THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Trader Joe's Ale Taste Off

Each year, Trader Joe's comes out with specialty ales for the holidays. This year, they've released a Belgian style blonde (brewed by Unibroue in Canada) called Audaciter.

Watch the Video!

In recent years, it's been a brown abbey style ale, a vintage ale, meant to be aged a year before drinking.

Tim and I have put ourselves out in the patio with a bottle of last year's vintage ale along with the Audaciter to put 'em up against each other.

He's pronounced the vintage ale the best while I think they're about even, although the Audaciter would be better for a hot summer day and the brown ale better for a cold day.

Be sure to check out the video, above, for the entire tasting session and all our notes.

Cheers!

Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Ales for the Holidays

Pictured above are the two ales we're tasting today.

On the left is Trader Joe's 2010 Vintage Ale.  Each year the popular grocery store chain commissions a new ale for the holidays.  This year's version is a Belgian style brown ale produced by Unibroue in Canada.

To the right is Zoetzuur, a Flemish sour ale. You've really got to have a taste for this type of Belgian ale. Letty does. She loves them and wishes they were more widely available here in the states. I don't. I'm trying to develop a taste but so far the varieties I've tried are either cloyingly sweet (like Framboise) or tastes like vinegar.

Watch the Video!

Zoetzuur is brewed by De Proefbrouweri in Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium.  It's a small town near the Dutch border, north of Gent.  The ale clocks in at 7% alcohol and is served in a cork top bottle.  It's head foams up about an inch and has a lighter golden brown color.

For taste, it's a little off.  True, I'm not a sour ale afficiandao, but Letty is and she agrees.  There's a quick taste of, what I think of as, grape soda.  Letty does not taste that but we both agree that there's an off-smell and taste.  Kind of like a skunky beer but different.  Something that we went back and forth on as to what exactly it was.  We ended up agreeing that it is the smell and taste of a horse farm. 

At $10.99 for a 750 ml bottle, it's just not worth the price.  Letty is still looking for a good, sour ale that she can get on a regular basis.  Rodenbach is one of her favorites but hard to find and the Bruery supposedly makes one of the finest sours around but they ran out and it will be over a year (!) till their next batch is ready.

The Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2010, on the other hand, continues the strong tradition of great ales released each holiday season.  It's a dark, dark beer but not heavy.  Extremely foamy like the time I used regular granulated sugar to ferment some homemade beer, the head grows very fast so you need to do a careful pour.

The taste is smooth, the ingredients very harmonious.  The bitterness just hits the back of your throat on it's way down the way a nice, cold Coke Classic does.  I like this beer quite a bit and at 9% alcohol content, it's no lightweight.  It's also a very good bargain at only $4.99 for a 750 ml corked bottle.  I'll be going back to buy a few more.

Cheers!

-Darryl

Cheap and Easy...Trader Joe's Bool Kogi

While we've been known to get pretty elaborate with our recipes here on the blog, it's a bit much to expect to sit over a hot stove on a summer day when the temps are trending over 110 degrees. Still want to eat at home but without too much effort.

That's where the magic of Trader Joe's comes in. Here there are plenty ready to eat and pre-prepared groceries that are delicious and easy to cook.

Recently, it was another dreadfully hot Sunday and...honestly...cooking was the last thing I wanted to do but it is my responsibility to provide the meals on that day. I was picking up some staples like milk and eggs at my local Trader Joe's, thinking about what quick-serve place I could go to pick up dinner that night.

For some reason, I wandered over to the pre-prepared foods cooler just to see what was there. The 'Bool Kogi,' TJ's bulgogi Korean-style beef, looked good and easy so I picked up a package.

To get to the point, this made for a easy, quick dinner. I put some rice in the steamer, fired up my Weber grill with a load of charcoal, and opened the package.

Basically, it's flank steak marinated with a variety of Asian style seasonings and sesame seeds...sort of a Korean carne asada.

The hot grill made short work of cooking the meat.  So I chopped it up and served over rice in a bowl.  Not bad but needed a little extra. We had a few lefter over Waba sauce packets (teriyaki sauce that's served at the Waba Grill restaurant chain) and put a little on top.

There it is...quick, delicious teriyaki bowls made at home for a fraction of what I'd pay at a take out place.

Better than that, we had plenty of meat left over. The next morning, I threw a handful in a skillet and cracked open some eggs.

Pour an egg, cream, salt and pepper mix over it...sprinkle on some shredded cheese...and scramble to make some of the most delicious steak and eggs I've had in quite awhile.

This Week's Gardening - 

Weeding and trimming, mostly, like cutting back on the deadheads of this glaucous daisy I have growing around my mailbox.

You can already see new flower buds coming. Also, spraying the front yard roses with deer repellent. Let's see if that works, and doing a sprinkler check for clogged emitters.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

The Cocktail Hour: Ales for the Holidays - Trader Joe's Holiday Ale Taste Off 2016

It's time for our annual Trader Joe's holiday ale taste off. Be sure to watch the video below, it's the first every live Cocktail Hour broadcast we've ever done.

Watch the Video!

The store contracts with Unibroue in Canada to make it's Belgian style aged ale for each year's holiday season.

We skipped last year because we found out from Trader Joe's that you're supposed to age the ale a year before drinking so we've got our 2015 ale to taste alongside the just released 2016 version, which I have an extra to age for next year.

First, let's taste the younger. Tastes just like every other year, like a bitter Mexican Coke with a lot of foam. Good taste, not overpowering bitterness.

Now, the aged 2015 version. Much less foam, at least half as much and a slightly smoother taste reflecting the year of mellowing. I could taste more of the Mexican Coke flavor, maybe more notes of caramel on the back of my throat. Tim didn't notice.

That's it for this year's test. We'll do it again for 2017.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved.

The Cocktail Hour: Trader Joe's Holiday Ale Tasting - 2013

It's time for our annual taste of Trader Joe's holiday ale. This year, I missed grabbing the usual holiday ale and got the second ale, the Belgian blonde instead.

Brewed each year for TJ's by Unibroue, the ales are corked and ageable.

Watch the Video!

The blonde this year is like a Leffe with a little more heft and carmelization.

Check out the video above for the full tasting.

Cheers!

Darryl

D-Day - Living with Type II: Great Helpers in the Fight Against Diabetes

As I go along on the journey of a diabetic, I learn what my friends and foes are in the food world.  I've talked about some of the foes in the past, let's meet some friends.

First, I have to give recognition to two of the best places to find diabetic friendly food, Costco and Trader Joes, I can find quite a bit in those aisle.

Eggs are full of protein and are pretty diabetic friendly but the yolks add a bit of fat and a good dose of bad cholesterol, which can bring some other complications to a diabetic.  I've got good numbers from my latest checkup except that my cholesterol has creeped up just above the red line.

I could eat eggs morning, noon, and night. I love them and would eat two a day.  A bit much so I found these Kirkland egg whites at Costco. Now, I replace one of the eggs with an ounce of this which is not a great sacrifice at only 25 calories, no fat, 5 mg of protein, and 75 of sodium.

It's tasty, easy, and pretty cheap. One container of a similar product at Trader Joes costs about five dollars. A six pack at Costco is less than ten and the other containers freeze very well.

Also at Costco is this jerky, which has half the sodium (330 mg) of comparable jerkies, 60 calories, a half gram of fat, 5 grams of carbs, and 9 protein.

Along with this Havarti cheese from Trader Joes, an ounce of jerky with half an ounce of cheese is good for a quick twenty point reduction in my glucose level.

Bread is not what is considered friendly for diabetics, it's true, but this multigrain bread from Kirkland loads those carbs so slowly that it almost seems neutral.  I made a grilled cheese and ham using it (recipe coming soon!) that actually lowered my glucose by 8 points. It's 140 calories per slice, 1.5 grams of fat, 210 mg. of sodium, 26 grams of carbs, and 6 of protein.

Speaking of ham, I use the low fat and low sodium variety made by Danola or Trader Joe's Healthy Ham for a really good dose of lean protein that really gives a satisfying kick to dishes such as this omelet as well as that sandwich. A slice of that ham has 20 calories, 180 mg. of sodium, no fat, no carbs, and 5 grams of protein. I use half a slice in either the omelet or the sandwich.

It's a journey but I'm glad I'm finding some treasures along the way. All of these foods have gone a long way to be tasty and keep me from feeling hungry. Hope to have some more to share with you soon.

Darry
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

THINGS WE LIKE - Grocery Stores

We live just down the street from the headquarters of Trader Joe's.  This is close to the perfect market (so far the absolute perfect market has eluded me).  Fresh produce, high quality meat, gourmet products, large wine & beer selection, full liquor department (where local laws allow), and much more in a small, user friendly space.  Oh, and they're always giving away food and drink samples.  And one more thing, their prices are usually lower than the large chain supermarkets.  An example, a dozen jumbo eggs at Albertson's cost over $3.  At Trader Joe's is $1.89.

The things that keep it from being perfect are a poor selection of sodas and their habit of dropping an item you just grew to love.

On the other hand, they have so much to love that an occasional drop is OK.  Our favorite go-to item here is the Asian orange chicken that tastes better than Panda Express.

I have to admit, I didn't warm up to Fresh & Easy right away.  The first one I went into seemed like a low-rent Trader Joe's...sort of a cross between TJ's and Superior Foor Warehouse.  They opened one up around the corner from me and, although it took awhile, I've grown to love this American child of the large British Tesco chain.

First of all, it's convenient.  In and out in just a minute.  Like TJ's, the stores are smaller than a supermarket.  The produce is fresh and there's alway a 98 cent special on that aisle.  The prices are low and F&E doesn't shy away from name brands.  I can get my Coke and Dr. Pepper here where I can't at TJ's. There is also a very large selection of premade food at low prices if you don't like to cook.  Example?  A nicely done ham and eggs breakfast you heat up in the microwave for $2.49.

The reason prices are low here are because of a minimalist approach.  Plain concrete floors, basic shelving units, LED lighting, and you scan your own groceries.  You bag them too on the express lanes.  You may not like this at first but once you find out how quick you can get in and out, coupled with the money you just saved, you'll start to come around.

If either of these two stores are in your neighborhood, consider yourself lucky.  When travelling, look for them for the quick and easy products that you always seem to end up needing.  Check the links above to see if they are located where you're heading.

-Darryl