend, I decided to take it easy and started out with a Cafe exclusive, All Four Ale.  It was a bitter APA with a piney and resiny flavor and a nice head.  I am not sure where the name came from but it was pretty good.  When my friend arrived, I ordered a flight and some food.  I had scoped out the menu and there were several things that I was excited about.  What they serve is bar food with a pretty good charcuterie and cheese selection, but it is seasonal and locally sourced.  I decided to start with the Poutine, a staple of Canadian (and Quebecois especially) drunk dining.  It started with Hand Cut Fries, to which was added Cheese Curds (which did squeak, so they were very fresh), Pulled Pork, and Mushroom Gravy.  I had been considering also ordering a burger, but after this arrived and seeing how large it was, I was glad I held off.  I will admit that poutine is not pretty, but it is rich, heavy, and very good, and I really enjoyed it.  For my flight, I went with several more cafe exclusives, all of which had some sourness to them, some from the yeast used, some from other ingredients, but they were all good.  I ordered Le Batteur, a rustic Farmhouse Ale brewed with Brettanomyces which gave it a definite sour flavor, The Wild One, a Wild Brown Ale (also using Brettanomyces) that starts as individual batches and is mixed to achieve the taste that they are aiming for, Boon Compnion, another APA that used Lemon Zest and Lemon Verbena and was so lemony, it really reminded me of Pledge.  It was good, and the lemon flavors went well with the beer, but as I said, it was extremely lemony.  My last beer was one of their seasonals that is available in cans, Poolside, a sessionable Belgian-Inspired Wheat Ale with a light clove flavor and a tartness that comes from the addition of Montmorency Tart Cherries from Traverse City.  Honestly, I think I liked the idea of this one better than I liked the taste, although I am not sure if it was the beer itself, or the order in which I drank it.  I may have to try it on its own some time.  Of the other beers, I think i liked Le Batteur the best.  After enjoying the food and drink, it was time to proceed with what would have been one of the longest riding segments of the trip.  My friend, however, had a Suburban in which he loaded my bike and I into and we proceeded to Marshall, MI, 34 miles away.

What was in Marshall kind of surprised me.  Dark Horse Brewery looks nothing like any of the previous breweries that I had visited.  Pulling into the gravel parking lot, it reminded me, from the outside of a roadhouse/biker bar.  The building looked like a wooden feed barn with the entrance on the long side and a General Store Barn opposite the bar.  Walking in did not dissuade me of that notion although the aquarium in the corner with miniature brewery vats and the aquarium table next to it did help.  I should have taken more pictures inside, but it was dark and crowded, and I didn't think that flash photography would have been appreciated.  The bar was in front of the door and ran in both directions, there were a few tables other than the aquarium, but most people sat at the bar.  The kitchen was open and was behind one side of the bar which used a rough stone mosaic as the top.  I was very interested in the tapheads because they seemed to be recycled from all over.  Of the ones that I could recognize, I saw Warsteiner, PBR, and Heinekin, as well as a white assault rifle, a horse's ass, and one of their own tapheads.  I had to wonder how they kept track of which beer was behind which tap.  I was told that the people behind Dark horse were very big into Reuse/Recycle and a lot of the stuff was found or donated.  They would apparently also refill empty six packs that people would bring in.  The ceiling was effectively fairly low (about 7 feet) because it was hung with thousands of mugs for people in their mug club.  The way it worked was that you would buy a mug and hang it on the ceiling and use it when you came in.  The mugs were about 20 oz and getting a beer if you had a mug was actually cheaper than a pint, so for those people that could be regulars, the mug club was a good deal.  The food that they served looked pretty good and featured sandwiches, pizzas and calzones, but as I had eaten at Bell's, I did not try their food.  Dark Horse does not do flights, so if you want to drink, you have to commit to a pint.  As I was not driving, I commited to two pints.  I started with Kamikaze Kaleidoscope, a nice Wit with citrus flavors and a dry finish and proceeded to Smells Like a Safety Meeting (formerly known as Smells Like Weed) which was a very aromatic and hoppy IPA with a thick, resiny flavor and despite smelling like it, it was not a hop bomb (48 IBU) and was easily drinkable.  After we enjoyed our beers (and my friend, his Calzone) we went to check out the genreral store which had t-shirts, bombers, growlers, and six packs, home brewing equipment, and a selection of essences; things that I think that would work in cocktails as non-potable bitters.  They had a variety of essences, but I was very surprised to see one called Malort's Besk.  There is a wormwood liquor in Chicago called Jeppson's Malort that is very protective about there Malort name, so much so, in fact, that another local distillery had to change the name of their liquor to Besk, when Jeppson's presented them with a cease and desist letter.  I was surprised to see both words on one bottle (even though Malort actually means Wormwood and Besk means bitter).  While there were a few things there that interested me, I still had to worry about getting anything I bought to Chicago, so I held off and we made our way to our next brewery.

The next brewery on my list was supposed to be Territorial Brewing, which is on the west side of Battle Creek.  I neglected to notice, however, that it isn't open on Monday, so while we got to their parking lot, there was no drinking there.  As there was to be no drinking, we went to the last brewery on my trip, Arcadia Ales, which is located in downtown Battle Creek and just blocks from the Amtrak station where I would be going to travel ultimately to Midland for several days.  I had been to Arcadia a few times and tried several of their beers before, but I like it, they have a good selection, and I wanted to eat dinner before I left, so it was a good stop.  The food that they serve focuses. like many other breweries, on sandwiches, barbecue, and pizzas.  I went with the Barbecue Sampler which came with Brisket, Pulled Chicken, and Pulled Pork, and two sides, I went with vegetables, Beets and Zucchini, because I needed something besides meat or starch.  The brisket and pulled pork was good, as were the vegetables, but as I have found in previous experiences, I would never choose pulled chicken on my own because it's pretty tasteless and boring.  Of the beers that I tried, I had had a few before and knew that I liked them.  I went with Rapunzel Wheat IPA, Sky High Rye West Coast Pale Ale, Angler's Ale ESB, B-Craft Black Double Black IPA, and Cereal Killer Barley Wine.  Of those, I had previously had the Sky High Rye and the Angler's Ale and I think that the Sky High Rye was still my favorite.  The Rapunzel wasn't bad, nor was the B-Craft, but the Cereal Killer, while it didn't taste bad, was pretty heavy and boozy, which I kind of expected of a Barley Wine, and not something you might want to choose on a hot summer day.  With Arcadia, I concluded my tour and while it was tough at times and I wasn't able to get to get to all of the breweries that I wanted to, I did add a couple that I hadn't planned on.  It was a challenge but it was also a lot of fun.  I got to try a lot of beers that I had not tried before and I will definitely do it again.

I left Battle Creek to go to Midland, my hometown, where I planned to rest for a few days.  I did this, but I got to thinking that there was also a great taproom and a brewery in Midland that I could travel to and continue trying new beers without much effort.  I went to Whichcraft Taproom and decided to try beers from breweries that I traveled to, but was not able to drink at.  This became breweries that I was interested that fell into the area in which I had been traveling.  Of the beers that I tried, three were from breweries that I had stopped at and wasn't able to drink and two were from breweries in the area in which I was interested.  I tried Saugatuck Daze On Saison (arrived as they were closing), Gonzo's Vanilla Porter (were not open yet), Odd Side Funk Soul Brother Dry Hopped Sour Ale (in the area, but a little out of the way, their beers are to unusual to ignore), The Mitten Triple Crown Brown (arrived as they were closing) and Latitude 42 Mayan Sunrise Stout (traveled near, didn't have time to stop).  All of these beers were interesting for their own reasons, but, while I am generally not a huge stout or porter drinker, I think that my favorites were Gonzo's Vanilla Porter, which had a very prominent vanilla flavor, and the Latitude 42 Mayan Sunrise which started with bitter chocolate and cinnamon and finished with a burn from the Guajillo Chiles.  Visiting the Midland Brewing Company, I discovered that it was closed for remodeling, which disappointed me a little until I found out about the Larkin Beer Garden, which was pouring, among a few other things, beer from Midland Brewing Company.  As it was close, I walked there and discovered food trucks, picnic tables, games of bags, giant connect four and jenga, and beer from, besides Midland Brewing Company, Perrin Brewing, which was a brewery that was on my original list, but because of delays, I had to cut.  I started with a Perrin Black and went to a Midland Brothers IPA. It was nice to be able to try beer from both breweries, which were pretty good and worked well in the beer garden atmosphere.  In all, I was able to try 85 different beers from 32 breweries, 24 of which I visited.  It was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.              

Restaurante Central

In my planning to go to to Peru and Astrid y Gaston, I happened to notice that there was another great restaurant in Lima called Central Restaurante.  When I first started looking, Astrid y Gaston was rated much more highly than Central.  Astrid y Gaston was rated the 16th best restaurant in the world by The World's 50 Best Restaurants and Central was rated 50th, but by the time we went, Central had made a rapid rise on the charts to 15th and Astrid y Gaston had fallen to 18th (which is still great).  Despite this, I didn't plan on going to Central until we found out on the day after we went to Astrid y Gaston that we were staying on the same block where Central was located.  We didn't notice it the several times that we walked by it, so when I found out that we were as close as we were, I had to find it and decided that since we were as close as we were, that it would be a shame not to at least try to go.  The building in which Central Restaurante is located looked like any other house/apartment on the block with the exception of the very solid looking double door at the entrance and a small plaque in the sidewalk indicating that it was Central as well as the year 2008 which I had guessed was the year that it first opened.  Further research revealed that the restaurant didn't open until 2013, so I really have no idea what the 2008 meant.  Inside the formidable doors is the host station with the reservation book.  After checking in, we were guided to the main dining room behind another set of heavy double doors.  The room was done in a color scheme of greens and browns and had a banquette along one wall where we were seated as well as several round four tops in the center of the room.  The room was lit by natural light from skylights and a glass inner wall that looked into the kitchen on the other side of a narrow courtyard which was used to set the dishes up for delivery to the diners.  Through the window, we could see the chef, Virgilio Martinez, working at the front of the kitchen.

As dining here was not really planned, we decided to dine a la carte and go for non-alcoholic beverages.  They had a pretty good selection of non-alcoholic beverages, so it wasn't really an issue.  I ordered a Lemon Verbena drink with Key Limes and regular Limes.  It was carbonated, sour, and surprisingly green.  It had a flavor similar to lemonade although it was more herbal.  The other drink that we ordered was a Passionfruit Soda with Passionfruit, Tumbo (Banana Passionfruit), and Muña Mint (Andean Mint, used for it's medicinal properties).

We looked at the menu, made our orders, and while we were waiting, a bread plate was brought out.  It was actually three bread plates with three very different breads presented with two butters.  Our first bread was a small and pre-sliced loaf of Coca Bread with a greenish cast to it.  The bread was made with coca and reminded me, like the raw coca leaves that I had tried, of asparagus.  It had a crusty exterior and a soft interior like many good, homemade breads.  The other breads were presented as muffins.  The first being a Fruit Bread and the other a Potato Bread.  They both tasted very good, but the potato bread was softer.  The butter that was presented with the bread was also housemade, one standard butter and one smoked.  I preferred the smoked on the potato and the coca breads and the standard butter went better with the fruit bread.

Our appetizers were brought out by the chef who introduced himself and wished us a good meal.  I found this highly unusual, but I didn't mind, because it said to me that the chef was paying attention to our table and that we would have a great meal.  I am not sure why he did this, because after paying attention after that, I noticed that our table was the only one that got this special treatment.  I oredered the Charred Purple Corn Scented Octopus with Lentils, Botija Olives, and Tree Tomato.  It was a great presentation and tasted really good as well.  The octopus was cooked perfectly and went well with the lentils.  The olives were presented as dots of tapenade on the side and while I generally don't care for olives, it did did go well with the octopus and lentils.  The other appetizer was called Harvest of Scallops and in addition to the Scallops, it had Limo Chili Milk (a spicy ceviche sauce), Rocoto (pepper),  Sweet Root, Wildflower, Conch, and Caviar.

While we were eating our appetizers, a small course, unannounced and unordered was presented to us.  It was a simple plate of Glazed Sweet Potatoes which were presented on a stone.  They were sweet, simple, and satisfying, and it was a nice presentation.

For our entrees, I ordered Roasted Grouper with Black Quinoa.  A separate copper pan with Native Potatoes, Calamari, Squid Ink, and Peas was presented on the side.  The grouper was very tender and flavorful with a slightly crisp outside.  The black quinoa added a nutty and crunchy flavor.  I wouldn't have thought that calamari and mashed potatoes would go together, but surprisingly, it went together well.  When the other dish came, I wondered why I had ordered fish.  It was a  21 Day Aged Suckling Pig with Arracacha (South American Root Vegetable between Celery and Carrot) which was served on the side, Borage (Starflower), and Pickled Vegetables.  It looked really good and I was told that it tasted even better.  I did try it and did like it, but I couldn't really make an opinion with one bite.

While we were eating our entrees, our second unannounced and unordered course showed up and while it was very nice to look at, it was a bit more difficult to eat.  It was a place of thinly sliced hot peppers of various colors.  I did try several and determined that they all seemed to be hot peppers, the purple one was kind of sneaky because it started tasting like an onion and the heat didn't hit until I swallowed.  While the plate looked very nice, we were unable to finish this.

Finally, it came time for dessert.  I ordered Desert Huarangos (White Carob) with Peanuts, Palo Blanco Cacao (Cacao from the Palo Blanco region of Peru, an oasis area in the coastal desert) presented as ice cream, Lucuma (a subtropical fruit native to Peru also called eggfruit  for the dry flesh of the fruit similar in texture to a hardboiled egg yolk.  It has a flavor similar to maple and sweet potato), and Citrus Leaf.  It was rich, sweet, and very flavorful.  The other dessert was called Cacao Forest and it started with a scoop of Chocolate Ice Cream from the El Shunte region of Peru (in the Amazon) with Arcilla Clay, Yuyo Flower, Muña Mint which were powders to be combined with the chocolate.  The clay made the ice cream more smooth, the yuyo flower added some richness, and the mint was a digestive aid.  It apparently tasted good and interesting (as well as being very creative).  It seems to be a twist on quechua food.

While we were eating dessert, a small glass of very thick White Cappuccino came out for the Cacao Forest.  I assume to finish the dish.  It was very thick and tasted very creamy.

After the dessert in a fine dining restaurant and while the bill is being settled, many restaurants will bring out petit fours.  This was the case here as well, except that we were brought three plates of petit fours.  We were first presented with homemade marshmallows, we then received two different types of gelee, a Pisco Gelee and a Hazelnut Gelee, and we finished with chocolate.  All of the Petit fours tasted very good.  The texture of the chocolate took us aback a little bit because it looked similar to a scrubbing cloth, but it tasted very good.

The food and service at Central were very good and I am very glad that we were able to make it there.  The food was innovative and tasted good and used many ingredients with which I was unfamiliar, but I really enjoyed it.  I cannot say though, whether I enjoyed Central better than Astrid y Gaston because when you get into the rarified atmosphere occupied by these two restaurants, everything should be fantastic, which it was.                

Gaston Acurio: Tanta and Astrid y Gaston, Part 2

In my last post I had talked about Gaston Acurio, his cafe, Tanta in Larcomar, and the beginning of dinner at his flagship restaurant, Astrid y Gaston.  As I mentioned, the dinner was about our memories and the dining room was designed to evoke childhood memories.  As the dinner was 28 courses, it would be difficult to talk about every single course individually, so I will talk about them in the "acts" in which they were presented.  I will say though that all of the dishes were very different and creative and that I had several things that I had never encountered before.  The first act that we were presented was Sweets After School which were presented in one container that was similar to a cookie tin.  We were instructed to start with the Barquillos, the thin and delicate biscuit rolls, that were served with a Lemon, Basil, Strawberry, Rocoto Pepper, and Yogurt spread that we were to eat with it (lower picture).  We then proceeded to the Ice Cream which was a small sugar cone filled with Lucuma flavored Ice Cream (Lucuma is a South American fruit with a dry flesh and a flavor similar to Sweet Potatoes and Maple) and topped with Chocolate-covered Chestnuts.  Next were the Camotitos, crunchy wafer cookies of Ginger and Chicken Skin, the Meringue Kisses made, surprisingly, with Black Botija Olives and Anchovies, and finally, the Charada made with Prawns rolled in Peanuts.  While they all looked like sweet treats and there was some sweetness to them, they were not exceptionally sweet, but they were creative, provided a wide variety of textures and flavors and tasted good.

The next act was presented in 3 courses and were about Home Memories.  There were three courses presented individually.  We were first presented with a large Ice Cube filled with Medlar Juice (a Medlar is an Asian Fruit that is hard until it has been frozen which causes it to soften).  The dish was called Garden Fruits tasted very much like lemonade.  Our next course was called Mama's Patita which was presented on a tripod and consisted of Ground and Roasted Pig Trotters with Mustard and Cress.  And finally, Grandma's Torrejita which was like a small, warm Tortilla with Chickpeas, White Asparagus, and Caviar.

For the next act, we remembered A Summer at the Beach and were served Raspadillas, a dish of Shaved Ice.  This Shaved Ice was a combination Vegetable Ice, Syrups, and Fruits and Herbs from their gardens (which are in the front of the restaurant).

The next memories were of Products That Are Leaving Us and there were two courses.  The first course was a Frozen Delicia Apple which was thinly sliced and presented as a Ceviche with a Leche de Tigre of Rocoto,  Sea Urchin, and Borage (the small flowers).  The second course was called That Pink Clam Chowder which was kind of funny actually, because it was neither pink nor contained clams.  It contained Fake Pink Clams made from Pacae (Ice Cream Bean, a legume native to South America that produces an edible and sweet white pulp), Spicy Seafood Broth, Fava Beans, and Creamy Potatoes.

We then had a couple of dishes representing Recipes That Are Leaving Us.  We started with Memories of a Shrimp Ocopa which was a dish that looked and tasted like a shrimp stew.  It consisted of Shrimp Tails, Shrimp Essence Oil, Roasted Peanuts, Garlic, Roasted Onion Broth, Mirasol Pepper, Nuts, and Huacatay (a Marigold plant native to southern South America whose leaves are dried for seasoning and also known as Black Mint Paste).  The second dish of this group was the Escabeche of Cojinova (Escabeche is a dish similar to Ceviche except that the fish, in this case Cojinova or Palm Ruff, is poached first).  This was one of my favorite dishes.  It also used Lightly Smoked Marinade Oil, Onions, Tomatoes, and Aji Peppers.

The next act was about Going Back Home and for this course we were presented with an Homage to Mashed Potatoes with Fried Egg.  Potatoes are very much a staple in Peru with over 3000 varieties grown, so I was not at all surprised to see a dish based on potatoes.  The dish consisted of Chaulina Potato Cream, Chicken Jus, Dried Tomatoes and Porcini, Fried Quail Eggs, Tomato Powder and Spinich.  I wish I had been a little better with the focus on this dish.  Suffice it to say that it looked as good as it sounded and tasted just as well.

The next act contained three courses and was about Regional Longing.  With these courses, we got into the final savory courses.  We started with Between a Potato Ajiaco (a hearty potato stew with beef) and a Tongue which contained Semi-Dried Native Potatoes, Fresh Cream Cheese, Onion, Roasted Yellow Aji Pepper, and Beef Tongue.  We then went to Rabbit Pachamanca (the rabbit is baked with spices using hot stones) made with Rabbit Loin and Liver, Corn and Garlic Cream, Oca (Sweet Potatoes) and Olluco (a South American plant grown primarily as a tuber, but secondarily as a leaf vegetable).  We finished this act with an Homage to Shambar (a traditional Peruvian soup typically containing three types of meat, beans, and spices.  This version had Brisket, Pork Rib Broth, Bean Germs, and Peppermint Sprouts.

The last several acts covered the wide variety of desserts we were served.  The first set were called Children's Pranks and were presented in four courses.  We started with The Tasty Banana and Cheese with an Isla Banana, Spices, Caramel, and Pisco, Crumbs of Paria Cheese (a semi-hard cheese with wrinkled skin), Arugula, and Black Pepper.  We then remembered Pomegranate Wars During the Break which was a Pomegranate Bombe (ice cream frozen into a spherical mold), after which we remembered Strawberries and Milk which was a Strawberry Gelee and a Strawberry Flavored Condensed Milk Ball and finished with U-Alianza, an Homage to Mazamorra Morada (a Peruvian Purple Corn Pudding) and Arroz Con Leche (Rice Pudding).

The next act which consisted of two courses was a bit whimsical and was called Sweet Memory.  It started with Lima Blanquillos (I am not exactly sure where the name came from because blanquillo is synonymous with huevo, which is egg.  Blanquillo though, has a rather derogatory negative slang meaning).  The dish consisted of Apricots cooked with Chamomile, Almond Cake, and Apricot Kernel Ice Cream.  The second dish was called Why is it Called King Kong?  It consisted of a Quince Compote (Cotton Candy), Peanut Jelly, Herb Soup, and Flower Ice Cream.

We finished Lost Flavors.  Which was an act in two courses.  We started with a Real Chocolate Bar with Peanut Cocada (the coconut bark cookie).  The chocolate was a little on the dark side but it was very good.  Eating it together with the cocada though, was like eating a deconstructed Mounds Bar.  The last course was a little strange.  It was called an Emoliente in Two Temperatures.  An Emoliente is an herbal tea and the flute we were presented with had a leaf in it to start.  The server then poured a different liquid into each side and pulled the leaf out.  The liquids were not only two temperatures, but two colors and two consistensies as well.  We were to drink the drinks side by side to get both flavors at once (The flavors were different as well).

Dinner at Astrid y Gaston was an amazing experience and while I am sure I didn't do justice to the individual courses, I was very happy that I had the opportunity to experience this.  If I return to Lima, this is a place that I would try again as well as some of Gaston Acurio's other restaurants.