Beer Industry Resources
25.8.08
Fajita Recipe
Here's another great recipe I pulled out of The Great American Beer Cookbook by Candy Schermerhorn. It's a little bit of work, but a pretty cool recipe to pull off for guests
WICKED WEST FAJITAS
Marinade:
1 cup A-1 or other steak sauce
1 cup of a good hoppy pilsner
Lime juice from one lime
1/2 cup olive oil
8 cloves garlic, she says mashed, finely chopped works
2 canned chipotle chilies, finely chopped
2 tsp toasted ground cumin seed
2 tsp toasted ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp liquid smoke, she suggests mesquite which worked well for us
Fajitas:
3 lb beef steak -- spend the money for top sirloin at least 3/4 inch thick. Skirt steak is what's traditionally used, but you need to marinade it longer if you want it tender.
6 bell peppers -- use multiple colors to add a dash of festivity!
3 red onions
2/3 cup toasted pine nuts
4-6 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp sea salt
Combine all your marinade stuff in a bowl and marinate your meat for 18 hours. Turn it a couple times if you think of it. Cut up your peppers and onions in long, thick slices. Drain the meat & pat it dry. Grill it on very high heat for 3-4 minutes each side. It should be crisp and brown on the outside and very rare inside. Cover it and let it rest for a half an hour.
Now heat a skillet to medium-high, add your olive oil and half of the onions. Saute so that they're seared, but still crisp. Do the same with your peppers.
Slice the meat across the grain in long strips, reheat your skillet to high and add 2-3 tbsp oil. When hot, add half the meat and half the salt and stir-fry it until it is seared on the outside and pink in the middle. Do up the rest of the meat the same way. Now toss your peppers, onions, pine nuts and meat all together, reheat and you're good to go! Serve it all with both flour and corn tortillas to offer variety and heaps of chopped scallions, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro leaves, sour cream and plenty of quartered limes.
WICKED WEST FAJITAS
Marinade:
1 cup A-1 or other steak sauce
1 cup of a good hoppy pilsner
Lime juice from one lime
1/2 cup olive oil
8 cloves garlic, she says mashed, finely chopped works
2 canned chipotle chilies, finely chopped
2 tsp toasted ground cumin seed
2 tsp toasted ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp liquid smoke, she suggests mesquite which worked well for us
Fajitas:
3 lb beef steak -- spend the money for top sirloin at least 3/4 inch thick. Skirt steak is what's traditionally used, but you need to marinade it longer if you want it tender.
6 bell peppers -- use multiple colors to add a dash of festivity!
3 red onions
2/3 cup toasted pine nuts
4-6 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp sea salt
Combine all your marinade stuff in a bowl and marinate your meat for 18 hours. Turn it a couple times if you think of it. Cut up your peppers and onions in long, thick slices. Drain the meat & pat it dry. Grill it on very high heat for 3-4 minutes each side. It should be crisp and brown on the outside and very rare inside. Cover it and let it rest for a half an hour.
Now heat a skillet to medium-high, add your olive oil and half of the onions. Saute so that they're seared, but still crisp. Do the same with your peppers.
Slice the meat across the grain in long strips, reheat your skillet to high and add 2-3 tbsp oil. When hot, add half the meat and half the salt and stir-fry it until it is seared on the outside and pink in the middle. Do up the rest of the meat the same way. Now toss your peppers, onions, pine nuts and meat all together, reheat and you're good to go! Serve it all with both flour and corn tortillas to offer variety and heaps of chopped scallions, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro leaves, sour cream and plenty of quartered limes.
Permanent link to Fajita Recipe.
Colorful Beer Panel Notes
Here are a few notes from one of our more colorful panel members on a beer that we don't intend to feature any time soon, primarily as it's not really a beer, but more of a soda-beer hybrid. The style is actually called a Shandy if you're familiar with it. Fun stuff.
Stiegl Brewery / Stiegl (aka Stiegl Gaudi Radler Shandy - Lemon)
*Not Recommended, But Possible for "Novelty Factor"* "C"
No exp/bottling date on label.
Received approx. April 2008.
Reviewed 7/10/08.
"50% Stiegl-Beer and 50% Lemon-Soda"
An ages-old popular drink in Germany (and Austria), notably Berlin - one may think this is the old world trying to tap into the success of new world successes such as Bud Light Lime, Miller Chill, and the rest of that lemon/lime & salt & beer bullshit (or the biggest offender: "Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus" - Seriously... WTF?) But no, these macro "originals" are not original... this type of beer-based beverage has been around for hundreds of years in one form or another... one of the most popular is Berliner Weisse... though stylistically different, the blending of fruit syrups with beer is similar to the concept here... Seriously, Miller's sales for Chill were HUGE this past year and offset some of their downturn in volume from other macro lager brands... Just drink Diet Soda - that stuff is "beer" for people who don't like beer.
Pours a pale pilsner-colored light straw hue, with a nice meringue-like white head that fades to a covering that is forever kept alive by massive carbonation jets that rise to the top vigorously and keep the foam alive. Lemon notes are somewhat faint. I get more pilsner-like notes. The lemon smells real, not like a syrupy sweet in-your-face extract. There's an odd herbal tone as well, similar to mugwort or sage (yeah, I said mugwort... Maybe Miller should put out a Harry Potter series of beers and call it "Beer Geekus Repellus" "A Beer Flavored With Mugwort & Cloak Sweat" and it will be a huge hit... it sounds as appetizing as the taste of a lime cactus, and by the way, when I'm drinking my cactus fruit beer I think to myself "I'm a real man because, I've got the balls to even try to taste a lime cactus... and I drink Michelob Ultra... and I work out constantly so I don't want a beer with calories... plus my abs love the taste of cactus...)
Some vegetable notes as well... another beer that's been sitting around for a long while "conditioning into oblivion?" Let's find out...
Oh boy... ok, right as it gets in my mouth I'm thinking, this doesn't feel like beer. Before I taste it, I know it feels different, and I know that a sweetness is coming - which it does. This is less like lemonade, which I expected, and more like pre-sweetened iced-tea. I believe this is only about 2.5% ABV. It really tastes like tea, a mix between fresh-brewed, iced tea and store-bought brands like Arizona. There are some beery notes, but they are faint; on the nose, I got them more. In the flavor profile, I get way more tea than beer. Lemon is more prominent on the palate than the nose. It finishes with a slight bitterness, very faint, more like fruit flesh and lemon seeds than hops, with an after breath of grains.
I'm finding this a challenge to drink. I can imagine it would be refreshing ice-cold and served on a hot day. But, overall, me no likey... and now I have a stomach ache and can't stop thinking about how many people are showing up at parties right now with a case of Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus and people are like - "oh shit - how cool is this?"...
Stiegl Brewery / Stiegl (aka Stiegl Gaudi Radler Shandy - Lemon)
*Not Recommended, But Possible for "Novelty Factor"* "C"
No exp/bottling date on label.
Received approx. April 2008.
Reviewed 7/10/08.
"50% Stiegl-Beer and 50% Lemon-Soda"
An ages-old popular drink in Germany (and Austria), notably Berlin - one may think this is the old world trying to tap into the success of new world successes such as Bud Light Lime, Miller Chill, and the rest of that lemon/lime & salt & beer bullshit (or the biggest offender: "Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus" - Seriously... WTF?) But no, these macro "originals" are not original... this type of beer-based beverage has been around for hundreds of years in one form or another... one of the most popular is Berliner Weisse... though stylistically different, the blending of fruit syrups with beer is similar to the concept here... Seriously, Miller's sales for Chill were HUGE this past year and offset some of their downturn in volume from other macro lager brands... Just drink Diet Soda - that stuff is "beer" for people who don't like beer.
Pours a pale pilsner-colored light straw hue, with a nice meringue-like white head that fades to a covering that is forever kept alive by massive carbonation jets that rise to the top vigorously and keep the foam alive. Lemon notes are somewhat faint. I get more pilsner-like notes. The lemon smells real, not like a syrupy sweet in-your-face extract. There's an odd herbal tone as well, similar to mugwort or sage (yeah, I said mugwort... Maybe Miller should put out a Harry Potter series of beers and call it "Beer Geekus Repellus" "A Beer Flavored With Mugwort & Cloak Sweat" and it will be a huge hit... it sounds as appetizing as the taste of a lime cactus, and by the way, when I'm drinking my cactus fruit beer I think to myself "I'm a real man because, I've got the balls to even try to taste a lime cactus... and I drink Michelob Ultra... and I work out constantly so I don't want a beer with calories... plus my abs love the taste of cactus...)
Some vegetable notes as well... another beer that's been sitting around for a long while "conditioning into oblivion?" Let's find out...
Oh boy... ok, right as it gets in my mouth I'm thinking, this doesn't feel like beer. Before I taste it, I know it feels different, and I know that a sweetness is coming - which it does. This is less like lemonade, which I expected, and more like pre-sweetened iced-tea. I believe this is only about 2.5% ABV. It really tastes like tea, a mix between fresh-brewed, iced tea and store-bought brands like Arizona. There are some beery notes, but they are faint; on the nose, I got them more. In the flavor profile, I get way more tea than beer. Lemon is more prominent on the palate than the nose. It finishes with a slight bitterness, very faint, more like fruit flesh and lemon seeds than hops, with an after breath of grains.
I'm finding this a challenge to drink. I can imagine it would be refreshing ice-cold and served on a hot day. But, overall, me no likey... and now I have a stomach ache and can't stop thinking about how many people are showing up at parties right now with a case of Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus and people are like - "oh shit - how cool is this?"...
Permanent link to Colorful Beer Panel Notes.
Beer Church
Okay, so a quick google search on "beer" and you'll stumble across a couple cool sites like the Real Beer Page and the one I'm reviewing here, "Beer Church". Right out of the gate, I like the fact that they boast of being the "second best beer site on the Internet." You've got your typical beer site content like beer news, humor and games, beer history, a style guide and more. The event guide lists up-and-coming events and allows users to post their own events... pretty neat feature. The pub finder seems to be fairly comprehensive and you can add a pub or brewery on the site as well. They've got a blog, the ability to start a local chapter, and a number of other ways for like-minded beer geeks to participate on the site. Overall, I have to give beer Church a thumbs-up!
Check them out at: www.beerchurch.com
Check them out at: www.beerchurch.com
Permanent link to Beer Church.
