Endless Beers: A Stout You Can Drink Like a Chocolate Milk

OldDominion

I know that summer is here and the summer shandies, wheat beers, and other light brews are out, but we”ll get to those later. Right now, let me enlighten you about the best stout I”ve ever had: The Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout. I learned of this beer while visiting a friend and I now crave it often.

Before I tell you how good it is, let me learn you on how it got there. First, there are the typical malts, hops, water and yeast that of course go into every beer. Then, there was more—a dry hop with oak chips and vanilla bean. Listen up: dry hopping occurs during the secondary stage of fermentation when hops OverdoseAlthough buy-detox.com overdose is not common, it can occur and can be fatal. are typically left in the wort (pre-alcohol and carbonated beer) to “infuse” the beer with the taste of the hops. However, Old Dominion decided to drop some oak chips in the tasty syrup along with vanilla bean. I”ve done this myself with vanilla bean and it tastes delicious. In fact, they may have stolen my idea.

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I’ll Take Some Christmas in My Beer

One of a kind. Every year, Anchor Brewing creates a unique recipe for their Christmas Ale. Once. Then the next year—a different recipe is used to create another Christmas ale. And so on and so on. Along with the beer, each year there’s a different label, hand-painted by an artist. The brew is only available from November to January, so get it fast! Now, on to the beer

Anchor Brewing touts the brew as: A rich, dark spiced ale, Anchor’s Christmas Ale is the perfect holiday beer, and is available nationally on draught, in six packs, and magnums (1.5L).  A magnum of Christmas Ale transforms an evening into a celebration and makes a unique host gift or stocking stuffer for beer lovers. On to the ES test (hopefully you’re realizing by now, I’ll break it down into five categories):

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Top 10 Beers to Drink on Halloween

Other than eating half of it, what are you planning on doing while handing out Halloween candy? Hopefully you’re planning on scaring the crap out of kids. Or maybe popping in your favorite scary movie. Regardless, why not do that while drinking a seasonal brew?

I’ve sampled each of the beers listed (and then some) to create a lineup of the top ten beers to drink on Halloween. Rather than ranking them, I put them into my own categories in order for you to determine which would be your best pick. I suggest picking two (or three) solid choices that you know you will like. Then, take a risk and try something new! On to the research:

Sweetest Pumpkin Beer: Tommyknocker Brewery’s “Small Patch Pumpkin Harvest Ale”

ABV: 5%

Pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. That pretty much sums up this one. It smells like pumpkin pie and tastes like pumpkin pie. This is not for those out there that don’t enjoy sweets, particularly sweet beers. But for those who do, try it out. It’s a great dessert beer. It is medium bodied and has more of a sweet pumpkin taste than the spice taste that most pumpkin beers do. It’s a crisp, clear brew that’s easy (and sweet) drinking.

Spiciest Pumpkin Beer: Sam Adams Fat Jack Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 8.5%

You’ve heard about this one before, but trust me, it’s got all you want for a cool fall night. The brew offers a warming feeling with every sip–the same feeling in your stomach you get from a sip of Jack Daniels—while also delivering the sweet taste of pumpkin. You can taste the spices of cinnamon, ginger, and even the allspice together with pumpkin.

“Tastes Most Like Pumpkin” Beer: Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumking Ale

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Candy Corn Oreos. We’re Going There.

Okay, it’s October, can we plllllease talk about the Candy Corn Oreos? I know the Internet already went (and is still going) bonkers over this questionable product when it was released a few weeks ago, but I’m sorry, that was in mid-September and I WAS NOT READY. Now that we’re officially in Halloween territory, I’ve decided it’s Candy Corn Oreos’ time to shine.

Here are some facts about this magical monstrosity of the cookie world:

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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).

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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…

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This Looks Familiar

Folks, meet the ZestN’est.

I was sent one of these at least six months ago to review. In case you’re wondering, it’s the device on the right. It’s an “ergonomic” zester. AND it stores the zest for later use.

So here’s the deal. You zest a lemon, orange or whatever with this contraption and instead of the zest getting stuck to the back of your microplane/falling on the floor/etc, it goes into the nice little lemon shaped holder.

I’m not saying the idea isn’t good, but let’s be honest. This is a redesigned PedEgg, right?

I wanted to hate this product so badly because it looks like the thing I use for pedicures. I mean. It IS the thing I use to scrape dead skin off my feet, just redesigned with a slightly different blade. Zest storage compartment=where all of the dead skin goes in the PedEgg. Gross, right?

Sort of. I’ve always hated the regular microplane, how the zest gets stuck to the back and goes everywhere because the bowl/plate/etc is generally smaller than the foot-long microplane (and why are they that long anyway?)

The ZestN’est sat in my drawer for months before I even used it. But as the holidays came around, our forbidden love affair started to develop.  I was zesting a lot of freaking fruit, and with this device, I wasn’t wasting any. None going on the counter from using a microplane over a tiny bowl.

I’ve learned my lesson. Sometimes a rebranded product IS good for something. Next time you see an infomercial and think “isn’t that just a ___?” Think again. The results could surprise you. Although I hope you’re not cooking with a Snuggie or Shake Weight any time soon.

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