Cenquist's Guide to CenquistDay2012

A must do list for the day!

Here is a quick guide on how you could enjoy your International Cenquist Day like @ cenquist .  In no particular order

1. Drink – no I don’t mean get sloshed, but you can do that if you wish. I mean crack open a tasty craft beer, probably something from Half Pints Brewing, and enjoy. If beer isn’t your thing, try some bourbon – neat. Just the way @cenquist drinks it.

2. Eat tasty food – this is a given on any day of the week but on International Cenquist Day you should probably eat really good food. I would suggest a burger – and if you live in Winnipeg here is a list of burger joints. Of course you don’t want to eat completely unhealthy so treat yourself to a nice healthy spinach salad for lunch. Maybe put some almonds and raspberries in it too.

3. Enjoy locally – be it eating at a local restaurant, or having a pint of local brew at a local pub, or just spending time in a mom and pop shops looking at knick knacks, spend some time, and maybe a bit of money, in locally owned shops. You know, to support the locals.

4. Be one with the outdoors – sure it may not be gorgeous weather in Winnipeg today but it is still nice enough to go out and explore. So go for a walk in the park or play a game of street hockey with the neighbourhood kids. Just make sure you are having fun.

5. T ry something new – branch out and attempt something today that you have never done before. The possibilities are endless!

6. Go see Michael Bernard Fitzgerald – of course you must be in Winnipeg to do this!

Obviously there are more things to do – this is just a brief how-to guide to enjoy International Cenquist Day.

Fort Garry Kona Imperial Stout

A beer tailor made for me

Beer : Kona Imperial Stout

Brewery : Fort Garry/Russell Brewing

Brewed In : Winnipeg, Canada

Style : Imperial Stout

ABV : 6.5%

Price : $5.31 a bottle

Notes : Part of their Brewmaster Series – unsure if it will only be brewed once.

Story : I would say I waited patiently for this – as Fort Garry mentioned to some of us on Twitter that they were going to bring us in for a tasting.  I never believed it but a coffee stout is right up my alley so I was pumped for it.  Then they had an issue with the bottles and the release got delayed further BUT they did release the casks to local pubs.  Sure enough I tracked down some with Adrian one night, and then another night, and then I bought myself a bottle to share with Kevin .  Well… Kevin bought the bottle!

Appearance : This stout is very dark.  It is a black that you will never be able to see through if you shined a spotlight on it.  Yes it is that dark.  It also has a dark tan head.

Smell : Very aromatic – all chocolate and coffee.  Smells like heaven.

Taste : Like the aroma this beer is very heavy on the chocolate and coffee flavours.  In the finish the hops come out a little bit to give it a slight bitterness.

Mouthfeel : Kona is not super thick.  I couldn’t chew it.  It is definitely full bodied though.

Drinkability : Although I wasn’t a fan of their first beer in the Brewmaster Series (but it was great for cooking so it was not a waste!), this beer is very good and I will grab a couple more bottles.  Hope Fort Garry makes more beers like this!

International Cenquist Day

A day to celebrate!

Every day I wake up and see my twitter feed, and there is always some new fancy day trending.  Yesterday was National Cleavage Day.  The week before was National Pancake Day, or some bullshit like that.  So I figured... why the hell can't I have my own day!

So I now present to you - the last Saturday of March (this year the 31st) - International Cenquist Day !

But what is International Cenquist Day you ask?  Well, it is a day of celebration - of fun.  That leaves the day wide open for you to do what you want... as long as you are having FUN.  Me - I will be drinking some tasty beer, and probably eating a delicious burger, while catching up with friends.

Please feel free to tweet @cenquist or with the hashtag #cenquistday2012 to earn your free badge!  I would like to thank Adrian for the badge design and Brett for snapping the photo.

Half Pints Burly Wine

The beer I waited in the freezing cold to get

Beer : Burly Wine
Brewery : Half Pints
Brewed In : Winnipeg, Canada
Style : English Barlywine
ABV : 10.5%
Price : I bought this a while ago…. $5 a bottle?
Notes : This is a Christmas time brewed beer that Half Pints brewed from 2006-10 and is currently retired. Demeter’s Harvest is the beer that took its place.
Story : I waited in line with Kevin for over an hour for Half Pints to open in December 2010 for this beer. We froze our butts off for this pricy but delicious brew.

Appearance : The 1.5 year old Burly Wine pours a dark copper with a bit of ruby red at the bottom of the glass. I didn’t get much head – which was white – before it vanished really quickly.

Smell : This beer is very aromatic – with caramel, boozy, woody, malty, and fig notes. A very bold nose, the type of nose that I love on my beers.

Taste : Whoa a blast of alcohol right off the bat. This is a rather complex beer with caramel, dark fruits, earthy, and smokey flavours, as well as some spices. It is a big bite of flavour that is rather sweet. As the Burly Wine warms, the caramel and fruit flavours become much more noticeable.

Mouthfeel : Thick and full bodied – a chewy beer – just the way I like it. It is a bit syrupy as well

Drinkability : I expected it to mellow a bit more with age but I found it more bitter and sweeter than I remember. Still very, very delicious. I am still unsure if I prefer their Burly Wine or their Demeter’s Harvest.

March Madness Eats: Bacon Wrapped Pork Roast

Cooked with maple beer!

If you know me, you know that March Madness is my favourite time of year.  I skip school, take days off work, and pretty much do whatever I need to make sure I do NOT miss the University of Texas game, or any other game for that matter.  My blood may bleed burnt orange in March - the rest of the year too.

Of course I don't just sit on my ass and watch basketball.  It takes a lot of preparation so you don't miss a single second.  I could be lazy and just order in food, like pizza or chinese, but I would rather have something fresh and more delicious.  And snacks throughout the day keep you going, probably from absorbing the copious amounts of beer I drink.  But I do remember to have a glass of water after every other beer to stay hydrated.

To escape wasting valuable time in the kitchen while the games are on I bust out the slow cooker to make my dinner - preparing it about an hour before tip-off.  That way I can bask in the pleasant aromas all day long while I watch basketball.

This year the dinner of choice was a pork roast with some potatoes slow cooked beside them.  I figured a spinach salad would make a good side as well.  I present to you - the bacon wrapped pork roast cooked with Cannery Brewing's Maple Stout.

To start I poured maple syrup and cinnamon in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Then I put the pork roast inside and covered it in the maple syrup.

The syrup lets the bacon stick to the roast.

Then I added some potatoes.

And got the beer ready!

I poured about half the bottle.

And turned on the slow cooker!  For 6 hours.

Oh  I drank the rest of the beer at 11AM.

Before moving onto these beers throughout the day.

I quickly put together a chicken caesar salad for lunch.

Got some snacks in bowls!

And set up my computer so I could watch two games at once!

It smells so good!

As dinner got closer I matched a wine - with the help of Ben .

Holy it looks delicious!

Very delicious.

I think I had it in the slow cooker for a little too long.  I cooked it for just over 6 hours, which I probably could have pulled it out at 5 hours.  The top half of the roast was a little dry, but the bottom was soaked in maple beer so it was fairly moist.

And the next day I added maple BBQ sauce to the pork to make toasted pulled pork sandwiches!!!

Big Rock McNally's Extra Ale

Big Rock's produces another tasty treat

Beer : Big Rock McNally’s Extra Ale

Brewery : Big Rock Brewery

Brewed In : Alberta, Canada

Style : Irish Red Ale

ABV : 7%

Price : $2.50

Notes : Year Round

Story : I kind of looked at this beer and scoffed at it because I am not the biggest fan of Big Rock but Adrian convinced me to pick it up.  Glad I did.

Appearance : This beer is essentially dark amber with a red hue.  Not much head at all but a bit of lacing.

Smell : A bit of grainy malt and an earthy aroma.

Taste : You can taste the alcohol, it is not strong but it is more prominent than the other flavours.  Mcnally’s has some dark fruits, is a bit malty and earthy, with a slight bitterness at the end.

Mouthfeel : Light to medium, no noticeable carbonation.

Drinkability : Although I wasn’t expecting much this beer was actually decent.  I would definitely pick up with beer again – the price is right.  The Big Rock IPA I quite enjoy but the rest of the Big Rock beers I can get at the MLCC I am not a big fan of.  So this was a nice surprise.

Pub Chat: Episode 5 - St Patty's Day Special

With sexy Irish actors!

Adrian and I are joined by our semi-regular guest Daniella Ponticelli to discuss Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks, and Kilkenny in honour of St. Patricks Day.  On top of the 4 Irish beers we discuss 4 Irish actors!!

Download and listen here .  Or subscribe in iTunes here .

Also if you go into iTunes it would be awesome if you rated us and wrote a review!

Three Floyds Behemoth

A review done by the Beer Jerk himself!

Guest Blogger : George Cavalenes
Beer : Behemoth
Brewery : Three Floyds

Brewed In : Munster, Indiana, USA

Style : American Barleywine

ABV : 10.5%

Price : $15 strait from the brewery | $18-$20 retail

Story : You'll notice the bottle has a wax seal. The color signifies the year in which it was brewed in case you want to age it.

Appearance : Clear amber with a fingers worth of cream-colored head.

Smell : There is a unique smell to it that you don't usually get with a barley wine. If you breathe deep enough you can really smell pine. This smells like an IPA.

Taste : This packs quite the four-punch combo! It starts with an almost roasted ...caramel flavor which can only be attributed to the malts that they use. I love the caramel in this. This is where things get weird: the bitterness of an IPA just kicks you right in the face and then it slowly finishes with a very boozy after taste. At 10.5% ABV, that's no surprise.

Mouthfeel : Lightly carbonated and I would say it has a thickness slight less than that of a porter.

Drinkability : For me, this is the ideal collaboration of my two favorite styles: India Pale Ale and American Barleywine. Not very sweet, heavy on the hops and the booze. If you end up finding this, get a friend to share it with because you ain't drinking this all night.

Check out my review of Half Pints Little Scrapper on the Beer Jerk's website after you enjoy his review of Behemoth!  Make sure follow George on Twitter too!

The Great Burger Hunt - Juniors

This months version has a 3 inch blade and cell mates in it!

Surprisingly with Juniors being so close to University of Winnipeg it took me almost 2 years to get there.  Maybe it’s the crowd I was subconsciously avoiding – more on this later.

To start Juniors has a damn good menu selection for a burger joint.  On top of the variety of burgers they have they also have hot dogs, gyros, Slovakia, chicken nuggets and fingers, salads, poutine, milkshakes, onion rings, and a few salads.  All at a very good price point!

For a nice $8.41 I got myself a fatboy and fries with a small drink.  Since I had class in 25 minutes I was hoping they would put the food out quick.  And they sure did – I had my meal in about 5 minutes.

The piping hot fries were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!  In my eyes, they had the perfect texture.  No salt was added so the flavour was all potato. A bit of spice would have made them perfect overall.

Dripping with chili the fatboy, covered in lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickles, mayo, and mustard was tasty. The patty had a nice seasoning but it was fairly crumbly, falling apart, along with the bun, which was clearly kept in the fridge and still kind of cold – so it wasn’t really fresh.  It really did hit the spot though.  There wasn’t too much to complain about when it came to the food.

The atmosphere on the other hand….

I don’t really want to get into details on what happened butlets just say that a conversation went down with people who met for the first time in years – they were cellmates. Oh… and someone else was brandishing a 3 inch blade.

Sigh.  But this is a burger review.  So I will focus only on the restaurant, not the customers it brings in.

What I got : Fatboy and fries - $8.41 after taxes

Burger Taste : 3/5

Fries Taste : 4/5

Price Value : 4/5

Menu Selection : 4/5

Overall : 3.75/5

Juniors

546 Portage Ave

Winnipeg, MB, R3C 0G3

204-774-6370

Pub Chat: Episode 4 - Dominus Vobisum Lupulus

Or... Harry Potters beer spell!

In episode 4 Adrian and I drink a Belgian IPA from MicroBrasserie Charlevoix.  With no guest to help us there was more of the Dominus Vobiscum Lupulus to go around!  After the beer we discuss Apple TV's, Macs & PCs, plus a bit of the beer we drank recently.

Editors note: When we recorded this podcast we thought the name would be Beers & Cheers.  Since then we've decided Pub Chat sounds slightly less lame.

Download here .  Or subscribe in iTunes here .

Unibroue Eau Benite

Unibroue made a beer I didn't enjoy?

Beer : Eau Benite

Brewery : Unibroue

Brewed In : Quebec, Canada

Style : Tripel

ABV : 7.7%

Price : I bought this in the Unibroue collection that was in the MLCC.  It came with 3 Blonde de Chambly, Trois Pistoles, Maudite, and Eau Benite for $21.92 plus tax.  Works out to about $2 a bottle.

Notes : This is a year-round brew but this is the first time I have ever seen it in Manitoba.

Story : My love of Unibroue is nothing new.  Trois Pistoles and La Fin Du Monde are the beers that pushed me over the edge when it came to beer geekery.  Even though Unibroue is not a fan favourite to some I regard them high on my list of best breweries.  I’ll never say they are the best in Canada but they are up there.  I can’t wait to get my hands on more bottles of Terrible and U17 (which was very delicious the first time around).  Maybe Cody will give up his bottle of Quartre-Centieme Brassin Commemoratif.

Appearance : Eau Benite is a very hazy gold beer.

Smell : A sweet and floral aroma accompanies the beer.

Taste : The beer has a lot of banana flavour, especially in finish.  It is sweet and fruity but unable to pick out specific fruits.

Mouthfeel : Very light – unlike most Unibroue beers but still has the carbonation they are known for.

Drinkability : I must say this is not one of my favourite Unibroue beers.  Not one I would ever go out of my way to buy again.