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oysters

Oysters and beer. Oysters in beer?

by Jacob Grier on February 26, 2010

Upright Brewing, one of the best new breweries operating today, has an intriguing new beer coming out tonight: Oyster Stout. Made in collaboration with the soon-to-be-open Alchemy Brewing, the new beer is a traditional stout made with oyster liquor and fresh oysters cooked right in the brewing kettle. It sounds crazy, but this style of beer has been enjoying a small revival this year. Brewer Alex Ganum describes it as “a distinctly full-bodied and creamy stout with a touch of brine on the finish.”

The natural pairing with this beer is of course oysters. Oysters and stout go well together, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the brine in this beer matches them even better. If you’re in Portland you’ll have at least two chances to try it. Tonight is Upright’s release party from 4:30-9 in their tasting room at the Left Bank Project. Then on Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 pm, we’re bringing a keg to Branch Whiskey Bar on Alberta St. Branch will have fresh oysters, housemade sausages, and plenty of whiskey to go with the oyster stout. I’ll be working a guest shift behind the bar as well, serving up beer and cocktails for the first time since Carlyle’s closure. Both events should be a lot of fun, so I hope to see many of you there to try this unusual ale.

Previously: Upright’s Flora Rustica Saison made an appearance in a tasty drink at our NovemBEER for Charity cocktail event

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The new war on raw

by Jacob Grier on November 6, 2009

Forget raw milk. The big new conflict is over raw oysters:

In an effort to reduce cases of a rare, but potentially fatal, bacterial illness contracted from raw oysters, the FDA announced new rules this month that will require any oyster served from April through October to undergo a sterilization process before it can be sold in restaurants or on the market.

The rule will essentially eliminate raw oysters — at least as Louisianans know them — from restaurant menus for seven months of the year. Even oysters that will eventually be cooked during those months would have to go through the same cleansing process before being added to any dish, a move some say would undermine the culinary integrity of some of New Orleans’ most famous delicacies.

The illness in question is serious but rare, and primarily affects only those with weakened immune systems:

The vibrio vulnificus disease, the target of the FDA initiative, affects about 30 individuals per year nationwide who eat raw oysters from Gulf Coast. About half of those who get the disease, which invades the bloodstream and can cause a severe fever and skin lesions, eventually die.

But those most at risk from vibrio are people who already have immune system disorders, such as AIDS, cancer, kidney disease, diabetes or alcohol abuse.

As is typical of the FDA, the agency is choosing coercion over education and ignoring the right of adults to take a calculated risk in pursuit of culinary delicacies. The new rules will also favor large oyster operations and hurt small businesses, due to the large capital investments required to sterilize the oysters. It will surely lead to a robust black market in unsterilized oysters too.

The rule won’t take effect until 2011, so there’s still some chance to save raw oysters from the FDA’s overreach.

[Via Ryan Young's excellent Regulation of the Day feature.]

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