Spent Grain Bread

One of the by-products of brewing beer is a nylon bag full of wet spent grain. When I brewed my Porter this past weekend, I used 22 oz of various dry grain, most of which was dark in color. I had seen recipes for bread using these boiled grains, so my wife and I decided to try some. First, we made a batch of muffins, which turned out sweet and chocolaty from the chocolate malt I used in my Porter. (The sweetness actually came from maple syrup.) We then decided to try some bread. I don't know the precise recipe because my wife threw it together. She's the kind of cook who can toss a bunch of ingredients together without any recipe, and have it turn out great. The bread turned out as dark as the muffins, but with no sugar, it was more roasty than sweet. It will be a great sandwich bread. Here's a pic of the bread rising:


And here's another pic of the baked finished product:

It was perfect with butter.

We were unable to use all the grains that I had left over from my day of brewing, but we know that they make great breads and muffins! The grains work well in beer bread too. Just add a cup of grain to the beer bread recipe I posted about here.

Lunch at the Portsmouth Brewery in NH

While on vacation, my wife and I took a trip over to the New Hampshire coast, to the town of Portsmouth. Portsmouth is the home of 3 different breweries - The Portsmouth Brewery, Smuttynose, and RedHook. I wanted to visit all 3, but time forced me to limit my visits to one. I selected the smallest one - the Portsmouth Brewery - figuring they had the smallest distribution range, and because I had heard that they had good food too. The rumor was true, as we soon found out. We started out with a sampler "sled" of the 10 brews they had on tap. Since this brewery is owned by Smuttynose, 4 of the brews were their creations. The picture shows the sampler, which was great. The closest one, which we drank before we remembered the camera, is Portsmouth's Dirty Blond Ale - a very creamy light ale that was really refreshing. It's followed up by their Octoberfest, a nice malty brew. Then came my favorite - Hop Harvest #2, which had lots of grapefruity American hops. The 4th beer was a Milk Stout, which was smooth and sweet - much better than my own pathetic attempt at brewing this style. We then tried a Pumpkin Ale, which was perfectly spiced. Bottle Rocket IPA followed the Pumpkin, and it was sweeter, and less hoppy than the Hop Harvest. The four Smuttynose varieties were all excellent as well - Old Brown Dog Brown Ale, Portsmouth Lager, Smutty Shoals Pale Ale, and Smutty Maibock.

The food portion of the meal was equally impressive. Since we had just had burgers at the Gilded Otter, we decided to go with something different - a Blackened Salmon sandwich for me, and a Veggie Sandwich for my wife. My salmon was perfect - moist and spicy, with Chipotle mayo. The centerpiece of my wife's sandwich was a huge grilled Portabella mushroom. She was as pleased with her sandwich as I was with mine. Both came with a big helping of spicy fries, which we shouldn't have eaten, but did anyway. Once again, I bought another pint glass for my collection.

You can't go wrong with lunch at the Portsmouth Brewery.

The Gilded Otter Brewing Co. - New Paltz, NY

During my recent vacation, I spent some time in my old stomping ground in the Hudson Valley of New York. The Hudson Valley extends from upstate NY down to NY City. My wife and I still have family in that area, so we drove up to spend some time with them, and to have a little quiet time to ourselves. We had heard about the Gilded Otter Brewing Co. - a brewpub in the artsy little college town of New Paltz, NY, and since it was only about an hour drive from where we were staying, we decided to try it for lunch. We started with a sampler of the 8 brews that they currently had on tap. They brought out eight 3-oz glasses, which we shared. Our favorites were Ottertoberfest, Stone House Irish Stout, Dusseldorf Altbier, and Rail Trail Pale Ale. The other 4 were also excellent. We were both in the mood for a burger, because nothing goes better with beer than a good burger. I ordered mine medium rare, while my wife wanted medium well. Both burgers were cooked precisely the way they were ordered, and they were juicy and tasty. They came with some seasoned french fries that were also excellent - crispy on the outside, moist in the middle. The server was very attentive and helpful. All told, we had a very pleasing experience at the Gilded Otter. If you ever find yourself in New Paltz, NY, it is definitely worth checking out. I even got a new pint glass to add to my collection.

Saranac Pomegranate Wheat

When my sister visited me last month, she was generous enough to bring me some beer that I'm unable to get here in Florida, namely Saranac and Otter Creek. Unfortunately, she was unable to find the Saranac summer beers collection, so she brought me their Trail Mix instead - which I have been enjoying immensely. Today, my wife and I made our monthly pilgrimage to Whole Foods to get some of their decaf coffee (which is the best decaf we have ever had) and to my amazement, the beer cooler had a 12 pack of Saranac's "12 Beers of Summer". Now, "12 Beers" is a bit of a misnomer, because there are actually 6 different varieties, 2 bottles of each. Needless to say, the 12 pack landed in the cart, along with a bottle each of Dogfish Head's "Black & Blue" and "Red & White". Those two will be saved for a special occasion - probably Christmas. We landed at Whole Foods just before lunch, which is the worst time to go there. We browsed their amazing meat cooler. and spied their freshly made sausages. They have a great selection of sausages, and we decided to try their English style bangers, some maple apple chicken sausage, and their jalapeno chicken sausage. With the sausages and Saranac in the cart, I could hardly wait to get home to make lunch. $115.00 later, and we were out the door, headed home. We decided on the maple apple sausages which we cooked on the grill, and I grabbed a bottle of Pomegranate Wheat from the 12 pack. Thankfully it was already cold. The sausages were to DIE for! They were just slightly sweet, a little spicy and extremely hot. We ate them on hot dog rolls with no mustard or anything to detract from the flavor of the sausage. The Saranac was a perfect choice to go with the sausage. It's an American style wheat beer, and it poured a slightly hazy gold color with a small white head. The Pomegranate added a tartness that was very refreshing. I know in one of my my last posts I said that I was over the summer beer thing, but this beer was much better than the Sunrye. Then again, maybe it was the combination of beer and sausage....

Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter

Today I finished the other half of my Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica - a very spicy, creamy and smoky pasta dish. I had it a couple of nights ago at the restaurant, and the Yuengling Lager I ordered was totally overwhelmed - to the point of being nearly flavorless by the end of the meal. Today I tested my premise that a nice strong-flavored Porter would have been a better choice, had it been available. The only Porter I had in the fridge was Otter Creek's Stovepipe Porter, brewed in Vermont. This is a Porter in the Robust style, full of roasted malt, chocolaty aroma and flavor, and even a little smokiness. This was definitely the correct beer to stand up to my Penne dish. It tasted like a Porter from start to finish, and it complimented the wood-oven smoked flavor of the pasta perfectly. Now, if some of these chain restarants would start offering something other than Bud, Coors, or Miller, I would be happy.

Dinner at Macaroni Grill

Tonight, my wife and I had to deliver some necessities to our son in college, and we decided to take him out to dinner while we were there. Macaroni Grill is one of our favorite eateries and there is one near the college, so it was an obvious choice. I inquired about their draft beer options, and there were only 2 non-Anheuser Busch offerings - Coors Light and Yuengling Traditional Lager. What is it with chain restaurants having crappy beer menus? I know that they would sell more beer if they had a little variety. It's a pretty sad situation when Yuengling is their most adventurous beer. The problem is that Macaroni Grill isn't alone - Red Lobster, Long Horn, Chili's, and all the other ones are just as pathetic. The only chain that had a semi-decent selection of beers was Bennigan's, which is mostly shut down. Oh well, enough of my complaining.

I ordered the Yuengling, because it was the only choice I had. I also ordered the Penne Rustica, which is a smoky spicy pasta dish with a creamy sauce, shrimp, chicken and prosciutto - all topped with parmesan cheese and baked in their wood-fired oven. This is a wonderful dish, and about a million calories! Needless to say, after a couple of bites of Penne, the Yuengling tasted less and less like beer, and more like water. The beer actually tasted pretty good at first, a bit maltier than most lagers. It also had a fresh taste since it was draft. Unfortunately, it never stood a chance against the Penne Rustica. A nice hoppy Sam Adams would have been better, or an IPA. Actually, the best beer for this meal would have been a nice smoky Robust Porter. THAT would have still tasted like a beer, even at the end of the meal. I still have half of my dinner left, so tomorrow I'll be giving that combination a try.

Birthday dinner at Long Horn

Today was my official half-century birthday, and I celebrated it with my family by having dinner at Long Horn Steakhouse. I think Long Horn is one of the best steak restaurants there is. I've had tough steaks at some pretty fancy restaurants, but Long Horn is consistently good. I was a little concerned when the chain was bought out by Darden, the owner of Red Lobster, but I guess they decided not to mess with success. My only complaint is that their beer selection is sketchy, with Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and Blue Moon representing their most adventurous selections. Fortunately I like them both, and chose a Sam Adams tonight - in the big 25 oz mug. Hey - it's my birthday, right? The prime rib was tasty, although it was cooked a little more than I wanted, and the Sam Adams was ice cold. Sam from the tap is a different beer from Sam in a bottle. They're both excellent, but draft is better. Maybe it's just the presentation, but it tastes fresher, and has more hop flavor and aroma. I had a nice dinner with good company for my 50th.

Lunch at Hagan O'Reilly's Irish Pub

A new Irish pub opened up this week in Winter Garden, Florida, so I had to give it a test run. My sister and her hubby are down for the week, and it seemed like a perfect place for lunch. We all like Irish pubs, with their basic tasty foods and good beer. We had an assortment of Irish cuisine at the table, including Shepherd's Pie, fish and chips, and bangers and mash. Of course we accompanied the food with some good brews. The pub has a special tap system that injects nitrogen into the beer to create "the perfect pour". I'm not sure it had much impact on the Murphy's Red or Harp lager, but my Guinness and Smithwick's combination definitely benefitted from it. The pub called this particular combo a "Blacksmith", just a different variation on the black and tan theme. The photo shows the two-layered blacksmith. Originally I ordered a Guinness and Boddington's, but there seemed to be some problem with their Boddington's tap, so I needed to switch to Smithwick's. The drink was just as creamy and smooth as I think it would have been with the Boddington's, so I'm not sorry to have changed. The food was excellent, and once they have the kinks worked out, I'm sure Hagan O'Reilly's will be a very popular new restaurant.

Awesome Beer Bread!

Here's a beer bread recipe that is guaranteed to be a hit! I have made this bread with cheap light beer, dark stouts, malt liquor, and even some Mead, and it always turns out moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. This rarely lasts beyond one meal. I like to make it kinda sweet, but you can adjust the amount of sugar to your preference. It would also be good without sugar, with some savory ingredients like cheese or garlic. It's incredibly easy to make, and takes about 5 minutes to get it ready for the oven.

Here's the recipe:
3 cups flour (white, whole wheat, or a mixture)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (more or less, depending on your preference)
12 oz beer, mead, or wine
1/4 cup melted butter.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients, then add beer
Pour into a greased bread pan
Pour melted butter over the top
Bake for an hour, then let cool on a rack.

The bread is very crispy on the outside, dense and moist inside. We've experimented using whole wheat flour, and it turned out great. Darker beers add some interesting variety also. It's even good toasted, if it lasts long enough to cool off. It's difficult to ruin this bread - but here's a warning to fellow homebrwewers - a lousy homebrew will not make a good beer bread. I tried it with one of my less than successful experiments - a sweet stout with a nasty bitter edge - and the bitterness came through. It was the only loaf that didn't get finished.