Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Marshmallows

When you count the seasons by what’s available in the bottle shops, you see the months pass in a different way. Right now we’re just leaving Fresh Hop Season and moving into Barrel Aged Beer season, one of the best beer seasons of the year.

It’s also the time of year when beer releases hit a fevered pitch and people wait in line for hours hoping to score a bottle or two of a beer that’s been aging in a wooden barrel that formerly housed liquor. It’s worth it, even if just for the bragging rights and the perfect cellarable beer. Beers that you always want two of, one for now and one to save for later. Stored properly they can be even better years later.

Bourbon County is the Godfather of the bourbon barrel aged beer. Goose Island is widely credited as being the first people to take a discarded bourbon barrel, load it up with stout, store it for nearly a year and then drink it just to see what would happen. This, more than anything, is a commentary on the heart of true brewer.  Curious, courageously experimental, and unafraid to think outside the bottle.

It was a move that would have cultural repercussions beyond their wildest dreams. Starting a movement so strong and widely adopted it caused spent liquor barrels to go from a nuisance that distilleries had to deal with to a sought-after commodity that caused a shortage.

The face of beer is undeniably altered for the better because of the curiosity that caused Greg Hall to fill 6 bourbon barrels with stout in the early 1990s. In the name of that experimentation and curiosity, I decided that I’d like to figure out what would happen if you put a beer — one that had spent time cohabitating in a wooden barrel with the remnants of bourbon — into a marshmallow. Turns out, it’s pretty fantastic.

 

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Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Yield: 24 marshmallows

Ingredients

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
  • ½ cup barrel aged beer, such as Bourbon County (flat and cold)*
  • ½ cup water (or beer)
  • 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold, flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  3. In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up) over medium heat, add the water, 2 cups sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  5. Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  6. Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, this can take up to 10 minutes.
  7. While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beat until stiff peaks return.
  8. Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  9. Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares. Toss with additional powdered sugar to prevent from sticking together.

Notes

*Open the beer at least two hours before you plan to make the marshmallows, and up to several days in advance. Pour ½ cup into an open container. Loosely cover and refrigerate. Enjoy the reaming beer, since you HAD to open the beer it’s your job to finish the rest.

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Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

This is ridiculous. I know what you’re thinking: why can’t you just make fudge like a normal person? But I found this silicon Darth Vader mold from that time I made Star Wars cupcakes and you can’t honestly think that I could just put it away and forget about it? Of course not.

And since we’re just entering Barrel-Aged-Beer-Season, as well as Fudge-Making -Season, it just makes sense. If you don’t have a Darth Vader silicon mold (but really, why not? You totally should) you can use any silicone mold. Because fudge is great, but it’s not as fun as Dark Side Fudge, right?

Plus, there’s beer in there. And since Barrel Aged beers come in large bottles and I’m only asking you to pour out 1/4 cup for the homies, I mean for the fudge, then you get to drink the rest. Have I talked you into this yet? Do I need to hone my Jedi Mind Trick skills? How about you make some fudge and we can talk about it.

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Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Yield: 12-14 peices

Ingredients

  • 16 wt oz dark chocolate (60% cocoa content)
  • 1/3 cup (102g) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
  • ¼ tsp (.5g) vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup (2oz) barrel aged beer
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Add the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, beer and salt to the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water).
  2. Stir over medium-low heat (make sure the water does not boil) until most of the chocolate has melted. Remove from heat, continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  3. Pour into silicone molds, chill until set.
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Stouts and Scouts: No Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream

Stouts and Scouts: No-Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream.  Ten-minute prep! 

This is my exception. Really, the only one. I have an aversion to mint that started in a cave in Middle Atlas the day before I almost died in Morocco.

But the thing is, if you are ever in a cave in Middle Atlas and a very nice cave dweller offers to make you tea, YOU DRINK IT! Even if the water is so dirty it looks like mud. Even if the glasses are a little cracked and leaky. Even if you’re fairly certain you’ll end up with dysentery.

Even if your guide through Middle Atlas turns out to be a drug dealer. That last part really had nothing to do with the tea other than it magnified an already strange experience.

After that day, mint was never the same. I wouldn’t take it back if you paid me, it was an amazing (although slightly terrifying at times) experience that happened to change the way I respond to the flavor of mint.

Thin Mints are the exception. Maybe it’s because they taste nothing like the mint leaves that had been muddled into my glass that day.

Or maybe it’s because they remind me of being a kid. Or maybe it’s because I’m such a sucker for those little cracker dealers outside the grocery stores that I can’t help but buy them every time. And since the appropriate place to store your crack, I mean Thin Mints, is in the freezer, making ice cream just made sense.

And if there is a better cookie and beer pairing than Thin Mints and an Imperial Stout I can’t think of it at the moment.

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Stouts and Scouts: No Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 10 minutes

Yield: 6-8 servings

No churn, ten minutes prep!

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 8 thin mint cookies, crushed
  • ¼ cup stout beer (Imperial stout preferred)

Instructions

  1. Add the cream, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until soft peaks form.
  2. Add in the cocoa powder, salt, and crushed cookies, stir to combine.
  3. While the mixer is running, slowly add the beer until it is well combined.
  4. Add to a freezer safe bowl, freeze until set, about 3 hours.
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Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries2

This is for you. Or really, it’s for us. Because I decided a long time ago to redefine Valentine’s day to be about more than just romantic love (although I pretty much covered romantic love that time I wrote about blowjobs).

Valentines is about the people you love, all of them. Even the ones who never see you naked. Especially the ones who never see you naked (this leads me to the “how much inappropriateness can I shove into one paragraph?” line of thought).

You’re single? Who cares, you love tons of people! Your mom, your neighbor, your bartender. You have plenty of people to love all over and share a beer with. That’s what’s important. The people we get to love and make a cake for.

I love you, for instance. Mostly because you make it possible for me to do my weird job. Where would I be if you didn’t care that I make food with beer instead of just drinking it like a normal person? I know where I’d be, I’d still be doing this.

Which would be fine, but my weird job is amazing. It’s more than I think I even deserve. So to thank you, I made you a cake. Feel free to share it with your mom, or your neighbor or your bartender.

Or, you know, that person who gets to see you naked. As if seeing you naked wasn’t present enough!

 

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Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

    For the cherries:
  • ¼ cup Bourbon
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup barrel aged stout
  • 1 cup Bing cherries, pitted (thawed if frozen)
  • ¼ cup Cointreau
    • For the cake:
  • 4 tablespoons (57g) butter (plus more for ramekins)
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (62% cocoa content)
  • ¼ cup (60mL) stout
  • 3 eggs separated
  • ¼ tsp cream tartar
  • ¼ cup (50g) sugar
  • 1 tablespoon (7g) cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon (8g) flour

Instructions

  1. Add the bourbon, sugar, and stout to a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the cherries to a re-sealable jar, pour bourbon/beer mixture over the cherries. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Seal and refrigerate until ready to use, can be made several weeks in advance.
  3. Heat the oven to 375°F.
  4. Place butter, stout and chocolate in the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of water) over gently simmering water. Stir frequently until melted, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
  5. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar, building up speed, beat on high until soft peaks form. While the mixer is running add the sugar a bit at a time, beat until stiff peaks form.
  6. In a large bowl stir together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on high until light and slightly fluffy.
  7. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture, beating until completely combined, scraping the bottom to make sure the mixture is well incorporated.
  8. About 1/3 at a time, gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture using a spatula. Stir until egg whites are well combined with the chocolate mixture.
  9. Grease two large (10oz) ramekins or oven safe bowls with butter until well coated.
  10. Add the batter evenly between the two ramekins.
  11. Bake for thirty minutes or until the top has puffed and looks dry. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing from ramekins.
  12. Add the cherries to a small pot or skillet. Pour the Cointreau over the cherries. Using a kitchen torch or long match, light the liquid on fire. Swirl until to distribute the flame. Allow to flambé for about 2 minutes, then add a lid to extinguish the flame. Pour the liquid and the cherries evenly over the cakes. Serve immediately.
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English Pub Toffee (beer, bacon, pretzels) + The Ultimate Beer Lovers Giveaway ($400 value)

I have something for you, it has beer in to.

I made some toffee, full of beer flavor, bacon and salty pretzels for good measure. I also have something else, something that you can fill with beer. Or give to your favorite beer loving human for the holidays. It’s a SYNEK tabletop beer dispenser that you fill with beer from your local taproom. It’s small enough to fit in your kitchen (you can stop those plans to turn a Craigslist fridge into a tap adorned keg fridge), and it’s also gorgeous enough that you’ll want it on your counter.

Sure, you can give it to your favorite craft beer loving friend for the holidays, or you can keep it for yourself. After all, you do want fresh beer for said beer lover when they come to visit. Maybe you just make them some toffee and invite them over for a beer, that’s also a really nice gift.

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We have a winner! Congrats, Meg. Hope you enjoy! 

*Ships to USA addresses only

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English Pub Toffee (beer, bacon, pretzels) )

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

    For the beer candied bacon:
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tablespoons beer*
  • 6 strips thick cut bacon
    • For the toffee:
  • 1 ½ cups butter, cut into cubes
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons beer*
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 2 cups pretzels, slightly crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
  2. In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons beer. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet, spray with cooking spray. Place the bacon on the rack, brush liberally with sugar mixture, flip over and brush the other side. Bake until dark brown, about 18 minutes. Allow to cool (it will harden as it cools), chop into pieces once cooled.
  3. While the bacon cooks, make the toffee. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Add the butter sugar, salt and beer to a pot over high heat. Stir continuously until the butter has melted. Clip a cooking thermometer on the edge, cook until the sugar reaches 300F, stirring occasionally. Pour onto prepared pan. Allow to cool about 2 minutes, sprinkle with chocolate chips. Once the warm toffee has melted the chocolate chips, spread the chocolate evenly with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with bacon and pretzels.
  4. Cool to room temperature, then add to the fridge and chill for 2 hours. Break into pieces before serving.

Notes

*Nearly any beer will work, I've used an amber, a red and a barrel aged stout with great results.

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No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

pretzel-and-bourbon-beer-balls101

These are the beers that make me feel like a stalker.

This time of year barrel aged beer has my attention, coming onto store shelves just as the fresh hop beers are becoming scarce and I need a distraction from that disappointment. I show up at bottle shops and beg for this years editions from the breweries that rattle the barrel aged cage every year. There are a few that we all seem to look forward to and seek out. The beers that fill our instagram feeds and even get us to (at least contemplate) standing in line for hours just for a taste.

Barrel aged beer is just like what it sounds, it’s beer (mostly the darker styles, but not always) that have been aged in barrels. Most commonly you’ll see bourbon or rum barrels but wine has started to make a stronger showing in the past few years.

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I always ask about a few in particular, mostly knowing I can’t always get them in Washington, but hoping Beer Store Beer Guy might have an in somewhere that could open up the possibility that I can get my greasy hands on one.

Here is my yearly wish list, let me know if you have one you look forward to with the same near-stalker-like anticipation.

Firestone Walker // Velvet Merkin and Parabola

Surly Brewing // Barrel Aged Darkness

Founders // KBS

Deschutes // The Abyss 

Fremont Brewing // B-Bomb

The Bruery // Black Tuesday 

The Lost Abbey // Serpent’s Stout 

 

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No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

Yield: 36 balls

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (50g) chopped pecans
  • ½ cup (58g) chopped almonds
  • 1 cup (154g) pretzels crumbs (pretzels processed with a food processor)
  • 1 cup (122g) graham cracker crumbs (9 full sized graham crackers, processed)
  • ½ cup (43g) unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
  • ¾ cup (75g) powdered sugar, divided
  • ½ cup (118mL) bourbon barrel aged beer
  • 3 tablespoons (63g) honey (or light corn syrup)

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl stir together the pecans, almonds, pretzel crumbs, graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (reserve the other ¼ for the coating), and ½ cup powdered sugar (reserve the other ¼ for the coating).
  2. Stir in the beer and honey until well combined. Mixture shouldn’t be wet but it should hold together when squeezed. If it’s too dry to hold together add more beer, about 1 tablespoon at a time until the right consistency is reached.
  3. In a small bowl stir together the remaining ¼ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup powdered sugar.
  4. One at a time form into balls about the size of a golf ball, roll in powdered sugar. Place on a plate or tray.
  5. Chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve chilled.
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Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake Freakshake 

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In college I worked with a guy named Freak.

Large and imposing with a heart of gold under layers of ink and steel. I refused to call him Freak, making up new names for him. Finally, he stopped me, asked me why I was so opposed to using that name. “But you’re not a freak. You’re normal.” In my white-girl-from-the-farm logic, this was a compliment. Once it hit his ears, it was anything but.

“No I’m not. Stop thinking normal is good, and abnormal is bad. Do you think I want to be like everyone else? The work freak means: ‘a person who is unusual’ and that’s me. I WANT to be a freak, I don’t want to be normal.”

That was the end of it. I understood, and it changed the way I saw things. I embraced my weird in new ways. I’d never really wanted to be typical, average, or normal, but I hadn’t ever held my weird up over my head like a boombox in a John Hughes movie until that day. Weird is good, freaks are awesome, non-conforming is liberating.

Long live the freaks of the world. Milkshakes, people, places.

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I beer’d up a phenomenon that is sweeping Australia from a little cafe with a long line called Patissez. Freaks of the world are uniting over the over-the-top, and anything but usual, ice cream concoctions. I, of course, felt like anything that excessive needed beer. A big beer with beautifully bold flavors that can stand up to all the noise in that glass. I chose a stout from Washington called Wrecking Ball from No-Li Brewhouse. Fantastic all on it’s own, but this recipe is about excess and Wrecking Ball kept up.

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Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

Yield: 2 shakes

Ingredients

  • 10 wt ounces 60% cacao chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup Imperial stout or barrel aged stout, divided
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 pint ice cream
  • 1 cups pretzels, crushed
  • 1 cup whipped cream
  • cookies and candy for garnish

Instructions

  1. Add the chocolate chips, 1/3 cups stout (reserve the other 1/3 cup of stout for the milkshake), and the butter in the top of a double boiler over medium heat.
  2. Stir until the chocolate has melted and combined with the beer and butter (if the sauce separates, use an immersion blender to bring it back to life). Set aside.
  3. Add the crushed pretzels to a bowl.
  4. Dip a serving glass in the chocolate, then the pretzels to rim the glasses.
  5. Add the ice cream plus the remaining 1/3 cup stout to a blender, blend until smooth.
  6. Pour the milkshake into the glass until about half way full, add a few scoops of chocolate sauce on top of the ice cream, then fill the glass with the ice cream mixture.
  7. Top with generous amounts of chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crushed pretzels, cookies and candy.
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Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows1

There are foods I only like for nostalgic reasons. Fritos and bean dip, Jello-cake with whipped cream frosting, Taco Bell. It reminds me of growing up, in a house with ten people, and meal time was more of a defrost-and-feed triage. S’mores has one foot in that circle. It’s a partial reminder of those early days. You knew the day was special when it ended with S’mores. It was an afternoon-on-the-lake, camping-with-friends, backyard-grill-outs, kind of day that ended with a bunch of kids pulling puffy marshmallows out of a large plastic bag, skewering them with a wire coat hanger, and trying not to fall into the open fire pit. I was the burn-it-black kind of marshmallow maker. I was the charred-outside, melty-inside kinda girl. Now, I like to brulé homemade marshmallows to the perfect golden brown, serve them over homemade stout flavored chocolate bars along side a great beer. But I’ll still eat my weight in bean dip scooped up with Fritos because some things never change.

Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows2

Intimidated of marshmallow making? Check out my step-by-step tutorial (with photos). Just replace the water in the tutorial with beer.

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Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Serving Size: Makes 9

Ingredients

    For the marshmallows:
  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 ½ envelopes unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
  • 1 cup beer (flat and cold)*
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • For the Chocolate Bars:
  • 10 (wt oz) dark chocolate (62% cacao)
  • 1/3 cup stout beer
    • For the s’mores:
  • 18 graham crackers

Instructions

    Make the marshmallows:
  1. Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  3. In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up considerably) over medium heat, add the remaining ½ cup beer, sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  5. Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  6. Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.
  7. While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
  8. Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  9. Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares.
    10. Make the chocolate bars:
  10. In the top of a double boiler add the chocolate and beer. Stir until the chocolate has melted and combined with the beer. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan in an even layer. Chill until set, about 20 minutes. Cut into 9 squares. Can be made four days ahead of time.
    11. Make the s’mores:
  11. Brulé the marshmallows, sandwich one square of chocolate and one bruléed marshmallow between two graham crackers.

Notes

*Use a malty beer, like a Belgian ale, stout, or a brown ale. A hoppy beer, like an IPA or a pale ale will be too strong and bitter in flavor.

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Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows4

Beeramisu: Tiramisu Made with Beer

Beeramisu Tiramisu Made with Beer

 

Beer people, we have our own language. Our own accepted set of standards. In most settings, with most normal humans, it’s unacceptable and off putting to ask a stranger if you can sample the beverage in their hands. Try it, go to a random Starbucks and ask the guy who waited in line behind you if you can try his latte. The response, if you’re lucky, will be somewhere along the lines of, “Wait…what?”

Try it in a brewery, you’ll get a completely different response. Every beverage is just a polite comment away from a communion chalice. “Can I try your beer?” is nearly always met with, “Yes! It’s awesome, give it a try.”

It’s a sacred tradition, it’s the wrist band of admission into the world of mild beer worship. We want to share, we want you to understand why we ordered what we did. We also understand that some beers are limited, the experience is fading as the keg empties and we don’t want to deny you a small place at the table.

I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of the pass-the-beer-take-a-sip ritual. It’s a small example of how much heart there is in the world of craft beer, how excited we are about what’s being made. Just like if you see a musician listening to headphones and ask if you can listen, he’ll pass them over so you can hear too. Or if you ask a runner if you can join on the trail, he’ll happily pace to you. People want to share their passions, show even strangers what all the fuss is about. Our’s just happen to be shared in proper glassware.

Beeramisu Tiramisu Made with Beer

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Beeramisu: Tiramisu Made with Beer

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours, 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • pinch salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar, divided
  • 8-oz mascarpone cheese
  • 1/2 cup chilled heavy cream
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 12 ounces bourbon barrel aged stout (I used Track #10 from Lost Abbey)
  • 1 tbs espresso powder
  • 24 savoiardi (crisp Italian ladyfingers)
  • 3 oz bar dark chocolate, shaved (or crated with a cheese grater)

Instructions

  1. Set out two medium bowls and one large bowl.
  2. Separate the eggs adding the yolks to the large bowl and the whites to a medium bowl.
  3. Add a pinch of salt to the whites, beat the until stiff peaks form. Add ¼ cup white sugar, beat until well combined.
  4. Add ½ cup white sugar to the yolks, beat until light in color and ribbony. Beat in the mascarpone.
  5. Add the cream and ¼ cup powdered to the remaining medium bowl, beat until soft peaks form. Stir the whipped cream into the mascarpone then gently fold in the egg whites until just combined.
  6. Stir the beer and espresso powder together in a shallow bowl. One at a time dip the ladyfingers into the beer and then lay in a tight layer in the bottom of a 2 qt serving dish (8x8 baking dish works well).
  7. Top with a layer of cream, repeat two more times until you have three layers of tightly packed ladyfingers and three layers of mascarpone cream.
  8. Chill for at least six hours and up to overnight.
  9. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings just prior to serving.

Notes

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, March 2003

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Let’s talk about raw eggs for a second. According to the CDC only 1 in every 20,000 eggs is contaminated. Meaning if you ate an egg a day your entire life, it would take you 55 years to find a bad one, and it may not even make you sick. You are somewhere around 1000 times more likely to get sick off raw spinach. But if those are are still too dicy for you, there is always in-shell pasteurized eggs you can buy, but then you have to drive to the store to get them and your odds of dying in a car accident on the way to the store are way higher. But it’s your call. 

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Bourbon Stout Cherries + What is A Barrel Aged Beer?

Bourbon Stout Cherries

Bourbon Stout Cherries (2 of 5)

We would love to pretend like barrel aged beer is something a trend setting, bearded, flannel wearing brewer invented just a handful of years ago, igniting a craft beer phenomenon that’s taken over the bottle shops.

But that’s not the case. In the dawn of civilization, when beer and humanity where in their infancy, beer wasn’t just aged in wood barrels, but brewed, fermented and stored in wooden barrels. We’ve recently rediscovered the beautiful flavors oak barrels transmit into our beers. The caramel, vanilla, fruit and toffee, along with a huge kick of warm alcohol to our favorite brews, make these beers to seek out.

What is barrel aging?

You can age any beer in a barrel, some styles just happen to get there more frequently. Most beers that are chosen for barrel aging are usually darker, maltier beers. Think: stouts, porters, brown ales or scotch ales. Once the beer is brewed and ready for aging, it’s transferred to a wooden, usually oak, barrel. Breweries generally buy these barrels from wineries or distilleries, there is only one brewery in the world that makes their own, Rogue Ales in Portland. Most of the time these are barrels that were perviously used to age wine or spirits. Bourbon barrels are the most common. Since these barrels had previously housed bourbon for years, the wood is still soaked with the liquor. As the beer ages in the barrels, the beer soaks up the liquor, taking on the flavors of the previous tenant. Beer is aged for as little as one month and as long as several years, but most commonly just less than a year. Barrel aged beers have an intensely boozy flavor, and a much higher ABV than most beer. They are best served in small amounts in snifter or tulip glasses.

  Bourbon Stout Cherries (5 of 5)

I’m a sucker for a good barrel aged stout. These are beers to share, beers to sample, beers that you don’t forget. For these boozy cherries, perfect for your next cocktail, I used Track #10 from The Lost Abbey. A beer that should be shared, and can’t be forgotten.

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Bourbon Stout Cherries

Yield: 1/2 pound

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Bourbon
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup barrel aged stout
  • ½ lbs Bing cherries, pitted

Instructions

  1. Add the bourbon, sugar, and stout to a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the cherries to a re-sealable jar, pour bourbon/beer mixture over the cherries. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Seal and refrigerate for at least two days before serving.
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http://thebeeroness.com/2015/05/28/bourbon-stout-cherries-what-is-a-barrel-aged-beer/

Bruleed Pumpkin Beer Pie

Bruled Pumpkin Beer Pie using @DogFishBeer

 

I know what you’re thinking.

You think that I put a Pumpkin Ale in that pie. It’s a fair assumption, and not a bad route to take when beerifying (that’s a word) a pumpkin pie. Sure, you can use that. Go ahead, be my beer-cookin’ guest, it’s not a bad choice. But for this I wanted to play up those brown sugar flavors with a nice barrel aged brown ale. So that’s exactly what I did.

Brown ales don’t get enough air time. They are often forgotten in the beer-of-the-moment hype. Browns are the George Harrison’s of the beer world. The Willem Dafoe’s of the beer world.

But brown ales have a lot of potential, a lot of great flavors, a lot of depth.  Especially when they’ve been aged in a bourbon barrel. Like this Palo Santo Marron from Dogfish Head which has unleashed that underrated brown ale potential in a way that will remind the Beer Snobs that it’s here to play. Or make pies. Or maybe both.

Bruled Pumpkin Beer Pie @DogFishBeer

I used this Kitchen torch, because it’s amazing, easily one of my favorite kitchen tools. (affiliate link)

 

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Bruleed Pumpkin Beer Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 Pale ale pie crust
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • 2/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • ¾ cup brown ale (preferably a barrel aged brown ale)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups of pumpkin purée
  • 1 tbs cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • White sugar for brulee topping (about 3 tbs)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Roll the pie dough out on a lightly floured surface and line a 9-inch pie pan. Place in the fridge to chill until the filling is ready.
  3. In a pot over medium heat, add the cream. Heat until the cream starts to bubble around the edges.
  4. In a large bowl whisk together the white sugar, brown sugar and egg yolks. Whisking continually, slowly pour the hot cream into the eggs. Whisk until well combined.
  5. Add the remaining ingredients (other than the brulee sugar), whisk until well combined.
  6. Pour into the prepared pie pan.
  7. Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until the filling puffs slightly and has set around the edges (the center will still be wobbly). Chill until set, at least 4 hours.
  8. Just prior to serving, sprinkle the remaining white sugar over the top of the pie in an even layer. Using a culinary torch brulee the sugar until melted and turned a dark amber color.
http://thebeeroness.com/2013/11/15/bruleed-pumpkin-beer-pie/

For this recipe I use The Pale Ale Pie Dough 

Bruled Pumpkin Beer Pie @DogFishBeer

Slow Cooker Stout Red Beans and Rice

 

Slow Cooker Stout Red Beans and Rice2

Can we still be friends if I tell you that I don’t really like slow cookers? I resisted getting one for years, and then, like the culinary lemming that I can often be, I caved and asked for one for Christmas.

As I kid, I hated them. I saw it only as that thing that ruined spare ribs that should rightfully be cooked on the grill.  And now, all I see is how much people lose their minds over how great these slow cooking machines are. So far, I’m not impressed. Of the “dump and cook” recipes I’ve tried, the flavors just end up muddy and I’m left feeling completely left out of the cooking process like I wasn’t invited to the party.

That’s why this recipe calls for two parts, slow cooking the beans and then finishing the dish with a conventional cooking to add more layers of flavor.

Slow cooking the beans is really the best way to go, wether it be on your stove top, or in one of these slow cooking machines I have yet to fall in love with. Much better final result than with canned beans, and I’ll admit, the slow cooker does a great job of babysitting during the long process so you can go about your life.

If you have a fantastic slow cooker recipe, PLEASE let me know. I’d love to be let in on the secret to this that I’m clearly missing out on. Leave it in the comment section (a link is fine, if you’ve got one), because maybe there’s hope for me and this slow cooker after all.

 

 

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Slow Cooker Stout Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients

  • 1 lb small red beans (or red kidney beans) dry
  • 24 ounces stout or porter
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 hickory smoked ham hock
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp sriracha
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 lb raw chicken bratwurst, sliced
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 4 strips bacon, sliced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Cooked rice for serving.

Directions

  1. Add red beans, porter, chicken broth, ham hock, onion, garlic and sriracha to a slow cooker. Cook on low for eight hours.
  2. Once the beans are finished cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Cook the brats, green peppers and bacon until meat has been cooked through. Stir the brats, bacon and peppers with the beans, salt and pepper to taste. serve over rice.
http://thebeeroness.com/2013/01/28/slow-cooker-stout-red-beans-and-rice/

  Slow Cooker Stout Red Beans and Rice

Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

The best thing happened on Thanksgiving.

Just about 18 hours prior to Turkey Tip-Off, my small gathering of 4 people more than tripled into a 14 person party that ended in cocktails, poker, and eating pie right out of the pan. How great is that?

I was happy with the idea of a small gathering, sometimes those can be the best nights. But the fact that I have such an over abundance of food in my kitchen right now and dozens of recipes to be cooked and tested, I could not have been happier about the influx of last minute hungry visitors.

And a Thanksgiving that morphed into a Poker Night, complete with impromptu costuming and teaching my friends 8-year-old how to bluff, was one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever had. Although I was seriously caffeine deficient the next day, and zero percent productive.

I may, or may not, have consume an entire bottle of wine by myself.

 I used a chocolate porter for this recipe, and of course, a stout would work well also. BUT now that I sit here staring at these photos, I wish I’d have used something that had been aged in bourbon barrels. How great would that be?

 

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Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

Ingredients

    For the Crust:
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 6 tbs of butter, cold, cut into cubes
  • 2 tbs shortening
  • 2 tbs ice cold beer (high ABV works best)
    • For the filling:
  • 1 cup porter beer (can sub stout)
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup light corn syrup
  • 2 tbs flour
  • 3 cups chopped pecans
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 stick butter, cold, cut into cubes
  • 4 eggs

Directions

  1. In a food processor, add 1 cup of flour (reserving the other ½ cup) salt, sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter cubes and the shortening, process until combined. Add the remaining ½ cup of flour, process until well incorporated.
  2. Transfer to a bowl, add the beer and mix until combined. Dough will be very soft. Form into a wide flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
  3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, transfer to a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, press into shape. Remove the excess. Freeze crust for 20 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 350.
  5. In a pot over medium high heat, add the beer, brown sugar and corn syrup. Allow to simmer until combined and the sugar has melted. Sprinkle with flour, whisk until well combined. Remove from heat, add pecans, heavy cream and butter. Stir until well combined and the butter has melted. Allow to cool to room temperature before adding the eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Slowly add the pecan mixture to the eggs, whisking the eggs the entire time.
  6. Pour filling into crust, bake at 350 for 50 minute to an hour or until the filling no longer jiggles when you shake the rack it sits on. Chill until the filling has set, about 2 hours.
  7. *Note: This recipe is for a deep-dish pie pan. The filling is too much for a regular pie pan.
http://thebeeroness.com/2012/11/27/deep-dish-porter-pecan-pie/

Maple and Bourbon Beer Glazed Salmon

Let’s talk.

If you are new to the Beer Scene you might not know about bourbon barrel aged beer. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Beer that has been aged in bourbon barrels giving it flavors of that remnant bourbon that once took up residence in that same barrel. Because bourbon is aged for years, and sometimes several decades, the flavors soak into the wood leaving their distinct flavor signature behind. When you use that same barrel to age beer, those beautiful hand-me-down flavors give an incredible depth to it’s new alcoholic vessel.

If you haven’t had a bourbon barrel aged beer, add it to your list of beers to try. You may love it. You may loath it. Either way, it’s an experience that needs to be added to your beer exploits.

Bourbon barrel aged beers aren’t the type you reach for after a long hot day of yard work. These are beers for chilly nights and dark chocolate desserts. Fireside chats and long conversations.

Among my favortites is the Barrel Aged Old Rasputin form North Coast. 

 

For this recipe I used Angels Share by Lost Abby. An intense bourbon flavor that goes very well with this recipe.

 

 

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Maple & Bourbon Beer Glazed Salmon

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup ponzu sauce
  • 3/4 cup bourbon barrel aged beer
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tbs maple syrup
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tbs lime juice (about 1 large lime, juiced)
  • 4 salmon fillets (about 4 to 6 oz each)

Directions

  1. In a bowl, add all ingredients (other than the salmon) stir until well combined. Add to a large zip top freezer bag. Add the salmon and remove as much air as possible before sealing. Place in the fridge, allowing to marinate for one to two hours, rotating at least once.
  2. Preheat broiler.
  3. Remove the salmon from the bag and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
  4. Place the marinade in a pot over medium high heat. Boil until reduced and thickened, stirring frequently, about 8 to 10 minutes.
  5. Brush the salmon with the marinade glaze.
  6. Place under broiler and cook until salmon flakes easily, about 6 minutes. Brush salmon with glaze several times during cooking.
  7. Serve over rice or pasta.
http://thebeeroness.com/2012/07/30/maple-beer-glazed-salmon/

Beer Braised Chicken Sliders With Hoisin Beer Barbecue Sauce

There’s a good chance that when you think about cooking with beer, a meat recipe comes to mind. Your Dad’s beer marinated ribs? Beer can chicken? Beer braised pork? There’s a good reason for that.

Not just for the spectacular flavors that craft beer can impart on the meat, but because beer, especially high acid beer, acts as a meat tenderizer by breaking down tissue.

For this recipe you are free to run the spectrum of beer styles. Most recipes I write will be accompanied by stern warning about using any beer other than the type called for, this isn’t one of those recipes. That IPA I keep shaming you into avoiding? You can even give that a try. My gut instinct with a recipe like this was to use a light, high acid beer with herb notes (basil, sage, oregano) but I opted for a porter to test my “Any Beer Goes” theory.

The porter effect, as I am now calling it, gave a “meatier” quality to the chicken. Which turned out wonderfully, and gave this a bit of a pork taste.

The beer I used for this recipe was the Payback Porter by Speakeasy. It’s a fantastic choice for a porter because the notes are similar to those I see in barbecue sauces and rubs: smoke, coffee, cocoa, and molasses.

Next time I’ll use a beer with a high acid content for a little contrast, but as far as the beer that you pick, experiment and let me know how it goes.

 

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Beer Braised Chicken Sliders With Hoisin Beer Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

    For the Barbecue Sacue:
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 cup beer
    • For The Braised Chicken:
  • 2 tbs canola oil
  • 3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups beer
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 15 mini Hawaiian bread rolls
    • Yield: 15 sliders

Directions

  1. Heat 2 tbs canola oil in large pot or Dutch oven. Sprinkle the chicken with salt on all sides. Place in the pot and cook on each side until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Cover with 1 1/2 cups of beer and 1/2 cup chicken broth, cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
  2. While chicken is cooking, prepare barbeque sauce by warming olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; add 1 cup beer, hoisin sauce, chili powder and soy sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until thickened and reduced, remove from heat.
  3. When chicken is cooked, remove from pot and allow to cool. Using two forks, shred chicken to as thin slices as possible, then add to hoisin barbeque sauce pan, tossing well to coat.
  4. Split rolls in half across the middle to resemble small sandwich buns, fill with chicken.
http://thebeeroness.com/2012/05/10/beer-braised-chicken-sliders-with-hoisin-beer-barbecue-sauce/

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Chocolate Pretzel Beer Toffee

The best part about visiting a brewery is the opportunity to sample those special release beers that never make it into bottles. Those brews that are only made in small batches, put into casks that sometimes make it to local pubs or events but will never make it into bottles in your local distributors shelves. Like those songs your favorite band will never record but will occasionally play live if you happen to catch a show on the right night, these are beers that make you feel special for having been granted the experience. In a world where it seems everything is accessible with the right google word search, these near mythical concoctions are only available to those who happen to be in the right place at the right time.

One of my favorites is the Habanero Sculpin from Ballast point. Because of the process they use, the heat is fresh and bright. An uncooked scorch that isn’t shy. Habaneros are an extremely unpredictable ingredient, with heat levels that vary widely from pepper to pepper, making every cask of Habanero Sculpin different from the last. If you ever make it down to San Diego, stop in for a pint and count yourself among the special few.

Since I wasn’t able to get my hands on any Habanero Sculpin, I found myself fixated on this Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale. And the result was a toffee that I couldn’t stop eating. So addictive, and it only takes about 20 minutes to make. I already have plans to make and hand this out as Christmas gifts, if I can wait that long to make it again.

Chocolate Pretzel Amber Ale Toffee

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Chocolate Pretzel Beer Toffee

Ingredients

    Toffee:
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1 Cup Butter (2 sticks)
  • 1/2 Cup Amber Ale
    • Topping:
  • 2 Cups Pretzels, Smashed
  • 2 Cups Dark Chocolate Chips (60% caco content)
  • 1/4 Cup Amber Ale or Chocolate Stout

Directions

  1. In a large pot over high heat add the sugar, butter and 1/2 cup amber ale, it will triple in volume during the cooking process so make sure to use a large pot. Stir until the mixture starts to boil. Allow to boil untouched until the mixture starts to darken and thicken at about 230 degrees. Stir continuously until it turns a very dark amber and hits 290 degrees. This process will take between 15 and 20 minutes from start to finish. pour onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a Silpat. Allow to cool.
  2. Add the chocolate to a large bowl. Heat the beer until hot but not boiling. You can heat it on a pot on the stove or microwave it in a microwave safe bowl. If you use the microwave, know that the beer will foam up once it reaches it's boiling point. Pour the hot beer over the chocolate chips and stir until well combined and melted.
  3. Pour the chocolate over the toffee and smooth out in an even layer. Sprinkle the crushed pretzels over the chocolate and chill until the chocolate has set. Cut into pieces.

Notes

If you use a chocolate with less than 60% cocoa content, it will have higher levels of milk solids, because of this it will have a more difficult time hardening once the beer is added. Try to fine 60% and chill it to set.

http://thebeeroness.com/2012/05/01/chocolate-pretzel-beer-toffee/

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