[EID ON AIR] Talking meads and merds on the Craig Fahle Show

Me with Craig Fahle. 

Just last week (ye gods has it only been a week??) I was a guest on the Craig Fahle Show on WDET talking about mead, thanks to this little piece in Hour. I put together a bunch of notes for the show which, of course, I never once referenced. So now I'm sharing them with you. Initially I was only going to share a few key tidbits, but then I figured I might as well just start at the beginning and not assume people already have a basic knowledge of what I'm talking about. 

You can listen to the Craig Fahle Show's snippet on mead with me here. I've also done a lot of mead primer work here, for your reference. 

PS, "merds." It's a thing now.

NOTES:

What is mead? 
Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from honey. The difference between mead and beer and wine is in the fermentables in the product - in beer it's grains, in wine it's grapes, and in mead it's honey.

Because honey is the primary ingredient, yes, it is sweet, but the sweetness can be tempered just like in a wine and meads can also be bone-dry.

Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world. The famous French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss makes a case for the invention of mead as a marker of the passage "from nature to culture." (And everyone who has ever written anything remotely significant about mead has referenced this.)

Meads are typically the strength of wine, roughly around 14% alcohol (though that can vary significantly).

Are there different kinds of meads? 
Much as there are different regions and varietals of wine and different styles of beer, there are dozens of different varieties of meads, but some of the most common that you'll find are as follow:
-Melomel - made with fruit
-Braggot - beer/mead hybrid using malt (with or without hops)
-Cyser - honey and apple juice fermented together
-Pyment - honey and red or white grapes (a wine hybrid)

Mead now has its own National Mead Day on August 3, an effort by the American Homebrewers Association.

B. Nektar Meadery, Ferndale
-Brad Dahlhofer is the co-owner of B. Nektar Meadery with his wife Kari and partner Paul Zimmerman.
-B. Nektar just entered the New York market.
-B. Nektar has expanded into a second production space, also in Ferndale, about six times the size of their original space, and recently added another 4,000 gallons of capacity.
-They are currently in the process of getting a brewery license so they can make braggots. UPDATE: As of October 31, 2013, they have received their federal brewing license and will soon begin making braggots.
-When they started producing the Zombie Killer, a lightly-hopped cherry cyser session mead, in 2011, it was a coup for the company and became their claim to fame; Ken Schramm and others credit them with bringing mead national attention.
-Next up was Evil Genius, a lightly-carbonated IPA-style mead that, to the best of their knowledge, was the first IPA-style mead in the country (though not the first hopped) - note, Evil Genius is no longer in production due to an issue with availability for one of the ingredients.
-Other carbonated session meads now include: Necromangocon, Kill All the Golfers (an Arnold Palmer style mead), Black Fang (made with blackberry, clove, orange).
-They will produce 25,000 cases of carbonated meads alone this year.
-New Devil's Night releases including new session mead Dwarf Invasion (made with cherry, hops), the Smoked Pumpkin Caper (made with smoked pumpkin, squash, and sweet potato, smoked honey, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spices, aged in a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout barrel clocking in at 15%ABV), Devil's Juice (orange blossom honey, smoked 'mutt' honey, pineapple juice, and a blend of 3 hot peppers), Eye Ball (like a highball, ginger and raw wildflower honey aged in rye whiskey barrels, one of partner meadmaker Ian Radogost-Givens' creations; he will be doing more experiMental B-Sides and a barrel-aged series.
-In the works: the barrel-aged series and more B-sides.
-We're seeing more and more carbonated mead at trade shows, presumable thanks to the success these guys have had.
-B. Nektar might be the largest meadery in the country right now, with Red Stone Meadery in Boulder next closest in size and production.

Ken Schramm, Schramm's Mead, Ferndale
-Read about his new Ferndale meadery here.
-Heart of Darkness is his signature mead, which used to be made at B. Nektar before Schramm got his own licensed meadery. It is made from homegrown, hand-harvested fruit from Schramm’s orchard and berry patch. The cherries are of the Schraammbeek variety, an intensely flavorful, European morello type, the raspberries are Heritage and Latham, and the black currants are Crandall and Consort. Production is extremely limited, as the amount of care and labor which go into each batch is substantial. Much of the fruit is netted to prevent birds from eating what should be your mead. This is a hand-crafted mead, if ever there was one.
-Where B. Nektar's meads appeal to the beer nerds, Schramm's meads are more elegant, akin to fine wines.
-Schramm is a world-renowned expert in mead, having wrote the book on it. The Compleat Meadmaker was released in 2003. It is still considered the current book of reference for meadmaking, and Schramm plans on a second edition soon. He is to mead what Brian Polcyn is to charcuterie.
-He plans on producing 300 gallons per month, all self-distributed.
-He also co-created the Mazer Cup, the largest mead event in the world featuring both home brewers and commercial meads in competition.
-Schramm has his standard blackberry, raspberry, and ginger meads, but he also has special meads like the Heart of Darkness, the Statement (made with Hungarian cherries) and Black Heart, a black raspberry melomel being released on Halloween.

Kuhnenn Brewing Co., Warren + Clinton Twp.
-The cult favorite craft brewery just bought a new production facility, which will open next spring
-The new brewery also has the capacity to produce 2,000-3,000 barrels (120,000-180,000 gallons) of mead.
-They will focus on braggots, lightly carbonated session meads (beer/mead "hybrids"). They will still make limited release still meads for brewery release only.
-They will distribute their braggots starting in Michigan and expanding out.
-Still meads will be special releases likely brewery only
-Every March they host "Mead Madness" with a slew of new limited specialty mead releases every week.
-They were covered in Imbibe Magazine's recent article on American meads, along with B. Nektar.
-They're currently known for meads like their Bourbon Barrel French Toast mead and Imperial Bourbon Barrel Braggot.
-Meadmaker Frank Retell has taken home scores of golds, silvers and bronzes at the Mazer Cup for his braggots, pyments, dessert meads, melomels...the list goes on and on.

Other Michigan meadmakers
-Dragonmead in Warren (currently going through a major expansion)
-Superior Lakes in Harrison Twp.
-St. Ambrose Cellars (now making some carbonated meads)
-Bardic Wells

[Hour Detroit] The Need for Mead

Schramm's Meadery. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

With the opening of Schramm’s Meadery in downtown Ferndale scheduled for this fall, the city might well be the epicenter of a growing craft beverage industry that’s gaining a lot of “buzz.”

Schramm’s joins B. Nektar Meadery — the “beer geek’s” mead that uses cult movie imagery on its labels (think Star Wars and Evil Dead) and now exports to a dozen states.

While mead is gaining new fans, it’s certainly no upstart. Some consider it the ancestor of all fermented drinks. Mead, an alcoholic beverage made from honey, is often referred to as “honey wine.” Much like beer or wine, mead has dozens of styles and can be flavored in countless ways. Popular styles include cysers, made with apple juice; melomels, made with fruits; and pyments, made with wine grapes.

Mead more.

[HOT LIST] Mead Day

Mead Day is this Saturday, August 3. Metro Detroit is pretty much the best place in the country to be right now if you're a mead fan. But let's back this up a bit for newbies: mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey, which is ultimately what differentiates it from wine, cider, beer, and other spirits. It is believed that mead is the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, dating back to around 2000 B.C. The father of modern anthropology, Claude Levi-Strauss, stated that the invention of mead marked the passage "from nature to culture" for modern man.

Mead carries with it this imagery of Vikings and Knights and dudes who play Dungeons and Dragons. None of that is patently untrue, but in contemporary culture mead is on track to become the country's next "IT" artisan alcoholic beverage of choice. But don't take my word for it; take Imbibe's. Craft beer is booming, artisan spirits aren't far behind it in terms of the rate of industry growth and increasing number of artisan distilleries and consumer popularity, craft ciders are taking off in apple-growing regions (including, hi, Michigan), and wine...well, wine has had its day and eventually will again.* But mead? Mead as a commercial artisan beverage is still in its infancy but if the growth of Ferndale's own B. Nektar Meadery is any indication (now in almost 20 states, including California), it's primed to EXPLODE over the next 2-5 years. Much like the craft beer and artisan spirits before it.

So, it's made from honey. Is it sweet? To quote one industry friend of mine, "No, it tastes like burgers." Yes, it's sweet. It's made from honey. But much like craft beer, mead comes in a variety of forms and flavors, from lower-ABV (like, around 6% - still high-ish by beer standards) carbonated meads to bourbon-barrel-aged bombs, traditional meads that taste like luscious liquid honeys to its dozens of variations that include cysers (made with honey and apple juice), melomels (honey and fruit), braggots (honey and malt), and pyments (honey and juice from wine grapes).

In metro Detroit alone we have meadmakers B. Nektar in Ferndale, Kuhnhenn Brewing Company and Dragonmead in Warren, Superior Lakes in Harrison Township, and the soon-to-open Schramm's Mead in Ferndale - which is to say nothing of the many other meadmakers in Michigan. This Mead Day, celebrate with Michigan-made meads. And here is how.

#1 2013 Summer Mead Fest at B. Nektar Meadery in Ferndale
Their first Mead Fest started with probably 100 mead nerds (merds?) standing in the parking lot of the original B. Nektar Meadery production facility in Ferndale. Since then the event has grown and packs in hundreds - thousands? - of people over two different annual festivals, one held in the late summer and now a Spring Mead Fest (2013 was the first year), with live music, several food trucks, exclusive specialty meads on tap, and the eagerly-anticipated releases of rare and limited meads. Summer Mead Fest is always held on Mead Day, and this year's is also the company's five-year anniversary. They'll be debuting the new Black Fang, a carbonated blackberry clove mead, and the Zombies Take Manhattan, a rye whiskey cask-aged Imperial Zombie Killer (their most popular mead). The popular Cherry Chipotle is also making its return at Summer Mead Fest.

With mead names and label designs that nod to geeky cult movies (from Star Wars to Army of Darkness) and playful flavors that tend much more towards craft beer than wine (like Evil Genius, the hopped and carbonated IPA-style mead, currently out of production due to availability issues with one of the ingredients), B. Nektar has a distinct appeal to the local craft beer community. So it will come as happy news when I tell you that they are currently in the process of acquiring a brewing license, which is different than their current license, so they can do more collaborations with breweries and make beer-style meads/mead-style beers. The B. Nektar Brewery will come online as soon as the state approves their license.

#2 Kuhnhenn Brewing Company, Warren
Though not in distribution, Kuhnhenn Brewing Company's meads have their own cult following that even Imbibe noted. Every March they host "Mead Madness" with a slew of new limited specialty mead releases every week. They've also got several special Mead Day releases planned, including Sunflower Bourbon Barrel (Heaven Hill 3 year), Sunflower Bourbon Barrel (Heaven Hill 6 year), Sunflower Rye Whiskey Barrel (Heaven Hill with heavy char), and Saison Braggot (1/3 saison and 2/3 honey, fermented together, then spiced with ginger and coriander).

Happy news for Kuhnhenn fans: they have purchased an industrial building in Clinton Township at the corner of Groesbeck and Metro Parkway that will serve as a large-scale production facility and will also be home to a second, and much larger, tasting room. And THAT you heard here first.

#3 Dragonmead Microbrewery, Warren
I mean, it's right there in the name. This multi-time award-winning microbrewery is the most unabashed about its D+D roots with imagery that celebrates it rather than tries to downplay it. The three partners - Earl Scherbarth, Larry Channell and Bill Wrobel - started as homebrewers (and mead makers) who would throw wassail dinners (part of their own D+D backgrounds) but weren't able to find a quality mead to serve. So they started making their own. They ended up bringing their meads and beers out of the dungeon basement and into the mainstream, and are now also undergoing a major expansion that will allow them to significantly increase their brewing operations and distribution.

#4 Schramm's Mead, Ferndale
Okay, it's not actually open yet and you can't just GO there, but you should still be aware of it. Ken Schramm wrote the book on mead. No, but really, he wrote The Compleat Meadmaker, which is pretty much to mead what Brian Polcyn's Charcuterie was to meat. Though his new meadery and tasting room in Ferndale won't be open yet for Mead Day, he's getting close. An inspiration to meadmakers far and wide (including his new neighbors at B. Nektar, with whom he has made his own recipe Heart of Darkness, a highly sought-after limited release), he is also a co-founder of the Mazer Cup, the leading international mead competition. This guy is serious business (he even grows his own fruit for his meads, and by "grows," I more so mean "orchestrates") and I've heard the name "genius" tossed around quite a bit in reference to him. We're probably mere weeks away from his eponymous meadery opening; this is definitely one to watch for.

#5 Motor City Brew Tours Mead Day Tour
Want to check out all of the above meaderies including a sneak peek at Schramm's? Let Motor City Brew Tours bus you around to each of the above four destinations for $49.99 including a light lunch, mead samples at each stop, and transportation so you don't have to worry about driving. Your final stop is Summer Mead Fest at B. Nektar where you can choose to either sober up or go all out and call a friend or Uber to take you home.

Honorable mention: Superior Lakes in Harrison Township 
You don't know about this place yet because I haven't written about this place yet, but give me a few hours days.

*When it's wine's turn again the focus will be all about small-production family estate boutique wines from lesser-known growing regions. Napa? No-thankya. In fact, that's already happening, but outside of the wine world the drinking public seems to have lost interest in the industry for the time being. But, like anything, and everything, it's cyclical. 

The Week We Ate (The EID Week in Review)

Mead is manly.

Food + Wine is already keen on the "stunning" Great Lakes Coffee bar in Midtown for their "fantastic list of obscure natural wines." Which is extra-impressive considering the bar was probably only open for all of a month by the time of this issue's print deadline ... does that mean F+W editors are trolling Detroit? Hmmmm... [Food + Wine / EID FB]

Imperial launched a brand-new brunch this weekend and I happened to stumble in. It's no beauty queen but the biscuits and gravy (made with chorizo gravy and topped with fried egg) are THE BOMB. Brunch goes into full effect next Sunday. [EID FB]

Seriously though, F+W is all up in Michigan's business it seems (and now everyone is writing about hard ciders). Batali-certified Tandem Ciders gets some F+W ink. [Food + Wine]

Grilled cheese sandwich ice cream exists now. [Treat Dreams FB]

Baconfest returns for 2013! VIP tickets go on sale in December. You have been amply warned. [Baconfest Michigan FB]

Cherries and Grapes is a new online store that ships Michigan-made wines, ciders and specialty products right to your home. This is a great way to get ahold of products from smaller producers that don't distribute far outside their tasting room (if at all). [Promote Michigan]

This was a spectacularly boring news week. Here is a picture of a tatted-up Russian in an American flag tank top. Also, vote for Rock City Pies in Hatch Detroit on the website and Facebook page; round one voting ends tomorrow at 6 p.m.! [EID FB / Hatch]

Pop-ups, pop-ups, pop-ups. It's like everyone's afraid of commitment nowadays. [EID FB / Curbed]

Bell's Brewery's commemorative "Batch" series was supposed to end at 10,000, but wait just kidding, now they're doing Batch 11,000 and calling it the Spinal Tap-inspired "This One Goes to 11." "This One Goes to 11 Ale 'finishes with a lingering warmth.'" That means there's a f-ck-ton of alcohol in it. (11% ABV, to be exact.) [MLive]

Here's a story about an old-fashioned candy shop in that other part of Detroit. You know, the part the hipsters haven't colonized yet. You know, the other 127 square miles. [Metro Times]

Apparently mead is manly. B. Nektar's Wildflower mead is named the "draft pick" for the Detroit Lions. PS, it's only available by the bottle. [Esquire]

This is just adorable. Macomb's got the me-too's! [Macomb Patch]

The D in LV. It is of course seedy, as one should expect a Detroit-ish-themed property in Las Vegas to be. [Curbed Detroit]

Seriously though, would you please just fucking vote? [HuffPo Detroit]

[HOT LIST] Ferndale

Pete Steffy of Pete's Chocolate Co. at the Rust Belt Market. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

In a major upset that majorly upset city residents, #8 seed Ferndale massacred its CoD competition for "neighborhood of the year," becoming the first-ever winner of the prestigious fake Curbed Cup trophy. I haven't exactly been quiet on my feelings about Ferndale (also here, and all over the Facebooks), so I figured heck, let's trot this topic out for one more go-round before I've tired myself out on it. In honor of the first-ever winner of the prestigious fake "neighborhood of the year" award from Curbed Detroit, here's a look at some of Ferndale's best (by category). Some new (as of 2011), some old (as of before 2011), some borrowed (from Pleasant Ridge, which should really count as Ferndale anyway) and some blue (yep, it's that same picture from inside Red Hook again, but I like it oh so very much).

Red Hook. Photo by David Landsel.

#1 Coffee
As in, wake up and smell the. Chazzano Coffee Roasters has been around for a few years now and is still roasting and brewing some of the best coffee in Detroit. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Frank is not a roaster, he's a wizard. The Red Hook brought Portland's Stumptown Coffee Roasters into town (the first to do so since Commonwealth in Birmingham started roasting all their own), and more importantly brought back a storefront for Pinwheel Bakery. And the old sleeper AJ's Music Cafe continues to be a world-class coffee house in the traditional '90s sense with live indie music and a Guinness World Record.

#2 Breakfast, Brunch and Brinner
Ferndale is home of the teeny-tiny diner where everything is made from scratch and breakfast is king. The Fly Trap, Toast, Pete's Place, Hilton Road Cafe, Mae's (technically in Pleasant Ridge but SRSLY, it's Ferndale) - none of these are just diners, just plain old regular greasy spoon fuel stops for your food tank. These are houses of comfort food worship, and is there a comfort food MORE comfy than brunch? I think not.

#3 Lunch and Dinner
The one arena in which Ferndale falters a bit is in non-brunch dining. But things are starting to look up, and there are definitely a few favorites that have sprung up over recent years. The Emory has killer burgers and even more killer beer list (also an amazing Spanish coffee, check it). Torino Espresso + Bar - which could also go into almost every single other category on here (they serve illy coffee and Avalon pastries for breakfast) - has fantastic paninis as well as artisan cheese and charcuterie platters (any time is the right time). Rosie O'Grady's has bloody good burgers and pizza (they make their own pizza dough and sauce, and grind and patty their own burgers). Food trucks are also becoming a thing in Ferndale, with Jacques Tacos and Taco Mama taking the lead on that. Speaking of tacos, everyone's looking forward to Woodward Imperial opening in the coming months (the owner recently informed me he is just waiting on his liquor license and it will, he hopes, be open in 30-60 days ... they're gonna do tacos, in case you didn't get that from the context).

B. Nektar. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

#4 Food shops and whatnot
B. Nektar Meadery continues to kill it with crazy-awesome new releases like the drunky Funky Monky and wicked Zombie Killer, while their empire continues to expand across the States and their tasting room hours recently expanded to every Friday (5:30 to 10 p.m.) and Saturday (1 to 7 p.m.). 8 Degrees Plato Beer Company just opened in the fall and I love them already. The Rust Belt Market also opened this year and gave the world a much-needed and appreciated outlet for Rock City Pies, Pete's Chocolates and Perkins Pickles.

#5 Cocktails
I'm running out of ways to talk about craft cocktail culture in metro Detroit. (See: Hour. 944. NY Post. Eater. Metromix past and future. Ambassador. Couldn't even conjecture how much here and on Facebook.) Suffice it to say, it is a thing and these places are doing it. The Oakland is just OMFG NFW F-YAH. Valentine Vodka is the best vodka in the world, so if you're a vodka drinker you're in the right place (mix it with McClure's Bloody Mary mix for the best thing ever). And Torino Espresso + Bar does craft cocktails (house-made infusions and fresh ingredients with a culinary approach) with an Italian twist. Between these places, B. Nektar and the beer list at the Emory, Ferndale is pretty much a one-stop drinking destination. Because no one drinks wine anymore.

Bubbling under Grasshopper Underground, Sakana Sushi Lounge, Howe's Bayou, Treat Dreams, Danny's Irish Pub, Assaggi Bistro, Anita's Kitchen, Inyo, Christine's Cuisine, Dino's Lounge

It's What Knights Drink: Even Knights in Need of a Caffeine Fix

If you make it all the way to the end, I promise there's some *actual* information about mead here.



Oh em gee, remember how these totally made me el-oh-el this summer? I find that they are still very LOWL-worthy. I mean, my god, just LOOK. Batman! With a cartoonishly oversized bottle of mead in his hand with a caption that reads "It's What Knights Drink. Even Dark Knights." That's bloody brilliant, man!*

You know what else makes me LOWL? This:

Ian Radogost-Givens, meadmaker and fun czar at B. Nektar

Wait for it...


Eh??? EH???

Okay, but seriously now. I promised Brad [Dahlhofer, owner and meadmaker] and the Ians [Radogost-Givens and Washington, fun and brand czars, respectively] at B. Nektar Meadery that I would write something in exchange for their provision of booze for me. Well really how it happened was Brad emailed me, and I was all dawdle dawdle dawdle OMG I have like all these projects I need to wrap in the next couple of weeks and am totally freaking out except not really because I haven't started one of them and if I was really freaking out I would at least be making some sort of effort (PS, those are all for forthcoming issues of Metromode, Macomb Now, Arts Spectator, couple for 944, and a couple for edible WOW, and since all of that is print except Metromode you should totally check 'em out because I won't be linking to them here and there's gonna be some good stuff that if you miss in your mission to jock my style will make you very sad indeed), so then I get a text from Ian-not-number-one-because-the-Ian-formerly-known-as-Ian-number-two-didn't-like-being-number-two-so-now-it's-Ian-NOT-number-one-and-two and I was all, well now EVERYONE's covered it (The Publication That Shall Not be Named and then some other ones too) so I was like, "I don't want to do what everyone else is doing, psssssssshhhhhhh," so then Brad emailed me and invited me to the mead tasting that they have every other Friday at the Meadery and I went and then ANOTHER writer was there (ps, Brad, you really rocked the PR with this one man) and I decided then that I was going to write something that no one else possibly could or would write despite the fact that there are, like, 800,000 f%$#ing food bloggers in this city now since it's the new "it" place to be ever since Phil Cooley discovered Detroit like Columbus discovered America, and so here we are.

So I went to the mead tasting, which they have every other Friday evening from 5:30-10:00PM at the Meadery, which is located at 1505 Muggers' Alley, Ferndale. Well, not really; this is Ferndale after all, where people move after they lived in Detroit but before they relocate to Ann Arbor. Okay, so it's located at 1505 Brad is Paying For New Shocks For My Car After Driving in That Third World Parking Lot Alley, Ferndale.

Okay, so you can "Google Map" the directions and it's pretty dead-on (head west on 9 Mile from I-75, turn left at Chazzano), but once you're there, despite the signage, it's still tricky to find. Eventually I figured my best bet would be to track the packs of aging white people I saw darting across the open terrain, using my wily urban hunting skills to deduce that packs of aging white people would not be darting across a dark third-world parking lot unless there was trendy booze to be had nearby. Within moments I had stalked and cornered my prey.

You could probably just go ahead and follow the signs, though.

The spoils of my hunt ended up being many bottles of mead. On sample (and I'm doing this from memory and a very blurry photo, so I might miss a few...plus I had a LOT of samples, so factor that in as well) that evening was: Barrel-Aged Dry Cyser, Gewurtzraminer Pyment, Strawberry Pizzazz, Wildflower, Orange Blossom, Vanilla Cinnamon, Margarita Mead, Backwoods Cyser, and the mead of honor, the Chazzano Coffee Ethiopian Harrar Mead.

Barrel-Aged Dry Cyser: Described as their most "bone-dry" mead, this apple honey mead is aged in oak barrels and is crisp, clear and palate-cleansing. This was actually my favorite of the tasting.

Gewurtztraminer Pyment: A "pyment" is a mead made with wine grapes and honey. The Gewurtztraminer grape works well here because it is already a sweet, crisp, floral grape that seems a much more natural compliment to honey than some other pyments. This would be GREAT for food pairings, well-matched with anything the Gewurtz grape is already inclined to pair well with. Quite tasty and drinkable.

Strawberry Pizzazz: Like drinking straight strawberries and champagne; this will be a wonderfully refreshing beverage in the spring and summer, and would also be a great craft cocktail mixer. But don't ask me; I'll put whiskey in anything.

Wildflower: One of their staple meads available year-round, made with Michigan wildflower honey. I have to admit the first time I ever tried it, I found the flavor a bit off-putting, but now it has grown on me tremendously. Expect more floral notes than honey, as you might be inclined to assume (like me).

Orange Blossom: Another year-round mead made from the honey of orange and other citrus trees, aged in American oak. I always think the words "orange nectar" whenever I try this, though that might just be a nonsense descriptor I'm just making up. Definitely demonstrates the essence of orange with a clear hint of oak.

Vanilla Cinnamon: Like warm apple pie in a glass, this mead is liquid gold. Made with whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans, it is sweet but incredibly smooth. This is the kind of flavor that just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Drinking an entire bottle of it in one evening like I did once will also produce the same effect. Try it warmed for added enjoyment.

Backwoods Cyser: This is a crisp apple honey mead aged in bourbon barrels, showing the richness and warmth of the bourbon-soaked oak. By that I mean you can totally taste the bourbon. This is like warm apple pie in a glass if you make your apple pie with Kentucky bourbon.

Margarita Mead: Made with dark and light agave nectar, orange blossom honey, fresh lime juice squeezed by hand, lime zest, and orange zest. The flavor is light with just a hint of margarita flavor (instead of overpowering, like drinking a straight mix); next time I'll be sure to try it BEFORE the Vanilla Cinnamon, which has a tendency to linger.

Ethiopian Harrar Mead: Why drink coffee in the morning when you can have alcohol that tastes like coffee instead (and not the sticky-sweet stuff of espresso-flavored vodkas either)? Right? Made with Chazzano Roasters' most popular flavor, the Ethiopian Harrar, and wildflower honey, this mead is an exercise in contrast: at once bitter and sweet, it has a high acidity with robust coffee flavor--it's like nothing you would expect and surely unlike anything you've tasted before. Coffee lovers and mead lovers both will be surprised by this one. And contrary to the thought process behind warming the Vanilla Cinnamon, you should NOT drink this warmed. Trust me on this one. Warming makes it have kind of a tang, and you do not want this to have any sort of tang (it's the high acidity, which warming emphasizes even more). What can I say; I tried.


The whole point of this post was to talk about the Ethiopian Harrar Mead, be tea double you. Thanks for hanging out.

*I've refrained from my usual stream-of-consciousness cursing just in case Brad at B. Nektar or Frank at Chazzano decides to link to this post from their website for some wholly ill-advised reason. People should never give me free things. They don't know what I'm likely to do with them. Especially when there's alcohol involved; that just spells disaster. D-I-S-A-S-ter. (That would have been a much funnier joke if there could be some sort of audio component here. It was this whole play on that Gwen Stefani song where she spells "bananas" repeatedly and thankfully correctly. I should be on radio. But then you'd also miss all the accompanying erratic hand gestures and highly animated facial expressions. Therefore, I should be on TV. Someone tell someone.)

B. Nektar Mead Dinner at Cuisine (3D Tours)

Thursday, August 19, 6:00-9:00PM at Cuisine
670 Lothrop, Detroit 48202

What is mead, you ask? Not only is it what knights drink, it's also a fast-growing trend in these parts thanks to Ferndale's B. Nektar Meadery. Join Discover Detroit Dining as we partner with B. Nektar Meadery and one of Detroit’s finest restaurants to bring you a mead dinner in which you’ll sample and learn about a variety of different meads. Enjoy a 4-course menu prepared expressly for proper mead pairing by Chef Paul Grosz at Cuisine and learn all there is to know about mead (I'll start you off: it's made with honey).

Menu:
~Diver scallop ceviche with smoked salmon / Wildflower Mead
~Roasted Halibut with oven dried tomatoes and citrus glaze / Orange Blossom Mead
~Beef Shortrib braised in honey and Shiraz with gold mashed potatoes / Wildberry Pyment
~Blueberry tart with vanilla crème brulee ice cream / Vanilla Cinnamon

Tickets to this dinner are on sale now at www.discoverdetroitdining.com/upcomingtours and are $65.00 including all tax and gratuity.


About B. Nektar Meadery:
B. Nektar Meadery began as a home-based beer and mead operation between good friends Brad Dahlhofer and Paul Zimmerman. Theirs is a story of true entrepreneurship in the face of defeat: Brad and his wife Kerri had both been laid off from their jobs, inspiring them to open their own business selling the meads that had been winning awards at home-brewing competitions and wowing their friends. The Meadery officially opened its Ferndale location on August 2, 2008 and has since been highlighted in a number of different noteworthy publications and is carried in wine shops and restaurants all over the Midwest. But the question on everyone’s lips is, “What IS mead?” This is your chance to find out!

About Cuisine:
Chef Paul Grosz trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris under some of the top French chefs in the world. He served as the Executive Chef at the Whitney for 10 years before opening Cuisine in 2001. Through his use of fresh, clean flavors focusing on simplicity, he creates dishes that are bold and daring – true culinary art.

About Discover Detroit Dining:
3D Tours exposes metro Detroiters to different restaurants and establishments that might interest the curious epicurean. We offer themed packages that explore a variety of destinations as well as unique tastings, theme dinners, and signature events.

My Musical, Artful, Eatful, Drinkful Weekend

Originally published in D-Tales here; edited for content. See original post for pictures.

Yesterday was the last official day of summer. Sad, yes. But I sent the summer off with a bang. A very loud bang. A bang so loud I still can't really hear all that well and I'm probably talking very loudly, even to myself.

Wanna hear about it? Sure you do. But first, riddle me this: how many times did you go to Woodbridge Pub this weekend? If your answer was four, congratulations, you beat me. But you didn't, did you? I win at life.

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Friday: The day started with the DSO at 10:45 in the morning. We then had lunch at Woodbridge Pub, after I had been hearing people rave about the food for some time (and by "some time" I mean the 6 days since I had (a) learned it was open and (b) went there for the first time myself).

And so you ask: did it live up to its hype?

OMFGyesyesyesyesyes.

First off, I don't believe in health food. I don't. I don't see the purpose in sacrificing the experience of taste just on the off chance that I might not suffer from colon polyps when I'm 80 after living on soy products for the bulk of my adult life. Sorry, but give me decadent creamy French cheeses and high cholesterol and I'll take my chances, thanks. So when people asked me if the food at Woodbridge was at all similiar to the Cass Cafe I gave a resounding HAYLTHAFUKNO. Woodbridge will lentil burger Cass Cafe up the artsy-fartsy tofu-you ying-yang.

The designer of the Woodbridge menu (the owner's sister and my new favorite human) believes in butter, and God bless her for it. I started with the housemade guacamole--perfection. Just how I like it: HEAVY on garlic, light on onion, with flavorful tortilla chips just the right density and saltiness. I ate the whole bowl. That's about 20 grams of avocado fat, thank you. This I followed up with the Cheese to the Seventh Power, "like grilled cheese on steroids" (as stated on the menu). Brie, White Cheddar, Romano, two kinds of Mozzarella, Provolone and Parmesan on a butter-saturated grilled baguette. How can I describe it? Like 1,000 greasy angels dancing on my tongue? Okay, how about this: the grilled cheese at Cafe Muse in Royal Oak was named by The Oprah "the best grilled cheese in America." I had it. It was tasty. But Cheese to the Seventh Power spanks it like a little bitch, fresh sliced tomato and drizzled honey or not.

My friend ordered the BBLT on a B--carmelized bacon, brie cheese, Michigan leaf lettuce, and marinated tomatoes on a grilled baguette. And by "carmelized bacon" they mean extra-thick cuts of meaty, peppered bacon soaked and fried in thick, rich maple syrup. That, with the brie, and the flavorful tomatoes...I challenge you to fine me a better BLT anywhere in the country. Challenge you.

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Sunday:

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There were other things at [Ferndale's first DIY Street Fair] too, such as the beer tent a mere 50 paces from the stage. Thank you, organizers, for that. It was thoughtful. Thank you also for being the ONLY festival to emphasize a focus on Michigan-made brews. The rest of you can take your Bud Light and bong it.

In other news, the B. Nektar Meadery is now open. Like from the days of yore. I got to sample some at DIY. It was meady. I think a field trip is in order. Who wants to go play north of 8 Mile?

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I had some Pumpkin Ale from the WAB, and something from Sherwood Brewing Company that was quite tasty. Three drinks for $10.00--suck it, other festivals.