Food, Booze, & Baggage

Food, Life, Travel

Into The Pint Glass: Mead

by 9 Comments

Into The Pint Glass: Mead

It’s a sad, sad day, our last Into The Pint Glass 🙁 Don’t worry girls (and boys?) Katie and I will still talk about beer, and maybe even plan a few special editions of Into The Pint Glass. To ease us out of Into The Pint Glass, we are not even featuring a beer today, we are doing Mead 🙂 Though like cider it likes to hang out with the beer crowd. Katie is going to give us the low down this honey beverage.

This is it. This is Mariah and I’s last regularly scheduled program of #IntothePintGlass. Sure, we’ll have special season posts and when a new style becomes popular, we’ll be sure to tell you all about it, but it won’t be the same.

We decided to finish off this series with, ironically, a non-beer. In fact, it’s sometimes referred to as a honey wine. But we thought every one should be included and that includes all you glutards out there.
Mead is really frickin cool. It’s basically the oldest beverage known to mankind. It existed even before there was a thought in a vineyard. Many sources differ at where it originated from: some say it was created in India; other’s that it came from the Island of Crete in Greece. It’s found in history all across the world and even in some culture’s folklore. It is, after all, The Nectar of the Gods. What’s even cooler is that the word “honeymoon” derives from the practice of the father of the bride including enough mead in his daughter’s dowery to last the entire month of the wedding celebrations.
Mead is simply fermented from honey, water and yeast and, given the perfect climate, can even ferment on its own (you know that’s how the dinosaurs for their buzz on). And it’s a very similar process to brewing beer, only much easier! In a very short nutshell, you boil some liquids, mix those with other liquids and yeast and then you let it all sit for a long time. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start adding in a whole bunch of other ingredients and flavors, it actually has other names:
Braggot | Traditionally brewed with honey and hops, Currently brewed with honey and malts, with or without hops
Melomel | Fermented with honey and any type of fruit, although some fruits have their own specific names
Cyser | Fermented with honey and apple juice
Perry | A blend of honey and milled, ripe pears
Sack Mead | Made with a lot of freaking honey
Pyment | A blend of honey and red or white grapes
Mead can be still or carbonated, sweet or dry.

Kill All The Golfers Mead by B.Nektar Meadery, Ferndale, MI

Kill-All-The-Golfers-Mead

I didn’t really pay attention to the name when I grabbed this one, what caught my eye was “mead with tea and lemon juice”. I don’t really have any strong feelings about golfers 🙂 The ABV is 6%.

Smell: Honey with a bit of funkiness/fermenting fruit

Taste: Not overly sweet, though I do get a touch of honey, but it finishes with a funky tartness. I do pick up the bitterness of tea, but not really the taste. This one was ok, I liked that it was not too sweet, but I don’t like the funkiness.

Orange Blossom by Golden Coast Mead, Oceanside, CA

Golden-Coast-Mead

I like their label, plus I needed a local brew. The ABV is 12%.

Smell: Sweet in smell, reminds me of cider in aroma, apple like

Taste: Very lightly carbonated, light in mouthfeel, more like wine in mouthfeel. It has a funkiness at the end, like fermented fruit. Not a huge fan of this one. I was surprised it was 12%, it certainly didn’t taste that high in alcohol.

I don’t think I’m a big fan of meads. I’ve had a few I’ve liked in the past, but I think it is more miss than hit. I would love to hear what meads you will try, and hopefully liked.

Into The Pint Glass


Into The Pint Glass: Pumpkin Beer

by 14 Comments

Into The Pint Glass: Exploring Pumpkin Beers

Today is the day, it’s PUMPKIN BEER day!! I’m interested to see what everyone has come up with for this one. You have two-weeks to pick up a pumpkin beer of your own and join Katie and me! I even included a few lists to help you out, to sample some of those deemed “best” if you don’t want to roll the dice.

Pumpkin beer is not really a defined “style” of beer. It’s basically a fruit beer; a beer based on its additions not the base style of the beer brewed. For example, a pumpkin ale, may start out as a saison, a brown, a stout, or whatever and then the pumpkin and spices are added to it. Under the BJCP guidelines, pumpkin beer is classified under the Spice, Herb or Vegetable beer category. Pumpkin beers can contain real roasted pumpkin, pumpkin puree, pumpkin flavoring, and/or just pumpkin spices (like nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and allspice). This beer is wildly popular in the US market. It’s a seasonal beer, released in the Fall. It’s the beer lover’s answer to the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

It’s also a hotly debated issue in terms of what is the “best” pumpkin beer out on the market. I personally don’t think there is a definitive answer for that question, but to get you started on your pumpkin beer journey here are a few lists:

I had a little fun with our next to last Into The Pint Glass, and invited a few friends over to help me out with my pumpkin beer tasting. Shannon (Brass Honey) and Ester (Local Adventurer) plus husbands in tow, came over and participated in my little experiment. We had our own little pumpkin beer show down. The beers are listed in order of voted favorite to least favorite. There was no criteria, other than voting on best liked. It wasn’t scientific 🙂

This was our results and I’ll tell you a little more about each one from my perspective below.

#1 Alaskan Pumpkin Porter

#2 Ballast Point Pumpkin Down

#3 Coronado Punk-in Drublic

#4 Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela No.1 Pumpkin Ale

#5 Fantome Boo

Into-The-Pint-Glass-Pumpkin-Beer-Showdown

Alaskan Pumpkin Porter, Juneau Alaska

This was the groups favorite. It was a good beer, easy drinking, but not my personal favorite of the tasting.

Smell: It smelled exactly like pumpkin pie to me.

Taste: Roasty with a bit of chocolate/caramel. It had a bit of pumpkin earthiness with just a hint of spice, not overwhelming.

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down, San Diego California

This was my personal favorite of the tasting. I found it had enough pumpkin and enough spice to make it a true pumpkin beer, but not overly spicy.

Smell: Caramel, a little earthy

Taste: It is earthy, but more pumpkin spice than pumpkin. It has a touch of caramel, maltiness that balances out the spice.

Coronado Punk’In Drublic, San Diego California

This was my number 2 for the tasting and as the group our 3rd favorite. This is an imperial ale, being a bit higher in alcohol.

Smell: Like pumpkin pie

Taste: This was surprisingly not sweet or heavy. It seemed lighter and more pumpkin than spicy.

Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela No.1 Pumpkin Ale, Dexter Michigan

This one I knew would be out there for the tasting, and this was the only one that I had tried previously. It is not your traditional pumpkin beer. Jolly Pumpkin specializes in barrel-aged beer, and tend to be on the sour side.

Smell: Earthy

Taste: Sour, earthy, lighter. Not much pumpkin or spice to it.

Fantome Boo, Soy Belgium

Really we just picked this up because Fantome beers are a bit of a rare find and we wanted to share it. I’m not 100% sure it was a pumpkin beer at all, despite the picture 🙂

Smell: Smokey, leather

Taste: Smokey, earthy, apple. A sour, earthy, smokey brew. Not my favorite.

Do you have a go-to pumpkin beer?

Into The Pint Glass


Pink Peppercorn Gin and Tonic

by 10 Comments

Pink Peppercorn Gin+Tonic

It’s been far too long since I’ve sat down and shared a cocktail with you guys 🙂 I’m a little obsessed about infusing all the liquors, ever since I got inspired by the Infuse book. I have a huge list of infusions I still want to try. Anyway, so yes, another infused liquor is involved in this one, get use to it 🙂 Also, I had to share my newest tonic obsession as well, which is Fever Tree. This tonic is different than your traditional tonic, it’s less sweet, less sharp, so well balanced, and makes the perfect G&T!!

Fever Tree Tonic used with Pink Peppercorn Gin

Infused Pink Peppercorn Gin

  • 16 oz. Gin (dealers choice, I used Bombay)
  • 1 tablespoon pink peppercorns

Pour gin and pink peppercorns into mason jar, shake, and infuse for 24 hours. This one needed the overnight infusing to really start to pick up the flavors. Strain out peppercorns, you can use a cheesecloth or I used the pour-over cone with a coffee filter. Store strained infused gin in fridge, until ready to use.

Pink-Peppercorn-Infused-Gin-and-Tonic

Pink Peppercorn Gin+Tonic

  • 3 oz pink peppercorn gin (two 1.5oz shots)
  • Ice
  • Fever Tree Tonic
  • Twist of lemon peel

Fill glass with ice, add pink peppercorn gin, and fill remaining room with tonic. Twist lemon peel over glass to release some of the oils and drop in. Stir and serve.

Pink Peppercorn infused gin +tonic

As a note, I threw in some pink peppercorn for garnish in the glass above, don’t do that. I ended up having to pick it out to drink the drink, it’s just not a good idea. In my defense, we did have a gin and tonic in Vegas with peppercorns in the glass, so it wasn’t completely left-field thinking. Of course you do what you want 🙂

Cheers!!

Do you have a favorite tonic or is it just me?

BTW I purchased this tonic myself, I wasn’t paid for this post. Even if it sounds like an ad 🙂


Into The Pint Glass: Brown Ale

by 6 Comments

Into The Pint Glass: Brown Ale

Welcome back to Into The Pint Glass, with myself (duh) and the lovely Katie of The Hungry Goat. I actually had the opportunity to have a beer in real life with Katie this week!! Of course I totally forgot to do a picture, because, well, I’m a bad blogger. We only have two more beer styles left after this one 🙁 The good news is the next Into The Pint Glass is Pumpkin Ales (October 15th), which I know is a favorite among many beer drinkers. But now, let me tell you a bit about Brown Ales…

Brown Ale is a style of beer, that as the name implies is brown to amber in color. It originated in London, in the 18th century, it was a beer that was brewed with 100% brown malt and lightly hopped. Like most beer styles it has evolved from it’s original form. Today brown ales include sweet low alcohol mild ales, nutty bitter browns, ambers that have medium hoppiness, malty sweet, nutty sweet, and malty slightly hopped ales. A notable example in the English brown ale style is Newcastle. The Brown Ale style has a lot of room for interpretation, but mostly expect a certain level of maltiness and of course a brownish color. The mouthfeel for a brown ale should not be heavy and it should not be overly roasty in flavor, there is a taste differential between a brown ale and a porter or stout.

I’m a fan of brown ales and it’s up there in my normal rotation of beer styles to order. It’s usually a nice, well-balanced, easy drinking beer.

Stone Imperial Mutt Brown Ale, Escondido, CA

Stone-Imperial-Mutt-Brown-Ale

Smell: Caramel/grainy

Taste: Lighter mouthfeel than I was expecting for an imperial version, which was a good thing for me. A touch of roastiness with a juicy finish, maybe raisin in flavor, but not in an off-way. Finishes pretty clean.

Insurgente Brown Ale, Tijuana, Mexico

Insurgente-Cerveza-Brown-Ale

My first beer from Mexico I’ve featured on Into The Pint Glass.  Did you guys know that Tijuana has like 70 breweries. I did not go to Mexico to get the beer, it was from our local store, right down the street.

Smell: Bready, malty, nutty

Taste: Toasty nut flavor with a bitter dry finish. Very brown in color with a tan frosty head when poured. Overall, a nice clean, easy drinking brown ale.

Into The Pint Glass