Catching Up.

I've been behind on posting lately. Lots going on in my butchery and beer world that I would like to blog about just haven't had a chance.

My pig came in so here is a short video I took on the day I went out to pick it out. Later.

The Great Nebraska Beerfest

On August 27th I was able to head to Papilion and partake in the Great Nebraska Beerfest. I was extremely excited to be able to get to this event. I've been wanting to go to a beerfest or beer event for a long time and have always seemed to have some kind of conflict. So when this one came up I canceled the plans I had and bought a ticket.

A co-worker and fellow beer geek friend of mine Rob was able to go with me which was nice since I didn't have to go and wander around alone and Rob being much more responsible with a bit more self control was also able to make sure I made it back to Lincoln.

When we got in it was like a beer overload. There were so many to choose from and we took a minute to try to figure out were to start. One nice thing was that about every 15-30 minutes a brewery was having a special release and we let that kind of guide us around.

As we went and continued to try the beers I was contiually impressed by so many of the different beers that I've never tried before. I wished over and over again that some of these breweries beers were available in Nebraska so that I could drink them on a regular basis. Hopefully in the future as I continue to travel I can pick some of them up.

The one thing that I took away from beerfest is the new trend that I think beer is going. I think that sour beers and saisons are the new trend. I also saw a lot of high alcohol barrel aged beers. For me personally I'm really happy to see that sour beers and saisons are getting some time in the spotlight.

After beerfest was over Rob and I hit up the main sponsor of the event the Nebraska Brewing Company for dinner which was definetly needed after the large quantities of awesome beer we had drank. I had a pizza that the crust was made from the spent grain left over from their beer. It was a really good pizza that had a great crispy thin crust.

Some of my favorite beers from Beerfest were:

• Crooked Stave's Surette




• Grimm Brothers Brewhouse's: Fearless Youth and Little Red Cap




• Gottberg Sour Belgian Porter




• Cigar City Saison

Here's some pics from the fest:

the fest

the taster glass

Rob, me and my our new friend from the beerspot.com


the barrel aged beers at Nebraska Brewing Company

Beer drank while writing this post: Lattitude 48 IPA by Sam Adams out of Boston, MA

Book Review: The Butchers Guide to Well Raised Meat

I read quite a few books. All of them are about food, cooking etc. I don't ever really read any books for "fun". If I can't learn anything from them I'm really not that interested in reading them. It does take me a while to get through the book. One, I'm not a very fast reader and two, I always end up reading things I have to for homework instead of the books that I want to read. Not that the homework books are bad. Actually some have been great and this one that I had to read for a class was what really got me back into beer. But I would always have another book to read.

The book that I just finished was The Butchers Guide to Well Raised Meat by Joshua and Jessica Applestone and Alexandra Zissu. This book defintely gets a high grade from me. It is very well written and if you really want to learn why you should want and eat properly raised animals this book is for you.

This book had a ton of information in it about pastured animals and really gave you a feel the philosphy of the Fleishers Butcher Shop. One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was how candid they were about the whole business of meat from how they source their products to the reasons and challenges of using and practicing whole animal butchery.

This book is really more of a guide though. It shows some butchery and explains how to do others but its value is more than what it tells you about how to Butchering but the value is in what they tell you about purchasing and sourcing animals.

One of the highlights from the book for me was the human cut chart. I heard in an interview that they had to fight to get that in there and I'm glad they did. I think it is a great learning tool for people to use to help understand how and why the muscles are what they are. I also liked how they do the "driveway pig roast." I think they way they built the pit out of cinder blocks is a great idea and one that I plan on using in the near future.

Beer Drank while writing this post: Tumbler by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. out of Chico, CA.

Branched Oak Farms Berkshire Pigs

I mentioned in earlier posts that I'm buying a pig that is being raised at Branched Oak Farms. Doug the owner of the farm gave us a great tour of the whole place and showed us how they milked their cows as well as the cheese cave. I think that these pigs are going to taste great because of how they are being fed and raised and can't wait to get it on my table and the stove. I'm a couple months behind on this post but these pictures were taken on a visit when Lexi and I visited the farm on July 18th. The pigs have gotten quite a bit bigger since the last time I had been there. I'll have some current pics soon since I plan on going back out to the farm soon.

The Jersey Calves that are hanging around outside while the cows are being milked.

The temp for the day was about 100 and the heat index was about 105 so the pigs were covered in mud and most of them just stayed in the mud hole they were keeping cool in.



The mud hole that the pigs loved that they were keeping cool in.


When they put the whey in the trough the pigs came running to eat it. I'm hoping all of the whey they are eating is going to give their fat a nice butteriness.


After we were done checking out the pigs Lexi got to help with the cows. In this picture she is spraying the cows hooves with peppermint oil to keep the flies away.

Beer Drank while writing this post: Oktoberfest by Lakefront Brewery out of Milwaukee, WI.

Firehouse Brewing Co.

Last month in July my family and I went on Vacation to the Black Hills in South Dakota so one of the first things that I did was do a brewery search and to see what South Dakota had to offer. The only brewery we were going to be close to was the Firehouse Brewing Co. in Rapid City.

Luckily it is both a brewery and a restaurant which makes it easy for me to get to since the family was with me (meaning they don't have to wait while I go beer geek out). We went there for dinner. I'm not sure if it is sad or not but it was probably the thing that I was most excited about while we were on vacation.

The restaurant and brewery are located in an old firehouse so the restaurant of course follows that them. The menu was pretty much the standard brew pub fair. I was able to get some Bison brisket which was good but I really wasn't there to eat.

I was able to have 2 of their beers while I was there. I'm always a big fan of red beers so my first choice from the beer list was the Firehouse Red. I really liked this beer. It really hit the mark for a great malty red. The second beer that I was able to have was the Smoke Jumper Stout. I also really like smoked beers and this one was good. I would have liked a little more smokyness to it but it was still a very well made beer. When we left I picked up a growler for my collection full of the Firehouse Red which was nice to have back at the hotel for the last night of vacation.

Overall I thought the Firehouse Brewering Co. makes some pretty good beer and will look forward to having more of their offerings if I ever make it back to the Black Hills.

Beer drank while writing this post: Levity Amber Ale by Odell Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins, CO.

1st real post

I started this blog because I wanted to talk about some new found passions of mine that I've developed over the past few years. For years I always sold myself as a seafood chef. Over the past few years as I've adopted a appreciation for the amazing local ingredients raised right here in Nebraska. And of course it is really hard to be focused on local products and seafood when you live in landlocked Nebraska which is about as far from an ocean as anywhere in the country.



As a chef I've always been interested in Butchery. Actually when I was a kid for some reason I thought it was always cool. Lately I've become very focused on actually training to be a butcher and really understand what it is to be able to know everything there is about meat fabrication. I've also become obsessed with whole animal utilization and cooking which in my opinion really goes hand in hand with being a butcher and a chef.


As for the beer side of things that all got started from when I took my Beverage Management class (I'm also a full-time college student working on my bachelors degree online from New England Culinary Institute). As part of the class we had to develop a beverage program for a restaurant that included a beer list. While writing the list and reading about all of the different kinds of beer out there it re-sparked an interest that I had from before in craft beer. I did and still do race mountain bikes and always had to watch my weight so I stopped drinking beer but I've started again and couldn't be more happy about it. I've become somewhat obsessed with Craft Beer. I've decided that as soon as I graduate from school (hopefully later this year) I'm going to persue becoming a Certified Cicerone, which is the equivelent of a beer sommelier. That journey should be interesting.


I decided I'll end this first real post with a picture of one of the pigs that is being raised at Branched Oak Farms. These Berkshire Pigs are being raised on the leftover whey from the farms cheese making process. They are also being fed the leftover barley and hops from beer made by Modern Monks which is one of the best breweries in Nebraska. They should be ready in late september. You'll see lots of pictures of the animals when they are still alive. I love visiting and seeing the farms. I always want to know where my food comes from. Makes me respect them more when they are on my cutting board.

Beer drank while writing this post: Golden Frau by Thunderhead Brewery out of Kearney, NE.

Getting Started

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