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Are you pining for a hopped dark chocolate? Or just for chocolate with a note of pine?
Nostalgia Chocolate describes it as “age the bars for at least 3 weeks in Chinook hops from The Bineyard in Cazenovia, NY. Chinook hops are most well known for their piney, fruity flavor notes.”
So, I am a pie guy. Cake is OK but pie is where it’s at. Of course I went to the KCRW Good Food Pie Fest, and part of the intrigue was the presence of…
…what beer would be on offer? Well, it was more an hard Agua Fresca….
…and light and even lighter lager. So here is my recommendation for pie and beer. Find a nice brown ale for general cream and custard pies. If you have cherry pie, a cherry sour would work great. Stay away from hoppy or too sugary pastry stout but a saison would do nicely with fruit pies.
Thankfully, these actually have beer in them. Now, it doesn’t say whose pale ale is part of the recipe for their frozen spud products or what the beer is actually contributing to the fries but considering the lengthy ingredient lists for many products that should just be three or four ingredients is another plus.
Still, not going to run out and buy them but would certainly put them in the middle of needed or not.
So, first, watch this video…
Now that you have watched the video, you know the answer. It is a firm, Yikes! NO!
I will need to do a pantry check but I think I may need to get the barrel-aged balsamic at least because if Beachwood nails it half as well as their beers, it will probably be great for my next salad.
I have had great beers in a cold warehouse setting off a freeway off-ramp and I have had bad beers in fully kitted out taprooms but having a selection of curated beers on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is a whole new level.
Yesterday, I attended the Brews & Bites at the extremely fancy Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel (maybe Dana Point). So fancy that empty glasses and empty food plates were whisked away by an attentive wait staff.
I will circle back to the beer later but the food was certainly a co-star. I mean, there was an ice cream bar with beer caramel (and sprinkles amongst other toppings). And two of the ice cream were beer accented.
Myself and my beer buddy Rich sampled all the food from the lamb sliders, to pretzels, quesadilla, curry fish and chips and a Korean corn dog. The borracho taco which was more a quesadilla to me was my favorite with the curry being my least even though the fish was nicely done. All the dishes had a kick to them, nothing plain to be found.
There were a lot of pilsners and lagers on hand which matched the bright sunshine of the day perfectly. Sage has their new LA LA Lager which was almost my favorite of the beers drunk were it not for the Bow & Arrow table where you could have the Easy Cactus Lager or Denim Tux Blue Corn Pilsner. The lager was Vienna malty in style and the pilsner was the perfect start to tge afternoon.
Another good choice was Like, Wow hoppy lager a collaboration between People’s Republic of South Central and The Bruery. It used Vista hops and had an apricot version as well.
I could easily get used to this ritzy beer festival.
Beer and chocolate can be a great combo or you could check out the three flavors of dark chocolate with beer from Utah’s Chocolate Conspiracy.
Choose one…
…or two…
…or all three.
If you want proof (bad too early pun, sorry) that brewers treat (ugh, another one) water with a lot of thought and care, then look no further than Beachwood who have a new pizza place in Huntington Beach.
They took the dough so seriously that they now have special water that they sell that you can use to make your own pizza dough. I am somewhat tempted to buy and taste it.
The only bummer about my Christmas trip to San Juan Capistrano was that Heritage BBQ was also on vacation those days.
But I have a new reason to try again, this time in Oceanside at the second location of Heritage that also includes a brewery and they have a former Pizza Port brewer at the mash tun.
You can read all about it HERE from San Diego Beer News.
Happy Turkey Day beer fans!
Have a fantastic day, however you wish to spend it. Be it football, family, fistfights with family or festbiers.
Back to regular beer programming tomorrow, along with the annual Christmas Seasonal beer survey.
Cheers!