Cookie Restoration Ale

Last year, at about this time, I adopted a 3-year-old slinky dog from my favorite shelter. Just blend part corgi, part Chihuahua and part nuclear reactor with an ungodly amount of goofball love, and you produce my floppy dog, Cookie.

If you want unconditional, never-ending love, go find yourself a 10-month survivor of the shelter. You will never be as godlike and perfect to anyone. They won’t look at you cross-eyed when you leave the kitchen a disaster from brewing, and they’ll happily gobble down every last spent grain you have.

Of course, being the Black Irish / Scot / ex-Catholic guy that I am, I started hearing a little voice in the back of my thick skull: “It’s too good. She’s going to shit in your bed! Eat your face! Run away with the circus clowns!” So did my fiancée.

Sure enough, just shy of 11 months after we rescued her, Cookie started grunting in pain and couldn’t make the jump to the couch to demand her nightly belly rub. A morning trip to the vet yielded a dreadful call—your dog is losing her ability to walk and you have to take her to the surgeon—now.

Turns out that through a quirk of genetics, my own ignorance and her enthusiastic jumping from absurdly high places, our girl ruptured a disk in her back, or what the pet docs call “Inter-Vertebral Disc Disease” (IVDD).

In less than 25 minutes, I arrived at the surgeon, cut one of the largest checks in my life and watched her get whisked away for a surgery that cut into her spine. Three hours later, she was in recovery. Two days later, she came home with us.

She’s resting now in her crate for the next eight weeks and still hasn’t regained her footing. She can wag her tail when we say her name, and soon she’ll get her staples out and go to rehab. I’ve never even done rehab for all the pain I’ve caused myself!

So here’s the PSA as I sit here sober as a judge. Watch your dogs, particularly dachshunds, corgis, beagles and other long dogs! Don’t let them jump from heights. If they show signs of clumsiness, get it checked immediately. Caught early, IVDD is treatable with bed rest and steroids. Caught later and it’s the knife, more rest, steroids and a freakout.

I won’t brew this beer for a while, but it will yield a rather charming oatmeal cookie ale with a sweet raisiny note and a spicy compliment to the fatty oats. Toast the oats in a 350°F oven until they smell nutty and sweet. Let them sit for at least two days in a paper bag.

The little kick of ginger provides warmth and peppery sweetness. It also helps that in herbal medicine circles, ginger is known for stimulating nerve repair. Besides being excellent cookie fodder, the cinnamon provides the same kick, same yang boost. We focus on the yang because we want the warming stimulation of the nerves. A little basic Chinese medicine knowledge never hurt!

The yeast strain used is my standard British strain—Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley. It’s a trooper that ferments cleanly with minimal über-fruit and leaves just enough malt behind to be interesting.

My second PSA for the month—not only should dogs not go anywhere near spent hops, but don’t try treating them with this beer either!

You can brew a “celebration” version of this ale by bumping the Maris Otter from 8 pounds to 13 pounds to boost the beer up into the 8 percent range. That should be more than enough to celebrate a return to fine form.

COOKIE RESTORATION ALE
For 5.5 gallons at 1.054, 20 IBU, 17 SRM, 5.5%ABV

Malt / Grain / Sugar
8.0 lb. Maris Otter
1.5 lb. Flaked Oats, toasted
0.5 lb. British Crystal 55L
0.5 lb. Special B
2.0 oz. Carafa II Special (Dehusked)

Extract
Use 5 pounds of pale extract in place of 7 pounds of Maris Otter. Steep the remaining malts and oats together for 60 minutes.

Mash
Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154°F

Hops
0.33 oz Magnum Pellets | 14.00% AA | 60 minutes

Extras
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger (added at end of boil)
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon  (added at end of boil)

Yeast
Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ■