Open Flavor Friday - Cascadia Shale Ale returns, uncommon foods

Once upon a time Sounder at Heart partnered with NW Peaks to produce Cascadia Shale Ale. That CDA is now available again at The Bergschrund. You can taste the beer that captures the spirit of the Sounders in January. I know I'm going to head up to Ballard and do so.

Cascadian Dark Ales (or American-style India Dark Ales) carry the hop flavors of the Pacific Northwest, a hint of roast and/or chocolate. We brewed Cascadia Shale Ale using chocolate malt for flavor and black malt for some extra color. We added generous amounts of NW style hops throughout the boil creating a nice piney and citrus hop character complementing the creamy chocolate notes. In honor of the Sounders foundation in 1974 this brew comes in measuring at 74 IBU, and of course bears the name and style that makes it uniquely a Seattle Sounders inspired beer.

It isn't a winter warmer, but it is wonderful. Go. Do beer things.

Out in the upper Midwest a chef created a restaurant that will serve Lakota inspired foods. He went with the punny name Sioux Chef. It sounds like an intriguing concept - reintroducing foods for an ethnic group often ignored by the Applebee's/Chili's/Red Robin eating American consumer.

Sure, you can find Mexican and Tex-Mex, even Baja style foods as well, but once you get a bit further north the foods of the First Peoples disappeared. Even those are mainly a blend of Spanish, native and now American concepts.

Sometimes it is hard to explore foods outside of our own ethnic groups and the vague 'Americana.' Here in Cascadia it is quite easy to find things from throughout East Asia, modern Northwest, Italian and some others, but it is good to explore flavor combinations that disrupt your expectations.

This is basically my declaration that I would love to try modern Salish foods.

This is your weekly OFF topic thread.