the cool kids

i've been drinking beer for a long time...could it be 12 years now? i am starting to feel like i have this better understanding - a fluency really - about what to order based on my moods, the weather, the occasion, and so on.

standing in front of a case stocked to the teeth with hundreds of fantastic bottles no longer gives me that weird choice anxiety. even the bearded beer dude coming over to chat feels less intimidating now that i can accept that he's not showing off - he just gets true smiles from sharing all his nerdy, sudsy wisdom.

it's no brewmaster geeky secret, though, that as temperatures rise lighter, crispier, often wheat-y beers come into vogue. a glass of berliner weisse or super cold pale ale in blue skied july is divine, melting the edges of even the most gnarly humidity induced angst. much like music selection and lighting schemes, the right beer at the right time can really pull everything together.

but where to go when the mercury reaches sadistic new heights and that coriander flecked white beer might as well be a coffee porter? when the only food that can rouse the least bit of your appetite is raw fruit? when the only energy you can expend is staggering towards a cold shower like a sweaty zombie?

now pull yourself together, man! it's Shandy Time. so round up some fresh fruits, cold beers, and a fistful of fresh herbs and get on this road to recovery. shandies are all the rage in philadelphia this summer, popping up at menus high brow and low. of course i've sampled a few of these offerings, and while the good ones are indeed quite good (the jolly rancher inspired watermelon shandy at morgan's pier and the lemonhead scented one at pub & kitchen are two of the more memorable), but they're often too cloying for my taste. sweetness alone does not equal refreshment for me, quite the contrary, so i thought through a way to find more balance in this juicy beer cocktail (oh, could there be any three words more lovely together??), and this is where i ended up.

instead of starting with an already-fruited beer, i cracked a lovable, affordable, and fuss free standard: sly fox royal weisse. allagash white or walt wit would do just fine, too. since some distinct flavors are going in the mix, a beer of too high quality or rarity might be overwrought. keep it simple, as this cold one may be a matter of survival.

Watermelon Rosemary Shandies
~ makes 4
~takes 5 or 10 minutes, depending on how quick/slow you're moving

ingredients:
a 6 pack of sly fox royal weisse (you'll only need 3 for this recipe, but you'll want a second round, trust me)
about 4 cups of watermelon, seeds optional
2 lemons
3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped off the stems
2 tablespoons rice syrup (another sweetener is fine...just keep the ratio low so you don't make the simple syrup too sweet)

- bring about a 1/4 cup of water to a boil and add the rice syrup or other sweetener. stir til dissolved and take off the heat. add the rosemary and let it steep while it cools. you want to ideally get a lot of herbal flavor, so the longer the better.

- roughly chop the watermelon and puree in a food processor or blender. whiz the hell out of it. strain the juice through a mesh sieve. if you don't mind a texture-y drink, leaving the pulp in could be good, too.

- roll the lemons under your palm to get their juices flowing. cut each in half.

- fill 4 pint glasses with ice. pour the beer about 2/3 of the way up, then squeeze half a lemon in each glass. a seed or two might fall in but that's ok. top off each glass with a healthy slug of watermelon juice, then stir in teaspoon or two of the rosemary syrup. taste and adjust with little splashes of beer, juice or syrup til those suckers are right where you want them. if there's a little beer left over in one of the three cans you opened, well that's just a little bonus for you being such an awesome friend to share these drinks with your pals in their time of need.

- if, at the end of all this there is leftover watermelon juice, rejoice! a wee splash added to even the most sub-par light beer brings it to a sick new level of deliciousness.

viva variations: the lemons can be replaced with limes, or any other sour citrus (seville oranges at brunch time?), and of course the secondary fruit can be swapped to suite your tastes. watermelons are such a snap to puree and strain, though, and blend with the beer so happily, that i cannot recommend them enough. and the herbs really brings it all home, adding some bass to the constant high note that all the sweet and sourness brings. a shandy in your hand and an episode of Frozen Planet cued up, and hey look! you're making it through the heat in one piece.

love,

emily

flying vie

cruising down 38th street today after an extremely challenging hour at the gym, a bright green food truck, resplendent with photos of giant fruits, caught my attention. the clean sunlight was bouncing off this thing with such intensity, i had to shield my eyes.

around university city, shitty food trucks are ubiquitous and i usually pay them no mind (except for you, my beautiful magic carpet). so it doesn't quite surprise me that i hadn't ever noticed La Vie, boasting fresh juices and smoothies. i don't often spring for commercially made smoothies - so expensive!! - but my sore muscles immediately started screaming for some fresh carrot ginger juice. i wandered over to the truck to check out its offerings.

to my dismay, there was no evidence on the menu of fresh juices. their online menu lists them as an option but that wasn't clear in person. i suppose i could have asked the guy working, but...i didn't. anyway, what i saw were two menus: one for fruit smoothies (yawwwwn), and one for green smoothies. just when i was about to walk away, i read the "tropical green smoothie" description and was reeled right back in. avocado, broccoli, mango, orange, pineapple and ginger?! i relented. fine! fine. this will make my body feel so good, right? so i got in line, placed my order (extra ginger, please!) and waited. and waited. and waited.

for lack of nothing else to do, i took this photo of the cool orange wheel well of the truck. if you go to la vie, do not expect it to be a quick experience. it was kind of hard to see inside the truck, but i'm pretty sure the dude working in there was cutting everything to order. this is a nice touch that guarantees absolute freshness, but takes forever. also, he let everything whiz around in the blender for a very long time. the results, however, were rather magnificent.

this smoothie was truly blended to perfection, with nary one un-pulverized piece of broccoli or ginger! my request for extra ginger did not fall on deaf ears, either: the smoothie was as spicy as it was fruity. the avocado lent a nice creaminess, but a bit of a weird texture. if the idea of something resembling snot in even the tiniest way makes you uncomfortable, you might want to steer clear of the tropical green. maybe the sweet spinach (banana, blueberry and spinach) or the go green (broccoli, cucumber, pineapple, mango, orange and ginger) would be better choices? i thoroughly enjoyed it though, and had pretty much drank it all by the time i was back at my office. a small green smoothie set me back $3.75, which is too pricey for a daily treat. but, considering how often i shell out at least that much money for beer, ice cream, caffeinated beverages and the like, this is a totally worthy expenditure of four bucks. as hoped, it made me feel wonderful and i've been flying high all afternoon!

love,
emily

beer wk, day II

philadelphians, rejoice! beer week is upon us. you may find yourself musing, a bit confusedly, "but isn't every week beer week?" if you partake in regular happy hours, distributor perusals, geek outs with the dudes at hawthorne's, backyard/park bottle top pops, etc. then the short answer is Yes. but capital B Beer Week offers hundreds (almost a thousand, some report) of special events across the city and the region in celebration of suds, the geniuses who craft it, and the nerds who love them. the past few annual Beer Weeks have expired with me consistently feeling like i didn't take advantage of enough of the awesome happenings, and this year i am determined to not let that happen. it's really too bad that i am as yet iPhone-less, because they've even rolled out a beer week app to help keep track of all the madness! seriously. dumb-phone laden as i may be, i won't let this one slip away without sampling at least half my weight in saisons, double IPAs and other such glorious libations.

so, i had to work on friday night, and thus missed the official first day of beer week. however, i did jam a few much needed pints of sixpoint at the abbaye afterward, so maybe that counts for something? last night, post-ballgame, ry and i decided to bike over to fishtown to the 'it's a firkin riot!' event at johnny brendas. the night air was cool enough to require a denim jacket, and the ride across town was just lovely. we rounded girard to frankford ave. to the familiar, fuzzy sight of this fine bar.

inside, our pal herbie was spinning all manner of british tunes, and hoisted above the bar in a purely brilliant set up (whoever built this thing deserves many accolades), was a row of the firkins, tapped and pouring beer like there was no tomorrow. for a quick and painless explanation of what a firkin is - by a badass bearded brewer dude no less - see here. the firkin loft was even outfitted with packs of dry ice (i think) to keep the beers mildly chilled. i can't get over how cool this apparatus was.

the $5, 10 ounce pours allowed for a wide variety of tastes, but i was most impressed by the weyerbacher verboten, a belgian style pale ale with all the crispy, clean, gentle fruity yeasty-ness i could ever ask for. these went down easy peasy. a little too easy...

i also tried the standard pils, a new local collabo beer that was a delightful quaff. as a few sweet friends joined us at the bar, our glasses were emptied and refilled as our tab did grow. herbie kept it solid at the turntables, and the place just got more and more packed out. i hazily realized that one potential down side of these beer week shenanigans is the increased presence of douchey dudes. i almost NEVER get approached by men at bars, but last night i was hit on by not one, but a handful of drunk, drunkie drunk drunk amateurs. i will give a certain red-cheeked young fellow credit for at least using "what beer should i order?" as a pick up line, instead of whatever other hack bullshit the ladies of the world must endure.

the bike ride home was punctuated by a stop at maoz, followed by an impromptu 2am viewing of the film indecent proposal. in a stroke of luck, i don't have to work my usual shift this morning, and so could sleep in, rock some brunch, and prepare for the day's beery activities...long live my liver!

love,
emily

the bitter end

back in the days of collective living in west philly, one of the all-time best housemates, mary maker, bought a bottle of campari for our house bar. perhaps it was for a special cake flavor, as she was wont to experiment with, or a brief flirtation with before-dinner cocktails - the reason isn't as important as the fact that, unlike every other form of alcohol to grace the shelves in our house, this one wasn't sucked down within moments of entering the building. and because i can't bear to throw out perfectly good booze, i've spent the last few years lugging the half full bottle of crimson, syrupy liquer from one rental to another. an ounce or two has been sipped, but for the most part it has stood quietly amongst the other, more popular inhabitants of our liquor cabinets.

campari, like most bitter flavors, is foreign to the average young drinker's palate. the flavor profile isn't one we're introduced to often as children, and when we are, we're generally conditioned to equate these tastes as "medicinal," or just "gross." while i still don't think a glass of straight campari is my tipple of choice, i've come to appreciate a dose of bitterness in my older age. maybe this can be attributed to the fabled every-7-year-taste-buds-changeover (when foods and flavors you used to despise are suddenly tolerable, or even enjoyable). or maybe it was my stint at the 40th street Capogiro, whose italian-centric liquor selection included amaro of many shades and strenghts that i cautiously sampled throughout my time working there. i found that when i really gave these strange new flavors a fighting chance, instead of just assuming i wouldn't like them, some of them were really quite wonderful.

and so lately, the ancient bottle of campari in my possession has been slowly but surely disappearing. finishing the bottle - which at one time seemed like an insurmountable feat - is now immanent, and when the last drop is gone, i just might buy another. the "negroni sodi," as i've dubbed it, is my new favorite apertif of choice: just the right amount of astringent to rev up the old appetite before dinner.


Negroni Sodi - a lovingly bastardized apertif
~makes 1 cocktail

ingredients:
1 ounce good quality gin (or, whatever, you can use crappy gin if you want to)
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
1/2 ounce campari
seltzer
slice of orange (optional)

- fill a rocks glass full of ice cubes.

- pour the gin, then slowly add the vermouth and campari.

- top with cold seltzer water, and stir gently. garnish with an orange wedge if you want to go the extra mile.

- imbibe. but be prepared! this manner of cocktail really does stimulate your appetite, so if dinner isn't for another hour or two, have some little snacks on hand!


for fancier times, the gin/vermouth/campari can be topped with sparking wine - a negroni royale! i've always love the fact that champagne or sparking wine added to almost any beverage makes it a "royale." sound so much classier than "spritzer," don't you think?

love,
emily

pop!

just a quick little note about a special kind of beverage lauren, alex and i recently encountered. guess what - it's not beer! fooled ya. it's good old fashioned soda pop! which is a genre of drink we rarely tango with. sure, an ice cold diet coke from a gas station in ohio in the middle of a summer road trip is one thing. there too is a time and a place for a big splash of ginger ale to mellow out some whiskey. but when it comes to non-beer bubbles, the sisters kovach almost religiously drink seltzer (add some juice, it's called "so-jay") and not much else. i kind of like to think about seltzer like regular soda with all its make up scrubbed off.

so then why, the other week, did we order 2 bottles of soda pop alongside our slices of succulent vegan pizza at blackbird? well, we're suckers for great packaging and wacky flavors, and that about explains it:

DRY soda, a relatively new small company based in seattle, cranks out beautiful, clear, sparkling beverages in lovely bottles, infused with unconventional and creative flavors. each bottle contains only 45-70 calories, and between 11-19 grams of cane sugar. this is just a fraction of what is in "regular" soda. so despite our normal FU attitude towards pop, i ordered the cucumber, and lauren got lavender, though our other choices included blood orange, rhubarb, vanilla bean, and more. although still a bit sweet for my taste, the flavors harnessed in these sodas were amazing! the cuke was dry and smooth, and the lavender was floral and light, but not in a soapy or overtly fragrance-y ways.

DRY really gives a shit about its shit. even the briefest perusal of their website will prove as much. each soda flavor has its own page describing the flavor profile, food pairing ideas, and cocktail recipes. while i'm still a major proponent of making your own simple syrup or liquor infusions, all the DRY flavors would be out-of-control good in a boozy drink. might not buy this stuff by the case, but for a treat once in awhile, i'll totally go for it.

bonus- a few photos of blackbird's sexy za, best vegan pie in the city:

mushroom & potato

alright, stop drooling! if you haven't been to blackbird yet, the time is now. i think they even deliver...

love,

emily

thanks for the dranks

even though we've been back from Houston for over 3 weeks now, i can't stop reminiscing about our adventures there. maybe it's because philadelphia has been getting pelted with all manner of frozen precipitation ever since our return, and i long to go back to that sunny patio where we sat and drank iced coffee. maybe it's because seeing our dear mary was a sharp reminder of how intensely she is missed here. or maybe it's that the routine of working, schlepping home on the septa bus, and "being cozy" (that is, staying in to avoid the cold) is making me long for another vacation.

regardless, one facet of the houston trip that has stayed with me is the creative, lovely cocktails that we sipped at a few places across town. at home, i'm rarely drawn to bars that offer the new class of craft or pre-prohibition mixed drinks. the steep price tags and my unyielding love of beer may be to blame. chick's is just a block away from my house, and i've stopped in a few times, but with no real regularity. the wonderful southwark, too, is just a stone's throw away from my abode, but i like to reserve my trips there for special occasions. the thing about vacations is, is that every day is a special occasion! especially when you're cavorting around with three of your best lady friends, it doesn't take much convincing to order a fancy drink once the sun has gone down.

while on the plane en route to texas, lauren and i took turns thumbing through the most recent issue of saveur. in their "top 100" feature, the head chef at dolce vita was quoted about some crazy salad they serve, and we said, almost simultaneously, "we should totally go there!" and so, we did. the food turned out being great, and the drinks fully held up their side of things. we ordered these appertifs before our antipasti arrived, and they primed our palates for the delicious food to come.

vodka cocktail, with lemon and basil

negroni with a big splash of prosecco

anvil, a "bar + refuge" (oh geez), located on a jumping strip of westheimer, was packed out on a friday night, and the skilled fleet of bartenders were moving like soldiers on a mission. and while the bar had some pretty whimsical and weird drinks on its menu, it was what i would consider a serious place. once you placed your order, the bartender would literally fly into action, never needing to so much as glance at a recipe or menu to double check one of the eight obscure ingredients. they poured, stirred, shook, and served with absolute precision.

"the diplomat:" gin, bonal, curacao, maraschino, orange bitters

halimah and i fought our way through the yuppie crowd and both ordered the diplomat, a heady and strong cocktail which i assume earned its namesake from the around-the-world nature of its ingredient: gin (england/the netherlands), bonal (france), curacao (the caribbean), maraschino (italy) and bitters (well, i guess those could be made anywhere). i loved the delicate glasses they were served in, which inspired me to buy a few of my own on a recent thrifting binge:

the cheapest happy hour: a homemade vodka martini

another stand out drink i had was at a funny joint, beavers, which involved lemon and marigold infused vodka, made with flowers right from the restaurant's garden. i didn't get to snap a photo of this drink, but it was a perfect balance of floral (not soapy, just fresh), citrusy, and dry. like summertime in a cup. just thinking about that little glass of joy makes me smile, and helps me to remember that there is a light at the end of this wintry tunnel.

love,

emily

holiday comedown

it's been quite the holiday season for the sisters kovach. lauren has been working tirelessly selling umpteen cases of fine booze to the thirsty masses, with nary a day off to call her own. i, on the other hand, have loads of time off from my cushy university job, but, despite my desires to not get caught up in all the holiday-inspired madness, have been running around quite a bit more than i'd like to. this year i was invited to, and happily attended, more holiday parties than ever before. plus, being married means double the family obligations! i love spending time with the fam (a facet of growing up that i never would've anticipated), but all the driving and socializing can wear a body down. good food, wine, gifts and conversation help keep it fun, but it's nice to feel settled back in our cozy home.

today, thanks to christmas being a few days behind us and to the truly epic snow storm that dumped well over a foot of frozen precipitation upon our fair city, today has been a good one for relaxing. ryan and i started the day off with an extended snooze and a hearty breakfast. more practical people would maybe use this forced time inside to take down the holiday decorations, but i don't think either of us are all the way ready yet.

another aspect of holiday trappings that i'm not ready to say goodbye to yet is christmas beer. while i don't always crave the sweet, strong, spicy character that holiday beers boast, i found myself taking solace in their soothing caress this season. one of the best i've sampled was rude elf's reserve (formerly known as rudolph's reserve) made by brew works. i feel like every other day i learn about a new craft brewery in our region. hell yeah!! when the roads are less treacherous, i fully plan on scheduling a mini-road trip to tour the brew works in either allentown or bethlehem, pa.

this special bottle was part of a beautiful gift basket given to us by our dear friend and fellow blogger annabell. anyone named annabell is pretty much destined to give adorable, thoughtful presents and just be an all around sweetheart. just saying. anyway, this belgian style holiday ale pours a thin head that gently gives way to a beautiful dark amber color. a strong gingerbread-y aroma follows. i couldn't stop sticking my face right in the glass and huffing the baked-good fumes.

despite the kind of obnoxious art on the beer's label, the flavor is sophisticated and expensive. pure sweetzel's on the nose with a slow, spice burn on the finish. there is a lingering, but smooth alcohol taste long after swallowing, akin to brandy or scotch. if you took a big bite of fresh gingerbread and washed it down with a shot of maker's, it might taste something like this. the beer's beefy 10.5% APV is good for slow sipping and savoring. so good, in fact, that i, a habitual fast drinker, took nearly 90 minutes to finish my glassful. it was my only beer of the night, but an amazing one. the notes of the beer kind of changed as it warmed up, in an incredibly pleasing way. i always like how strong winter beers claim that they "warm" you. insider's tip: that really just means they pack on a killer buzz!

so happy holidays, and don't feel bad if you're kind of happy that they're over. doesn't mean you have to stop quaffing badass bevs!

love,

emily

nicecap

this past friday night, we gathered at beloved shot & a beer joint bob and barbara's, for a birthdy throwdown. our bestie Halimah turned 25! so in her honor, we settled in at the city-wide special watering hole for long, solid bar session. you know, one of those nights where you park it at the bar, the hours roll by, the beers keep coming, and before you know it people are talking to strangers, jovially yelling over each other and dancing to the jazz band. maybe a few friends even trade smooches on a drunk lark. the bartenders start to hate you even though you mean to spread love through your tips. i wish i could elucidate this better but it just felt very...philly.

after the majority of the friends had disbanded, ryan, hammy and i stumbled out of the bar and into the clear autumn air. tipsy, but not yet tired, someone proposed a nightcap before turning in for good. we decided to get one more at tattoo mom, mostly out of its convenient location to pizza (eep!) and home. on our bike ride down south street, i proposed a slightly classier option - brauhaus schmitz. much to my surprise, my cohorts heartily agreed to abandon our punk rock destination for the german-themed bar. something about brauhaus has always been tinged with douchiness (is it that boot thing?), or fratiness, or something, but it also has the potential to be really nice. which would it be on that saturday morning at 1:20AM?

blonde, redhead, brunette

thankfully, the meathead contingent had already retired for the evening, and the bar was pretty quiet. yeah, there were still a few questionable looking/acting young men, but we ignored them and ordered our delicious final beers of the night. i can't remember what ry and ham ordered (full disclosure: i think i acheived 2.5 out of 3 sheets to the wind), but i ordered a big, beautiful mug of spaten optimator (the dark beer on the far right in the photo above). yes, 17 ounces of this 7.2%, bottom fermented, rich and roasty malted doppel bock was a bold choice for a night cap. but after a night of mediocre lager, it tasted SO good, and i really took my time sipping. if we'd actually gone to that other bar, i certainly would've ended up gulping yet another crappy beer, and probably would've ordered a second. instead, all three of us lingered, truly enjoying the complex, deep aromas and flavors of our brews. and at $5.50, this heady bev was worth every dime.

ending our night this way felt, well, very adult. adult in the best way - a savvy, relaxing way to spend a little more time together before hitting the sack. perhaps appropriate for a quarter century b-day, eh?

love,
emily

a luscious lush

i'm not sure when it happened, but i've gotten really into drinks lately. now, hold off on assumptions, judgements or looking down your noses for just a minute. "drink" doesn't always imply alcohol, although those kinds are certainly included in the ones i've been enjoying recently.

iced coffee, cucumber/grapefruit cocktail, jack d

working in a wine/beer/liquor store, i mean, drinking is kind of like research, right? but other recent sippables include homemade kombucha, cucumbers&seltzer, homebrewed iced coffee, watermelon/cucumber juice, half&half (although i recently saw it has high fructose corn syrup, boo) and of course, peppermint tea.

i've always been one to check out food&wine or gourmet (RIP) but i received a free copy of a magazine i had never heard of at this spring's brewer's plate. after reading the entire magazine, cover to cover, and thoroughly enjoying every article, i paid a paltry $20 for a year's worth.

while this is NOT a paid advertisement for imbibe, i do have to go ahead and gush about how great this magazine is. a wide range of articles on all things imbibable. this month's issue contained features on: bitters, bike tours in wine country, the blossoming d.c. cocktail scene, diy tea blending, the 50 best seasonal beers and more!

talking to a beer rep at work who just got back from the great american beer festival has gotten me really in the mood for brew tours. a fun, educational and boozy experience (just like college!). plans to check out yards, PBC, victory, brooklyn, flying fish, riverhorse, yuengling and more are abuzz in my head. also already planning on checking out the beer festival in denver, co, next year!

i'll be updating more often with tall tales of sips, swigs, chugs, brews, blends, nips, snifters, tipples, cocktails and more!!

cheers,

Lauren