Collaborations are more than a partnership, more than a blending of ideas or a meeting of brewing minds. It’s a handshake that says, “I trust you, I trust your ideas, and I’m putting my breweries name on the line to prove it.” More prevalent in the beer world than in nearly any other industry, collaborations… Read More
Chocolate Stout Freak Shake Freakshake 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.… Read More
This is what happens when you leave me alone with a bag of cocoa powder. Not just one batch, but five. Each batch with new tweaks to make them perfect. A batch with mini chocolate chips, one with ill-advised walnuts, one batch of chocolate and caramel ice cream cookie sandwiches, and the last batch left… Read More
Blueberry Muffin Beer Loaf Cake I’ve always been curious. Probably a bit too curious for my own good, but I’ll take it over safe, and timid. Lately, It’s been gluten-free beer that’s had me wondering (wait, don’t go! Let’s talk about gluten-free beer just for a second!). It’s not so much the “gluten” part that… Read More
Let’s say beer is a rock band. Hops are the loud front man that gets all the attention. The ingredient that everyone talks about and no one can ignore. Yeast is the rowdy, wily, drummer who’s hard to control but sets the tone for what’s going on, without him you have nothing. Barley is the… Read More
Grilled Apricot Saison Shortcakes with Ginger Mascarpone Whipped Cream I have to show my cards when the very glaring hole in my beer resume is revealed the moment I am forced to admit that I don’t brew. I’m not a brewer, I’m just here for the beer. I’ll stick to what I’m good at and… Read More
Blackberry Peach Saison Galette , with the BEST pastry crust ever. I wonder if he likes it. Garrett Oliver starts an effortless soliloquy about the beer we’re drinking. A careful and accurate dissection of flavor, body, and aroma of a replica batch of a 133-year-old Carlsberg beer. In his cashmere voice he talks, almost without… Read More
Coconut Porter Tres Leche Cake (dairy + egg free) I can’t stay. I’m in a hotel in Copenhagen and I just found an open-air farmers market nearby and although it’s been about 22 hours since I’ve slept, I have to go see it. But I wanted to give this recipe to you first and tell you what… Read More
Pure Delicious Cookbook: Free Beer Waffle Sundaes (egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free) For more about gluten free beer, watch this A few years ago I sat in the back of a press dinner failing at my attempts to hold back tears in the midst of the biggest personal life crisis I’ve ever… Read More
Strawberry Pineapple Pale Ale Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting This is the new beer-to-watch of 2016. Pineapples have been slowly sneaking their spiked heads into brew kettles for the past few years, closing the lead on grapefruit’s fruit-of-the-moment status. IPA’s are often the drug of choice for the pineapple craze, but the tentacles of… Read More
Vanilla Shortbread and Blackberry Beer Jam Bars There are all these little things we don’t talk about. I pretend, over here on the other side of this computer, that I’ve got my shit together. And you pretend to believe me. But really, I’m a mess. I had to have someone teach my how to… Read More
Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows 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… Read More
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Stout Brownies I was on a train, somewhere near midnight, traveling south trough Italy. I was 20-years-old, traveling with another girl my age who was hardly bigger than a middle schooler. We found a sleeping car, closed the door and latched it shut. These are the things you do when you’re a… Read More
Espresso Stout Chocolate Soufflé Cake I spent the weekend driving a loop around the Pacific Northwest. From Portland, to Hood River, up the middle of Washington, through Leavenworth and Suncadia, over to the coast with a long drive down the 101. It was fantastic. Maybe it was the company, maybe it was how gorgeous Washington and Oregon… Read More
Simple Make Ahead Chocolate Stout Pot de Crème It’s seems small, just a forgotten “5” that didn’t survive the mobile cut-and-paste before I hastily searched the subway app for the route to take me uptown. The minor detail landed me on the wrong train and 10 blocks from my destination, in heels, and a darkened… Read More
Buttermilk and Beer Beignets I have this detrimental habit of undercutting my price, or doing work for free, in exchange for a plane ticket and a hotel reservation. Last year I nearly committed to writing an entire menu just for the opportunity to go to Uganda for the weekend. The timing ended up being too… Read More
Pale Ale Crumb Cake Walking in the bay doors, they all seem to look the same. There are always the mingling smells of hops, malt and fickle high-maintenance yeast hard at work. There’s a brewer in rubber boots nearby, working out a problem behind a furrowed brow. There is inevitably a tank being cleaned, water from a… Read More
Chocolate Stout Truffle Mousse Bars with Pretzel Crust At a beer event in a crowded bar in Portland, Oregon last week I talked to a talented brewer about his participation in an upcoming brewing competition. “Really, I’m just going so that I can drink some more of their Yodo!” He laughs and talks about how… Read More