Ninkasi Brewing/San Francisco/Brewing Up Cocktails

Well, I am headed back to the Bay Area for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, which is being held this year in San Francisco. Any excuse to get back down there is good for me, but this one is especially worthy. I will be just one of many on the trip, as virtually every Brewmaster in Oregon is going down. The coolest part of the trip, and really the primary reason, is an excuse to do a new Brewing up Cocktails event with my friend, Jamie Floyd, and his brewery, Ninkasi...

Jamie Floyd

When I heard Jamie was a fan of beer cocktails and used to bartend himself, it seemed like a natural fit to team up at some point. But it was not until he was looking for a way to throw a party during the CBC in San Francisco this year and wanted a unique twist that he approached me about putting this event together.

After spending a good amount of time hunting for the right venue, we found 111 Minna Gallery, which functions as a bar, party and club space, and an art gallery. The space is often host to openings from the Juxtapoz magazine folks, and is conveniently located very close downtown to the main convention center at the Hilton.

The bigger challenge was creating beer cocktails for each of Ninkasi's beers. From the beginning I knew I wanted to have one drink for each of their year round offerings - Total Domination IPA, Tricerahops Double IPA, Believer Double Red and Oatis Oatmeal Stout. We ended up adding current seasonal Spring Reign to the mix as well. So far we had dabbled in mixing many kinds of beers into cocktails, but only one so far with a hoppy beer, and that one was unique, as it featured a Cascadian Dark Ale. Creating 4 drinks around hoppy beers and making each one unique was going to be challenging, but I gotta say we met and even surpassed our goals with this drink list:

Ale-avit
Based around Tricerahops, it uses the locally made Krogstad Aquavit with a little fresh lemon and some Chartreuse.

Averna Stout Flip photo by Lush Angeles

Averna Stout Flip

A drink created and perfected by Jacob Grier for use with various stouts, this 'Flip' cocktail with a whole egg is rich and creamy, and Ninkasi's Oatis Oatmeal Stout is a perfect match for the Averna liqueur cocktail.

Biere a la Francaise

This is the simplest drink we have, and probably a great introductory one. It combines the floral earthiness of the hops in Spring Reign with Gran Classico, a sort of herbal liqueur, and an orange twist gives it a bright taste and aroma. This one is served straight up in a rocks glass with no ice, so you can really pull out all the subtleties.

Caipbeerinha
This is one of my favorites. It is a combination that compares to the classic cocktail Caipirinha, which employs Cachaça, limes, and sugar. The twist is that ours is crossed with the similar Mojito by using fresh mint leaves, and then becomes totally unique with the addition of Ninkasi's Total Domination IPA.

You may not be familiar with Cachaça. It is similar to rum in that it is made from fermented sugar cane, but while many rums are made from molasses, “cachaça rum” is made from “cachaça”, a by-product quite different from molasses. Cachaça is made prior to crystallisation of sugar. Molasses is produced after crystallisation.

2 oz Novo Fogo silver
2 wedges lime
2 wedges lemon
6 mint leaves
½ oz agave nectar
Total Domination
Shake, top with beer, serve in pint

Photo from Just Beer

Genever Believer

The last is the sharply-named Genever Believer. Getting its name from ,of course, the famous Dutch Gin, Bols Genever, that partner in crime Jacob Grier reps and Ninkasi's Believer Double Red.

Combined with some Zwack cranberry liqueur, served shaken and up with a lemon twist, this drink is fruity, citrusy, and sweet, but with a pleasant, slightly bitter finish.

Ninkasi Brewing presents Brewing up Cocktails at 111 Minna Gallery

Saturday March 26th 5-9pm
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
415.974.1719 | Fax 866.449.7088
http://www.111minnagallery.com/