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Lisa Morrison, food writer for dozens of television station web sites
across the nation, is also an avid beercook. She cooks up everything
from Chimay-steamed clams, to more conceptual fare such as a recipe
for revenge....
The leading SudsSister teaches "Beer Appreciation for Women"
classes at Portland Brewing Co.
It's a misconception that women just like wine and froufrou cocktails,
says Morrison. "They simply haven't developed their beer buds
yet," she says.
The
SudsSisters started with just a chat. At a beer tasting, Lisa met
Fred Bowman, one of the co-founders of Portland Brewing, and talked
with him about the importance of women to the growth of the craft
brewing market. Bowman said the beer industry "has ignored half
the population for too long."
So
now, Morrison takes over the tasting room of the Portland Brewing
Co. for her classes, spreading the gospel of good beer to thirsty
women. During the SudsSisters beer appreciation classes, Morrison
starts the tastings with lighter beer styles and progresses to the
higher gravity brews. (You can see a version of her class tasting
notes at realbeer.com). The surprise for many of the women is that
they wind up preferring the more complex beers such as Belgian-style
strong ales and stouts.
As
for that recipe for revenge...Lisa and I had a great time cooking
up new ads to market the craft beer industry to women. Here's a bit
of background: we were both laughing about the Coors Twins ads and
Lisa filled me in.
"I
don't know if you heard about this, but Coors actually took down one
of those buxom billboards near my house after the ads first came out.
It seems there is a very sneaky group that goes around spray painting
billboards to change their messages. The group is very against using
sex to sell because they changed the "here's to twins" message
to something like "here's to using sexism." Coors just decided
to take the thing down instead of risking having the GRRL graffiti
done again to a fresh one. Ha ha! Those wacky Portlanders!
What say you and I do our own TV beer ad? Here's my "fantasy"
ad for the night:
You and I are having a lovely conversation in a nice, plush bar when
two glasses of macro-brew arrive at our table, courtesy of the handsome
chaps in the booth across the bar.
We both take one look at the pale concoctions, and without hesitation,
we each pick up the men's offerings, smiling at the men as we get
up from our tables and approach their booth. The men obviously are
impressed with their prowess until, as we walk by, we dump the beers
in their laps.
We
lean over and smile at them ever-so sweetly and say, "Next time,
try buying real women a real beer."
The
final shot is of the soggy men looking shocked as we saunter out the
door of the bar.
Fade to black."
Sounds
like a recipe for revenge after suffering through too many tasteless
beer ads....But
fear not, here's something more delicious to try:
Chimay
Clams
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bunch green onion, minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 stick butter
1 bottle Chimay red
2-3 dozen fresh clams
Add
all ingredients except clams in a large 1-gallon stockpot fitted with
a lid; place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. When steaming,
add cleaned clams. Cover and let cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shells
open. Do not overcook! Ladle into bowls with some of the cooking broth.
Serve with crusty bread and, of course, more Chimay. Recipe from Lisa
Morrison.
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