CraftPittsburgh #14

CraftBeerMagazine Issue No. 14 - Spring 2014

FOUR SEASONS BREWING COMPANY

NINKASI’S NECTAR PITTSBURGH’S FEMALE BREWERS COLLABORATE

#PCBW plus

Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week

have you tried... • cooking with beer • home brewing • upcoming beer events1 CraftPittsburgh.com

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 14

PAGE6

on tap

THIS ISSUE

specials

6 Four Seasons 12 Ninkasi’s Nectar

Brewing with the legendary mountain springs of Latrobe

Pittsburgh’s female brewers collaborate

the regulars

5 18 20 22

Upcoming Events

Beer Review

Home Brewing

Cooking with Beer

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FOLLOWUS PUBLISHER

CRAFT MEDIA, LLC

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

TIM RUSSELL tim@craftpittsburgh.com

MANAGING EDITORS

SLOUCH SIXPACK slouch@aleheads.com MIKE WEISS mike@craftpittsburgh.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

ROB SOLTIS soltisdesign.com FOR INFORMATION ON CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL CONTENT OR PLACING DISPLAY ADVERTISING PLEASE CONTACT US AT INFO@CRAFTPITTSBURGH.COM Craft Pittsburgh is issued quarterly by Craft Media, LLC. All information and materials in this magazine, individually and collectively, are provided for informational purposes.

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Craft Media, LLC., nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without expressed written permission from the publisher. Advertisements are subject to the approval of Craft Media, LLC. Craft Media, LLC. reserves the right to reject or omit any advertisement at any time for any reason. Advertiser assume responsibility and complete liability for all content in their ads

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Serving up creativity in the glass, on the plate, and in the community since 2006.

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Another issue.

Another new brewery.

Or “breweries,” rather.

After Hop Farm’s opening, covered in the winter issue, we’re seeing the openings of Kaliber Brewing to the north (fermenting tea, not malt), Hitchhiker Brewing to the south, and Brew Gentlemen to the east. Millvale’s Gristhouse Brewing is in production and are shooting for a late April soft opening during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week. There are even more breweries on the way. We’ll catch up with all those guys later. Ben Summers’ piece in this issue is focused a little further east to Latrobe, former home of those famous glass-lined tanks. Rolling Rock may no longer be brewed there, but, thanks to Four Seasons, Latrobe has a new hometown brewery.

Also in this issue, Brian covers Pittsburgh’s first all-female brewer collaboration. Meg Seastedt, brewer at Rivertowne Pourhouse in Monroeville, teamed up with local homebrewer and TRUB and TRASH members Dana Staudt and Jess Smith to create Ninkasi’s Nectar, named after the Sumerian goddess of brewing. I first met Meg a few years ago at the fourth edition of the Steel City Big Pour while she was cutting her teeth for Southern Tier Brewing and I was covering the event for the very first issue of Craft Pittsburgh. It’s great to see her now a head brewer back in Pittsburgh doing great things like this.

And do not forget the 3rd Annual Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week starting April 25th. This year features the same favorites, like the Beer Barge, EEBC Keg Ride, The Sour and Funky, and the Pittsburgh Real Ale Festival (billed this year at Full Metal Firkin), but also some new events like the Carrie Furnace Bash and Blue Dust’s Oyster Fest.

Obviously, there are many more. Too many to list here, but you can see the revamped calendar at PittsburghCraftBeerWeek.com. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Cheers,

Tim Russell

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk.

That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

-Ernest Hemingway

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 14

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olling Rock may have moved out of the “glass-lined tanks of Old Latrobe” but, thankfully, Four Seasons Brewing Company has taken on the task of upholding the old pledge to brew with the legendary mountain springs of Latrobe as tribute to their customer’s good taste.

While many of the locals would argue that the “Green Death” fell a bit short of their own pledge, there’s no doubt about the town’s love of Four Seasons’ craft beer. The little brewery nestled right off Route 30 on the main road into Latrobe less than a mile from the original site of Rolling Rock may not have the flash of the old hometown beer but it makes up with its character.

By Ben Summers Photos by Dan Speicher

From stepping into the brewery, it’s clear that Four Seasons spends what they make on beer and beer alone.

No advertising campaigns and no sponsorships. A tour could be taken by standing in the middle of the brewery and spinning around while owners Christian Simmons and head-brewer Mark Pavlik pointed out the tanks. There’s not a whole lot to the brewery, other than a couple tables, some stickers, a wall full of 32 oz. growlers and 16 oz. Boston Rounds emblazoned with the logo, and an assorted array of kegs, shirts for sale, and local artists’ work hanging in the back. But from the amount of people wearing Four Seasons sweatshirts pouring into the brewery daily, you wouldn’t know that Four Seasons has spread with little more than Simmons’ ever-present smile and word of mouth.

For one of America’s most famous beer towns, Four Seasons had to fight to get beer back in Latrobe. While the company has been in their current location for about a year, Simmons and Pavlik have been working on Four Seasons for over two years. Simmons explained that Four Seasons first tried to get started through a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 but failed to meet the $30,000 minimum goal set for the campaign.

Simmons said that while he was initially disappointed, he sees the failure of funding as a learning experience, saying “It was one of those ‘You tell me I can’t do it—watch me’ moments.”

Simmons and Pavlik doubled down, working on recipes and the business plan to impress lenders. He mentioned that the Kickstarter was an important part of the company, even if it didn’t succeed, saying, “It made us realize that we were going to have to prove that Four Seasons was right for Latrobe. We saw that we would have to work to get people to read our business plan, much less gives us money. It showed us that we would have to work even harder than we thought and that we’d have to do it on our own. The Kickstarter was a blessing in disguise.“ Simmons and Pavlik found lenders and officially opened the brewery in September 2013 with a grand opening party in November that attracted over 600 people from the surrounding area and the praise and beer hasn’t stopped flowing since. Simmons sheepishly complained that the only problem that the company has had is not having enough beer, saying, “I think that we are going to end up naming a beer ‘Good Problem’ because we’ve been struggling to supply the demand for our beer. But a problem is a problem, even when it is because of our success.” Thankfully, Simmons and Pavlik saw the demand and recently purchased two additional fermenters, which sit gleaming and full just to the right of the taps.

Simmons’ and the company’s unofficial business ethos is “local, local, local” and that ideology has permeated every single aspect of the company. From the Pittsburgh jokes (they have a Belgian Single called “60 Degrees and Snowing”) to the events hosted by the brewery, everything CraftPittsburgh.com

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Four Seasons does has community in mind. Every week the brewery hosts yoga and they’ve been involved with events with Saint Vincent College, the city of Latrobe, and charity organizations. Currently, the brewery is working with the revitalization committee of Latrobe to organize and build a “Rails to Trails” program to create a walking path to connect nearby Saint Vincent College and surrounding neighborhoods with downtown Latrobe. Four Seasons has its eyes and mind on its backyard, but it’s still willing to make friends, as shown by their upcoming Rye/Hefeweizen collaboration with Full Pint brewing in North Versailles.

Simmons mentioned that Four Seasons Brewing Company wants to establish itself as a friend and participant in the Pittsburgh craft brew scene and collaborations like the one with Full Pint are the first step towards creating a larger community. He said that Four Seasons has been working with the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau to set up a brew tour that would highlight Four Seasons, Full Pint, Helltown, and All Saints breweries, as well as the natural beauty of the woods and hills that Simmons and Pavlik played in while growing up.

Simmons and Pavlik are determined to make sure that Four Seasons’ story is more than just a story of a beer company.

It’s going to be the story of an old beer town revitalized by a new beer company, the story of a community of customers and brewers and friends, the story of Pittsburgh and the Laurel Highlands’ natural beauty and quirks. Simmons has said that he got into the beer business, that he is doing all this work after his day job at Kennametal, because he “loves being able to be counted on, people knowing that if they ever needed something from me, beer or not, I’d be there simply because of my honest, genuine approach to business. People get to see who you are when you do something like this and I will take advantage of that. I want to build a legacy.”

It’s that outgoing disposition, which is a combination of Simmons’ happy and friendly chatter and the warm air that comes from Pavlik’s hard work, that greets each and every guest through the doors of the brewery and it is what draws people to Four Seasons Brewing Company. Sure, the brewery doesn’t look like much, but it’s the people inside – the beer inside – that assure people that quality is on the forefront of Four Seasons’ mind. All they have to do is shake Christian’s hand or watch Mark steadily work in the back to know that these guys are serious and their pledge for brewing “as tribute to your good taste,” in much more than just a culinary sense, goes way beyond an advertising slogan.

For Four Seasons Brewing Company, quality, good taste, and community is a matter of principles, not marketing.

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NINKASI’S NECTAR PITTSBURGH’S FEMALE BREWERS COLLABORATE TO CREATE SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST GREAT BEER

T

his could easily turn in to a “well, geewhiz, these gals can really brew” or a “ladies can brew just as well as the fellas” kind of article, but—besides being patronizing and derivative—it wouldn’t make a damn lick-a-sense, historically speaking. For the vast majority of beer (and human) existence on this big, beautiful gum ball, women have manned the kettle.

In many western cultures, women traditionally ran and maintained the household; which included activities such as baking and brewing— jobs that typically went hand-in-hand. Women also, oftentimes ran taverns and inns that served beer to thirsty travelers. Although there is a painfully long history of men undermining women’s ability to run independent, profitable businesses based on their brewing prowess, the essential task of beer-making still remained, in many ways, a woman’s job until the advent of the

Written by Brian Reed Photography by Malcolm Frazer

industrial revolution. Once larger brewing conglomerates began to form and thrive, establishing beer as big business, men quickly snatched the reins.

Fast-forward a whole bunch of years.

Bvvvvrrrt wwwvvvrttt ::fast-forward noise:: The second coming of the craft beer revolution and the revitalization of home brewing sparks the interest of an entirely new generation of brewers and beer drinkers; many of whom are (brace yourself) women-folk!

It’s no secret that, in recent years, Pittsburgh has established itself as a force on the national beer scene. What the average Pittsburgher might not know, is that our fair city has also managed to incubate one of the most close-knit and talented home brewing communities anywhere. A strong commercial beer scene and a passionate homebrew community often develop side-by-side. Pro brewers have long turned to home brewers for inspiration. The inherently collaborative nature of brewers—not unlike that of many other craftsmen and craftswomen—has helped to move the needle of innovation in beer cultures around the world for millennia; our quaint, but not-so-little community is no different.

Meg Seastedt is the brewer at the Rivertowne Pourhouse in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburb of Monroeville. Since taking on her role a little over a year ago, Meg’s eye for innovation and respect for classic styles has permeated the regular lineup at the brewpub. “Freedom to experiment here has been a huge luxury,” said Meg. “I’ve learned a ton.”

Whether its continually tweaking and re-brewing her American Pale Ale (in efforts to nail the perfect balance of malt and hops), or trying her hand at more difficult, delicate lager styles like Munich Helles, Meg has proven that she has no qualms about taking on new challenges.

She’s dove head-long in to the Pittsburgh beer scene and made a name for herself in the process. Prior to her position at Rivertowne, Meg pursued an education in brewing at Oregon State University. While attending school she was offered a position through an internship opportunity at Lakewood, New York’s Southern Tier Brewing Company.

From there, she took the job at Rivertowne.

The idea of taking on a collaboration project crossed Meg’s mind a few times but did not come to fruition until she met fellow brewer Dana Staudt while attending and pouring at events around town. Dana is a long-time home brewer (about six years) and Secretary of the Three Rivers Underground Brewers (TRUB) homebrew club. A Loan Coordinator at Washington & Jefferson College by day, Dana really became passionate about brewing over the past several years after getting the opportunity to showcase some of her beers during events at a friend’s art studio (Box Heart Gallery in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield Neighborhood).

Meg approached Dana about the idea of an all-female collaboration brew project; Dana was immediately onboard. Soon thereafter they employed the collaborative efforts of fellow area home brewer Jess Smith—oh, and she’s also a woman.

Jess (a long-time beer geek) was introduced to brewing by her husband Jack (a long-time regular geek) and had been at it for about four years. She successfully elevated her brewing game at an alarming rate and quickly established herself as one of the most respected brewers in western PA. Since getting serious about her hobby over the past two years, Jess has amassed no less than 10 medals in a number of competitions—several of which are golds in fiercely competitive categories—including the Three Rivers Alliance for Serious Homebrewers (TRASH) competition

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 14

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(she and Jack are also members of the club). Jess also recently had her English-style IPA selected to be featured at this year’s Pittsburgh real ale festival, Full Metal Firkin, in May 3rd.

Once the team was assembled, the three sat down over a beer and decided what they wanted to brew. “It really was a collaborative effort,” said Jess. “No one person came up with the idea or the recipe.” The ladies landed on the concept of a rye, oatmeal stout; focusing on soft, roasty, bready malt flavors combined with the subtle, grainy spiciness of rye malt. They came up with the idea for a complex, substantial yet drinkable stout with a full, fluffy (one might say “pillowy”) mouthfeel.

“We just wanted something a little different, but not too off the wall,” said Dana. “We all liked the idea of chocolate, and picked a dark style quickly; then for the spicy notes, we talked about jalapeños, but then decided the rye would do the trick.”

CraftPittsburgh.com

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Once a recipe was devised, the group decided to brew a pilot batch on the Smith’s system. Jess and Jack had recently built what can only be described by any home brewer as a “dream system,” so their place seemed to be a perfect option. The test batch turned out great, but the group determined that they were looking for a hint more roast and a slightly darker color. “We decided to add some Carafa III (a dehusked roasted malt that adds color without imparting too much roast/char flavor) to make it a little darker,” explained Jess.

Brew day at the Rivertowne Pourhouse went smoothly. Meg, obviously being the expert on the pub’s system, walked the others through the process but everyone contributed equally. Whether it was mashing in, shoveling spent grain or sanitizing the fermentation tanks, everyone chipped in with some elbow grease (except for me, I took pictures and drank beer). Despite quality suggestions such as ‘Pillow Party’, the ladies decided to name their beer appropriately Ninkasi’s Nectar after the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer.

The official Ninkasi Nectar release party took place on March 4th at the Rivertowne Pourhouse in Monroeville and the Pittsburgh beer scene came out in droves to support their friends. In addition to an awesome show of support for the project, the crowd loved the beer. The beer flowed, as did the stories and merriment.

In the spirit of International Women’s Month, Rivertowne offered to contribute a portion of the sales of Ninkasi’s Nectar to the AlleKiski Area HOPE Center—an organization whose mission is the safe elimination of domestic violence through intervention, prevention, and collaboration. Other area breweries and businesses—including Full Pint Brewing and Roundabout Brewery among others—also donated goodies which were raffled off for the charity efforts.

When asked about the importance of a project like this and efforts to further opportunities for women in brewing, Meg explained that leading by example is more her style. “I just want to see more people involved in the industry,” she said. “I think that people seeing us getting involved with brewing is a better message to inspire different types of people to get involved than any type of ‘feminist ra-ra’ approach that we could take.”

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Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 14

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Four Seasons Brewing

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Maggie’s Farm Rum

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3. FULL PINT | hobnobber 4% Session IPA - fullpintbrewing.com

have you

TRIED?

By Hart Johnson

Recommended if you enjoy: Founder’s All Day IPA, Stone Go To IPA, Lagunitas Daytime IPA, East End Little Hop, Great Divide Lasso

1. STRAUB | ipl

4. DRAAI LAAG | simon girty

I could wax philosophic for days about my love of 16oz returnable bottles of Straub Lager, those always incredibly fresh “pahnders” of lawn mowin’ beer. But I digress, the pride of St. Marys is branching out from coal miner beer. Starting with Amber Lager a few years ago, a revamp of the venerable Groundhog Beer into an Altbier, a Maibock last spring, Doppelbock last fall, and now a full time India Pale Lager. Bravo, Cascade and Columbus hops..

Go on… Nice pale honey orange color, aggressive tropical fruit hop nose with some bitter citrus pith on the edges. There’s a big bracing bitterness, a hint of toasted bread with honey to try and balance it, and then mango and grapefruit lingering on the tongue.

Really love where Straub is headed. It’s good to see 142 years of business thinking beyond “what we’ve always done”.

A friend has a great story about Belgian beer. He’s not much of a beer guy but was in Belgium and wanted to do as the locals do. So he asks his bartender about the two beers the cafe has on tap, The barman explains “This beer, you can drink all night and be ok. This other beer, you can drink 2 or 3 of. Any more you fall down.” So the Belgians have this little love affair with beer and many of them are velvet hammers of deep complexity and punishing alcohol content.

Draai Laag has been paying tribute to that love affair with small batch Belgian styles since 2009. Simon Girty is a ruby brown strong ale spiced with honey, cocoa, and orange peel. Rich and malty, there are dried fruit notes, a little brush of brown sugar sweetened apple cider, and little hint of black cherry juice. This all while remaining very dry for the style and the aforementioned spices are there in harmony.

Recommended if you enjoy: Clown Shoes Swagger, Great Lakes Silver and Gold IPL, Otter Creek Citra Mantra, Coney Island Sword Swallower

Recommended if you enjoy: Bornem Double, Maredsous 8, Affligem Double, Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre, Unibroue Maudite

5.6% India Pale Lager - straubbeer.com

2. GREAT DIVIDE | colette 7.3% Belgian Style Saison - greatdivide.com

I have to admit I’ve never had this before. I’ve passed it by hundreds of times after being burned by 23 too many corianderrose hip-lavender-and-whatever-else-was-in-the-spice-rack soaked overly sweet American-made Saisons. I figured I’d just be let down again, but I was wrong. This one pours a slightly hazy golden yellow, with some fluffy meringue-like white foam sitting on top. There are lots of familiar Saison aromas llike white pepper, a trace hint of banana, and that nostalgic whiff of baseball card bubble gum. There’s a soft mouthfeel, sweetish tropical fruit,and apple skins with a nice drying bitterness to finish things off. This is a beer that begs to be consumed. Find a porch, some cured meats or pâté, a nice rindy cheese, crusty bread, this beer and make a sunset out of it.

Recommended if you enjoy: Ithaca Ground Break, Sly Fox Grissette, New Holland Golden Cap, Victory Helios, Dupont Moinette

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I love the idea behind session beers. You can drink a couple and still remember how to write a beer review. Session IPA seems to be the flagholder for session beer lately. They’re usually bone dry, bracingly bitter, and in the 4-5% ABV range. Good for a nice porch sitting session. Full Pint has been toying with the Hobnobber Session beer for a couple years releasing a some single hop releases that were bordering on brown ales, but seem to have focused in on the IPA style. This one’s a hazy, rusty orange beer aromatically seasoned with Palisade and Citra hops, a delightful duet of citrus and dank hop notes. Par for the course, there’s bracing hop bitterness stopping just short of going off that deep end into grapefruit pith and aspirin palate destruction. There’s a just a nice little hint of toasted malt sweetness to offer a bit of balance.

Craft Pittsburgh | Issue 14

8% Belgian Style Strong Ale - draailaag.com

5. DUCLAW | hellrazer 7.5% IPA - duclaw.com

These here Baltimorians are making a name for themselves in the extreme beer world. A raspberry, chocolate, coffee imperial stout? Sure! Chocolate peanut butter porter? You betcha! Those are cute and all, but I’ve been all about their more traditional stuff.

Hellrazer takes a toasty English malt base and throws a hefty hand of New Zealand Motueka hops at it. A big perfumey aroma jumps out of the glass with a bit of a sharp lime note with papaya and passion fruit. The sweetish malt character keeps this from being a one dimensional hop bomb while the hops keep playing the tropical fruit flavor notes. This bridges the slender gap of IPA and the usually sweeter IIPA. Recommended if you enjoy: Troeg’s Perpetual IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, Coronado Idiot IIPA, New Holland Imperial Hatter, Hoppin’ Frog Goose Juice Rye IPA

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HOW-TO BREW:

NINKASI’S NECTAR

By Brian Reed

C

an’t get enough of Rivertowne’s collab brew, Ninkasi’s Nectar? Really missing it now that it’s gone? Find yourself uncontrollably weeping at work? Your personal and professional life is really starting to suffer? Is your hair falling out in chunks? Relax, guy. We’ve scaled it down to homebrew scale so you can brew and enjoy this tasty, one-of-a-kind brew whenever you want.

We’re essentially dealing with an Oatmeal Stout with rye; so, from a recipe/process perspective, think classic Oatmeal stout recipe plus rye—pretty easy. The brewers decided to go with both rye malt and flaked rye. I like this approach. The malted rye adds diastatic power as well as that characteristic, soft spiciness; while the flaked rye adds some rye flavor, but mainly the long chain carbohydrates and beta-glucans that provide the soft, chewy, dare I say it…PILLOWY mouthfeel we all loved about this beer. As far as a grain bill is concerned, this is certainly not the most simplistic of recipes, but mouthfeel is an important characteristic of this brew, so don’t skimp on the specialty malts. Also, with the amount of gummy beta-glucans and relatively high overall protein in this beer, you may want to consider the addition of some rice hulls (maybe a half a pound) in order to take out some sparge insurance—especially if your system is prone to getting stuck.

So give this unique and tasty recipe I try and see if you can replicate this tasty collaboration. Too bad you’ll never have the real thing again, bahahAHAHAHA. The January/February timeframe is a perfect time to think about brewing a Maibock/Helles Bock.

Not only does the icy cold ground water and cooler ambient temps allow you to chill your wort to lager pitching temps and keep it there more easily, but your brew will have sufficient lagering time before spring officially…springs!

NINKASI’S NECTAR Batch Size – 6 gallon Boil Time – 90 min.

GRAINBILL

• 8 lbs. Pale Malt • 1.5 lbs. Rye Malt • 0.75 lbs. Caramel 80L

OG – 1.070 FG – 1.015

ABV – 7.2% IBU – 30-35

• 0.75 lbs. Chocolate Malt • 0.75 lbs. Flaked Oats • 0.75 lbs. Flaked Rye

• 2 oz. Carafa III • 2 oz. Roasted Barley

*Assuming 72% efficiency

*Extract Brewers: Replace Pale Malt with 6 lbs. Pale LME or 4.75 lbs. Light DME. Crush and steep additional malts (except flaked oats and rye—they should be steeped but don’t bother crushing). Steep at approximately 150 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove steeping grains and commence boil, adding malt extract.

HOPS

• 0.75 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 60 min.

• 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) – 30 min.

YEAST/FERMENTATION

MASH

• Single Infusion @ 150 degrees for 60 min.

• WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast or WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast will both get you close to Rivertowne’s house strain, but feel free to use any relatively clean European ale yeast you have on hand.

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Primary Fermentation: 10 days @ 68 degrees

Visit our tasting room and brewery located in the neighborhood of Lawrenceville 4901 Butler Street - Pittsburgh, PA roundaboutbeer.com

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HARD CIDER BRINED BBQ PORK TENDERLOIN

By Mindy Heisler-Johnson

N

othing to me pairs quite as well as apples and pork. Ok, perhaps that is overstating a bit, but it really is one of my most favorite flavor combinations in many different applications.

Brining happens to also be one of my favorite ways to prep meat for the grill. Not all meat, mind you, but poultry and pork are a thing that happen quite frequently around our house. With Mother Nature toying with my warm weather emotions, the pining for my grill has begun.

Brining is kind of like marinating, but different. No acid is used so the effect is more subtle. The idea is to soak your meat in a salt and water solution letting it absorb some of the liquid, making it more moist after it cooks. The salt will break down some proteins making it more tender and will let the flavorings added permeate. Corned beef, pastrami, bacon - all brined as their curing method before being cooked or smoked.

Not all cuts of meat are brined equally. You would want better cuts in for much less time than a lesser cut. Same as marinating, the more time in the more the meat will break down. Though, this is not always the desired effect. I don’t make my brines so powerful. I worry too much about overdoing it; on a good cut I brine for 12-24 hours.

A lesser cut gets 24 hours or more depending on what I am up to.

Your brine should be a balance of salty and sweet with a couple flavor enhancers in there. Some brines are more complex than others, but unless you are brining for days it is wasted effort. Brining doesn’t add aggressive flavors, like a rub or a marinade, but it does make for a superb piece of perfectly tender meat when it comes off the grill.

For this recipe, any cider will do, but I prefer dry because the apple flavor is usually more prevalent and less cloying. You’ll need to adjust the sugar if using a sweeter 22

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cider. My favorite things to use this on are pork tenderloin, pork loin chops, pork t-bone chops, chicken thighs, or chicken legs. Also included: a killer dry rub that I use after the brining magic that also just happens to be awesome on all the things we just discussed. How’s that for convenient?

I didn’t even get to the best part. It’s EASY. Seriously.

• 1-12oz bottle dry hard cider • 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar • 2 Tbsp kosher salt • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper • ½ tsp ground allspice (optional but I LOVE it) • 1 tsp Herbs de Provence (or dried thyme) Place everything in a sealable plastic bag, squish around until everything is dissolved, add a cleaned pork tenderloin, squeeze out the air to make sure everything is all covered, and throw it in the fridge. Forget about it for a day, plus or minus 12 hours on either end.

• ¼ cup dark brown sugar • 1 ½ Tbsp kosher salt • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper • 2 tsp ground mustard powder • 1 tsp ancho chili powder • 1 Tbsp smoked paprika • ½ tsp cayenne pepper (+/- based on taste) • 1 tsp ground ginger • 1 tsp ground cumin Remove from the brine, rinse, and pat dry with a paper towel. Mix up the ingredients for the dry rub and heat your grill. This rub recipe makes enough for two whole tenderloins. I put the leftovers in the fridge, which are handy to have around on a quickie dinner night.

Roll the tenderloins in the rub right before you’re ready to grill. Grill four minutes per side, remove from grill and let rest for 5-7 minutes before slicing.

This is great with anything you like to eat with barbecued food and tastes like you toiled over the grill forever when really, you didn’t have to at all!

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