A Forkable Feast:

We spotlighted A Forkable Feast for November’s Eastside Eats. I wanted to take the opportunity to review it as well and put some more pictures we took to use.

We arrived at the end of the day, and we were lucky enough to meet Stu and Randy, who own the place, and Michael, the head chef.

Housemade dressings

David and I were both impressed at how the food was packaged—sealed in cute oven safe containers— as well as the variety.

A major plus is their availability of gluten free cupcakes and desserts—even stuffing!


100 % gluten free, 100 % delicious

A nice selection of beer and wine is also available to take home. We spied Victory Prima Pils, a nice pilsner, Lambic raspberry, and even a gluten free beer.



Stu selects the wines that he thinks will complement a tasty meal.




House made pasta and pesto can be purchased and doesn’t take long to cook. We were sent home with some pasta and also the veal ricotta meatballs, which are tender and tasty. David says they are, and I quote: "frickin delicious!" The texture of the pasta was excellent. I've never really had a pasta quite like it. We really enjoyed our visit (and our dinner). I recommend you check out the online menu on their website, and take the night off from cooking if you get the chance.



everyone gets a complimentary little baggie to munch on while their food heats

The 28 mile journey that took 15 years:

If you had asked me when I was 10 if I would ever live downtown, I would have been taken aback, if not horrified. Live downtown? People actually live downtown?

My limited view of the city from living in the suburbs of Loveland included my parents shuttling my brother and I to and from the Aronoff to see my sister in the Nutcracker. To my younger self, downtown was dirty, dark, and scary, with lots of panhandlers. Also, there were pigeons.

I think that living in Clifton while David and I attended classes at UC toughened me up a bit. Plenty of panhandlers there, and the Hughes high school thug wannabes could seem menacing at times. We learned to perfect the rebuff of “Sorry. I don’t carry any cash.”

But after the cat caught his fifth mouse, and our neighbor’s toilet upstairs began leaking through the ceiling, (clean water, our landlord claimed, surely not a big deal) our time in our cheap Clifton hodgepodge of an apartment had come to an end.

We moved to East Walnut hills, an outpost of the “Hyde park near” area. On the front lines of the gentrification effort on Woodburn, we did begin to feel a little isolated. We also were down the street from a fire station, which was extremely noisy. But at least we had a dishwasher; and no mice.

Downtown still remained a labyrinth of one way streets, shrouded in mystery. I was thrown into the deep end and forced to learn my way around when I got a job downtown close to Third Street. I cautiously explored around the office, in block by block sections. Eventually, I learned my way around, for the most part. I started Cincinnati Nomerati and began reviewing restaurants, including some around my workplace.

But live downtown? Nah, that was not in the plan. At least, not until we actually became friends with some downtowners and local bloggers, the 5chw4r7z’s. They are very proud downtowners and adore it. They are very emphatic about how much they love their condo and the location.

So when David mentioned maybe moving downtown from our last place to a bigger apartment, I jumped on it. Within three days, I’d found a place and we were close to signing a lease. I know it seems fast—but that’s just how I roll with things I really want to do. I planned our whole wedding in 28 days.

So far, we love living downtown. I feel a lot more connected to the city and the many unique, creative and talented bloggers that we’ve become friends with. I’m able to take the skywalk to work and come home at lunch. Kitty and I watch the pigeons out the big windows and the hipsters smoking outside of FB’s. We have a dishwasher and more space, no mice and no fire trucks.

It’s been a long journey, both in actual location and in our view of Cincinnati as a city. I can honestly say I feel proud to be a part of it. We’ll see you downtown.

December 30th, 2007

Hamburger Mary's:

Despite a somewhat hectic moving day and the movers dropping a box on my foot, we’re finally getting settled in at our new apartment. Last Friday we walked over for cocktails and dinner at the newly re-opened Hamburger Mary’s.

Happy hour makes most of the cocktails made with well liquor $5, and they have an assortment of lawnmower beers—Hudy Delight, PBR, and Burger Classic for $1.

The inside of the place is fairly large, with two bars—one larger and in the middle of a dance floor to the right of the entrance, and a smaller bar is right by the door.

On the left is the dining room, which has lots of bright colors and space.

I started with a “raspberrita”. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a raspberry margarita. The bartender must have read my mind, because it has sugar, not salt, around the rim. It was pretty good, but also very sugary.

David decided to get not one, or two, but the whole ménage a trois of the $1 beers. Yes, I tried to talk him out of it. I pointed out that HM has Dogfish 60 and 90 minute in bottles. It didn’t work.

Don't do it, David!

Our group did insist he drink them with his pinky out.

See, this is why you should listen to your wife.

I got another cocktail, the “pop your cherry tini” made with red cream soda. It was good, though also very, very fruity and sweet. My friend Janelle got a cocktail made with champagne and red bull, the "Chambull", she liked it a lot.

For food, Janelle and I chose appetizers. She got the nachos. Lots of toppings, lots of cheese. Can’t go wrong there.

David ordered his second beer.

I chose to get the Mary’s Handbag ($13), a sampling of most of their appetizers, and the mini Mary—a mini burger with cheese. ($2) I was a bit surprised when they asked how I wanted it cooked—is it even possible to get anything other than a well done mini burger? I didn’t think so. I was right. Regardless, it was delicious.

Everything on the Mary’s handbag is fried. Chicken tenders, onion rings, wings, calamari, and fried macaroni and cheese. There were a few little pieces of iceberg lettuce on there—which David and I both found funny in juxtaposition with the rest of the plate's contents.

The fried macaroni and cheese is very tasty, and it was probably my favorite appetizer. The calamari was not too chewy, and I really liked the marinara sauce that was served for dipping.

Happy hour Friday shot!

David ordered his last beer, Burger classic.

David says: "They tried to add some flavor..."

"but I'm not sure it went to a good place."

While the Burger classic may not have gone over well, the actual burger, with mushroom and sweet potato fries, did.

My last drink the Mary’s punch, which I couldn’t finish. This was the drink I liked the least—it was incredibly sugary and tasted a little like grape Dimetapp.

The checks come inside shoes, which our server chose based on what she thought we would like. Janelle got a silver one with glitter. It was a good match.

We dropped David back off at the apartment and Janelle and I ended up going back to Hamburger Mary's to dance later. We had a good time, though there was a some sort of reservation mix up--some sort of reservation for two booths for a private party had been booked earlier, and their DJ went rogue and attempted to kick everyone out of the entire bar. I'm sure you can imagine that did not go over well, but the manager was quick to correct the problem and was very apologetic about it--even showing us the actual contract-- when I asked her to explain.

Despite the snafu at the end of the night, we enjoyed our dinner and will definitely be back for Mary-oke on the days that it's held. The staff was friendly and courteous the whole night. I might get a whole plate of mini-Mary's with cheese!

wheeee!

My friend Annie came down from Toledo this past weekend, and she, David and I decided that we'd hit up the Renaissance festival on its last weekend.

People seem to have mixed feelings about the whole event. Some people dislike the mishmash of historical events and styles, and other people don't mind it. We fall into the latter category.

So after watching the joust and visiting various vendors, sharing a giant smoked turkey leg with David and having a few drinks, we were making our final loop around the festival when David spotted this ride.

Annie and I both were under the weight limit, and we impulsively decided that we'd take a turn. Thus the video. I'd turn your volume down, the workers encouraged us to scream, and scream we did.

The ride was cut short by some little girl sobbing about her tiara, which had flown off.

I made pizza and you can too:

David headed up to Southfield, Michigan for a few days this past week. I had the whole afternoon Friday to cook some sort of welcome-back-to-Ohio dinner. I asked him what he wanted. His answer—deep dish pizza. With lots of toppings. Seemed simple enough-- I could order LaRosa's or Mio's and call it a day. But it seemed too easy. And what if he got back later than expected? Then the pizza would be sitting on the counter, turning into a cold, greasy deep dish mess.

I was in the mood for adventure. I was ready to be challenged. After all, I reasoned, people make pizza all the time, right? How hard could it be? Since I believe that a deep dish pizza pan is a good investment, I had no qualms about buying one.

So with no set plan or recipe, I headed off to Sur la Table to get a deep dish pizza pan, and Whole Foods to get the ingredients for the pizza.

Whole Foods is where my real quest began. It's easy enough to get the toppings—peppers, mushrooms, a package of bacon—but the sauce was another story. As I stared at the canned rows of diced, petite diced, crushed, pureed and stewed tomatoes, I felt a sense of rising panic. What do I use to make sauce? Would spaghetti sauce work? Probably not. It was then that I realized I had been looking at tomato cans for about 10 minutes. It was then that I knew I needed some expert help.

I had to call Jeff. I've consulted him before when I found myself in unfamiliar culinary waters--like when I brought a pork rack roast home because it looked good in the store, but had no idea how to cook the thing. I quickly pulled out my phone and texted. “Help! David wants pizza, how do I make pizza sauce?”

I received a call back within a few minutes. After explaining the situation and the amount of time I had, we decided that I was going to try and make the sauce from fresh tomatoes. The process seemed strange and confusing. Drop the tomatoes in boiling water, take them out, peel off the skin and squeeze out the cores and gooky bits, then stew them. Our conversation continued on how to make the sauce.

“and you'll need an onion.”
“OK, red, yellow or white?”
“Doesn't matter.”
“I want a white one. One bulb of garlic?”
“Yes. And Basil. Make sure to sweat the onion and garlic before putting into the sauce.”
“Ok. Oooh, did you know you can get Andy's falafel in the frozen food case?”
“Did you know you can make falafel at home pretty easily? Focus—have everything for the sauce?”

I am very pleased that I used the stove, chef's knife, and cheese grater, and didn't grate, burn, cut or otherwise injure myself

and so it went.

After hanging up with Jeff, I had an intense discussion with the pizza guy behind the counter about dough, and accepted his offer of pepperoni that they used for their pizza. I got a lump of fresh mozzarella, and a block of 2 year old Parmesan.

I took all my items home and laid them out. The prep time took longer than I had anticipated, with making the bacon, cutting the veggies, and of course, making the sauce. But, though I had no idea what I was doing, pizza is very forgiving. Everything came out wonderfully. We'll be making pizza again—except this time, maybe with less complicated toppings.

Local 127, chef’s table:

There has been a lot of noise about Local 127 recently, including one of the craziest comment streams I have ever seen on Julie’s blog, Winemedineme.

After the 5chw4r7z’s and I stopped in for a few minutes (and a few drinks) after Oktoberfest, and both of their positive experiences with the place earlier, and Kate's good time at the place, David and I were eager to try it out. Talking to Steven the night of Oktoberfest, he mentioned the Chef’s table. Now, I have a vague idea of what a Chef’s table is. And by vague, I knew that it was in the kitchen.

That alone was enough to make me jump on Steven’s offer that night. A peek inside a working kitchen? Yes please!

David and I were downtown on Saturday viewing apartments, when 5 o' clock rolled around and David’s stomach started growling. Intrigued by my description of the place and having met both Kyle and Steven at the Oktoberfest that previous Sunday, he wanted to stop by and check it out while we were downtown. I feel that I should post a note about the pictures here—because we were not planning on stopping into Local 127 that morning, I had failed to lug the S3 IS. However, the iPhone 3GS did a pretty good job of capturing all the courses.

This is what is to the left and right of the Chef's table. I like the cow a lot.

Brent (Left) and Kyle (right) gave us some helpful advice on sharpening our new Global Chef's knife

Kyle, Steve, and Brent were great hosts

Local 127 opens for dinner service at 5:30 on Saturday, so at 5:35, David and I strolled in to the bar. I inquired about the availability of the Chef’s table, of course. Steven said that would be no problem, and we tried some fizzy lemonade cocktails while we waited. I don’t know what was in them, but they were delicious.

I know people may not know what to expect about Local 127. I know from some accounts, that there apparently was a grouchypants sommelier that made some people feel unwelcome at some point. My assessment of our evening—I felt comfortable the entire time. David and I were both in casual attire—my jeans even had a hole in the knee—but at no point did we feel like we were out of place or unwelcome. We saw people dressed up, and a few dressed more casually, but we were definitely at the lower end.

I didn't worry about which fork I should be using

So here’s the deal with the Chef’s table at Local 127. Reservations are recommended, and the price tag per person is $95.00. That may seem high, but you’re getting the table for the whole night of dinner service—or at least until you founder yourself and call it quits, like we did. Typically, you can expect 10-15 courses both on the menu and off of it, with little treats from the kitchen in between, as well as corresponding beverages with the food. And let me tell you, Steven can pick his wines. And of course, you get to view the kitchen, watch it prepare all the meals sent out, and hear about them in more detail. At no point did we feel rushed or hurried—the staff managed to keep an eye on how well we were doing with our plates without hovering at all.

We had many of the small plates, and some small portions of the large plates, as well as some specialties from the kitchen that night. We also met some people that Local 127 is working with closely, such as Bob Perry. Bob is the Project Manager for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Kentucky, and had brought with him some truly remarkable ham. It was rich and flavorful and I want some more of it right now.

Bob of the yummy ham

The first thing put before us came from the cured and pickled menu, the smoked trout, corn and chives. Local 127 pickles their corn in house. When it was set before me, I sighed. David is the smoked fish person, not me. But I looked at it and decided to try it anyway. It was a very good decision. This was actually one of my favorite dishes of the night. Steven picked a smooth, sweet Riesling, which complemented the tartness of the picked corn and smokiness of the fish in a way I had not expected.

The next thing brought to our table was a small plate of that delicious Mountain Ham a la Bob, roasted beets, goat cheese, and wine syrup. Remember how I said I didn’t like smoked fish? Well, I thought I didn’t like beets either. Once again, I was mistaken. I like smoked fish! And Beets! The goat cheese was especially creamy and tart, and I really liked the rich flavors and textures of the dish.

Next, the much debated about potato skins. We did a “potato skin tasting” of both the old potato skins, which Julie and Terry were served (left), and the newer potato skins. (right)

David and both agreed we like the changes that Local 127 has made the potato skins. The new potato skins feature Grafton cheddar and bacon, béchamel crème sauce, sour cream with in-house preserved lemon (now below the potato skin), potato foam on top, and chives. I really liked the texture of the potato foam. If you came to Local 127 and tried them the old way, I recommend you come back to give them another taste. It’s worth it. We had these with a Hippie IPA from Buckeye Brewing.

Next, the fall squash soup with with garlic chips, pumpkin seeds, and parsley. This also had maple and sauteed zucchini.

I really liked this soup and I ate every last bit of it. It's very comforting—I was ready for a nap afterward, and I know soup. Today a coworker asked me the soup schedule for a local restaurant downtown because she figured “I would know”. I did.

Next was the house roll, with Vermont cultured butter (soft, I am happy to report to the Foodhussy) They had a very nice egg wash that reminded me of the smell of toasted marshmallows.

delicious roll ehn-hance!

Our next dish we were very excited to try, the “risotto style” creamy rice ($12.00) (yes, it has been changed on the menu to read "risotto style") with mushrooms, herbs and house preserved lemon. Apparently local 127 started preserving lemons at the restaurant a few months ago, and now they are ready to add a delicious flavor to the dishes.

The preserved lemon was a twist that we really liked a lot. David noted that the olive oil on top of the rice was very tasty and seemed to be very high quality. The rice was a little al dente, but, in our risotto style opinion, could have been a little firmer. Overall, we really liked the components of this dish, though we liked the wild rice on the next dish even better.

Our next dish was a the Atlantic Halibut, with rice two ways—wild and crispy— wilted spinach, and lemon emulsion and diced tomatoes.

We really, really loved the wild rice—it had a buttery flavor and a great texture. The halibut was OK—though it seemed too dried out on the seared sides. The underside was more tender. I liked the crispy rice on top, but David is still on the fence about it.

Next, sweet corn cakes! We really liked these too. Great texture, more of a cake than a bread. These cakes were very sweet and I ate way more than I had room for with the yummy Vermont cultured butter. David says if you remember what Burbank's cornbread was like before it turned to crap, then these are very similar.

For next course, we were served pan roasted amish chicken with ragout of roasted eggplant, kalamata olive and roasted bell peppers; and pistachio, garlic chips, pulled beet and basil. We had both a Pinot Noir and B.O.R.I.S. the crusher stout with this dish.

David attempting to be a wine connoisseur

The Pinot Noir went well with the chicken, which was nice and juicy, but the stout should really be paired with the next dish.

We tried a small plate of the bison, medium rare, from Vista, with tomato bread salad and goat feta. The bison had a wonderfully decadent and rich flavor without being gamey, or “livery”. This was one of David’s favorite dishes he had. The rich flavor of the stout really complemented the rich flavors in the meat. I thought the slight acidity brought in by the tomatoes was a nice touch.

I was so full I couldn't finish my drinks, that's how good it was

At this point David and I were fading fast, so we only tried a few more dishes. The Cheesecake with sweet basil, and house made preserves was delicious, but we couldn’t finish it. I especially liked the crunchy streusel like topping. The cheesecake was not as solid as you’d expect—it’s more of pudding.

And lastly, two chocolate chip cookies, which I dipped in the cheesecake without regrets.

Our impression of a working kitchen has been skewed by watching to many dramatic cooking shows. It was much quieter than we expected, but it definitely picked up a little once is got busier.

I’d say that our experience at Local 127 was very positive—we really enjoyed the Chef’s table, and we will definitely be back for regular dinner service. We saw tasty burgers flying out of the kitchen, which we both want to try. A burger is $11--which is very fair. The menu is priced well--we felt everything was priced reasonably.

I think that for most restaurants, the first few weeks—especially when taking over a spot that people are really attached to, like Pigall’s—can be rough. All the people we spoke to that night, Steven, Kyle, Brent and Bob—have a clear passion for food and want to share that passion with others. We have a copy of the menu--which, be advised will change week to week-- and after talking to Steven, his "food philosophy" seems to be to get the best, local (if possible) ingredients for his dishes that he can get his hands on. We agree with this method wholeheartedly.

We’ll be back, especially when the adjacent cocktail lounge opens.

30 day pantry challenge:

David and I signed the lease for a new fancypants loft apartment at Shillito Lofts today. It's pretty kickass, to not mince words.

We'll be moving in 31 days.

What this means: higher rent, eating in more and focusing on doing our shopping at Findlay and Avril Bleh (and more cooking posts), downtown happy hour deals and reviews, having more space to live, being closer to the heart of downtown. Bugging the 5chw4r7z's.

It also means we have 30 days to empty our pantry/freezer.

We've set a new goal, and I'm looking for advice to help us reach it. We are not to go to the store for as long as possible for non-essentials. We'll be turning the contents of our pantry and freezer into (hopefully) delicious, or at least edible franken-meals, and documenting our progress. I'm also taking meal suggestions. Even if you don't have any, it's always interesting to peek inside someone's pantry or fridge. I think it tells you a lot about a person, like someone's bookshelf.

Here's what we have to work with:

Pantry:

Molasses

1 big container of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup

Cocoa Krispies

Banana nut muffin mix

cashews

Brownie mix

Cinnamon raisin bread mix

Chocolate frosting

Splenda

dried cranberries

Soy sauce

Slim jims (pepperoni and mild)

Sushi rice

chickpeas

water chestnuts (2 cans)

English Baked beans

Chili

Squash soup

Chicken gravy

Saltines

Bouillon cubes

vegetable and tomato soup

stove top

hamburger helper (used 9/30/09)

tomato paste

arborio rice

ketchup

vermicelli

spaghetti (used 10/6/09)

egg noodles

sunflower seeds

red beans and rice mix

cous cous

canned chicken

a shitload of teas, many varieties

instant coffee

marinara sauce (used 10/6/09)

flour

Freezer:

2 frozen pizzas ( 1 eaten 10/3/09)

boca “beef” crumbles (used 9/30/09)

trader joe's chicken fried rice

diced carrots and peas

string beans

laura's lean beef patties (used 10/6/09)

2 giant beef ribs from findlay market

Dojo Pistachio gelato (used 9/30/09)

frozen blueberries

buckeyes

I'm not going to list out the perishable contents of the fridge. Suffice to say, it contains a lot of beer varieties, cheeses and condiments. And bacon. (gone as of 10/2/09)

We're open to suggestions, give it your best shot!

The Quadruple B (Blueberry Beer Bundt):

Honestly, this baking thing is changing me forever. I once set a toaster on fire making pop-tarts. Now, as my confidence in my newfound ability expands, I find myself rising to the challenge.

I’m doing things I never thought I’d do. I’m buying things I never thought I’d need. I’m running out of cabinet space. I find myself wanting to hoard pyrex casserole dishes.

On our last trip to Sur la Table in Rookwood Commons, I was poking around the shelves, pulling out objects of various sizes and evaluating if I needed the small, large, or extra large. David, done with his perusal of the knife selection, came up behind me.

“What are you looking for?”
“The right size pan to fit my recipe.” I responded.
“A bundt pan?!”
“Uh-huh.”

That’s right, I bought a bundt pan. I associate bundt cakes with the ‘50’s era of cooking. You know, the flowered apron in the kitchen, roast in the oven, jello mold, golly-gee-whiz-mister era. But I bought one anyway, because I was about to attempt my most difficult recipe yet.

The blueberry beer bundt. The beer chosen was Three Philosophers, which has cherry and malty notes, and is a little tart. Once again, this cooking with booze recipe has been cobbled together from the farthest reaches of the internet to create a recipe that has the best qualities of a bundt while including some tasty beer characteristics. And macadamia nuts.

Recipe for the triple B:

3 cups self rising flour
1 cup beer
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 cup nuts
Blueberries (whatever amount you feel comfortable with)
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla.

Bake on 350 for an hour and 10 minutes. Make sure you test the cake to make sure it is cooked all the way before taking it out.

The bundt cake came out perfectly, but looked a little boring without an additional garnish. I made a topping of sweetened coconut flakes, leftover blueberries, and a little honey to glue them together.

The cake itself was very moist and pretty dense—if I had to do it over, I would have crushed the macadamias. All in all, the blueberry-tart-coco-macadamia flavor combination was pretty decadent.

Cheddar-corns (Cheddar chive beer biscuits):

As a counterpart to the scones, I put together a cheddar beer biscuit recipe for David. Little did I realize that by doing so, I had sent David down the path to learn the art of the biscuit. The cheddar-corns were only the beginning.

As of now, we’ve made several versions of the biscuits, with beer and without, with cheese and without, with buttermilk and butter; lastly, with olive oil and yogurt. We’ve both gained a little weight as a result of our tasty, tasty biscuit experimentations.

The basic version includes:

• 2 C Flour (lower-gluten makes for fluffier)
• 3 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 4 T Unsalted butter (cultured is a plus)
• 1 C Shredded cheese (sharp cheddar works well)
• 2 T Chives (dried or fresh)
• 1/2 C Buttermilk
• 1/2 C Beer (something fizzy and full-flavored)

1. Sift dry ingredients together
2. Cut in room-temperature butter until crumbly in appearance
3. Toss in cheese and chives
4. Add buttermilk and beer
5. Turn dough with fork until no loose flour is visible
6. Kneed on floured surface a few times and pat to 1/2" thickness
7. Cut with biscuit cutter and place on non-stick sheet
8. Top with shredded and/or grated cheese
9. Bake for about 15 minutes at 450.

For our first attempt. We chose Spaten lager as our beer—light, a little bready, but not too overpowering. David mixed up the dough and then asked me if we had a cookie cutter to cut the biscuits.

We only have one cookie cutter. I got it from one of my parents for Christmas. It’s exactly like the one we used to make cookies with when I was a kid.

The idea of making unicorn shaped beer biscuits was very appealing (at least, to me), so we went for it.

Chaaaarlie...Charrrrlie...we're on a paan, Charlie!*

The next version involved whole wheat flour and Old Rasputin stout. These biscuits were dense and darker than the last batch. They stuck with you, while the whole wheat flour lent a little bit of bitterness to the batch.



Then there were the cheddar chive drop beer biscuits made with white lily flour and Victory Golden Monkey.



And the buttermilk cheddar biscuits. These don't have any beer in them, but look so nice I couldn't leave them out of the post.

*Not all readers will get this reference.

Gruyere chive Saison Beer Bread:

While I made my muffins, David went the savory route, deciding on making a cheese and chive beer loaf.

Fresh grated gruyere was added to the loaf, and it was topped with a cheese blend of parmesan and asiago.

For the beer, he went with something a little spicy, to make the bread more interesting. He also tweaked the beer bread recipe to add an egg and butter, to enhance the fluffiness and richness of the bread.

The beer chosen was Clipper city’s Heavy Seas Saison—the red sky at night. David and I really like this beer. It’s one of the heavy seas line from Clipper city, so it’s a little over 7% ABV. At under $10 a six pack, it’s a pretty good value to be had. Their Loose Cannon Hop3 is also an excellent buy.

This beer is pleasant and refreshing to drink, a little spicy, and a little bit sweet. But how would it do in our beer bread?

The end result was delicious. The egg and butter made the bread more moist and fluffy—the bread, as you can see, actually rose so much if bent the tin foil pan—than the typical recipe, and we polished off the entire loaf in a few days, grabbing slices for breakfast.