Showing posts with label craft beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft beer. Show all posts

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Goals or Lack of...

I have been struggling with writing a post for a while because I decided to do my A race (that looked more like a C race) so early in the year.  I initially was motivated by the fact that my fitness is better than it usually is mid-summer and I am still debating another half-ironman this year but since a couple races I would like to do don't workout date-wise...I have just been in limbo...I have no plan, I have been winging it, which in one respect is nice, almost calming.  I haven't rode or ran with my Garmin at all.  The real reason is I need to erase the data and I am too damn lazy to do it.  On the contrary, I don't do well without plans, I need something to keep the ADD (by the way this is not a medical diagnosis just my own) in check, otherwise I am all over the place.

I have an Olympic distance race next week and I have no plan.  It's odd, yet I feel ready as anything and interested in what I can do.  I have been working my ass off since November and maybe this little "no plan thing" will work out and maybe not.  I am still getting in my quality workouts, like my 9 mile runs in mid-morning when the heat is blazing, humidity is ridiculous and the only thing to look forward to is wearing a new lululemon outfit that I bought as my prize for finishing Mooseman.
New speed shorts and sportbra!!  Love them!

Every week, I muster up a schedule that gets shot down usually by Tuesday.  Partly because there is so much on my mind lately with my father-in-law and everything going on.  My husband, God bless him, has been there almost daily and nightly at the hospital with his sister and mom that is an hour away.

When your heads not in the game its time to call a break.  So after some deep reflections and looking at the positives in our lives, I decided to get some workouts in, sign up for some races with friends, get fast and have fun for the rest of the season. I signed up for Splash-n-Dash in Marlton, NJ and was able to knock off a few seconds of my swim time (albeit not great, but I'll take the improvement), improved my t-time (although I will never beat the transition ninja, Christine and her 30 seconds) and improved my run time in the 5k with 8:44 min/miles. 
Had a blast racing with my Team Triumph crew!!

In other news, we had our 2nd Annual Christmas in July shindig!  I was so glad we had one day to escape everything going on and that for one day Mike could relax !  We had a wonderful Christmas in July - there was no snow, but poolside fun, tons of fireworks, and plenty of beer and I was even able to get in a 45 mile ride with Yasi that morning....

Mad Elf aged for 2 years, Great Divide Collette, and DFH World Wide Stout!!
Xmas montage


Fireworks display compliments of Bill


Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Brewtal Beer Club - It's Not Just a Club...It's a Movement - PART 3 - THE BEER

If you missed the first two episodes...

And now what you have all been waiting for...MissFancyPants Fall Beer List.  It's getting a little late in the season, so you may want to bookmark this for next year.  I had some other recommendations but I don't want to overwhelm you or muddy the waters by being all over the place so I will do an addendum to my beer list in another post (just to keep you reading)....I don't know about you but I am always hunting for the perfect pumpkin beer (secretly I want someone to do a butternut squash one but haven't heard of it).

Last year, my two favorites were Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - HOWEVER, I have some new favorites thanks to Mike (my husband, who was in charge of the October Brewtal Beer Tasting).

#1 - Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin


This beer was actually thanks to KEVIN whom we met at the Battleship NJ beer tasting.  He works for Shipyard.  This beer will KICK your ass, and I mean it.  It's 9% ABV and very drinkable, I didn't find it overly alcohol in flavor, it's dangerous...It is a little heavy on the spice area so if you don't like a heavy spice than it may not be your favorite.  I enjoy a bit more nutmeg so this was great.  Good pumpkin taste and sweet.


 #2 - Cigar City Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale

 

Holy crap this was hands down a beer that EVERYONE at the beer club enjoyed and rated highly.  I felt like I was drinking pumpkin pie.  There was something about this beer, the spice was not overly powering, the perfect amount of sweetness.

 #3 - Heavy Seas - The Greater Pumpkin 



One word - AWESOME - this was brewed in Bourbon barrels so it is quite different than the other pumpkin beers.  The bourbon, wood, and pumpkin was a nice balance.  Highly recommend.


#4 - The Bruery - Autumn Maple




 I have to say I was a little hesitant, I don't always dig The Breury's beer, but this was delicious.  It is brewed with yams so it was a nice change from the pumpkin tasting.  It had a nice mix of spice and also a hint of vanilla.  I could see this going well with some turkey breast and maybe some glazed root vegetables.  Don't know why, but I think I will try serving that next year or if I find it in time for this Thanksgiving.


 #5 - Cape Ann Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout 


 I am only putting this on the list because of the polarity that was expressed in the group that tasted it.  I hated it the first time and it grew on me the second time.  I don't know if that had to do with too many pumpkin beers that I was taste-testing and wasn't giving this a fair shot or I like more zing to my beer and this was just too AVERAGE.  Jury is still out, I would say try it if you don't like a strong pumpkin flavor and are a stout fan.  There were a few people in the group that really liked this.


#6 - Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale


I am on and off with SA.  I have had some very nice beers lately like their new Imperial Stout and their Latitude IPA.  This beer was surprisingly good.  Maybe not a Shipyard, a Weyerbacher or Smuttynose, but it was tasty.  It was not overly pumpkin-like but had a nice mix of spice and pumpkin without being overly sweet.

Hopefully, you will still have time to check things out, although, I was at the liquor store and the Christmas beers were out and there was nothing left in way of pumpkin, so like I said bookmark this for next year!  Stay tuned, I will be posting another beer post very soon that includes a few Italian micro-brews I recently tried and we will be having the November Beer Meeting this week.  I will also be posting a little about Mike and I's first homebrew which we will try on Thursday - Brewtal Alpha Porter....

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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Brewtal Beer Club - It's Not Just a Club...It's a Movement - PART 2 - THE FOOD

Part 2 of the Brewtal Beer Club post, if you missed the first post you can find it here.  Part 1 was where I gave you the information on this fabulous new club that will someday turn into a brewery....


Each month, a charter member of the Brewtal Beer Club is responsible for food....guess who volunteered first for food???

I had been foaming at the mouth the day Mike said there would be a beer club and we can make food...all I was thinking about was different ways  of incorporating beer into food and how to make an entire menu....and fall, which is my favorite time of the year - this was going to be perfect!!

I should pre-face this by saying this is not my normal detox/gluten-free/vegan friendly/healthy recipes I post.  Everyone needs to cheat!

The Menu

Ten-fidy Pot Roast
Rogue Chocolate Stout cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I even made little signs and I taste tested everything before - you know just to make sure....

Ten-Fidy Roast Recipe
(Printable Recipe)

This can be found at one of my previous posts.  But I am going to re-do it here cause I just figured out the snazzy button that says "printable recipe,"




Ingredients: 
3.5 lb beef roast (seasoned with sea salt, Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute)
1 large shallot
8 garlic cloves
A couple swirls of vegetable oil
4 potatoes (peeled or unpeeled) - chopped
1 onion chopped
4 carrots - chopped
2 celery sticks
1 box of beef broth
1 pint of Ten-fidy
Fresh parsely

Directions:
Let meat sit for about an hour after you seasoned it to let it soak in.
Heat a few swigs of olive oil on high and sear for about a minute on all sides of meat.
Put meat in the crockpot until ready.
Add some more olive oil and scrape with a wooden spoon, add in garlic, shallot and onion until softened (about 3 min).
Scrape again and put into crock pot.
Add 1 box of beef broth, potatoes, carrots, celery.  Arrange the vegetables around the meat. 
Add in the pint of Ten-fidy use a wooden spoon to stir and move to make liquid uniform.
This is the best picture - truly shows the motor oil consistency of Ten-fidy
Add fresh parsely.  Put on low and cook for about 8 hours.

When ready, take meat out and break apart/slice and put back into the crock pot and serve!

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale Beer Bread (adapted from Bruery)
(Printable Recipe)
All beer bread recipes are the same general concept.  I wanted to make this pumpkiny so I decided to use Smuttynose since it isn't overpowering and has a nice spice palette and we had it in our keg.


I did want to mention, the second time I made it I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white and wheat flour so that it was healthier, and you can make this vegan using Earth Balance butter.  I may play with some brown rice flour and oat flour to see if I can make a good GF version but I digress...

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
12 oz pumpkin beer (I used Smuttnose Pumpkin)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used Whole Foods Organic)
2 Tbsp light margarine, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Slowly pour the beer into the dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go.  Add in the pumpkin and stir just until combined.

Spray loaf pan with PAM or other cooking spray.  Pour 1/2 margarine in bottom of pan.  Use the wooden spoon and pour batter into the pan.  Pour remaining margarine on top of batter evenly. 


Bake about 60 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top and done in the middle.  Remove from oven and let cool.


Serve with a mix of maple syrup, margarine and cinnamon....


Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale Mac-n-Cheese
(Printable Recipe)
Again, this is nothing new, just a standard mac-n-cheese but adding the beer, because you add beer you need to allow some thickening before baking.

Makes 2 casserole dishes.


Ingredients:

2 boxes orecchiette or bow-ties
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
8 oz milk
16 oz brown ale
8 ounces shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
8 ounces shredded sharp yellow cheddar cheese
4 ounces grated gouda
1/2 cup romano cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 cup Panko bread crumbs


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta and drain just before 2 minutes of being cooked since it will cook in the oven as well, it should be a little harder than al dente.
Make a roux by heating the saucepan over medium heat, add butter and then once melted whisk in flour.  Cook until slightly golden for about 2 minutes. 
Add milk and beer while whisking.
Add cheeses and stir until melted. 
Turn heat down to medium and cook for about 6 minutes or so until thick.
Mix pasta and cheese mix and pour into two casserole dishes. 
Toss panko bread crumbs with paprika, and sprinkle on top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

This was awesome but even better was taking the Ten-fidy pot roast juice and pouring it over mac-n-cheese.


Rogue Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
(Printable recipe)


Ingredients:
Cupcakes
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tspn baking soda
pinch sea salt
12 oz of Rogue Chocolate Stout
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tbspn Trader Joe's bourbon vanilla (this gives a really nice flavor)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup light sour cream
Icing
2 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups of confectioner sugar
1 tspn bourbon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, mix with a fork cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a second mixing bowl, combine beer, butter, and vanilla.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. 
Mix in sour cream until smooth.  Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet mix.

Line tins (depends on how many based on size - I made 24).  Scoop batter into cupcake tins until 3/4 full.  Bake for 12 minutes, rotate pan.  Bake another 12 minutes (TOTAL TIME 24 min).  Make sure set in middle.

I made a simple cream cheese icing.  In a medium mixing bowl cream the cream cheese and butter, add in the confectioner sugar and vanilla.

To top of this wonderful night - I met the most "interesting man in the world."

Stay tuned for Part 3 - MissFancyPant's Fall Beer Selection!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Now Where Was I.....



Mentally and physically I am feeling so much better.  I went through a bit of a slump where I was lacking in endorphins which equated to a GRUMPY HEATHER....The fact that I couldn't exercise led me to the obvious decision to eat whatever I want and drink a lot, duh!  I do have to say it's been fun...

There was the spectating at my favorite Marlton Lakes Sprint Tri while watching four of my friends and two of which trained all summer and did their first tri - GO HGRC! 
My sister and I made signs

Theresa, Marissa (new triathlete), Christine, Nicole, Tiffany (new triathlete), myself and David
 ....followed by the beerathlon, where the HGRC may not have reclaimed their title but showed many boys that we are able to move from position 4 out of 8 teams to position 2 by the mere skill of out-drinking and flipping cups.
Erica (Queen of Jenga), Me (The Pong Master) and Christine (Ninja champion - yup an Asian stereotype)
Our Chant before the finals - Flip Cup (sporting our new HGRC shirts - Metal Chicks Tri Harder)

...celebrated my birthday weekend(s) with Mexican and beer at the Hulmeville Inn...

Celebrating my birthday with my friends: Firestone Walker, Russian River and Wyerbacher

 ...dinner with my family and friends...

Yes, I turned 36....
Happy Fucking Birthday....pretty much sums it up!


Hanging with my girls!


And my awesome family!

...and yes, more beer at the US NJ Battleship where we combined mixing history with being incredibly drunk and befriending every beer rep and local there.

USS NJ BATTLESHIP - GETTING IN SOME HISTORY


NICE GUNS....
My partners in crime for the day....
A handy necklace for holding your beer....those Oskar Blues peeps are so smart, I mean the cans you can even ummm... put candles in them...oops..
Drinking our favorite Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin - I think we drank a pitcher of it...we may have made a nuisance of ourselves
Enough said...

So enough of the montage of what I did while I recovered from my bike accident....

While there was a good amount of healthy eating, the quantity and lack of good decisions to eat healthy while drinking and extra empty calories (e.g. beer) far outweighed the amount of good healthy eating.  The lack of calories being burned didn't help...My bad eating is really not terribly bad it is more just comfort foods like lots of pasta, bread, pretzels pizza, etc.

So I found a workout in an old Muscle and Fitness for Hers about two weeks ago while cleaning, and vowed to include strength training 4 days a week and do some sort of cardio (spinning) 6 days a week while attempting to start running.  I'm in my second week of the workouts, started running again without hurting (little tightness in the chest) and got my bike back all fixed up!

Last week I started my detox - see here for my specs on the detox.  Mike decided to jump on the bandwagon and my birthday present arrived just in time...

MOVE OVER CUISINART I'M BIGGER AND BETTER, I GRIND UP BEETS LIKE IT'S MY JOB

 YES, he is the best husband in the world!


We have used it every day for yummy shakes and soups.


So as it is almost the close of a full week - A VERY PRODUCTIVE WEEK
   6 days of working out
+ 4 runs = 14.5 miles (I can run without complete pain)
+ 3 spinning rides on the trainer (my bike is fixed!)
+ 4 intense strength training including 1 day of plyometrics
+ 2 yoga classes (vinyasa and power)
+ 6 days of detox
+ 1 five-gallon robust porter in it's first fermentation (POST TO COME!!!)

5 lbs lighter!!

So as I continue this detox (I am adding back in some alcohol (LIMITED) and caffeine....

I leave you in good spirits and a HAPPY HEATHER!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Vineman 70.3 - The Beer Report

The race was only part of the great experience I had a week and a half ago.  I decided to dedicate an entire post on the beer and wine in Sonoma County.  However, I don't want to bore you so I am doing this in a two parts - BEER report and then the WINE report.

Many call Sonoma county wine country, however, in my opinion, it is safe to say it is also beer country.  Don't get me wrong I don't want to take anything away from the phenomenal Zins and Pinots I tasted in the area.  I love my wine too, but my husband and I have a love for "fine craft beer."

Below is a picture of the Sonoma wine regions and I have placed locators to some of the craft beer distributors in the area as well:  Bear Republic, Russian River, Third Street Aleworks and Lagunitas.


 I learned a few things as I was trying to figure out WHY there were so many pale ales in this area.  Through some wikipedia research and googling, I found that Sonoma County was a major producer of hops in the US.  There are still hop kilns (buildings they used to dry the hops) standing in Sonoma County.  Check out Hop Kiln Winery to look at one.  We passed by it a few times, and now we both wished we stopped.  Anyway, in my non-expert opinion, I believe that this is why there are so many pale ales in Sonoma County.

Russian River Brewery
One of the first nights, we were there we decided to check out Russian River which would later be our post-race party location.  Mike is a big fan but you can only get it in PA and not NJ and it isn't that common to have the Pliny on tap.  Russian River Brewery has not only excellent beers but makes awesome pizzas.  If you go, check out the Mama Mia (pepperoni, pineapple and jalepenos) pie, it is great!  This also went great with my Pliny the Elder...


which I found was not overly hoppy, had some orange and peach notes, and if you go to beer advocate there is a reason they give this an A+.  Really a good IPA and perfect with the pizza.of which we later took home a growler...


Other beers on the menu...
One of the beers we were hoping to try became my new favorites Consecration and Supplication (later of which I developed a mantra using "Pliny, Consecration, Supplication and Pizza" to get me through the 70.3 race...).  Now both of these beers are sour, so if you don't like sour beers you may not like them.  Consecration is brewed in Cabernet barrels and Supplication is brewed in Pinot Noir.  What I found to be interesting is with both of the beers, you smelled the wine (oak, tannins, dark cherry fruit).  It combined my two loves beer and wine....Can you tell I was in love with this!!  I'll tell you what, if I can ever get this at home, I would love to make a nice flank steak and roasted rosemary potatoes with a consecreation....heaven, I think it would be...

Anyhow, moving along, we had an excellent post-race party with some new friends enjoying the post-race euphoria and our excitement for beer.  

They also do great music and have really cool t-shirts made from Organic cotton...
I went to Sonoma county and all I got was this awesome t-shirt
Bear Republic Brewery
Very cool brewery in the cute town of Headlsburg.  It is right off the main square, and there was someone cooking pesto garlic oysters on the BBQ at the brewery....Phenomenal....and went amazing with their Hop Rod Rye IPA.  Another very good IPA - I would say you could taste a little spice from the rye and just a little sweetness while a nice hoppy flavor...



Lagunitas Brewery
 This brewery we were hoping to go to but unfortunately is closed on Monday and Tuesday - BOOOO!  HISS!  However, we had some just because, even though we can get their IPA anywhere....I really don't have a whole lot to say here, except it is on my to-do list for next time...



Third Street Aleworks
Mike tried the Oatmeal Stout.  I think the beers were okay, especially given that it is right around the corner from RR, which is no comparison....Anyway, the food was very good - fish tacos and Mike had the burger.  Would definitely recommend for a nice night of eating outside and chill atmosphere.

That concludes my beer report....Cheers!!
 

Next up....Wine Report of Sonoma

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Who Doesn't Celebrate Christmas in July?

Been having a productive week training in my last real week before I taper next week for Vineman 70.3!  I sort of tapered unintentionally last week since I had to travel for work to Mexico and got a "little" sick because I had something to drink with ice....ugh...when I tried to do my swim/bike/runs when I got back it was not good, I was highly dehydrated.  I am happy to report that by Tuesday I was good to go from some Cipro, lots of probiotics and electrolyte drinks...
So when I got home we had big plans for Saturday that my little sickness or training would not get in the way of....Christmas in July Shindig.

Mike (husband) and I have two favorite things:  Christmas and Beer.  This past Christmas, we scored a keg of Scaldis Noel but we also got a keg of Troeg's Mad Elf that came in and unfortunately, could not be kept at the beer store till next year.
Troegg's Mad Elf tastes like cherries, honey and chocolate--delish


So Mike brought the keg home put it upside down and figured we would wait till next year.  UNTIL...the smarty pants bassist from Beyond Dishonor (have to give them a plug), Nick Petti said "why don't you have a Christmas in July party."  And we replied..."hmmm....how could we not!"

4th of July weekend was the only weekend we could do it.  So Mike and I LOVE having parties, but being that this was going to be a crazy busy with work travel for both us, my training, Mike's band gigs/practices/writing, we decided to NOT go overboard for this.  Especially since we have the 5th Yr Beerathlon Party coming up on Labor Day.

So here is a quick photo trip of the festivities and just how we roll....

we played Xmas music and grilled all day

we had fireworks complements of Bill




Christine made her and I Elf hats and Brad and Mike Santa hats
 
Even Axl got a hat


 
Meg and I looked like we were going out for the Christmas track team....




The tree was decorated with canned beer
The infamous Nick Petti to the left...
hehehe

No comment - his "nose" fell off...

Chrismas Pjs
Bobby looked like he was celebraing Xmas with the Irish Soccer team

the parentals and Chris and Brad
Merry Christmas!

My sister and I
Drunk watermelon...Enough said

To prove that I did train - we had a relay of beer
Noel de Calabaza is by Jolly Pumpkin Artisan - Great beer - sour almost a wine taste - little bit of granny smith apple taste
La Rulles Tripple is a really nice beer - it tasted lightly malty and somewhat grassy and hoppy.
Southern Tier Krampus - great lager with brown sugar and caramel on the front
An amazing lambic brewed with strawberries, tart beer but crisp for summer
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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