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Buttered Barleywine Meltaways

Posted on August 27, 2013
baking, beer, cookies, Photography, recipe, To OL
Comments: 0

This week I made meltaway cookies that are covered in powdered sugar so they melt in your mouth. I wanted to feature the To Øl beer Mine Is Bigger Than Yours which is a 12.5%ABV barleywine that lends all the wonderful flavors a spice cookie could ever need. Hints of molasses, dried fruits, caramel, smokey and not too syrupy or heavy. I love the quote from the brewery on Rate Beer.com : ““When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” This beer jumps higher than yours, it builds houses bigger than yours, It’s mama is fatter than yours, it chops wood faster than yours, it’s father is could beat yours…. No reason to say, but Mine is bigger than yours!”

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons AP Flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cups or 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup beer

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, spices and salt. Set aside. Beat butter and 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed until fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the vanilla and beer to the butter mixture and combine. Scrape down the sides if needed. Gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. The dough should be very thick. Divide the dough in half and roll into logs and cover in parchment paper. Place the dough in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to set. The dough can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.

3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the dough log into 1/4 or 1/2 inch rounds and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. These cookies won’t spread so they can be placed close to one another. 1 inch apart should be enough. Bake for 15 minutes or so or until the bottoms have browned slightly. Allow to cool completely.

4. Place a few cookies in a freezer bag with the remaining amount of the powdered sugar and shake to cover the cookies. The cookies should be covered with powdered sugar on all sides. Without the powdered sugar the cookies are not very sweet so it’s needed. Enjoy!

Yields: 2-4 dozen depending on your cut thickness

Season: All seasons

Level: Beginner

Lasts: 1-2 weeks!

These cookies are amazing. The texture is similar to that of a shortbread cookie but it’s not super crumbly. The spice flavors are more mild than expected but it has this malty undertone that I attribute to the beer addition. This beer is so interesting and complex that it really adds a little something extra to these cookies. If you make these cookies let me know how it turns out!

Beer Travel to: I&I Brewing

Posted on August 26, 2013
Bar, beer, Beer Tasting, Brewery, CA, I & I Brewing, Photography
Comments: 0

Eric and Jonny

“Strange Brew…Now what you gonna do?”Cream’s “Strange Brew” lyrics dance in my mind when I think about I&I Brewing in Chino, Ca. The place is tiny and located in a nondescript business park and are brewing quite possibly the most creative and inventive beers that I have tasted recently. Surprising and unassuming in a random row of office suites lies your next beer destination.

I am the type of person who will go the extra mile to visit a rumored amazing beer spot and Chino was just 20-30 minutes away from my home base. I have traveled a lot farther before so I took the chance and visited I&I Brewing with Sean on a random Saturday during the golden hour of the early evening and it was magical. The place was seriously small but didn’t lack any charm.

When you walk-in there is a small bar with a long string of taps to deliver the glorious beers to your glass. The taps are built with a wooden backing that folds down to attach to the kegs in the long refrigerator unit hiding behind the wall. The three chalkboards list the different beers you can order in a taster size or in a pint glass. Behind the bar is the brewery which is basically a small batch system that allows the brewers to make as much or as little of any beer they want. It allows them to constantly change and experiment without fear of product loss or failure.

I know, you want to hear about the beer I keep hyping-up. Well, they offer several amazing beers but one that sticks-out in my mind as the most provocative is the Tzatziki Saison. This beer is made with a lot of cucumber, lemon, and a little bit of dill and pours cloudy and a medium yellow color with a little head. It’s so damn tasty. It was light and refreshing the drink-ability on this beer was insane. Of course, they also have their flagship beer that they are most known for: Dripp Imperial Stout. I made cherry tea cakes with this beer and they were wonderful.

The employees I met there (Eric Millspaugh and Jonny Foster) were very welcoming and informative. We chatted about beer until closing time and when we left it felt like we were leaving a friend’s house rather than a business. I highly recommend checking them out!

Facebook page

14175 Telephone Avenue, Suite J

Chino, California 91710

(909) 591-3915

Quadruple Pumpkin Cookies with Almanac’s Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine

Posted on August 20, 2013
almanac, baking, beer, cookies, Photography, recipe
Comments: 2

It’s almost that time of year when the leaves begin to change and the wind carries the sweet smells of cinnamon and pumpkin. Autumn and Fall are my favorite time of year for good reason: a bunch of seasonal beers are released (my favorites being the pumpkin beers), holiday spice cookies, baking my eyes out, etc. It’s fun to bake with the warming holiday spices. It’s one of my favorite flavor profiles.

When Sean brought home the new Almanac Beer Co.’s Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine I knew it would go perfect with some cakey chocolate chip cookies, but with a pumpkin twist. The beer is 50% brewed with pumpkins and 50% with spices and then aged in brandy barrels and is a heavy 12%ABV. This means a little goes a long way, but I still wanted the beer flavor to shine. These cookies are a pumpkin bonanza because they contain: 1. Pumpkin butter, 2. Pumpkin seeds, 3. Pumpkin pie spices, 4. Pumpkin beer making them my “quadruple pumpkin cookies.”

Ingredients:

2 1/2 AP Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick of unsalted butter

6 tablespoons of pumpkin butter

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 cup beer

2 large eggs

1 cup cocoa nibs (optional)

1 cup roasted unsalted pumpkin seeds

2 cups chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and whisk to incorporate.

2. Place both butters and both sugars in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium for 2-3 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the salt, then add the eggs and the beer. Add the flour mixture slowly until just combined.

3. Use a spatula to fold in the cocoa nibs, chocolate chunks and pumpkin seeds. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat and bake for 10-12 minutes. Be sure to rotate once in the middle of baking so they get evenly cooked. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tray to cool on a wire rack.

Lasts: 1 week or so

Level: Beginner

Season: Autumn/Fall/Winter

Yield: 3 Dozen

These cookies turned out great. They are cakey, crunchy, chewy, moist, rich and have a nostalgic quality to them. The pumpkin smell really shines and the strong flavor of the beer survived the baking process to give a caramel aftertaste that is so pleasant. I chopped-up a large bar of chocolate so I had huge chunks of chocolate, which was luxurious and indulgently wonderful, but you can use chips or cut your chocolate into smaller pieces to suit your tastes. Enjoy!

Rhubarb Tart with Boulevard’s Saison-Brett

Posted on August 13, 2013
baking, beer, Bouchon Bakery, Boulevard Brewing Company, DIY, Photography, recipe, Thomas Keller
Comments: 5

Following my last post where I challenged myself to make something from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, I have elected to make another recipe that ended-up taking about two days to complete. Beautiful things often take work, and having high standards can be time-consuming. Thomas Keller’s book is complex and everything is done the hard way for a reason. He wants you to appreciate the ingredients and to pay attention to the details. Simple flavors that are light and delicate means everything you put in the recipe must be as close to perfection as possible.

For this recipe, it calls for rhubarb to be soaked in grenadine and sugar for at least 24 hours. I opted to substitute the grenadine for beer and I wanted something that was funky and fruity. Boulevard Brewing Company’s Saison-Brett (8.5%ABV) is perfect because it’s not over-powering but it has the distinctive flavor profile of brettanomyces yeast used to create a this farmhouse-style ale. After about a day I noticed that the recipe had very red color to the rhubarb and mine wasn’t red in the middle because I didn’t use the grenadine. In order to fix this I added some cranberry bitters for color and added more sugar so the bitters didn’t over-power the rhubarb. That worked like a charm!

Pan used: 8×8 square brownie pan

Rhubarb:

6-8 rhubarb stalks, trimmed to the size of the pan.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup of beer

4 dashes of cranberry bitters (or any red bitters) (or you can use food coloring or grenadine to achieve the red color)

Directions:

Let the trimmed stalks sit in the beer for 24-48 hours. Try and rotate every 8 hours or so. When you are ready to assemble, pat dry on paper towels and discard the liquid.

Crust:

2 2/3 cups AP Flour

1/4 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons of Powdered Sugar

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of Powdered Sugar (second addition)

1/4 cup + 3 tablespoon of Almond Flour

8 oz of Unsalted Butter (room temp)

1 vanilla bean

3 1/2 tablespoons of eggs (basically take a few eggs and beat them together in a bowl and try and get the tablespoons from that)

Directions:

1. Sift the AP flour and almond flour and powdered sugar (1/4 cup + 2 1/2 tbsp) into a bowl. Be sure and break-up any lumps.

2. Beat butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for at least 2-3 minutes, or until creamy. Sift in the powdered sugar (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) and mix until the mixture is fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Take the vanilla bean and split it down the middle and scrape the seeds out and add them to the butter mixture. Mix for a few seconds to distribute.

3. Add the dry ingredients in two additions and only allow 15-30 seconds to get incorporated each time. Add the eggs and mix for another 15 seconds. Transfer the dough to a work surface (with flour and a silpat) and using the heel of your hand press the dough and drag your hand to smear the dough. This will create a smooth dough that is well incorporated instead of kneading the dough like bread.

4. Divide the dough in half and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to get firm. I opted to keep mine refrigerated for 24 hours and froze the second half of the dough. It can stay good in the freezer for about 1 month.

Tart Filling:

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons of Almond Flour

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 teaspoons AP Flour

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons Eggs

1 cup + 1 tablespoon of Granulated Sugar

1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons of Whole Milk

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of Heavy Cream

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of brown butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll-out your tart dough to about 1/2 – 1/4 inch thickness. Line the brownie pan with parchment paper with the edges sticking up and out of the pan. Place the tart dough on the bottom of the pan on the parchment paper in an even layer. If you failed to get it in there in once piece like i did then just patch it as best as you can. Cook for about 15 minutes and then rotate the pan and then cook for another 5-10 minutes until browned on the edges and hard to the touch. Set aside to cool.

2. Place your butter in a non-stick skillet and cook until browned but not burnt. Set aside to cool then strain using a cheesecloth to remove and debris.

3. Whisk together the almond flour and AP flour in a bowl. Combine the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk and cream to the egg mixture. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the brown butter. Using an off-set spatula, spread a small but even layer of the filling on the crust. Place the rhubarb (u shape facing up, curve side down) in the pan in the same direction filling the pan. Spread the rest of the filling to cover the rhubarb and make sure all gaps are filled. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 then reduce oven to 325 and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes. Set on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before removing.

Toasted Almond Streusel Topping (optional)

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons AP Flour

1 cup + 1 tablespoon Almond Flour

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

4 oz cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter and mix with a pastry cutter or your hands to incorporate. Make sure the butter gets broken into little pieces. Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours to get cold, otherwise it can be frozen for up to 1 month.

2. Spread cold streusel onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle the top of the rhubarb tart as desired.

Lift the tart out of the pan by the parchment paper and cup into long rectangle bars. Cut in the same direction the rhubarb was placed in the pan so you have a long strip of rhubarb not many little pieces.

Lasts: 2 days

Yield: 12 pieces

Season: Late Summer / Autumn

Level: Intermediate to Expert

I would make this again, especially since I have left-over crust and streusel so the process is already halfway done. That being said, it was a total pain-in-the-ass. This took me two days to make and essentially it was four recipes and 5 processes to get one damn tart made. Regardless, it was very tasty and the rhubarb had a ton of flavor. The cakey brown butter filling was delicious and light but sturdy and the crust was textually amazing. The streusel was crunchy and sweet and the almond flour really added something fun to the flavor combination. Maybe I will just go to Napa and get one from the experts at their bakery. At least they could say they have one customer who really appreciates all the work that goes into making these little tarts. If any of you are insane enough to make this, please let me know how it turns out 🙂

Madeleine Cake with Cismontane Sour Blonde Ale

Posted on July 30, 2013
baking, beer, Cake, Cismontane, Photography, recipe
Comments: 3

It’s no secret I am a fan of Cismontane Brewing Company. They brew wonderful craft beers in Rancho Santa Margarita (or “RSM” to locals). I always love making the trip just to get beer from them.

I came across their Sour Blonde Ale Oxalis Pes Caprae in Total Wine the other day and thought to myself “this would go great in a cake with fresh fruit.” So, I scooped up the beer and then went on the hunt for a recipe that matched the inspiration. I happen to have several recipe books that I never really use but have a burning desire to test recipes and one book in particular is the Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery book. The recipes are really complex and challenging but beautiful so I took on the task and hoped it would turnout.

What do you think? Matches?

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups + 1 1/2 tablespoons AP Flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup + 1/2 tablespoon eggs

3/4 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons glucose or corn syrup

2.6 oz or about 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon whole milk or heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon beer

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a quarter sheet pan or a cookie sheet that has raised sides so it’s about 1-2 inches deep. Spray the whole pan with cooking spray. The recipe recommends using a silpat, but my cake stuck to the silpat so I just recommend either using parchment paper or spraying it only. Set prepared pan aside.

2. Sift flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Heat the butter and corn syrup or glucose on the stove and whisk until melted and combined. Take off the heat and add whisk in the milk and set aside to cool.

3. Break eggs into a measuring cup to get the appropriate amount of eggs. I think I used about 5-6 eggs. I had about 1 cup of eggs, then I whisked them to break them up and then using a second measuring cup poured the 3/4 measurement and added the extra 1/2 tablespoon. Put the eggs in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and add the sugar and whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then whisk on high for another 5 minutes. This created a very light pale batter with a ton of air and doubled in size.

4. Whisk a quarter of the sugar/egg mixture in with the butter mixture to temper the butter mix. Then add the beer to the butter mix and then fold in 1/2 of the butter mix to the egg mix. Then fold in half of the flour mix to the egg mix, then the rest of the butter mix into the egg mix followed by the rest of the flour mix. This is to prevent the flour from getting clumpy and whisking will add to much glucose and kill the air you created in the egg mix.

5. Pour the batter into your prepared trey and be sure to spread evenly to all corners. Bake in the center rack for 20-25 minutes, and I rotated once in the middle of the baking process. The edges should be golden and the color light brown. Allow to cool before removing from trey. Cut into small rectangles and top with fresh fruit.

This cake tasted sweet and light with hints of floral notes which is probably from the beer. It’s almost like angel food cake and madeleine cookies had a cake baby. It was a lot of work but it was tasty.

Serves: about 10

Lasts: 1-2 days or frozen can last for a few weeks

Season: Any

Level: Intermediate

Anchor Brewing Summer Beer Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on July 23, 2013
Anchor Brewing Company, baking, beer, cookies, Photography
Comments: 3

I love a good chocolate chip cookie. In fact, I have probably posted at least one other variation of this recipe with different beers and a few different options. A good versatile recipe really can allow you to throw whatever you have in your pantry that strikes your fancy into your dough. This time around I wanted to showcase Anchor Brewing’s Summer Beer paired with cocoa nibs and dark chocolate and vanilla bean sea salt. Anchor’s Summer Beer is the perfect blank canvas to build around with its malty sweetness and wheat-enhanced body. The beer is so light and refreshing to drink but is complex enough to keep you coming back.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups AP Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup beer

chocolate chips or chopped-up dark chocolate (about 2 cups)

1 cup cocoa nibs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and both sugars together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until light, about 3 minutes.

2. Add salt, vanilla, eggs and beer into the butter mixture and mix until combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips/chunks and cocoa nibs with a spatula.

3. Using a cookie scoop or a large spoon, drop balls of dough on cookie sheets with either parchment paper or a silpat spaced about 2 inches or more apart. These cookies will spread pretty thin. Cook for about 20 minutes, rotating once throughout the process. Let cool on cookie sheets for 10 minutes then transfer to wire racks to continue to cool.

Makes: 2-3 dozen

Level: Beginner

Season: all seasons!

Lasts: 1 week or so

These cookies were awesome. I have a sweet nostalgic spot for a good chocolate chip cookie and the crunch of the edges coupled with the cocoa nibs makes for a texture worth savoring. The beer adds a counter-point to the bitter dark chocolate and lends a deft balance that was delicate and impressive. Cheers!

Mrs. Stoutfire Cookies with Beer Brown Sugar

Posted on July 16, 2013
baking, Beachwood BBQ, beer, cookies, DIY, Photography, The Bruery, Uncategorized
Comments: 10

I recently had a revelation: what if I used beer syrup to make brown sugar? Brown sugar is basically 1 tablespoon molasses and 1 cup of sugar mixed together. Simple, right? Well, I took a chance and it turned out beertastic.

You can use any high ABV beer (8% or higher) that has similar notes to molasses. A beer with some chocolate or smoke or spice is perfect to use and in my case I used the collaboration beer from Beachwood Brewing and The Bruery called Mrs. Stoutfire. This beer is a 9.5%ABV imperial smoke stout which was smoked with three different kinds of wood. It’s smokey but not overly, sweet, salty, and has a wonderful smooth texture. It’s not overly sweet or spicy which made this beer perfect to convert into cookies.

To make the beer syrup:

1 cup beer

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Heat the beer and sugar in a non-stick skillet on low to med. heat until the mixture will have almost reduced by half. You can also tell by running your finger on the back of your spoon or spatula and if the syrup doesn’t run back into the finger mark then it’s ready.

2. Set the syrup aside to cool.

To make the beer brown sugar:

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of the cooled beer syrup

Directions:

1. Mix the sugar and beer syrup together in a mixing bowl with a fork or electric hand mixer until combined. Set aside to use or you can place in a plastic bag for future use. The brown sugar stays good for about a month on the shelf.

To make the beer crinkle cookies:

1 stick of unsalted butter

2 cups AP Flour

1 cup of beer brown sugar

1/2 cup of granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of beer syrup

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Beat the butter, brown sugar and white sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low to medium until smooth. Mix in eggs, one at a time until combined. Then mix in the beer syrup and vegetable oil. In a separate bowl; whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and salt.

2. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Once the cookie dough is just combined, remove from the mixture and transfer to a separate bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

3. Heat your oven to 325 degrees F. Take a cookie scoop and scoop out about a quarter sized ball of dough and roll in granulated sugar and bake at least 3 inches apart. These cookies will spread. You can opt to make them a little smaller to yield more cookies.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating once during the baking process. If you make smaller balls than you would want to reduce your baking time. I recommend baking for 15 minutes, then checking on them. Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

These cookies are super crunchy and have a fantastic snap to them. This cookies remind me of the holidays. All I need is a cocktail and some twinkle lights and I am all set! Also, these cookies would make fantastic ice cream sandwiches. Salted caramel ice cream in between these cookies….oh my!

Yield: between 1-2 dozen

Lasts: 5 days

Level: beginner-ish

Season: Fall and Winter, but I don’t care. It’s July. I am not tied down to these rules.

OC Beer Blog 2nd Anniversary Party Recap

Posted on July 15, 2013
beer, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, Brewery, CA, Noble Ale Works, OC Beer Blog
Comments: 2

This last weekend we celebrated the 2nd Anniversary of OC Beer Blog at Noble Ale Works in Anaheim,CA. The writer/owner of OC Beer Blog is my good buddy Greg Nagel who I met by chance at Cismontane some time ago. He is a blast to be around and he just happens to be an amazing writer. Honestly, he kinda puts my writing to shame but I still love him anyways.

Greg’s blog covers the gambit surrounding craft beer and he recently has begun expanding beyond his blog to other writing mediums like Beer Paper LA (newspaper) and The West Coaster (magazine). It seems that people have started to notice his talent and have started to appreciate his writing like the rest of us.

His anniversary party included a special beer he brewed with Evan, the head brewer at Noble, called “Nagel’s Number 2” which is fitting in more ways than one. It fits because it’s his 2nd anniversary and it also fits Greg’s sense of humor. The beer is a 12% ABV stout on nitro that was delicious. It was really well done.

The band that played was Slaves Against The Machine and they were a Rage Against The Machine cover band. They killed it. They were so close to the original it was pretty hard to tell them apart. I love Rage so it was pretty awesome.

Congrats to Greg and cheers to many more years writing!

The Veggie-Lover’s Sriracha Cookbook Release Party Recap

Posted on July 12, 2013
Bar, beer, Beer Event, Beer Tasting, Brewery, CA, Photography
Comments: 0

I recently attended the fantastical release of Randy Clemens new book: “The Veggie-Lover’s Sriracha Cookbook: 50 Vegan “Rooster Sauce” Recipes that Pack a Punch,” that was located at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles on July 2nd, 2013.

Golden Road Brewing is a large place that consists of three large warehouse buildings. It’s so large, they have a bar within their taproom called Chloe’s which is a “secret” bar that is behind a nondescript door with no signs. This is where the release party took place and I have to admit, I was super excited. Not only am I a sucker for “secret” bars because it makes me feel special and “in-the-know” but it was an event I was looking forward to for weeks.

The author of the book, Randy Clemens, has been a social media friend of mine for a while and I have been following him since he was working at Stone Brewing Company. I just so happen to own the book he co-wrote: The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance and now I own his two Sriracha-based cookbooks The Sriracha Cookbook: 50 “Rooster Sauce” Recipes that Pack a Punch and the veggie-lover’s cookbook. I love his writing style and approachable personality. It adds so much to the cookbook experience because it doesn’t overwhelm the novice cook.

Brewgrassand4thofjulyandpicklesandaffigem-89

Bernie Wire (photographer from Friends of Craft Beer) and Randy Clemens

I arrived to the party a little early and enjoyed some beers on the patio of Golden Road before heading into the release party. After my blogger buddy, Greg from OC Beer Blog, had to point me in the direction of Chloe’s I was happy to see they were selling copies of both books so I could get mine signed. An added bonus was each purchase of a book came with a free bottle of Sriracha!

Before the place could get crazy-busy we went upstairs and got some of the vegan food offerings based on recipes from the book and beers. I had the bruschetta and tried the avocado tacos, lettuce wraps, and the jackfruit sandwich. Each of these little tasters of food were enhanced by Sriracha (obviously) and were vegan. They were surprisingly good and that means a lot coming from a meat-and-cheese-eater like me. I was particularly impressed with the jackfruit sandwich. The jackfruit as a “meat” was lush and plump and satisfied any craving for meat. The flavors imparted in the jackfruit was really impressive. I would eat that sandwich again and again.

After eating, we braved the insane crowd and got our book signed by Randy and gave our congrats before opting to breathe fresh air back on the patio of Golden Road. I really liked Chloe’s but I can’t stand being in a crowded bar for very long. The decor was very English-pub style and I loved the plaid carpet and old-school pub signs decorating the walls. I would go back and hang-out upstairs for several hours and play pool on a less crowded night. Overall, it was a great evening to celebrate achievements of friends. I highly recommend ordering a copy of the book!

4th of July: Fireworks, Friends and Homebrew

Posted on July 11, 2013
4th of July, beer, fireworks
Comments: 0

Last week was the 4th of July and I celebrated with some good friends down in San Clemente, CA. We were fortunate to hit basically no traffic on the way there (shocking) and it was a lovely drive down south to visit with friends and celebrate the holiday. My friends rent apartments that comes with this wonderful grass area that is perfect for entertaining. It has been so hot, luckily the day was muggy and overcast making it cooler than expected.

We brought some of our spicy beer pickles we had just made and were excited to get everyone’s opinion on them. Everyone really liked them, especially the lemon cucumber pickles which were more spicy than the other pickles. They were gone in minutes. We also brought some of our watermelon wheat homebrew that we put a habanero in for 1 day during fermenting which was also very well received. Sean dubbed it “Aqualung 2:Epic Flute Solo,” because it was our second attempt at a watermelon beer and the first one was named “Aqualung.” I have to say, the first version of the watermelon beer wasn’t my favorite. The watermelon dropped-off a few weeks after it was bottled and ready to drink and you were left with this green chili taste. It was most likely due to the fact we added a fresno and sweet banana pepper the last time instead of a habanero. Also, the watermelon taste has lasted longer this time. It’s really refreshing and everyone seems to really like it.

At dusk, we walked down the hill to the boardwalk to view the fireworks. It was a wonderful evening filled with s’mores, laughs and good beers. I almost didn’t mind the terrible traffic back up to Orange. Almost…