So for a while we’ve been doing a little thing on the third Tuesday of the month called Drinks With Fullsteam. It’s been a pretty casual affair—some people with some beer sit down with some of our brew staff and talk shop. Drinks With Fullsteam plans to get a little classier in 2012. Don’t we all?

From now on, each session will have a theme. Our first theme was: Seasonal Ingredients &  Seasonal Beers! Our brewery staff talked about how they choose and use the bounty of seasonal offerings available to us in North Carolina, from figs to rhubarb to basil… and beyond (kudzu, anyone?). Themes for upcoming talks will be announced ahead of time.

These will be informal talks with plenty of time for questions and conversation. The tavern will be happy to sell you a pint that you can take into the brewery during the session, which should last around 45 minutes. We’ll be at the brewery glass door to check you in.

What else is new in 2012? We’re now offering tickets for Drinks with Fullsteam! You can reserve them on our Eventbrite page. Tickets are free but there are only 20 spots per session, so please reserve for only as many as you know will attend.

So, RECAP! Drinks With Fullsteam is the third Tuesday of every month. Tickets are here and free. Beer will be there and not free. We will be there (but also not free!). Hope to see you there and classy.

This year’s event is particularly awesome because proceeds will benefit a schoolyard vegetable garden at Rogers-Herr Middle School. Tickets to the feast are $15 for members, $18 for non-members, and free for kids under 10.*

Those of you who attended last year’s event might remember the crowds. We’re actually going to open up the brewery to a few tables, so you can enjoy slow food in the virtual shadow of our brewing equipment. (Grown-ups only in the brewery, please.)

And lest we forget: Beer is agriculture too! The tavern will be open for business during the event, which runs from 4 to 7. Wine Authorities and 3Cups will be pouring wine by the glass, and Counter Culture Coffee will handle your caffeine needs.

We hope you’ll join Triangle Slow Food on Sunday, January 1st (that’s 2012, folks!) from 4 to 7 for a feast, a drink, and some wonderful company. We hosted this event last year and think it’s a special one. The poster below has more details. Click the picture and get even more. Now go write some thank you notes and polish off the last of those Christmas cookies before someone else does.

*No pets at this event, please.

Coming soon to Fullsteam R&D and beer retailers throughout North Carolina…the 2011 First Frost! We brewed this 9.1% ABV beauty with 500 pounds of native North Carolina persimmons – a resplendent harvest compared to last year’s 75-pound yield. The result? 2,400 750ml bottles of winter ale – three times more than last year’s 800 bottle run.

We release the bottles to the public at Friday’s holiday extravaganza, A Very Merry Durham. $15 a bottle at the brewery, just like last year.

Starting Monday, December 19th, you’ll be able to purchase First Frost at a better beer stores throughout North Carolina. We’ll keep you posted on the list of participating retailers. Don’t be surprised if a few bottles are available outside of North Carolina…we’re eager to share the goodness beyond the borders. This is one special beer.

]]> http://www.fullsteam.ag/blog/2011/12/arriving-soon-first-frost-in-bottles/feed/ 0 http://www.fullsteam.ag/blog/2011/10/today-at-rd-fish-and-cheese-and-cheese/ http://www.fullsteam.ag/blog/2011/10/today-at-rd-fish-and-cheese-and-cheese/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:00:52 +0000 Sean http://www.fullsteam.ag/?p=4114

FISH!
Fullsteam Brewery is now a Tuesday pick-up location for Dock to Door Seafood. Dock to Door puts it best:

“We are driven by our passion for sourcing the finest seafood from the shores of North Carolina and supporting the local economy by connecting our friends and neighbors with seafood straight from the boats of North Carolina fishermen.”

And fisherwomen, we’ll add!

Important Dock to Door dates to remember:

• Thursday by 5pm: Dock to Door lists their upcoming fish availability online
• Saturday by 10pm: get your order in! (order deadline)
• Tuesday, 5 to 7pm: pick up your order at Fullsteam Brewery!

If you missed ordering the Thursday prior, on some weeks Dock to Door will have a little extra “catch of the week.” For example, this week, Amanda is bringing shrimp, flounder, and gray snapper. How do we know? Because we folllow Dock to Door Seafood on Twitter! Twitter is an amazing technology tool that (warning, sports fan zinger approaching) perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals should consider using instead of a telephone.

Dock to Door does an incredible job featuring North Carolina seafood, listing tasty recipes, and communicating with its audience. We tried the gray snapper last week with just a touch of salt, pepper, butter and lemon…and that’s all it needed. Worth every penny.

CHEESE!
Granted, Will and Pop’s offers up more than grilled cheese, but it’s that cheese-between-bread (with butter) action that gets us every week. If you’re more in the mood for indulgent bar food than local seafood, Will and Pop’s has what you’re craving. Every Tuesday.

And lest you think there’s no local angle here, the food truck uses all NC cheese for its tasty grilled cheese menu. People say that Fullsteam is a “hipster” place…I’ll only agree to that when Will and Pop’s is here serving their Hipster grilled cheese (made with mango chutney) or their Hot Hipster (mango chutney and hot habanero)!

MORE CHEESE!
Tonight!!! Make an oven mitt at 6pm! Women in the workplace 16mm films start at 7pm!!

plow to pint to puff

To celebrate the Nasher Museum’s exhibition of feminist art from the 1970s and 80s “The Deconstructive Impulse” museum staff will be screening some vintage educational films from the 1970s.

Starting at 6 PM, decorate your own oven mitt (FREE!), so women can enjoy their place in the kitchen [hey, Nasher wrote this copy, don't yell at me! -Sean]

*Films start at 7 PM*, and one from 1975 asks the question, “Women in Management: Threat or Opportunity?” Additional films will be shown, each lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Soak up the nostalgic glow of our 16mm projector and enjoy a delicious pint.

Local seafood! Local cheese and meat on a food truck! Fresh beer made on-site and across North Carolina! And cheesy educational films from the 1970s. All on a FREAKING TUESDAY NIGHT! Who loves ya, baby?

Forager 3: 2011 Paw Paw Belgian-Style Golden Ale

Many of you have forwarded the recent NPR feature on paw paws, either knowing we have a Paw Paw beer underway or suggesting that we make a beer from this mysterious tropical fruit. We do, in fact, have a Paw Paw beer currently in fermentation.

For those of you not familiar with the fruit, Paw Paw (Asimina triloba) is the largest edible tree fruit native to North America. But you may have never seen one before. The nondescript trees grow in wet, shady groves, often along the banks of rivers. Paw paws taste like mango-meets-butterscotch-meets-banana. In other words, they’re delicious. But the fruit’s notorious short shelf life keeps them from being commercially viable.

photo by Debbie Roos, NC Cooperative Extension

We forage for wild paw paws around Jordan Lake, and a few North Carolina foragers who know the fruit bring us their harvest. Most of our paw paws come from the amazing Wynn Dinssen, owner of Full of Life Farms in Chatham County. True story: he’s a modern Johnny Pawpawseed. In the late summer of 2011, we collected 75 pounds of native paw paw.

Following the September 2011 harvest, we added the fruit to a Belgian-style Golden Ale. The sweet, tropical notes of the paw paw should match up wonderfully with the Belgian Golden’s notes of fruit and spice.

We expect the beer to be ready in a month. It’s a small batch — draft only — and available at Fullsteam R&D (our tavern) and a few selected accounts, including José Andrés’ America Eats Tavern in Washington D.C..

Last spring, Chef Rick Bayless received the last test batch bottle from the 2009 paw paw harvest. We were stoked!

“The pawpaw ale was devoid of gooey sweetness and broadened on the tongue into a dusky earthiness, a flavor of soil that could inspire you to eat dirt. “

– Wells Tower, Suds Straight from the Southern Soil

Over the next few weeks, we’ll have more posts on our Paw Paw beer, including pictures of Wynn’s paw paw tasting and a brief video interview with the man himself. For now, we wanted to let you know what’s fermenting.