Sam Adams Winter Classics

Hello everyone! I hope you all had fantastic Thanksgivings, and if you live in a part of the world that doesn't celebrate that kind of thing, I hope you had a nice Thursday. :)

So about the six-pack I made. 3 of the beers I had weren't skunky, but due to my fridge being really dumb, 3 of the pack went skunky. Here are reviews for the 2 I had. (The third bottle was a Guinness, which I've had a million times. Guinness rules.)
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SHOCK TOP PUMPKIN WHEAT ALE - Not bad, although I didn't get a lot of spices or pumpkin in it. It could have been a bad bottle, but the beer was pretty smooth with a mild aftertaste.

SAMUEL ADAMS CHERRY WHEAT - I LOVED THIS ONE! The aroma was loaded with cherries and had a hint of yeast on the tail end. The taste was sharp and bright, with a nice cherry after-taste. This is one I will definitely want to drink more of.
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So while I was at the store last week, I picked up this 12 pack from Samuel Adams. It has 2 bottles of 6 different holidays flavors, and now that my fridge is fixed I can enjoy them without suffering from bitter beer face.

Boston Lager

Winter Lager

Holiday Porter

Black & Brew

Chocolate Bock

Old Fezziwig's Ale

My Journey with Beer

This is my last non-dessert post for awhile, I promise. :)

To start, I have never been a beer person. I have always preferred hard liquor, and to a lesser extent wine. I didn't really learn about beer until I was in college and started hanging with my friend Frankie, whose family is originally from Wisconsin. The first time I went to their house, I discovered that they had a full-sized refrigerator for just their beer!

I still can't drink Bud, Miller, Coor's, Dos Equis, etc, and I also don't like IPA's or Pale-Ales. I'm a lager kind of girl (amber to dark), and seeing as how I've kind of been jonesing for some beer, I decided to take a trip to my local Total Wine & More. I made my own six-pack, and I can't wait to try them out.

FROM L-R

Shock Top - Pumpkin Wheat Ale

Bison - Organic Chocolate Stout

Bison - Organic Gingerbread Ale

Samuel Adams - Cream Stout

Samuel Adams - Cherry Wheat

Guinness - Extra Drought

Guinness Cupcakes and Bailey's Frosting

Oh St. Patrick's Day, the only day of the year where we are all Irish and encouraged to drink. I found a recipe for this cupcakes over a year ago, and I've wanted to make them for awhile, and I decided that I was going to make them for the holiday.

I'm super glad I did. Not only were they SUPER easy to throw together, but the taste is out of this world. Seriously, there is no substitute for this cupcake. All I can say, is that this is just another Irish thing for me to love.

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Cupcake Ingredients:

From We Are Not Martha

1 1/2 cups Guinness (or stout beer)

1 stick of butter, plus 1 Tbsp.

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. Vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.

2) Cut butter into cubes and melt on stove-top with beer until the butter has melted. Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder and brown sugar.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Add to beer mixture.

4) In another bowl, mix together flour and baking soda. Slowly fold into the wet mixture until just mixed.

5) In a lined cupcake pan, pour batter into cups. Bake at 350 F. for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES

So about the cupcakes, I could have eaten them without the frosting. They are so rich and chocolatey with just a hint of the Guinness. And as a bonus, getting to drink the remainder of the pint while you bake was pretty awesome. Anyway, I came out 29 cupcakes because I didn't  fill up my first dozen enough. Still, they're just amazingly good.

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Frosting Ingredients

From: The Co-Exist Cafe

 2-3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter, room temp.

2-3 Tbsp. Bailey's

1 tsp. heavy cream

1) Combine powdered sugar and butter with a fork until a smooth consistency.

2) Add Bailey's, a Tbsp. at a time until smooth.

3) Add heavy cream to even out taste if the Bailey's is too strong.

So this frosting, it's been awhile since I made a buttercream frosting. And I had to add a bit of milk (I had no cream) to take a bit of the edge off. I used 2 1/2 cups of P.S. and I had only a tiny bit leftover. I also added about 3 drops of green food coloring to give it a nice green tint. Totally festive, totally delicious.

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