Barritt's Diet Ginger Beer.

Sharp ginger nose, a sweet but biting ginger taste. Carbing is a touch low but mouthfeel could be construed as a bit milky. Considering this is diet, this is probably one of the best ginger beers I've bought.

Doritos 2nd Degree Burn: Fiery Buffalo.

After having these, I regret not picking up all three degrees of burns. Sour, sweet, tangy spicy buffalo flavor. Awesome.

Earthquake Petite Sirah.

A little funky straight out of the bottle. After about an hour, it loosens up, tannins turn into crushed velvet, ultra-jammy, full and inky body. Strawberry, blueberry nose; a bit of burn oak on the palate at finish.

A drinkable and drinkable-now PS with an approachable astringent-ness. Probably the best out of that pack of PSes I got a while back.

Ham and Cheese and Macaroni.

It's the fucking cheesiest. I will say my health-conscious diet has ruined sat. fats for me. This could have been cheesier and consequently tastier, but it was ok as it was. Got the source from Deb but eyeballed everything instead since I was in a hurry. The recipe is reverse because it starts with about a quart of milk, add butter (I did this reverse, referencing this), stir in cheese (white cheddar and Swiss, half cup each) coated with corn starch (Elise says an acid like lemon juice or vinegar works) to reduce stringiness. Season with nutmeg, pepper, paprika (forgot that I like to add ground mustard to this). With chopped ham and whole wheat mac, breadcrumbs, and some more cheddar and some parm, bake.

Not bad, could have been better, had I more time. I guess I forgot a picture.

Double IPA.

Yeast starter with Wyeast American Ale. OG was 1.089, a bit miht higher than the projected minimal so I'm happy about that. Extract kit from NB uses a half pound of delicious hops: Centenni8al, Glacier, Cascade, and Summit with a Cascade dry-hop. Pitched at about 4AM and had a steady bubble in the morning with fragrant rhino farts.

I revamped my brewing schedule for the rest of the year, arranging consecutive extract kits to reuse American Ale yeast cakes throughout the spring. It'll be a tight schedule but should be doable. My summer schedule may be shot as I may be out of town for some extended period of time, but I'll rack long secondaries before that, if that's the case.

Rogue John John Ale.

Rogue Dead Guy aged in Rogue Dead Guy whiskey barrels. First taste was bit sour, definitely getting a whiskey finish. No burn but a sort of unsatisfying finish. Tastes exactly how it describes itself. Not impressed.

St. Bernardus Abt 12.

Forgot to write notes afterward. Tasty.

Cultured Butter.

Got the idea from Ridiculous Food Society of Upstate New York, which is an awesome name which reminds me of The Office.

A cup of heavy creme and a few tablespoons of buttermilk overnight, some time through the food processor until the fat coagulates. Drained in cheese cloth. Going to make some bacon butter.

So I didn't end up making the bacon butter and the butter got moldy. And I forgot to take a picture. Oh well. At least I know how to do it now.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken.

Saw this from Elise a long time ago, told myself I would try it when I bought a deep fryer. Always waffled on the deep fryer as I've heard that one you buy one, you get fat. I had bought some grapeseed oil a little while ago for deep frying though I don't really know what I was thinking at the time. In any case, I had a need for some BUTTermilk. Since I knew that I would have a lot left over, I planned on this.

I soaked overnight 2 nights in buttermilk, paprika, cayenne; had no fresh herbs. Tossed in flour, salt, pepper, more cayenne. Elise said 12-15 minutes per side, but I was using all drumsticks, not a fryer, and decided things looked done at 7-9 minutes per side. All in all, not bad for making do without a deep fryer or a thermometer. Could have used more salt, but I also read that brining before buttermilk does the job well. Maybe next time. Still want that deep fryer though.

Sprecher Ginger Ale.

They give themselves an interesting self-description but it lives up to it well. Smoky, oaky, taste with a mild creamy, buttery finish. Assertive but not overpowering ginger bite. It comes in a pint bottle but only 140 calories for the whole thing, uses HFCS though. Pours fairly clear, standard soda head. Overall, I liked it and it's easier to open than their beers.

Boylan's Red Birch Beer.

Poured a little into a glass, deep red with a red head, artificially colored. Reminds me of Barq's Red Cream Soda but more root beer tasting.

Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale.

I had some mental note about Peak Organic because I had read somewhere about how great it was. So when I saw it at the store and that they had a nut brown ale, I had to pick up a couple bottles to try.

Small, tight bubbles, creamy head. A little hoppy on the nose. Thin mouthfeel, generic brown taste, a bit of coffee and caramel, and a hop finish reminiscent of Terrapin Hop Karma except milder and not awful.

Overall, pretty disappointing. Also, Peak Organic isn't actually rated all that well either.

Asahi Super Dry.

I used to work in a sushi restaurant. Before we really calssed up the place,we had these placemats from Asahi. People would come in and want to order Asahi and I'd have to say, "Sorry, we only have Sapporo for Japanese beers." After we got rid of the placemats, we had Sapporo and Kirin (FTW) but still no Asahi.

I finally got around to picking up an Asahi. I've had a weird relationship with Japanese beers as I loathe Sapporo but love Kirin. Since we never had Asahi around, I never bothered trying it. I saw it in the store a while ago and, after passing by it on so many occasions, finally decided to pick it up.

This is the ultimate tallboy. It is a full on 1L can. Awesome. The typical American tallboy is a 1 pint can, a mere 33% increase from the standard commodity can. Extra bright, clear color; super foamy head. Reminds me of a bath scene in some Japanese movie. Typical lager-y taste with a hint of rice, as this is a rice lager. This is the ultimate session beer for drinking over a shared grill-set-in-a-table dinner. Unassuming and refreshing when you need it.

This received a pretty low mark from BA which is not surprising. BA and their ilk like ales and only like lagers that try to be more like ales. Props to Japan for producing their own twists on beer (looking at Hitachino too). Mind you, Japanese whisky also kills internationally so there. I think this is a great beer for what it is and what it tries to be.

Minestrone.

There's not really a lot soups I like. Stews, chowders are ok. But I was never a big fan of chicken and noodles or even chicken and stars when I was younger. Too much broth, too salty, and ultimately not enough quality substance.

I had couple cups of tomato puree leftover that I needed to use along with some celery. I forgot to buy stuff for cabbage rolls and I also didn't feel like putting forth the effort for them so I opted to make minestrone.

I like my soups on the thicker side so I only used 2-3 cups of beef broth (much deeper than chicken broth) and about 2 cups of tomato puree. I thought that I might have chopped too many vegetables (a couple stalks of celery, 4 carrots, 2 cubed Yukon potatoes, half a zuke, half an onion, lightly sauteed) but the broth was just enough to cover. Some oregano, basil, garlic, a lot of parsley, some salt and pepper, simmered for about 40 minutes. Tastes good with some dashes of Frank's and plain crackers.

Also, I guess I forgot to take a picture.

Addendum: This picture is from a recent pot I whipped up, probably March 2011. I used a cup of merlot, and it was pretty good.