Bottle/Tap: Tap

I try to hit Strangebrew at least once a month to check out their new beers and try anything that I haven’t already had many times before.  We met up with some friends, and I was quickly recommended the Summerfest by Sierra Nevada.  I figured since I had luck with my last Sierra Nevada beer, this one would fall right in line.

Summerfest looks like your typical summer ale: pale sort of color, crisp aroma, maybe a hint of fruit.  Let me tell you that this is not your typical summer ale.  I was excited to find out that this beer had a bitter flavor to it that blended very well giving a clean finish.  It starts with a bitter flavor but ends off very clean and doesn’t leave that awful dry mouth feeling after some bitter beers.

When my appetizer of Beer Cheese Soup was presented to me, I found that the bitter flavor was just enough to help the zing of the beer cheese.  Beer cheese has some spice to it, and through much experimenting, bitter beers seem to help with spicy food.  I was hooked into this beer.

Part of me wanted to ask for a lemon or orange slice to drop in my glass just to test my citrus theory, but I couldn’t ruin this beer.  I have a feeling the fruit would have taken out the bitter, and that was the part that I liked.  There are some moments when a little bitter isn’t a bad thing, and I was glad to find that this was one of them.  You might get the overwhelming urge to buy a lot of Sam Adam’s Summer Ale in the next few weeks, but if you can, sneak a bottle of this in to the mix.

I realized last night that it seemed like it had been a long time since I had posted a drink recipe.  We have had chilly weather for the end of May and most of June, so the thought of filling the martini shaker with ice has been pretty unappealing.  And with lots of activity for work and home, there hasn’t been much time to relax and enjoy a cocktail.  So, a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at the end of the day has been about it for me.

However, last night was humid, the world was quiet, and my husband was arriving home from a business trip.  I figured a cocktail and conversation would be a great start to our evening.  Not feeling motivated to go shopping for new ingredients for a drink, I took inventory of our liquor cabinet.  Finding black cherry infused vodka, it seemed like the perfect start for a summer’s night cocktail.

The next step was to review our mixer options.  We had lemon-lime soda (both diet and regular), orange juice, cranberry juice, and seltzer.  Seltzer is added to many of my creations, as it helps to keep the drink light, so that was my obvious first choice.  Cranberry juice seemed like a better mixer than orange juice, so it became the second mixer to be added.  Then I decided to add one more dimension of flavor with a bit of triple sec.  And there it was, the recipe for the Cran-Cherry-Orange Cocktail.

Of course, amounts needed to be decided.  However, having pretended to be a bartender for some time now, I seem to have developed a knack for estimating how much of each will work.  So, it only took 2 sets of mixing to create what I found to be a delicious drink.

This drink was the perfect addition to a great summer night:  warm weather, a good drink, and my husband’s company.

Cran-Cherry-Orange Cocktail

2 oz. black cherry infused vodka

1 oz. triple sec

2 oz. cranberry juice

3 oz. berry seltzer

Fill a martini shaker with ice, and add vodka, triple sec, and cranberry juice.  Shake well.  Pour into an ice-filled highball glass.  Add seltzer, stir, and enjoy.

Bottle/Tap: Bottle

I do enjoy a good coffee beer, and I’m glad to say that this ale is a good coffee beer.  Peak Organic makes one great brown ale that I’ve enjoyed from Strangebrew, but I had never seen their espresso ale before.  I felt that I needed to become better acquainted with the beer and bought a bottle to take home and sample at my leisure.  When it comes to beer sampling you cannot rush semi-perfection.

This ale is made with Fair Trade certified organic coffee; no free-range beans died while they made this beer, they were all home grown.  I don’t know if that helps with the flavor, but you can at least feel better about yourself.  This ale had a solid amber color in my glass and smelled awesome.  Before I tasted it I could smell the strong coffee and when I drank some I found the coffee not as overbearing as some ales can be.  This was a happy medium of flavor and refreshment.

This ale was a 6.8% and paired very well with the steak I had for dinner.  If you are ever wondering with what food you should pair your beer, try beef.  I find that a hamburger, steak, or ribs always make the beer taste better.  It also could be because I am a carnivore at heart, but that is for another time.

I enjoyed this coffee based brew and most other products by Peak Organic.  Don’t assume because a beer is organic you’re losing out on something.  It just means ingredients are fresher, and sometimes they taste better.  If you are looking for something a little different, I suggest this amber.

Bottle/Tap: Bottle

Nothing says history like a cool beer, as Sackets Harbor Brewing claims on their label; history never tasted so good, and they are right.  The same friend who procured the Yuengling Lager also gave a few bottles of this interesting amber ale.  Name alone gives this beer some points and the overall taste wasn’t bad either.

This beer comes to us from Sackets Harbor, New York, and you can’t find it anywhere in the southern New Hampshire area.  Now, I’m not a history buff, but I do know that the War of 1812 did happen a long time ago., it was a war, and I have a feeling people drank beer, which brings me to the brew at hand.

1812 poured out nicely in a glass with a solid amber color and light aroma to it.  I had this in the fridge and found that it tasted fine cold and was better as it warmed up.  You could almost taste history roll down the back of your throat as you enjoyed this ale.  Had I a musket, I would have held the rifle in one hand and this beer in the other to serve my country.

This beer is named after the naval yard used during the war to help defend against the British.  It was a crucial point since the British had some territories in the Great Lakes area, and this naval yard was created to suppress the threat of British invasion.  Personally, I’ll stick with the British Invasion of the 1960s instead of the original; at least that invasion had good music.

War of 1812 Amber is an ale meant to be enjoyed any time of year or when you are feeling patriotic.

This past weekend, my husband and I were in Delaware with two of our children.  As we aren’t regular visitors to Wilmington, we asked our concierge for dining advice.  His suggestion was Washington Street Ale House.  What great advice!

Although I praised our dining experience on Tasty Thoughts, I thought their cocktails were worthy of a separate article.  And from a glance at their lounge area, it seems that many locals would agree.  At 7:00 on a Friday night, that part of the restaurant was packed with the shirt and tie crowd.

As the bar seemed vastly popular and the drink special menu was enticing, I decided to order the Ale House Cosmo.  From its description it was perfect for me:  pineapple vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, and lime.

My drink was served in a patron-friendly manner.  About a third of the drink had been poured into a martini glass for my sipping pleasure.  The remaining portion of the drink was in a petite carafe atop a dish of ice.  With so many martinis served in a glass filled to the rim, it can be difficult to take the first sip or two without spilling.  Not a problem with this presentation method!  Plus, every sip of my drink would be ice cold.

Taking my first sip, I knew I had chosen an excellent drink.  The pineapple vodka and triple sec provided sweetness, while the cranberry juice and lime offered a nice contrast of bitterness.  Together, the ingredients created a drink that was light, fruity, and full of flavor.

The next time we are in Wilmington, I know where I will plan on going for dinner and a drink.

Bottle/Tap: Bottle

As usual, it wouldn’t be a month if I didn’t review at least one Dogfish Head brew, and this is a good one.  Palo Santo is Spanish for ‘Holy Wood’. Typically found in South America, this phrase can refer to several different species of tree.  This wood was used to create beer barrels able to hold 10,000 gallons each in the time before Prohibition.  Nowadays, 10,000 gallons is nothing, but 100 years ago, that was an incredible capacity for brewing.

This beer is dark; you would have thought I poured molasses into my glass.  At 12% I could smell the alcohol, and I noticed a sweet, almost caramel aroma.  I had a drink and found it to be very smooth with no real bitter taste to it at all.  You might say that it was creamy and swished nicely in my glass.

I had this chilled from the basement and noticed that the beer tasted much better as it got closer to room temperature.  I haven’t always been a fan of brown ales, but this one was a pleasant surprise for me.  I just imagined what a 10,000 gallon wooden barrel filled with beer looked like, then I held on to that image and had another drink.  I was glad that I kept eating dinner; something this strong on an empty stomach would spell trouble.

Now, I don’t know the entire history, if Dogfish Head found these barrels and began using them again or just reconstructed them and continued the brewing process.  I would imagine that during Prohibition these barrels would have been destroyed, but those are questions to find answers for on another day.

Have fun with this brown ale or hit Strangebrew (my favorite NH watering hole) and order a Raison D’Etre, another Dogfish favorite.

Bottle/Tap: Bottle

This is the second of three beers by Kona Brewing I happened to have picked up a few weeks ago.  Since it was raining last week I thought: nothing says sunshine like Hawaii.  Sure enough, I got plenty of sun from this bottle of joy.

Wailua is a limited release beer, and I have a feeling the release is over, which is a shame.  I was drawn to it because it was from Hawaii and it is a wheat beer with passion fruit.  I’ve tried blueberries, raspberries, apricots, watermelon, and pumpkin beers. Adding passion fruit to the list was as good an excuse as any to pick up a bottle.

This beer was a nice orange and amber color when I poured it in my glass.  I was expecting something more copper; this looked kind of like a lager and smelled very interesting.  It must have been the passion fruit because the aroma was very distinct and exciting.  After I sampled some, I noticed that there was a slight bitter flavor and some zing.  For any normal wheat beer I would drop in a lemon or orange wedge to get more flavor; this beer was packed with its own flavor.

I had this sitting in the fridge and let it come to room temperature over the course of a few minutes and found that it tasted pretty good lukewarm.  I don’t often let wheat beers get too warm since they seem to lose some taste, so I did my best to drink this one a little faster.  I will say that the passion fruit was the most prominent part of this beer, and I enjoyed it greatly.  It wasn’t like eating a real piece of passion fruit, it was pretty close.  Another Kona Company brew gets my approval.

Like most people my tastes have changed with time.  I used to prefer my mixed drinks to be sweet and didn’t mind if they were heavy.  My former favorite drinks were frozen strawberry dacquiris, White Russians, and espresso-tinis.  However, now most of those drinks are on my list of drinks to avoid.

Although my tastes have changed, there are some similarities.  I still do enjoy a hint of sweetness in my drinks.  And if there were to be any theme to the variety of drinks that I like, it would be that they include fruit flavors.  The differences are that I no longer enjoy a drink that is heavy with cream or syrupy ingredients.  Also, unless I am indulging on a hot day by a pool, I usually avoid frozen drinks.

Recently, I have noticed that I like my drinks less and less sweet, although I have not gotten to the point where I am requesting a classic martini or vodka and tonic.  With that thought in mind, I created the Vodka and Tonic Restyled.  While this  may not have been my grandfather’s sort of concoction, it is simple, light, and refreshing.  Served over ice, it is a wonderful way to quench your thirst while  you sit on the front porch swing.

Vodka and Tonic Restyled

ice

1-1/2 oz. kiwi-strawberry infused vodka

berry seltzer

1 maraschino cherry

Fill martini shaker with ice, and add vodka.*  Shake for a minimum of 20 seconds.  Fill a highball glass with ice, and add vodka.  Top with seltzer, and stir.  Add cherry (and a teaspoon of its juice for a pinch of flavor, if desired), and enjoy!

*As nothing is being combined in the shaker, you can omit this step.  However, this step lowers the temperature of the vodka, creating a wonderfully chilled cocktail.

Bottle/Tap: Bottle

I’ve never actually had anything by Anchor Steam though I have received many recommendations. I just never got around to giving them a try. I picked up a bottle and thought I’d take it for a spin. Anchor Steam is one of the oldest brewers in California and hasn’t changed their brewing tradition for over 100 years. The lore of the name is supposedly from the hissing noise the steam makes as it leaves the brewing tanks. Steam is also an old term used to describe beer that was made on the West Coast.

Sierra Nevada and Anchor Brewing each have unique bottles, and I think that is pretty cool. Everyone knows the long neck look, but short stubby bottles seem more compact and fit in your hand more easily. I popped the top and emptied the bottle into my glass and enjoyed the amber color as it flowed in. I noticed a very good hop smell, and I was kind of excited to try something new. Well, new to me I should say.

I was taken by the bitter taste, it wasn’t like something I was used to drinking, yet I really liked it. I chilled the beer in my basement and let it get to room temperature while I was drinking it and became more impressed at how well it stood up. It didn’t lose any of the flavors as the temperature rose, and that was a big plus for me. It wasn’t a terribly strong beer, but it did have some good bite toward the end of each sip that I enjoyed.

If you’ve had Anchor Steam before, or if you haven’t, I completely recommend this one. As the temperature rises outside it is good to know there are some beers that can also withstand the increase in heat.

Bottle/Tap: Can

Several years ago, I embarked on a voyage with friends toward Gettysburg for a few days of vacation and history.  During the trip to Pennsylvania we happened to stay with a friend’s grandparents, and I was first introduced to the oldest beer in America, Yuengling.  You see, the brewery is the oldest brewery in America, and let me tell you, this beer is one not to miss.

This is traditional lager style ale, not very complex and no real bitter flavor; it is a smooth and simple to drink beer.  Actually, you can liken this to Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I think PBR has a sweeter taste to it. I drank enough of it in college to know.  Yuengling has its own unique flavor, and it is not intrusive at all.  The same friend from the Gettysburg trip was in upstate New York and managed to grab some of this delicious beer for me, and a nifty glass to go with it.

This beer has a solid copper color and no real aroma, but you can keep drinking it for days and not feel too bad about it at all.  Yuengling doesn’t make it out to New England at all, so unless you feel like making a drive, finding it around here is close to impossible.  However, if you do know where you can get some of it, please let me know I’d love to have it more often.

When I think traditional American brewing the only beers that come to mind are Yuengling and PBR as far as age and tradition.  Budweiser has nothing on Yuengling, and I would gladly drink a PBR over a Coors or Miller any day of the week.  If you’re looking for a real taste of Americana, you’ll find it here.