beer - - Page 9

by snebbu

Some Herbs in Your Beer? The Saison du Buff

Typically, we don’t dedicate full posts to reviewing just one beer, but this one is a unique craft beer that everyone should try.

What makes this beer so cool? Well, first, it includes herbs like thyme, rosemary, parsley and sage as ingredients. Second, three of the country’s best craft breweries joined up to collaborate on one beer. Dogfish Head, Stone, and Victory created a brew that I believe will satisfy all, and can be paired to just about anything. In fact, I challenge you to find a meal that this delicious beer does not sit well with.

Often times I have trouble describing a beer as “delicious” because most people associate that word with food. You call beers “strong” or “hoppy” or “full,” but not delicious. However, after drinking this brew, I’m hoping most will change their minds (especially those people who think it’s civilized to drink beer the color of piss).

in Drinks 2 comments

by ML

Some Beers are Worth the Wait

Normally when I’m thinking about booze, filling cups and consuming it as fast as humanly possible seems about right to me.

So when I heard about the Bottoms Up system — a beer dispenser that fills beers up from the BOTTOM, and takes only seconds — I figured it was worth a shot, if I ever encountered it. No beer line? No wait? Sounds good to me.

As it turns out, at the Phillies game a few weeks ago, the bottoms up Bud Light stand was the closest one to my section. Let it be known I never drink Bud Light by choice, but…sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. So…Bottoms Up: God’s gift to sports fans? Not quite…

by snebbu

100 Ways to Use Beer in Food and Drinks #1: Pizza

In case you thought we were bluffing in our quest to make 100 foods and drinks better by adding beer, we weren’t. Here’s dish #1.

I like pizza. I love beer. So why hasn’t anyone thought to put beer in the pizza? Well it doesn’t matter now, because I did. I’ve long realized that homemade pizza (with store-bought sauce and crust) is better than delivery by a long shot, so homemade pizza with beer in it should be even better, right?

Last night, my girlfriend and I tried it out. I figured it would be cheese, broccoli, green peppers, and pepperoni, with a beer-spiked sauce. Then my wonderful girlfriend picked up a package of pancetta to add in to the mix. To balance that out, we went healthy with a whole wheat crust.

I had a batch of my “fuggly winter Belgian pale ale” and some Yeungling Lager in the fridge. At first I thought I’d use the lager, since it is a smoother brew with less of a hoppy flavor. Then I rethought, and figured the earthy tastes of the fuggles dry hopped in the beer along with the cinnamon I added to the beer would complement the pizza well. Plus, I brewed the “fuggly” beer myself. I figured there’d be more reason to brag if it was good with my own brew. It was.

in Cheese / Recipe 2 comments

by snebbu

100 Ways to Use Beer in Food and Drinks

Editor’s Note: New contributor snebbu joins ES to bring us a very epic, very ES series.

I caught the brew bug. Yes, I’m addicted to brewing beer. With this comes a snooty attitude towards “big beer” and using my “well-earned money” to purchase craft beer. So after a few brews, my fridge is rapidly filling up with bottles of my homebrew, along with craft beer and of course, there’s always a case of Pennsylvania’s pride — Yuengling. The problem is, the other day I opened the fridge door and realized my collection of beer was overfilling its allotted space, and without some good use, would spoil in time. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was drinking it all in one grand night of sitting on my couch and watching sports until reaching a drunken stupor. Then I figured I could use this in food, while drinking beer!

My mind began to wander — what foods could I put beer in? Is it limited to food, or can I mix it with some tasty drinks? In my opinion, beer can make any situation better, provided you choose the right make and variety. I couldn’t get this wonderful idea of complementing dishes and drinks with beer out of my mind. Fortunately, I’m taking a graduate level class on diversity and had the resources (three hours worth of hearing “you’re blind to your blindness”) to put together a list. This list begins my journey to attempt to make each and every one of the following 100 food and drink items better…with beer.

Check out the list, and let us know what other items you’d like to see cooked with beer. Then bookmark this page and return to see the results of our attempts to cook all 100 items on this list…with beer! Of course, feel free to play along yourself, and report back with your results.

The Ground Rules:

*I noted my disgust for big beer — the only rule I am enforcing is to use either homebrew or a favorite craft brew. Drink Craft Beer.

**It is assumed that while cooking/concocting these creations, you will be drinking beer.

The List – 100 Ways to Use Beer in Food and Drinks:

in 100 Ways / Drinks / Featured / Lists 10 comments

by ML

What to Do with That Leftover Easter Candy

On Saturday morning, in my pajamas, I impulse-bought two pounds of coffee, two pounds of bacon, and a package of Reeses’s Peanut Butter Eggs.

I just moved, so this was the entire contents of my fridge, besides a case of beer (obviously). I realized I had no idea what I was going to do with six peanut butter eggs and all that bacon, so one of my friends tweeted that I should combine the bacon, coffee, and chocolate….and my new favorite bacon and eggs were born. I left out the coffee because…well…I just did. The suggestion may have been a joke, but I’m pretty sure these peanut butter bacon strips are going to be the next big thing. Or at least replace bacon & eggs in my house.

Bacon and (Peanut Butter) Eggs

in Bacon / Desserts / Eggs / Recipe 6 comments

by BS

Corn Dogs Gone Gourmet

State fair season may still be several months away, but at ES we think about corn dogs 24/7/365. Now, here’s a corn dog even ya’ll uppity foodies won’t be ashamed to embrace.

Chef Kyle Rourke of Red Star Tavern in Portland has been giving corn dogs all kinds of gourmet upgrades, serving rabbit corn dogs with carrot-habanero dip, lobster corn dogs with mango relish, and venison corn dog with fig preserve. We asked him to share a recipe for one from his menu that’s just slightly more acceptable for home cooks.

Chicken Kielbasa Corn Dogs

in Featured / Fowl / Recipe / Restaurants / Trends 2 comments

by bakersroyale

Booze Bites: Irish Car Bomb Jell-O Shots

Chewable beer bite? Sure, you probably associate that phrase with a less-than-pleasant experience, something that might have involved hanging out a car door window like a dog on a drive. Luckily, we’re here to supplant that memory with a chewable beer bite you can enjoy. Let’s talk Irish Car Bomb Jell-shots.

No more worries of having to invoke those college days when you had guzzle this drink quickly just to avoid the curdle. No, we’ve grown up, we can self-moderate and we can do so gracefully with a treat that won’t leave guzzling trails at the corner of our mouths.

*To make this fun treat we we used two types of molds. The layered Jell-o shot on the right is made using a mini muffin pan. To acheive the shot-in-the-glass look like the ones on the left we used this mold found here.

Irish Car Bomb Jell-o Shots

in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 27 comments