You guys are in for a treat today! This last post for a beer month is a love letter to California Craft Beer (and my adventures there). To make #beermonth go out with a bang- I topped it off with an awesome recipe for Imperial Porter Truffles with 4 flavor variations! I also have a giveaway for Brewershirts.com. Super awesome shirts for beer lovers and home brewers! If you're not interested in my beer adventures skip to the bottom.
I love you and I miss you California!
Just a couple months ago I was fortunate enough to go on my first trip to California and fell in love! What's not to love especially when it's the dead of fuckin winter in NY?! I literally looked at house prices in San Diego because I loved it there so much!
The first part of the trip was hiking through Joshua Tree State Park. So we went from winter in NY to a dessert and it was "winter" there to. But their winter is 70's and sunny every day. It was absolutely gorgeous and we went hiking for miles every day. To save money we cooked our own breakfast, Lunch was eaten out backpacks and dinner was re splurge. So I got to sample most of the local cuisine guilt free and of course had a beer with dinner. My most memorable meal there was breakfast at Crossroads Cafe- a Mexican skillet polenta with queso fresco, eggs, black beans and ranchero sauce. This came to inspire a recipe for the blog coming soon.
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The second part of this trip was in San Diego- which I shall call Craft Beer Mecca! Here is the run down- my friend and I pretty much packed in as many Craft Breweries as we could. We went to Ballast Point, The Belching Beaver, Toronado (craft beer bar), Automatic (Blind Lady Ale House), Stone Brewing (amazing), Lost Abbey, Port Brewing Company, Iron Fist and Mother of Earth. Yeah we saw a lot in three days! But we missed so many as well! Either way my trip to Cali was EPIC!
Stone Brewing Company- it is MASSIVE and GORGEOUS! A seriously awesome place to hang out by far. The tour was great and their Cali-Belgique aged in red wine barrels. It's an IPA with saison yeast, already a great beer. The hoppiness it taken down by the dryness and champagney flavor the yeast gives it, then all of a sudden you get that sweeter taste of red wine. It was one of the most unique beers I tried. This was my favorite, so much that we went here twice!
The Belching Beaver- THE BEST DESSERT BEER EVER- You must have their Peanut Butter Milk Stout, So much peanut butter and so much sweetness from the milk stout, AMAZING! I brought a bottle home from 3 months ago and have not opened it yet! Luckily I found out I can order it online (it's not distributed in NY). That just about made my day! I also remember really liking everything they had, but the PB Stout was the stand out!
Ballast Point Brewery- The Sculpin IPA is a great beer, but we got to have the Mango Habenero Sculpin and that was really cool as well as this Thai Chilli Wahoo. There was some serious heat! The best though was their Victory at Sea Imperial Porter which I used for this recipe!
Mother of Earth- Beers was pretty good, California Cream Ale was my fave- BUT more memorable was the company- my friend and I befriended two random English dudes- love the accents. Well they bought me a couple pints and loved my filthy New Yorker mouth and pissed me off so I would curse them out. People are very entertained by mu drunk potty mouth. Bear in mind this was the last stop for the day and I was NOT driving!
Now for the recipe...
I always thought truffles to be intimidating, shockingly they are not. At lease these aren't! Don't be scared this is SIMPLE!
This is a recipe I made from The Beeroness, however the toppings are my own. I followed someone else's recipe since I don't know the first thing about making truffles! LOL! It is a VERY simple recipe reduce down some beer and stir in the chocolate and let it set. Then roll into balls then into toppings. Let's talk about toppings....
4 AMAZING toppings: Cayenne and Brown Sugar, 2-Coconut Flakes and Powdered Sugar, Crushed Pistachios and my FAVE- Black Forest Bacon and Brown Sugar! See below!
So if I made this recipe again I would add some cream or butter. The truffles are delish, just a little harder than I like.
1 cup Imperial Porter ( I used Ballast Point Victory at Sea)
8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped rough
Toppings
1 part chili to one part brown sugar
3 slices of bacon and 2 tbsp coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut flakes and 2 tbsp powdered sugar
chopped pistachios
1- In a saucepan reduce 1 cup of beer to 1/2 the size on medium heat, stirring frequently.
2- When reduced remove from heat and melt chocolate into the beer.
3- Let sit on counter to become room temperature and set.
4- Roll into balls in hands and roll into toppings.
You have a week to enter and 4 winners will be chosen to get one of their awesome shirts of your choice!! You love beer? You wanna win on of THESE! Please check them out brewershirts.com!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Beer Highlights from the trip
Stone Brewing Company- it is MASSIVE and GORGEOUS! A seriously awesome place to hang out by far. The tour was great and their Cali-Belgique aged in red wine barrels. It's an IPA with saison yeast, already a great beer. The hoppiness it taken down by the dryness and champagney flavor the yeast gives it, then all of a sudden you get that sweeter taste of red wine. It was one of the most unique beers I tried. This was my favorite, so much that we went here twice!
The Belching Beaver- THE BEST DESSERT BEER EVER- You must have their Peanut Butter Milk Stout, So much peanut butter and so much sweetness from the milk stout, AMAZING! I brought a bottle home from 3 months ago and have not opened it yet! Luckily I found out I can order it online (it's not distributed in NY). That just about made my day! I also remember really liking everything they had, but the PB Stout was the stand out!
Ballast Point Brewery- The Sculpin IPA is a great beer, but we got to have the Mango Habenero Sculpin and that was really cool as well as this Thai Chilli Wahoo. There was some serious heat! The best though was their Victory at Sea Imperial Porter which I used for this recipe!
Mother of Earth- Beers was pretty good, California Cream Ale was my fave- BUT more memorable was the company- my friend and I befriended two random English dudes- love the accents. Well they bought me a couple pints and loved my filthy New Yorker mouth and pissed me off so I would curse them out. People are very entertained by mu drunk potty mouth. Bear in mind this was the last stop for the day and I was NOT driving!
Now for the recipe...
I always thought truffles to be intimidating, shockingly they are not. At lease these aren't! Don't be scared this is SIMPLE!
This is a recipe I made from The Beeroness, however the toppings are my own. I followed someone else's recipe since I don't know the first thing about making truffles! LOL! It is a VERY simple recipe reduce down some beer and stir in the chocolate and let it set. Then roll into balls then into toppings. Let's talk about toppings....
4 AMAZING toppings: Cayenne and Brown Sugar, 2-Coconut Flakes and Powdered Sugar, Crushed Pistachios and my FAVE- Black Forest Bacon and Brown Sugar! See below!
So if I made this recipe again I would add some cream or butter. The truffles are delish, just a little harder than I like.
Why is this a Foodgasm??
Ummmm chocolate and beer and yeah there was some bacon involved. This is definitely a one night stand kinda foodgasm... Heavy on the calories and fat. But you gotta indulge time to time!What you need
Recipe from The Beeroness1 cup Imperial Porter ( I used Ballast Point Victory at Sea)
8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped rough
Toppings
1 part chili to one part brown sugar
3 slices of bacon and 2 tbsp coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut flakes and 2 tbsp powdered sugar
chopped pistachios
How to make it
SUPER easy1- In a saucepan reduce 1 cup of beer to 1/2 the size on medium heat, stirring frequently.
2- When reduced remove from heat and melt chocolate into the beer.
3- Let sit on counter to become room temperature and set.
4- Roll into balls in hands and roll into toppings.
Brewer Shirts GIVEAWAY!!!
Aren't these super cute?? These are the ladies shirts and there are lots for guys too!You have a week to enter and 4 winners will be chosen to get one of their awesome shirts of your choice!! You love beer? You wanna win on of THESE! Please check them out brewershirts.com!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
MORE AWESOME #beermonth Recipes
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