Holiday Beers Part III - The Best of the Best of Christmas

Eric and I are working hard for YOU...drinking, tasting, enjoying, giggling, dancing, falling down. It's all for JOURNALISM! No, it's really not. It's all for the simple enjoyment of BEER. And what says holidays like beer? Well, that's simple. MORE BEER! And that is what we have for you. More beer. With this list, our final of 2013, we bring the the best in holiday brews from our findings. The ones that made us laugh and cry. The ones that made us stop, look at one another, and exclaim, "Holy shit...that's tasty..."

So here you go...

BROOKLYN WINTER ALE
I like Brooklyn beers. I had been a virgin to their skills until this year when I started finding Brooklyn Lager at all the ska shows I was at around New York City. I quickly became a fan. Eric already knew. Then one hot day this summer before boarding a booze cruise, Eric and I stumbled into Molly's Shebeen on 3rd Ave (one of my now favorite spots) and found Brooklyn Brown on tap. We had several. I fell in love. So naturally when we saw Brooklyn Winter Ale in our travels to review holiday brews, it was immediately in my hand to purchase. This beer was a delightful deviation from what we has been experiencing in other holiday beers. There is no spice. No heaviness. No hoppy taste. This beer is clean, crisp, and veeeeeeery easy going down. It tastes like the most delicious light brown ale you ever had...if there was such a thing. I liked it so much, I went back and got a six pack the next time I felt like having a beer. In our discovery with sampling holiday beers, there are some that are one at a time, classy glass, slow drinkings. There are some that you take one sip of and decide you are pretty much done with. And then there are some that you know you will enjoy again and again and again in any kind of company. This is THAT beer. It's simple and good. Nothing flashy, nothing fancy, just really good beer. Brooklyn is good at that.

SHIPYARD PRELUDE SPECIAL ALE
Special, indeed. HOLY CHOCOLATE CHRIST. This is a good beer. I mean, probably the best holiday beer out there (in Amanda's humble opinion). Ship Yard does beer right. They have a pretty incredible Fall brew as well so I was expecting something good. I was not expecting something THIS good. As I sipped, I must have remarked to Eric 20 times that it was a really good beer. He tasted it as well, and agreed...and might have been a little sad that he was not the person who selected that one from the batch for tasting. Maybe its the water up there in Maine, but something was done incredibly well with this beer. Its nutty and smooth. A deep amber color. A real rich flavor but subtle in how its hits your tongue. When I got to the bottom of the bottle, I was sad. I was really sad. I kept looking at it to make sure there was really no more in there. To make matters worse, it is near impossible to find here in NJ! I even used the beer finder on the website and there is nothing in 10 miles listed! Eric and I went out on a search for it to our favorite beer spot which we thought had everything. They had exactly one bottle left. I left crying. This beer seriously is that good, friends.

SMUTTYNOSE WINTER ALE
Oh, these cats do it right. Eric and I already knew we loved New Hampshire's Smuttynose anything. He introduced me to their Old Brown Dog last winter and I fell in love. (you like browns? Check that one out...) We have purchased the sampler case on a few occasions and enjoyed them all. Their beer is just really well made. Its clean and tastes of the care they put into brewing it. Naturally we knew the Winter Ale would not let us down, and it did NOT! Its a complex brew with notes of fruity, notes of nutty, and an all around warm and yummy finish. This is the kind of beer Eric and I will fight over the last bottle of, and true to form...we did. Its perfect with snacks and even more perfect with laughs and friends. Thankfully we found this one to be readily available around us because I have a feeling it will be in our house pretty often this winter. Look for the bottle with the lovely lady on it.

TROEGS MAD ELF
It's maddeningly good! Is maddeningly a word? Well it is now. Our friends at Troegs over in nearby Hershey, PA created something sinfully delicious with this brew. Its a pretty reddish/orange ale in the glass with a warming finish and notes of cherry and honey on your tongue. Eric hogged this one all for himself. He describes it as very drinkable and solid. Heavy on the alcohol content at 11%, but no one is complaining! Subtle fruit and spice notes and very nicely aromatic. It's a tasty one! It's super good on it's own as a social sipping beer or at a gathering with good folks and great conversation. On a side note, we happened upon an enormous gift bottle of this on our way back to the beer spot. And I mean enormous. It was 101 oz. Need a gift for a friend with good taste? Or a lot of them in one place? That is available! I am sure you would be a hit with a six pack too.

And that's all folks!

I'm not saying we won't be back with another installment...because by now you know us...and we probably will!

What has been YOUR beer of choice this holiday season??? Let us know! We will feature it on a future blog!

Holiday Beers Part II - Ho ho the mistletoe!

The holidays are upon us, and you know what that means? Pine needles everywhere? Moths in your wallet? Untangled Christmas lights? Cats knocking over your tree and scattering your heirloom ornaments across the living room while you scream? Yes. All that, and BEER!
Its the time of the year for those delicious holiday beers. In the age of craft beer popularity, there is a wide assortment to choose from when you head to your local liquor store or beer spot, and we are going to sample them for you! Well, we were going to sample them anyway...but we are going to TALK ABOUT THEM for you! So here are some of the ones gracing our fridge this year:

ANCHOR CHRISTMAS
Oh Anchor! Your Steam beer alone is reason enough to love you, but your Christmas brew is something we look forward to every year. San Francisco's Anchor Brewing has been delighting the beer world with their Christmas beer since 1975. That's a long time, so its no wonder they have mastered it by now. Their bottle is graced with a Christmas tree that you might not know changes every single year. Not only that, their recipe changes every single year. It also remains a complete secret right down to what hops they use. This years is crisp and delicious. A subtle but tasty blend of flavors. Not too bitter. No weird aftertaste. Its a delicious compliment to friends, food, sports, or just a cold night while the weather outside is frightful. The folks at Anchor Brewing assure us that kept sealed and refrigerated, their seasonal remains delicious for years. We are just not that patient. Last year we cleaned out our local beer store of this tasty brew. They should expect the same from us this year.

SIERRA NEVADA CELEBRATION
This was a new one for me this year. Another oldie but goodie seasonal, Sierra Nevada has been brewing their Celebration since 1981. A hoppy IPA, this brew is a good take in a Christmas style beer but remains its very own thing. Its a real nice, bold brew. Celebration stands out among the holiday beers in that it is an IPA and has a taste that the folks at Sierra Nevada describe as "hop forward" with Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook hops. A nice 6.8% brew. It pairs very well with friends and merriment. Have it with your holiday dinner, your holiday leftovers, your holiday leftovers' leftovers, or a good hockey game. That is what we are doing right now.

ELYSIAN BIFROST WINTER ALE
This is a lovely, hoppy brew! It was a surprise to taste! I would have billed this as a Pale Ale myself. It's best served in a glass as its unfiltered and tastes better that way. It has a light crispy, fruity start with a hoppy finish that warms the belly. Seattle's Elysian Brewing Company doesn't have too much on the web to check out, so I don't know too much about the brewery itself except that they operate three pubs in the city of Seattle. Lucky city...its good beer! I am glad it made its way to New Jersey so I could taste it.

EVIL GENIUS NAUGHTY OR NICE
Oooooh...this was a tasty find! Connecticut's Evil Genius Beer Company is fairly new and already doing things right. This tasty, tasty spiced brew with notes of clove and cinnamon is a real holiday treat. Brewed with Tettnang hops and caramel and chocolate malts (to name a few), it delivers a spiced yet evenly yummy beer. This one just screams cold weather with friends and a fireplace, a football game, or sitting in front of the Christmas tree. It's a pretty amber 7.2% so get warm and cozy with a six pack and pair it with someone special. I paired it with nachos. It works great.

HARPOON WINTER WARMER
They got this one right on the money with their label description of "Full bodied spiced ale with a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg...a classic holiday beer." Vermont's Harpoon Brewery is already a favorite in this house, and they did not let us down with this winter brew. A lovely copper color with a modest 5.2%, its a medium bodied, super tasty brew. They have been making this tasty treasure since 1988. Its no mystery why they continue to bring this one to the masses. It's just sweet enough to make you notice with a spice that makes you stop and go "ohhhh!". Well, that's what we did anyway. Look for the cool red argyle diamonds on the bottle and pick yourself up some! Really yummy.

GOOSE ISLAND MILD WINTER
Chicago's Goose Island Beer Co. delivers us a perfect winter ale. Eric describes this one as "Ridiculous!". The best way possible. It's absolutely delicious. A very subtle winter ale. Its light, but not the way a traditional light beer is "light". Its perfectly balanced. A very drinkable 5.6% with a pretty light toffee color. It would be really great with any kind of really great food. Or really great friends. Mild Winter has that flavor that just reminds you of cold weather when its welcome. The smell in the air of clean winter. Its really great poured into a pint glass and served cold. This is a favorite so far in our tasting travels.

So there you have it kids...but we are hardly done! We will have a whole new batch of tasties coming this weekend...stay tuned!!!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

The holiday season stress has begun! AAAAAAAH! I can’t afford Christmas yet! Wasn’t it just Halloween? Why am I still finding pine needles from last Christmas!? I don’t even live in the same house anymore! I can’t find my wreath! Even the dog has a holiday sweater on and I don’t! 

Nope, not kidding.

So to minimize the stresses that are coming, allow me to present to you a few blogs of holiday cheer! BEER! And food. Because what is food without beer? And beer without food?

The holidays can cause quite a stir in even the tamest of households, and ours is never tame anyway. This is why we try to plan out simpler dinners during these tumultuous times to ease our minds and tummies. Eric can make gourmet dinners out of a very barren cabinet. I have a multitude of simple cold weather meals in my noggin that warm you up from the mind to the toes. It keeps us sane. So as we are in the process of gathering info for our holiday beer blog, here are some recipe posts to get you going!

The first of which is my simple, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO COOK AND IT’S A WEEKNIGHT AND IM TIRED AND ITS SNOWING AND I SAT IN TRAFFIC FOR AN HOUR AND I AM ONLY MAKING ONE STOP meal. And its yummy.

Stop at your local grocery store and pick up whatever rotisserie chicken thing is on sale. We will get one of these, usually for $6 or so, and eat chicken, potatoes, and a veggie one night. Then we pick the carcass clean and put the extra chicken in the fridge for the next night. And this is what we make…

You will need:

• Two rolled instant pie crusts (Pilsbury sells a box of two…Shop Rite and other grocers have a just-as-good generic version)

• One can Veg-All (or generic peas and carrots, mixed veggies…really whatever you like…I have used canned mushrooms too)

• One can cream of mushroom soup

• One can cream of potato soup

• Shredded leftover chicken (rotisserie is best…use the skin too!!!)

Preheat your oven to 375

Lay out one crust in a pie plate and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the bottom is just getting crisped

In a pan on your stove top, heat chicken, two kinds of soup, and can of veggies.

Season with salt and pepper. I like to add a little onion powder as well.

Stir until well mixed and creamy…it will be chunky! Make sure you taste it!

When the bottom crust is just crisping, remove from oven.

Pour in your chicken mixture.

Top with remaining pie crust and make cuts in the dough for the steam to escape.

Bake for 35-45 minutes at 375 or until top is golden brown.

Remove. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Cut. Eat. Enjoy!