Alternatives: Caffeinated on the Road - Kyoto Edition

On the way back from a trip to Osaka, One Woman stopped in the lovely town of Kyoto to admire the changing leaves, the grand temples, and the delicious treats of the old capitol. But most memorably, the trip involved six caffeinated mugs of deliciousness. The day revisited:

8:00 AM -- Cups 1 and 2: Lipton at grandma's
As grandpa says... "what do you mean what kind of tea??? just give me the lipton"

12:38 PM -- Cup 2: Inoda Coffee
A historic coffee house in Kyoto established in 1940, the front looks like another little shop in the old merchants' town, but the inside opens up to a huge, Viennese style coffee room, with people sitting around enjoying their Sunday afternoon coffee and cakes. As for the coffee, it's delicious. They're most famed for the "Arabian" coffee that they serve with milk and sugar in it already, but I opt for the Columbia--Mellow dark chocolate, chestnut, red wine, all this good stuff in a lovely medium body. I'm overcome by a cozy feeling of sunniness.

3:40 PM -- Cup 3: Usu-cha at Kyo-Hayashiya
Skip lunch, do tea. Not exactly your zen-inspired tea ceremony vibe at the Kyo-Hayashiya, but this shop has been serving tea and sweets to merchants and travelers since 1753. Usu-cha is a form of matcha, the bright green powdered leaves used not only to make tea but also to flavor all kinds of sweets from yokan to ice cream. The usu-cha arrives on a wooden tray with a little bowl of zenzai (sweet red bean and mochi soup), and a cup of hoji-cha. The vivid colored tea is frothy, and beautiful to the eye. It's served in a great big bowl of a cup. I take a quick few bites of the zenzai and dive in to the world inside the green bowl. It's fragrant, zippy, grassy, and has an aromatic bite that melds so nicely with the sweet red beans.

3:43 PM -- Cup 4: Hoji-cha
Since the usu-cha basically needs to be consumed all at once (it's kind of like a tea-shooter) the hoji-cha that arrived on the tray is a welcome compliment to the rest of the zenzai. Reddish brown, and medium dark in color, hoji-cha is a mellow, warm tea that's conducive to sipping slowly, and enjoying the warm toasty notes of the perfect roast. It's a delightful contrast to the intensity of the usu-cha experience, and goes with the sweets in a totally different way: whereas the sweets bring out the flavors of the usu-cha, the hoji-cha serves to enhance the earthiness of the red bean flavor.

4:45 Cup 5: Maeda Coffee
Nearing Kyoto station, I want to avoid camping out at the ubiquitous 'buck while waiting for the shinkansen train. Last coffee stop in Kyoto was Maeda coffee near Kyoto station, a classic 1970's mom and pop coffee shop with a few chains around central Kyoto. The coffee's strong and dark, served in a cozy thick ceramic mug. Nice deep earth, not mind-blowing, but then again, it's the sixth cup. (At this point, One Woman thinks she needs a beer.)

*          *          *

But the question remains, where does one find "Kyoto iced coffee" -- that dank stuff that they serve at at fancy coffee places in the US??? Mystified, One Woman did some research. What is "Kyoto" iced coffee, and does it actually exist in Kyoto?

Answer: Search all you want, but actually, it's *Made in USA* ...a recent invention by the one and only James Freeman of Blue Bottle, who was inspired by a trip to Kyoto!!! OMG!--so, is this, like, the coffee version of the "french fry" and "french toast"??? A big thanks to Mr. Freeman for generously responding to my query.



Musical pairing: "Giant Steps" (1959/1960) by John Coltrane (also the name of the lively Blue Bottle brew in my cup right now) in honor of the Trane, travels, and caffeinated discovery. Giant Steps is an early composition by Tenor player John Coltrane. It's a blazing fast bebop classic that, like any good coffee, leaves you in a slightly altered state of mind... such a good track.


Facebook readers -- please visit ladyandthebeer@blogspot.com for links to media and the full brews-and-music experience! 

Alternatives: "Give her another highball"

When Susan Alexander (played by the lovely Dorothy Comingdore) and Thompson order highballs in Citizen Kane (dir. Orson Welles, 1941), it pretty much seems like the coolest drink ever.

A drunk and lovelorn Susan after one too many highballs

The highball, for cocktail non-connaisseuses like One Woman, is basically, a mixed drink made with whiskey, and soda in its most basic form. Other additions and substitutions like lemon peel or ginger ale are also options.

Cut ahead 69 years... far, far, away from Kane's Xanadu: Tokyo, Japan 2010. With domestic whiskey sales dragging, the large beverage corporation Suntory (one of the top 4 beer corporations in Japan) suddenly releases a huge national campaign to promote the sales of whiskey in 2009. The Suntory campaign markets whiskey not in pure form or even on the rocks, but as the much more tempered, easy-going highball. The most visible and tangible artifacts of this aggressive campaign are posters and TV commercials featuring the pale-faced heian-cool flawless-skinned beer-gulping beauty named Koyuki, paired with vintage imagery hearkening to the good old Showa-era days. And it's _everywhere_.

Koyuki will teach you the ancient art of highball mixing--please, be gentle; don't stir too much

In any case, the highball--whether mixed, on tap, or in a can--has been highly visible everywhere in Tokyo recently. It was only a matter of time before One Woman had to try it.

Taste Test:
There's somewhat of a gap between the visuals and the taste. Suntory's highballs come in large beer mugs emblazoned with the company's kakubin whiskey logo. Serve in a super-chilled glass with lots of ice.

The suntory kakubin highball is served in a special kaku-mug (kaku means corner in Japanese). 

Notice  the angular tortoise shell-like wedges on the glass.

In the end, the kakubin highball is basically, a splash of plain whiskey with lots of fizzy ice water. Besides, Suntory's large mugs can't compare to those dainty goblets that Susan Alexander drinks out of (though, I'm told that a 'highball glass' is a tumbler--closer in kind to a mug than a goblet). Still, the highball was a nice pre-dinner cocktail; a fine alternative to the usual beer that often precedes any izakaya-dining occasion. Suntory's recommended lower end blended whiskey, "kakubin," which sells for around ¥2000/bottle, does the job well. Soft, mellow, sweet, with just a wisp of caramelized dark sugar, it doesn't have much vanilla or smoke character that you might desire from a fine bourbon or scotch. But sometimes that's not necessary. Kakubin whiskey is the type of whiskey that takes a backseat to the occasion, letting you enjoy the moment without diverting your critical attention from the food or the wonderful company.

Musical pairing: "How High the Moon"--the soundtrack of my imagined highball drinking experience circa 1940: pinnacle of the big band era, golden age of Hollywood. A smokey-eyed Helen Forrest with the Benny Goodman Orchestra on stage at some private penthouse ball, an amber autumn moon reflected by the glass crown on the Chrysler building. Music by Morgan Lewis; lyrics by Nancy Hamilton.

Alternatives: On Top of the World but No Thanks to $7 Lite Beer

Sometimes a girl has to say 'no' to $7 lite beer. Even at the Getty Museum. So, on this edition of Lady and the Beer, One Woman presents to you, the $7 glass of mystery red wine courtesy of the Paul J. Getty Foundation. The wine was actually nice. Medium bodied, dark plum, and floral but not too sweet--I couldn't have asked for a better match for sipping out of a clear party cup, watching the sun set over the gorgeous gardens of the Getty with the Bomba Estéreo rockin' it on the stage above.

The Getty has a sweet series of free summer concerts called Saturdays Off the 405 (they should call it Saturdays Off the 405 if you can get on it in the first place.... omg! that freeway is so horrendously HORRENDOUSLY crowded--my bike commute to the Getty is 15-25 minutes. The drive was 1.5 hours. OMG.) One Woman was lucky enough to hitch a ride with the super couple, soon-to-be-wed A. and T. (congrats!!!!!!) to catch  Bomba Estéreo: 'Afro Colombian cumbia and champeta rhythms are deftly layered under surf guitar, keyboards, and bass beats.' It's a great combo of styles; so groovy, but still lighthearted at the same time. Check out their 2009 hit "Fuego" on their album, Blow Up (Nacional). Totally my summer jam.

Alternatives: Banreki - Shochu and Secret Life of the Tengu

 (Tengu Conclave exterior – photo by r.)

Matsuyama – Ehime, Japan. In the books, this small town in Shikoku is famous for the satsuma and other juicy citrus fruits, and the Dogo Onsen hot springs, the relaxation-outpost of Japan's literary hero, Natsume Soseki. But others know it as a smokey yakitori town with some serious izakaya bar action--those who venture out at night through the shopping arcades in the entertainment district at night know that the kids and the tengu (that long-nosed trickster spirit of the mountains, pictured above) come out at night. It's also home to the local Dogo Beer, and One Woman was fully expecting to report on that. But the Dogo Beer was on the unimpressive side of things (there are three kinds: Kölsch, Alt, and stout), while the Banreki shochu was quite mind blowing, as was the whole experience at the izakaya, family run izakaya grill/bar, Tengu no Kakurega ("tengu conclave"). So, on this Alternatives issue of Lady and the Beer, I present to you, the Banreki toketsu-shu.

(A shot of Banreki – photo by r.)

Hailing from Kagoshima, the Banreki is a type of sweet potato shochu. Shochu (like the Korean soju) is a delicious, earthy, distilled liquor most often made with barley, sweet potato, or rice, but other times with sugarcane, chestnut, soba, whey, and other local ingredients. At around 25% ABV, it's higher in alcohol than most wines and beers, but not as strong as whiskey, vodka, and the likes. At 44.5% ABV, the Banreki is a toketsu-shu ("iced liquor") that is a shochu made by freezing the water off so that the aroma and the flavor have been condensed into a high-alcohol essence of shochu. O-m-g, an ultra shochu! It's also a way of preserving the raw shochu and the yeasts in it as soon as it's made, without pasteurization, or bottling, which change the flavor. The Banreki is also special because it's been fermented with an ambient, homegrown yeast. It feels both hot and cold on the tongue, and there's an explosion of flavor that hangs around. Like the name toketsu-shu might imply, the color is super clear, and the ripe red delicious fruity sweet potato flavor comes out brilliantly. It's kind of like the flavor analog of neon. Hyper real. Wow wow woW wOW WoooOOOow. Just like that.

(The conclave – photo by r.)

Song of the day: "Shikuramen no Kahori (tengu princess version)" by Natsukawa Rimi -- songstress from Okinawa, singing a sad song about a small-nosed princess tengu who had to leave the mountain when she turned 18. The original song, which was about white cyclamen flowers (and had nothing to do with small-nosed tengu), topped the pop charts in Japan in 1975. Here's the Shiku Akira's hit version (1975).

Contest - Win a Beer From One Woman!

Mom's in town. She enjoys checking out the new sights and sounds of New York, and loves a good beer as well. But One Woman is running out of places to take her. Do you have any suggestions? Send me your picks, and the person whose suggestion is Mom's Choice gets a beer next time we hang!

******

It's an "alternatives" night, with ever growing love for New York State: Small batch Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey, brewed by Tuthilltown Spirits. Before bed. With a little piece of chocolate. It's pure warm and fuzziness, liquefied.

Musical Pairing: Clara Schumann's "Liebst du um Schönheit," which was written in 1841, when the Tuthilltown Gristmill was already alive and well, grinding up grains for people to bake with, and to distill spirits like this beautiful baby.

May you have rose colored dreams of love and bourbon.

Home Brewed Bacon Bourbon - Double Trouble with the Japonize Elephants

Today's edition of One Woman, One Beer is about a distant cousin of beer: the whiskey--the other grain beverage. Attending a Japonize Elephants show at the Bottom of the Hill in SF, One Woman was handed a glass of Bacon Bourbon by Wasabi-T Fab (aka the smokin' accordion player chick in the cowboy hat) of the group.

Wasabi-T knows she has a genius idea in her hand

Bacon Bourbon, a homemade concoction by Wasabi-T, is Bulleit Bourbon infused with apple-smoked bacon. That's all there is to it. A novelty, for sure, and a damn fine one. A good part of the bacon lingers in the smell, the initial encounter with this mysterious dark golden potion. Because the fat is frozen off and removed in the infusion process, the blended product has a clean, bright taste, with a bacon flavor sure to catch your attention but not by overpowering everything else.  It sips much smoother than a regular whiskey, and salt from the bacon cuts the heat of the alcohol, bringing out its sweetness.

Add dark chocolate (which, somehow, magically appeared on scene) as a pairing , and you get a whole new set of sensory relations. The taste of cacao suddenly jumps out brightly, amplified and almost caramelized by the salty vanilla of the bourbon.

The musical pairing, needless to say, is the romping but oddly articulated blue-grass/Baltic punk of the Japonize Elephants, who play songs with names like "Bob's Bacon Barn Train Bacon Grass Special" and "Whiskey Willie." Now, stop staring at your computer and get out your dancing shoes.

Ace Apple Hard Cider: Produced by the California Cider Company

Why does apple cider live in the beer section at the store? It's bottled in the same kind of bottle, and often sold as six-packs. But there's nothing that really legitimately makes cider a beer. Cider requires one ingredient only--apple juice, which is fermented to make the alcohol. So unlike a lambic or other fruit beers, there is no barley or yeasts that make a beer a beer. There are similarities though--it's carbonated, related in color, and similar in alcohol content, hovering between 3–15% alcohol by volume. One Woman feels that if Cider gets to live in the beer aisle, there should be a special designation for certain malted milkshakes to qualify as beer by virtue of its foam resilience.

 

Some studies (and this one) say that Apple Cider as health benefits (phenolics and antioxidants!) so drink up! Well, not so fast. Others say that they don't really. Hmm. Sounds like that never-ending debate about coffee or wine.

In any case, Ace Apple Hard Cider is made in Sonoma County from California apples. It has a very pale, light color like a sparkling white wine, and mild carbonation. It's pretty sweet, but not syrupy, and has a little hint of the bitters. You could think of it as an alternative to wine or beer, but One Woman prefers to think of it as an alternative to a soda or sparkling water. Think, picnics on a grassy, sunny afternoon with a brie and fig paste sandwich on a chewy baguette. Pick a spot where you can see lots of wild flowers, and take a deep breath and savor.

Musical pairing of the evening: Filament (Sachiko M and Otomo Yoshihide). Because there is always some agitation beneath the sweetness.
(And also, because One Woman is trying to prepare for a lecture on Noise music).

Alternatives: Another Kind of Foamy Drink

One Woman enjoyed a milk shake from In-N-Out Burger tonight on the way back from a fun conference in Santa Cruz. By the way, does anyone know of a system of beer taxonomy that categorizes malted shakes as a type of beer?

Sweet, pink and very viscous, an In-N-Out strawberry shake has amazing foam retention, maintaining its fluff even at room temperature! Their specialty malts are an off-menu secret. Trace ABV, -123 IBUs.

Musical pairing of the day: Joana Newsom, Have One on Me. Sticky, sweet, spiritual, and a bit dark.

 

California Dreamin' off of CA-237