Hot dogs on a hot day

My friend and I were hanging out on a hot day and wanted something simple to make but yet very satisfying. I had leftover onions and saurkraut, and I picked up some hot dogs and buns. Hot dogs are great because they are already cooked and all you need to do is heat them up quick and give them that nice grilled flavor. I don't usually do anything plain and boring and neither does my friend so the dogs were complete with onions, saurkraut, and spicy dijon mustard. mmmmm.

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Berkshire Brewing Company Hefeweizen

I always seem to miss this beer when it comes around. Finally, I saw this 22 oz bomber and had to pick it up! This beer stays true to the hefeweizen style. It was very refreshing on that hot day that I enjoyed it. Best of all, it is local! A must have if you like hefeweizen.

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5 summer seasonals to try

Here is a nice list of some summer beers I have tried in the past or for the first time this year. I find summer the most difficult to find the perfect seasonal beers. A lot of summer beers tend to be too fruity or too bland or just plain awful. Summer time is such a great time for beer so here are some suggestions to mix it up from just having only corona and lime all summer.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest- one of the best summer seasonals out there

Dogfish head festina peche- fruit beer done right

Sam adams east-west kolsch- great new beer in the summer mix pack

Otter creek Otter summer ale- better than ever this year

Gritty Mcduff's Vacationland- something new I tried this year, and enjoyed it!

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Company over....time to grill!

Well it finally stopped raining and a couple my wife and I hand out with came by to hang out. We were all hungry so I decided since the company is kinda picky that I would grill some burgers and do oven fries.

I decided to get fresh meat from the grocery store and do my handmade burgers with my added touches sure to impress guests.

I like to add steak seasoning and some worchestershire sauce to the burger meat. The burgers tend to come out extra juicy and really flavorful when I add these simple ingredients. I completed my burgers with american cheese and bbq sauce. Everyone seemed to rave about these burgers. They were damn good I have to admit. So, premium burgers served with fries, and a nice cold otter creek copper ale...its a beautiful thing!

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Local team and local brew tailgating fun

Over the weekend, I went to Foxborough,mass to watch my favorite sports team, the New England Revolution soccer team. I support local beer and my local teams so this was double action.

Ahead of time, I decided to make Italian pasta salad to go with grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing. I don't have a specific recipe for Italian pasta salad, I throw whatever I feel like in there with a dressing, cheese, spices. This time I used penne pasta, cherry tomatoes, black olives, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, Italian 4 cheese, black pepper, italian seasoning, and a garlic cesar dressing. Mmmmmmmm it came out very good!

So I had the pasta salad ready to go with the marinating chicken. I packed a six pack of Gritty's vacationland summer ale, a new england beer brewed in Maine. I also had the leftover Sam Adams mix pack. With all this good stuff, I was excited to start tailgating, especially since this was my first real tailgating experience where I ran the show. We get to the game and park in the tailgating section. Time to start drinking the brews! I set everything up, folding chairs, cooler, grill, stereo with Ipod. We crank the tunes and get the grilling going. Gritty's vacationland was a decent summer ale by the way, nice and refreshing. So what better way to kick off the day with great beer, awesome food (grilled chicken and pasta salad came out great!) Right before the game started as we were finding our seats, I found a stand that said "New England Beer" sweet! I was hoping they would have a good beer somewhere, you gotta love New England, they have stands dedicated to local beer at their stadiums! So, I had to get Harpoon UFO white which I love during the summer. My New England Revolution winning 1 to 0, what a great day!

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Laughing Dog brewery's DogZilla Black IPA

I have had a real hard time in the past decided what my favorite style of beer is. I really love brown ales, porters, and IPAs. I would have to say if I had to pick, my favorite beer would easily be the black IPA. I love the hoppy flavor but also the dark rich roasted malts and chocolate flavors. Together, they make quite an amazing beer. So, how does the dogzilla black IPA stack up to the rest?

This beer pours nice and dark as it should be with a nice thick head. You can taste some very strong grassy and citrus hops. Lots of hop bitterness here. You can also taste the roasted malts and chocolate notes. I feel this beer is a slightly above average black IPA. My problem here is the balance and consistancy are off. The flavors don't flow as well as they could. You get a lot of bitter hop especially in the finish but not a lot to blend or counteract which is important in any IPA. You don't want a big hoppy sloppy mess! I did enjoy this beer, and would get it again. It came in a 22 oz bomber for a very reasonable price. This is my first laughing dog brew I've tried so I am interested in trying more from them.

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New and Improved Sam Adams Summer Sampler

The old summer sampler contained the blackberry witbier and the coastal wheat. These beers were decent, but really the weak points of the sampler, and I am glad to see they decided to replace them. The new sampler that I tried over the weekend contains 2 brand new beers: East-West kolsch and the Rustic Saison, a sure improvement.

East-West Kolsch- Sam Adams did a fine job at making a kolsch style beer which is a great summer beer to begin with. Malty-sweet with notes of grains, slight fruity, floral hop slight bitter finish. Very drinkable, crisp, light, great refreshing summer beer.

Rustic Saison- I am a huge fan of the saison style and was a little disapointed with this version of a saison. However, when you look at the beer as a summer beer, it gets the job done. Bread flavor, fruity, tart, honey notes, floral and herbal notes. Flavorful and goes down easy.

Summer ale- This beer used to be one of my favorites, but the recipe seemed to change. A problem with a lot of summer ales is they don't have enough flavor. The flavor is here in this beer, but the flavors dont flow as well as they could, and there is always this funny taste with this particular beer. Lemon zest, spices, light, mellow wheat, and a slight strange sour aftertaste that I dont care for. Still a decent summer beer though.

Boston Lager- always a great choice to count on. Caramel sweet, floral citrus hops, toasty balanced malts, slight hop finish. One of those beers that are always good all year round and just simply delicious in all aspects.

Light lager- this has to be the best light beer out there. It is light but slightly sweet, malty, slight bitter. A lot of flavor for a light beer and perfectly refreshing for a hot day.

Lattitude 48 IPA- when I first tried this beer, I felt that it barely even tasted like an IPA. The formula has changed here. The beer is a lot more hoppy than I remember. The bitterness of the beer is well balanced by biscuit and caramel malts. IPAs are great for summer, but only if they are well balanced as we see here.

I recommend picking up this sampler as soon as you can!

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