Beer for strong bones

As if we really need another reason to like beer, here's another article reporting the health benefits of beer. This time it's for the silicon, which contributes to bone health. I want to be a test subject in these studies. Click here for the article.
I'd advise staying away from crappy mass-market corporate beer and go with a good craft or microbrewed beer. We may as well drink good beer while improving our health.

Schlitz...go for the gusto?

Beer Review
While grocery shopping at the Piggly Wiggy yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find near the back, center of the store a display of Schlitz beer. I have known about the reintroduction of Schlitz and their "Classic 1960s Formula" for several months now and have been waiting for it to find its way into our area (why in the world "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" wasn't immediately made available throughout Wisconsin is a mystery).

"It's ok...I saved the Schlitz!"
What a great advert from the 50s. How many couples go canoeing wearing their Sunday best? And the guy looks like he may have had a few before capsizing the canoe.

I love the Schlitz marketing imagery, absolutely love it. Love what they've done with the Schlitz website to make accessible those vintage print and television commercials. Love the new commercials that embrace that vintage feel and buck the modern style of associating beer with big-boobed bimbos and partying on rooftops. Love the retro vibe that is associated with beers like Schlitz. Even love the Schlitz color scheme and the ornate, vintage font that says Schlitz on the bottles. Love everything about this product.

...well, almost everything.

I knew Schlitz was not an upper echelon beer like the craft and microbrewed beers I prefer. I knew it was a beer along the lines of your average watered down, flavorless, mass market, big brewery beers. I didn't however, expect it to be as bad as it is. I took the picture of the beer in this post immediately after pouring. That fizzy little head of foam lasted approximately 90 seconds. Any other fizziness (carbonation) that might have come from the beer underneath that fleeting head lasted even less than that. Within two minutes I had a glass of flat, yellowish tea that looked like it had been sitting undisturbed all afternoon. Worse than that was the flavor. Flat, uninteresting, a tad mediciney, and not unlike the tepid water that canned corn soaks in before you eat it. This was truly a boring, uninspired and almost flavorless beer (and what flavor it did have was not pleasing). I thought, "this is the beer that made Milwaukee famous?" Good grief. The 60-second head tops an equally uninspiring beer-like liquid. Cool bottlecap though!

Well, it's lousy beer. But, man, I do love the way they're marketing it. I'll probably drink one of these every now and then simply because I am such a huge sucker for great marketing and imagery (or maybe I'll pour the Schlitz out and refill the bottle with something drinkable, like a Leinies). The folks in the Schlitz PR department ought to all get raises and a free case of beer each week as a bonus...but not Schlitz beer. The idea is to reward them, after all.

Beers in the house

Marty with a Fiddler's Elbow from the Wychwood Brewery

We've been asked a few times why we don't regularly provide a beer list of the brews we have in the cooler. The main reason is because we rarely keep the same beers in stock. We mix it up pretty regularly, bringing new beers in and not reordering others. There's really no method to the madness, and we do it this way for no other reason than because we enjoy trying new beers (and there's only so much room in the case). One thing you can usually be sure of, you'll find a fairly eclectic mix of beer when you visit...and most of them will be brands that you won't normally find in most other pubs or coffee shops.

There are, however, a few that I make a point of trying to keep in stock, just because they are on my favorites list so consistently (and I'm being entirely selfish here, because if I personally don't like the beer it won't be back).

















Having just said all that, I did take a little time yesterday to put together a list for the beers we had delivered to the shop this week. Here's part of what's in the case at the moment (images only, not adding the text for each beer):

Thursday Night's Tasting: Beer & Sausage

You need to let us know (call or email) ahead of time if you want to join the fun.

Beer and Sausage Tasting

(several craft beers matched with
salami, sausage, cured meat)
Thursday, Nov. 13th
6:30pm-8:00pm
Members: $15.00
Nonmembers: $20.00
Please call 553-5282 to register or email stumpjack@gmail.com

Images from a few days ago

Click the links below to be routed to the Flickr photo sets:

I really like this dark and atmospheric image of JoAnn...her smile, the neon, the little blue lights over her right shoulder.

JoAnn Riedl & Jeannie Mayotte - Thursday, April 17th

Terry with a lovely creamy stout...mmmm....

Beer & Chocolate Tasting - Friday, April 18th

I must be in a "dark" frame of mind...this one of Derek bookends JoAnn above.

Derek Pritzl - Saturday, April 19th

Beer and Chocolate Tasting

When: Friday, April 18^th at 7:00pm.

Where: Stumpjack Coffee Company; Two Rivers

We will be sampling at five dark beers (stouts) from various microbreweries and pairing them with fine chocolates, including a special Stout Beer Flourless Chocolate Cake courtesy of Jennifer Pasquill of Uniquely Yours Pastry Shoppe (yup, cake made with beer).

This is going to be basically the same set-up as our wine and chocolate evening we did on Valentine’s Day, in that we’re going to limit participation to around ten (10) people and those who sign up first will be it. I’m not yet sure if we’ll be closing the door or staying open for business during this one…it is Heart-A-Rama week and we haven’t quite yet figured out if that needs to be considered for this evening as well. Becky Markvart will again be providing some beautimous musical accompaniment for the event.

The cost to participate is $25 per person. You’ll have to come in and make your payment to reserve your spot…and it’s only a week away!

Beer...the other nectar of the gods.

Part of the current Stumpjack beer selection...

Stumpjack has, in my humble opinion, the grooviest, albeit small, selection of bottled beers of any coffee shop around. Searching for and evaluating the microbrews and few select imports we offer has been a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for attractive packaging (cool bottles specifically) and that, combined with the very distinctive flavor profiles of these beers, I believe adds to and reinforces our overall image and philosophy of offering only the very best products for the price (coffee, beer, wine, pastries and food).

I'm thinking about this now as we just received a delivery of several cases of beer, including one case of O'Hanlons Ruby Stout, from the folks who make the justifiably famous Thomas Hardy's Ale. The Ruby Stout is a lovely, darker beer enriched with the addition of ruby port wine, and comes in a great, beefy thick bottle. I love changing up the inventory; getting different beers in and mixing things up periodically. Tonight and tomorrow we have live music and that always means we'll be enjoying a couple of good beers.

Chaos reigns supreme...I'll drink to that!

Well, my posting has been a bit sporadic lately, because we've got so dang much going on right now. Last week during the muggy-wave our AC didn't work, problems with the phone and Internet, our bakery case up and died after overheating, gelato equipment was scheduled to arrive and got delayed, and we were running up to Green Bay every day to work on our new cafe...not to mention all the other usual living life things that we all do (you know, like concocting beer smoothie recipes and Simpsonizing ourselves).

We opened the shop in GB yesterday (softly, quietly, don't even have the sign up yet...). More on that location and that cafe' later. Gelato equipment was supposed to come in today (after it was supposed to come in on Monday) but it's looking like tomorrow will be the day. Guys are coming in today to fix the bakery case...the kitchen fridge is full of everything that was in the case.

Beer Smoothie! Spent the last week playing with the blender (really looking forward to getting a new one) refining my beer smoothie recipe ("drinking" might be a better word than "refining" actually). It's definitely a winner. Everyone who tried it really likes it (except for Kelly, but she doesn't like beer anyway...go figure...). Have to credit a friend on the HTR forum (won't reveal his identity here...don't have his permission) for challenging me to come up with a "hops-based smoothie." It hits your palate with chocolate, then you taste the hint of coffee mixed in, followed by a really nice chocolate/beer aftertaste. It's the perfect combination: chocolate, espresso, stout.

We're taking suggestions on a name for it now. Drop in and have one and give us your name suggestion. We'll have a beer delivery Friday afternoon so come on in this weekend if you can.

PS: We are planning to be closed Sat & Sun, August 25 & 26. I'll repost this over the next couple weeks and periodically move it to the top of the list to keep it in front of people. You might want to come in and buy some beans before that weekend. Thanks.