Greetings

Dallas has few diversions other than eating, drinking and shopping.....and shopping does not interest us.
So we spend our time hopping from restaurant to restaurant and to every pub that we can find in search of the perfect meal and the perfect beer.

We randomly review restaurants and bars, dishes and beers at whim and give our brutally honest opinions of our findings. And while we concentrate on Dallas, we travel far and wide to sample cuisine from all regions of the country and beyond.



Thursday, March 17, 2016

St. Patrick's Day Stout Layer Cake Recipe

Cake AND beer in on place?!?!  Hell, yes!

Ingredients

  1. Cake
    • 2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
    • 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
    • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
    • 4 cups all purpose flour
    • 4 cups sugar
    • 1 tablespoon baking soda
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    • 4 large eggs
    • 1 1/3 cups sour cream
  2. Icing
    • 2 cups whipping cream
    • 1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped



Preparation

  1. For cake:
    1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
    2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.
  2. For icing:
    1. Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.
    2. Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Martin House 3rd Anniversary Event

Here is the information from Martin House Brewing about their 3rd
Anniversary party. Please support your local brewers. - Bon

3 Years and 30 Beers

MHBC Anniversary Shennanigans

It's been three years since we sold our first beer here at Martin House Brewing Co. In those 3 years we've made a lot of friends, drank a lot of beer, and even had a few rock shows at the brewery.

To celebrate we are having two parties:

1. We're tapping 30 different beers at the brewery on Sunday, March 27th. We will feature all of your favorites, some old faces, some new, limited test batches, and even some barrel aged releases. It's a ticketed event and you may buy tickets here:  http://martinhousebrewing.com/Events/3-year-anniversary-party-martin-house-brewing-co/
2. We're also hosting our 3rd annual Beer Brunch at the Flying Saucer in Fort Worth on Sunday, March 20th.
If you can't make either of the 3yr parties, we'd like to invite you out to one of our brewery open house and tours.

They occur every Thursday from 6-8pm and Saturday from 2-5pm. 

$10 gets you a pint glass and 3 fresh pints of Martin House beer. 

Also, keep up with the weekly food trucks and bands by visiting the events page on our website. 
© 2016 Martin House Brewing Co. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
220 S Sylvania #209
Fort Worth, TX 76111
 

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Oscar Blues Pre-Austin Opening Events

OSKAR BLUES ANNOUNCES AUSTIN BURNING CAN (notjusta) BEER FEST & 4/20 SMOKE OUT IN ADVANCE OF THEIR TEXAS OPENING 

The Burning Can (notjusta) Beer Fest is an outdoor music-soaked celebration of craft beer in a can, featuring beer sampling, spectator sports, The Beer Relay race, and live music by the Drive-By Truckers with all proceeds benefitting CAN'd Aid Foundation 

Longmont, CO -- Oskar Blues Brewery, which announced plans to open a third brewery in Austin later this year, will host a pair of gritty, down-home music soaked experiences for Austinite's next month. The Colorado-based brewery's music roots run deep and their passion for all things outdoors paired with their obsessively crafted big brews are a perfect fit for the culture and lifestyle in Austin. OnWednesday, April 20th the anti-corporate genre-busting CAN-centric brewery will take over the Scoot Inn for a 4/20 "Smoke Out" followed by the Oskar Blue's signature celebration of craft beer in-a-can, Burning Can (notjusta) Beer Fest, onSaturday, 4/23 at Walter E. Long Park headlined by the Drive-By Truckers. 


The SCOOT INN SMOKE OUT - 4/20

Oskar Blues, in advance of their mid-May Texas launch, will host THE SCOOT INN SMOKE OUT on 4/20, featuring live music by J Roddy Walston and the Business, Nashville songstress Nikki Lane and a late night session with Austin's own Eagle Eye Williamson. Serving up The Scoot's famed smoked pork shoulder and authentic Texas BBQ, rare Oskar Blues brews and a stellar line-up of music, all proceeds from The Smoke Out will benefit the CAN'd Aid Foundation.

Oskar Blues Brewery's award-winning celebration of canned craft beer, Burning Can (notjusta) Beer fest (http://burningcan.com/) debuts in Austin on April 23, 2016. More than 30 craft breweries from around the country will be on hand to sample their canned brews and take part in the country's first active beer festival with live music, sport competitions, and a concert by Austin favorites Tameca JonesWhiskey Shivers and the Drive-by Truckers.

Burning Can also features participant and spectator sport competitions including 
The Beer Relay, a team trail running and beer drinking event. This four-hour competition is run in teams of two or four. Runners will complete as many 5k laps as possible within the four-hour time period. If they choose to drink Oskar Blues beer prior to their lap, they get two-minutes deducted from their lap time. The team with the most laps wins. 

Those who'd rather spectate than participate can watch legendary mountain bike freeriding and trials rider, Jeff Lenosky, perform jaw-dropping, not-to-be-missed demos at 2:30PM4:00PM and 5:30PM. Lenosky is a three-time National Champion and World Record Holder for the highest bunny hop on a mountain bike (45.5 inches).

This celebration of craft beer-in-a-can raises money for Can'd Aid Foundation. The CAN'd Aid Foundation is all about diggin' in and makin' a difference with their "do-goodery" program areas: Towns, Tunes, Treads + Trails and Love Yur Mama. The two-year-old public charity has raised nearly $2 million and has recently provided disaster relief assistance to South Carolina, North Texas and Flint, MI with fresh drinking water and rebuilding efforts through its "Towns" program. Look for additional events highlighting Can'd Aid Foundation's community do-goodery to surround their April events, including bike builds & giveaways and free music workshops and instrument donations. 

Burning Can in CO and NC were called "7 don't miss US beer fests" by CNN.


Check out Oskar Blues Brewery's website at www.oskarblues.com and the Oskar Blues Austin Facebook page / @OskarBluesATX twitter for additional details. #OBAustin #OskarBluesATX

About Oskar Blues Brewery 
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 in Lyons, Colorado, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse with hand-canned, flagship brew Dale's Pale Ale. Today, Oskar Blues is one of the fastest growing breweries in the country and operates breweries in Longmont, Colorado and Brevard, North Carolina, while producing 192,000 barrels in 2015. The original canned craft brewery continues push innovation with the announcement of an Austin, TX brewery in April of 2016 and creations like The Crowler while it distributes to 49 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Canada, Sweden, and the U.K.  

In 2013, Oskar Blues founded the CAN'd Aid Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that offers grassroots grants to those making a difference in the areas of community, the environment, music, and more. In 2015 alone, CAN'd Aid partnered with 52 organizations and provided nearly $400,000 in charitable contributions, bringing the total amount raised $1.9 million to date. CAN'd Aid's "do-goodery" efforts include: 
  • Towns - building strong communities
  • Tunes - for your eyeholes and earholes
  • Treads + Trails - get outside and get after it
  • Love Yur Mama - save the blue marble
To keep up with all things Oskar Blues, visit http://www.oskarblues.com.