A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
We all have our vices: Some live for libations while others pine for sweets. In St. Louis these two groups can merge in one ecstatic, sugar-fueled pit of sin at Bailey's Chocolate Bar. A lengthy menu of treats includes dramatic desserts, award-winning cocktails and sometimes the two in one beautiful bite (Irish Cream cheesecake, anyone?).
Beer is another of Chocolate Bar's specialties, as it boasts one of STL's most highly-regarded draft lists. A few selections seem obvious (such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Arcadia Cocoa Loco) but the bar also boasts a namesake brew, Bailey's Chocolate Bar Chocolate Ale. Of course, a great beer bar can't just stock stouts, and general manager Gene Bailey says they strive for "good enough variety where everyone can find something they like." Many of the current taps come from one brewery: "We're big fans of the New Belgium [Fat Tire] people," Gene admits. Beyond pure pints, Bailey's happily mingles sugar & suds: The Stout Beer Shake, blending chocolate stout and cinnamon ice cream, is a favorite.
Check out Bailey's Chocolate Bar's complete draft list after the jump, tell us if you've got a favorite chocolate beer and get your indulgence on in person next time you're in St. Louis.
To me, it is. But I also don't care one iota about sports (though I can make exceptions for women's rugby and any sort of obstacle course competition on Animal Planet).
On that note, The Washington Post is currently featuring a fun alternative (or addition) to March Madness. The lucky participants started taste-testing 32 beers and have so far gotten the contenders down to a precious 16. But three rounds remain - the quarterfinals, semis, and finals on April 6 - before a champion is named.
Tasters downed their fair share of beers, which ranged from Miller Chill to Wolaver's Oatmeal Stout, and represent the mainstream to the microbrew; the wheat-y to the hoppy; the ale to the stout, and back again.
A few of my personal favorites in the bunch include the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (deliciously full of hops) and the Sea Dog Blue Paw Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale for those summer nights down the shore, but the Post really did choose a fine array (including a few classics - or duds, depending on your taste in beer - Schlitz, Michelob Lager, and the aforementioned new Miller Chill).
Head over to the site now to track your favorite, er, player.
About five years ago my good friend Edward J. O'Halloran told me about Tayto, an Irish brand of crisps, or potato chips, as we call them here in the States. This was long before I attained my current status as an international junk-food maven. Since then I've noshed on treats rangingfrom downright fishy to bland beyond belief. Sadly I've never tried Tayto, or any other type of Irish crisps, for that matter. All of which brings me to the subject of this St. Patrick's Day dispatch: a survey of Tayto and some other crisps that I purchased in the Irish enclave of Woodside, Queens, yesterday. As a bona fide beer geek, I'm a wee bit ashamed to admit that this tasting was done with bottles of Guinness that did not have the famous widget; be advised your results may vary. Slàinte!!
Since they're so in line with my affinity for fishy flavored junk food, let's start with Tayto Prawn Cocktail Flavour Crisps. While there's nothing wrong with this crisp as far as tastiness and crunchiness, I detected not even the faintest hint of prawn. I suspect that in Ireland "Prawn Cocktail Flavour" has as much to do with seafood as "cheese food product" has to do with dairy farms on this side of the pond. This suspicion is borne out by the fact that on the ingredients, prawn cocktail flavor is composed of a dozen subingredients, including MSG and saccharin. It's a craveable crisp that goes well with the Guinness, but I can't help feeling that the folks at Tayto Castle let me down by not giving me my fix of fish flavor.
I never munch on pickled onions, save for when I'm drinking a Gibson, but I hear they're a renowned delicacy in the United Kingdom, so next up is Tayto Pickled Onion Flavour Crisps. These little guys are really quite good and they certainly taste like pickled onion. In fact, they're so addictive I'm struggling not to finish the whole bag! Now if only I had a Gibson to sip with them instead of this bloody Guinness. Or are cocktails and potato chips déclassé? The one down side of these crisps is that I now have quite the case of onion breath. That aside, Mr. Tayto and company have done right by the global snacking community.
I've just passed the halfway mark on my first bottle of Guinness and I'm eager to try yet another snack oddity from the folks at Tayto, Roast Chicken Flavor Crisps. Yeah, you heard right. Seems that Koreans aren't the only ones out there trying to make junk food taste like chicken. Tayto's stab at poultry-flavored potato chips doesn't taste terribly much like chicken either. This is the worst of the Tayto products I've tasted so far. Perhaps it's because what are supposed to be chicken-flavored crisps are described as suitable for vegetarians on the package. I'll stick to chicken cracklings.
No special process is involved in producing this St. Patrick's Day novelty drink. Simply add 5-6
drops of green food coloring to your beer and gently stir. Go for a bright color because a yellow-ish green is off
putting no matter how fast you plan to down your drink. It is also best to go with lighter ales as opposed to a dark
stout, like Guinness. To get a green color out of a Guinness, you would have to add enough food coloring to turn your
teeth green when you take a sip. There are many other Irish beers available to help you get into the St.
Paddy's Day Spirit, even though it might be easier to pick up a six pack of anything that comes in a green bottle to
begin with.
With St. Patrick's Day coming up tomorrow, it's time to get into the spirit. Open your closet and pull out
something green to avoid getting pinched by your friends, then open your fridge and pull out a pint of Guinness. St. Patrick's Day originally began as a Catholic feast day
that celebrated the patron saint of Ireland, but millions of Irish and non-Irish revelers now celebrate it every year.
Is it the religious signifigance? Perhaps for some, but for many it's about the corned beef and the beer - which is
what we like at Slashfood.
Here are some Irish ideas to get you going for St. Patrick's Day:
You won't catch me drinking green beer on St. Patrick's day. I'd much rather have a pint of the black
stuff, as some like to call Guinness and other stouts. I'm a purist when it comes to my Irish nectar, but I admit
I have had a few black and tans in my day, and am curious to try some of the more unusual recipes I've found. A black and tan, isequal parts stout (Guinness or
otherwise) and lighter colored ale, often a Bass Pale Ale or Harp's lager. Many an Irish barman will tell you that a
layered black and tan is simply a Yank affectation and that in the homeland the two beers are simply poured together.
But if you want to get all fancy, here's what you do:
Pour your pint half full of ale.
Now either slowly pour your stout in by letting it hit the side of the glass, or by letting it stream over the
back of a spoon. And sure as Bob's you're uncle – a proper black and tan.
In the kitchen, recipes for things that
are so ridiculously simple that they hardly require a real recipe. In fact, things like roasted beet salad and sweet
pea soup are so simple the instructions can be had in one sentence. There are also looks into the sichuan
peppercorn, and delicious produce that can be grown in your
own backyard.
A new verson of the world famous stout - Guinness
Mid-Strength is about to be released.
Diageo Ireland is planning the launch of new
Guinness Mid-Strength stout at 2.8% ABV. Brewed at the famous St James’s Gate
brewery the product uses the same ingredients as 'normal' Guinness –
water, hops, barley and yeast but uses a 'proprietary brewing technique' which allows them to take out some of the
alcohol from the beer, without impacting the characteristic colour, taste and texture of Guinness. Sadly for those wanting to sample this will have to travel to Limerick where Guinness Mid Strength will be
test marketed in 80 Limerick pubs from 9th March 2006 for a six-month period.
I'm sure that plenty of you beer lovers out there have tried chocolate stouts from brewers like Young's (right) or Rogue. But have you ever paired good chocolate with other beers? According to columnist
Lisa Morrison, it's an old idea that's still going strong. Since chocolate can tend to overpower wine in many pairings,
beer is a more logical option, say some of Morrison's sources in a recent article. Porters and stouts are obvious choices due
to the overlap in flavors with chocolate. Morrison also says that the fruity notes of many weizens and Belgian-style
ales make a good foil for chocolate. She has plenty of other pairing suggestions as well.
Beer Advocate is tired of people pouring bad beers. You know you have
encountered at least one brew that either had no foam or was left as flat as a board, after having too much
"head" produced during pouring. Pouring beer from taps is more challenging than pouring beer out of a bottle,
but everyone needs to start somewhere. Beer Advocate has put together helpful instructions on how to pour a beer, complete with a short video clip demonstrating
the perfect pour. This method, summarized here, will also work for pouring sodas and other carbonated beverages.
Get a tall, clean glass (preferably a pint
glass).
Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle and slowly pour the beer directly into the center of the side of the
glass.
Once the beer is half poured, turn the glass upright and continue pouring to produce foam, which will ideally
be 1-1 1/2 inch thick.
Since they're so in line with my affinity for fishy flavored junk food, let's start with Tayto Prawn Cocktail Flavour Crisps. While there's nothing wrong with this crisp as far as tastiness and crunchiness, I detected not even the faintest hint of prawn. I suspect that in Ireland "Prawn Cocktail Flavour" has as much to do with seafood as "cheese food product" has to do with dairy farms on this side of the pond. This suspicion is borne out by the fact that on the ingredients, prawn cocktail flavor is composed of a dozen subingredients, including MSG and saccharin. It's a craveable crisp that goes well with the Guinness, but I can't help feeling that the folks at 
I never munch on pickled onions, save for when I'm drinking a Gibson, but I hear they're a renowned delicacy in the United Kingdom, so next up is Tayto Pickled Onion Flavour Crisps. These little guys are really quite good and they certainly taste like pickled onion. In fact, they're so addictive I'm struggling not to finish the whole bag! Now if only I had a Gibson to sip with them instead of this bloody Guinness. Or are cocktails and potato chips déclassé? The one down side of these crisps is that I now have quite the case of onion breath. That aside, Mr. Tayto and company have done right by the global snacking community.
I've just passed the halfway mark on my first bottle of Guinness and I'm eager to try yet another snack oddity from the folks at Tayto, Roast Chicken Flavor Crisps. Yeah, you heard right. Seems that 
No special process is involved in producing this St. Patrick's Day novelty drink. Simply add 5-6
drops of green food coloring to your beer and gently stir. Go for a bright color because a yellow-ish green is off
putting no matter how fast you plan to down your drink. It is also best to go with lighter ales as opposed to a dark
stout, like Guinness. To get a green color out of a Guinness, you would have to add enough food coloring to turn your
teeth green when you take a sip. There are many other 
With St. Patrick's Day coming up tomorrow, it's time to get into the spirit. Open your closet and pull out
something green to avoid getting pinched by your friends, then open your fridge and pull out a pint of 
You won't catch me drinking green beer on St. Patrick's day. I'd much rather have a pint of the black
stuff, as some like to call Guinness and other stouts. I'm a purist when it comes to my Irish nectar, but I admit
I have had a few black and tans in my day, and am curious to try some of the more unusual recipes I've found.
If it's mid-March, then 
A new verson of the world famous stout - Guinness
Mid-Strength is about to be released.
I'm sure that plenty of you beer lovers out there have tried chocolate stouts from brewers like 
Beer Advocate
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