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Feb 17 / Mark

New Belgium Mighty Arrow

Spring Is The Air

We’ve had a fairly cold winter here in Atlanta.  Nothing like the North, but for here it has been cold.  Last weekend we had our 2nd snowfall of the year (about 3 inches) which is always nice to see but I’m ready for Spring to get here.  I picked up my 1st “Spring Seasonal” beer, the New Belgium Brewing Mighty Arrow hoping that by me drinking a beer meant for Spring would help Spring arrive faster: read more…

Feb 15 / Mark

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale 2010

Revisiting A Good Beer

Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Ale has been brewed every year for the past 25.  Over the years I’ve had it probably 10 different times beginning with my first taste of it back in 1995.  Last year I reviewed the 2009 version and liked it quite a bit.  So, when the 2010 batch came out I got a six pack and tried one to see how it compares to last years version: read more…

Feb 14 / Mark

My Hour Of Pain Pays Off

Lots Of Watts

I just got done with a workout on the old Kurt Kinetic trainer in the basement that I was planning on doing all of this last week.  It looked like the weather was going to be cold/snowy today so I decided I’d test my fitness by doing a hard 60 minute interval to see if I could set a new power benchmark.  My goal was to do better than 279 watts average for the entire hour. I warmed up for 20 minutes and then turned on some techno/trance music (it does a good job of keeping me focused) and started pounding out the watts.  Here’s the results: read more…

Feb 12 / Mark

Samichlaus

Samichlaus bills itself as “The World’s Most Extraordinary Beer”.  That’s a pretty big claim given the number of great beers out there today.  My Brother sent me a bottle of it as part of our great Thanksgiving beer exchange (using our parents as the transport service).  I finally got around to trying it to see if it lives up to the claim on the bottle: read more…

Feb 10 / Mark

Ithaca Eleven

Ithaca Beer Company’s Eleven is part of their Excelsior line of specialty beers.  Eleven was brewed in honor of their eleventh anniversary.  It is aged over roasted coffee.  It is probably technically a Milk Stout as they add lactose to the beer which should give it a slightly sweet and smooth flavor.  I decided to have it for “dessert” while watching a movie.  Here’s what I thought of it: read more…

Feb 7 / Mark

Get Fit Faster Using Heart Rate Based Training

Heart Rate Is Key To Fitness

One of the best ways to build your fitness and increase your ability to workout better, is by using your heart rate to set your workouts.  I’ve been training with a heart rate monitor for nearly 27 years and have found it to be very helpful. Back in the Fall of 2008 I did a series of posts on using heart rate based training to improve your fitness so I wanted to re-introduce you to it here: read more…

Feb 5 / Mark

Left Hand Milk Stout

Time For Some Milk

Continuing down the trail of Stout reviews I decided to try a Milk Stout from Longmont, Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing.  Milk Stouts have a higher percentage of unfermented sugars in them, usually lactose, that help give the beer a sweetness that counters the strong roasted character of Stouts.  I haven’t had many Milk Stouts so I was interested to see how Left Hand’s effort tasted: read more…

Feb 2 / Mark

Aluratek Libre E-Reader Review

My New E-Reader

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to read more.  I used to read a lot but have gotten away from it recently.  But, my new E-Reader, the Libre from Aluratek, is quickly turning me back into someone who loves to read.  I have been interested in e books and e-readers for a number of months and finally got serious about doing some research.  What I found was that there are a lot of options in the market and many of them are fairly affordable.  I wanted something straight forward that was lower priced and offered a lot of flexibility.  My research led me to the Libre.  Here is my video review of it: read more…

Feb 1 / Mark

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout

Can vs Bottle

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout has been on my “to drink” list for a while.  It comes in both nitro widget cans as well as bottles.  I have heard that some people tend to like one more than the other.  So, I decided to do a back to back review with the can 1st, followed by the bottle to see which is better:

This is a yummy beer!  I love chocolate and Young’s Double Chocolate, in both the can and bottle, delivers.  The chocolate is more on the bitter sweet side than milk chocolate.  It is a bit like drinking a liquid chocolate bar :-) There isn’t much else to the flavor other than some nice roasted malt flavors.  The finish is slightly acidic and has a chocolate note.  Drinkability is pretty good.  So, which is better, the can or bottle?  Well, they were both very close.  The only discernible difference I could really get was in the “creaminess” of the beer, with the nitro widget can tasting slightly better than the bottle in this regard.  Also, the appearance of the canned version was better than the bottle, due once again to the nitro widget.

So, I declare the canned version of Young’s Double Chocolate Stout the winner, by a widget, over the bottle.  Both are very, very good so please try them, especially if you like chocolate!

Here Are The Scores:

Can:

1. Appearance- 9 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 8 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 17 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 8 points (out of 10)

Total  42 (out of 50) Points- 4 Mugs (The Winner, by a Widget)

Bottle:

1. Appearance- 8 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 8 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 16 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 8 points (out of 10)

Total  40 (out of 50) Points- 4 Mugs


ABV 5.2%

Approximate Calories: 160-187 (12 oz)

Jan 27 / Mark

Guinness Stout And Beef Stew

Stew And Stout Time

It was a cold, rainy, and windy night; perfect weather for staying inside and making a nice, hearty stew for dinner.  I hadn’t made stew yet this Winter so we decided to do a Beef Stew and pair it with a Stout.  I picked up a 4-pack of Guinness Draught in the 14.9 oz widget can, fired up the gas cook-top, and started cooking:

The Beer

Guinness is a decent beer.  It has a fantastic appearance (due to the Nitro widget), an average aroma and flavor and pretty good drinkability.  Nothing about it is bad at all and it’s an entirely decent beer.  Don’t expect any real complexity but do expect a consistent, easy drinking beer.  It went perfect with (and in) the Beef Stew I made.  I still have 2 cans of the beer in my fridge and I will enjoy them very soon.

Here’s The Score:

1. Appearance- 9 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 6 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 13 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 8 points (out of 10)

Total  36 (out of 50) Points- 3 Mugs

ABV 4.2%

Approximate Calories: 162-194 (14.9oz)

Beef Beer & Barley Stew Recipe

Here is the recipe I used for the stew.  You can use barley groats rather than pearl barley in this stew to give the dish a little more texture.  Substitute rutabagas, parsnips, or other root vegetables of your choice for the carrots and turnips.

Yield: 6 (big) servings-we got more like 8 out of it.

Ingredients

  • 2  tablespoons  olive oil
  • 1  pound  beef stew meat
  • 1  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 3  cups  coarsely chopped onion
  • 2  bay leaves
  • 2  thyme sprigs
  • 2  tablespoons  tomato paste
  • 2  cups  (1 1/2-inch-thick) slices carrot
  • 2  cups  chopped peeled turnips (about 1 pound)
  • 3/4  cup  uncooked pearl barley
  • 5  garlic cloves, minced and divided
  • 2  (8-ounce) packages mushrooms, quartered
  • 3  cups  water
  • 3  cups  low-salt beef broth
  • 2  tablespoons  Worcestershire sauce
  • 1  (12-ounce) bottle dark beer (such as stout)
  • 3  small beets
  • 3  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley
  • 1  teaspoon  thyme leaves
  • 2  tablespoons  prepared horseradish

Preparation

Heat oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add beef to pan & sauté 10 minutes or until browned.  Remove from pan.  Add onion, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs to pan.  Cover, reduce heat, and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover; stir in tomato paste. Increase heat to medium-high.  Add carrot, turnips, barley, 4 garlic cloves, and mushrooms; sauté 3 minutes.  Add beef, 1/2 teaspoon salt, water, broth, Worcestershire, and beer; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

While stew is simmering, trim beets, leaving root and 1 inch stem on each; scrub with a brush. Place in a medium saucepan, and cover with water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until tender. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain; cool. Leave root and 1 inch stem on each beet; rub off skins. Cut each beet into 6 wedges.

Combine parsley, thyme leaves, and 1 garlic clove. Ladle about 2 cups stew into each of 6 bowls. Top each serving with 3 beet wedges, about 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley mixture, and 1 teaspoon horseradish.

Nutritional Information (based on 6 servings)

Calories:
379 (27% from fat)
Fat:
11.4g (sat 2.9g,mono 6g,poly 1.1g)
Protein:
24.5g
Carbohydrate:
45.2g
Fiber:
10.2g
Cholesterol:
47mg
Iron:
4.8mg
Sodium:
654mg
Calcium:
85mg