8 Reasons You Should Bring Every First Date to a Beer Garden

1 - Icebreaking

Everyone knows that the world’s most reliable social lubricant is booze. This is not up for discussion. And at a beer garden, you can talk about the interesting kinds of beers if you know about them, and ask about the interesting kinds of beers if you don’t. You can also practice saying danke schön to each other which I think means “you look stunning in the moonlight” in German. Somebody google it.

2 - Picnic Tables

The picnic table set-up is an excellent way to judge how your date interacts with other people? At a cramped picnic table, interaction is unavoidable. Your elbow will be in someone’s beer, and someone’s will be in yours. And that is sort of the point. And if you like that, and your date does not, you might meet bigger problems down the line. Plus, you can see if they’re rude, funny, shy, or if they make friends with everyone who sits down next to them and ignore you. In that case it’s so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen etc.

3 - Sharing (Beer Pitches) Is Caring

Pitchers of beer are the name of the game at beer gardens. This means you have to talk about what you want to drink. Are they willing to share or do they insist on drinking a vodka tonic? Call me a beer garden snob (and seriously, I am okay with that), but vodka tonic at the beer garden? That’s like being the only one at a Halloween costume without a costume. Come on. At least wear a funny hat. At least sip a Hoegaarden. And sharing beer in a beer pitcher is only one step away from sharing spit. Which means kissing. Which is adorable.

4 - Can They Can Kick It Beer Garden-Style?

Can she forgo her mini-dress and heels for some jeans? Is he squirming in his seat texting other people because he wants to be in a club dancing to house music? These people do not belong in the beer garden. They are in alien territory. You seem like a cool person. You deserve to date someone who can relax with you.

5 - Are They Worldly And Adventurous?

Can he order his beer in Czech? Is she willing to try the German beer she can’t pronounce? That’s sexy.

6 - It’s Outside!

Have you ever been a bit uncomfortable on a first date and thought, “I could use a little fresh air, here?” Well, welcome to all the fresh air you can get. Even crazy congested cities like New York have spacious beer gardens that attract people from greener pastures. (You might even run into a Midwesterner, if you’re into that sort of thing.) Don’t forget that trees create a great ambiance. Also, your date won’t have to leave you by yourself, inside, to go outside for a smoke. (I suppose, if the date is not going well, this is a bad thing. But let’s be positive. Beer garden dates have a much higher success rate than non-beer garden dates.)

7 - Will They Share A Basket Of French Fries And A Bratwurst With You?

You can do your victory dance now that you have a happy belly to go with your happy heart. (Convince yourself it’s beating faster because you’re crushing on your date, not because your cholesterol is breaking the charts.) And you know, a kiss from someone with stinky french fry breath is so romantic when you have stinky french fry breath, too. It’s the little things.

8 - It’s Way Harder To Get Totally Trashed

One of the best things about beer is that it takes a little bit more to take you to the “oops I had one too many and now I am suddenly so drunk I can’t stand up” place. Obviously it can still happen (trust me, I know) but if it does, it’s probably the sign of hours of great conversation. Sounds like a great date! That’s the whole idea!

Source: howaboutwe.com

Sriracha in my beer? Yes, Please.

Mix icy cold beer with spicy Sriracha, fresh lime juice and a couple dashes of Maggi sauce and what do you have? A refreshing, terrifically savory beer cocktail with a lingering heat that has become my new favorite summer drink. Meet the Cocky Rooster.

The recipe comes from An Choi, a banh mi restaurant in New York City that serves the drink alongside their Vietnamese sandwiches. It’s an Asian riff on the Mexican michelada, which mixes beer with hot sauce, salt, lime and Worcestershire sauce, and as a lover of Asian condiments, I daresay it improves on the original. Umami-rich Maggi sauce might be a little harder to find than Worcestershire sauce — look for it in Asian or Latin markets — but its depth of flavor can’t be matched. And Sriracha? I’ll always choose it over plain old hot sauce.

G.Q. featured the cocktail in their August issue, but hasn’t made the recipe available online, so this is my adaptation. The original calls for a couple jalapeno slices to garnish the drink, but I have yet to do this and haven’t missed their presence. Use them if you like a little more heat. And while the original recipe calls for a specific brand of Vietnamese beer, any pale lager will work. I’ve been using Pacifico.

Cocky Rooster

Adapted from An Choi and G.Q.

Makes one cocktail

1 lime wedge
Kosher or sea salt
1 ounce lime juice
2-3 generous squeezes of Sriracha
3 dashes Maggi sauce
2 jalapeno slices (optional, for garnish)
12 ounces lager-style beer

Rub the lime wedge around the rim of a pint glass, then dip the glass into a small plate of salt to coat the rim. Add the lime juice, Sriracha and Maggi to the glass and stir. Slowly pour in the beer. Add ice cubes and jalapeno, if desired, and garnish with the lime wedge.

Source: thekitchn.com

Beer-Battered Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Buttermilk Soak

  1. 3 cups buttermilk
  2. 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  3. 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
  4. 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  5. 4 pounds medium chicken wings, thighs and drumsticks

Beer Batter

  1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 2 teaspoons onion powder
  3. 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  4. 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  5. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  6. 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  7. 18 ounces crisp beer, such as lager or pilsner (2 1/4 cups)
  8. Vegetable oil, for frying

  1. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk with the salt, black pepper and cayenne. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate for 4 hours.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt and black pepper. Whisk in the beer to make a thin batter.
  3. Drain the chicken and thoroughly pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Transfer the chicken to the batter, turning to coat.
  4. In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 inch of oil to 350°. Set a rack over a baking sheet and line the rack with paper towels. Lift the chicken from the bowl, letting the excess batter drip back into the bowl. Fry the chicken in batches at 315°, turning once, until golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 160°; about 18 minutes for wings and 20 minutes for thighs, breasts and drumsticks. Transfer the fried chicken to the rack and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Make Ahead The fried chicken can be kept at room temperature for up to 4 hours

Source: foodandwine.com

30 English Ales You Must Have Before You Die

Top 3:

1) Newcastle Brown Ale: Dating back to 1927, this is now the best selling bottled beer in Europe, and is one of Britain’s most well-known brews, famous for being the first Northern-style Brown Ale. Jim Porter, the brewer, had tried for five years to produce a beer to rival the clarity and purity of Bass. Even though he failed, he did come up with something new which has been much-copied since. This Northern Brown Ale is not to be confused with the standard British Brown Ale, which is a Mild beer in a bottle.

Expectations of any classic beer are high, but this one disappoints more than most. Drinking it chilled robs it of any character. There is a “nutty delicacy” (Michael Jackson) about it that many drinkers find and enjoy, while others regard it as “the most overrated beer in the world.” (Bov)

2) Bass Ale: Brewed since 1777 in Burton-on-Trent. When dark stouts and porters were the most popular beers, William Bass set out to copy the London brewer Hodgson and make a pale coloured beer. He was fortunate that the waters of the Trent were perfectly suited to his hoppy ale, and soon other brewers flocked to Burton to make the new and successful Pale Ale. When served in the cask, drinkers found this Pale Ale more refreshing than the malt-accented ales they were used to, but also more bitter, so the term Bitter was soon used to describe this popular new beer. When Bass received instructions to supply the troops in India with his Pale Ale, he increased the strength and added extra hops to help it survive the journey. The term India Pale Ale is still used in England to describe a premium bitter. The history and importance of Bass cannot be denied. But sadly, its quality in the bottle these days is not very good. There are two bottled versions available in Britain. The version called Our Finest Ale is the tastiest and closest version to the original, though even that is not an excellent beer. The version sent to America is stronger, but blander than the British versions. The Belgian version is without a doubt the best of the bottled beers carrying the Bass name.

The blandness of the American version is reflected in Oakes comment: “English ale for people who don’t actually like the taste of real English ale.” While Gusler goes a bit further and in noting that “it has lost its robustness” he cries out that it’s “a crime to let the pond scum sucking, money-grubbing cretins take over and ruin such a fine brewery” and that the current brewers should “burn in Hades with their money as the fuel that feeds Satan’s furnace.”

3) Worthington White Shield: Dating back to 1829 and changing brewers several times since then, White Shield is now owned by Coors, though brewed at the mostly autonomous Museum Brewing Company. This is the genuine Burton Pale Ale. When Bass took over the Worthington brewery in 1927 they began to filter and pasteurise their own Bass Pale Ale, but kept this going as an example of the real thing. Still bottle-conditioned and still produced (though not in great numbers) in Burton-on-Trent, this is, in the words of legion242: “One of the most amazing things that I have put in my mouth. Positively the best English ale to pass my lips.” It has a legendary status in the UK, being for many years one of the few bottle-conditioned ales available, and barmen would pour it carefully with pride and a practised skill to prevent any sediment from reaching the drinker’s glass. Most who try this rave about it, but billb found a “borderline sickening aroma,” and hey_kevin, while acknowledging it is a “good beer,” just didn’t get on with “the bakers yeast flavor.”

Source: ratebeer.com