Spring Street Brewing Company - WIT Black Wheat Ale

WIT Black Ale is the first black wheat ale brewed in the United States. Brewed with a combination of two-row Pale, Caramel, Wheat malts as well as Black Patent barley, this unusual beer which doesn’t fall neatly into any specific beer category is a truly unusual beer. Additionally, WIT Black is brewed with a proprietary blend of exotic spices including anise. Willamette hops are used up front for bittering while Mt. Hood hops are used in two separate additions for both bittering and aroma.

Look for a very dark roasted nose coupled with a dark malt sweetness in this garnet-brown, filtered medium-bodied beer. Its body offers a complex dark malt character with traces of more than one spice evident. We found it very clean with low esters. The finish is crisp and sweet. It is such a clean and well-blended beer; it’s hard to believe that it’s an ale. Overall, a very complex, unusual, and very flavorful dark ale.

Black Wheat Chicken Thang

You’re gonna like this one. It’s easy, you’ve probably got half stuff you need in the fridge at this very moment, and it contains two kinds of alcohol in the recipe. It was provided to us by the good folks at the Spring Street Brewery and who should know better then them as to what to pair with such an unusual style of beer. Enjoy!

3 tablespoons oil of your choice – No, not massage oil. Save it.
¼ stick butter
16-20 pearl onions
4 ½ lb. Chicken, cut into 8 pieces
¼ cup gin
1 tablespoon flour
1 ¼ of WIT Black Ale
1 cup button mushrooms
salt, freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Heat the oil and butter in a wide, heavy-based casserole. Sauté the baby onions until they begin to brown, then remove with a slotted spoon. Brown the chicken pieces in the same pan over moderately high heat, then lower the heat and lame with the gin. Sprinkle the flour over the chicken and cook for 1-2 min., stirring frequently. Return the baby onions to the pan with the WIT Black, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the chicken is tender, 40-45 min. Stir off excess fat and stir in the cream. Bring back to a boil and check seasoning. Serve sprinkled with parsley. Serves 6-8 persons, 2 Chicken Hawks, or Rush Limbaugh.

DAILY MIRROR - Cleanliness counts to barfly Brits. The British Brewer’s Society reports that when it comes to choosing a pub, women’s first priority is a clean toilet and men’s is a clean bar. The sexes switched positions on the second order of priority, and both chose friendly staff for their third choice. Stocks of beer, by the way, came far down on the list after general comfort, value and speed of service. The report also found that pub-goers drink a pint almost two minutes faster on Saturday nights and that 86 percent of American prefer British pubs to their own back home.