The past few weeks I’ve been craving summer. I live in Los Angeles, so feel free to laugh at my inability to cope with a mild seasonal chill. It isn’t so much the weather of the Summer months that I miss, but the culture of the season. Backyard barbecues, a slower life pace, vacations and… Read More
I love the huge array of flavors that we now have in our Craft Beers. Chipotle? Yes please. Coffee? Couldn’t live without it. Both of these flavors, along with the fact that beer is a natural meat tenderizer make this Black Phoenix Chipotle Coffee Stout the perfect beer for the job of making tacos. Bootleggers… Read More
There are always exception to even the most powerful rules. This leaves a movement and an honestly to the lives we live, without the guilt of hypocrisy. The rule I am adding an addendum to is my strong allegiance to West Coast beers. Although great beer can be found nearly everywhere in the world these… Read More
There is something mysterious and alluring about Alaska. Beautiful landscapes pushing past a transcendental, white washed façade. I’ll even forgive her the birth of ignorant, poorly spoken, female politicians to glimpse the majesty of the Aurora Borealis. It just may be because of this enchanted terrain that the beer seems to have a prestigious eminence.… Read More
Firefighters are a rare beast. The perfect combination of rugged bravery and compassion driven sensitivity. A sports watching, beer drinking guys-guy, who is also the first in line to pull a shivering puppy from a frozen river and then make a batch of tender homemade scones. So what do you do if you find yourself… Read More
Risotto is the first recipe that I ever mastered. To this day, I count this among my favorite comfort food, downing giant bowls whenever the opportunity arises. The classic recipe is made with white wine, but the substitution of a citrusy, medium-bodied craft beer only adds to the profile of flavors. I used another California… Read More
IPA’s make difficult cooking subjects. The bitterness is high maintenance. But then a beer comes along that is just so worth the effort of figutring out how to work those flavors into my food. Like Le Freak, by Green Flash Brewing out of San Diego. It’s a non traditional American IPA meets Belgium style IPA.… Read More
I’m going to start this post by telling you that I am biased. That being said and out of the way: The West Coast of the United States has the best beer in the world. At least, it has the highest concentration of fantastic craft breweries. I used two old favorites for this post. Black… Read More
Beer Brined Turkey will give you the juiciest, tastiest bird you’ve ever had! This recipe also tells you how to also get a crispy skin! You’ll never make it another way again!
I could get really cheesy about this. I could even call it CranBEERy sauce. But I’m not going to do that, because, that would be lame. And I respect you too much for obvious puns. Drunken cranberry sauce? Boozy? All of those overused descriptors miss the point, and the fact that high heat burns off… Read More
Napa SmithWheat is a perfect baking beer. It has crisp, clean flavors, sweetness and bold tones that hold up to the oven. A smooth wheat beer with citrus and peach notes. I enjoyed this beer, the baking, the drinking, the flavors. It was an easy beer to enjoy and gave me a sense of the… Read More
I came across Albion Amber Ale, from Marin Brewing Co this week. It isn’t a traditional Amber, but the flavors are bright and complex. One taste of this brown ale, and a caramel sauce immediately came to mind. The rich toffee and nut flavors paired beautifully with this recipe and the strong caramel and malt… Read More
Beer bread is simple. A few ingredients creates a soft, but dense bread. The basic principle is to use the beer as the yeast. Although beer is great in this capacity, adding a leavening agent like baking soda, or self rising flour, is important to help keep the bread from becoming too dense. The simple… Read More
This is the ultimate comfort food, combining three great comfort food players: Beer, Cheese, Warm Soup. Add to that a flaky pastry crust and you pretty much have pot pie perfection. I use Mission Street Blonde Ale for this, from the Mission Brewery out of San Diego. A really beautiful blend with the mild cheddar… Read More
There is nothing new about braising with beer. In fact, it should be the standard. Beer, as with all alcohol, is a natural meat tenderizer but it’s the flavors of the beer that make for braise meat that has a truly special taste. Craft brews are known for more intense flavor profiles and will always… Read More
When you go about baking biscuits, beer is a great addition. Not only because beer is fantastic will every possible edible substance, but because the the carbonation is an amazing leavening agent that lends itself well to culinary beer usage. For this recipe I used a Orange Wheat beer from Hangar 24, a Southern California based… Read More
I know that Oktoberfest started as the celebration of a royal wedding that would have put the recent William/Kate union to shame. I also know that it is not an actual proper Holiday. But for those of us completly in love with all things Beer, it might as well be. Oktoberfest, as in the one… Read More