Never has a food been named so perfectly as the hand pie--it really is an entire small pie that fits right in your hand. Typical fillings range from the savory (caramelized onion and goat cheese) to the sweet (blackberry)--we fall somewhere in the middle stuffing our hand pies with apples, raisins, walnuts, and coconut, all wrapped in a hearty spent grain dough. These delightful easy-to-travel pastries are fantastic grab-on-the-go breakfast treats.

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Fall weather is great, but the season of tweed, apple picking and great jazz wouldn't truly be Autumn if we didn't put pumpkin in pretty much everything we eat. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin ravioli--we'll binge on all of it until we can't stand the thought for another nine months when our infatuation begins anew. Pumpkin beer is no exception, and though the release dates for these supposedly seasonal brews keep creeping into Hefeweizen territory in August, we still love the stuff once the time's right.

We tasted four classic pumpkin beers last year--old favorites Dogfish Head's Punkin and Southern Tier's Imperial Pumking alongside Fire Island's Pumpkin Barrel Ale and Hollow Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin--so this year we decided to expand our reach. We tried six pumpkin ales from across the country that ranged from light-bodied, easy-drinking beers to darker interpretations that reached as high as 9% ABV.

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• Slideshow: A History of Beer in New York City [NY Daily News]
• IPA that Stays in Liquid Form at -90 Degrees Shipped to South Pole [The Daily Meal]
• The Science Behind Why That Beer Tastes so Good With Your Burger [NPR]
• Craft Beer Sales Growth in Colorado Generates Spinoff Businesses [Denver Post]
• Great American Beer Fest Kicks Off This Week [Coloradoan]

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It's not everyday that you get to drink inside of a giant bank vault. The Village Voice hosted their second annual Brooklyn Pour last weekend at Skylight One Hanson (the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Clocktower) and we had a blast introducing everyone to our soon to be released Fall flavors: Rye PA and Bourbon Dubbel. With over one hundred beers from 65 breweries, we didn't have time to sample them all and work our booth, but we did get to taste some great beers. Some of our favorites were the Sour Dark Ale from 508 Brewery, Extra Special Oak from Element Brewing Company, and Rockaway Brewing Company's E.S.B.

We also taught a few beer-lovers how to make some beer with our how to brew demonstration during the second session. Dogfish Head and Brooklyn Brine dazzled us with their pickling skills shortly thereafter with some beer-brined Hop-Pickles. To sum up our time at Brooklyn Pour: we drank, we learned, we ate, and we documented. Enjoy the slideshow!

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We know there's a pretty big beer event happening in Denver this weekend, but unless you are really quick with a mouse and got your tickets months ago before they sold out in 8 hours, you aren't going to be at the Great American Beer Festival. So instead, we have some other beer sampling options to share with you.

But beer isn't the only reason to check out these events. We have one that benefits a children's hospital in Washington, one that has a beer belly competition, and even one that also has wine and is totally free! So take your mind off of all that you are missing at GABF and enjoy yourself at one of these other fine events happening this weekend.
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Originating in France, these bite-sized butter cakes are known for their lovely scalloped edges, making for both a beautiful and delicious treat. The scallops also give these super moist, subtly sweet cakes just the right amount of soft crunch when you bite into them.

We make our Madeleines with spent grain flour, which gives them a great hearty flavor while keeping the sweetness in check. Madeleines can be dipped in chocolate or dusted with sugar for added sweetness, but we found them to be perfectly delicious right out of the oven (after they'd cooled down just a bit).

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While drinking a beer won't make you an archeologist: Drinking one of these nearly lost styles at least gives you a good excuse to dust off your oldest-looking chalice and feel like one for a bit.

This week we sample three takes on historic German beers that due to timing or region don't adhere to Reinheitsgebot, the centuries-old Bavarian Purity Law that states beer can only be made from water, barley and hops (the law was amended to include yeast only after Louis Pasteur discovered them in the 19th Century). The resulting bandit beers are tart, salty, smoky and entirely distinct.

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• April Fool's Joke Comes True With 'Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout' - Made with Actual Bull Testicles [Digital Spy]
• Canadian Brewery Turns Empty Malt Bags, Box Board & Beer Hoses into Bottle Carriers, Tote Bags, Wallets & More [Earth 911]
• James Bond Swaps Martinis for Heineken [Zee News]
• Pizza Beer Released In Time For Last Season of 'Jersey Shore' [Today]
• Craft Beer Drives Post-Recession Beer Sales Recovery [ABC News]

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There is enough beer flowing at festivals this weekend to keep you drinking all year long. What's more, all of the events we are presenting to you this weekend raise money for charity. Drinking for a cause is our favorite win-win situation.

For those of you sticking around the city this weekend, we'll be at the Village Voice's Brooklyn Pour being held at Skylight One Hanson in Fort Greene. We will be giving a how to brew demonstration during Session Two and pouring some new beers for the Fall. Come by and say hello!
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When people say something is, "easy as pie" - we tend to believe they mean the eating of and not the making. Pie crusts have a way of causing little spikes of anxiety: lattices (spike), braids (spike), fluted pastry wheel (triple spike). And while we may still dream of one day adorning our apple pies with perfectly placed overlapping leaf cutouts - for now we are going to focus more on the flavor and leave the decorating to those food-styling professionals.

The key to this nutty crust is the addition of spent grain flour, a quick pulse in the food processor and keeping your butter and water ice cold. Other than that just roll it out, prick the bottom, use a fork to crimp the edges and fill with whatever is in season.

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As former pub owners, Mark and Lisa Hinkley always had an appreciation for great beer. Which is why the husband and wife duo got to work building a brewery of their own. San Diego-based Green Flash Brewing Company opened its doors in 2002, added brewmaster Chuck Silva to the team in 2004, and has been churning out some mighty tasty brews. And we aren't the only ones to take notice.

With a slew of awards under their belt, Green Flash is best known for their hop-heavy IPAs - which while absolutely delicious - is not to say their other styles should be overlooked. Some of our favorites from this tasting were the smooth, sweet Double Stout Black Ale, Le Freak, and Rayon Vert, a refreshing Belgian-style pale ale.

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We recently found ourselves in London boarding the tube from pub to pub and looking left while crossing the street in search of the city's craft beer rediscovery. The English love beer. If it weren't for the Industrial Revolution in Britain, we'd be left without much of our brewing tradition. Walk into any brewery (outside of Germany), and you'll bear witness to the fruits of England's beer-loving labor. Walk into any pub in the world, and you'll do the same.

Uniquely British, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has ushered in an appreciation for fresh-tasting, locally-sourced, traditional cask ales starting in the 1970's. While strengthening English pub culture, CAMRA disregarded much of the craft beer revolution happening in the US, but breweries and craft beer bars have begun popping up to combine the best of English tradition with a pinch of American inspiration. So we went on a mission to track down some of the best spots we think are putting a new spin on a British classic: Beer.

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• UBS Study Finds Americans Earn the Cost of a Beer Every 5 Minutes [The Economist]
• Rogue to Brew "New Crustacean" using Head Brewer's Beard Yeast -- Yuck [SFist]
• Garrett Oliver About to Bottle Obama's White House Honey Ale [NY Times]
• What Your Beer Choice Says About Your Political Leanings [National Journal]
• Taxes: The Most Expensive Ingredient in Beer [CNBC]

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Fall brings with it beautiful changes in the color of leaves and bigger, bolder beers to keep you warm as the weather cools. There are many choices of where to drink a beer this weekend, and these festivals may be some of the best.

Whether you hit Vermont's SIPtemberfest or Florida's Craftoberfest, you may get home and not know what month it is. If you're down in the Big Easy, New Orleans on Tap is there to get you some beer and help out the Louisiana SPCA.

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Our Coq à la Bière, like the traditional Coq au Vin that inspired us, is a marathon of a recipe. It starts the night before (or two if you are really committed) with a beer and vegetable heavy marinade, which in turns becomes the cooking liquid and the ultimate sauce. In between there is lots of browning and straining and reserving before reaching the plate.

But the end result is well worth it. Rich and comforting with layers of flavor, this is the kind of stick-to-your-ribs dish that cooler weather was invented for (or vice versa as it may be).

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This week's tasting features beers of a more whimsical origin.

Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project is just that: a project, not a brewery per se. Self-proclaimed "tenant brewers," co-owners and husband and wife duo Dann Paquette and Martha Holley-Paquette, rent their brew space by the day (or night, actually), but do all the of the brewing themselves.

The two met in Massachusetts where Paquette (a long time professional brewer with previous stints at the Ipswich Brewing Company and John Harvard's Brewery & Ale House, among others) was working at the Haverhill Brewery. They then ventured to Holley-Paquette's native Yorkshire to get married and stuck around for a while where Paquette took a job at Daleside Brewery. There Paquette began to dream up ideas (with Holley-Paquette's help) for a brewery project of their own. Upon their return back to the US, Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project was born. The first beer they ever made was their flagship Jack D'Or - a shining example of the thought that Pretty Things puts into each of their beers. Illustrated and brought to life, Jack D'Or is more than a beer, he is a character - an anthropomorphized, mustachioed barley hull (who closely resembles Brewmaster Dann Paquette). With quirky names, illustrations, the occasional costume and even original poetry, Pretty Things has both taste and character in ample supply.

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• Oregon Gas Station Offers 30 Beers for Growler Fills [KTVZ News]
• 25 Colorado Brewers Collaborate on Memorial Porter for GABF Icon Danny Williams [Denver Post]
• US Tested Atom Bomb's Effect on Beer in the 1950s [Dvice]
• Man Auctioning Off 4,000 Piece Vintage Beer Can Collection [The Sacramento Bee]
• High Quality Beer Menus Boost Restaurant Sales [Restaurant News]

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Every weekend seems to bring us something new and exciting when it comes to beer events, and this weekend will do nothing to change that trend. Whether you want something you can take home, or if you just want to drink something local, we have an event for you.

Unforgettable experiences await those who head to the New York State Craft Beer Experience or the CoHops Beer Fest, or any of the other events on our list. Each of this week's event offers something a little different compared to your average beer festival.

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• Red Robin Debuts Sam Adams Octoberfest Beer Milkshake [Beer Pulse]
• Bowser Beer, Beer for Dogs [NBC News]
• Genius Steals Bartender's Credit Card, Attempts to Buy Beer From Same Bartender with Stolen Card [Huffington Post]
• Oktoberfest Breweries Experiencing Keg and Bottle Shortages [NPR]

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Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, California, and New York all have great beer events this weekend. We're sure other states do too, but we don't have enough blog space to cover all of them. We have to draw the line somewhere.

There seems to be a furry creature theme this weekend as the Ballpark Brew Bash features a buffalo motif and the California Beer Festival has a keg lifting bear as a mascot. Wild animals aside, there is a whole lot of beer to drink this weekend, so get to it.

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The cool breeze rolling through Brooklyn today hinted that Fall is on the way. And when we think of Fall, we think of our Apple Crisp Ale (recipe found in Brooklyn Brew Shop's Beer Making Book: 52 Seasonal Recipes for Small Batches). It's a deliciously malty, medium-bodied amber ale with rich flavors of apple and cinnamon. It takes 2 apples to make, but why let malted apples go to waste when you can make ice cream? Here's how:

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Months after a terse and cryptic clue from Stillwater Headbrewer Brian Strumke - a facebook post reading simply, "The Perfect Crime" - a new collaboration of that name has emerged from the playful mystery Strumke and partners Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of Evil Twin Brewing and Brian Ewing of Twelve Percent Imports have cultivated around it. The noir-inspired project is brewed at De Scheldebrouwerij in Belgium and for now features two dames, an American and a European - both Blonde. Who knows which will capture your heart? We love a good sleuth-story, so we're hoping for a sequel from this all-star team.

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Widely grown internationally and used in the breeding processes of many other hop varieties, Northern Brewer is moderately bitter and plays nicely in some mellower styles. Northern Brewer is mainly used as a bittering hop, imparting minty evergreen flavors.

Northern Brewer is often used in English Ales and is also the featured hop in California Common style beers, making it more easily recognizable in flavor profile compared to other hop varieties.

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• White House Unveils Beer Recipe [The White House Blog]
• Garrett Oliver Weighs in on the White House Honey Ale Recipe [New York Times]
• Stone Brewery's 'Enjoy By 09.21.12 IPA' Sets New Bar for Beer Freshness [Daily Record]
• Glass Shape Influences How Fast You Drink [Science Daily]
• Genesee Opens Brew House in Rochester [Beer Pulse]

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Last week was the unofficial end of summer, and we hope it's starting to cool off where you live. The coming fall means nicer weather for much of the country, and we suggest you take advantage of that by enjoying some great brews at one of the events happening this weekend.

Take the whole family out to Oregon Brews & BBQs, or, if you need a little time away from the kids, head to any of the other events around the country that won't let them in. Either way, there are philanthropic drinking opportunities abound with chances to support fire fighters, the Willamette Valley Cancer Foundation, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

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As soon as we saw the perfectly ripe peaches from our latest CSA pick up, we knew they were fated to become a spent grain peach cobbler. Adding equal parts dried spent grain and flour gives the cobbler a fantastic crunch and a pinch of pepper in the crust adds a little kick to the flavor. Perfect dessert for a dinner party or that last BBQ of the season, this cobbler tastes great fresh out of the oven or cooled and topped with a scoop or two of ice cream.

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For all you would-be nerd haters out there, allow us to drop some empirical knowledge on you: beer brewing is a science, it might not quite be rocket science (don't try to make beer bottle rockets), but it's science all the same. To our knowledge, no brewer takes their science of suds more seriously than former math and physics teacher Mikkel Borg and his conveniently named childhood friend Kristian Keller. Together, this self proclaimed beer geek duo founded Mikkeller Brewery.

Drawing on the geek side of their beer geek personalities, Borg and Keller began setting up brewing experiments, creating a malt base that remained constant and changing only one variable, either the hops or, in this case, the yeast - one lager and one American style ale. In our super-secret floating science lab in the clouds (like the one in The Avengers), we performed a chi-square test of statistical significance on the experimental results that indicated statistical independence of the variables. Or, to put it simply, we tasted them both and they were different.

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• Obama Promises to Release White House Honey Ale Recipe 'Soon' [Today]
• Fire Damage Pollutes Poudre River and Threatens New Belgium's Production [The Coloradoan]
• Kegs Aren't Just for Beer Anymore: Kegged Wine Becoming New Trend [Clean Technica]
• Columbian 'Duh Beer' Looks an Awful lot Like The Simpsons' 'Duff Beer' [Yahoo!]
• Is this Carlton Draught 'Beer Chase' Ad the Best of the Year? [Huffington Post]

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With Labor Day upon us, your summer of beer is (alas) coming to a close. But before you can turn in your title of High Priestess of Hops, Ambassador of Ales, Prince of Pilsner, Matriarch of Malt, Bard of Brew, Sultan of Suds or, you know, anything else you can think of - here are a few long weekend events (both at home and abroad) to complete your core requirements.

And for you New Yorkers who haven't been yet, The New York Historical Society's fantastic exhibition, Beer Here: Brewing New York's History closes on Sunday, so this is your last chance!

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Summer isn't complete without a bowl of clam chowder. And no bowl of clam chowder is complete without oyster crackers. Salty and delicious, these crackers are the perfect topping to your favorite chowder, whether it be clam, lobster, corn, or any other soup. These crunchy little treats are a very addicting snack in their own right and couldn't be easier to make. All you need are five basic ingredients you will likely already have in your kitchen and a handful of dried spent grain left over from your last brew day.

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Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Perennial Artisan Ales is a new brewery that produces their own take on Belgian and American craft beers. The addition of fresh spices, fruits, and nuts into their beers makes every sip a new adventure, and each bottle a whole new world to explore.

Perennial opened up shop less than a year ago in September of 2011, but is brewing like they've been doing it for decades. That could be because owner and head brewer Phil Wymore spent time at Goose Island and Half Acre before opening his own place. So far, their brews are only available in the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis markets.

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A true hop-lover's hop, Nugget is woody, resiny and plenty bitter. Used mainly as a bittering hop due to its high alpha acidity, Nugget is sometimes used as an aroma hop to balance out the floral and citrus notes of other hop varieties.

Because of its versatility, Nugget is utilized in a wide variety of (mostly American) styles from ales to stouts to barleywines, imparting earthy, herbal flavors with a hint of spice.

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• A Beer a Day Prevents Free Radical Damage to Skin [Boston Globe]
• Average American Has Four Drinks a Week (Clearly we are Above Average) [Gallup]
• Freedom of Information Act Request Filed for White House Beer Recipe [DCist]
• No Gold for Olympian Attempting the Beer Mile [USA Today]
• Beer Drinking Pig 'Pinky' Free With Purchase of Tasmanian Pub [Huffington Post]

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This weekend should be a great one for a few beers. Whether you are a more active beer drinker, or a more studious one, we've found an event for you.

For bike riders, there's the 5-day-long Vermont Bike and Brewery Challenge. But if you're more into learning about the beer industry while you sit around and enjoy a beer, then Beer-Con in San Diego is probably where you should be this weekend.

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You may have realized by now that we really like spent grain. Brewing everyday means we're always thinking of new things to do with our favorite leftover (see: Spent Grain Chef). Whether you're making waffles, cheddar crackers, pretzel rolls, or handmade pasta, spent grain flour can add a complex warmth and nuttiness to some of your tried and true dishes. Here's how to make it.

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Bonjour, brew-heads! This week's 2 O'Clock Tasting takes us across the Atlantic to Brasserie Thiriez, a small craft brewery located in Esquelbecq, France, just a few miles from the Belgian border. Despite its age-old brewing legacy, this region of French Flanders has seen a vast majority of its breweries close in the last half a century. Brasserie Thiriez embodies the revival of French brewing, and appropriately operates out of a once active farmhouse brewery that closed shop in 1945.

Since leaving his desk job in 1996, owner and founder Daniel Thiriez has been brewing traditionally inspired farmhouse ales with a modern flair, bringing fistfuls of hops, delicately balanced malts, and a certain je ne sais pas that we can't help but love.

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• You're Not Imagining Things, Bar Glasses Really are Shrinking [Grub Street]
• Czech Brewers Restort to Sugary Half-Beers to Bolster Sales [Reuters]
• Septuagenarian Bavarian After 6 Day Ordeal in the Alps: I'd Like a Beer [NBC News]
• White House Honey Ale is in High Supply on Obama's Campaign Bus [Huffington Post]
• 'Craft Beer' added to 2012 Update of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary [Jackson Free Press]

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This weekend we've got beer and food fests, a microbrew competition that rewards budding brewmasters with a trophy the size of a small child, and Stone Brewing throws itself a 16th Anniversary party.

Beer, smoked meats, and blues combine their awesome powers at the Smokin' Blues and Brews Fest in Lancaster, PA, promising a delicious day of beer and BBQ.  The Saratoga Steinley Cup is also up for grabs this weekend, so if you find yourself in Wyoming, we suggest you head to Kathy Glode Park and vote for your favorite microbrew. The winner takes home one of the most magnificent trophies we've ever seen. And yes, of course the trophy doubles as a giant beer mug.

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Summer is nearing the end, but it's still pretty hot out there. Really hot, actually. And while we usually beat the heat by cooling off with an ice cold beer, we think cooling off with an ice cold popsicle is even better. We used Bruxelles Blonde for our raspberry and rose beer pops, but any light ale will do the trick. Here's how to do it. Enjoy the video.

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Known for producing rustic, unfiltered and unpasteurized beers, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, was founded in Dexter, Michigan in 2004 by Ron Jeffries, AKA Brewmaster Spooky, AKA Captain Ron. The name Jolly Pumpkin was one in a long list of possibilities, but it was the one Jeffries kept coming back to because it made him laugh. "Jolly Pumpkin" also embodies some of his favorite things: Halloween, pirates, and the tropics.

Jolly Pumpkin takes great care in maturing their beers. Each brew is fermented in open air tanks and aged in oak casks. The beers are then further matured in the bottle with the addition of more yeast, also known as bottle re-fermentation. This process creates a beer that ages extremely well as the yeast continue to consume the sugars in the bottle, changing flavors, producing alcohol and causing natural carbonation.

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We spent Saturday teaching a Grow Your Own Beer class at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, NY. The class was a great success and the setting was beautiful - we were surrounded by sheep and pigs and hops and other magical things. Here are some highlights. Enjoy the slideshow!

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• Super PAC "Slam Dunks, Fireworks, and Eagles" Raises Money for Beer [The Inquisitr]
• Drunk Man Calls 911 Nine Times. The Emergency? He was Out of Beer [ABC News]
• Backcountry Beverages Invents Concentrated Liquid Beer for Campers [Gizmodo]
• Canning Factories on Wheels Help the Craft Beer Canvolution [NPR]
• European Debt Crisis Explained Through Chart of Beer Inflation [Business Insider]
• Beer Bears? Bears Ransack Cabin in Norway, 100 Cans of Beer Consumed and/or Destroyed [Gawker]

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It's still hot out there. Time to cool down with some beer. If you haven't quite finished brewing your own batch, there are some serious drinking opportunities available all across the country.

Whether it's a rock and roll laced extravaganza at the Rock Hops Craft Beer Festival in Trenton, New Jersey, or a beer-centric fest in a giant parking lot for the Twin Cities Beer Fest, or even more beer and tunes at Microfestivus in Virginia's Elmwood Park, this weekend has a lot to offer to fans of foamy goodness.

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Last week we poured our Jalapeño Saison alongside juicy, braised chicken from the East Village's Northern Spy Food Co. at Edible Manhattan's annual Good Beer. It's consistently one of our favorite nights of the year. Pairing breweries with some of the city's best restaurants always results in an evening full of amazing beers and bites. Don't get us wrong; we love pretzel necklaces (get on it, Sigmunds), but it's rare to find yourself in a beer festival where mentioning such incredible food options as confit chicken gizzard kabobs with lamb bacon from Mile End, green curry with sea bass from Gramercy Tavern, BLTs from The Meat Hook, Grilled Cheese from Milk Truck, and deviled eggs from Fort Defiance just scratches the surface.

Add in spicy micheladas made with our Jalapeño Saison by Northern Spy and beers from 30 breweries including Brooklyn Brewery, Sam Adams, Greenport Harbor, Kelso, Oskar Blues, 508 Gastrobrewery, Empire, and park slope's premier bottle shop Bierkraft. Now that's a party.

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You made it through brew day and your beer has been fermenting for two weeks. The yeast have been busy converting the sugars in your beer to alcohol and now it's time to get that beer out of the fermenter and into bottles so it can carbonate. Let our How to Bottle video guide you through the next step in the beer making process: bottling. Enjoy the video.

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Saint Somewhere may be based out of Tarpon Springs, Florida, but head brewer and founder Bob Sylvester makes some exceptional Belgian-style ales. Using only malt and wheat from Belgium and noble hops, Saint Somewhere sticks to traditional brewing techniques employing open fermentation.

Because of the exposure to local microflora, each ale is partially fermented with local wild yeast, bringing a little bit of Florida to each bottle - a style Sylvester has dubbed "Florida Saison." Each beer is then re-fermented in the bottle with the addition of new yeast at the corking stage. And the yeast certainly were still busy doing their jobs when we opened these bottles - each saying hello with a resounding pop.

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While we certainly do wish we were in London enjoying the Olympic games first hand (mostly because we are sick of accidentally reading about the results of events NBC won't be airing until primetime) we are pretty happy that we aren't forced to shell out $11 for a pint of Heineken (the only beer available at the Olympic games) just to get our beer fix.

Instead, we've compiled a list of much more palatable (with BrewDog's Nevermind the Anabolics perhaps being the exception) beers to get you in the Olympic spirit and a little Olympic trivia that you can use to impress your friends.

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• New Service BeerText.Us Texts Info About Beer [Gothamist]
• Second Annual IPA Day held on Thursday [Philly.com]
• British MP Introduces Motion in Parliament to Condemn IOC for Choosing Heineken as Official Beer of the Summer Games [NESN]
• Great American Beer Fest Tickets Sold Out in Less than an Hour [Denver Post]
• Store Manager Stops Robbery Attempt By Throwing Beer Cans At Would-Be Thief [United Press International] Read More...
  
  

Summer is the time to be outside. But more importantly, summer is the time to drink outside. We'll be headed upstate to camp out at Ommegang's Belgium Comes to Cooperstown. If you're on the west coast, what better place to spend your outdoor drinking time than against the beautiful mountain back drop of Mammoth Lakes, CA, listening to some great tunes at Bluesapalooza?

For the more adventurous (and the gluttons for punishment), head on up to Burlington this weekend for the Vermont Bicycle & Brewery Tour. Afterwards, be sure to treat yourself to one of these Post-Biking Brews. Go ahead, you've earned it.

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Stirring a big pot of grits feels exactly like the mash in brewing. So it only made sense to us to combine the two with beer spiked grits. The key to super creamy grits is cooking them low and slow and adding liquid throughout, almost like a risotto. Then stirring a good helping of cheddar and heavy cream to finish them off.

We add a nice spicy kick to break up the richness by swapping Jalapeño Saison for half of our boiling liquid and adding a couple fresh chopped jalapeños at the end. We love topping these creamy cheese grits with some spicy shrimp and andouille - or simply with a fried egg. And of course with a Jalapeño Saison to wash them all down.

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