Ah the world of IPA’s. For the uninitiated, IPA stands for Imperial Pale Ale and are basically hoppier versions of English Pale Ale style beers. For those familiar with the style, they evoque memories of hoppy, piney, spicy, resiny goodness.
Nowadays, it appears that every self-respecting craft brewery has at least one IPA on their list and hence we thought it was about time we started putting the Dallas area IPA’s in a little blind taste test.
In honor of a great woman and servant of Christ
Today is the day we traditionally in Belgium celebrate Epiphany. To know what this holiday is all about, I invite you to read the post I have written in the past. More recently, several people have asked me about the Epiphany cake recipe, so here it is:
Wit beer is close to my heart. In ages past it was the most common beer in the area where I grew up in. So when two Dallas breweries have a wit beer in their offering, we had to get our hands on some and do a quick match-up between these two creations. I got some friends together and have them do a compare and contrast tasting. Let’s see who took the win. Continue reading
As we have a 5 year old in our house again, I am reminded of the constant lessons we try to teach our children. One of those lessons is to be grateful for what we have. A lifestyle of focusing on what we don’t have, more often than not leads to a life filled with bitterness, strife and frustration. While an appreciation for the many blessings around us is a path to contentment with life in general.
And yet, many adults, including me, so quickly forget this life lesson we try to instill in our children. An example.
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A quick and simple pasta salad that can be used as a side dish for many meals. Especially when you are pressed for time, this is something you can make in 20 minutes tops. It uses ingredients you usually have in the pantry, fridge and spice cabinet, so a run to the store isn’t even necessary. By changing up some of the spices in the dressing, this works well with grilled meats, barbecue or even burgers and hotdogs.
All my kids have come to love this refreshing salad during the hot Texas summer months. Pearl couscous is a little harder to find than regular couscous, but it is so worth it. You can change out the pearl couscous, which is really a pasta more so than couscous, for the regular kind. But when you do, omit the dressing since couscous tends to get soggy really quick. The tomatoes and cucumber should provide enough moisture for your salad to become too dry. An ideal side dish during the hot summer months with grilled chicken and fish.
This is an interesting list of the 50 largest craft brewers in the US. It’s important to note that the Brewers Association recently upgraded the ceiling of production to 6 million barrels per year from 1 million barrels previously. This allowed the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams and with 2.7 million BBL total sales, to stay on the list of craft brewers. Both Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are flirting with the 1 Million BBL line, but are still well below with roughly 900,000 and 760,000 respectively. The Gambrinus Co. based in San Antonio, TX and owners of the Spoetzl Brewery makers of Shiner, appear as 4th on the list. The next largest craft brewer from Texas is Saint Arnold out of Houston ranking #45. But are these really still craft brewers ?
Since I compiled a list of North Texas breweries, people have asked me if there was a map anywhere of all the current Texas breweries. Given that I couldn’t find one, I decided to build one real quick and post it out here. I will update the map on a monthly basis. The data compiled in the map is based on the companies that have a “Brewery” license with the TABC. Time permitting I’ll start adding the brewpubs as well.
What has been amazing and extremely promising for any beer lover living the North Texas area is the current growth in the craft beer industry. When I moved to Dallas back in 1998, the available selection was just, well, pathetic. The offering in any regular grocery store was worse than one was able to find in the smallest neighborhood convenience store back on the other side of the Atlantic. Not only was the variety usually limited to the creations of the big three (Budweiser, Coors and Miller), but those creations usually had the taste of some watered down rice water for anyone who grew up drinking Belgian beers. But things are changing.
