Saturday, November 18, 2017

Modern Brewery PW Pizza Beer Dinner

I am pretty familiar with Modern Brewery since they opened VERY close to where Patience works, and the Citrapolis, the first beer of the night, is very popular around town. Even though it's an IPA, it's actually pretty easy to drink.

It's so easy to drink... it was actually paired with a salad course with a slightly spicy dressing, a curried apple vinaigrette!

Butterhead Lettuce with Curried Apple Vinaigrette with Citrapolis
Since it's November, we had a traditional Smoked Turkey Dinner Pizza, which is always a huge hit. This was paired with the Winter Lager, my favorite beer of the night. It reminded me a lot of an Oktoberfest style of beer and it has low ABV (5%) and IBUs (15).

Smoked Turkey Dinner Pizza with Winter Lager
The second pizza of the night, Spicy Chorizo & Black Bean Pizza probably would have gone better with the Citrapolis, as the All Black (referring to the New Zealand rugby team) was very malty.

Spicy Chorizo & Black Bean Pizza with All Black
A better pairing was the Dark Chocolate Mousse (why yes I did offer to help finish my neighbor's dish!) and the McFly Rye (named after Marty McFly from Back to the Future). The thick, dark beer could be described as a dessert beer, although it isn't too sweet.

Dark Chocolate Mousse
Menu
Resources:

Modern Brewery = http://modernbrewery.com/

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Ludwig Farmstead Creamery

While attending a beer event at Larder & Cupboard in Maplewood, a woman from Ludwig Farmstead Creamery was handing out free samples.

Sales rep, Stephanie Peace (great name), offered me a couple of cheeses to taste and write about! Stephanie let me take home Jake's Habanero Havarti-Style and Jake's Dutch Garden Herb cheese.

Who's Jake you ask? According to their website, Jake Ludwig was a 2009 University of Illinois graduate  who developed a passion for cheese making using the morning-fresh milk from his family's Holstein dairy cattle. Unfortunately, Jake died before creating his first cheese and his father, Dave, hired a Dutch Cheese maker to carry out Jake's dream of producing award winning European-style cheeses.
Ludwig Farmstead Creamery Cheeses
Luckily, I had a day trip to Hermann scheduled to drink wine with the girls and I shared the cheese samples with them. Both flavors were snatched up quickly!

I was most nervous about Jake's Habanero Havarti-Style, but the spiciness was only felt a little bit at the back end of the bite. Instead, you mostly get a creamy flavor to help balance out the heat.

The fullest-flavored cheese was actually the Jake's Dutch Garden Herb where you get a lot of dill and garlic with each bite.

Try a taste test for yourself! Stop by Larder & Cupboard to stock up!

Or, you can order online from the Ludwig Farmstead Creamery, located just east of Champaign, IL.

Resources:

Ludwig Farmstead Creamery = https://www.ludwigfarmsteadcreamery.com/