BARLEY'S ANGELS - MARCH

I hosted Barley's Angels tonight and I decided to bring some St. Patty's Day brews (Guiness and Killian's), a meat and cheese tray, and some green frosted cookies. It was a very small group (as it has seemed to be for the past few months - hope we can change that soon), but we enjoyed ourselves and I stayed out pretty late for a work night. Evil Greg had brought us a fancy Imperial IPA from the Portland area once again, so I needed to let that settle before heading home.

BARLEY'S ANGELS, NOVEMBER

 This month we just threw a meeting together and all brought a beer to share. I brought one of my favorites (Fire Ant - Imperial Red Ale), but the highlight was the Game of Thrones Take The Black Stout (not because I've ever even seen Game of Thrones, but because the beer was delicious - a special treat that Gaurav brought back for Lisa from New York when he was there for the marathon earlier this month). Oh, and I met one of our ERDC security guards outside of work. And she was exactly like Jay and I have always suspected underneath the uniform - wish we'd become friends with her sooner!

BARLEY'S ANGELS OREGON SURPRISE

There was no plan for this month's meeting, so there were a few bottles from folks' recent travels, and though no ladies had been to Oregon, a couple of Oregon brews were donated by Evil Greg. Oh so tasty!

BARLEY'S ANGELS: FLORIDA

Since we went to Florida last month with the knowledge that I'd be hosting Barley's Angels this month, we came home with a plethora of Florida brews. I picked 5 of them to share with the ladies tonight and paired them with things we'd snack on at the beach (watermelon, chips, crab dip, etc.)

Bold City's Killer Whale Cream Ale was a surprise hit (Jay told me he hates cream ales and that other people might not like it - I really liked it though!), 3 Daughter's Beach Blonde was good (but not my favorite - we had another brewing companies blonde that was better: Veterans United's Raging Blonde), Cigar City's Hotter than Helles Lager was AWESOME (my favorite - and not spicy, just meant to be enjoyed when it's hotter than hell outside...), Intuition Ale Works' I-10 IPA was a very drinkable IPA (I like IPAs anyway, but this one was especially tasty and refreshing), and the only non-can beer we picked up (we were aiming to showcase beers that can be enjoyed at the beach, where glass bottles aren't allowed) was Florida Beer Company's Swamp Ape Double IPA (no idea why this was called Swamp Ape and not Skunk Ape, as the south Florida legend goes...), which was definitely a heavy hitter and nobody's favorite except for Lisa (so I sent her home with the second bottle).

BARLEY'S ANGELS: CALIFORNIA REVISITED

Safra recently had a work trip to Cali, so she brought us back some treats:

 

I'd had the Hell or High Watermelon before, and it was just as good as I remembered. The Summer Solstice was also on the sweet side, and I loved it.

 

Crisp brews are so wonderful down here in the Deep South when it gets unbearably hot and humid!

 

Ruhstaller claims to be the originator of steam beer (this is their black IPA - not as delicious as a white IPA, but still in my lineup of favorite beer styles), even though my research back when I hosted a California night led me to Anchor Steam as being the original...

 

We also had Sierra Nevada's Summerfest and North Coast Brewing Company's Brother Thelonious. I lucked out in that Christina drove me tonight, so I was able to enjoy a bit more than usual (as both the Captain and Brother Thelonious are on the strong to very strong side!)

BARLEY'S ANGELS: WISEACRE BREWERY AND A FEARLESS TREAT

Lisa brought 3 beers from Wiseacre Brewery (out of Memphis) for our tasting tonight, but the star of the show was this beer out of Estacada, Oregon, which Lisa had been given by a friend a couple months ago, and which she'd been saving to share with me (because she knows I love Oregon, and I'd missed the past 2 meetings). It was so good that even non-IPA drinkers or hop-lovers enjoyed it!

BARLEY'S ANGELS: CALIFORNIA

I hosted the California edition of Barley's Angels tonight with a few beers brought back from our recent trip (the shareable bottles) and a couple that I was able to find here locally:

I gave a quick synopsis on the chapter about California from the beer and food pairing book we've been working our way through this year (Real Beer And Good Eats: The Rebirth of America's Beer and Food Traditions), gave a few stats on California and showed the ladies a map so they could better visualize them, and talked a bit about why California is such an interesting and impressive state.

 

I served clam chowder and sourdough bread with butter, bourbon and stout marinated grilled chicken kebabs, and BBQ potato chips (there is a recipe to make your own BBQ chips, but I cheated and went with Kettle). The American River Brewing Company Fire Break red ale was my favorite (I LOVE a red ale, and this one was a little different, more malty than I'm used to, but I like malty), followed closely by the Lagunitas Night Time (an American black ale). Next time we're in California, I definitely want to visit the Lagunitas brewery (it's in Petaluma, where my grandparents used to live), the Sudwerks brewery (in Davis - we tried multiple amazing bottled beers by them while we were there, but couldn't find any at the end of the trip when we were purchasing bottles to take home), and the Sierra Nevada brewery (since I never went on my few visits to Chico many years ago, and I know Jay would love it). Stone Brewing Company's Ruination IPA was also REALLY good (and strong), and I hear they have some other varieties that are even better (I'll be on the lookout in case I ever see them locally). Nectar Ales Humboldt Brown hemp ale was definitely different, and definitely sweet - I'd buy it again. So, overall a successful meeting with 6 ladies in attendance. Until next month...

BARLEY'S ANGELS: MIDWEST

This month Barley's Angels visited the Midwest. We avoided the powerhouse breweries and sampled some microbrews instead (Angry Cedar Brewing Co. and Bell's Brewery). Amber (and Iowa native) led the discussion and provided some typical midwestern pub fare, such as meats (corned beef and similar), farmer's cheese, rye bread, and mustard. Bet my dad would have liked this pairing!

 (We added an Imperial ESB from Tallgrass Brewing Co. to the lineup from Lisa's bar fridge...)

I was highly amused by the side label on the Angry Cedar bottle...

Sorry I don't post these monthly meetings here regularly, for those of you who are interested in the goings on of the Angels, it's just that I get so distracted by the opportunity to be out of the house for an evening without the kids to enjoy food and drink while talking with a bunch of fun ladies that I forget the camera... in fact, I snapped these photos with my phone just so I could show Jay what we were up to. Next month the pairing is CALIFORNIA and I'll be hosting! Time to read my chapter and decide which of the many appetizers/entrees I'm going to make... and hopefully I can find room in my suitcase smuggle a few choice microbrews home after our west coast vacation!

BARLEY'S ANGELS GOES TO IRELAND

Since Jean is in town, I brought her along for the ladies-only beer night at Martin's. Tonight we enjoyed some brews from Ireland along with sharp cheddar cheese, bangers and mash, and unsalted potato chips as pairings. I definitely had my fill!

BARLEY'S ANGELS GOES TO BELGIUM

While I don't often blog about it (because I usually forget to take pictures, unless I'm texting bottle photos to Jay to see if I'm trying something that would be new to him, and because I take enough photos of the kids that it's kinda nice to not have the camera attached to my eyeball when I'm on a mamas/ladies night out), I've been regularly attending the MS Sippies Barley's Angels meetings since they started back in February (they occur once/month), and they recently decided to do a worldwide tasting tour in combination with our usual goal of testing food/beer pairings. Last month we went to Mexico, helping Lisa choose a new brew to replace Corona as the mainstay on her menu (I believe we picked Pacifico, if I recall correctly - I tend to always order off tap at Martin's, so I have no idea what their bottle selection currently looks like). Anyway, we tried 4 or 5 different Mexican beers and paired them with chips and salsa, and chipotle chicken. It was pretty delicious, and a bonus that we all drank for free because we were "helping" Lisa pick the new beer. Doesn't it feel good to help a friend?!

 

Continuing with the goal of traveling abroad, last night we visited Belgium. We sampled Hoegaarden White, Yazoo Rye Saison, New Belgium's Fat Tire, Westmalle Dubbel (Trappist), and North Coast's Brother Thelonious (thanks for the recap Sandy, I never would have remembered them all!) We paired them with chocolate (yum!), sharp cheddar and smoked gruyere, red pepper jelly with goat cheese, and panna cotta with raspberry puree and peaches (pictured below, and it was AMAZING).

 It was our biggest turnout yet (I think there were a dozen of us there!)

BARLEY'S ANGELS - STOUT

Have I mentioned on the blog yet, that just like Jay, I now have my own monthly beer meeting that I go to? No? Well I do. It's called "Barley's Angels" and it's a group exclusively for women, to promote brewing and beer appreciation among ladies. (Our local chapter is called the MS Sippies.) We've had 4 meetings now (I missed the 2nd one due to sickness though) and they are getting progressively better as we become more organized and decided upon the things that we want to accomplish. Tonight we accomplished stouts. I don't like stouts. Or porters. Well, at least I didn't think that I did. Turns out that pairing them with the correct foods makes all the difference though! (Beer and food pairings have become our main goal as a group, since there are very few books written on the subject, even though there are hundreds of wine and food pairing books out there in the world.) 

So tonight we tried Buffalo Breath Oatmeal Stout, Guinness Draught, Heart of Darkness, and the stout they have on tap (I forget what it was - we meet at one of our favorite local restaurants, Martin's at Midtown, where one of the owners is also one of the leaders of our group). Plus Christy brought her homebrewed stout. And we also sampled some Rogue Double Chocolate Stout and Sam Adams Imperial Stout. That Imperial Stout was STRONG (heavy anise flavor in addition to the hops), but it actually tasted good with sharp cheddar cheese. I decided that I have been wrong, wrong, wrong about Guinness, and I loved it with everything. (Did you know that stouts are lower calorie than many other beers? I never would have guessed, since they just look so heavy to me.) Christy made her stout into a beer float. That may sound crazy, but don't knock it 'til you try it - it was delicious! My chocolate pound cake went with everything, as did the chocolate almond caramel corn. And the smoky stout-infused BBQ-dipped sausage. The only beer that I didn't really care for was the Heart of Darkness by Magic Hat, and I can't put my finger on why exactly, but it just wasn't for me.

Other items that go well with stouts include strong coffee (in fact, many stouts are infused with coffee) and cigars. Last night also happened to be Martin's "Cigars Under the Stars" monthly event, but I didn't stick around for that to test the theory myself (had to get home to my kiddos before bedtime).

Christy, Heather, Lisa (Matin's co-owner), Keating, Jen, Candice, and Amber (Sandy was out at a Lyle Lovett concert, and we missed her terribly this round!)

For record-keeping purposes, last month we did IPAs. I really disliked the Hoplanta (no matter what I ate with it), but surprisingly loved the 2 Shiner varieties that we tried (Wild Hare and Farmhouse), and the Jai Alai was good too (especially baked into lemon bars). We ate some spicy food items with the IPAs, as they are suppose to pair well, and they did. It was the first time I've actually enjoyed drinking an IPA of any brand or variety. I don't know what they did at the 2nd meeting since I missed it, but t\The first meeting I went to compared a variety of beers, and that is when we decided that food pairings would be our main goal with this group. Potluck-style beer and food sampling is definitely high on my list of awesome ladies night out activities!

5K FRIDAYS!

Since our virtual 5K race went over so well back in early August, we had a request to continue the trend. There actually aren't that many virtual races out there, and that's OK, since we didn't really RACE anyway. More like we completed a good workout with a large group of friends. So we figured Halloween was a great excuse to plan another one, and decided to keep it on a Friday after work, as that worked really well last time. Hence the creation of "5K Fridays", which we hope to do once every couple of months. Today's run followed the same 5K loop at the military park as last time, was run immediately after work, included some new faces, and ended with a boisterous dinner at our favorite restaurant instead of a park playdate (because it was COLD, and the sun is setting so much earlier these days). In fact, it was so unexpectedly cold that most of the kids stayed home and our planned group of attendees was short by 4 adults. Those of us who braved the chill had a good workout and the evening events were a great way to kick off the weekend! Thanks for coming out guys!

Not pictured: myself (photographer) and Al (who arrived late, yet was still able to catch us before we got to the end!)