The Quest to Find the Best Autumn Beer.....

So I will fully admit that I get really odd cravings.  We are talking similar to how most pregnant women act, that happens to me regularly.  Lately it has been something that pregnant women could not consume...pumpkin beer.

I was first introduced to pumpkin beer by my amazingly awesome sister.  She works at a brew pub that makes a seasonal pumpkin beer.  http://oldepenkazoo.com/  Now, while I much prefer their vanilla porter or hefenweizen they make - this beer is really good.  If you live in Michigan or visit Michigan, I suggest going there (see sister - free advertising!)   I would always get a pint or two of their pumpkin beer when I was in town, but never really craved it.  I also informed my sister of the pumpkin bomb that I tried last year and it is now on their menu, but that is a story for another day.  Now that I moved down south and when I was in Boston, I would get a 6 pack of some pumpkin beer - and it might be gone by Christmas time.  This season, however, I cannot get enough pumpkin beer.

So this led me to wondering, what is the best pumpkin beer?  Then I decided to expand that even more, what is the best autumn seasonal beer?  I then traveled to my local Total Wines and purchased every fall seasonal beer they had in single bottles that was not an IPA (I hate IPA, much to my craft beer snob friends dismay...you know who you are).  I did not count up all of the bottles, but it is somewhere north of 30.  Also, because there already has been an argument as to a bottle being "misclassified" and it was not actually a "fall seasonal" beer (yes some of my friends are that dorky), I am making the disclaimer that this was what Total Wine considered a fall seasonal.  Needless to say, this project is going to take a little while.  The favorite before this endeavor is Olde Peninsula's pumpkin beer, followed closely by Dogfishhead's pumpkin beer.

Now without further ado, here are some of the ones that have been tried:

Victory's Festbier 
Rating - 7.75


image - http://victorybeer.com/beers/festbier/

This beer is currently tied for the winner so far.  It played with the fall spices without becoming too sweet, was very drinkable, had a bit of a nutty taste and overall was just very good.  It also was an excellent accompaniment to my chili and good while watching the Falcons beat the Eagles, allowing me to taunt the my friend who had chosen the Eagles to win that game.

Southern Tier's Harvest Ale
Rating - 4

image - http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/for%20download%20page/downloads_harvest.html

Similar to how some of the teams I chose to win the earlier games on Sunday...this beer disappointed.  It was bitter and way too hoppy for me to enjoy.  For those of you that actually like the bitter taste of hops that make it so you cannot taste anything else in your mouth for the next hour, you might enjoy it.  Granted it is a ESB, but I was not paying that close of attention when purchasing these beers.  Not a winner.

Beck's Octoberfest
Rating - 5.5



image - http://the-beer-fan.blogspot.com/2010/09/becks-oktoberfest.html
This beer was just meh.  Nothing remarkable, no reason to go out of your way to purchase.

Shiner's Octoberfest
Rating - 7.75


image - http://beernews.org/2010/06/shiner-96-to-come-out-of-retirement/

I will admit that I do enjoy Shinerbock, was thrilled when it starting getting distributed in Michigan, and normally have a bottle in my fridge.  I also was a fan of their Oktoberfest.  It was sweeter than most Octoberfest styles, but I have always been a fan of sweet and overall the caramel and toffee tones made this a very nice beer to drink.


That is all for now...more to come.  And yes I do realize that none of the beers I have tried yet are actually pumpkin, despite the craving.

Dark and Stormy!!!

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!!

So I dedicate this post to my good friend from law school R.  (not sure if she wants her name posted, so she is called R.)  She introduced me to this fantastic drink and was always a fabulous hostess when she would have people over to watch Project Runway or play Rock Band.  Also note, I miss playing Rock Band.

So to make up for my lack of posting, this is a double header - drink and jam.  I promise not all my jams are inspired by drinks.  So onto the Kraken...

Dark and Stormys are easy to make as a drink.  Get some ice pour in some black spiced rum, add some ginger beer.  Now while R. always had Goslings as her black rum of choice.  I personally much prefer the Kraken.  One the flavor is just a little better.  Two, the bottle is just kind of awesome looking and well - the Kraken squid monster  or as the bottle says "sea beast of myth and legend" could totally take a seal and mess it up.  See my drawing below....  However, any type of black rum is tasty in this drink.

(To be fair - first year of law school, when we did not have the internet I was much better at paint drawings)

Next up.... the Dark and Stormy Plum Jam

Ingredients
1 cup black spiced rum (preferably Kraken)
10-12 plums
4 cups sugar
juice of 1 lemon
3 hunks candied ginger
1 T powdered ginger
1 package powdered pectin

Wash, pit and chop up the plums.  Leave the skins on.

Next add 1 cup black spiced rum, juice of 1 lemon (this is probably not necessary because of the alcohol, but I am new at this whole chemistry thing and did not want to worry about it.), and ginger.  Now this is a lot of ginger and will make it taste very gingery - feel free to cut back, it should be to taste.

Bring mixture to boil.  Then add in sugar.  Boil from 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Then add pectin, boil for an additional 5 minutes or so until it starts gelling.

Ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe rims, place warm lids on then rings.  Process in water boiler canner for 10 minutes.  Then spread on a rye bread of pumpernickel for a fantastic experience.  

Old No. 38 Stout

I understand that it is summer, but lately I have been on a stout/ porter kick.  Part of this might be because although I moved to the South where it is actually a lot warmer than the North (and yes you can but a duh here), I tend to be cold way more often.  I am pretty sure this is because in the South they over air condition EVERYWHERE.  So basically this is my basic day if I do not work out....go from air conditioned house, walk to car, turn on AC, drive to work, go to waaay over ACed work, possibly go out to some freezing cold place for lunch and then head home.  Mind you the minute walks consist of me sweating like no other because I have on a sweater to survive the office.  Now since I am pretty sure anyone reading this is saying, why do I care about your temperature...onto the beer.

Old No. 38 Stout gets a B+ in my book.  It is made by the North Cost Brewing Co. and according to the bottle was named for a retired steam engine on the California Western Railroad Redwood route.

This beer is very smooth, it initially tastes quite sweet, with notes of caramel but finishes with the taste of coffee.  These is a little bit of a metallic taste to it, which prevents it from getting an A-, or becoming a regular part of my fridge.

It was a good beer to have while watching football (yay its back), especially because I won all of my bets with my friend tonight. :)

Peach-Basil Sangria

I got half a bushel of peaches.  I am making numerous things with this bushel - I used about half tonight (more posts will come).  But to start out with - the inspiration for some of the recipes...

Peach Basil Sangria

Ingredients
White wine - the cheaper or bad tasting is good
sugar
peaches
basil
99 peaches (the liquor)
Light Rum

This sangria is inspired by one Josh made for some holiday that celebrates America (Memorial, July 4th or Labor Day) when my sister had a cookout.  It was amazing.

I was particularly happy about this because I had opened a white wine the other day and hated it, I hate to throw out any sort of alcohol, therefore I was happy to have an excuse.  Mix the white wine with some sugar, add 99 Peaches and Rum to taste.

Then cut up the peaches into slices and pick the leaves off of the basil and add it to the drink and voila!