Beermixology

Beer Eggnog Ice Cream

06.11.2018 3 Comments

Beer Eggnog Ice Cream

I’m here to change your mind, to flip your vote. I know, I know, eggnog is gross, right? Yeah, I thought so too. Then I realized that it’s not. It’s actually quite amazing, it’s basically boozy, drinkable ice cream. IF you make it right.

Most importantly: back off the nutmeg. Because the difference between a teaspoon of "fresh grated nutmeg," with its big, fluffy, air-filled piles, it’s about one quarter the amount you’d use if you just scoop it out of the McCormick bottle (jar? tin? container? What the heck do you call those things, anyway?)

Tl;DR: if a recipe calls for "fresh grated nutmeg" and you pssshhh all over that because you just want to scoop it out of the pre-ground tub (is that the word?), use 1/4 of what it calls for or you’ll wreck your dish.

Now that we’ve discovered why you didn’t like that one batch of nutmeg juice your aunt used to make, we can all agree that eggnog is amazing. Oh, and so is ice cream, and beer, obviously.

What beer should you use? Great question! I’m so glad you asked, let’s talk about that. Malty. Always a malty beer (back away from the IPA’s). I’ve done this a few times, this beer-ed up nog situation (I know, you’re shocked by this news, I’ll give you a second to recover).

Here are the undisputed reigning champs of beer-nog: Winter Ales (as long as it isn’t one of those winter IPAs), and Barleywines. Both are heavy on the malt, and full of those clove, cinnamon, spice notes that go so well in our boozy ice cream.

Sure, you can use a pre-made version. Or a leftover eggnog from your last nog endeavor. For an ice cream base, it’s completely fine. Want my scratch beer-nog recipe? Here it is: Pub Nog.

Just use a beer you love, a beer with high ABV and tons of malt. You’ll love it.

Beer Eggnog Ice Cream

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups 730g prepared eggnog (homemade or store bought)
1 cup 240g heavy cream
½ cup 100g brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup 6oz winter ale beer or Barleywine

Instructions

Stir together all ingredients.
Churn in ice cream maker according to manufactures specifications until it reaches a soft serve consistency. This can take up to 20 minutes; the ice cream base should more than double in size (of all the ice cream recipes I make, this one takes the longest to reach this stage. Just keep allowing the ice cream to churn until it’s more than doubled in size).
Place in an airtight container, freeze until set, about 3 hours.

Spiked Hot Chocolate with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

04.11.2016 8 Comments

Spiked Hot Chocolate with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

Jennifer was one of those people I admired right away.

Her gorgeous photos, flawless recipes (she’s a trained chef), and she just seemed like someone I wanted to have a beer with. After we passed the obligatory blog-stalking-each-other period, we became friends. She’s someone who will give advice without judgement, share what she’s learned, and she’ll go to bat for you.

She’s the type of friend you want, even if she lives on the other side of the country. Even if most of our communication is vent-messaging each other things we know the other will understand. Even if I’m still hoping to make an East Coast trip happen soon, and it just doesn’t seem to be materializing.

When her book, The Gourmet Kitchen, came in the mail I was thrilled. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. Gorgeous photos, recipes you want to make, and instructions that feel effortless to follow.

spiked-hot-chocolate-with-salted-caramel-whipped-cream6

So I made a recipe, and drooled over the rest. I was sucked in by the idea of a salted caramel whipped cream and now all other whipped creams will be decidedly inferior. I switched out the bourbon for a bourbon barrel aged stout because I do that type of thing, but feel free to booze as you choose with bourbon, brandy, rum or beer.

Don’t forget to check out her blog Savory Simple, and her Instagram.

Spiked Hot Chocolate with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

Used by permission from The Gourmet Kitchen cookbook by Jennifer Farley,

Print Recipe

Servings 2 large servings

Ingredients

¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups whole milk
6 weight ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup bourbon barrel aged stout or ¼ cup bourbon*

Instructions

In a medium saucepan heat the sugar, water and salt over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the sugar to continue cooking, keeping a close eye on it, until it starts to turn golden brown. Once it begins to caramelize, it will darken quickly. Let the sugar get dark without burning for the best results.
Once the caramel is a dark amber, remove the pan from heat and pour the heavy ream down the side of the saucepan. The caramel will splatter before temporarily seizing up, be careful to avoid burns.
Move the pan back onto the burner and use a heatproof spatula to stir the caramel and cream until evenly combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring periodically.
Pour the caramel into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing firmly directly against the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until very cold, several hours and up to overnight.
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whip the caramel until it reaches medium peaks. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat. When the milk is steaming but not yet simmering, remove from heat and add the chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for a minute until the chocolate has melted. Vigorously whisk in the vanilla and beer (or bourbon), and briefly return to heat until the desired serving temperate us reached. Pour into mugs, top with whipped cream.

Notes

Recipe in the book calls for 1/4 cup bourbon. The only adaptation I made was the option of using 1/2 cup bourbon barrel aged stout instead of bourbon,

spiked-hot-chocolate-with-salted-caramel-whipped-cream7

I was given a copy of The Gourmet Kitchen without expectation or obligation. All opinions are my own.

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

20.09.2016 2 Comments

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. "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 word 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.

no-li-1

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.

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

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Servings 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

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.
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.
Add the crushed pretzels to a bowl.
Dip a serving glass in the chocolate, then the pretzels to rim the glasses.
Add the ice cream plus the remaining 1/3 cup stout to a blender, blend until smooth.
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.
Top with generous amounts of chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crushed pretzels, cookies and candy.

Beer Cocktail: Raspberry Peach IPA Slushies

10.06.2016 4 Comments

Beer Cocktail: Raspberry Peach IPA Slushies

This is how it starts, isn’t it?

This is the siren sound that beckons to your non-beer friends, the ones who never even take a sip, the ones who opt for sparkling wine and drinks that end in -tini. It’s how we get you hooked. Because you can taste the beer, you can feel the hops on your tongue. But it’s wrapped up in an attractive raspberry-peach package like a trojan horse at the gate. You can’t turn it down, you want to take a sip even just to see how it taste. You can even pretend like you’re too hard-core for something like this, but it doesn’t erase how good it taste even if you try to pretend otherwise. The way people who are die hard black coffee drinkers will still drink the hell out of a mocha-frapp if you put one in their hand. The way Citizen Cane devotees will still watch all of Pitch Perfect if it’s on HBO as long as no one is around to witness it.

It’s ok to like it. Even if you still want to chase it with an IPA right from the can.

I used Tangerine Hop Nosh by Unita Brewing

Raspberry Peach IPA Slushies

5 from 1 vote

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Servings 4 drinks

Ingredients

1 ½ cups raspberry sorbet
1 large ripe peach diced
1 ½ oz gold tequila or dark rum
12 oz high ABV IPA

Instructions

Add sorbet, peaches, and tequila to the blender.
Blend until smooth. Add the beer, pulse until just combined.
Pour into glasses. Serve immediately.

Beer Cocktail Recipe: Cucumber Basil IPA Cooler

04.03.2016 1 Comment

Beer Cocktail Recipe: Cucumber Basil IPA Cooler

Citrus IPA’s will rule the summer of 2016, and with good reason.

Ballast point, and their well-distributed Grapefruit Sculpin is often pointed to as the genesis of the grapefruit beer obsession when it fact it was more of a large scale manifestation of our growing love from the beautiful flavors citrus gives to beer.

While IPA’s get the brunt of the citrus infusion, no beer style has been immune. From blood orange stouts to orange witbier, beer will always play nicely with citrus fruit. In part because so many hops already carry nice citrus notes into your beer, so chances are it’s a flavor you’re used to tasting.

This summer more breweries than ever plan to give you a fruit infusion in one way or another. How are they going to do it? Let us count the ways:

Hip hops: The cool kids in the hop world right now are those ripe with citrus flavor. Some of the most common are Amarillo, Citra, Centennial, and Cascade all have a nice natural citrus flavor.

Beer Cocktail Recipe-Cucumber Basil IPA Cooler5

These are hops, fresh from the hop bine

Radlers: A radler is a bit of a beer cocktail that can be carried out in a variety of ways. A radler is basically beer and grapefruit. It can also include sparkling grapefruit soda, or lemon-lime soda plus grapefruit juice. It can be mixed at the bar or pre-mixed and bottled or canned ahead of time.

Shandy: The lemon version of a radler. Same as above, it’s a beer cocktail that includes beer, lemonade or lemon soda. It’s most often pre-mixed.

Brewed with fruit: This is a trend that will take over your bottle shops in the next few months and I couldn’t be happier about it. Brewers are including peels, fruit, juice, and any other incarnation of citrus that their creative minds can think of. From sours to little known German styles, all types of beer are being experimented with.

Extracts: This is fairly rare. Occasionally brewers will use a flavor extract (think vanilla extract when making frosting) to infuse a beer with flavor. Most often this is a last resort when working with an ingredient that is either incredibly inconsistent (like peppers) or when the flavors are hard to work with in the brewing process (like mint). Citrus isn’t either of those things so extracts are pretty rare when making citrus beers.

Randall: Imagine one of those plastic tubes that goes into a vacuum that drive up bank tellers use. Now imagine it’s filled with cut up grapefruit. Now imagine it’s between a keg and a tap handle at your bar and your beer is being pumped through it before getting into your glass. This is a Randall and it’s a fun way to experiment with flavors without having to brew a new batch. Look for them at hardcore tap-rooms and beer bars. Next time you’re at a beer bar or tap-room ask if anything "is on randall."

Beer Cocktail Recipe: Cucumber Basil IPA Cooler

Print Recipe

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces vodka
2 basil leaves chopped
6 slices of cucumbers
3 ounces sparkling lemonade*
3-6 ounces IPA with citrus notes
Garnish: cucumber slices and small basil leaves

Instructions

Add the vodka, basil, cucumbers and sparking lemonade to a shaker half filled with ice. Shake several times, pour into an IPA glass.
Pour beer into the glass, gently stir. Add cucumbers and basil. Serve immediately.

Notes

If you use lemon flavored sparkling water, or any other soda that is unsweetened, make sure to compensate for the lack of sweetness with about 1/2 ounce of simple syrup or agave.

Beer Cocktail: Grilled Pineapple Beer Sangria

26.06.2015 3 Comments

Beer Cocktail: Grilled Pineapple Beer Sangria

Summer is about a lot of things. The things you can’t find in any other season, things that close your eyes and open your heart. The feeling of the sun on bare shoulders. The breeze against your slightly sun scorched neck. Friends wandering into the back yard, pulling up a chair. There’s a magic in it all, a sense that you’re being begged to stop for a second. To just slow down long enough to hear the breath in your lungs. Summer lasts about 93 days, just a bit more than a handful.

Hesitate, and the moment has passed you by. Make excuses long enough, the leaves will be falling before you get a chance to indulge your summer fantasy. Summer is a small escape, an excuse for things you don’t normally allow. Blame the exposed skin, the flushed face, the raised body temperature. Blame the heat and the water and the long days that stretch into starlight evenings.

These nights call for a drink that makes you radiate the season, that make you want to indulge and celebrate. I, of course, add craft beer and grilled fruit. Obviously.

I used an imperial saison, Funkwerks Tropical King. It has a beautiful, bright summery fruit flavors and a larger than average ABV. Perfect for summer nights, no matter how calm or rowdy.

Grilled Pineapple Beer Sangria

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

1 2.5 lb pineapple
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tbs brown sugar
3 ounces rye whiskey
½ cup triple sec
24 ounces Saison or lambic
2 cups frozen peach slices

Instructions

Preheat the grill to medium high.
Cut the pineapple into 1-inch rings.
Grill the pineapple until grill marks appear, about 3 minutes per-side.
Reserve two rings for garnish. Cut the remaining rings, removing the skin and core. Add the pineapple flesh, about 2 cups, to a blender or food processor along with the lemon, brown sugar and whiskey. Blend until smooth. Add to a serving container, refrigerate until chilled, can be made a day ahead of time.
Just prior to serving stir in the triple sec, beer and peaches.

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

15.06.2015 12 Comments

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

There is a point in every day that the clock tips from coffee-drinking hour to beer-consumption o’clock. It’s a gradual transition, the coffee cravings are slowly pushed aside by your desire for a beer that’s beckoning you from the fridge. In the middle of these two worlds is a bit of a beverage gray area, an afternoon slot where a crossover can take place. Beer and coffee, both are accepted. Coffee beer had this time in mind when it was being brewed. A beverage no-mans-land. Because coffee beers exists, you no longer have to choose between these two well-loved drinks.

But what is a coffee beer?

Brewers are magically creative people, constantly chasing new flavor combinations, new ways to brew, waking up in the middle of the night to jot down beer concepts to flush out the following day. Most brewers start the day in a similar way, a steaming cup of coffee in their hands, rubber boots pounding the wet cement between fermenters and mash tuns, checking batches, sampling wort, mashing in. Coffee still fresh in their mouths as they make giant batches of beer. Coffee and beer never seemed a peculiar combination to this set.

Coffee can be added to beer in a variety of ways. Most commonly is right from the beans. Either ground and added to large bags that function like tea bags, or whole beans added during brewing, the beans are steeped to extract the flavors. On occasion brewers use brewed coffee or espresso. Brewers have a natural affinity for local ingredients, you can bet that in most cases craft breweries will seek out high quality, local, craft beans. Most beers that are infused with coffee are dark beers, like porters and stouts. But don’t ask a brewer to limit themselves or fit within any box. Cream ales have been used and Fort George Brewing makes a coffee IPA called Java The Hop. For this recipe, a bold coffee stout or porter is the way you want to go.

A few to seek out:

Great Divide// Espresso Oak Aged Yeti

Founders // Breakfast Stout

Surly // Coffee Bender

Ballast Point // Victory at Sea

Alesmith // Speedway Stout

Southern Tier // Mokah

Lagunitas // Cappuccino Stout

Schlafly // Coffee Stout

Stone // Coffee Milk Stout

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

¾ cup espresso or very strong coffee chilled
¾ cup half and half
¾ cup espresso or chocolate stout
¼ cup chocolate syrup
¼ cup chocolate chips
2 tbs sugar
2 cups ice

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a blender.
Blend until smooth.
Serve immediately.

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

31.12.2014 4 Comments

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

We do this too often. Spinning a resolution in a sacrifice that will ultimately give way to our guilt over lack of follow through. It’s not your fault, it’s the resolution. You can spend all year giving up coffee, carbs, sugar, or sleeping in, but that’s not what we should focus on at the dawning of a brand new year. It’s not supposed to be torture, it’s meant for celebration. So don’t put yourself in a culinary time out, or throw yourself into a debt related guilt prison, give yourself a gift. Grow yourself and your interest. Save the torture and regret for Lent. If you’re a beer person, you’ve got some options. But you already knew that, you’re way more creative than those vodka soda people.

1. Get certified in beer. Make it a goal to study hard, read up, and earn yourself a Cicerone Certificate, which is a certification that proves to the world that you actually know beer. And if anyone questions you, you will now have the proof you need to silence your opposition.

2. Brew your own. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at homebrewing, there is no better time to start. Buy a starter kit, join a homebrew club, and realize that your first batch will suck, possible explode in the fridge, and then the next one will suck less. If that doesn’t scare you off, then you’ll make a fantastic brewer someday. After you stop sucking at it (don’t worry, everyone sucks at first).

3. Go to a beer festival. There is no better way to connect with the craft beer community than to drink with us. Nearly every state has a Craft Beer Week, there are ale fests, stout fest, holiday beer fests, fresh hop fests, summer ale fests, (and on and on), in every state. Find one locally or go to a giant gathering of craft beer lovers from all over the world like The Great American Beer Festival.

4. Invest in glassware. You’ll be shocked at the flavor difference between your favorite beer when you drink it from shaker pint (or, god forbid, a mason jar) and when you sample it from a glass made specifically for that beer style. If you appreciate beer, and especially if you invest in good bottles, you’ll love serving it the proper way. Although the names of a few of these glasses are a bit suspect, I love the line of glassware from Crate & Barrel (my favorites: stout glass, half pints, IPA glass, wheat beer glass, craft beer glass).

5. Learn beer terms. Grab a great intro to craft beer book like The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer, Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros by Julia Herz and Gwen Conley or The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer by Ashley V. Routson and learn how to speak the craft beer language (affiliate links).

6. A new brewery every month. Most cities have more than enough established breweries or new start ups to take care of twelve months of brewery hopping. Stop in, grab a flight, and don’t forget to chat up the staff, beer people are the friendliest kind.

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon

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Servings 2 cocktails

Ingredients

Garnish:

2 Celery ribs
2 strips thick cut bacon
½ tsp chili powder
2 tsp brown sugar

Cocktail:

1 cup Calamato or tomato juice
1 cup IPA beer
1/2 tsp celery salt plus additional for glass rims
1 tsp Sriracha
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp brine for a jar of spanish olive
1/4 tsp cream style horseradish
1 tbs lime juice about 1 medium lime
1 tbs lemon juice about 1/2 medium lemon
1/2 tsp black pepper
Ice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Thread the bacon through oven safe skewers.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and chili powder.
Place on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
Bake until bacon is crispy, about 15 minutes.
Rim glasses with celery salt. Add all cocktail ingredients to a shaker half full of ice, swirl to combine. Strain into prepared glasses, garnish with celery and bacon skewer.

Bloody Hell: Blood Oranges, Jalapeno, Whiskey and Beer Cocktail

17.01.2014 15 Comments

If there is anything that can lure me away from ordering a good beer, it’s a spicy cocktail.

The heat in a fresh pepper and some whiskey will get me every time. Once blood orange season rolls around, I’m powerless. Blood oranges have a great flavor, part naval orange, part raspberry and the color is incredible. The season has just started and ends far too soon. During the few peak weeks that I’m able to find these beauties that make my cutting board look like an episode of Dexter, I juice and freeze as much as I can for later.

Because before too long the only orange I’ll be able to find will be the boring orange ones.

Bloody Hell: Blood Oranges, Jalapeno, Whiskey and Beer Cocktail

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 oz blood orange juice
1 ½ oz bourbon
1 tbs agave
1 jalapeno sliced
2 oz IPA beer

Instructions

In a shaker filled with ice add the blood orange juice, bourbon, agave, and jalapeno sliced. Shake well, pour through a strainer into a highball glass with ice.
Add beer, stir.

Orange Brewlius

21.11.2013 9 Comments

Can I be dramatic for a second?

And not in that I Almost Died in Morocco story kind of way, this is more the twisted inner workings of Jackie kind of way. It’ll only take a second.

I sleep about as well as homeless prostitute (that’s bad, by the way). If I can fall asleep, it’s never for very long. Sleep is as evasive as a greased pig at the county fair, if I can catch it, it’s slips away from me pretty easily. Most of this is due to my crazy brain waking me up with dreams like this, or for unnecessary demands and insignificant request.

-You have to send that W9!

-Shut up and go to sleep. I’ll do it in the morning.

–The trademark hasn’t gone through yet!

–I want to beat you. Shut your hole. there is nothing I can do about right now.

It happens every night, all night long. Sometimes Crazy Brain has recipe requests, and they are always bizarre.

-You have to make a chocolate bread pudding tart!

-Are you carb deficient? Go the EFF to sleep.

–Beer cheese tater tot nachos!!

-Are you high?

But occasionally it’s really on to something. Like a few nights ago when I was rudely awakened from a sound sleep with the request for a beerified mall walkers treat.

–ORANGE BREWLIUS!

-SHUT– oh, wait. I like that. Remind me of that at a more appropriate hour.

So here I am, to inflict on you the spoils of my horrible and erratic sleep in an attempt to put my crazy mind at rest. Or maybe I’m just reinforcing bad behavior, either way, this was delicious. I used Ommegang Abbey Ale, a great beer that would actually do well to pair with your Thanksgiving dinner. Although I decided to sully it in a copy cat recipe of a large chain smoothie maker.

I hope the head brewer forgives me.

Orange Brewlius

Print Recipe

Ingredients

7 fl oz orange juice
½ cup Belgian ale
2 tbs heavy cream
2 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Pour the orange juice into ice cube trays. Place in the freezer until frozen, about 2 hours.
Put the orange juice ice cubes and the remaining ingredients in a blender.
Blend until frothy.
Enjoy.

Golden Ale Beer Cocktail

29.08.2013 12 Comments

Of all of the ways I’ve abused and manipulated a pint of beer on this blog, the only means that have proved controversial have been those that involve mixing beer with other alochol. Like it or not, beer mixology is a growing trend. While purist maintain that the only appropriate thing to mix beer with is a cold glass, the phenomenon is catching on. More often than not, trendy, hip, well groomed drinking establishments are adding craft beer to their cocktail shakers.

It’s not about manipulating the beer, it’s about improving the cocktial. Because even when I feel the urge for a highball full of ice, rimmed with salt, I may still be craving those flavors of craft beer. I may not want to choose, I might just want both. And you can’t stop me.

I don’t often stray from my love of good beer, but when I do you better not hand me something fruity with an umbrella straw. I want something smokey, or sour, or spicy. I want something savory, you can hand those sugary drinks to the frat boys at the end of the bar. When I got my hands on a copy of Savory Cocktails, I was instantly hook. This isn’t just a book about booze, it’s a love letter to the cocktail. It’s full of thoughtful, imaginative, innovative recipes that are made for those who love the art of a well crafted cocktail. It even contains a few beer mixology cocktails, like the beautifully well balanced Golden Ale which is by far the best beer cocktail I’ve ever made.

Even if you can’t stomach the idea of mixing your beer with anything but your mouth, I’d venture a guess that you’d enjoy this cocktail more than is comfortable for your beer purist ways.

Golden Ale Beer Cocktail

Recipe from Savory Cocktails by Greg Henry

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 lemon wedge
smoked sea salt
1 scant barspoon hot sauce
2 pony shots 2 fl oz vodka
1/2 pony shot 1/2 fl oz Elderflour liqueur (such as St. Germain)
1/2 fl oz lime juice or yuzu
1/2 fl oz lemon juice
1 tbs honey simple syrup honey and very warm water, 1:1 ratio, stir
4-6 tbs 2-3 fl oz Belgian style golden ale beer

Instructions

Use the lemon wedge to lightly moisten the rim of a highball glass.
Pour the salt onto a small saucer, spreading in a thin layer.
Press the rim into the salt, cookie cutter style, twisting back and fourth to coat the rim with salt.
Fill glass with ice cubes.
Into a cocktail shaker filled 2/3 full with ice, add hot sauce, vodka, elderflour liqueur, lime juice (or yuzu), lemon juice, and honey syrup
Cover and shake.
Strain into prepared glass, stir in the Belgian Ale.

Recipe from Savory Cocktails by Greg Henry, which makes the perfect Hostess Gift. By the way. Just a thought.

I received a copy of Savory Cocktails from Ulysses Press.

I was not financially compensated in any way.

All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Beer Sangria

23.07.2013 14 Comments

The first cocktail ever invented was a beer cocktail. Although the term cocktail will need to be defined as "a beverage made by mixing two or more alcoholic liquids" to come to that conclusion, and legions of cocktail snobs will stand up to debate that with me, I firmly defend the beer cocktail as being the spark that ignited a cultural inferno.

It was the early 1600’s and rum had just been discovered on sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean, after what I’m assuming wasn’t much more than a school-yard dare, when workers decided to taste the fermented mixture of water and molasses. It was such an instant success it quickly became an accepted form of currency.

Sailors were given a "rum ration" on long voyages (which gave rise to the popular pairing of pirates and bottles of rum, yo-ho-ho). As a way to extend those rations, they began to mix rum with beer, water, sugar, and whatever else they could find. They called this charming mixture of beer, rum, and whatever: Grog. Although the hangover-inducing thought of that might not sound so appealing, it’s definitive proof that beer mixology isn’t a new phenomenon.

In fact, beer mixology predates liquor mixology.

At the time, it was out of necessity, beer was cheaper and more abundant than other liquors so it made economic sense. These days, craft beer has a database of flavors that no other liquor can touch.

From caramel and molasses to grass and apricots, this is booze that makes sense to mix into your cocktails.

It’s not about improving beer, it’s about improving the cocktail.

Beer Sangria

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup peach nectar I used Kerns
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
2 ounces simple syrup
4 ounces Pisco Reservado
2 cups frozen peaches
24 ounces summer style ale see note

Instructions

In a large pitcher stir together the peach nectar, lemon juice, simple syrup and Pico. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
Add the peaches and beer, serve immediately.

Notes

Beer: A lot of the new summer release beers will work really well for this, look for a beer with notes of citrus, apricots, peaches, or basil.

Pisco: Pisco Reservado is a liquor made in the winemaking regions of Peru and Chili, a brandy made from wine grapes. Most liquor store will carry it, call around to find some in your area.

Peaches: You can cut and freeze your own peaches or you can buy them frozen. Using frozen peaches instead of ice will help to avoid a watered down pitcher of booze.

Stout Hot Chocolate with Stout Whipped Cream

28.12.2012 18 Comments

I was interviewed by a baking magazine a few weeks ago, because apparently I am the foremost expert on cooking with beer. This was the second interview I’ve done on the subject for a print magazine. One question always gets asked, so I figure some of you might have this same question:

"Does the alcohol cook off? Is it safe for kids?"

The short answer is: yes. The long answer, it depends.

Let me explain. No matter how much you cook beer, or any alcohol for that matter, some trace amounts remain. So trace, that their effects will never be felt, nor will the alcohol enter your blood stream. The USDA deems the consumption of cooked alcohol safe for all ages as well as pregnant women, you can see evidence of this when you are able to order steak in a red wine sauce or a rum raisin cake without being carded.

In order for the beer to be cooked enough to remove the alcohol it must be cooked at 170 (or above) for at least 10 minutes. This isn’t much. Everything that is baked will meet these requirements. Pan fried items generally will also meet the requirements, and although beer battered items aren’t cooked for ten minutes, the heat is so high and the amount of alcohol so small (about 1tbs per serving) the amount of alcohol actually left behind is minimal.

Because of this, I see no health concerns with the consumption of cooked beer. The only concerns that I do have are moral. I cook often, and have a diverse group of friends, among them are people who have moral conflicts with alcohol, such as Mormons and people in recovery. I would strongly suggest that if you are cooking for others, let people who may be morally opposed to consuming alcohol know what they are about to be served. Someone in AA might be triggered by the taste of beer, and some religions condemn the consumption of alcohol in all forms, even trace amounts.

Wow, not that thats out of the way, I have a Stout Hot Chocolate for you. And with your newly acquired beer cooking knowledge you have full control over how boozy you make it.

Head over to Rachel Cooks for the recipe.

The Dirty Girl Scout: Chocolate Mint Beer Float

19.09.2012 18 Comments

This isn’t a recipe. Not really, it’s more like assembly instructions for how to make a float that tastes like a Girl Scout Thin Mint, but with beer.

Boozy, chocolatey, minty.

But there really isn’t a recipe involved. Add more ice cream if that’s what you like. Add more beer, if that suits you.

I used my homemade Chocolate Mint Stout Ice Cream & a lot of Bison Chocolate Stout.

It tastes like beer. In case you were hoping for one of those overly sweet concoctions they sell at diners.

But, more or less, this is how you do it:

Step one:

Add a few scoops of chocolate mint ice cream to the bottom of a mug.

Grab some beer, chocolate stout is preferable.

Pour beer over ice cream.

Enjoy.

Brewed Mary: Beer Bloody Mary

23.07.2012 29 Comments

No offense to vodka, but a Bloody Mary just tastes better with beer. And an IPA is the inarguable choice for a Brewed Mary. I am, for the most part, a live and let live person.

Happy to let your differing opinions thrive right alongside mine. There are recipe choices that I would love to debate with you. I’ll take your suggestions of a pilsner over a Saison for a beer cheese dip. And I would love to debate with you Brown Ale versus a Hefeweizen for a chicken pot pie.

But with this, we have no choice, an IPA is just the best way to go. The hops blend so well with the heat and the tomato juice.

If you disagree with me, I just hope you keep it to yourself. After all, I still want to like you, and we can always spar over porter versus stouts for brownies.

For this recipe, I used Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA. At the moment, it is one of my favorite beers, and quite possibly my favorite IPA.

Note: Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. For vegetarian, use a vegan Worcestershire sauce like Annie’s Organic Worcestershire Sauce.

Brewed Mary: Beer Bloody Mary

Print Recipe

Servings 2 cocktails

Ingredients

1 cup tomato juice
1/2 tsp celery salt plus additional for glass rims
1/2 tsp Chipotle Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp brine for a jar of spanish olive
1/4 tsp cream style horseradish
1 tbs lime juice about 1 medium lime
1 tsp lemon juice about 1/2 medium lemon
1/2 tsp black pepper
Ice
1 cup IPA beer
Optional garnish:
celery stalk olives

Instructions

Rim glasses with celery salt.
Add all ingredients (except the beer) to a shaker half full of ice, shake to combine.
Strain into prepared glasses, stir in the beer, garnish if desired.

Strawberry Beer Lemonade

Summer is almost here. Barbecues, lazy afternoons on the porch swing, long days at the beach, music and card games on the patio until dawn. I realize that a fridge full of craft beer doesn’t always please the masses, but I do want to impart those flavors that are so beautiful anyone can enjoy them, into nearly everything that comes out of my kitchen.