Stone Brewing Co., a California craft brewery known for its Arrogant Bastard Ale and other well-named, well-crafted artisan drinks, has released a new beer to support aid efforts for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster. All proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

The Japanese Green Tea IPA (India Pale Ale) is a collaboration between Stone Brewing, Ishii Brewing Co. of Guam and Baird Brewing Company of Numazu, Japan.

Toshi Ishii, a former Stone brewer, contacted Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele shortly after the Japanese disaster with a proposal to make a beer that could help with recovery efforts. They circled in Bryan Baird, a brewer in Japan.

The three brewers naturally selected green tea as an ingredient. IPA was chosen as a style that would accentuate the tea’s herbal character. The recipe includes Sorachi Ace, a variety of hops originally developed in Japan, as well as Pacifica, Crystal, Warrior and Aramis, a new hops cultivar from the Alsace region of France.

The ale is available in 12-ounce bottles with a suggested retail price of $2.49-$3.49. Find a distributor near you.*

Party Idea

Have a party to benefit Japanese disaster victims. Serve Green Tea IPA and collect donations for the Red Cross. You can make an online donation for Japan via the American Red Cross.

While the March 2011 disaster is no longer in the news, the victims will need aid for many years to come.

*The beer is available in AK, AZ, CA,CO, FL, IL, KY, MA, MN, NC, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TX, VA, VT and WA.

Summertime and the livin’ is easy—with a
refreshing wheat beer. Photo of German
Weizenbier by Ukko | Wikimedia.

Summer beers have been brewed for centuries, pioneered by Belgian and German brewers. Recipes were developed to make the beer crisper and more thirst-quenching, with moderate alcohol (lower alcohol drinks are recommended as the temperature rises).

First, a portion of the malted barley—often 50% or more—is replaced with wheat, which adds refreshing acidity and creates a lighter-bodied beer. The result is a category called witbier, weissbier or white beer, referring to the paler color of the brew.

American brewers make many beers based on these two styles.

Get to know wheat beer by having a wheat beer tasting.

You can have a dedicated beer tasting, or combine it with a cookout. It’s a fun and enlightening summer event.

1. Check out the selection at your local market. We find that the best number for a tasting is a dozen, but try fewer if you prefer.

2. Look for imported witbier, weissbier, hefeweizen and kristallweizen. American brews are called wheat beer or summer beer—for example, Samuel Adams Summer Ale. It’s brewed with malted wheat, lemon peel and grains of paradise (melegueta pepper), a rare African spice related to cardamom that was first used for brewing in the 13th century.

3. Set the beers on a table with small tasting cups (two-ounce plastic cups work well).

4. Do some online research and print out descriptions of each beer, including name and price. Tape them onto the table in front of each beer.

5. Provide index cards or blank paper, plus pens, so guests can write down their favorites along with tasting notes.

Catch up on the different types of beer in our Beer Glossary.

We’ve tried a few vitamin water drinks over the years, where either a tablet or a powder is added to a bottle of water immediately before consumption. Every one we tried tasted, well, yucky.

The first brand we’d drink because it actually tastes good is Activate Workout. It’s produced by The Rising Beverage Company, which makes other enhanced waters as well.

According to the company, which conducted research with an independent analytical laboratory, vitamins and other active ingredients lose their potency sitting in water.

So they created a release-top bottle cap. Twist the cap and the active ingredients fall into the water. Shake the bottle and drink.

We tried two of the four flavors, which include Grape, Lulo Pear,* Passionfruit and Pink Grapefruit.

*Lulo, also known as naranjilla or “little orange,” is a South American fruit that tastes like rhubarb and lime—perhaps with a hint of pineapple.

One serving (8 ounces) provides 50% DV of vitamins B6, niacin (B3), pantheonic acid (B5) and vitamin B12, plus 240% DV of vitamin C. By consuming the full bottle, you’ve had your DV of these five vitamins, plus small amounts of vitamins A and E.

That being said, we never really “got” vitamin-infused water, except as a marketing ploy. None of the brands we’ve seen provides a well-rounded complement of vitamins. It’s more about feeling good that you’ve made a healthy choice. (And a lot of people feel good about it: Vitamin-enhanced waters is a sizable and growing category.)

Activate Workout contains 0 calories and no preservatives. It is naturally (and pleasantly) sweetened with stevia. The line is certified kosher by OU.

There’s a store locator on the website. You can download a coupon there, or purchase from the website.

The company is also a good corporate citizen:

 
We like the colorful bottles, and have repurposed them as water bottles. As for the vitamins, we’ll continue to take what we need in tablet and capsule forms.
  

When you’re grilling steak, lamb, pork or chicken, grill enough meat to enjoy in a cold salad the next day.

For example, the recipe below, for a balsamic-marinated steak salad, was meant to be served warm. We doubled the recipe and enjoyed the dish again two days later, with the meat cool (it warmed up on the counter). The basic recipe for four uses one pound of steak. If your family eats larger portions, plan accordingly.

BALSAMIC STEAK SALAD WITH BLUEBERRY DRESSING

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Marinate Time: 30 minutes (longer if you can)
Cook Time: 16 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

 
Preparation
1. Make dressing: Place 3/4 cup of the blueberries, 2 tablespoons of the marinade, sugar, water and lemon juice in food processor. Cover and process until smooth. Refrigerate dressing until ready to serve.

2. Place steak in large resealable plastic bag or glass dish. Add 1/4 cup of the remaining marinade; turn to coat well. Refrigerate 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor. Remove steak from marinade. Discard any remaining marinade—it will contain bacteria from the raw meat.

3. Grill steak over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes per side or until desired doneness, brushing with the remaining 2 tablespoons of marinade. Let steak rest for 15 minutes; cut into thin slices.

4. Divide salad greens evenly among 4 serving plates. Top each with steak slices. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup blueberries, feta and onion. Serve with dressing.

MORE GRILLED SALAD RECIPES

Grilled Thai Lamb & Asparagus Salad
Lamb Salad With Cucumber & Watercress
Thai Beef Salad

There are more than 40 The Capital Grill restaurants in the U.S. We’ve only been to one, and it’s a class act. It has become our restaurant of choice when we’re going to dinner with people who want a steak-and-seafood evening with good wine.

If this is up your alley, The Capital Grille is offering the best wine tasting deal we know of:

Now through September 4th, for just $25 with dinner, you can have as much as you want of nine sparkling, white and red wines, including a Port-style dessert wine from Australia (charmingly called The Portly Gentleman). Known as the Generous Pour, if purchased by the bottle, the wine tab would be almost $800.

At a recent dinner, we opted in and tried all nine Generous Pour wines. We declare it the best $25 restaurant wine experience—as well as an enlightening, fun and delicious evening.

You can have your wines any way you want them, including pours of any and all nine wines and refills of your favorites.

The ability to try so many wines with dinner—to compare and contrast—is a wonderful experience. Do you prefer the La Cana albariño or the St. Jean chardonnay with oysters on the half shell? Try it and decide (we preferred the albariño).

We had both whites, the Crémant and a Byron Bay pinot noir with our salmon—and confirmed that we continue to prefer pinot noir to white wine for pairing with salmon.

Those who ordered steak had five different reds to compare, both international and from California. We accepted “donations” of meat from their generous portions to try with the reds.

At this point we should have called it quits and let The Portly Gentleman suffice as dessert.

But no: We allowed ourselves to be seduced by the rich dessert menu (cheesecake, coconut cream pie, crème brûlée, flourless chocolate espresso cake and some lighter temptations).

A wine pairing dinner is a wonderful way to spend an evening with friends or colleagues, sharing good food and wine adventures. The wine selection was specially chosen by Master Sommelier George Miliotes to complement both the menu and the season.

You can send someone a gift card to the Capital Grille. What a great gift (hint, hint)!