Directions
Place beer in small saucepan, cook until reduced to 1/2 cup. Set Aside.
Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA Review
Hailing from tiny Lyons, CO, the Oskar Blues brew pub has shot into the stratosphere of craft brewing over the past few years with their (then) revolutionary canned craft beer. They immediately won us over with Dale's Pale Ale and Old Chub Scotch Ale, and continued to woo us with their Imperial Red, Gordon, and their Imperial Stout, Ten FIDY, both in cans. They recently moved Ten FIDY to a seasonal brew schedule, leaving half the year open for something new. What did they fill it with? GUBNA Imperial India Pale Ale! More hops, more malt! This monster clocks in at 10%abv. Now, let's get down to the good part and taste it.
Appearance: Gubna pours almost orange enough to be described as pumpkin colored, except for the fact that it's crystal clear. A white head forms as the carbonation cascades through the beer, looking a lot like the well-known "Guinness" cascade... this time, though, it's because the beer is fairly thick coming in at 10% abv. The head sticks around for quite some time and definitely leaves its mark in the from of lacing all the way down the glass.
Smell: As soon as I pour this beer, all I can smell is hops. As I'm taking the picture you know what I smell? Hops! The aroma has permeated the room! Aromas of dank hemp and pine are all you can get until you stick your nose nearly into the foam. Once you do, you can pick up a trace of alcohol which should be expected for a beer of this strength. There's not much malt to smell or yeast influence... or they may just be covered up by HOPS!!! As it warms up, you get some orange from the hops as well. Weird, it looks orange and tastes a bit like oranges...
Taste: Bitter and oily hops are the first thing you get in this beer and they coat your mouth for the long haul. The mouthfeel is slick, but the beer is try which is quite contradictory. There is just the mildest hint of residual sweetness, but the dryness really helps to showcase the humulus lupulus that this brew is definitely all about. Even as I'm typing I have some bitter hops in the back of my mouth. As Gubna warms up you get a bit of malt sweetness on the front... nothing more, no real malt character to speak of before the hops sweep back in to take over the show. It's at this point, though, that the alcohol starts to come through a little bit giving a mild solvent finish to the beer. This is the only real problem I can find with it, but it's not a big problem.
Oskar Blues delivers another winner with their Imperial IPA, Gubna! The only thing I would ask is that they tame it down to around 8.5%abv. I'd be able to drink more of it then and I think that would help the solventy finish I'm getting.
How Long Will An Open Bottle of Beer Last?
If you drink enough craft beer, you have definitely come across one of the large format, 22oz bottles of brew known as a "bomber." In fact, there are many beers you can't try without buying it in the bomber format. The good aspect of this? You get a single bottle with 22oz of beer in it... that's almost two beers! The bad aspect? You get a single bottle with 22oz of beer in it... that's almost two beers!
We say this can be good or bad because, at times, you may want more beer. Maybe you have nothing to do that night... Or, perhaps, you have someone to share the extra beer with. These are the good scenarios. The bad scenario is when you find yourself without a buddy to drink your craft beer with and you don't want to ingest 2 beers worth of alcohol. To compound this problem, oftentimes these beers are the stronger brews that a brewery creates. It's the Imperial Stouts, Double IPAs, Strong Belgian Ales and the like that come in 22oz bottles. So, what is a craft beer drinker to do when he or she wants to drink a single serving of Double IPA but only has a bomber of said Double IPA? There are those who would tell you to, and we quote, "man up." The point of drinking craft beer is to enjoy the libation, though, not to get drunk... sometimes that's a pleasant side effect, but sometimes people have other things to do (like go down to the bar to drink other craft beer...).
I (Jeff from DrinkCraftBeer.com) found myself in this position a little while back, and ended up leaving half a bomber of Smuttynose Big A Double IPA in the refrigerator for 3 nights. Upon finishing the beer on the 4th day of it being open, it was still hoppy, carbonated and delicious. Rather than leave this as a fluke, I figured this would be an interesting beer experiment (beerxperiment?)... Just how long will an open bottle of beer last in the refigerator?
(Five Days of Lagunitas Hop Stoopid. From Left: 4 Day Old, 3 Day Old, 2 Day Old, 1 Day Old & Fresh)
Peak Organic Maple Oat Ale Walnut Ice Cream
We may have created an ice cream with the longest name ever, but it's delicious. Despite the cold of Winter this is a recipe we've been meaning to try for a while and we've finally gotten around to trying it out. Fortunately for all of you, the test worked, and it's awesome. The beer gives this ice cream a nice depth of flavor that regular maple ice cream just doesn't have. The added maltiness makes this a simply spectacular dessert.
Ingredients
- 22oz Peak Organic Maple Oat Ale
- 1 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half and half
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup grade A maple syrup (real maple syrup)
- 1 cup choped walnuts
Pour half and half maple syrup and cream in saucepan.
Whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add sugar while whisking rapidly. Keep whisking until mixture falls from whisk in ribbon like form.
Temper the cream mixture gradually adding small amounts, a few tablespoons at a time, of cream into the eggs while stirring, until about a third of the cream mixture has been added. Pour remainder of cream in and transfer back to saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F.
Strain mixture and place into a container. Once mixture has cooled enough not to form condensation on the lid place the mixture into the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.
Place beer reduction in separate container and cool in refrigerator.
After 8-12 hours stir in beer reduction into ice cream base.
Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. When mixture starts to become firm add walnuts to the machine. Continue to churn until done (total time 20-25 mins) Freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.
Chocoloate and Beer Pairing at NH Brewers Festival
We want to thank everyone who joined us at the New Hampshire Brewers festival this year for our Taza Chocolate and beer pairing classes. We had a lot of fun meeting you all and introducing you to the wonderful world of beer and chocolate.For those who attended we've provided the pairings we used below.
Pairings:
Yerba Mate Chocolate paired with Peak Organic Pomegranate Wheat
Guajillo Chili Chocolate paired with Moat Mountain Hoffman Weiss
Salted Almond Chocolate paired with Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
Vanilla Chocolate Paired with Gritty's Christmas Ae
If you'd like to order any of the chocolates you tasted you can get them here: Taza Chocolate
We'll be uptating this article with full tasting notes so if you missed he class check back soon!
Oakshire Brewing Overcast Espresso Stout Review
The beer looks like black coffee and the head looks like coffee with cream in it...how fitting! The aroma fits the name spot on as it smells like *sniff* yup *sniff* coffee. Oh sweet, sweet coffee, we would drink this beer on a hot summer day as an iced coffee replacement or on a cold day, just based off smell alone! And therein lies the most interesting thing about this beer. It seems to feel equally at home being light and refreshing as it does being dark and roasty. We can't think of many other beers that are able to walk this line. This tastes like mildly sweet, creamy coffee. Jeff is very addicted to coffee and loves beer and thinks this beer might actually pose a problem in his everyday life...if it was available here. The oatmeal goes great with the coffee and helps to smooth out the beer. The lack of acidity from the cold-press coffee works great in this brew! This is just a very well done coffee stout that we would session all day!
