Grow Benzie Is Having A Picnic With Some Special Guests

Via Black Star Farms: Bravo's Top Chef Season 5 Winner Visits Benzonia

The picnic will feature gourmet summer fare prepared by chefs Hosea Rosenberg and Dave Query. Hosea is a chef at Jax Fish House in Boulder, CO as well as the season 5 winner of Top Chef. Dave is the owner of 6 Colorado restaurants under the umbrella name of Big Red F Restaurant Group. Alongside their fabulous creations we will be serving a selection of our wines including, Arcturos Pinot Gris, Arcturos Sur Lie Chardonnay and our Red House Red.

"Your Stock Is Rising Number Two"

A homebrewers journal has made my favorite anytime beer, Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, their number two choice.

See MLive: Zymurgy readers poll: Bell's Two-Hearted Ale is the second best beer in the United States

Short's Has A New IPA Coming To Stores

From Short's: Hangin Frank 6-Packs Coming Soon!

A New Summer Cherry Wheat Beer

I love North Peak's Diabolical. Now they have their Oberon competitor.

Via Kalamabrew: North Peak's Archangel Summer Wheat

Pilsner, Wheat, And Rye

KalamaBrew reports Shorts will have three new bottles available this summer.

See: Expect three more beers from Short's Brewing Co. to debut in bottles in June and July

Paella In The Park

Keep August 6th free - there's going to be some Spanish food in downtown Traverse City.

See WineriesOfOldMission.com: Paella in the Park

"If Disney World had a Foodland, it might look a little like Traverse City"

Thank you Midwest Living, I think. Is that a compliment?

See: Best Midwest Food Towns: #2 Traverse City: an established food reputation

However, the population of Traverse City is around 14,000 - the region has 142,000 people. And Radish closed because no one wants to buy salad by the pound.

The article mentions that Traverse City is missing culinary diversity, and that is true, there are a preponderance of brew pubs, but with eateries such as Zakey and the Soul Hole opening I have hope that there will be a trend to more diverse cuisine.

Shorts Will Release 20 Or More Bottled Varieties

That Shorts is so hot right now.

Kalamabrew reports that there should soon be five new bottles from Short's on store shelves with up to 20(!!!!) more later this year. See: New bottle release dates from Short's Brewing Co. include S'More Stout, an Oktoberfest style lager and even a World Beer Cup medal winner

It Was The Worst Of Times, But The Best Of Beers

I wonder if this is like the hypothesis of the best music is made when the economy is worse - is the best beer made in the hardest hit states? Because the NYT loves itself some Michigan beer.

See: A Delicious Free-for-All

That Cooks' House Is So Hot Right Now

The Cooks' House is getting a lot of well deserved press.

See MyNorth: A Day Inside The Cooks' House, a Remarkable Traverse City Restaurant

and Food & Wine: Michigan: In Defense of B-List Wine Country

The food scene is also dynamic, embracing all things artisanal and farm-to-table. The two-year-old Cooks' House, for instance, is a tiny storefront restaurant that serves seasonal dishes worthy of an A-list wine country, like a slow-cooked pulled pork sandwich dressed in a sweet barbecue sauce and tucked into a crusty artisan roll.

Short's Is Expanding Their Line Just In Time For Christmas

Now this would make a great stocking stuffer!

Via MLive: Short's Brewing Company to release eight beers in bottles starting Thursday

Cup A Joe – Coffee Cream Stout.
Kind Ale – Fresh Wet Hop Beer.
Mystery Stout – Molasses and Cocoa.
Uncle Steve's – High-alcohol Irish stout.
Liberator – Double IPA with Huma-Lupa-Licious (IPA) base and twists of Nicie Spicie (spiced wheat ale), Hangin' Frank (strong ale) and Stellar (hoppy twin brother of Frank).
Uber Goober — Peanut Oatmeal Stout.
PB & J – Blend of Uber Goober and Soft Parade (fruit rye ale).
Good Humans — Double brown using exclusing [sic] malts.

Great Lakes Potato Chip Company

TCBN reports on a new company launching in Spring 2010 from the same people who brought Pangea's downtown.

See: Introducing our newest food export...

Come April or May, you’ll be introduced to the Great Lakes Potato Chip Company, the brainchild of Ed Girrbach and his son Chris, owners of TC’s Pangea’s Pizza.

The duo plans to build the company from scratch, will purchase a building within days, and produce three chip varieties before the summer tourism season begins.

Traverse City's Winter Farmer's Market In The Mercato

Our family has a tradition of walking to the Sara Hardy downtown Farmer's Market every Saturday morning in the summer. This year we may be able to start a new tradition as Traverse City now has an indoor market to extend the season for consumers.

The Mercato at Building 50 over at the Commons is hosting the market.

See the Record-Eagle: GT Commons launches winter farmers market

And featured there are chestnuts from serial entrepreneur Ella Cooper's Croft Chestnuts.

More on these chestnuts at Northern Express' Tastemakers.

MyNorth Lists The IPA's Of Northern Michigan

The original India Pale Ale was created in order to not spoil when beer was shipped from London to the colonists in India. See: History Of India Pale Ale

Now it is regarded as the "beeriest" of beers.

Follow the Hops Trail to Northern Michigan Microbrews

Black Star Farms Shares Their Hot Spiced Cider Recipe

Via A Celebration of Autumn!

1 bottle Black Star Farms Hard Apple Cider

6 oz. water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

a couple sprinkles of ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and give it a good stirring. Heat gently (for approx. 30 minutes), but do not boil, and do not stir again. Skim off the spices on top, serve and enjoy.

Innovation

I read at the Accidental Hedonist a post by Kate about what makes Belgium beer so unique. See: Belgium and Beer
And I think she nailed it when she wrote

As I look at the beers of Belgium, I realize that one reason their beers stand out is their willingness to add anything to the brew to see what the end result will be. While Germany has their brewing traditions steeped in the Reinheitsgebot, a regulation that restricts what ingredients can go into a beer, the Belgians have no such law holding them back. Fruits, herbs, and spices can and do make their way into various mash tuns throughout the country. The Beer Judging Certification Program recognizes fifteen different beer styles that can be considered Belgian. That's quite an accomplishment for a country that's smaller than the state of Maryland.

Then there are the Belgian beers that are takes on other regional types. There are breweries in Belgium that make their own stouts, pilsners, and India Pale Ales. So not only are there the traditional Belgian Beers, there are also brands that reflect the other cultures.

To frustrate other international brewers even more, not only do the Belgians make all of these beers, they tend to make them very well.

What struck me is how what is said of these Belgium brews could just as well apply to Michigan brewers. Especially northern Michigan's own Right Brain Brewery and Short's Brewing Company.

The willingness of the breweries to experiment is what has led to their success. They were the most popular tents at the TC Microbrew and Music festival and as Rick Coates recently wrote in the Northern Express

Both Short’s and Right Brain are among the most innovative breweries in the state. Both breweries have built their success not only on quality but by stretching the envelope when it comes to expanding and interrupting beer styles. Right Brain recently had a Wasabi ale and a couple of years ago Shorts made a Wild Mushroom ale with local mushrooms.

Northern Michigan is a nice place, and having these brewers who do not hesitate to try new recipes makes it even more so, it is a lesson many of us can apply to our own lives.

Use Thermotherapy To Keep Fresh Berries From Getting Moldy

Via the NYT: Prolonging the Life of Berries

For thicker-skinned blueberries, a Canadian study recommended a 140-degree treatment for 30 seconds. I tested it twice, with samples of around 150 berries each time. That heat took the bloom off. It melted the natural wax that gives the berries their whitish cast, and left them midnight blue. It also cut the number of moldy berries from around 20 per sample to 2.

So this is like inviting berries to the James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party.
"Should I get in the hot tub?
Yeah!
Will it make me wet?
Yeah!"

Eddie Murphy - James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub

Domenica Marchetti Writes Again About Her Northern Michigan Vacation

First it was Cherries, now she writes about Leelanau Cheese's Raclette at her "Say Cheese" blog hosted at the Washington Post: Say Cheese: Raclette Born in the USA

Bellaire's Shorts Brewery Lines Up Four (maybe five) Year-Round Brews

Via Mlive: Short's Brewing Co. update: Soft Parade bottles hit shelves, $250,000 expansion underway

As it attempts to meet production needs for its four main beers -- Huma, Pandemonium, Brown and Soft Parade -- Short's is tentatively hoping to add one more year-round bottle, The Magician, the dark red London ale.
Newman-Bale said they're also considering adding seasonal bottle releases with the winter brew, Cup 'O Joe, the coffee cream stout, and The Liberator, Joe Short's 30th birthday brew, a "pretty intense" double Huma. It could happen by November or December, he said.

I Like Cherries

Note to Ms. Marchetti, those of us who reside "Up North" love our raw cherries too!

See NPR: Pucker Up For Sour Cherries

It wasn't until the late 1980s that sour cherries entered my orbit again, when I headed to Detroit to take my first newspaper reporting job. By day I chased local news, but on my own time I chased local foods. I soon discovered that the northwestern part of the state along the shores of Lake Michigan (fondly known to Michiganders as Up North) is the sour cherry capital of the U.S.

*Bonus* Audio Two's "I like cherries"