Kolsch is Katching On

Those that drink with me know that I have a very hard time ignoring a Kolsch when I see one. Even when stacked up against tough tap competition at bars like Lorely, Bierkraft and Croxley Ales, I have never turned down the opportunity to drink one. For me, the draw is, admittedly, mostly nostalgia. I have been to Koln on two separate trips to visit my good buddy Thorbs - and that's pretty much all they drink there.

The Kolsch-drinking experience in Koln is quite unique. In the traditional bier-haus, bartenders roam the hall with carousels of freshly-poured .2L glasses (see above). Customer grab the beers and can toss coins into the leather pouches that sit on the barkeep's hip (or more commonly, leave the cash on the table or pay on the way out). Those little glasses make sure that the beer never gets cold and never goes flat. It also helps the drinker lose count of how many he/she has put down...

But my penchant for Kolsch isn't driven by fond memories alone. I love the taste. It's so... German! The golden color, crisp bubbles and slight bite of bitterness make it delicious with salty snacks or just by itself. And apparently, it's catching on. In the past week I've seen Kolsch featured in New York Magazine, The New York Times, a rooftop birthday party where someone brought a mini-keg, and Brouwerij Lane in Greenpoint where they seem to be obsessed with Gaffel Kolsch. Thorbs was in town last week and got an American-Made Captain Lawrence Kolsch at Alchemy in Park Slope.

So it seems Kolsch is catching on! I say it's a darn good thing, because I'd like to see more of it. More demand means more importing and hopefully more domestic craft production. And to that I say, "Prost!"

Could You Quit Eating Animals?

What if you knew you could have a world full of healthier people, greater fish populations, less disease, less pollution, and a sharp decrease in animal abuse? Would you be willing to sacrifice your animal-eating lifestyle - including Thanksgiving Turkeys, to make these changes happen?

On this radio program, two great food authors, Jonathon Safran Foer (vegetarian) and Anthony Bourdain (omnivore, if there ever was one) debate the ethics of animal consumption as they relate to health, economy, environment, and culture.

I would personally recommend both of the authors' books. While Foer's book did not make me stop eating meat (I am perhaps the only person I know who has read Eating Animals and continued eating meat, actually), Bourdain's book did make me use a lot more shallots in my cooking...

The Bees' Needs

I got up close and personal with some bees last weekend and learned that these creatures far are more fascinating than I ever thought.

Andrew and Rania the beekeeper guy + gal at the St. Marks Garden opened up their hives and told us all about their residents. I tasted fresh honey right off the hive and learned all about laying eggs, making queens, impregnating queens, pollen, royal jelly, drones and swarms. Did you know that Queens eat only royal jelly and that drones can 'make' new queens by feeding royal jelly to the eggs?

Rania's hive had recently swarmed so there wasn't much activity, but Andrew's was alive and kicking.

Andrew's Hive

Then, just a few days later, I caught an interesting segment on WNYC about a new movie - The Queen of the Sun. The segment featured an interview with the filmmakers to answer the question - "Why Are Honeybees Disappearing?" Like most other agricultural crops, bees have been victimized by the use of pesticides, genetically modified crops, monocultures, and mechanization. One interesting and highly disturbing tidbit from the interview:
Bees eat honey as their food (honey as carbohydrate, pollen as protein). When industrial beekeepers harvest all the honey, what do the bees eat? You guessed it! Corn Syrup. That just may be man's greatest insult to nature. Take the most delicious naturally sweet substance on the planet away from the species who worked so hard to produce it and feed them corn syrup instead.