Today I’m feeling the need for some good Belgian beer. A few weeks back I stopped by Hops and Vines in Asheville and picked up some Belgian Ales I have not experienced yet. The Maredsous 8 which is a Dubbel is first up. This Ale has a nice copper brown color, comes from a 1 Lt bottle with a caged cork. The nose is of dark fruits like figs and raisins with a lite hint of hops. The banana from the Belgian yeasts is apparent. It has nice carbonation and the head dissipates to just a skim over the top. This is a medium body ale with mo real hint of alcohol, with a thick dry finish. With an ABV of 8% I feel this Dubbel comes in at a B+.

The following evening I went for the next Maredsous 10 which is a Tripel. Again this ale comes in a 1 Lt bottle with a caged cork. It pours nicely with good carbonation and nice head. It doesn’t dissipate as much as the dubbel. The color is a nice cloudy amber colored ale. The nose is yeasty with lite fruit. Pear and floral notes. The mouthfeel is lite and fairly refreshing. With any Belgian the Banana from the yeast comes through with spice and hops. Decently balanced with a hint of alcohol present. This medium body tripel has an ABV of 10%. I’m going to stick with a B+ on this as well.

Both of these Belgians were nice to try. I have had better in both for sure. But overall was enjoyable to review.
Tune in next time for more Brews, Views and News…

~Tattood Brew

Think your creative? Think you got what it takes? Then this contest is for you! Send in your most creative creations having to do with craft beer. Anything you have created that has to do with craft beer only shall be submitted. Here is a couple of examples that I put together today. A FREE Tattood Brew shirt is up for grabs. Email your pics to jon(at)tattoodbrew.com and I’ll pick a winner on September 1st.

RULES- Submission has to be craft beer oriented. You can not send in your PBR can covered toilet seat covers. No BIG 2 items will be taken. If you think Amber bock is a craft beer IT”S NOT! It will be disqualified.

Good Luck People!

Fans of gambling games like blackjack and video poker can have the best of both worlds if they play their cards right, as many casinos in Las Vegas and other areas will happily serve up free beers to guests who are gambling. Proper beer strategy is important, though, as otherwise you might be stuck drinking Miller Lite when you could be enjoying Chimay Red or another higher-end import. It’s hard to knock any free beer but a few simple tips can put you onto the perfect beer trail instead of getting lost in CheapBeerLandia instead.

If you want to get comped higher-end beers when gambling in Vegas casinos, the most important factor is the casino you’re gambling at. The Wynn, Palazzo, and the Venetian are your best bets in Vegas, with all three getting high marks for both the beers they stock and their willingness to serve them up to gamblers. The better the casino, the better the booze they offer up; it doesn’t matter whether you’re staying at the casino as a guest, so if all other factors are equal, you’ll get better beers at the top-shelf casinos. Be careful, though, as if you normally play $5 blackjack at O’Sheas you might find those “free” Chimay Reds are very expensive if you have to play at a $25 minimum blackjack table and hit a bad streak.

Assuming you enjoy all sorts of games equally, you’ll generally get faster service (which means more free beers) if you’re playing table games like roulette, craps, or blackjack instead of machines like slots or video poker. Cocktail waitresses tend to get more tips from games that use chips so they circulate more often there, with relatively few visits to banks of penny slot machines that usually aren’t the home of big tippers. When you’re first ordering a beer, shoot for the moon as far as your request and name your favorite beer; all they can do is say they don’t have it and prompt you to order something that they do serve.

If you prefer to gamble at home at an Internet casino site, you obviously won’t be able to order free beers in the usual sense but cash bonuses for players work out to essentially the same thing. Many online sites offer generous cash bonuses for new and existing players which in some cases can double or triple any money you deposit. It takes a little legwork on your part, but that bonus cash basically equates to free beer that you can purchase and stock in your fridge; the upside here is that you’ll be guaranteed to always have your favorite beer at hand when you’re gambling.

Written by Guest Blogger: Marion Loxley  ~ Birkirkara City, Malta

I want to welcome the folks of the Kingsport Oktoberfest to the Kingsport area. They have contacted myself for some help with a few things and I’m very happy they did. I want to give everyone some info about where to get your info about the 2011 Inaugural festival.  For general information contact us at: info@kingsportoktoberfest.com
Facebook with us at www.facebook.com/kingsportoktoberfest
Twitter with us at @KPTOktoberfest
Visit them on the web at www.kingsportoktoberfest.com

So please log onto their facebook site and friend them and show these fine folks we want them to come back year after year.

– Tattood Brew

Nuff Said!

Great to have access to some Great swag. Amy at Surly Ramics was great making this pendant. Or even get a custom one of your own. http://www.etsy.com/listing/66742047/reserved-for-druidworks-reserved

Just ordered the ingredients and already have enough Vanilla Beans for this batch. Looking forward to getting this going.

–TB

Tonight I found a Guinness Mop Sauce for a Brisket but decided to use it on some pork chops. I think it will come out just as yummy. Here is the recipe http://bbq.about.com/od/moprecipes/r/bl50713a.htm

This Mod Sauce is not very strong and the only thing I might suggest is to add some brown sugar to the recipe to get more caramelization going on your meats.

Let me know how your Beer cooking skills are doing. Drop me a line or send me your recipes to jon (at) tattoodbrew.com or just reply to this post with your recipe and i’ll give it a try.

Today Beth and I are starting to make some homemade mustard using beer. Specifically Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre. The Recipe is from these fine folks at Local Kitchen Blog.  http://localkitchenblog.com/2010/12/06/can-jam-raisin-detre-mustard/ We started this off soaking white raisins in the Raison D’Etre for 4 hours. That’s an awful long time not to enjoy one of these fine beers! Stirring the contents in the bowl so it steeps nicely. After the four hours I removed the raisins and added both mustard seeds into the beer to sit overnight. After the overnight soak in the Raison D’Etre the everything needed to be put into the food processor for a bit and then into a sauce pan for a quick boil before I put the final mustard into Jars for keeping. This was not a big enough batch to do a lot of canning. Check out some of my pics during the process.

For a pairing for this mustard I would recommend a hearty meat. Some sort of roast beef or even a corned beef sandwich on some crusty bread. Very nice!