Sunday Night Suds - Lakefront Fixed Gear American Red Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lakefront Brewery's Fixed Gear American Red Ale.

 

Every so often you come across a beer that really makes you pause. When I first tried the Fixed Gear, it made me think of another ale with a similar flavor profile. The name of the brew only reinforced to me that the Lakefront folks were aiming to make a beer much like that cult favorite, the Fat Tire from New Belgium.

 

The Fixed Gear Red Ale poured a deep amber, near red color with quite a bit of foam which stayed up on the side of the cup. The hops were prevalent, but the malts were also present, perhaps more than one would expect of an ale.

 

But while the Fixed Gear Red Ale was clearly modeled after the Fat Tire, the beer is not as rich as the New Belgium brew. The toffee notes and caramel, even a little bitter brown sugar can be tasted in successive sips of the brew, but while the flavors are there, the brew is not as thick as one would expect.

 

I would pair this brew with smoky, charred beef or sweet BBQ ribs as the flavors would be perfectly complemented by the brew. If you find that this beer pairs well with other dishes, please drop me a comment on the blog post.

 

Lakefront Brewery's Fixed Gear American Red Ale is under the kosher supervision of the Star-K (there is even a Star-K on the label). For the experts' take on the Fixed Gear, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/741/56386.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver. If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

 

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Lech Lecha

The following is a brief summary of two thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

 

The beginning of this week's parsha talks about how Avraham left Haran and went to Israel. The parsha mentions that Avraham took the "nefesh asher asu b'charan" - the souls who came to recognize Hashem while Avraham was in Haran.

 

R' Frand asked a question based on a vort from R' Shlomo Glasner (sp?). We know that Avraham was from Ur Kasdim. In Ur Kasdim, Avraham was thrown into the fiery furnace by Nimrod because he challenged the idol worshipping of his generation. Indeed, some mefarshim learn that this was the first of Avraham's tests. But since this was such a great showing of Avraham's faith and an overt miracle by Hashem, why was this not the cause of people recognizing Hashem in Ur Kasdim? Shouldn't there have been "nefesh" made in Ur Kasdim which should have gone with Avraham?

 

R' Glasner answers the question by painting the scene - there are people in the bleachers who are watching Avraham being saved from the furnace. One guy says to the other, look Avraham must have the real G-d, since he was saved from the furnace. The other guy responds, how can Avraham have the real G-d if Avraham's father is still in the avoda zarah business? If Avraham is for real, he must have been able to impact his father. But since he did not, there must be some trick. Thus, because of the skeptics, Avraham did not have an impact in Ur Kasdim.

 

R' Frand said an additional vort on Bereishis 12:8 - where it says that Avraham pitched his tent. However the word is spelled aleph heh aleph heh. It is read as "his tent", but it can be read as "her tent." Rashi comments that we learn from the pasuk that Avraham pitched Sarah's tent before his. Why did Avraham do this? The Levush Haora explains that Rashi learns that Sarah had a high level of tzinius and Avraham  was aware of her devotion. Avraham knew that Sarah would be uncomfortable standing in the field while he pitched his tent before he built hers. Avraham was sensitive to this, so he pitched her tent first.

 

R' Frand remarked that many of the stories of Bereishis are recorded as ma'asei avos siman l'banim - the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children. This story dovetails with a gemara in Bava Metzia where R' Chelbo writes that a person should be conscious of his wife's honor/kavod because the bracha of the house comes because of his wife. In essence, the segula for parnasa is to honor one's wife. But why?

 

R' Frand answered by quoting a sefer called Darash Mordechai which addresses this point. The sefer writes that Chava's curse included that the husband will dominate his wife. If a person shows his wife kavod he lighten the curse of his wife. Upon seeing this act of kindness, Hashem says - if you want to lighten your wife's curse, I will lighten your curse of earning one's living by the sweat of the brow.

 

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Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Ranger IPA

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's Ranger IPA.

This week's brew is also brought to you courtesy of the Chicago Connection. No, this is not Tinkers to Evers to Chance, but the Heinken Man to my BiL to WH, courtesy of I-90/80. The Sukkos delivery I referenced in last week's post also included a New Belgium Folly Pack which contained New Belgium's best known brew, Fat Tire, along with Belgo, Red Hoptober and the Ranger IPA. Although this was not the 2nd brew from the Sukkos delivery that I sampled, I felt a need to review the Ranger IPA in order to counterbalance the NHL's cancellation of the first month of the season.

New Belgium is an interesting brewery in the sense that they are among the largest craft breweries in the country, but they have never entered the Northeast market. Indeed, the distribution map on the New Belgium website indicates that they are in virtually every state west of Michigan, but other than a few states in the South, they are not available in the East.

 

I have heard recently that there are plans to expand production of New Belgium, including the possible opening of a brewery on the East Coast. When I get firm details of the expansion, I will try to write about it on the blog.

 

The Ranger IPA was exceptionally hoppy, even for an IPA. The beer poured a rich orange with some lacing, but the taste was all hops, all the time (great name for a bar, perhaps?). If you like your beer to be bitter, this is the brew for you. I sampled mine with roast chicken and barley and the beer was a bit too strong for the meal. It would probably make a great cholent beer (for drinking with cholent, not for making cholent).

 

New Belgium Ranger IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Scroll-K of Colorado. Although the beer does not bear the kosher symbol on the label, it can be found on the bottom of the Folly Pack box. Please note that not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision. For a list of the New Belgium brews currently under supervision, please click on the link on the left side of my home page for my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about New Belgium Ranger IPA, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/55081. As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Noach

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

 

In Bereishis 6:14, Noach is commanded to build an ark out of gopher wood and that the ark should have "kinim". The simple explanation for the word kinim in the parsha is that the ark should have rooms. However, the Medrash states that just as kinim (meaning nests) are mitaher the metzora, so too the ark was mitaher Noah.

 

R' Frand then asked the obvious question - what does Noach have to do with a metzora. He then followed this question with a deeper one - why did Noach need to be mitaher?

 

As an introduction to the second question, R' Frand quoted a Medrash which stated that when Noach was in the ark he prayed every day that Hashem allow him to leave the ark. The Medrash further explains that Hashem responded to Noach that it was a gezera before Him that Noach had to endure the purification process for twelve months. Thus the ark was a penance for Noach because he was being punished. But why did Noach need to undergo a purification process.

R' Frand answered this question by quoting the Alshich who writes that Noach was being punished because he did not go and save anyone from his generation. All Noach did was take care of himself and his family without having any impact on his generation. R' Frand also quoted the Meshech Chachma who said the same thing. Additionally, the Chassam Sofer quoted two pesukim from the end of Bereishis (6:7-8) that says that Hashem had said that He would destroy the world because "He reconsidered creating people and Noach" --- that Hashem was also unhappy about creating Noach because he sat by himself.

 

Noach's punishment of sitting in the ark is middah k'neged middah for his sin. Since Noach sat alone for all those years, so too he was required to sit by himself in the ark as a tehara.

 

R' Frand quoted the sefer Ateres Shalom who notes that a person becomes a metzora because of Lashon Hara. The Zohar explains that there are two types of Lashon Hara - (1) evil speech and (2)refraining from saying something nice about another person or correcting him. When a person can say good and does not, he commits a sin.

 

This is the connection between the metzora and Noach. Noach could have spoken to the people and brought them back, but he chose not to open his mouth.

 

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Sunday Night Suds - Lakefront Pumpkin Lager

 

Now that the Yom Tov season has ended, Sunday Night Suds returns to its regular spot. This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Lakefront Brewery's Pumpkin Lager.

During the first year of the blog, I reviewed three Pumpkin brews, including Blue Moon's Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-night-suds-harvest-moon-pumpkin.html); Saranac Pumpkin Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-night-suds-saranac-pumpkin-ale.html) and Post Road Pumpkin Ale (http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-night-suds-post-road-pumpkin-ale.html).

Over the course of the next four years, I would occassionally buy a couple of bottles of these brews in the fall, but I never felt a strong desire to buy a sixer (or more), until now...

Late last month, Mrs KB's brother and family agreed to come East and join us for Sukkos. This was a great cause of simcha for my family. My kids were thrilled that their cousins were coming for YT and I was almost as happy since my awesome BiL agreed to bring some beer with him. I called Binny's (Skokie) and they worked with me to mix six and four packs so that I could try many different brews which are not generally available in the NY Metro area. The Heineken Man then made the Binny's run for me (sorry you did not join us for YT) and brought back the treasured haul to my BiL. One of the mixed sixers in this package was a combo of Lakefront brews which included the Pumpkin Lager. But on second thought, maybe I should have ordered a six or twelve pack of the Pumpkin Lager.

While the pumpkin and spices in many pumpkin ales can clash with the hops, the Lakefront Pumpkin Lager was a perfect blend as the spices complemented the malts in the lager. What made this beer even more enjoyable was the complexity of the spices and how it seemed like a different flavor profile with each sip.

Lakefront Brewery Pumpkin Lager is under the kosher supervision of the Star-K (there is even a Star-K on the label). For the experts' take on the Pumpkin Lager, please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/741/6412.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver. If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Bereishis

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In speaking on the parsha this evening, R' Frand made reference to the famous medrash which recounts the moon's complaint to Hashem that "two rulers cannot wear the same crown." The complaint arose from the fact that at the time of creation, both the sun and moon had their own sources of light. Hashem responded to the moon and said - you are correct, go and reduce yourself.

 

After the moon punished itself, the medrash explains that Hashem said to the moon, "don't feel bad about being called small, since David and Yaakov will be called small." Furthermore, Hashem said to the moon, since you made yourself small, I will give you billions upon billions of stars which will come out with you at night.

 

R' Frand asked - where do we find that Hashem punishes someone and then says, I feel bad about this, so here is a consolation prize? Why should there be any regret about the punishment when the moon did not act properly?

 

R' Frand answered by making reference to Chikrei Lev (R' Leibel Hyman) who says that when Hashem told the moon to make itself smaller, Hashem left it up to the moon to determine how much smaller it would become. The moon could have made itself just 5% smaller. And why did the moon decide to give up its own source of light? This was not part of the punishment.

 

R' Frand explained that the moon's actions are a true showing of teshuva. The moon felt bad for its statement and went out of its way to demonstrate its sincere regret by making itself much smaller and without its own source of light. Hashem recognized the true teshuva and the manner in which the moon showed contrition. It is for this reason that Hashem gave the moon the stars to accompany it at night.

 

R' Frand next quoted another medrash on Bereishis which he said needs to be understood as a metaphor. The medrash writes that the clothing which was made for Adama and Chava from "cosnos or" was actually made from the shedded skin of the snake which had given Chava the apple. R' Frand noted that the snake's motivation for its action was because the snake observed Adam and Chava's relationship and was jealous.

 

The lesson from the snake's actions is that jealousy comes from looking at the private affairs of others which should remain hidden. R' Frand linked this to a gemara in Taanis which states that a ba'al lashon hara is compared to a snake. What does the speaker gain from spreading secrets which should remain hidden? There is no upside in doing this and it only comes from knowing and being aware of secrets which should not be known.

 

R' Frand quoted the Tolner Rebbi who explains that the lesson of the clothing made from the snake's skin is that Hashem took the cover from the snake and used it to cover Adam and Chava's nakedness. In so doing, their privacy was protected and covered and the snake which had grown jealous based on his watching Adam and Chava was left uncovered.

 

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