Sorry... I didn't make a specific photo to go with this post, so I'll just re-use the photo of the beer I used in the recipe!

I was tasked with making some home-made hot dog chili on Saturday to be served at Tonya's mom's birthday lunch on Sunday. Don't ask me why, but Tonya's mom specifically requested hot dogs as her birthday meal. I love to make chili but I have never made a chili that was really suitable for hot dogs. Of course, I wanted to make something with beer as an ingredient, so I browsed around the internet for a while and found nothing worthwhile. I ended up combining several ideas I came across into a single recipe. All I can say is that the results were outstanding and I intend to make another batch of this large enough to freeze. While I was cooking this chili, I was tasting it as I went and loved the taste of it but I was afraid it wasn't going to go well on a hot dog. However, as the cooking process went and along with overnight aging in the fridge, this stuff turned out to be one of the most awesome hot dog toppings I have ever had, so here goes...

Man Cave Hot Dog Chili

Prepare this a day in advance!

12 oz of a beer of your choice (choices here will change the flavor of the chili)
1 lb ground beef (I used 93/7 but 90/10 would work well too)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup yellow mustard
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder

Place the ground beef in a dutch oven and mash it up completely.  Try to chop it up as finely as possible so no large clumps remain.  Just as the ground beef is almost brown, dump in 12 ounces of beer (I used Sierra Nevada Glissade) and bring to a slow boil.  Let the ground beef boil slowly in the beer for about 15-20 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients to the dutch oven and return to a slow boil, stirring regularly.  Allow the chili to reduce to a consistency that you like and then simmer covered for 30-45 minutes.  Allow the chili to cool and then place it in a container in the refrigerator overnight before serving (not required but a good idea.)  Otherwise serve immediately or freeze for future use. 

Thoughts:

This stuff will freeze and keep for a long time.  If you make this and like it, you might consider doubling or tripling the recipe and freezing the leftovers for future use.  I think this chili may also be good with a little cheese in it.  It could also become a meal on its own by adding some kidney beans or even black beans.  If you intend to make it into a meal of its own, you might want to chop a green pepper to add to the mix or even spice it up a little with some hot peppers. 

If you try this, let me know how you like it!

Brewery: Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Where: Comstock, Michigan
Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
IBU: Off the Scale
ABV: 10%

Today's sampling is going to include a personal tirade about the state of craft/micro beers in America, but first, let's talk about this beer...

Bell's Hop Slam Ale is an American Double / Imperial IPA style of beer, which means two things.  First, its stuff full of hops for bitterness and aroma, and second, it's got a lot of alcohol.  At 10% ABV, you can consider a 12-ounce bottle to have a full 1.2 ounces of alcohol.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider a shot of whiskey is 1.5 ounces, and that most whiskey is 80 proof, drinking a 10% ABV beer is like having just over two shots of your favorite liquor as far as alcohol content is concerned.  It's not a beer to be consumed in large quantities. 

This beer poured with the standard golden color and foamy head of a good IPA.  The hop aroma is immediately present, without a doubt.  This beer is also quite bitter, but it does have a fairly decent malt presence.  As this beer warms up, the maltiness comes forward with a little more power, but the bitterness hangs on to the very end.  As far as I'm concerned, you won't find a beer any hoppier than this one.  Your hardcore beer enthusiasts will start to discuss a beer called "Pliny the Elder" in comparison, but it is a rather different beer than this one.  It does not have as much of a malt backbone as the Hop Slam does, but it may be just a bit more drinkable in the long run...

Now, for my personal rant...

I am finding myself in a minority when it comes to the current state of affairs with American beers.  Being in a taste minority in the world of beer really sucks sometimes.  I'm jealous because a lot of the great craft brewers in the US are spending their time and efforts developing beers much like Bell's Hop Slam.  These beers are all higher gravity (more alcohol) and high hops (more bitterness).  For a person with my personal tastes in beer, this is a travesty.  I'm a bigger fan of the maltier (sweeter) beers where there is a nice balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness.  I even like the sweeter beers where the hop presence is relatively minimal.  I don't dislike the hop bombs with a ton of alcohol, but I'd usually choose a different beer when choices are available to me.  Even thought I'm not personally happy with the current trends in the craft beer market in the US, I am VERY pleased that these beers are available and becoming more popular and easy to find on the store shelves.  What this means to fans of craft beers is that our favorite brewers and beers are gaining a market share in a world that is still dominated by the yellow fizzy beers of the Bud/Miller/Coors manufacturing titans.  It wasn't that long ago that a trip to any grocery or convenient store in North Carolina would yield exactly zero options for anything other than cheap yellow fizzy beer.  It's getting a lot easier to find beers I love locally...

Until next time...

Gary Moore - 4 April 1952 – 6 February 2011

Brewery: LoneRider Brewing Company
Where: Raleigh, NC
Style: Hefeweizen
IBU:
ABV: 5.8%

Today's sampling is another North Carolina beer from LoneRider Brewing Company out in Raleigh. Shotgun Betty is LoneRider's Hefeweizen, and since today is such a pretty day outside, I started thinking about spring and summer coming just around the corner and decided to pour a beer that goes along with that theme.

Shotgun Betty poured with the naturally rich golden hue and a nice foamy head.  The head didn't hang around very long, but this beer had the nice banana/clove aroma from the Hefeweizen yeast strains used to make this style of beer.  The flavor has a distinct crispness and wheat taste which makes this beer a pretty decent sample of the style.  I can't say that Shotgun Betty is the best of the Hefeweizens I have tried, but its definitely a real player in that style and worth a try.  It could just be a fluke with my bottle, but the carbonation level on this one was a little inadequate.  I'm sure that's not the norm for this beer since bottle-conditioned beers can vary a little in carbonation levels. 

North Carolina is, by far, not known nationally for it's great beers, but we have come a long way in the last few years!

Brewery: Brouwerij Huyghe
Where: Melle, Belgium
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
IBU: N/A
ABV: 8.5%

I made a quick stop by Gails Hops and Grapes this afternoon to pick up a few new beers. I have been avoiding this particular beer for a while because of the price, but I have had it before and it's really good, so I splurged and bought a 4-pack to bring home.  As far as being a GREAT example of the style, I don't really believe that Delirium Tremens stacks up well enough to command $18.99 for a 4-pack of 12-oz bottles. 

This beer pours with the typical light golden color and a very foamy head.  These beers are typically highly carbonated, and Delirium Tremens is no exception.  This beer has the typical aroma created by the Belgian yeasts and it fits all the standard characteristics of the style quite well.  This beer is also crisp and has a dry finish, and it also masks the 8.5% alcohol by volume very well, even at cooler temperatures.  This is a beer to be careful with because it will sneak up on you in a hurry!  

My overall impression of Delirium Tremens is that it IS a very good beer.  I highly recommend giving it a whirl.  If possible, when you decide to try this one, do a side-by-side comparison with a couple other beers in this style.  Unibroue's Don de Dieu and Duvel's Belgian Golden Ale would be some that I suggest comparing to this beer. 

Until next time...

I was in a restaurant several years ago where I noticed that they were using beer bottle salt and pepper shakers on the tables. I decided to look around and see if I could find some caps like the ones they used to make some of my own.

I found these on ebay quite a while back and ordered 3 or 4 sets of them and finally got around to trying them out this weekend. They work pretty well. I went back to ebay to see if I could find more, but the red ones with the SOL logo on them were nowhere to be found. I thought these would make some interesting Christmas gifts for some of my beer friends so I went on a search to find some more caps. After some searching, I found some blue caps that are fairly inexpensive when purchased in quantity. I found some vendors on ebay who sell the blue corona caps for $15 for 50 and $30 for 100, so I might buy some more. If anyone would be interested in splitting an order of 100 with me, let me know and I'll order some more.

I also had this empty Absolut Vodka pint bottle on hand so I decided to turn it into a salt shaker as well just for kicks...

I used a 3/32" drill bit to put four holes in the cap. I originally started with 5/64" which was just a tad too small but the 3/32" holes work really well...  This bottle has a metal cap with a plastic lining on the inside.  Most pint liquor bottles are plastic, but they can be drilled out just as easily...

Thoughts?

A blues guitar legend and another one who will be... Joe Bonamassa has been burning up the blues scene for quite a while now. I finally have all of his CDs and can't seem to get enough of any of them...

Brewery: Stoudt's Brewing Co.
Where: Adamstown, Pennsylvania
Style: Extra Special Bitter
IBU: 32 IBU
ABV: 5.0%

Today's sampling is a first-time tasting of a Stoudt's Brewing Company beer for me. I picked up a bottle of Stoudt's Scarlet Lady Ale, which is an English style known as ESB or Extra Special Bitter.  One of these days I need to look into the style to see if I can figure out where that name came from, but Extra Special Bitters are typically not bitter at all. 

This beer poured with a rich bronze color and capped off with a nice head to match.  The beer has a sweet and earthy aroma which comes from the Maris Otter and Caramel malts that went into the recipe coupled with the Willamette hopes used to finish for aroma.  The beer tastes fine, but it finishes a little on the dry side for me for some reason.  It doesn't quite carry the pleasant aftertaste that I get from some other beers in this style, but it's still worth a try if you like the ESB style.  This particular bottle may be better served at 50° or so instead of the 37° where my refrigerator is set, but that's the case with a lot of beers.  You will never know what you might be missing in a beer until you try it a little warmer than you might normally drink.  On a scale of 1-10 in this style, I'd give the Scarlet Lady a 6...

Brewery: Brouwerij van Hoegaarden
Where: Hoegaarden, Belgium
Style: Witbier
IBU: N/A
ABV: 4.9%

You won't often find a brewery that has been in business since 1445 A.D., but when you do, it's always a good idea to try what they have to offer.  Even though Hoegaarden is now owned and operated by Anheuser-Busch/InBev, it seems that the beer production and techniques for this brewery have remained mostly true to the original ideas. 

This beer poured with the typical pale golden color of the style with a nice foamy head that subsided rather quickly, but the carbonation level was high as dictated by this style.  The beer has a light body with a crisp flavor and a fruity aroma.  I can't really get a sense of the spices included in this brew, but they are slightly present in the flavor but don't create any significant impact.  This is also a rather good beer to use in an introductory context for someone who is not used to drinking home brews or craft beers.  It's on the sweet side with minimal or no hop presence in the flavor. 

We decided to make some onion rings tonight, so I obviously wanted to make a beer batter to go on them. Here's what went into the batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
1 cup of beer (room temperature)
2 to 3 large onions sliced and separated into rings

This batter was pretty good overall. I think it needs a little something else to give it some added kick. Maybe a little more black pepper or possibly even some cayenne pepper. I think this batter would also be really great with a half cup or so of grated asiago or even parmesan cheese...

Give it a whirl sometime and let me know if you come up with something really great :)