Happy Halloween

Enjoy your candy!

This year I was a Rock Em Sock Em Robot!!!!

PHOTO BY RHONDA MARTENS

Half Pints Punk N Fest

Pumpkin pie, in beer form!

Beer : Punk N Fest

Brewery : Half Pints Brewing

Brewed In : Winnipeg, Canada

Style : Pumpkin Ale

ABV : 6.2%

Price : Just under $3 a bottle

Notes : A seasonal beer released sometime around October.  It is a modified version of their Octoberfest beer they release around the same time.  Don’t miss out on either!

Story : Free beer, free snacks, free concert, and a free brewery tour?  That is what I got when I went to the unveiling of the yearly pumpkin beer by Half Pints at what they call Punk N Fest.

Appearance :  The pour was clear but dark copper with a beige head that dissolved quickly.

Smell : Not sure how much pumpkin you can actually smell but I can pick out allspice and cloves quite a bit.  Hints of nutmeg, vanilla and cinnamon round out the smell, which is quite intoxicating in itself and probably the best part of the beer.

Taste : Not to be outdone by the smell the Punk N Fest has a bready, yet sweet, pumpkin flavour with a dominant spice taste to it.  During the finish the pumpkin flavour really comes out.

Mouthfeel : The balance of the carbonation nicely compliments this medium bodied beer.

Drinkability : This is another one of my favourite Half Pints beers.  This year they will not be making it though....sad Colin. It is also a beer where the flavour really comes out if you let the beer warm up for a few minutes.  The colder this beer is the less flavour it will have.

The Great Burger Hunt - The Grove Pub & Restaurant

Did this place get my highest rating ever?

Word of mouth, and a Groupon purchase, finally made me try The Grove Pub & Restaurant .  What once was the Charlie-O on Stafford has become a rather fantastic place to go.

Walking in I really did not know what to expect.  After grabbing a seat on the small patio Daniella and I began to look at the menu, which surprised me.  They had a fan-freaking-tastic beer selection!!!  A superb menu selection with pizza, sandwiches, burgers, and a great array of appetizers, just to name a few items.

My choice of burgers was making it difficult to choose just one, as Rick’s Burger had blue cheese on it, and that is my burger kryptonite usually, and the Veggie Burger with a chickpea, black bean, mozzarella and walnut patty sounded so good.  The burger I chose though was unreal.

The Grove Burger was quite thick with a big amount of flavour.  Tons of toppings including: lettuce, tomato, red onion, Bothwell cheddar cheese, mayo, and I added avocado for $1, on a roasted garlic and herb bun.   The bun was on the thin side, which caused all the sauce to make it very moist and rip apart as you ate your burger so you couldn’t really put it down, but boy was it tasty!  I loved that sauce, which I don’t know what it was because it definitely was not just normal mayo.  Most of you know how I feel about red onions, they can be overpowering, and that was again the case here.

The fries were more amazing then the burger was.  You could really taste the difference with the sea salt that The Grove uses compared to normal salt most places use.  It really stood out and made their fries unique.

Daniella decided to step away from the burgers and test out the fish and chips.  I can hardly blame her, as I can attest that it looked delicious.  Maybe next time I will take a picture to show you.  She said, “the fries were the perfect blend of homemade crisp outside and soft inside and the fish was quite thick but the deep fried batter was perfect.”

This is a place I will be returning too and soon!

What I got : The Grove Burger (with added avocado) and fries $11 (before tax)

Burger : 4/5

Fries : 5/5

Price : 4/5

Selection : 5/5

Overall : 4.5/5

The Grove Pub & Restaurant

164 Stafford Street

Winnipeg, MB R3M 2V8

(204) 415-3262

St Ambroise Citrouille

It is the season for pumpkin beers, yay!!!!

Beer : St Ambroise Citrouille

Brewery : McAuslan Brewing

Brewed In : Quebec, Canada

Style : American Brown Ale

ABV : 5%

Price : Price unsure, possibly $3+ or so a bottle

Notes : A seasonal beer released in the fall.

Story : Kevin brought this beer back from our Edmonton trip last New Years.  Wrote the review last February but have been saving it for October when all the pumpkin beers see their release!

Appearance : Quite a thin head but the lacing makes it stick around for the entirety of your pint.  The colour is solid amber.

Smell : Not a prominent pumpkin aroma but it is there although the cinnamon is much more powerful.

Taste : Cinnamon and pumpkin dictate the taste but nutmeg comes through in the watery finish.  A bit of breadiness is also present.

Mouthfeel : Closer to a full-bodied beer with a bit too much carbonation.

Drinkability : This beer is a little like the Half Pints Punk N Fest, which I review next time.  But unlike the Punk N Fest, which I could drink a glass every night, I don’t think I would want to drink this as often.  This is an average beer, and probably the worst of the pumpkin beers (which isn’t actually a big negative) I have tried, but I wouldn’t tell you to steer away from it.

Stir Stick Ribs

Beer battered goodness on the bone!!

Beer needs to be cooked with.  There I said it.  I know it goes well in chili and after that not many people consider it a cooking ingredient but it really is a great addition to many dishes.

Today, it is a great addition to slow cooker ribs.  And by today I mean last month when I made this dinner.

The beer I used to cook with is one of my favourites.  It is Half Pints Brewing’s Stir Stick Stout.  A coffee infused beer that has a nice woody roasted flavour to it.

This dish was honestly just quickly thrown together for Daniella , Brett and Lidia , but I don’t think they minded.  I took the frozen ribs out the night before and tossed it all together in a matter of 15 minutes the next morning before I took off to work.

To start I washed, then cut into quarters, about a dozen small potatoes and placed them into the crock-pot.  Next I covered the ribs in brown sugar, thyme, a touch of salt, pepper, and some BBQ sauce (I used a smoked hickory BBQ sauce).  I tossed the ribs on top of the potatoes and poured the remaining BBQ sauce over the ribs and potatoes.

Cracking open a bottle of Stir Stick Stout I refrained from drinking it at 6AM and poured the entire bottle into the crock-pot.  I added a slight dash of hot sauce and sprinkled a bit more brown sugar over the top.  Setting the cooker, I mean… telling Brett to turn on the slow cooker, to cook for about 5-6 hours when I returned home they were ready to eat!

As more sides were needed I grilled up a bunch of vegetables on the BBQ and some garlic bread.  Viola!  A simple and delicious meal.

Ingredients :

Ribs

Brown sugar

Stir Stick Stout

Thyme

Pepper

BBQ sauce

Salt

The Arctic Monkeys

Rocked Winnipeg!

Yes I was here.  Yes it rocked.  Yes you missed out.

Front Row 2nd Blacony!