Photo by Justin Lewis

At Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, Brewmaster Kirk Hillyard did just that.  Starting as a teenager he began home brewing and mid-way through college decided to make it his profession. 

Luckily for those of us in the SF Bay area he also decided to do it in his hometown where we can sample his brews.  I  recently visited with Kirk at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company.  Today he shares some advice for home brewers aiming to go pro and tells us about his brewing process.  He also reveals some trends in brewing that make the parallels of wine making and beer brewing even stronger...

Q: Transitioning from a hobby of home brewing to a profession is an accomplishment to be proud of - what words of wisdom do you have for other home brewers looking to make the leap?

Kirk: Getting work in a brewery can be difficult, there aren't many positions available at any given time, and not a lot of turnover.  Much of it has to do with being at the right place at the right time.  If you are serious about brewing, you kind of have to bug every brewer in your area and hope maybe they'll let you clean kegs or something and just get your foot in the door.  Many home brewers think it would be fun to brew professionally until they realize that most of a brewer's day-to-day work isn't brewing, it's cleaning.  I think it's similar to being a professional chef; many people have a romantic view of the job until they realize the work isn't so glamorous, it's work!  So I guess my advice would be: if you are really passionate about beer, be ready to pay your dues in the form of odd hours, little pay, and soggy feet when you get home.

Q: You've compared brewing to cooking.  In cooking the technique and the ingredients are most important.  Can you tell us a bit about the ingredients you use when brewing at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company?  How many different types of malt to you use? What dictates which you use etc?

Kirk: There are really infinite ingredients you can use when making beer, but generally you are sticking to the big four: water, malt, hops, and yeast.  Fortunately, the water can be treated with salts to emulate the water from different regions and create different flavors, and there are many different types of malt, hops, and yeast that a brewer can play with.  We use about a dozen different hops and two dozen different malts at the brewery.  Right now I have four different yeasts which all produce unique flavor profiles.  Half Moon Bay is not a big brewery, our focus is really on quality, and we use the best ingredients we can get.  If I am brewing a German-style beer, I like to use German malt and hops.  The same goes for styles from other regions.  By bringing in the best ingredients from around the world we can make some really delicious and authentic beers.

Photo by Justin Lewis

Kirk: As a brewer, your main objective is creating a sugar and nutrient rich solution for the yeast to ferment.  To accomplish this you grind up malt and mix it with warm water.  The temperature of this "mash" will determine how much of the sugar will be able to be fermented by the yeast; typical brewer's yeast can only ferment simple sugars.  A cooler mash will produce drier beers, whereas a warmer mash will produce beers with more sweetness and mouthfeel.  During the mash, enzymes in the malt break down complex carbohydrates into sugars.  This sugary solution, called "wort," is then slowly drained into the kettle where it is brought to a rolling boil.  Boiling sterilizes the wort, precipitates proteins, and extracts bitterness from the hops.  Hops added at the beginning of the boil contribute bitterness, while hops added towards the end of the boil contribute flavor and aroma.  After the boil, the wort is pumped through a heat exchanger (which cools it so we don't cook our yeast) and into a fermenter.  Yeast is added, and fermentation begins.  We brew mostly ales, which take about 6-10 days (depending on the strength of the brew) to ferment at around 68 degrees F.  Then the beers are dropped to just above freezing, clarified, conditioned, and are ready to drink about three weeks from the day they were brewed.

Q: Similar to a chef's training, one can go to school to learn to be a brewmaster or learn on the job without a formal education. You took the formal route, is this what you would recommend for up and coming brewmasters?

Kirk:  I went to beer school because I wanted to jump-start my career.  A formal education will teach you a lot about the science, history, and theory of brewing, but on the job training is the most important.  Many great brewers have no formal education.  I was lucky to work for an experienced brewer, Alec Moss, who taught me everything I know in regards to running a brewery.  I also worked for a brewer in England who was a former coal miner and had no formal education.  I don't think he knew a lot of the scientific aspects of the brewing process, but he sure knew how to make awesome beer.  So I think it really depends on the route you want to take, but remember you will learn a lot more in the brewery (especially when things go wrong) than in the classroom.

Q: In the culinary world, there are many trends, some longer lived, others shorter. One of the current trends is associated with eating local seasonal ingredients. What are some of the current trends in the brewing world?
 
Kirk: Hoppy beers will always be popular, especially on the West Coast, but I would say the biggest trend right now is using wild yeast and bacteria for fermentation, creating sour and funky beers.  Before our modern understanding of microbiology, most all beers had at least a hint of sourness.  There are some historic beer styles that are very sour, and a lot of fun to create.  Some breweries are even building large wooden vats to age beer.  I enjoy aging beer in barrels because I feel like I have less control of the final product than with more standard beers, and that serendipity makes it fun (especially when it comes out tasting really good).  This is a great time to be a brewer because consumers are really opening their mind to how complex the flavors of beer can be.

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Recently while attending the Oprah Winfrey "Live Your Best Life Weekend " event in New York City I had an opportunity to sit down and spend a few minutes with the very charming Top Chef Season two finalist Chef Sam Talbot.  Sam was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at age 11 was at the Oprah event as a spokesperson for Truvia who was also an event sponsor.

Like many other Top Chef contestants Sam's life has been an absolute whirl-wind of events, both positive and negative, since competing in Top Chef including television appearances on The Jimmy Fallon show and the Real Housewives of New York City.  But through all of this, his focus on opening great restaurants, producing even greater food, and educating others about Type I Diabetes has been paramount. 

Chef Talbot who was born in Ohio but raised in Charlotte, North Carolina began his culinary career working at Dean & DeLuca in Charlotte at age 16.  Later he trained at Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, but eventually left to spend time in the trenches alongside his mentor Chef James Burns of J. Bistro in Charleston. Interestingly, the reason Chef Talbot did not graduate from Johnson & Wales was an unfortunate accident in a mosh pit at a Beastie Boys concert which left him with a broken foot and unable to complete his studies at the time.

Chef Talbot eventually found his way to New York City where he worked as the executive chef for the Black Duck, and soon after opened the Williamsburgh Café in Brooklyn.  Currently, he is the executive Chef of The Surf Lodge in Montauk, New York and is awaiting the opening of his next restaurant in the trendy new Mondrian Hotel in New York City this fall. 

Keep reading to find out what else I learned about this Top Chef…

Q. When were you diagnosed with Diabetes? What were the signs or symptoms?

A. I was diagnosed at age 11, my uncle had Diabetes as a child so my mom knew exactly what signs to look for.  Frequent urination, dry mouth, and I was real lethargic, all the typical signs that you read or hear about.

Q. How does Diabetes influence your work if any? What are the challenges?

A. Diabetes influences everything I do. I've always been very careful to live the healthiest lifestyle that I can and I try to have that reflect my cooking as well.  I cook seasonally, using whole foods.  I'm a big supporter of the whole farm to table movement that's happening in this country and making good food that's simple to prepare.  Most of my dishes only contain about 4 or 5 ingredients.  I don't really see having Diabetes as a challenge in my cooking.  I suppose if I was a pastry chef then it would be a little different.

Q. Unfortunately I didn't watch much of Top Chef Season 2, tell me a little about that experience.

A. Well I did very well, I came in third at the end.  The experience was a real eye-opener, it taught me how to take criticism without me compromising my cooking philosophy, and obviously its opened many professional doors for me.

Q. What cooking advice do you have for parents with diabetic children?

A. I'm actually working on a book right now for parents with diabetic children.  But the best advice I can give them is to keep things simple, use lots of fresh ingredients, the best that you can afford, and get the kids involved in the cooking process from purchasing the food to preparing it in the kitchen.

Q. What other projects are you working on?

A. Well besides the book, I have the new restaurant opening in the fall, and even possibly more television.  But the restaurants are my number one focus, no one wants to read a book or watch a show by a chef whose food in the kitchen is not top notch.

Thank you, Chef Talbot, for taking the time to speak with us and letting us know what you've been up to post Top Chef. 

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Falling in love on a first date is a dream for many, right? But what happens when you fall in love with the food and the chef who makes it rather than your actual date?  I'll tell you.  You go back to the restaurant again and again...alone.

The restaurant is Kuma Inn and the Chef is King Phojanakong.  A native to New York City who grew up in a Filipino and Thai household, he has mastered the fusion between his multiple culinary experiences.  Accessing the freshest ingredients the North East has to offer, he prepares a menu based on the Filipino community style of dining.  A Filipino version of tapas, if you will.  Each dish and ingredient (yes, I have tried them all) has clearly been thought out and prepared by a skilled chef; however, the genius of Chef King's food stems from the fact that his food feels like home cooking (granted no food I could ever make).  It's unpretentious, tasty, and is obviously made with passion and love.  

Recently Chef King opened Kuma Inn's sister restaurant Umi Nom in Brooklyn and on my first visit I prepared to fall in love all over again.  He did not disappoint.  With the same approach to the menu, Umi Nom has a similar feel food-wise and again is victorious in placing renowned food in an unaffected location.  This time next to a Laundromat.

Having had the opportunity to shake his masterful hand once, I finally had the pleasure of asking Chef King some questions.

Q: When did you know that you wanted to become a chef?

King Phojanakong: Growing up my mom cooked mostly every meal for our family so I always loved eating.  We also always ate together which I think has been lost in today's culture.  At first though, my career was in energy management at the Community Environment Center.  I was involved with what is now the Green Movement, but this was in the 90's.  I traveled around New York City and became the guy people would call to ask where they should eat.  At the time, I was also bartending at the World Yacht Club.  There I inquired about the kitchen and the cook let me work weekends without any prior experience.  I loved it, so I applied to the Culinary Institute of America.  I did my externship at Daniel at the height of its popularity.  Working in that intense kitchen was quite an experience.  I saw grown men cry because they over cooked one steak.  I survived, though, and the rest is history.  

Q: What's the hardest challenge in creating your own menu and restaurant?

King Phojanakong: Opening Kuma Inn was the hardest challenge.  When I first opened seven years ago, I did it all by myself.  I maxed out my credit card and had some friends from culinary school come help out in the kitchen because I didn't even have a full kitchen staff.  At first I didn't even have the spray painted sign outside so it was easy for people to just walk by.  My dad actually would go downstairs in front of the restaurant and literally grab people and say, "go upstairs and eat, my son is cooking!"  I think he drove in a lot of my first customers.

Q: Talk to me about the Chinese Sausage that is on the menu at both of your restaurants-it's my absolute favorite.

King Phojanakong: It's funny.  That wasn't even on the menu when we first opened.  That was just something I grew up eating and so it became a staff meal when I cooked for my employees.  They all went crazy for it so we added it as a special and soon it began selling out.  Now it's the only staple on both Kuma Inn and Umi Nom's menu.  

Q: How do you see the food world changing in 5 to10 years?  How will you impact and/or change it?

King Phojanakong: People just have more access to the food world.  It has become trendy and easier for the masses to eat and talk about food.  Also, it seems that everyone seems to be a self-certified "foodie" and become critical to a fault some times.  I am happy cooking with good products and am always passionate about the food I serve.  I don't see myself getting caught up in the hype of the food crazes (i.e. the burger craze).  

Q: When you're not cooking, what do you like to do?

King Phojanakong: Eating of course. I also like to make music and go fishing.

Q: What is your favorite restaurant in New York City right now?

King Phojanakong: I really enjoy Recipe and Land, both under Chef David Bank.  He cooks authentic Thai, using the best ingredients at an affordable price.  I also like the noodles at Minca.

Q: What’s your take on frozen yogurt? I know this isn’t something that’s a culinary feat, but it is something many of us (yes, maybe even superhero chefs) take pleasure in eating and right now it is an absolute indulgence in my life.

King Phojanakong: Frozen yogurt is a tasty trend that will come and go.

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Jamie Lauren

Even before she became one man's tattooed fantasy on national television, this honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America was a familiar face in the San Francisco bay area. In 2005 she was named one of the San Francisco Chronicle's "Rising-Star Chefs." As executive chef of the upscale Absinthe Brasserie & Bar , her eclectic "American-influenced French and Italian menu" has always received a lot of favorable press. She was also known to frequently lend her considerable talent to a variety of charitable fundraisers. Nothing much has changed now, except that her participation on Top Chef tipped her popularity - well - over the top.

Jamie grew up in New York City, part of a "foodie family" that dined out nearly as often as they cooked at home. Jamie describes her palate as slightly picky, yet undeniably open to bold flavors. In fact she distinctly remembers launching her lifelong love affair with Indian food at the tender age of four. On the more mundane side of things, this otherwise-adventurous eater still eschews eggs. She hated them as a kid, and still hates 'em now. So there.

Like most of us, Jamie's life is not a revolving banquet of four-star cuisine. The petite chef admits to eating her fair share of "junk" - often opting for orangey-cheesey-nachoey things. On a healthier note, pretzels are never far from her reach; and she further satisfies savory/salty cravings with pickles and olives. To round out her diet, she tries to consume at least a small amount of chocolate each day.

Formal training aside, Jamie feels her cooking style has simply evolved: a compilation of lessons learned from all the chefs with whom she has trained over the years, as well as all the food she has eaten in various restaurants. To conclude our conversation, I threw out a few "quick fire" questions:

Beer or wine? Wine. Most definitely.

If you weren't a chef, what would you be? A food writer.

If they made a movie of your life, who would get the starring role?  This one required some thought. A BIG fan of Madonna, she toyed with that idea for a few seconds; then mused over the fact she's often told she resembles a blonde Angelina Jolie. But after careful consideration (and probably the inability to visualize either one of those divas in a chef's jacket), Drew Barrymore won the casting call.

It was time for Jamie to oversee dinner prep at the restaurant, but I couldn't resist asking one more bit of Top Chef trivia: Just how authentic are those angst-ridden sessions in the storage room, with pensive chefs perched uncomfortably on folding chairs as they await a decision? She told me the judges do indeed deliberate in "real time", sometimes leaving the anxious contestants captive in that stuffy room - amidst the stacked cases of bottled water and plastic wrap - for as long as 4 hours.

When asked if there is anything she'd like to retire from the Absinthe menu for a while, without a moment's hesitation she responded "Scallops!" It seems Chef Fabio's "Top Scallop" remark haunts her to this day, but restaurant patrons still want to taste those perfectly seared scallops that won her national attention.

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