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Alberta Co-op Grocery

Open to everyone 9-10 daily

1500 NE Alberta St., Portland, Oregon 97211  ·  on buslines 8 & 72

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Posts Tagged ‘beer’

Bubbly V-Day Picks

Posted February 8th, 2012

from Eli, Lover of Bubbles

Well, my fancy friends, Valentine’s Day is upon us and I have some advice regarding sparkling wines for all of you who really want to enjoy it in a fancy kind of way.  And at the end of this, some bubbly recommendations for those of you that want to enjoy it in a not-so-fancy kind of way.
The Lini 910 sparkling wines have been my favorite for a while. The bottles are nice, they remind me of some sort of debaucherous roman party… So, if that is at all in line with the theme for how you’re celebrating, it could be the wine for you. The Bianco is dry and super light with floral aromas. Pair it with oysters (jealous!) or simply-prepared sole. You can also use it to make fancy cocktails!  The Lini 910 Rose is darker than most still or sparkling roses and has aromas of tart red fruit. It’s fruity and light-bodied. Broiled Mussels with Hot Paprika Sauce? I would personally pair it with lamb chops or a strong sausage dish with cabbage salad. I’m also a huge fan of the Lini 910 just as a regular wine; I really enjoy that it’s a red and the bubbles make it feel fancier, and it goes really well with all kinds of food. (Lini 910 Sparkling Rose $15.99 Lini 910 Labrusca Bianco $15.99)
On the more typical sparkling end, we have Cantina Pizzolato Prosecco. Pardon me for quoting an expert, but sometimes I have a hard time figuring out how to describe a wine: “This is a sweet style of Prosecco with a luminous appearance and grassy-herbal notes followed by white peach, honey and jasmine”. It’s a great deal at $11.99 and my food recommendations are stuffed mushrooms, anything with creamy sauce or any kind of curry or asian meal.
The Secco Italian Rose and White sparklings are what I intend to buy if I find myself doing anything fancy (y’know, like celebrating Oregon’s birthday!). The White has notes of flowers, apples and peaches with a dry finish. This one goes well with hard and soft cheese, olives, smoked salmon and pretty much any meat. The Rose has notes of rose petals and cherry and raspberry, but it’s also dry. I recommend pairing it with chocolate, fruit, goat cheese, or with a seafood meal.
Not-So-Fancy Picks:
Okay, so maybe you don’t care, or you kinda just care a little bit that it’s Valentine’s Day. Like you wanna do something but you don’t wanna have to try to hard.  You’re just gonna eat some mac n’ cheese with your sweetie or best friend or roomate or cat. But you want something to make it feel like a holiday celebrating love…
or Oregon’s birthday.Here’s what I’ve got for you:
Southern Oregon Brewing Black Heart Stout ($3.99 for 22 oz.): ”Black Heart Imperial Stout is startlingly rich and complex as its  roasted, chocolaty malt aromas and flavors are balanced perfectly with Warrior hops. A slight alcohol heat lends a spice to this mammoth beer which finishes with a creamy smooth texture on the palate.  Black Heart is full of body and not for the faint of heart.” — Southern Oregon Brewing Co. This is beautiful and tasty! Dark and smells delicious!
Julian Cherry Bomb Cider ($6.99 for 22 oz.): You may have read my review a few enews’ ago, or stopped by last week when I was sampling this stuff out, but if not, trust me – it is really amazing! Pretty much everyone I sampled it to said it would be the perfect thing to share with somebody. It is TART and not sweet at all, but tastes so strongly of cherries. And the color is the best brightest pink ever.

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Posted in Announcements, Food and Drink, Spotlight

Dinner and a Beer, a la Eli

Posted February 1st, 2012

by Eli

Sometimes, when you’ve been at the coop for 8 hours, staring at the same product that you’ve been staring at for years, it can be really hard to figure out what you are going to eat for dinner and how you are ever going to walk out that door to go home.

Generally, a walk through the produce section will help break you away from zoning out at the mac and cheese. Right now, for the first time I’ve ever seen, we have galangal. I will warn you that the galangal root is very hard, and you should use a good knife or grater; I found that grating in a twisting motion helped, but really, watch out for grated knuckles on this one. However, it is totally worth the amazing aroma that you will be hit with. It’s not as peppery as ginger, and really flowery. So, having a primary flavor motivation and knowing that I had some stir fry sauce left over from the last trip to Fubon, I knew stir fry with rice was my dinner. I got 2 serranno peppers, a bit of ginger, an onion, some mushrooms, a carrot and a bunch of the sweet baby broccolini.

So… stir fry…. galangal…. what to pair it with? Maybe some sake? Or an IPA? Oh, but wait, we have the Ginger Pale Ale from Trade Routes Brewing! I had not been so enthralled with it recently, but decided it was the perfect beverage to accompany this dinner. The ginger is pretty mild and its a bit of a sour pale (I mean, really, a bit, but something I tend to like).

So, I got myself out the door of the co-op!

Once home, I started some rice, chopped the onion and some garlic and then grated the galangal (and my knuckle) and started cooking them in some coconut oil. The knuckle grating convinced me that I would do a better job of flavoring this stir-fry if I opened the beer now. It was a nice inspiration to get the dinner finished. I then grated the ginger and chopped the mushrooms and peppers and threw them into the pan. I poured the stir fry sauce in (I’m sure you have your own favorite way of seasoning stir-frys, but if not, Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki is really good). Then I chopped the carrot and the broccolini and threw them in the pan, gave a stir, added some cumin, and covered it for  just 2 minutes. By then the rice was done! All ya gotta do now is pour the beer into a nice tall glass, put the rice in a bowl and top it off with those delicious veggies!

Dinner, with a perfectly matched beer. Ta da!

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Posted in Announcements, Food and Drink, Home and Garden, Recipes