What We’re Cooking | Doppelbock Chicken Étouffée

This week’s recipe comes from Scott Johnson, our resident home chef. In his household, gumbo was served often, with Scott’s dad using a recipe from Emeril Lagasse that Scott’s brother would later adapt. Turning the standard chicken and andouille sausage gumbo made with white wine recipe into a dark étouffée was Scott’s way of putting his own spin on this Cajun classic. Read More

We’ve Got Your Bock | The Basics of Bock Styles

Germans love their beer, and they love to drink a lot of it, which means most German styles need to be crisp and fairly low in alcohol to support extended drinking sessions in those gorgeous beer gardens you keep drooling over on Instagram. When I say the words “German beer,” you most likely picture a glass of pale, brilliantly clear Pilsner, or perhaps a stein of amber-colored Märzen (Oktoberfest). Maybe you think of a curvy vase of cloudy Hefeweizen that’s the color of a wheat field. All of those refreshing styles can make a sunny day even better, but it gets pretty cold in Germany during the winter months, and one family of German lager styles—Bocks—have the strength to stand up to the season’s cruelest weather. Read More

Red Rock Brewing | Secale

Old Man Winter is waking up. With a dramatic inhale, the air is flowing in like a tide. We get a moment of calm at the apex, followed by the full rush of winter frost signaling the changing of the seasonal guard. The ice sentinels are lumbering in, flanked by soldier pines to plant their totem, a proclamation that winter has taken over.

The bitter cold drags us from the comfort of our warm weather beer. IPAs, pilsners and hefeweizens run, depleted, only to be replaced by the heavy palate crushers. Stouts and sours reign supreme in these times as people dig into their cellars in search of something more unrelenting than the weather. While we all love the bourbon barrel aged stouts with ABVs in the teens, there will always be something magical about the ever-crushable flavors of summer.

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Hi-Wire Brewing | Twice as Nice Doppelbock

Thanks to winter and its falling temperatures, I find myself indoors more than out. I’m sure those of you in the cold-prone states are no different. And what do we want while we’re stuck inside? Comfort and entertainment, that’s what. Fortunately for those of us in North Carolina, we can venture to the beer store and take home an entire circus in the form of beer.
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Straight to Ale | Rocket Bock

9.86 ABV | IBU N/A

The most important thing to know about Huntsville, Alabama is that it is the birthplace of the modern space age. Home to the Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville rocket scientists/engineers played a part in building the spaceships for the Apollo missions, Space Shuttles, the Hubble Space Telescope and many more. Read More

Fort Collins Brewery Doppel Bock

10.2% ABV

A few weeks ago, Fort Collins Brewery hired a Marketing Director for the first time. Honestly, I was pretty surprised a brewery with such a huge facility and a giant reach across the country didn’t have an in house marketer. I was lucky enough to be invited to meet the new director, Charles Stanley, over a pint of Fort Collins Brewery Doppel Bock.  Read More

Abita Brewery Company – Andygator

Andygator Helles Doppelbock – Abita Brewing Company, Abita Springs, LA

ABV: 8%

IBU: 20

To beat off this hot summer heat, I got in the “do as the Romans did” mentality and decided to try a beer from somewhere … Read More