Saranac Ginger Beer.

Saranac's soda is much better than their beer. Pretty good, but I'm still looking for more ginger, something at least as strong as whatever they serve at P.F. Chang's.

Roast Beef.

My roast beef turned out more like pot roast. And the coffee gravy wasn't that great but I kind of added a lot of flour to it.

Lentils Masala.

Two of my favorite things: carmelized onions and garam masala.

White Turkey Chili.

First round of repurposing Thanksgiving turkey leftovers.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, whole cranberry sauce, yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie. The turkey was only ok. I think it was a bit overcooked as I used the pan lid, but didn't really change the roasting time too much. But now I have a roasting pan and five complete turkey dinners in my freezer.

Zentis Apricot Preserves.

The other jar of preserves I picked up while they were on sale. Not as tart as I'd expected and actually a bit too mild on the verge of being disappointing. But the jar is still sweet.

Pumpkin Turtle Cheesecake Bread.

Sourced from Closet. The cheesecake was too over the top for me, but the pumpkin bread itself was pretty good. I have a lot of frozen pumpkin so I'll be looking forward to making more pumpkin breads.

Abita Pecan Harvest.

I'm only guessing that this is a brown ale. It's pretty good though. The nuttiness doesn't come through clearly until the very end, and the residue tastes like candied pecans.

Rosenblum Petite Sirah.

Finally got around to opening up this one. I picked it up several months ago but just never got around to it. Even though I'm a red guy, I suppose I just won't drink much of it in the summer. I picked this one because it wasn't the cheapest and was one of the cheaper ones I hadn't tried.

Not bad. Pretty characteristic. The tannins were a bit more velvety than astringent. Rich berry, jammy flavors. Sediment. Lots and lots of sediment. It turned my poop purple.

Southern Tier Backburner Barley Wine.

Barley wine is one of those winter indulgences. I remember my first of many pints of barley wine. It was probably my first high ABV, complex beers. Barley wine typically runs about 8-12% and sweet and smooth.

ST's barley wine, low carbing, sweet, a bit too hoppy, finishes a little too sticky, but it's warm and comforting. It's really best enjoyed with close company in heavy glasses on a wood bar, under warm lighting, and beside a crackling fire.

Victory Golden Monkey.

Coriander, orange zest, concentrated Hoegaarden, spicy, spice-y, cinnamon. I like it. At roughly $12/6-pack, it's a little pricey, but I can see some circumstances where I'd opt for a sixer of this than a hit-or-miss venture of trying to pick out a new Belgian abbey ale.

Goya Ginger Beer Jamaican Style.

I noticed some dude buying Goya ginger beer the other day at the grocery so I picked some up the next time I was there. I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize this was Jamaican style ginger beer which has capsicum in it. Crazy weird afterburn in your throat. Would rather find the non-Jamaican style.

Southern Tier Cherrry Saison.

Aged with either French oak staves or aged in French oak barrels. It's not clear from their description, but from what I know of their brewery, I'm betting it's the former.

The oak and fruit gives a kind of wine-y taste though it finishes with a tart cherry. I found it a bit too heavy and sticky towards the end to be so refreshing as a summer workday ale.

8%ABV.

Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale.

I had sample of this at the last beerfest and remember not liking it. But I didn't dislike it so much that I didn't want to give it another try. It wasn't as bitter this time around. But I still didn't like it much. Hoppy, but too toasted malty. I didn't like that combination in this ale. Characteristic for ST, it was sticky.

Chicken Meatballs.

Sourced from Smitten. I like the concept of chicken meatballs especially since I eat a lot of beef. Ground chicken was not as cheap as I had expected though, which kind of puts a damper on my plans to use it as cheap breakfast food. I didn't put tomato paste in the mix, as was accidentally suggested but only on top, it's a nice sweet and tart touch to the whole thing. In general, meatballs are just plain good. I smashed another pound of the mix into sliders for the freezer since such things are always good to have on hand.

Goose Island Sofie.

80% Belgian-style ale, 20% Belgian-style ale aged in wine barrels with orange peel.

Given its young age (bottled July 17), I wasn't sure what to expect. In short, it's a Hoegaarden. Spicy nose, very frothy head, light body. The barrel-aged ale comes through clear. It's not bad now but a few years in the bottle (good sediment at the bottom), and I bet it'd be awesome.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

Dark copper color, pumpkin spice, light head. It's novelty has worn a bit on me.

Gevalia Kenya.

Sigh.

Southern Tier Pumking.

Smells like cinnamon and nutmeg. Tastes like pumpkin pie. Not as sweet as I remember, but still tasty and well-balanced.

Southern Tier Raspberry Porter.

Considering that their raspberry wheat and their porter aren't very good, this one is surprisingly good. Clear raspberry without tasting overly sour, watered down, or artificial. The porter carries it well. Stronger chocolate tones. Wish it were slightly thicker because I'm thinking of Black Chocolate Stout sometimes.

Gevalia Antigua.

For being so frou frou, Gevalia is not very good. Considering that their traditional roast is likely to be a flagship blend and roast, the poor quality was a dead giveaway for the rest. The Antigua doesn't bring much to the table other than it's name (oh please, don't let the Kenya AA be as bad). Slightly fuller bodies than the traditional, it manages to muster up more of the generic rich roast coffee flavor, the one you think of whenever you see a Folger's commercial and they break the vacuum seal on a can of coffee (seriously, you know advertising is good when you associate a taste proportional to the wholesomeness of a sound), than the traditional roast.

Also, they pronounce their name with a soft 'g'. For them, it's a bad check.

Doritos Smokin' Cheddar BBQ and Black Pepper Jack.

First off, Smokin' Cheddar & BBQ was one of my favorite non-classic flavors. And then it disappeared without warning. I didn't know what to do. Blazin' Buffalo knew only one thing and that was to blaze. I had to learn to move on. No smoke. No cheddar. No BBQ. Don't get me wrong. Blazin' Buffalo is good at what it does. It doesn't pretend to be subtle or smooth. It's just in your face, spicy and demanding. Sometimes I need to have a glass of milk in between handfuls.

But Smokin' Cheddar BBQ is back. It's kind of like when Dylan returned to 90210. So I bought three bags. It is still fucking awesome. Of the expansion flavors, it's one of the few that actually implements every one of the words in its name. Sometimes, it tastes like cheddar with BBQ sauce. Other times it tastes like BBQ sauce with cheddar. Which one is smoked? Sometimes it's the first one, sometimes the second. Sometimes both. There's so much variety in one bag. You never quite know what you're going to get, but rest assured that it will be a good time.

I also bought a bag of Black Pepper Jack which tastes remarkably close to jack cheese. The black pepper is kind of a cop out since pepper jack cheese uses actual fucking peppers, but it's not bad. It's kind of like Toasted Corn in that, somewhere in your mind, you've already experienced the flavor because it's so generic you can relive the sensation on demand over and over again. But it's not bad. It's not something you can snack on and pay attention to, but it's acceptable if you're going to be concentrating on something other than stuffing your face with goodness.