Swedish Beer - Part VI / Yule Ales

Living now in Sweden, I expected certain traditions regarding Christmas and beer to be observed. I was not let down. After I returned from Brazil, Systembolaget had rearranged some of their goods to make space for a few shelves dedicated to Christmas beers. Anticipating pre-Christmas visitors I picked up a handful.


Åbro Julbock didn't quite live up to my expectations - while it was dark and clearly in the style of Scandinavian Christmas beers in general, it seemed lacking in taste when compared to the two excellent Christmas beers from Nynäshamn Ångbryggeri and Nils Oscar. The Winter Ale from Oppigård was a pleasant surprise: true to its name, and unlike the others it is actually an ale.

Jackfruit

I recently went to Brazil and one of the cities I visited was the city of Ribeirão Preto, in what was once the heartland of Brazilian coffee production. Now, according to locals, the only coffee trees that remain in Riberão Preto are those separating the two directions of traffic down the middle of Avenida do Café. On the grounds of what used to be one of the very largest coffee plantations in Brazil, but which now belongs to the Ribeirão Preto campus of USP (Universidade de São Paulo), one finds the Plínio Travassos dos Santos municipal museum and it's direct neighbour, the Coronel Fransisco Schmidt coffee museum.

Shortly after entering the municipal museum a lady working there inquired as to my origin, and my attempts to explain Sweden were initially stumped by my lack of proficiency in Portuguese (as far as I could understand the only language she spoke). Then when I found the museum's collection of coins which contained a few Swedish coins, I was able to tell her Suécia. After trying to explain to me some details of a painting of the coffee plantation that used to be there she gave up on me for a while, only to come to me later to make sure that I also visited the neighbouring coffee museum.

Guiding me through the garden towards the coffee museum, she suddenly pointed to some rather large fruits sitting several meters up a tree in the garden and exclaimed "Jaca". Judging alone by size of the fruits I guessed that these might be jackfruits - which is correct according to wikipedia. Not thinking much more of it I entered and quickly toured the coffee museum. The quickness of my tour was due mainly to (a) the relatively modest size of the coffee museum (b) my poor ability to read Portuguese (even if better than my ability to speak it) - more so than the fact that I don't actually drink coffee. Upon exiting the coffee museum, I found my new friend approaching with a plate of palish yellow pieces of fruit flesh.. yes, it was time for me to taste the jackfruit.

My new friend proceeded to show me how each seed sits in a coat of fruit flesh, which can be torn from the fruit and eaten. It was quite sweet and personally I rather liked it.

Bowmore Laimrig

As it turns out this purchase was more special than I realised at first.

Passing the shelf with whiskey, someone nudged me and asked if I didn't want a bottle. Well .. put like that .. how could I not? I glanced over the selection.. what to choose: something new or an old favourite?

When I did pick Bowmore Laimrig, it was based partly on my previous experience with Bowmore and partly on the lovely amber colour. Little did I know that what I was buying was something I couldn't have bought any old place: Bowmore Laimrig is made especially for the Swedish market and is sold exclusively by Systembolaget.

The beautiful colour that caught my attention in the first place is no doubt influenced by the two-stage ageing: first in old bourbon casks and then in old Oloroso sherry casks. The latter of these is likely what lends the taste a particularly smooth edge - the smokiness comes out much in the after-taste in this one.

Liver with Bacon and Capers

Not so long ago I went out for lunch. My eyes scanned the short menu and upon seeing the 'Veal liver with bacon and capers in red wine sauce' there was no turning back. I had to try that. And after trying it, I had to make it myself as well.

Ingredients:
- potatoes
- green beans
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 50 g (2 oz) thinly sliced bacon
- 650 g (1.4 lbs) beef liver, sliced
- salt & pepper
- 1 dL (¹/₂ cup) red wine
- 1 dL (¹/₂ cup) cream
- capers
salad:
- lettuce
- baby plum tomatoes
- pea sprouts

I started by preparing the salad, then rinsed the potatoes and boiled them in lightly salted water. The green beans were boiled in lightly salted water in a separate pot (on account of needing less time).

The bacon was fried till nicely crisp, then removed from the pan and chopped - in the same pan, the liver slices were fried with salt and pepper. When the liver slices were done, they were removed from the pan, and the onion rings were caramelized - then removed. Lastly, the red wine was added to the pan, allowed to concentrate a little before adding the cream to obtain a sauce.

The fried liver slices were served with bacon bits and capers on top. The potatoes with onion rings, and red wine-cream sauce, green beans and salad on the side. And a glass of the red wine..

Next time, I think I'll try a different approach with the red wine sauce - it wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite like the one I had at the restaurant either..

Black Balzam

Having noted my taste in various spirits, a friend of mine picked my a bottle of this potion when he went to Riga this summer.

I hadn't heard of it before, and so was intrigued. Turns out its a herbal bitter - think along the lines of Gammel Dansk, Jägermeister, or Killepitsch.

I was also happy see that someone out there is keeping alive the old tradition of selling spirits in earthenware bottles.