Menu for DIYine 2019
Our seventh annual "DIYine: A Celebration of Homebrewing" is coming up on Saturday, March 30th, 6-10pm at the MAH. A benefit for the Bike Church, the event includes tastings of all manner of homemade wines, beers, meads, and soft drinks, as well as hors d'ouevres and live music. See our event page for more details and to buy tickets. Below is the menu for the evening.
Mead
Strawberry Hibiscus Mead by Greater Purpose Brewing Company
Locally grown sage honey makes the base of this colorful and floral mead. Strawberries and hibiscus flower added during fermentation complement the honey and add a pleasant flavor and aroma.
Lemon Heather Mead by Dew Honeywine
A lightly carbonated and softly floral mead made with California Wildflower Honey, heather flowers, and lemon. Heather is a flowering herb native to Northern Europe that has a long history of use in brewing and mead making. Its subtle flavor comes through in this crisp, uplifting mead and is balanced with a touch of lemon.
Persephone Mead by Dew Honeywine
She is wild, tart, dry and sparkling. She's made of wildflower honey and the fresh pressed juices of pomegranate, blood orange, and zinfandel grapes. Rosé-like, yet true to her standing as an experimental Dew Honeywine.
Seabright Guava Mead by Dew Honeywine
A tart, light, sparkling mead made with local Pineapple Guava from our backyard fruit tree in Seabright. Tasting notes include sour candies such as smarties and pop-rocks; but if you've ever tasted a local Pineapple Guava, this unique flavor will be unmistakable!
Liqueurs & Fortified Wines
Loquat Seed Amaretto by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
Loquats are a very abundant urban fruit that, while popular in Asia, are more-often overlooked and underused here in Santa Cruz. Harvested primarily for its sweet flesh, the large seeds are usually discarded, but in this case were dried, then soaked in grain alcohol with sugar, vanilla beans, rose petals, & lemon verbena. The seeds impart an almondy but slightly bitter flavor, yielding an amaretto-like liquor which is great for sipping, adding to coffee, or in mixed drinks.
Blood Orange-Cardamom Liqueur by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
An opportunistic creation, this liqueur was inspired by a gallon of dried blood oranges left behind by a housemate who moved away. Mediocre as a food product, the dried oranges proved an excellent basis for an infused liqueur, with cardamom, grain alcohol, and simple syrup.
Plum Port by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
Inspired by traditional sweet port wines made from grapes, this 'port' was created from plum wine leftover from previous DIYine events. The wines began with plums leftover from urban gleaning events with the Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project, which were too soft and smushy to give away. Some of the original dry wine was transformed into a deliciously sweet-tart dessert wine by adding grain alcohol and sugar.
Grape Wines
2003 Cabernet Franc by Jessy Beckett Parr & Damian Parr
This offering began as a “mystery red wine”: a case of unlabeled bottles in Jessy and Damian's farm shed. Later they figured out it was a Cab Franc they helped to crush and bottle with Jessy's father, who grew the grapes. Always label your brews!
Merlot Rosé by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
The creep of residential real estate into farmland leads to odd situations. In 2016, Stacey paid to pick Merlot grapes from a remnant of a vineyard now enclosed as part of a gated community in Hollister. Some of the grapes were crushed into a must to make red wine; others were pressed immediately to make this Merl-rosé. Other ingredients used were campden tablets, wine yeast and oak chips.
Petit Syrah Rosé by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
This offering was made with grapes harvested in a “u-pick” arrangement in Brentwood, coordinated by Cal Wine Broker. Picked in 2017, we split the harvest for red and rosé. Made with just grapes, campden tablets, yeast, and oak chips.
Wild White: Chardonnay-Malvasia Blend by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
This unique wine, like many fermentation adventures, did not turn out exactly as intended. Although it was only quite recently that humans learned to identify and isolate specific strains of yeast, modern wine-making takes great care to exclude wild yeasts. In this case some wily microbes got in the mix, leading to a drinkable but decidedly different 2015 California white.
Fruit, Flower, & Herb Wines
Elderflower & Star Anise Wine by Shoshana Perrey of Liberation Supper Club
A natural wild fermentation with elderflower (sambucus nigra) foraged in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. After a double ferment in a glass carboy, the wine was bottled at 5 months. Of approximately 24 bottles, these are the last of them, which have now aged for five years. Pairs excellently with marzipan and rochefort blue cheese.
Rhubarb-Raisin Wines: Sweet and Dry by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
On overload of garden rhubarb was mixed with raisins, water, and sugar plus some tannins and orange zest to create a pleasant wine with hints of sherry. One batch is a sweet dessert wine, as we've served in previous years. The other batch turned out unexpectedly dry, but still tasty.
Scrounged Strawberry Wine by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
When opportunity knocks, Stacey is ready to make wine out of it. After a Bike to School Day event at Santa Cruz High, Stacey combined leftover strawberries with water, sugar, and a little orange juice, acid blend, tannin, & yeast to make strawberry wine.
2014 Westside Plum Wine by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
This wine started from a single, enormous tree in Westside Santa Cruz gleaned with the Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project. The firmer plums went home as fresh fruit, while the softer ones were mashed by hand before adding yeast and sugar. The juice was left to ferment with the skins and pits for a week before straining. Although there is added sugar, the final product is a tart, dry red wine.
Plumpricot Wine by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
This wine began with two varieties of yellow plums gleaned with the Fruit Tree Project in 2016, mixed with some apricots and a few peaches from the farmers' market. Mashed fruit was mixed with water, sugar, and wine yeast, and fermented for several days before straining off the solids.
Parsley Wine by Stacey Falls & Steve Schnaar
According to the book Making Wild Wines & Meads, “parsley wine is crisp and fresh-tasting, and great for digestion.” When our Italian parsley grew into a vigorous shrub that no amount of drying could put to use, Steve decided to test the recipe, which includes sugar, oranges, lemon juice, cloves, & yeast. The result is a unique wine which is drinkable but definitely bordering on medicinal.
Ciders & Apple Wine
2018 Golden Delicious Cyder by Sam Ellis, Bry Smith, Luke Wilson, Sean Crossno, Ryan Ableson, Elan Goldbart, Toby Wingo
A dry wild-fermented naturally-carbonated unfiltered cyder made from the 2018 harvest of Golden Delicious apples from Graton, CA. The sweet and gentle flavors of the golden delicious apples transform into a surprisingly dry gentle and subtle cyder. Stronger than it tastes: 9% ABV
2018 Newtown Pippin Cyder by Sam Ellis, Bry Smith, Luke Wilson, Sean Crossno, Ryan Ableson, Elan Goldbart, Toby Wingo
A dry wild-fermented naturally-carbonated unfiltered cyder made from the 2018 harvest of Golden Newtown Pippins apples from Corralitos, CA. Our first foray into large production with apples other than Golden Delicious. These apples come from an orchard which has been supplying Martinelli's for years, and was fermented with a mix of wild yeasts from the apples as well as yeasts from our Golden Delicious cyder. A medium apple flavor, with notes of rose. 7.5% ABV
2016 Oaked Golden Delicious Apple Wine by Sam Ellis, Bry Smith, Luke Wilson, Sean Crossno, Ryan Ableson, Elan Goldbart, Toby Wingo
A dry wild-fermented cyder made from the 2016 harvest of Golden Delicious apples from Graton, CA. This cyder, after completing fermentation was filtered and aged on oak staves prior to bottling. Fashioned to be more like a Sauvignon Blanc than your standard cyder, this Apple Wine is not carbonated, and is best served chilled. 9% ABV
Painted Dog Cider by Andy and Betsy Firebaugh and friends
Like its namesake, the wild African painted dog, our cider was brewed to be a bit sweet and sour, and have a good solid bite. The apples were raised free-range, organic-friendly and cage-free in Bonny Doon and Summit Road (thank you Terrie, Ken and Pam). The harvest included red delicious, granny smith, golden delicious, and several heirloom variety apples. After a loving hand crushing and pressing, the golden juice was fermented with saison yeast. We added just a bit of sugar to back-sweeten and to help add a bubbly bounce. We hope you’ll not forget the bite of a wild painted dog.
Beer
This year, our beer selection is not strictly homebrew, but also includes a homebrew hobby grown into a small business, and offerings from two professional breweries:
Buddy Brew Organic Craft Beers is a small scale micro-brewery that has been providing beers, champagne, ciders, and various hard fruit and spice concoctions for over 11 years, along with a line of kombucha labeled Hippie Hooch. They use all organic ingredients, as much as possible from local and wild sources. Available by special order only – email [email protected] for details.
Stormwater Stout – Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or roasted barley, traditionally a generic term for the strongest (our stoutest) porters. This brew is an Imperial stout with low hop bitterness, medium body, and lighter roasted malt flavor (7.2% ABV).
Playa Wit – A Belgian unfiltered wheat beer with low hop bitterness, malty sweetness, coriander, lime zest, and subtle undertones of banana and clove (5.5% ABV).
Suckin' Sour - aged to be extremely sour, with low hop bitterness (5.5% ABV).
Greater Purpose Brewing Company is a restaurant and brewery opening soon in downtown Santa Cruz, in affiliation with Greater Purpose Community Church. They'll donate 30% to 60% of profits to charities like Planned Parenthood, the Homeless Garden Project, the Diversity Center, & Save Our Shores. On Sunday, the space will host a church service before opening up to the public. Like their church, the restaurant will be open to be people of all faiths/no faith, gender, sexual, and ethnic-racial identities.
Blackberry Wheat Ale - A unique combination of wheat, caramels and locally grown blackberries. A cold steep of fresh basil adds a nice complexity to the berry background.
Blood Orange IPA - This refreshing and zesty IPA has a solid base of 2-row, caramels, & a little Vienna for some body and color. The flavor and aroma is a bright blend of the orange zest and the citrus and floral notes from Citra & Mosaic hops.
2013 Apricot Sour by Sam Ellis, Bry Smith, Luke Wilson, Sean Crossno, Ryan Ableson, Elan Goldbart, Toby Wingo
An extremely wild sour beer; brewed with apricots. 4% ABV
Gluten-Free Ales by Ground Breaker Brewing, a 100% gluten-free brewery in Portland, crafting a variety of year-round and seasonal ales. After two years of experimenting with different grains and ingredients on a homebrew scale, they landed on recipes using lentils and roasted chestnuts that produce award-winning craft beers. While this is now a production scale brewery, rather than homebrewing, it was an interesting addition to the event we hope might inspire some gluten-free guests to try making their own.
Olallie Ale - Olallie is brewed with blackberries and rose hips and then finished with copious amounts of Crystal hops for a classic Northwest aroma. At the same time Olallie has been kept light and dry with only a hint of bitterness.
Pale Ale - Pale Ale is brewed to be bright and crisp. Dry-hopped with Cascade and Meridian hops to provide a floral aroma with elements of citrus and pine.
Dark Ale - Dark Ale uses very dark, near espresso-like, roasted chestnuts and lentils along with dark Belgian-style candi sugar for a roasty flavor and aroma with notes of chocolate and dark fruits.
IPA No.5 - Brewed with roasted chestnuts, roasted lentils, and Belgian-style candi sugar. Crystal and Santiam hops are used during the boil and for dry-hopping. Crystal hops bring the classic Northwest IPA pine and citrus notes while Santiam adds hints of tropical and stone fruits.
Soft Drinks and Probiotics
Water Kefir by Anne Berne
Kefir is a live-culture beverage made from sweetened water or juice, fermented with grain-like colonies of yeast and bacteria. This batch started with kefir grains, water, sugar, raisins, and salt, with other fruits added for flavoring.
Breath of Fire Ginger Beer by Stacey Falls and Steve Schnaar
Brewed in the UK since at least the mid 18th century, the proud ginger beers of times past have given way to mass-produced sodas whose sickly-sweet sugar or corn syrup flavor is their most prominent feature. This ginger beer pulls no punches, packing a hefty dose of fresh ginger root, along with water, sugar, neighborhood lemons, & a pinch of cayenne. It was carbonated in the bottle with wine yeast.
Wild-foraged Tree Blossom and Conifer Tip Sparkler by Shoshana Perrey, Liberation Supper Club
Foraged in the Santa Cruz mountains, these blossoms attract natural yeasts and their pollen contributes a delicious dairy-like flavor to the beverage. Fresh spring conifer tips are full of vitamin C, which impart a tartness and “green” flavor. Drawing from the warmth of a sunny window and natural yeast, the added organic sugar syrup feeds the natural yeasts and ferments to a lightly effervescent drink that bears less than 1% alcohol and very low residual sugars.
Root Beer by Stacey Falls and Steve Schnaar
Root beer has its origins in colonial America, in a collection of local brews (some alcoholic, others not) made with a variety of herbs, barks, and roots. This delicious offering includes sarsaparilla, wintergreen, sassafras, licorice, ginger, vanilla, star anise, sugar, and water, with a bit of wine yeast for carbonation.
Lavender Lemonade by Stacey Falls and Steve Schnaar
Lemonade is a classic refreshment known the world over, with many variations. Tonight’s offering utilized abundant local resources here in Santa Cruz, including backyard lemons and garden lavender.
Amazake by Sara Falls
A traditional Asian sweet drink, this precursor to sake is made by adding koji (a type of mold) to cooked brown rice. Nothing else is added; the sweetness comes through the breakdown of complex starches in the rice into simpler sugars. Amazake can be served thick as a pudding or thinned to make a beverage.