Officially tapped last night, today is the first full day of the 2nd annual Cleveland Beer Week. Now I am not a beer drinker – give me a glass of full-bodied red any day and I’m a happy gal. But, I am learning to appreciate craft brews more and more each day. And dedicated weeks like these provide the perfect opportunity for people like me, plus craft brew aficionados, to learn, sample and enjoy all the amazing beers around, from within our city to across the country.

Just last night at the CBW kick-off event, Grains vs. Grapes, I sampled a beer that made its way to our grocery list this morning: Midas Touch from Delaware’s Dogfish Head. It’s a beer made from a recipe found in King Tut’s tomb! Crazy, right? Our table was skeptical of this tale at first and quickly took to our phones to Google this fascinating tidbit. 30 seconds later, turns out this is in fact a true statement – sorta. Turns out this honey and saffron beer owes its wonderful taste to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeologists who discovered fermented beverages in 2,700-year-old glasses while excavating the tomb of King Midas in Turkey. A few years ago, molecular archaeologists  analyzed the remnants of what they found then turned it over to Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish (who was at the event last night), to help recreate this ancient brew which also contains muscat grapes. This to me was simply fascinating. A great beer and an even better story.

There are lots of events to participate in this week where no doubt more fun stories and learnings will take place, from beer and chocolate tastings to gourmet beer dinners. Be sure to visit the CBW site where you can search for events by city and date. Also, be sure to check into Cleveland Beer Week (you have to manually type it in since it’s not a stationary event) on Foursquare. They are giving away daily gift cards randomly to people who check-in and well as a grand prize for the “mayor” of Cleveland Beer Week.

And finally, what would a week-long event be without a fond farewell (until 2011 that is). BREWzilla will mark the end of CBW on Saturday, October 23 at the Galleria. 80+ breweries, food, fun and all for a good cause (the Malone scholarship fund).

What event(s) will you be going to?

The week of activities begins with the official keg tapping on October 15 with Grains vs. Grapes, which is being billed at the ultimate match-up: wine v beer. Held at Crowne Plaza, this 4-course dinner, created by chef Michael Symon, features Sam Calagione of  Dogfish Head, and Marianne Frantz with the American and Cleveland Wine Schools. Sam and Marianne will discuss craft beers and wines that they have paired with the menu and which one makes the better partner to each dish.

The menu:

• Course 1: Root vegetable salad  with red wine and dill vinaigrette, feta, mint
• Course 2: Lobster pierogies with wild mushrooms, crème fraiche
• Course 3: Smoked shortribs with salsa verde, parsley and pickled chili salad
• Course 4: Caramel cake with carrots, dates, cream cheese and walnuts

Tickets are on sale now at $75 a piece and benefit the Malone Scholarship Fund.

Like last year, CBW will end with Brewzilla on October 23 at Galleria. I was out of town last year, but heard nothing but good things about the closing party. As the name implies, this is one serious beer tasting featuring 80+ breweries, a special Ohio Brewery area and food from Heinen’s and Winking Lizard (hopefully more than last year – that is the one complaint I heard, not enough food). Like Grains v. Grapes, proceeds will benefit the Malone Scholarship Fund. Tickets are $40 a each or $65 for the Brewers Circle.

Want to go? I have two Brewers Circle tickets to give away. To be entered, leave me your toast for Cleveland (can be anything Cleveland related). I’ll pick a winner via Random.org on Monday, October 4.

Cleveland Beer Week goes social. Be sure to follow and keep up with CBW on Twitter, via Facebook and on Foursquare. While CBW isn’t a stationary event per se, they have created a page and are working with their partnering venues to offer daily specials for random check-ins, mayors and continued participation. Be sure to “manually” check-in to Cleveland Beer Week (type in Cleveland Beer Week when you check-in at a location for the page to pop up). There are lots of gift cards to area places up for grabs.

Cheers!

It was the Goose Island beer dinner, part of the first annual Cleveland Beer Week. And we were lucky enough to receive tickets to the four-course tasting.

Goose Island is out of Chicago and has been around for 21 years. The original brew pub is still there (apparently there’s a great gastropub) and now a second location in Wrigleyville that serves more deluxe sports food. Their best seller is 312, a personal favorite of Jamie’s, but this dinner focused on their Belgian-style ales.

Before we began, Eddie, the regional sales director, taught us the proper way to taste beer. Under no circumstances, he explained, should you tilt the glass to pour your beer – aka the sorority pour. Speaking of college, salting and putting your finger in the beer are also big no-no’s because head on a beer is actually good. Instead he offered, patience is the key as the head is what releases the aroma.

To properly taste a beer, first look at the color: crystal (Bud Light), cloudy, hazy (like a German Hefeweizen), or opaque. Next look at the color of the head and the bubbles. Then smell and finally taste.

Course 1– Lobster mascarpone ravioli, roasted Ohio corn, lobster jus and cognac cream paired with Sofie. I wish everyone could have sampled these ravioli. Big chunks of lobster, sweet corn, micro greens from the chef’s personal garden – this dish was absolutely perfect. We were all wowed. I knew from the first bite that I’ve been missing out by just limiting my exposure to brunch. The chef apparently grew up on the east coast and has a real love for seafood, especially lobster. // Sofie just became available in Ohio after an April release. In fact, locally (for now) Heinen’s is the only place carrying it. It’s a bright and refreshing beer with champagne qualities, like little bubbles. At almost 7% alcohol, it can be aged for 5 years. The beer is aged in French oak wine barrels and is 20% aged, 80% fresh. It’s a good beer, really good. I put it atop our grocery list.

Course 2– Smoked suckling pig, shallot confit, pan sauce, grained fingerling potatoes paired with Matilda. This course wins for presentation and comes in second for favorite overall. It was wonderfully savory and interesting, a dish I’d happily order off the menu (along with the ravioli). // Matilda, a pale ale with slightly fruity aroma, also has a 5 year shelf life. This was my favorite beer of the night. Great spice and a really great compliment to the pork. In fact, we learned that any dish that pairs well with chardonnay would pair well with Matilda. I also enjoyed the story of its name. The beer itself is inspired by Orval and named after an Italian countess named Matilda, a strong woman who was having relations with the pope. Because of this, she was forced to go on the run. She eventually fell in love with someone else and married. Her husband was shipped off to war. She stopped at a pond (in what is now Belgium) by a church to pray for his safe return. While praying, her wedding ring fell in. She says to God, ‘come on, you took my husband at least give me back my ring.’ She pledged that if her ring were brought back, she would thank God by building an abbey. Legend has it a trout arose from the pond with the ring on his nose. She thanked God by endowing a monastery and thus earns the distinct honor of having the beer named after her.

Course 3– Corn flake crusted chicken livers, buttermilk squash ragout, Christmas Ale sauce, toasted pumpkin seed oil paired with Christmas Ale. This dish was inspired by a meal chef Jeff Fisher had at Luxe and thought this dinner was a great excuse to try to recreate it. I was mixed on this dish. I really enjoyed the butternut squash ragout and use of the beer in the sauce, but wasn’t necessarily wowed with the livers. They weren’t bad and to be fair, I’m not one to order chicken livers (I blame my mom and her forcing us to eat this as kids; I now have an aversion to liver). // There aren’t any spices added to the beer, all the flavor comes from the yeast. And it’s a lot of flavor. Perhaps some of that flavor is also due to the candy sugar added in the brewing process. Either way, it’s a good, strong beer but not over powering.

Course 4– Molten bitter sweet chocolate cake with a bourbon caramel and cheesecake ice cream paired with Pere Jacques. Another beautifully presented dish. Props to the chef for creative presentations all around – and even more so for the wonderfully richness of this dessert. You can now count me among chef Fisher fans. We’ll be back – for brunch and then some (I’m told he makes killer beer-braised short ribs). // Pere Jacques is named after a monk who gave the Goose Island brewmaster a tour, which included the first woman ever inside the monastery in over 500 years. The beer, served in a large, heavy challis, was a good contrast with the chocolate.

If you haven’t yet participated in any of the events surrounding Cleveland Beer Week, you still have time (though not much). Click here to learn more about this week’s remaining events, including Brewzilla. There are a number of great tastings, dinners and pairings happening. We were really impressed with this event – it was informative, tasty, fun and introduced us to some new craft brews that we’re eager to buy for home.

 When I first learned about Cleveland Beer Week, the one tasting that immediately caught my eye was the chocolate and beer pairing at Lilly Handmade Chocolatesin Tremont. This tasting will feature Amanda Montague, aka Lilly, favorite picks for beer and chocolate, including hard-to-find beers with Kwak, Hitachino, Unibroue, Dogfish Head, Stone, Piraat, Gulden Draak, Troegs and more.

 What makes this a perfect pairing? Who better to explain (and share other fun tidbits with us) than Amanda herself. Amanda, whose favorite flowers are tiger lilies, was inspired after her engagement in NYC where she and her then fiancée explored and were wowed by the numerous chocolate boutiques. She knew she wanted to create that experience locally for Clevelanders. Lucky us!

 1. What’s your favorite thing about Cleveland and what drives you nuts? I love the sense of loyalty we have. We love our Browns, our Cavs our Indians, no matter what. We support our city. We believe in ourselves as a community and I love it! It drives me nuts when it snows enough to fill my driveway and I don’t have a shovel.

 2. What’s your favorite restaurant and which restaurant do you miss? It’s a three way tie. Parallax, The Flying Fig & Momocho. I could eat at any of those places everyday and never get bored. I miss Park City Diner. I was part of the opening staff back in the day and worked there off and on until its closing. The breakfast was great – killer pancakes and the best omelets!

 3. If you weren’t making chocolates, what would you be doing? I could be a Lush Cosmetics corporate trainer or working the front of house in a local restaurant or maybe have my own catering operation. I love putting menus together and creating fun spaces – so maybe a restaurant consultant? I’d definitely be in the service industry; I’m a total people person!

 4. Where did you grow up and what’s your favorite meal from your childhood?I grew up here in Cleveland, mostly Parma, with my mom, grandmother and little sister. I remember having my grandma’s fried rice. It was the most delicious thing and I can never make it right. Not the way she did, anyway. What I wouldn’t give for a big bowl of that fried rice right now. It was so simple. There were no veggies involved or proteins – just rice and soy sauce and God knows what else. Who knew an old school Polish lady knew how to rock out fried rice so well.

 5. What shows do you never miss? I never realized until now that I never really watched a whole season of anything because of the hours you keep in the restaurant business. So now I think I’m making up for lost time. I love Project Runway, Top Chef, Triple D, Gary Unmarried, New Christine and Warehouse 13.

 6. What’s on your playlist when you’re making chocolate? Gotta love the iPod, for sure! I absolutely love country music (seriously!), so there’s a lot of Sara Evans, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and the like; but there’s also Fiona Apple, Save Ferris, John Mayer, KT Tunstall, Green Day, Phish and The Dead (courtesy of my hubby), Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. I’m all over the board when it comes to music.

 7. How did you learn your craft? I’m a classically trained chef (I studied at JWU) but chocolates were something I started making at home for friends and family. My husband (Joshua Montague, CIA grad) gets the cookie bug at Christmas so instead of jumping on that bandwagon I started making truffles. There was a lot of trial and error and research, too.

 8. What’s the most requested item from your shop?Lately, it’s my white chocolate. Wasabi pea, Hawaiian black lava sea salt barq. Sweet, salty, spicy, addicting! Oh, and Southern Tier Pumking. I’ve got 8 bottles left I think.

 9. What makes your chocolates and store so different? What’s your approach?Our chocolates are all handmade in-house with fresh ingredients, no preservatives and no fake stuff. It’s all small batch, so you get the best flavor. We also pair craft beer and wine with our truffles for the ultimate in indulgence. We don’t pour anything in the shop – it’s more an encouragement to go home, get into you favorite PJs and relax with some fabulous chocolate and great beer or wine. Our service, the experience when you’re in the shop, is what sets us apart from other shops. It’s a give and take relationship with my customers; I treat everyone who walks through my door like my BFF. I care what they think, what they like. I’m here to put a smile on their face through my creativity. It’s very satisfying.

 My approach to chocolate is coming up with inventive fresh flavors paired with uncompromising quality and a touch of unexpected whimsy. We’re here to help you find your favorite beer and wine that goes best with your chocolate and make your day even better than before you stepped through my front door.

 10.  What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a small business owner? Underestimating the draw of my product during the holiday season. I knew we would be busy, but the amount of people that ordered from us and came down to see us what was more than I could have asked for last season. I now know what to expect…morethan I expect. Haha!

 11. Tell us an interesting fact about chocolate? White chocolate gets a bad wrap. It’s not really chocolate at all though. It’s cocoa butter, vanilla amd milk powder. There’s no chocolate liquor. But it can make a mean confection! Paired with just the right ingredients, it can be more than amazing!

 12. What’s your favorite treat from the store and what pairs best with it? I go through phases, so these are the current addictions. “Rocco” (dark chocolate. black tartufo truffles. clover honey) with Cesari Il Bosco Amarone, absolutely killer.

“Shweetie Pie” (white chocolate. vanilla bean butter caramel. salted almonds) with Lindeman’s Apple Lambic. Awesome.

 13.  Top three movies of all time? Hmmm…South Pacific (1958), Johnny Dangerously, and Milo and Otis. (Josh feels the need to chime in here as well. he says The Hunt for Red October, LA Confidential and Top Gun.) We were obviously made for each other – lol.

 14.  What book are you currently reading? Currently, I am between books right now. Laurell K. Hamilton is one of my current favorites. I’ve read all of her Anita Blake series, so I’m working on her Merry Gentry novels now… so many metaphysical vampire books, so little time.

 15.  For someone making candy at home, what’s one tip or trick you’ve discovered that makes your life easier?When you’re making ganache, make sure your chocolate is all relatively the same size. It will combine more evenly and you’ll spend less time trying to get everything melted together. Also, don’t use chocolate chips. They were made to NOT melt in cookies, so there’s a lot of extra stabilizers in them. Find a good quality chocolate, in block form, and chop it. Your hard work and patience will be rewarded.

 16.  Tell us about pairing beer and chocolate – how did you get involved with Cleveland Beer Week, why does beer pair well with chocolate and what chocolates and specific beer go so well together?

Cleveland Beer Week is a great event that encompasses all that is fabulous about craft beer! I got involved because I carry so many of the craft beers and limited edition beers already – over 140 different ones at this moment in time. I just love introducing people who haven’t heard of beer and chocolate to what they’ve been missing. We’re doing a bunch of events with other places like a chocolate and lambic tasting at Buckeye Beer Engine and a five course chocolate and beer dinner with Bistro on Lincoln Park.

 With beer you have so many choices to pick from. Should I have a Lambic? A Stout? Maybe I feel like a Porter or an Ale today? But it doesn’t stop there! There are breweries like Dogfishhead that add fun stuff to their brews. They make a beer called Midas Touch that is brewed with honey, saffron and muscat grapes. It’s fabulous and works great with chocolate. You can get blueberry ales, pumpkin ales, vanilla stouts, chocolate stouts; I could go on and on. With so many choices it makes it fun to try and find the best possible match with each truffle.

 For generality’s sake, Porters, Stouts and Belgian Ales go best with chocolate. The higher the alcohol, usually the higher the sweetness, so it works well. But IPA’s have their place, too. For example, our “Lilly” truffle (white chocolate, rose and marigold petals, white tea) goes great with Southern Tier Unearthly IPA because of the floral component of the hops in the beer. It mellows out the bitterness in the beer and enhances the floral sweetness in the truffle. It’s amazing! I even make a truffle with beer in it – it’s called “After Midnight” (dark chocolate, intense stout). Currently, I’m using the Nils Oscar Coffee Stout in them, but I’ve used Jolly Pumpkin’s Dark Dawn Stout, Founder’s Breakfast Stout and I think next I’m going to try Stone’s Smoked Porter. Obviously, this would pair best with the beer I use to create it, but you could also do a rich brown ale with it, like Shmaltz Brewing Company’s Messiah Bold, a kosher beer that is so rich and amazing you’ll wanna curl up on the couch under the blankets and watch the leaves fall as you indulge in the beer and box of “After Midnights”.

 Beer isn’t the only thing to pair with chocolate. Of course, red wine is a great compliment to chocolate. Think jammy, spicy, bold reds. Anything too acidic is just going to kill your palate and the flavors in the chocolate. Port, Banyuls, Moscato and some Sake’s are great pairings with chocolate as well.  

 I could go on and on and on and on and on about all of this, and I’d love to, but I think you’ll just have to come and visit to hear more!

  17.  What’s next for you? There’s a lot of ideas swimming around in my head but wherever I’m headed, I’m sure it’ll be chocolate covered and exactly where I want to be.