Sunday Sips: Festina Peche

Beer Name:  Festina Peche

Brewed By/In:  Dogfish Head Brewing Co. / Milton, DE

Beer Type:  Berliner Weisse

Best Served In:  Pint glass

ABV:  4.5%

Characteristics:  Smells of sweet, ripe peaches.  Pours with vibrant carbonation, golden star color, and topped with pure white foam.  There is a slight tartness that balances the sweet peach sugars.  Extremely low bitterness allows you to simply enjoy the light fruit-forward flavors.  Finishes bready, dry and crisp.  Light mouthfeel.

Food-pairing:  Salad, grilled poultry or seafood

Overall: 9.5 - what an amazing seasonal beer.  Dogfish Head never ceases to amaze me with what they brew up.  Perfectly built for summer nights, Peche has a refreshing finish.  With such low alcohol and bitterness, you can happily have another glass.  As Dogfish Head recommends, just open and enjoy!  Slainte!

(Always please enjoy responsibly; photos provided by dogfish.com)

So I pretended I was on Next Food Network Star

If you will recall, back in December, I wrote about my use of Strongbow Cider as a featured ingredient when making chicken and onions.  Since then, I have contemplated how else I can incorporate beer into the meal experience, besides letting it sit at the corner of my placemat.  So Tuesday night, amidst doing laundry, cleaning my bathroom and kitchen, I figured I would add one more project - make my own sauce.

I reviewed the options - Abita Purple Haze, Philadelphia Brewing Co's Walt Wit and Victory's Prima Pils.  Thinking of each of their flavor profiles, Victory won.  I poured about 4-5 ounces into my pan to deglaze from the chicken I just finished.  As a point of reference, that was all of the beer in the neck and some change.  Once the beer was warmed up, I started whisking to get all of the flavor off of the pan.  After about  a minute, I added a spoonful of grey poupon mustard to the pan.  Prima Pils has a clean but hoppy finish so I figured the mustard would help cut the concentrated hops taste.  I let all of those flavors meld together for about another minute.  I dipped my pinkie.  It tasted great.  The chicken had been resting for a few minutes at this point.  As you can see from the photos, I placed the chicken on a bed of greens and then used the sauce more as a dressing for the whole dish.  I tried to be crafty and place the sauce in a shot glass for added effect in the presentation.  How did it taste?  Not half bad!  The chicken had a nice peppery crust.  As for the sauce, I think it complemented the meal well.  The mustard helped cut the floral flavors of the beer but there was a slight bitter aftertaste.

What would I do differently next time?  I probably could have even used a little more mustard or perhaps a squeeze of lemon for added acidity.  Prima Pils was my best choice among the selection in my fridge, but a beer high with malts and low in hops may have yielded a better sauce.  I am thinking maybe Yard's Brawler or Philadelphia's Kenzinger could be interesting choices.

Slainte!

Sunday Sips: Crisp Apple

Beer Name:  Crisp Apple

Brewed By/In:  Angry Orchard / Cincinnati, OH

Beer Type:  Cider

Best Served In:  Stein glass, Pint glass, 

ABV:  5%

Characteristics:  Upon twisting the cap, the sweet and tart notes come flying out.  Pours clear and amber with bouncing effervescence that does not settle throughout.  The white head quickly falls.  It tastes like a perfectly ripe Fall apple reworked to hydrate and refresh for Summer.  With every sip, a new apples flavor comes flowing over your palate-from sweet Red Delicious  to the lip puckering Granny Smith.  After the intense flavor experience, a candencial crisp, dry finish. 

Food-pairing:  This is tough to pair because of the sweet and sour dynamic.  I would suggest sticking to this as an after-dinner sip while chatting on the porch. 

Overall:  9.0 - my other half just put it best as he sipped my glass, "It tastes like apple juice.  It's awesome."  So, yeah, it's awesome.  I have always loved apples and apple juice so this just feels like an adult version of my favorite lunchbox inserts.  Ciders are a great vehicle for cocktails.  Add a few drops of a fruit juice and you will have a lovely treat.  It's even gluten-free!  Here's to a craft brewed sensation to change up your usual routine.  Slainte!

I must thank an amazing wine blogger for opening me up to Angry Orchard!

(Photos by author.  Please, as always, enjoy responsibly.)

The Big Apple Crafts its Packs

I spent all of this last weekend in the city that never sleeps - New York City.  More specifically, on the island of Manhattan.  I visited friends of old and new, schlepped up and down blocks where anything goes and crafted my own pack.  Thanks to some of my favorite Manhattanites, I was opened up to City Swiggers.  What an awesome concept.  They have a vast selection of craft brews and ciders both cold and room temperature.  They even supply the cardboard carrier!  They feature many New York state brews - Brooklyn, Ithaca, Blue Point - but have a great choice of others libations such as Victory, Abita and Riverhorse.  Additionally, they have a 5-6 seat bar in the center of the establishment so you can sample what's on tap or to wash down your recent purchases.  This penny pincher over here even loved the prices.  I couldn't believe that in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, these bottles were less than $3/bottle.  I was amazed and pleased.  For all my New Yorkers, here is a great stop if you are looking to buy only a few specific bottles for the right price.

In my opinion, every beer store should run like this.  Just sayin'.  Slainte!

Diana on the hunt for the perfect beverage.

(Photos by author)

Sunday Sips: Beer Cocktail

Happy July!  With the beginning of a new month, I figured I would make a slight to this week's Sunday Sips entry.  It has been on my list all summer to put my own spin a Beer Cocktail.  Many recipes use a combination of beer, juice, and stirred with either wine or liquor.  Unfortunately, my body cannot handle that kind of loaded alcohol content.  So I thought, How can I twist a seemingly normal summer drink?  Got it - Arnold Palmer Iced Tea Lemonade.  Here is a clever way to jazz up your glass, save on alcohol content and stretch the life of your beer.  


Take a whole can of Arnold Palmer Iced Tea Lemonade (AP) and pour into a glass that will leave you with some wiggle room.  Take a bottle of Blue Dawg Brewing's Rascal Wild Red Raspberry Lager*.  

For every can of AP, I would suggest somewhere between 1/4-1/2 cup of lager added to your glass.  Wild Red is tart and pungent so a little goes a long way.

The zip of carbonation and perfect ruby color bring new life to your AP.  

Next time I make this, I want to garnish the glass with a few pieces of fruit - perhaps a mix of lemon slices, raspberries and blueberries.  Please try and let me know what you think and how it goes.  Slainte!


*This link will lead you to Blue Dawg's other featured fruit lager - Wild Blue.  There is no specific website available for only Wild Red.  


(Photos by author)