Tag Archives: Capital Brewery

2011 – The year in Beer

Posted on January 2, 2012 | 2 Comments

So, another year is in the books, which means another hour spent on New Year’s Day employing my children to sort and count the bottle caps collected from the previous year. As always, these simply represent every bottle of beer opened in the Nelson household during the previous year, regardless of who consumed them (though the vast, vast majority was me).

Total caps: 490

Breweries Represented: 28

Breweries with more than 10 caps (and % of total):

Schlafly – 17.8%

Firestone Walker/Nectar Ales – 12.4%

Budvar – 9.4%

Stone – 8%

Homebrew – 7.3%

Founder’s – 5.9%

Bell’s (all Two-Hearted) – 4.9%

Weihenstephaner (all Festbier) – 4.9%

Goose Island – 4.9%

Moosehead – 4.5%

Odell – 4%

Capital – 3.2%

Sierra Nevada – 2.2%

As “interesting” as these raw numbers are, I must add a few points for context. First, thanks to the generosity of Portland-bound friends Zac and Kate Duncan, I returned to the privileged class of people with kegerators, when Zac and Kate donated theirs to my cause.  Since that point, I’ve enjoyed the following:

1/4 bbl of Odell St. Lupulin

2 – 1/4 bbls of Odell IPA (2d keg in progress)

1 – 1/6 bbl of Urban Chestnut Zwickel (which lasted all of 7 days during the worst of this hateful summer’s heat)

1 – 1/6 bbl of Founder’s Red’s Rye

1 – 1/6 bbl of homebrew (still in progress)

So, taking the kegs into account,  Odell was far and away the most consumed brewery this year, basically tripling Schlafly. I’m very much in love with Odell’s IPA, and their St. Lupulin and (incredibly boringly named) Red Ale, all of which meld a serious punch of hop aroma and flavor, with a velvety malt load that just works for my palate. Founder’s also would get a significant bump, and Urban Chestnut would jump into the ranking.

Also missing from the above numbers are canned craft beer. I know I went through a couple of 12 packs of Capital Supper Club (thanks, Annie!) , and several (4, 5, 6?) six packs of Ska Brewing‘s Modus Hoperandi. I just did a crap job (read – no attempt at all) to track those this year. Sorry to the fine folks at Capital (who’d be finer if they distributed to St. Louis!) and Ska. Love your beers, but caps are easier to keep than cans.

Finally, I feel a need to explain the Moosehead entry. I grew up in Michigan, and, during college, Canadian beer was cheap.  Really cheap. In fact, when I moved to St. Louis, a case of Moosehead bottles at the store where I worked would set you back all of $12, and it was the most expensive of the Big 3 Canadian brands. When we were too flush with cash for bottom tier stuff like Weidemann’s, Beast or Schaefer (all at about $5 a case), but not spendy enough for craft, we went Canadian.

So, the summer of 2012 went through a rather oppressive phase. This isn’t uncommon (especially for someone from Michigan), but I was desperate for a beer I could chill and swill. I had been reading some mysteries set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during this period, many of which featured Canadian beer prominently. This triggered a nostalgic craving for some basic Canadian suds. Moosehead being the freshest of those at the Schnuck’s, I went with it. And enjoyed it. I might even do it again.

Previous years are here:

2010

2009

2008

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The Year in Bottled Beer Drinking – 2010

Posted on January 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

As always, my children were put to work on New Year’s Day sorting and counting the bottlecaps I have collected over the previous year.  For those who are new to this game, I collect the caps from every bottle opened for drinking at my house and keep them in a big jar.  This includes bottles opened by guests, at parties, etc. and were not all consumed by me!

2010 was my first full year without a kegerator, which definitely boosted the number of caps (I also kept track of cans in a spreadsheet and these are included in the numbers below).  The total for the year was 756 beers consumed.  The brewery breakdown is as follows for all breweries that had ten or more beers consumed:

Homebrew – 16.1%

Schlafly – 15.3%

Bell’s – 8.2% (over 2/3 was Two-Hearted)

Ska – 7.1%

Budvar – 5.5%

Weihenstephaner – 4.6% (all Festbier)

Sierra Nevada – 4.1%

Founder’s – 3.7% (all Red’s Rye, except for a single Breakfast Stout)

Capital – 3.6%

Big Sky – 3.4%

Lagunitas – 2.5%

Southern Tier – 2.2%

Ayinger – 2.1% (all but two were Oktoberfest)

New Glarus – 2.1%

Odell – 2.1% (all St. Lupulin)

New Belgium – 1.4%

Tallgrass – 1.4%

Pedantic aside:  Jolly Pumpkin likely would have made the list, near the bottom, but their caps are plain.  This year, I’ll be sure to identify them myself.

2010 was definitely the Year of Beer for me.  For whatever reason, my wine consumption was much lower than normal, and whisky was negligible until the last couple of months of the year.  I was pleasantly surprised to see homebrew already taking the quantity crown since I only resumed brewing part way through the year.  I expect its lead to increase in 2011 as I’ve been brewing regularly, and, apparently, drinking my homebrew regularly as well (that hasn’t always been the case).  In 2011, I’ll be shooting for better balance between beer, wine and whisky, and overall lower consumption.

Oh, and hey Capital! You see that you clocked in at #9 overall when you’re not distributed within  250 miles of my house? Please get a distributor in St. Louis.  I’m far from the only one who would buy a lot, as we have a severe craft lager deficit!  My consumption of Budvar would disappear if I could get Capital Pilsner here.  Thanks.

Previous Years are here:

2009

2008

Pedantic aside: My kegerator was up and running during ’08 and ’09, so the bottled numbers are much lower than this year.

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Drinking Domestic for a year – a shameless, but sincere, stunt

Posted on September 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

I love lagers.  A good 30% of my beer consumption is probably in the form of lagers and, as they’re not something I’m capable of producing with my current homebrewing system, I continue to buy them.  Sadly, they’re not something many domestic craft brewers do well.

There are a couple of craft examples available locally that are good (Schlafly Pilsner and Helles, and New Belgium Blue Paddle), but they’re not really in the same league as Budvar, Pilsner Urquell,  and the seasonal Ayinger Oktoberfest and Weihenstephaner Festbier I’ve been enjoying.  That’s not as bad a diss on the domestics as it may seem – we’re talking about being compared to absolute world class beers here.  And, when said top notch lagery goodness is sitting in the cooler beside them and in good shape for at most a buck or two more a six pack, I admit that I choose the imports at a very high rate.

However, two of my favorite domestic lager brewers may be making their offerings available in St. Louis.  Capital Brewery from Madison, Wisconsin is already in the state, having secured a distributor in Kansas City, but hasn’t made it to St. Louis yet.  I’ve been a big fan of theirs for years and, with relatives in Chicago and Wisconsin, I regularly load up and schlep supplies back.  But it is painful knowing that they’re actually in the state, but just not available here.

Now word has come out that Victory Brewing from Downington, Pennsylvania, may put some of their newly-increased capacity to use by bringing their fine line of lagers (and ales . . .) to Missouri as well.  Their outstanding Prima Pils is one of my favorite beers – full stop.  How much do I love Prima?  Well, if you check my list of kegs from the glory days when my kegerator was functional, you’ll notice that I went through a half barrel (that’s 15.5 gallons for those not in the know) of this fine beer.  What doesn’t show from that list is how quickly it disappeared  and how little was consumed by people other than yours truly.  I love this beer.

So, here’s the deal.  WHEN (not going with any “ifs” here) both Capital and Victory show up on the shelves  in St. Louis, I will commit to drinking nothing but domestic craft beer for at least an entire year from that date.  No imported lagers, no Cantillon, Fantôme, or Mikkeller (my other import weaknesses).  Zero.  For at least a year.  Plus, I’ll blog and tweet and write about my experiment throughout the year, giving full credit to the fine folks at Capital and Victory for finally pushing me to full domestic consumption.

So, what say you Capital Brewery and Victory Brewing?  Will you take me up on it?  Any other St. Louis beer lover’s willing to join me?  I’d love to see these two breweries in town, and can’t wait to be drinking their terrific beers.

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A surprisingly successful tasting

Posted on August 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

Last Saturday I hosted a brewday and beer tasting for my church.  The brewday was fine (a very hoppy APAish beer with my new love – a 2:1:1 hop combo of Citra/Centennial/Columbus as finishing and dry hops), but the tasting went really well.  Beer experience of the tasters varied so I eschewed discussion of style and instead created four flights as follows:

Malty:  Capital Brewery Supper Club; Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat (hate the name, but it’s quite good); Goose Island Night Stalker

Hoppy: Budvar; Odell St. Lupulin; Southern Tier 2XIPA

Homebrew (wouldn’t normally subject people to these, but they asked): IPA; Kölsch; Batch 3 (a very hoppy, session strength thing with 1/3 unmalted wheat)

Sour: Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (about a year in the cellar); New Glarus Belgian Red (about 3 years in the cellar); 2006 New Belgium La Folie

The Aftermath

The idea of the first two flights was to explore differing intensities and expressions of the core flavor and aroma components of beer.  The hop flight, in particular, was designed to showcase the aroma and flavor of hops, rather than their bitterness.  The sour flight was designed simply to show the tasters that these beers existed, and to walk them through the intensity level (the ’06 La Folie is incredibly sour at this point – more than young Cantillon to my palate).  It was great to see people really get the idea of the tasting.  As a companion, I prepared a sheet of other beers similar to those tasted so if a taster liked, say Night Stalker, they’d have a handy of list of other options available in the local market to try.

Not surprisingly, Supper Club was a big hit with everyone.  It’s just such a terrific example of what classic “American beer” can be.  Many people couldn’t get past the name of Buffalo Sweat (heads-up Tallgrass!), despite it being a really lovely rich, malty session stout. The Night Stalker definitely impressed, but folks questioned the ability to finish a bottle, even when shared with someone else.

People had a bit more difficulty with the hoppy flight, where flavors stepped a bit more out of the norm.  Surprising to me, the most universally popular was the 2XIPA which, is a very nice Double IPA, but still packs a much more intense hop load than the others in the flight (it was bottled only a week prior to the tasting).  People appreciated its excellent malt/hop balance (relatively speaking), and guzzled it with gusto.  Lots dug the St. Lupulin too, a beer for which I have great admiration, having put my money where my mouth is and purchased over two cases of it this Summer.  I was not expecting the Budvar to be the most polarizing, but it was.  This was relatively fresh, and well cared for (The Wine & Cheese Place keeps it cold in a cooler with no lights on), and the combination of substantial spicy/grassy Saaz over a relatively light body was too much hop for some.  Others adored it, of course, but I was not expecting the negative reactions.

The biggest surprise was the sour flight.  I believe it was wise for me to preface this flight with the caveat that these should not be approached as “beer” but as their own thing.  Most got this, and the Bam Biere was a huge hit – perhaps the tasters’ favorite of the whole tasting.  This one had been cellared for about a year, though the batch is still available on local shelves too – so you can buy it “pre-cellared.”  Do open it over the sink as it’s a gusher at this point.  It is a spine-shiveringly complex beer at this stage.

The Belgian Red had its adherents too, but the most critical remarks were not over the sourness (which at three years, is gorgeously well-balanced), but rather the Ludens-like character of the cherry.  Knowing that New Glarus uses a ton of top-quality fresh cherries, I’m at a loss to explain the aroma though I must admit that it doesn’t bother me.  Though the fact that I frequently selected boxes of Luden’s Wild Cherry cough drops when given my choice of “candy” may explain that.

Finally, the La Folie was more a pleasure to smell than to taste.  Undoubtedly complex, the sour character is just too much for all but a couple of tasters, who are limited to just a single pour by the intensity.  I am in agreement with them that it is a world class combo of aroma and taste, but one that I can’t manage more than a glass of without reaching for the Tums.

We warned him!

Paul Tasting La Folie for the 1st time

Paul agrees that La Folie is sour!

Overall, it was a great day, and I expect that St. Louis has got a few more drinkers who are going to be reaching out into a wider circle of craft beer choices.  Mission accomplished.

Lots of people said my homebrews were excellent, but I personally think they were half-loaded on Night Stalker and 2XIPA.  Honestly, I love my #3 – got just what I wanted with that one – light, 4.5% and hoppy as hell, and the Kölsch that I brewed for a friend’s birthday was really tasty and to style (used some of the Kölsch malt from Northern Brewer and lagered it for six weeks).

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2009 – The year in bottled beer

Posted on January 7, 2010 | 6 Comments

Continuing the tradition, the kids awoke early on New Year’s Day looking forward to counting the past year’s bottle caps.  Seriously.

This was a transitional year as my kegerator died in early December.  Prior to that, I was well on track to meet my goal of less than 150 bottles opened.  Obviously, when draft was no longer available, bottles spiked, particularly since it was the holiday season and more drinking than usual was done by visitors and yours truly.

So, the overall total was 181 bottles opened in the house.  This year’s breakdown for breweries with more than 10 caps was as follows:

22 – Schlafly – 12.2%

17 – Capital Brewery – 9.4%

14 – Bell’s Brewing – 7.7%

13 – Short’s Brewing – 7%

13 – Southern Tier – 7%

11 – Pilsner Urquell – 6%

I also had caps from 15 other breweries (as well as 32 unidentifiable gold or black caps), which showed pretty good variety given the relative small sample size.  This next year will be interesting as bottled beer will be my exclusive source of malty goodness.

My goal is to not spend any more on beer than I did in 2009, which will be a bit of work given that draft beer represents a hefty savings over its bottled equivalent.  I’d also like to cut out any beer, like Pilsner Urquell, that’s brewed by bigass corporations, and increase the percentage of local beer.  We’ll see how that goes.  With Andrew doing a good job of keeping fresh Capital Pilsner in stock at Bon Vivant, I should be able to avoid the temptation of the sub-$15 12 packs of PU at Schnuck’s, even if it means drinking a bit less pilsner as a result.

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Yes, I am that geeky.

Posted on January 2, 2009 | 7 Comments

Part and parcel of my decision to make a kegerator was to reduce my consumption of bottled beer.  As a cheery self-check, I keep all of the bottle caps from beer opened at my house (whether I drank them or not) in a big container and add them all up at the end of the year to see how I did.  So, the kids and I had fun on New Year’s morning counting, sorting and practicing “practical” math.

This year was much better than last, with a total of only 225 caps in the container.  Here are the brewery totals:

38 – Bell’s Brewery – 16.8%

22 – Left Hand Brewing – 9.7%

18 – Capital Brewery – 8%

14 – Avery Brewing – 6%

14 – New Belgium Brewing – 6%

14 – Sam Adams – 6%

None of the other breweries in the stash cracked 10 caps.

The single biggest drop over last year was for Czech Pilsners (Budvar and Pilsner Urquell).  Combined, these were my top source of caps in 2007, but Budvar’s move to distribution by A-B (and 33 not carrying it anymore as a result), and a half barrel of Victory Prima Pils in the kegerator for a good chunk of the year really put a hurting on my consumption of Czech Pils.  I’m very surprised that Schlafly didn’t crack 10 caps (there were only 8), but I think having a keg of their Oatmeal Stout on has disuaded me from picking up as many bottles as I normally do.

Goals for this year?  Less bottles, more kegs.  Reducing bottles to 150-ish seems very plausible.  I also really need to turn my kegs more quickly (a hearty thanks to Dylan and Andrew for their patience on this front).  Once I work through the slight bottle backlog I have, bottled beer is out of the main fridge, and back into the kegerator.

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Oktoberfest Bier round-up

Posted on September 19, 2008 | 14 Comments

I do generally love (despite what you’ll read below) Oktoberfests.  It’s a great style for the (finally) cool nights of September.  Each year I get around to trying the offerings from quite a few breweries, and this year is no different.  While plenty of Oktoberfests are still on the shelves, I figured a little retrospective was in order.

First, a bit on my ideal Oktoberfest.  I’m not a stickler on color.  It simply doesn’t matter to me – yellow gold, orange, amber, reddish, whatever.  I think of Oktoberfest as being primarily about malt – a bit on the rich and intense side, sure, but not caramelly or sweet.  And, the malt needs to be clean – no rough edges here, please, it’s a long-lagered style.  Don’t have the time/space to do it right?  Don’t do it then.  The big malt requires substantial hops in my mind as well.  There needs to be enough bitterness to balance all that malty goodness, at the very least.  I also like some spicy German-hop nose candy as well.  It matches well with all the malt.  A good Oktoberfest also needs to beg to be drunk in quantity, even if I can’t.  Ideally, I want to stare in disbelief bordering on annoyance at how quickly my glass was emptied.

Weihenstephaner Festbier – This by far and away my favorite example this year.  It’s a lighter color than most Oktoberfests, tending more to a full gold, rather than into the amber range.  It’s got a burst of spicy German hops, tons of clean malt flavor, nothing cloying, and enough bitterness to give it a good snap at the finish.  Glasses of this beer just disappear.

Sam Adams Oktoberfest – This is usually a solid example, and that’s about as high as it reaches this year.  I noticed no real difference between the draft and bottled versions this year.  This one is more of a malt bomb than the Weihenstephaner, and I would prefer more hops.  But, the malt that’s here is quite clean and stays away from the caramelly flavors that can get over-played in this style.

Capital Brewery Oktoberfest – I had high expectations for this one, given how much I generally like Capital’s lager offerings.  As a result, this was probably the most disappointing Oktoberfest I’ve tried this year.  It just sort of lays there.  Not a lot of maltiness, next to no hop.  It’s a little rough on the finish too.  Surprising, and in a “gosh, I think that mole has gotten bigger” way.

Schlafly Oktoberfest – I’ve found Schlafly’s Oktoberfest to vary quite a bit over the years.  For the last couple, the emphasis has been very much on a clean malt presence almost to the exclusion of everything else.  This year’s rendition continues that trend.  It’s very clean, with nothing other than the malt in evidence.  I don’t get hops at all, and there is not much complexity to the malt.   It’s leaps and bounds better than it used to be back in the Briess malt days, but now (like the Pale and Scotch Ales) it suffers from being so clean that it lacks character.

Left Hand Oktoberfest – Another disappointment, given the quality fo the Left Hand beers I’ve had so far.  This one goes for a full-throttle caramel character.  The color is a rich Amber-red, and there’s little mystery how the color got there after a whiff and a sip.  Way too much caramel/crystal malt character for me.  It’s really difficult to even drink a bottle of this at a time, let alone thinking about more than one.

This is obviously not a comprehensive survey of Oktoberfests available to me.  My favorite, year in and year out, has been Ayinger, but I simply have not seen it on the shelves yet this year, and missed out on the first (of two) kegs that Dylan got for 33, so I’ve not had it yet.  Ditto some of the other German faves, though these are more troubling, and need date-checking as many are year-round beers now, yet only make an appearance on shelves during the August to October season.

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I do love Wisconsin.

Posted on August 18, 2008 | 8 Comments

Well, we’re just back from a quick 5 day jaunt through Wisconsin for a little family R&R before resumption of school for the kids.  It was not at all a beer-centric trip, but, being Wisconsin, good beer was everywhere we went.

My favorite example of the depths of Wisconsin’s love for beer, and especially better beer, was a gas station we stopped at in a tiny town on the way from my in-law’s place in Whitewater to Appleton to visit my wife’s alma mater, Lawrence University.  They had a two door beer cooler – one was full of macros, mostly Miller, natch, but the other had a shelf of Leinenkugel (yes, I do know it’s owned by Miller . . .), a shelf of Point, and a shelf split between New Glarus and Capital.  Very cool.

I was also pleased to finally get to visit Titletown Brewing in Green Bay.  I was quite impressed with the space, the food and the beer.  The food was simply some of the best I’ve had in any brewpub – they even had their own baker to make the breads and desserts served with the meals, and this attention to detail carried over into the entrees themselves.  The space is a converted train station, with a whole lot of character left in it – lots of small dining rooms secreted throughout, but a convivial main bar space.  The beers I had (cask Blood Red, and newly-tapped Pullman Porter) were both solid.  The Red had a lot more hop character than most reds, and none of the cloying crystal malt notes that plague so many reds.  The Porter was really well-integrated with lots of delicious dark malt flavor that didn’t spill over into ashiness or undue bitterness.  Very nice with my Burgundy-peppercorn steak.  Titletown is definitely a recommended stop if you’re in the area.

Everywhere we went, it seemed as if at least a handful of craft beer choices were available – whether in the most humble market or grocery store, to every restaurant we tried.  And not “just” Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada (actually, I don’t think I saw a single tap for either the whole trip), but local Wisconsin craft beer.  Heck, even the poolside snack bar at the very kid-centric waterpark hotel we stayed at had an own label ale available (on draft no less) that was brewed for them by Leinenkugel.  Wisconsinites love beer, and I love them for it.

Enough about beer.  We also had a fine Wisonsin wine moment too when we stumbled on a new winery, Staller Estate, near my in-law’s place that was turning out some nice whites (they’re new so the only reds were quite off-dry, which is not at all my thing – I look forward to trying the dryer stuff on my next visit).  Wisconsin has one advantage over a lot of states trying to produce quality wine, and that is the ability of the grapes to retain significant natural acidity.  I like my wines on the acidic side, and the acid provides a nice foil for any residual sugar that might be in.  I particularly enjoyed Staller’s Horizon Cuvee, which checked in at only 8% alcohol, but had terrifically zippy spicy citric fruit and a great balance between the sugar and acid.  Quite German (and good German) in style.  It’s early days for the folks at Staller, and they are still deciding on the grape varieties to plant on their properties, but they are definitely off to a very good start.

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A Capital idea, my good man!

Posted on July 3, 2008 | 3 Comments

More great news for St. Louis-area beer lovers as Andrew Traughber over at Bon Vivant Wines (my favorite Illinois-based wine and beer emporium owner) has gotten access to the fine beers from Capital Brewery in Madison, Wisconsin.  Capital specializes in outstanding lagers, and we can now pick up their Special Pilsner (one of the best domestic Pilsner, along with Victory’s Prima Pils – which Andrew also usually has), Munich Dark (a lovely dunkel), Bavarian Lager (a true Helles) and Wisconsin Amber (Vienna-ish).  I’m very happy to have grabbed (via proxy – thanks, Carl!) some of the Pils and Dark for the holiday weekend.

Oh, and to up the ante, Andrew also got Dark Horse‘s undefinable, but amazing, Black Bier, and their fine Crooked Tree IPA.  Oh, and some great stuff from Moylan’s.  And then, of course, there are the wines . . . .  Thanks for the continued hard work, Andrew!

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In praise of Dunkel

Posted on February 11, 2008 | 5 Comments

I love Dunkel lager. In fact, it’s one of my very favorite styles. There, I’ve said it. In public. I’m sure proceedings have begun to revoke my beer geek credentials.

What is Dunkel? It’s an old style, certainly, dating to the time before malt could be lightly kilned to produce pale styles such as Pilsner or Helles, but I don’t think there’s really that much in common between today’s dunkels, and those smoky pre-pale malt beers. Today, it is largely a German specialty, though the odd U.S. craft-brewed example exists (tip of the hat to Capital Brewery and their fine Munich Dark). Dunkels are a rich brown in color and have a nose dominated by the toasty goodness of a hearty whack (or a complete grainbill) of Munich malt. Hops are a bit player in the style, though noble German hops frequently add a spicy complexity.

Why do I love a good Dunkel? First, it’s the flavor and aroma. The good ones are richly malty, with an irresistible toasty edge that draws me in. The malt never veers to the cloying crystal malt sweetness that plagues many of the more analogous ale styles (Brown, of the English, North and South, and American varieties, and Amber ales). Good dunkels also have a lightness and snap to them that makes them an outstanding beer for a session. Warsteiner Dunkel, which I currently have a 50l keg of in my kegerator, is one of those magic beers that (when fresh) simply disappears from your glass. One minute it’s full, then suddenly it’s empty, leaving you with nothing but a smile. I revel in Dunkel’s satisfying simplicity. Finally, Dunkel is a fantastic food beer. It may be the most versatile style at the table, working with a vast variety of meats and cuisines. The subtle sweetness supports, while the toastiness, I’m convinced, works some umami synergy, then the acidity and slight bitterness arrive to cleanse and refresh. Mmmmm.

The key with Dunkel, as with the vast majority of beer, is to find examples that are fresh, and have not been abused. The Warsteiner Dunkel I have on draft is nice because it is widely available and the 12 packs (which do a better job of preventing the beer from becoming light struck) are dated (first two digits are the year, last three are the # of the day of the year – i.e. 07265 would be September 22 (the 265th day of a non-leap year), 2007). I also have had good success with Ayinger’s fine Altbairisch Dunkel, Capital’s Munich Dark, and Konig’s Ludwig Dunkel (which I haven’t seen in a while).

Great food matches? Try beef and barley soup, an upscale grilled cheese using artisinal bread and cheese, mushroom risotto, miso soup, just about any roasted pork dish, though a simple roast chicken is brilliant too. Want more ideas? Let me know.

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