Double Pumpkin Beer Float

I’m still finding creative ways to finish off all the pumpkin beer I have left over from my beer tasting.  I came across a great idea at Indy Beers.  These guys reviewed 3 beers that make good beer floats.  One of the brews, Young’s Double Chocolate, I had recently tried and felt it tasted like a chocolate shake right out of the can.  But I was more intrigued by the opportunity of combining pumpkin ice cream with Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

My wife was nice enough to buy Edy’s Pumpkin Ice Cream after receiving a last minute call while at the grocery store.  Edy’s has a smooth texture and is not over the top with sweetness like some other brands.

The Dogfish Head Punkin has a spicy, nutmeg character with a nice bitter bite at the end.  Not knowing if there is a protocol to making a float, I added the ice cream to the glass first.  Upon adding the beer, it foamed up nicely just like a root beer float.  The beer took on creamsicle tint when mixed with the melting ice cream.

My wife recommended I use a straw in order to bypass all the foam.  First sip: heaven.  Talk about dessert beer.  The smooth texture of the ice cream mellowed out the bite of the ale just enough to make it one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.  I really think I could have drunk a whole six pack this way.  However, that would have moved me from the category of self-indulgent to just plain nuts.

I settled on slurping the last bit of foam up with my straw and wondering where I put the rest of that chocolate stout . . .

Fall Back at The Sopwith Camel Bar

At 2 am on Sunday, we have to turn the clocks back one hour and end Daylight Saving Time.  At 2am on the second Sunday in March we have to Spring forward again.  This system was set up during WWI in order to save energy for war production.  By “Springing ahead” we could take advantage of the longer daylight hours between April and October.

After the Great War, the system was dropped but reinstituted during the Second World War. In the 1950’s it was left up to the states to decide if the wanted to follow Daylight Saving Time.  It was made a federal law in 1966 and we have followed it ever since.

“Fall Back” has meant different things to me and my contemporaries at different point in our lives.  In our early twenties, we spent many of our weekend nights in our favorite local watering holes.  The end of Daylight Saving Time was met with much rejoicing.  It meant the bars would all be open for an extra hour. 

One of our favorite haunts was called the Sopwith Camel. It’s still in business today under a new name, but I still refer to it as The Camel.  It was a small place that had a circular bar that took up most of the room.  There was a large model Sopwith plane hanging from the ceiling over the cash register.  The best way to describe the Camel is that it was like the bar in the TV show Cheers.  Except, instead of knowing all 12 patrons in the place, you knew all 100.  It seemed like every one my age in town would be there on a Saturday night.  On any given night, you might bump into some kid you played little league with, your best friend's older brother or, less enjoyably, a girl you dated last summer.

Jack, the grumpy “old” (probably in his late 30’s) bartender, was a fixture at the Camel for years.  He was a quirky guy who would put up with a lot of our silliness back in the day. My friend Johnny still imitates the way Jack would talk out of the side of his mouth.  This made it tough to understand much of what he said.  He also had a “funny” way of cleaning off the dirty beer mugs. We would watch him dunk said mugs into a sink filled with soapy water, then a sink of clean water and then right back to the taps.  It’s a miracle we all didn’t die from some infectious disease.  I guess Jack felt that the alcohol in the beer, the little there was in those watered down drafts, was enough to kill any germs.

Flash forward many years:  Now, me and all my buddies have children who will soon be old enough to frequent these same local bars.  The parent in me hopes that they don’t waste as much time as I did in these places. And my biggest concern is that they don’t try to drink and drive. Now, the end of Daylight Saving Time means the sun wakes me up that much earlier on Sunday morning.

But there's a nostalgic part of me, the part that is still stuck in his twenties, that hopes my kids enjoy their twenties as much as I did.  That they have great  memories of the people and places that shaped their lives.  That they can rejoice, as I once did, at an extra hour of laughing and drinking at the Camel.

International Stout Day

In honor of International Stout Day, I treated myself to a couple of these delicious dark beers over dinner last night.  I had seen Young’s Double Chocolate Stout in my local bevy and was looking for an opportunity to try one.  So instead I tried two: one in bottle and one in a can. 

The can contains a small spherical “widget” for increased carbonation.  Actually, it’s pressurized  with nitrogen gas, which creates smaller bubbles than CO2 and no degradation like oxygen gas would.  The nitro gets into the plastic widget through a tiny hole and when the can is opened the pressure is released and tiny bubbles stream out of the widget and into the beer.  Let’s see if it makes a difference:

Wells & Young’s web site states that they are the largest brewer in the UK which owns dozens of pubs serving their beers throughout the country. Their beer is brewed with Crystal and Chocolate Malt, a special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence (whatever that means).

Young’s in a bottle pours much like a Guinness with a nice fluffy head that sticks around. It has a nice chocolaty aroma which is also evident in the taste.  The carbonation tickles the tongue and a nice coffee bitterness lingers after swallowing.  This beer tastes very much to me like a Guinness with a hint of chocolate added. Watch Wells & Young's brewmaster describe his stout

Young’s in a can pours like a chocolate water fall.  The churning waves of chocolate make this beer very inviting.  It’s topped by a nice uniform head of tiny bubbles.  The nose is coffee and not as much chocolate as the bottle.  The taste is just as sweet though and the velvety mouth feel gives me the sensation of drinking a melted chocolate shake.  There is a mellow after taste not found in the bottle.

In the end, the sweet tooth in me preferred the can.  Anything that can taste like ice cream and beer at the same time gets my vote.  I also liked its smooth and mellow character.  I can see why others might not like this delivery method as much.  The bottle tastes more like a classic beer.  So I guess, as is usually the case, you are going to have to try them for yourself and decide which is the best for your taste buds.  Happy Stout Day!

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin and Beef Stew

With all this beer left over from the pumpkin beer tasting at my house this past weekend, I decided to sample a few of the best to give my own impressions.  The foot of snow left from the recent storm here in New York made for perfect stew weather.  So I decided to combine the two and see how things went.

Beef Stew in a Crock Pot:

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds of beef cut into 2 inch cubes

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 cup of flour

1 6 oz can of tomato paste

½ pound of baby carrots

1 pound of potatoes cut into 2 inch cubes

2 cups of beef broth

1 bay leaf

Salt and thyme to taste

Directions:

1.      Roll the beef cubes in flour and brown in a pan with olive oil.  Transfer to crock pot.

2.     Scrape up browned bits and add to crock pot along with beef cubes.

3.     Stir in broth, carrots, potatoes, salt, thyme and bay leaf.

4.     Cook on low heat for 6-7 hours with cover on.

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin:

 I chose Shipyard Smashed because it has an inviting orange label and a 9% ABV.  Smashed is part of the Alan Pugsley series.  I was first introduced to this name by the brewer at the Ship Inn, the oldest brewpub in NJ.  It pours a similar orange color with a thin head.  There is a distinct buttery smell, almost like buttered popcorn, that is enhanced by the curve of the wine glass.  The first sip gives my tongue a little bite from the alcohol.  There is a warm sensation as I swallow.  This beer doesn’t do as well a job of covering the booze as Imperial Pumking does.   It’s interesting that this beer has lots of carbonation that adds to the bite, but little to the head. 

As this beer warms, it mellows a bit, or is that me mellowing?  I’m starting to detect a coriander taste that one would expect from a Belgian ale.  The buttery aroma and spicy taste now seem to complement each other.   Note to self:  Remember to serve good beer at the right temperature. 

The wife and I sit back and enjoy our dinner. After almost 8 hours in the crock, the beef nearly falls apart as I pick it up with the fork. The stew is the perfect hearty meal on a snow covered evening.   The Shipyard adds to the warmth of the meal.  All is good. 

Young Men and Beer Lights

My step-son went to a garage sale the other day and came home with a neon Coors Light bar light. He was proud that he was able to buy it for $3 when it surely was worth much more than that.   His mother couldn’t understand the fascination, but I knew where he was coming from. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been drawn into a bar by the glow of neon.  The fact that he was so excited about his purchase brought back some good memories.  It reminded me of the beer lights I had in college that decorated the walls of my dorm room. I got them from my older brother who worked for a beer distributor. They were a source of pride for me and envy for my roommates. 

My second year in the dorms, four of us decided to cram ourselves and all our stuff into one 8 x 10 room so that we could convert the other room into a “lounge”.  The lounge was where we kept all the stereo equipment, posters, couches and, of course, beer lights.  It was a place for hanging out with friends, listening to The Clash or The Dead, depending on your preference, or spending time with that special someone.  The beer lights gave the room a glow that was, in my sophomoric mind, the perfect atmosphere for romance.  Many a memorable moment took place in that room under those lights.  But that is subject for another day – maybe another blog.

In my junior year, we moved to a suite and the beer lights adorned the walls of the common room we all shared.  Halfway through the semester, someone broke in through our first floor window and stole my lights.  At the time, I was pretty ticked off.   Those lights meant a lot to me.  But now thinking back, they didn’t cost me a dime and I had such a good time with them.   I hope they gave their new owners as many fond memories as they gave me.  Maybe my step son will put his light in his dorm or apartment and carry on the tradition of young men and beer lights. . .