Not long ago, my friend Evan decided I (and the team) needed to taste some Bluepoint Blueberry. Of course, he brought other varieties when the time came (we try and taste four varieties in order to get some sense of the brewery as a whole and not just a single flavor or batch) he brought a growler of Oatmeal Stout. I do enjoy a stout. Seemingly almost any stout.
This one however was particularly smooth and rich. Seriously. No… seriously! Sure it was helped by the lack of preservatives that bottled beer contains, but even so, this was wonderfully balanced.
There was a bit leftover when all was said and done, so I cooked it down with some roasted onions and placed it on a number of different vegetable sandwiches. This classic recipe for brats works really well for all sorts of things, I find if you;re not using it with a meet product that sour things and spicey things help to balance the sweetness of the onions and stout. So an eggplant wrap with chipotle, tomato, and the onions is awesome. You can also add some Tahina to the onions to further thicken, and balance some bitterness against the sweetness. (and blend if you’re using it as a dressing or spread). The Bluepoint Oatmeal Stout worked exceptionally well for all these cases as well.
In a couple of weeks we’ll be using a similar recipe, but we’ll be cooking outside over hickory and oak. You can in fact smell the yumminess.
The onions here are about midway through the thickening process…
Where was I? Oh yeah. Right. Got it. Vacation. We’ve been having a nice time despite work intrusions, worry about my sister’s ongoing digestive issues etc. Yesterday I decided it was high time I got back on my bike and spun out the kinks after taking a week and half off. I hadn’t seen the Lakeside crew in quite some time… in fact, I had no recollection of having done even a single loop around the Lake all year, but it turns out I had, as a part of a much longer ride.I thought I’d catch up and take it easy…
I did a quick 23 miler with Jenni today because time is always short on a Friday. It’s one her favorite loops—from Suffern to Ridegwood and back. I forgot to take an NSAID when the ride started and so had a bit of pain from cranky knees, but nothing to I couldn’t handle. I climbed a bit slower on one section than I would have preferred, but the climbing was less painful than some of the steady state stuff. Should be all healed by the next ride. Temps were nice (which means I started out cool), sun and laughter were abundant, and a few glimpses of a nearing autumn.
turnings :: daniel berlinger 