New Belgium's Mothership Wit

I recently tried New Belgium Brewing Co.'s Mothership Wit. I have been a fan of Fat Tire, their most popular brew, so I was excited to try another of theirs. I was expecting an unfiltered wheat type beer like a blue moon. Instead it was a Belgian White, so my initial taste was a bit surprising. It was okay. One of the better Belgian Whites I've had, but I just am not into that style.I also have been looking up breweries to hit up this fall in Vermont and the surrounding area. The Maple Nut Brown and the award-winning Oatmeal Stout at Brown's Brewery in NY both sound excellent.Long Trail is another brewery in VT that I plan to visit. I love that they practice sustainable brewing.

My Collection

Here's a few shots from my collection, before I have to take the bottles down to store during my move.

Looking Back

Last August/September, I traveled to the UK to spend a summer studying abroad at Cambridge. The UK is full of truly excellent beers, and I went beer tasting at a pub in Cambs. Here's the post I wrote while in Cambridge about the experience:

I have developed a taste for beer, which is lovely since Cambridge is full to the brim with pubs carrying all sorts of proper ales. We set up a little beer tasting evening at an out of the way pub called Live and Let Live. Let me tell you, this was probably my favorite pub in all of Cambridge. On first glance, it doesn't appear all that different from the other pubs I'd been into, but then a quick look at what was on tap changed that. In Cambridge, most pubs serve Greene King ales, which though good, are entirely too abundant.

The bar owner came over with a pitcher of our first of 6 beers, this was was a fruity, bitter lightly-colored beer called Nethergate Umber Ale. 3.9% alcohol. It had hints of the coriander it was made with, but was too bitter for most of the participant's taste.

The second beer was a more traditional style beer, Everard's Tiger, which at 4.2% alcohol was much lighter tasting, medium colored, and with a slight scent of strawberry. It was brewed using English hops, which are less bitter and citrus-y than American hops.

Our third beer was called York Decade, 4.2% another paler beer with a much more intense flavor than the mellow Tiger. This one was tangy, quite bitter or hop-y, and had a grapefruit-y smell and taste. It was quite dry and had a bite to it.

Fourth in line was Pot Belly Brewery's Yellow Belly Beer, 5.2% and lighter, hop-y, and almost no smell. It was good, refreshing, and the type of beer I could probably drink more of in one sitting.

Nethergate Umber Magna

Our fifth beer was possibly my favorite, another Nethergate beer - called Umber Magna. A very dark beer, made of roasted malt instead of hops, which gave it a very caramelized almost Guinness-like flavor (less filling and sweeter than Guinness though) This beer also contained a hint of coriander, which I could smell but barely taste.

For our last beer, we had a Belgian ale, called Saison Dupont, coming in at a stronger 6.5%. It was sweet, slightly bitter, very hop-y, and almost had a sudsy texture to it. Strong smelling, tasting, and hitting. Also the bartender's favorite.

I loved the evening, and would go back for another round of beers, the bar man was knowledgeable, and let us pipe in with our untrained opinions. It is a great bar to get a break from the typical pub crawl, and if you truly enjoy Belgian beers, they have a huge selection of ridiculously strong Belgian choices.

Orange Chocolate Cake with Orange Frosting Filling and Chocolate Glaze

It's memorial weekend, which means it's time to visit the parents for a BBQ. I decided to bake my dad a chocolate cake since he's a choco-holic like me. I used a recipe I've had success with in the past for the cake, adding a few drops of orange essence in place of a 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla essence. Then I sort of created my own simple orange frosting by hand-whisking some softened butter, orange essence, and powdered sugar, using nonfat milk to get the right spreading consistency. Finally I made a chocolate glaze, which I got from allrecipes.com. I'll be bringing it to my parent's home in an hour or so. We're making coconut lime shrimp kabobs,my parents are picking up a six pack of porter, and I've got some vegetarian hot dogs defrosting. Should be an excellent day.

Chocolate Cake 

(I got this off the internet, I can't remember if it was from Cooks.com or Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

2 cups boiling water

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Just to introduce myself, I'll be a college graduate in 20 days. I am an avid birder, hiker, and quilter. I love to bake, and am learning to cook. I'm mostly vegetarian, been so for 4 years - I eat seafood on occasion. I absolutely love beer, especially porters, and I've had about 99 different good beers, not counting things like coors or miller which in my mind, don't qualify.