Ich liebe Grünauer

A couple of months ago, I received an email from JP's wine bar stating that they were featuring Austrian wines to highlight the opening of nearby Grünauer Austrian restaurant (which replaced City Tavern). I never did make it out for JP's specials, but I did go to Grünauer's website and decided it was worth a visit. Besides, Kansas City is essentially a complete void of continental European food, despite the number of German immigrants to this area; we've been wanting some German food for a while and figured Austrian was close enough.


We drank and dined in the Wunderbar, Grünauer's lounge, and had a fantastic time. Not only was the bar service inviting and personable, the food and drink were spectacular. For my pre-dinner drink, I got "Der Schmutzige" (the dirty one), which is "Black peppercorn and mustard seed infused Monopolowa vodka, Frank's Kraut Juice, beet brine and dill pickle water shaken with vigor and served up with a dill wedge." For someone who loves savory gin drinks, this was delectable. About 80% through, though, I have to admit that my palate was getting pretty tired from all of the goings-on in the beverage. Even still, it was very good; the flavors blended together well, and I appreciated the creativity.


For dinner, we ordered the Schweinebraten and Tafelspitz and enjoyed them both. The Schweinebraten (with dumplings! yum!) was just like I remembered in Germany, and maybe even a bit better. The Tafelspitz (sliced beef with broth & noodles) was surprisingly rich with depth and flavor without being greasy or too thin. We paired our dinner with a handful of Czech, German, and Austrian beers and thoroughly enjoyed our evening there.

After such a great initial visit, we returned this past Thursday night for dinner & drinks, including a comparison of draft versions of Bitburger and Czechvar (the latter of which I am becoming an avid fan) for BJCP "studying". They have several continental lagers on tap (Spaten Bock, Bitburger, Czechvar, Hofbrau, Carlsberg, Warsteiner) as well as a Kölsch and Hefeweizen, and about 7 or so Boulevard drafts. With about a dozen more beers in bottles, there's no lack of malty goodness to be enjoyed. It's inspiring to see dedication of an entire faucet tower to Boulevard, but I'd really encourage you to try some of the European drafts. They're quite different from the bottled versions since they're not light-struck, oxidized, or stale. If you've never had any of the aforementioned brands on draft, you owe it to yourself to have one.

photo from Grünauer's Facebook page

This time, we settled for more typical entrees - Berlinerwurst and Wiener Schnitzel. Both were, again, well-executed and reinforced our affinity for the place. And the service was, of course, friendly, attentive, and timely.

A mention of Grünauer wouldn't be complete without recognition of its huge selection of gin. It's got about 15 (or more?) different gins available for your enjoyment. Really! I check out the gin selection of every bar I go to, and this has to be the largest inventory I've ever seen.

Bottom line - Grünauer has several things going for it and I hope they're here to stay. The food is authentic and delicious, the cocktails are creative and well-executed, the liquor selection is well above par, the service is attentive, and they have a thoughtful beer selection that goes way beyond the typical Euro-lager. I hope you'll pay them a visit and enjoy this place as much as we do. 

Rollin down the street, back from Lukas, sippin on John John Ale

With my mind on my John John and my John John on my mind?

Maybe not. Pretty sure I can't pull that off.

Thanks to FancyPantsBeer's note via Twitter, I was able to procure for myself at Lukas Liquor in Martin City a 22oz bottle of Rogue's latest barrel beer release: John John Juniper Pale Ale. As I mentioned previously, it's their Juniper Pale Ale that's been aged in Rogue Spruce-Gin-soaked barrels. I let it chill for as long as I could stand before cracking it open. The anticipation was killing me.

When I opened the bottle & poured the beer, the aroma was reminiscent of evergreens. I thought of camping back home (what says camping in the Pacific Northwest more than the smell of evergreens and beer?) And then that gave way to... coriander. And the warmer the beer got, the more pronounced it became.

Now, don't get me wrong - coriander is a very common botanical used in gin, and I'm a huge gin fan. The variation and creativity in gin styles and aromatics is nearly endless and it's almost as fun to find a new, delicious gin as a wonderful craft beer. The essential oils from various ingredients lend to spicy, fruity, herbal, and/or woody spirits. Rogue's award-winning Spruce Gin uses a ton of them: spruce, cucumber, angelica root, orange peel, coriander, lemon peel, ginger, orris root, grains of paradise, tangerine, and juniper berries. Problem is, coriander is the one "botanical" that I find really hard to love. It's the main reason I'm not a huge fan of witbier (especially double wit), and it really shines through in John John Juniper Ale.

That said, this is a very good beer and the creativity impresses me. The spruce and juniper do come through, as does the orange peel and the grapefruity citrus from the Amarillo hops. There's a bit of woodiness from the oak barrels, but it's definitely in the background and merely supports the other flavors in the beer (such as, oh I don't know, coriander?). Overall, I'd definitely recommend picking up a bottle of this and checking it out for yourself. It's not suitable for aging, so drink it fresh. I'd love to know what you think and if I'm completely crazy on the coriander component.

I'm curious, though... What did they do with the gin from the barrels? And how do I get my hands on some?

Juniper and Gin - For the Win!

Continuing the barrel-aging trend of late, Rogue introduced its John John series earlier this year, starting with John John Dead Guy - Dead Guy Ale aged in Dead Guy Whiskey barrels.

The series is so-named after its master brewer, John Maier, and master distiller, John Couchot. This week, the Oregon-based brewery released the next in the series, John John Juniper. I've been excited about this one for a few reasons:

• Rogue's Juniper Ale was my favorite beer for over a year back around 2006ish and I never tired of it. It's still one of my Rogue favorites.
• Rogue's Spruce Gin is one of the smoothest, most balanced and enjoyable gins I've ever had. And I've tried a lot of gins.
• Gin isn't typically aged in barrels, so they soaked the barrels with their gin with the explicit purpose of making this beer. Now there's a Rogue concept.

It was released this week and should start to appear where Rogue is distributed, including the KC metro area. Unfortunately, the John John series has been somewhat hard to find locally, but I'm starting to see it around. We picked up a bottle of John John Dead Guy at the 23rd St Cork & Barrel in Lawrence back in February or so, and I believe Lukas Liquor and Gomer's in Lenexa now carry it.

Keep your eyes peeled this September for the final beer in this series: Hazelnut Brown Nectar aged in Hazelnut Spiced Rum barrels. I fail to see how that can turn out any way other than delicious. As an aside, it appears Rogue Spirits are no longer distributed to this area (not that they were widely available to begin with). Harry's Country Club was the only place I knew of that even sold any, and Harry himself said the distributor no longer carries Rogue. Bummer.

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I wrote this blog post yesterday, with the intention of stopping by Royal Liquor on the way home from work today to see if any John Johns were in stock. Though I had no luck there, I checked out the gin selection and much to my surprise, there was a barrel-aged gin - from Oregon! I had no idea anyone barrel-aged gins and I was absolutely stunned at the timing. I bought that bottle of Ransom Old Tom, sweet & dry vermouths, and made myself a perfect martini* when I got home. If you're a gin drinker, this is a phenomenal gin that is sweeter and more herbal than its non-barreled counterparts (think Ricola). You could almost drink it on the rocks, nothing else with it. It's pricey at $39.99 per bottle, but absolutely worth it.

* Perfect Martini:
2.5 oz gin
.5 oz sweet vermouth
.5 oz dry vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Shake with ice, strain into martini glass. Sip, repeat.

On a tan"gin"t

If you read my post about craft brewers getting into distilling, you'll know I'm a big fan of gin. I still haven't tried genever yet, but have that in the planning stages.

This past Tuesday, we (finally!) made the trek to Manifesto, KC's not-so-secret speakeasy under 1924 Main. The drinks are fabulous, as everyone seems to agree. The main bartender, Ryan (of JP's Wine Bar), has created a fantastic menu that had everyone in our group oohing and ahhing over the tasty combinations of spirits, bitters, juices, tonics, and other ingredients. (Not to be forgotten, 1924 Main's bartender passed John's favorite Bartender Test with a properly-made Old Fashioned.)

Anyway, I came here to talk about gin. Yes, yes, I know this is a beer blog but surely you know someone who likes gin - perhaps yourself. It seems to be experiencing a resurgence which makes me blissfully delighted. Like beer, there is so much variability and flexibility in the production of gin that provides the gin drinker with a lot of options. I checked out Manifesto's (and 1924's) gin selection, and it's the best I've seen yet in Kansas City. If I remember correctly, they had Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire, Hendricks, Aviation, Junipero, Plymouth (my favorite!), and... I'm forgetting one; I'm pretty sure they had eight bottles.

Regardless, if you or someone you know is a gin drinker, this is a place for you. Go on a weeknight - there were fewer than 20 people in the entire place, and our group made up about half of them. And if you're on a gin adventure, Harry's Country Club also has quite the selection. We were there last weekend and I asked if they had either of Rogue's gins (spruce or pink, which is aged in Oregon pinot noir casks) since they had the white rum. They thought they had the spruce gin, but a search in the cabinets proved unfruitful. I'll keep my eye on them, though. That Rogue gin is some of the best I've ever had (however, since they're on of my favorite breweries hailing from my home state, I may be a teensy bit biased).

Beer... Is there anything it can't do?

Earlier this month, the New York Times published an article about beer-based cocktails. Around the same time, there was at least one lively thread on whether adding other ingredients to packaged craft beer (or vice-versa) was disrespectful to the art-in-a-glass. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I can appreciate the argument.

Mixing beer with other ingredients is nothing new. The Germans have been doing it for ages with the Radler ("Cyclist"), a beer & lemon soda combo perfect for summer. College kids do it (Irish Car Bombs, anyone?), I think everyone's heard of a Snakebite (lager & cider), and I know you have been fervently drinking Micheladas ever since I posted about them.

Speaking of Micheladas, in late June John and I ventured over to Free State (have you seen their new website?) where they offer a Michelada... Free State style. It's not really as much a Michelada as it a margarita with beer instead of triple sec. It's made by filling a glass with ice, adding tequlia and sour mix, then topping it off with their Wheat State Golden. I'd had everything else on their menu on other visits; why not try it? I'm glad I did. It was light, refreshing, and surprisingly easy to drink. Almost too easy. If you like beer, and if you like tequila, I highly recommend checking it out.

After the Free State Michelada experience, my curiosity was set alight and I looked online for other beer cocktails. As it turns out, it seems they're growing in both popularity and acceptance, bordering on (dare I say it) trendy. Epicurious.com lists a "top 5 beer cocktails" article. A Google search for "beer cocktail" provides over 13 million results. I spent much of my lunch hour today looking at recipes and suggestions. I thought the "Skip & Go Naked" (PBR + Gin + Grenadine + Lemon) sounded pretty tasty, but then I stumbled upon a gin, Duvel, and absinthe concoction that I can't wait to try.

Mixing beer with spirits isn't the only option, however. Combining different beers together also lends some new taste experiences. Of course, there's the quintessential mixed beer drink, the black & tan (or the half & half if you prefer lager with your stout instead of ale). But what about more creative combinations? I've seen Young's Double Chocolate Stout + Lindemans Framboise grace a few menus in the past few years, but not much else. When we lived in Portland, the Rogue Public House (just a few blocks from our apartment - those were the days!) had an entire menu of mixed beers, each with its own name. Consider, for example, Dead Guy Ale mixed with Old Crustacean barleywine (a "Dead Crusty Guy"). Or how about Chocolate Stout and Hazelnut Brown ("Snickers")? And lest Kansas City be left out of the beer-mixing trend, we have our very own Thundercloud (Boulevard wheat & stout).

So what do you think? Does mixing beer with spirits wreck or disrespect the beer? Are there any beer combinations you think are particularly good? I don't know about you, but I think these questions are best answered after some thorough research!