Monday, January 25, 2010

Messed up blogging game

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Wow Steph, you’re really committed to this blog.” & I know I haven’t been posting as much, just with the holidays & everything, I haven’t really had the time to check out too many burgers, other then the ones I’ve been making at home. I really have no excuse. I’ve just been lazy. haha I know you’ve all been there. So let’s catch up!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! It’s amazing that we’re already here in 2010. I had a great holiday season. Although my job was absolutely crazy, there was lots of good eats & good beer, especially my girlfriend’s beer, but we’ll get to that later.

A little before the holidays, we made a trip to Poughkeepsie to check out Half Time Beverage in Poughkeepsie, NY. They have one of the world’s largest selection of beer. It’s really cool to because they have beers on tap that you can get in growlers, & you can also make your own 6 packs. It was just like Disney World for Sarah & I. We ended up getting 3 growlers, & we each made our own 6 packs.

growlerssixpack 

The growlers were really tasty. For the big one we got Rogue Juniper Pale Ale, which was my favorite. The Half Time ones were Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Weisse & Magic Hat’s winter seasonal American Sour ale. I’m not a fan of sour ales at all, so that one was all Sarah’s. They didn’t last very long though.

Now onto the IPA’s. There were sooo many different beers to choose from, so I tried narrowing it down to just IPA’s, since they’re my favorite & all. The 6 pack consisted of Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA, Stoudt’s Double IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, Cricket Hill’s Hopnotic IPA, Smuttynose’s IPA, & Coopertown Brewing Company’s Back Yard IPA. They were all really good, but the Smuttynose was definitely my favorite. It’s quickly become one of my new favorite beers. I really can’t wait to go back to Half Time to make more tasty 6 packs.

Now, this holiday season, my girlfriend got a couple requests for some homebrew for some friends of ours, so she made two different batches. One was a California Common, a typical steam beer, & an Irish Stout, which was on the dark size. Out of the 2 batches, we were able to make over 100 beers. It was great. Everyone loved them, & we still had a bunch left over for us to drink. My personal favorite was the Common; I can’t really handle stouts very often.

homebrew californiacommon

The California Common.

irishstout

The Irish Stout.

While all the homebrews were definitely one of my favorite parts of the holidays, there were lots of other high points. One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is decorate the tree. Check out my awesome ornament.

ornament

And you know it wouldn’t be the holidays without the craziness of Christmas shopping. I was lucky this year & got most of mine done in one day. I did end up having to go out for a second round of shopping with my mom & sister, & afterwards we went to Ruby Tuesday’s & got one of their burgers that I’ve heard a bunch about.

ruby 

I had to ask them to switch it up for me a little bit. I got their Smokehouse burger, with crispy onion straws, applewood bacon, cheddar cheese, & BBQ sauce, but I had them put their triple prime burger instead of their regular burger. It was really good & paired really well with my Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.

With Christmas came lots of good beer & nifty burger treats. A few weeks prior to Christmas there was an ad in our paper for Sam Adam’s Utopias. My mom showed it to me & my girlfriend & we immediately started our hunt for one. With a little help from one of my co-workers & my mom, we finally tracked one down!

utopia

It’s cool because Sam Adams sent us a free glass for it as well. Now we’re just waiting for the right occasion to drink it.

While in our travels we also found some other brews that I was really excited to drink. I found a 4-pack on Dogfish Head Burton Baton & a Smuttynose variety pack at the Monroe beer store. I loved the Dogfish Head, & the Smuttynoses were good, but my favorite is still their IPA.

variety

2010 has been a good year for me so far, as far as burgers & brews are concerned. I think I might have found a new favorite burger as well. I got it for the first time at Buffalo Wild Wings, which isn’t a place you would think to go for burgers, but it has turned me onto a new craze. Burgers with cheese, pulled pork, & pickles. You need to try this burger. My father & I went to Clayton Delaney’s in Chester, NY, which is a BBQ place. I had to try this burger with some real BBQ, so I ordered a burger with a side of pulled pork & constructed it myself. I think they’re considering putting it on their menu now.

clayton 

& I’m also very happy to say that I rang the new year in with Smuttynose IPA.

newyears

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited for the new year. For Christmas I enrolled Sarah & myself in the American Homebrewer’s Association, which allows us to get discounts at breweries & stuff. We already have 2 trips to Vermont planned out & definitely plan on returning to Massachusetts sometime soon. Sarah’s also working on new beer recipes. I can’t wait to see what else I’m going to eat & drink this year. 

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