Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

Girl Scout Cookies and Craft Beer Pairings

February 2, 2015 by Kristina Manning

If you’re like us, you can’t pass on buying a box (or ten) of Girl Scout Cookies on your way out of the store. While relaxing with one of your beers club brews, here are some pairings to help polish off some of those Girl Scout Cookies in the kitchen.

Porter Brisket Sandwiches

January 30, 2015 by Kristina Manning

Super Bowl XLIX is just around the corner and we cannot wait to see what the Seahawks and the Patriots have in store for us! In anticipation for the big game, we are making Porter Brisket Sandwiches that are cooked to perfection in a slow cooker that is finished off with a creamy horseradish sauce.

Makes 12 sliders or 6 larger sandwiches

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil – divided
4 tbs unsalted butter – divided
2 large Mayan (sweet) onions – sliced
4 lbs beef brisket
salt and pepper
1 head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
12 ounces of porter or dark beer
1 can of stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1/4 cup + 2 tbs worchestershire sauce – divided
1/4 cup + 2 tbs balsamic vinegar – divided
1 cup sour cream
1 tbs cream style horseradish
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp smoked paprika
12 slider buns or 6 regular sized buns

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat add the half the oil (1 tbs), half the butter (2 tbs) and onions. Cook until lightly caramelized, about 15 minutes. Remove from pan, set aside.

Liberally salt and pepper the brisket on all sides.

Add the rest of the oil and butter to the onion pan and sear the brisket until browned on all sides. Add to a slow cooker. Top with onions and garlic, then add the beer, un-drained tomatoes, 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup balsamic.

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until fork tender. About 30 minutes before done, add 2 tbs of Worcestershire sauce and 2 tbs balsamic.

Remove the brisket, thinly slice.

Drain the onions, transfer to a small bowl.

In a small bowl stir together the sour cream, horseradish, garlic powder and smoked paprika.

Fill the buns with brisket, onions and sour cream mixture.

Beer-Brisket-Sandwiches

Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin

January 26, 2015 by Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

I first ran into this beer at a liquor store in San Diego while visiting my brother for the day. I was instantly filled with excitement and joy, being that I am a huge Sculpin fan already, and love me some grapefruit. I couldn’t wait to get this beer home and give it a try. However, I wondered how Ballast Point could improve on Sculpin’s already unique flavor. I’ve always followed the motto, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” but, in this case, it works. The tart freshness of grapefruit perfectly complements the IPA’s citrusy hop character. It pours a brilliantly clear, golden, honey color with a large layer of perfectly white foam, which quickly fades to a very thin layer with good cling. It draws in a strong aroma of citrusy fruit, mostly grapefruit, go figure, with the apricot, peach, mango & lemon I’ve grown to enjoy with the original Sculpin. There is a light pine scent with floral hints and subtle alcohol. Taste is very fruity and very citrusy. Grapefruit is unmistakable, mostly in the backend, which is surprisingly crisp. This finishes clean, dry-bitter with pine notes and lingering citrus flavor. The balance between pine and citrus has been tilted way to the favor of the citrus, which is not a bad thing in this case. Grapefruit is known as a winter fruit, but this easy-drinking ale tastes like summer. Overall, a great IPA.

Salud!
Jason

Preparing for our first shipment of canned craft beer!

January 24, 2015 by Kris Calef

These are exciting times in the craft brewing industry to be sure and to make sure we’re able to continue to offer our members the country’s best craft beers, we’re opening up the beers considered for all but the Rare Beer Club® to breweries that only offer their products in cans. Although some may have reservations about canned beer, rest assured that we wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t absolutely make sense. At this time, by not offering canned selections, we’d be limiting the breweries we can work with significantly and that trend is only going to build, limiting us even more over time. Offering canned selections opens up some of the country’s best breweries like Snake River, Oskar Blues, Cigar City, Surly Brewing Co., and The Alchemist, makers of Heady Topper. Trust us on this one. We’ve been doing this over 20 years now and it’s the right call.

Also, today is Beer Can Appreciation Day were we celebrate the day beer was first served in cans 80 years ago today on January 24, 1935!

Prost!
Kris

2015 Will Bring More Rare Beer Club® Exclusives Than Any Previous Year!

December 16, 2014 by Kris Calef

If you’ve been on the fence as to whether or not you want to join or give a gift membership to The Rare Beer Club®, allow me to give you 12 compelling reasons that the time is now. We had set a goal of featuring at least 12 Rare Beer Club exclusive beers in 2015 and with a full 3 weeks to go in this year, it’s looking like we should be able to exceed that as we’ve already either locked down or have gotten fairly solid verbal commitments from the following stellar breweries. It’s going to be a year to remember… If you’re a member!

Here’s what we’re working on:

Saint Somewhere is brewing a 10% version of their highly coveted Belgian Strong Ale, Lectio Divina.
Les Trois Mousquetaires Signature Series Maibock – We love everything these guys put out and our members will be the first in the US to try this exceptional Maibock.
Sudwerk Brewing’s Funke Hop Farm is a dry-hopped sour saison that only about 100 folks have tried so far. You’re gonna love it.
Prairie Artisan Ales tossed out the notion of doing a Tequila Barrel Aged Imperial Stout last month at The Festival. My gut reaction? “Hell yeah!”
Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven – La Trappe makes an outstanding bock and our members will be the first to try it in the US marketplace.
Monkish Brewing Company – Everything we’ve ever tried from Monkish is rock solid. Henry wants to make a blended brett focused dry-hopped saison just for our members next year. We’re in.
Brouwerij Wilderen Tripel Kanunnik – An outstanding Belgian Tripel never before distributed in the US.
Jolly Pumpkin – When Ron says he’s game for creating something unique just for our members, we only have to ask when he can do it. Stay tuned.
Telegraph Brewing is on the map as well for a 2015 exclusive. We’re about to rate their Silent Partner Saison.
Odell Brewing – We’ve run a few of Eric’s one-offs over the years and are eager to see what he has in mind for the club next fall.
Pints For Prostates Brewery Collaboration – Every year we partner with PFP and a US brewery to create something really cool for the club and to promote awareness for the organization. The brewery has yet to be named.
Upright Brewing – Alex is doing some really cool stuff up in OR and we can’t wait to dig in with him on what he wants to do for our members.

If you got this far, you know that more than one of the styles above have yet to be determined so let us know what you want and we’ll toss it into the hopper for consideration.

Prost!
Kris

The 12 Beers of Christmas

December 13, 2014 by Brett Olson

Here at The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™, we love winter. It’s the time of year when some of the most bold, interesting, and fun beers are released. With so many holiday styles out there, check out our helpful Winter Beer Style guide. We’ve also put together a list of some of our favorite holiday offerings that we’ve featured over the years – some from our US Microbrewed Club, some from our International Beer Club, and still others from our exclusive Rare Beer Club:

These 12 Beers of Christmas are a great accompaniment to the holiday season, so be sure to pick some up – if you can find them! Or, if tracking down the best hand-crafted beers from around the world sounds like a lot of work, let us take care of it for you. Join or give a gift membership to The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club and make the joy of Christmas come each and every month.

Our thorough beer selection process, honed by over 20 years of experience in the craft beer industry, ensures you can relax knowing we’ve got the world’s best beers on their way to you or your gift recipient every month. It makes us feel a bit like Santa Claus, just without the reindeer.

Merry Christmas!
Brett

Some Traditions are Better Than Others…

December 9, 2014 by Kris Calef

Every year for the last 15 or so years, I’ve made a tradition out of hanging our lights and garland with the help Anchor Brewing’s Our Special Ale, their annual Christmas Ale offering. This year I uncovered a misplaced sixer of last year’s release and decided to compare it to the 2014 release.

The only problem was, and I’m not sure if this really was a problem or not, that with two 5 year olds it now takes me 4 hours to get the job done when I used to be able to bang it out in 2 and after the first 4 beers, I’m not sure I could really tell the difference between the two releases!

Rest assured, I had a good time just the same.

Prost and Happy Holidays!
Kris

Thin Mints

Samoas®/Caramel deLites™

Tagalongs®/Peanut Butter Patties®

Trefoils/Shortbread

Do-Si-Dos™/Peanut Butter Sandwich

Thanks-A-Lot™

Lemonades

Ingredients

Directions