Beer Ice Cream
Here’s a link I saw about beer ice cream. It’s the perfect summer treat. There are a couple of professional pints, but also some tips to do it yourself. None of the places mentioned are local to New York or New Jersey, but I’m sure someone out there must be mixing beer and ice cream this summer.
I’ve got an ice cream maker, so this is definitely something I’m going to give a try at one point this summer. One thing I do like to do is use beer in milkshakes. Adding a nice rich stout to some ice cream (And some whiskey if you like) makes a delicious treat. The roasted, bitter taste of the beer goes very well with the sweet cream. It’s like an Irish Car Bomb Milk Shake. Adding Bailey’s seems redundant here since it’s basically cream and whiskey, but feel free to add it in if you feel like it’s not a true car bomb without.
Beer Aisle Review: Fairway Woodland Park
Fairway is a grocery store orginating in New York City but recently has expanded to the suburbs. From Wikipedia: “Fairway Market’s stores balance their presentation of everyday must-have staples, signature Fairway brand items, specialty foods and popular consumer brands”. The newest one just opened in Woodland Park, NJ, which is really close to where I work. I noticed they were including a beer, wine and spirits section so naturally I was intrigued. I’ve always been a fan of Fairway, finding they often have fun and interesting things as well as the staples I need. So let’s see how their beer selection holds up.
This is the main aisle. The entire aisle is beer except for the 2-3 sections you can see in the forefront. I’d describe the section is good but not great. You won’t walk away empty handed, but nothing will wow you. You’ve got some of the locals, but not that many, and not the smaller ones. They had a pretty good selection of the belgians, particularly the single bottles. The Chimay’s and the Lindemans were there, as well as most of the other common ones. Nothing rare or unique, but maybe that’s fine for a grocery store.
It’s certainly not a small display. Beer has a pretty good representation and there should be a variety for every beer drinker. That’s probably perfect for a beer selection in a grocery store, a nice selection that everyone will be able to grab a 6-pack of something they want to drink. They have a decent amount of the beer in the fridge for the crowd that is bringing it directly to the party. It’d be nice to see some more local flavor, but for now I’d give this store a solid B rating.
Wedtoberfest 2.0 and Strawberry NieuwenWeiss
I ordered supplies for my next batches of beer. It’s a little later than I planned to start my Oktoberfest, but it’ll still be ready when I return from the real Oktoberfest. I tweaked the recipe slightly, hoping to improve it a little and make it a little more universally liked.
The second beer I’m going to make is a strawberry weissbier that I want to name for New York Mets outfield Kirk Nieuwenhuis. I’m totally winging it on this recipe, but I think it’ll turn out pretty good.
Tags: homebrew, homebrewing, mets beers, oktoberfest
Fair Lawn Promenade Needs a Brewpub
Fair Lawn is getting something called the Fair Lawn Promenade along route 208. This is right next to the gym, so I noticed recently when they started leveling out the ground and clearing the weeds. It’s been empty lots for a long time.
My first thought: It needs a brewpub. The signs mention retail and dining, so why not? It profiles as a “upscale town center environment” and given the inclusion of some affordable two-bedroom apartments, it stands to reason that it will promote people just like me. By that I mean couples in-between owning a house and graduating from college. In my experience this is a demographic that appreciates real beer and would enjoy being able to get locally brewed beer a stone’s throw from home.
So why not a brewpub, preferably one with a beer garden, for us to enjoy? There are already a bunch of apartments within walking distance, which is where I live, so it’d be a great place for a happy hour or watching a game. It would create that nice city benefit of living within walking distance of a cool bar or restaurant while still living in the suburbs.
I saw brewpub even though a typical sports bar with a good beer selection would probably work too. This particular area could use a microbrewery serving good food, because to my knowledge there isn’t one anywhere nearby. Building from scratch could provide the ability to factor in a nice beer garden too, with long benches and trees.
Certainly if I had the capital to start up a business, I’d be all over this.
Tags: beer, brewpub, fair lawn, fair lawn promenade, microbreweries, new jersey beer, new jersey brewpubs
Craft Beer On Airplanes
I wrote here about catering halls being the ‘final frontier’ of craft beer. I may have been wrong. One such place was brought to my attention by it’s venture into craft beer; airplanes.
Airplanes are not typically places I’m looking to have a drink. The pressure and altitude tends to bother me more than most, and I think alcohol would only make that worse. Still, plenty of people like an adult beverage on a flight and it’s rare that you have any real options. Jet Blue has changed that as they now offer Brooklyn Summer Ale aboard flights. I think that’s awesome. This is a change that seems to be a byproduct of the increase in canning of craft beer, and it’s a welcome one.
So I suggest that when you jet off to summer vacation you fly Jet Blue and have a Brooklyn Summer Ale. The perfect way to start a trip.
Tags: airplanes beer, beer jet blue, beer on planes, brooklyn brewery, brooklyn on planes, brooklyn summer ale, jet blue
“Fancy” Beer for Simple Folk
A friend linked me to this article on askmen.com. It reads like The Onion, and the tone is full of pretension that the author is trying to attribute to craft beer, but it’s presumably a serious post. The author misses the days when beer was simple, bland, and cold. He yearns for the days of simple working class people getting together over a couple of beers, and simply drinking them. It amuses me that he goes on and on about working class beer but goes out of his way to use ‘fancy’ words like emetics, gullet and twee.
It’s an okay sentiment, if one I don’t agree with, to enjoy, even prefer, a beverage that is quaffable, a cheap hobby, and gets you to that tipsy and relaxed state that many people enjoy whether from beer, wine, or cocktail. What’s not okay is to suggest that his preference is both the real way to enjoy beer, and that it’s secretly what I want as well. The idea that craft beer drinkers are hipsters drinking the beer solely to make a statement and stand out is not a new one, but it’s been steadily disproven with the growing market of not only craft beer, but of homebrewing. There are lots of people out there making strange tasting beers in their own basements and consuming them themselves with no regard to what’s popular or trendy. Many people have different taste buds, and enjoy the different tastes beer offers beyond a vaguely malty cold beverage. One of the great things about beer is how many different types there are.
The writer of this article, one Patrick Smith, makes himself out to be the archetypal character in a marketing commercial. He admits to being influenced by beer commercials well before being of legal age, he repeats the common marketed point of beer being better as cold as possible,and he recites commercial taglines and insinuates that he believes them that it makes him cool to drink those beers. Personally I think he’s stuck in a 1970s view of what’s manly. I think, and maybe we’re not all keen with the labels in today’s society, the typical manly man in today’s world is different than it was then, and they drink craft beer, but that’s a discussion that deserves it’s own post.
The more I think about it, what Mr. Smith is really missing is a time when he could be a “functional alcoholic” and be praised as a man for it. Luckily we’ve progressed to a point where we recognize the desire to drink heavily after work, at ballgames, as a child, or at every gathering of men as symptoms of alcoholism.
Tags: appreciating beer, askmen, beer drinking, craft beer, fancy beer, homebrew, real men, real men drink craft beer
Session Beers the new Craze? Brewing a Blonde
It seems session beers are becoming the newest craze in craft/home brewing. Beers low in alcohol and less intense than imperial oatmeal stouts aged in alcohol barrels provide the ability to sit and enjoy a couple of beers without them hitting you like a ton of bricks.
My last beer was the tasty, but still toasty and dark, MADhouse Coco-Nutz. So this time I’m going light, and making a Mexican Blonde. it’ll be a simple blonde ale with blue agave syrup and Mt. Hood hops. It should be ready just in time for baseball season.
Tags: baseball season, beer, craft beer, homebrew, MAD brewery, session beers
Longhorn Steakhouse Review and Beer List
Me and my wife went to Longhorn Steakhouse for our 15th mensiversary last night.
First impressions for me at most restaurants are formed by the drink list. Naturally I look for beer first, but a nice signature cocktail list is impressive as well. Longhorn did well in that regard, they had a couple of interesting looking drinks and some margaritas. The beer was less impressive, but they did have 10 or so taps and they weren’t horrible. Mostly the expanded standards, highlighted by Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Blue Moon and Leinenkugel.
As far as the menu, my biggest complaint would be that there didn’t seem to be any beers that cried out to be paired with steak. No porter, no malty ESB. Newcastle Brown Ale would probably be the closest. In essence the beer menu is a national one with very little thought put into it.
The food was pretty good. I actually enjoyed the appetizer, salad and sides more than the steak. I got some firecracker spicy chicken rolls, a Caesar salad, and a loaded baked potato. My steak was a bourbon-glazed bacon-wrapped filet that was cooked medium, although it looked a wee bit more than that. It seemed more a generic steak than a filet, and tasted like it. I guess you get what you pay for, but it does brand itself as a steakhouse so I was surprised that that was the only part I was disappointed in. It also needed more glaze and crispier bacon.
Ultimately stuffed, we passed on dessert even thought it looked delicious.
Tags: 15th mensiversary, beer, beer menus, beer pairing, longhorn steakhouse beer menu, longhorn steakhouse review, mensiversary, pairing beer with steak
Homebrew Update: MADhouse Coco-Nutz
MADhouse Coco-Nutz is MAD Breweries latest homebrew experiment. I loved the Toasted Coconut Brown Ale I had in Hawaii from Kona Brewing Company, and was lamenting that I couldn’t get it in New Jersey. So I spent some time formulating a recipe to try to clone it. What I got was my most delicious homebrew yet.
I didn’t quite nail Kona, but nothing is ever going to live up to the memory of drinking fantastic beer at a brewery with your new wife while honeymooning on the big island of Hawai’i, but I did get a tasty nut brown ale with a smooth coconut taste. My coconut was not as strong as I remember from Kona, mixing in with the roasted/coffee flavors of the malt instead of bolding standing out. Next time I’ll probably toast the coconut a little longer, add a little more, and leave it in the wort boil for a little bit longer. I’ll also probably cut back a little on the darker malts, as it may have become a darker brown ale than I was intending despite only being 4.5% ABV.
I enjoy MAD Wedtoberfest, but I think this is the first beer that’s truly crossed the line from homebrew curiosity to genuinely tasty beer.
I was also pleased to learn that Kona’s beers will start being distributed somewhat nearby in South Jersey. The Koko Brown is part of the Aloha seasonal series, and should hopefully be available to me soon to reminisce with.
updated with a link to the recipe I used, which still could use some tweeking: MAD Coco-Nutz
Tags: beer, Hawaii, home brew, homebrew, Kona, kona brewing company, kona coconut brown ale, kona koko brown, MAD brewery, MADhouse coco-nuts
Good Gift Idea For A Homebrewer
Homebrewers like making beer. It’s what they do. Buying them a gift that plays to this hobby can be overwhelming, unless you’re working off a specific list, but where’s the fun in that? You’re probably not going to just buy them a bag of grain, although I’m sure many homebrewers would appreciate a random specialty grain or just some extra normal malted barley.
I suggest the complete supplies for a full 5-gallon batch of beer. There are many many recipe databases out there, and all it requires you to know is if the brewer is All-Grain, strictly extract, or extract with steeping. There is beerrecipes.org, the Beer Recipator, Beersmith, or the homebrewtalk.com recipe database. Pick a recipe that you think you’ll both like, order the hops, grain and/or malt, and yeast, and have a fun and different present for the holidays.
Really, how could you go wrong with a present that’s both beer, and a hobby? On top of that it’s an excuse to hang out together again in the near future, when the beer is ready for consumption.
Fyi to any friends/family that may be reading this: This is not a hint. I don’t get to brew (Extract with grains if you must know) often enough to really need my next beer picked out and waiting for me.
Tags: beer, beer gifts, gifts, gifts for homebrewers, holiday gift ideas, holiday gifts, homebrewers