When in Rome

Bonjour!!

Salut de Montreal! Hello again, I am back in Canada and ready to go. The last two weeks in St. Louis flew by, and the four of us jet-setted away to the Labatt Brewery in LaSalle. There are a few major items I feel I should share before hitting on Montreal, just to get you up to speed. Cela fait du sens, non? (Makes sense) 

a)      Global Induction

b)      Deadly Toe Disaster (not really, it just sounds more paramount this way)

c)      My own Baking with Beer adventure

So first up Global Induction. After Zone induction finished up for us, it was time for Global. To put this in perspective 118 GMT’s from all over the world (no really, Bolivia, Argentina, China, Russia, Netherlands, Scotland…etc) got together, informed one another of the challenges and markets in their home countries, their traditions- in particular Brazil with extreme energy, table banging, and singing, and worked together on a series of global dilemmas faced within ABI. The week was jammed solid, both of presentations from our Board, and activities and innovation projects. I had the opportunity of working on the Returnable Glass Bottle Market, and how it can be implemented across the globe. For those of you who are from Canada, and have this model ingrained into your brain (buy, return, deposit, buy, return, deposit), the model is very different in other areas of the world. In Brazil for instance, you purchase the bottle and only pay for the beer each time. In France you can actually select what beer you want poured into a bottle- somewhat like a beer bulk barn. Every country is so different, and trying to come up with a way to improve existing markets and begin returnables in countries that do not have it is an ongoing challenge. All and all Global was a great experience, and I had the opportunity to meet so many people and hear so many stories (Goats are the lawnmowers of choice in Brazil- so smart, no money spent on hiring anyone, and your goat eats grass so no need to feed it). I also met some amazing people, tried fried ravioli (everything is fried in STL really) some frozen custard, and even saw a Cardinals Baseball Game. Cardinals won by the way, by a landslide, and we got some awesome fake tattoo McDon sleeves- it was for charity.

However, as like most adventures the week did not come without a few bumps along the way, or lacerations I should say. SO, while getting into a cab on my way to a local venue with some friends, a rather large shard of metal, quaintly disguised under the back seat of the cabby’s passenger seat, decided to attack my middle toe. Looking back now, I feel like a complete fool- and no not because I was being careless getting in (which I wasn’t) because I think I was more worried about getting my shoe off (so I didn’t cover it with blood), than my toe. I was quite the trooper I must admit, and after A LOT of gauze and a lot of tape, I put on some flip flops and tried to meet up with everyone. I was home within ten minutes in pain, and was advised to go see a doctor the next morning. Sure enough, some stitches were in order. To bad I’m not the suing type, might have had a case. I did have a pretty good doctor though… got about 2/3 of my toe frozen, the other 1/3 he told me to deal with. I want to point out these were the first stitches I had ever gotten…Traumatic? When in St. Louis right? To be honest as North America’s 2^nd most dangerous city, I can deal with just a toe incident. Oh, word of advice, if you do decide to travel to the US get some medical coverage. That stuff gets expensive. On the upside though, since it was a little hard to motor around the airport with heavy carryon’s and a foot with stitches, I got speed wheeled around in a wheelchair. Slightly humiliating, but time effective. Jack is a crazy driver PS, I made Danielle take control before I got slammed into a side wall. She is a great wheeler let me tell you. And so we left STL to our first brewhouse location intact and ready to start.

Our first weekend in Montreal, I got to put my beer expense into effect!!!! Got a whole case of Budweiser 4, (currently only offered in Montreal- all the taste of a Budweiser, but the alcohol and calories of a Bud Light) and a bunch of recipes to try cooking. Only catch, all items had to be made and cooked with beer. Four courses, four beers, a lot of fun… and a lot of food. To start we mase a citrus and avocado salad with Keith’s White as a pairing (the dressing even had beer in it). Second was a spicy red sauce Bolognese pasta paired with Budweiser 4 (the pasta was boiled in Bud and Clamato juice). Next, came seasoned chicken and pork chops cooked and paired with Labatt 50, and last but not least apple pie and cheddar cheese with Stella. SOOOO tasty. There are so many amazing things you can pair and make with beer; just think of it as water. Anytime you would add liquid to a recipe add beer and cook with it that way. As a rule of thumb, if you cook with it in the recipe it will taste good with it when you eat it. Generally for spice you want a crisp clean beer that will slice right though the heat, and for a creamier taste or a strong cheese you want a hoppier beer. Go home and try it out, there are countless recipes online or the Zythology (Science of beer and food) Iphone app.

Happy Eats! Later Gators!