I just finished reading “Flavor” by Bob Holmes – what an interesting read!

In his book, he mentions hyper-aerating wine by putting it in a blender. It really brings the wine to life, making the wine more vibrant and flavorful. There is a down side; the wine will fade and lose its luster in an hour or so. So, if 6 of you are sharing a bottle, using the blender technique is a great idea. If Mrs. Adventures and I are splitting a bottle over a long romantic dinner, blending the wine is not a good idea. It will lose its vibrancy before we finish the bottle.

I do like wine but my passion is beer (and Mrs. Adventures, of course!) I have a battery-powered stirrer that we often use to make hot chocolate. Inspired by Bob Holmes, I used the stirrer to put a healthy head on a rare beer club imperial stout, Sin & Remorse.

It is funny, this 10% imperial stout poured with almost no head, probably due to the high ABV. As you can see by the picture above, the stirrer foamed up my pint of Sin & Remorse nicely, bringing out lots of roasted coffee flavors and a beautiful brown head.

We tried another similar beer, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, a 6% porter. Instead of using the stirrer, I aggressively poured this one and got similar results. Also, this toasty porter had similar qualities to Sin & Remorse, roasted coffee, just less ABV. I now wonder if stirring would have brought out more flavor even though the head was almost as impressive.

Porters and stouts are not known for their aroma. I want to try my stirrer technique on a fragrant ale, like a NE IPA. Sounds like another adventure!

Cheers!

Warren