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Craft Beer Blog from The Beer of the Month Club

A craft beer blog written by the experts of The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions

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Pork chops and apples make a perfect pairing for a quick meal that feels like fall.

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and OnionsIngredients:

  • 2 1/2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed
  • 2 cups Gala apple wedges
  • 1 tablespoon butter, divided
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
  • 4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
  • 1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Pat onions dry with a paper towel. Add onions to pan; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once. Add apple to pan; place in oven. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until onions and apple are tender. Stir in 2 teaspoons butter, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm. Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 1 minute or until reduced to 1/4 cup. Stir in vinegar and remaining 1 teaspoon butter. Serve sauce with pork and apple mixture.

Recipe and photo from www.MyRecipes.com.

Our Newsletter Writer, Ken Weaver, Picks up 2 Prestigious Beer Writer Awards!

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Ken_Weaver_1We’re pretty proud of what we do over here and feel pretty confident that no other beer club spends the time, money or energy both lining up special beers for our members or putting together a quality newsletter that we feel is a big part of the overall experience.  So when one of our newsletter writers, Ken Weaver, picks up two, count ’em, two awards from The North American Guild of Beer Writers, we want to brag about him a bit.

Ken’s a freelance beer writer and editor. His first book is The Northern California Craft Beer Guide, a must for anyone either living in Northern California or planning a trip.  He’s a frequent contributor to All About Beer magazine and editor of RateBeer Weekly. He’s also written for publications including DRAFT, Saveur, and Wine Enthusiast.

He recently received the following awards from the NAGBW:

1.  Best Brewspaper/Free Zine Writing for his article,“The Big Show: Local brewers prepare for the Great American Beer Festival”, and

2.  Best Beer and Food Writing for his article, “Genesis of a Beer Dinner”

Congratulations Ken!  Well done.

Prost!
Kris

Government Shutdown Delays Delivery of Jolly Pumpkin RBC Exclusive, Los Vivos y Los Muertos

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I have to tell you, this has been a really challenging month as the shutdown of the federal TTB office which approves new beer recipes and labels has impacted a number of beers we had slotted for Q4.  The nature of the products featured in The Rare Beer Club™, which are often exclusive products brewed just for our members and new products to the US market, has made us much more susceptible to being affected by the government shutdown.

The fact that I just happened to be wearing my Jolly Pumpkin t-shirt on the day that we rated a potential replacement beer for their Los Vivos y Los Muertos, a pumpkin lime saison brewed exclusively for The Rare Beer Club™, was bittersweet to say the least.  We’re all pretty bummed that we had to delay bringing this special beer to our members, but after we tasted Malheur’s Zestig, labeled a Belgian strong golden ale (we all felt was more of a strong Belgian IPA), we began to feel a bit like there was in fact a silver lining to the predicament we were facing.

Man, did we ever get lucky finding a solid replacement for JP.  We called dozens of importers, distributors and breweries before stumbling across Zestig.  The fact that Malheur translates to “misfortune” seems a bit ironic as this is a brand new product from the brewery and only a little over a 100 cases have been sold in the US in very limited distribution.  It was indeed our good fortune that we were able to secure all but about 60 cases of what the importer has left on the floor for our members. So you could say it’s got a good “rareness” story…but how’s the beer?  One word:  Outstanding.  You’re gonna love it.  What an impressive beer.  We were all blown away and felt that in some strange way this was all meant to be as we now can bring our members both outstanding beers, both of which are virtually RBC exclusives.  We’ll have the full tasting notes for Zestig up on our site early next week if you’re interested.

One last parting thought. I want to reassure our members that we will in fact get Los Vivos y Los Muertos to you one way or another, either as a special offer or in a future month.  Thank you for your patience.

Prost!
Kris

Odell’s Footprint is a sweet concept well executed

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IMG_1709I love the concept of this beer almost as much as I enjoyed the beer itself.  Odell’s “distribution footprint” is comprised of 10 states and each one of those states made a unique contribution to to the beer resulting in a crafty collective of regional flavors:

  • Colorado – Hops & Barley
  • Arizona – Prickly Pear
  • Idaho – Barley & Hops
  • Kansas – Wheat
  • Minnesota – Wild Rice
  • Missouri – Oak Barrels
  • Nebraska – Corn
  • New Mexico – Green Chilis
  • S. Dakota – Barley & Honey
  • Wyoming – Wheat

Worth trying if you can get your hands on it.

Prost!
Kris

Easy Slow Cooker French Dip

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This easy recipe uses rump roast slowly simmered in beef broth, onion soup, and beer, perfect for game day!

French DipINGREDIENTS:

  • 4 pounds rump roast
  • 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
  • 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French
  • onion soup
  • 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
  • 6 French rolls
  • 2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trim excess fat from the rump roast, and place in a slow cooker. Add the beef broth, onion soup and beer. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. Split French rolls, and spread with butter. Bake 10 minutes, or until heated through.

4. Slice the meat on the diagonal, and place on the rolls. Serve the sauce for dipping.

Recipe and photo from www.AllRecipes.com

Government Shutdown Impacts Breweries and Potentially The Rare Beer Club

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IO FrontIn case you’re wondering just how the government shutdown might directly impact you, here’s a pretty interesting read posted by Adam Nason over at BeerPulse that outlines the significant impact it’s already had on the brewing industry.  As many of our own Rare Beer Club featured beers are new to the US market or were created exclusively for the club, they require federal recipe and/or label approval and sadly this has put at risk two outstanding up and coming featured selections, Jolly Pumpkin’s Los Vivos y Los Muertos, a pumpkin lime saison slotted to go out this month and The Bruery’s Six Geese a Laying, the sixth release in their 12 days of Christmas holiday vertical offering.  Both beers await federal label approval and may have to be pushed to a later month.  Rest assured, we have several equally impressive beers slotted for future months that we’ll simply move up if we have to push those not approved.

To read more, visit www.BeerPulse.com.

Prost!
Kris

Cigar City Spanish Cedar Barrel Aged Imperial IPA for 2nd MonthlyClubs.com 20 Year Anniversary Beer

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humidor_ipa_bottleSince we’re doing two 20 year Anniversary beers for The Rare Beer Club™ next year, I figured it would be cool to have two completely different offerings.  We’ve got a big ABV, multiple barrel aged blended old ale covered with The Bruery so I figured it would be fun to focus on hops with Cigar City.

Still in the early stages of crafting the vision on this one, but out of the gate we know it will be something with a fairly hefty ABV, aggressively hopped and more than likely aged in several barrels including Spanish Cedar and perhaps spruce.  Starting with a base of something akin to Cigar City’s Humidor Series IPA seems like a good idea.  Love, love, love that beer.

This one will be featured in The Rare Beer Club™ in September of 2014.  More updates after we connect with brewmaster, Wayne Wambles.  Should be a fun process.

Prost!
Kris

The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club | 1-800-625-8238 (Outside USA call: 949-206-1904) | P.O. Box 1627, Lake Forest, CA 92609