Feature Beer Friday: Crown Valley's Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, it's finally starting to feel like Fall for more than a day at a time, and as everyone knows, Fall means pumpkin EVERYTHING.  Beer has never been an exception to this trend, as pumpkin beers have been popping up ever since craft beer started its renaissance.  Generally I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers, but most are lighter styles with bland pumpkin seasonings... not the case with this offering from Crown Valley.

Crown Valley Brewing & Distilling is located in rural southeast Missouri, in an area known primarily for wineries.  They produce a range of flagship beers and ciders, in addition to seasonal and high abv beers.  I very rarely see their flagship beers in our market, but occasionally spot the ciders and every year their Imperial Pumpkin Smash Stout hits shelves.  This beer is a high-abv imperial stout base, with 10.6% alcohol and 48 IBU.  It's loaded with rich dark malts and balanced out with some noble hops as well as Chinook which is known for a piney character.  

Crown Valley's Imperial Pumpkin Smash

The beer (a fresh 2018 version) pours a dark chocolate color, as an imperial stout should, with a lighter than expected head but great retention.  The nose is a combination of bitter roasted coffee notes, sweeter chocolate malt notes, and an undeniable pumpkin flavor blended with the spices always associated with pumpkin desserts.  The taste is a beautiful follow through on the nose, with complex malt flavors that work extremely well with the pumpkin and spice.  My favorite thing about this beer is that it still tastes like an imperial stout with pumpkin on top rather than it tasting like I'm drinking a glass of pumpkin pie.  

This remains one of my favorite pumpkin beers alongside the Saint Arnold Pumpkinator, and I'll almost certainly be buying some more before the season is over.  Cheers! 

Feature Beer Friday: Saint Arnold's Pub Crawl Pale Ale

By Eric Ducote

Hello again everyone!  Today I'm featuring another Texas Brewery, Saint Arnold Brewing, to go along with recently featured Rahr & Sons and 11 Below.  Even though they weren't my first Texan brewery featured, Saint Arnold claims to be Texas's oldest craft brewery, shipping out their first keg on June 9th, 1994.  As they approach their 24th birthday late this month, I figured it would be appropriate to try out one of their newer releases, the Pub Crawl Pale Ale.  

This beer debuted in January 2017, but the 6-pack I picked up at Robert Fresh Market were dated 03/05/18, which is well within my comfortable freshness range.  It's described as a bright and sessionable pale ale with a 4.7% abv and 48 IBU.  

Saint Arnold's Pub Crawl Pale Ale

At first, the pour... this certainly fits what I would expect out of "bright and sessionable" with a luminous yellow color and a frothy white head.  On the nose I get mostly citrus hop flavors with perhaps a bit of a floral note and a backbone of crackers or bread from the malt.  The taste has more of the same citrus notes, coming strong from the Centennial bittering hops as well as the Amarillo and Galaxy used in the back end.  All three of those hop varieties showcase citrus flavors so it's no surprise that the beer tastes like it does.  The 4.7% abv makes this one an easy drinker, just a little stronger than a standard light beer, with a clean slightly bitter finish.  

This is a really good option for a summer poolside beer, at a backyard BBQ, or just relaxing after some yardwork.  The weather is heating up, and we could all use a cold beverage or two, right?  

Saint Arnold Beer Dinner at L'Auberge Baton Rouge

Coffee Crusted Beef Carpaccio with the St. Arnold Santo

Nobody ever really questions the perks of my job.  Lately I've been trying to convince everyone how difficult it is at times.  On a trip to New Orleans, Chuck P experienced a draining albeit food and beverage packed day in the life of myself.  However, as Chef Wadsworth says, "it's good to be Jay Ducote."  I'll never complain that I found a way to eat and drink for a living.  It might be difficult at times to constantly write about it, or to record radio show after podcast after radio show.  Or perhaps sometimes the eating and drinking actually takes its toll and I need a break.  That does actually happen.  But still, at the end of the day, I've created the best job imaginable for myself.  It has been a lot of hard work to actually turn it into a job, but if it wasn't, everyone would do it!  So back to the perks.

During American Craft Beer Week I received an invitation to attend a beer dinner at the Stadium sports bar in L'Auberge Baton Rouge.  The beer dinner paired brews from the Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston, TX with creative cuisine from the casino's culinary team.  The dinner began with the Saint Arnold Santo, a malty Black Kolsch that is quite enjoyable.  The darker German style beer came paired with an appetizer of sorts: coffee crusted beef carpaccio alongside fried capers, pickled red onion, roasted beef tallow, and a beer bottle tuile.  The carpaccio itself had a delicate flavor with a hint of coffee bitterness and the natural savoriness of rare beef.  When all the flavors on the plate combined into one bite, this dish became magical.  The beef fat livened up the lean carpaccio while the pickled reds added enough acidity to cut through the fat.  The fried capers chimed in with a blast of texture and saltiness.  Great dish!

Root Beer Granita and Vanilla Hop Pickled Strawberry Pearls

After the first course came a creative intermezzo.  Utilizing Saint Arnold's Root Beer, the chefs came up with a root beer granita to pair with vanilla hop pickled strawberry pearls and chocolate mint oil.  I enjoyed the palate cleanser, though it confused me slightly.  Somewhere between a dessert and a refreshing stop between courses, the flavors were sweet and delightful though reasonably strong.  It also came between the appetizer and fish courses, which seemed a little odd.  I felt like it would have fit better between the second and third courses as a true palate cleanser between entrees, but perhaps the chefs had good reason not to.  Perhaps they wanted to keep it farther away from the dessert course.  Either way, I ate it all.  And the hop flavors really worked quite well with the strawberries!

Beer Poached Salmon

The second course of the evening featured beer poached salmon with a plantain chip, citrus salad, and blood orange vinaigrette.  This salmon once again made me really enjoy the fish in cooked form.  I'll have remember to beer poach my salmon in the future!  The beer served with the fish dish was Saint Arnold's Icon Series Amarillo Hefe.  With some hop presence to add to the citric flavor of the beer, it partnered up with the salad very well to complete a light and refreshing course.  

Roasted Pork Poboy with a Cascadian Dark Ale

Perhaps the most interesting plating of the night came with the main course.  L'Auberge has very cleverly worked packaging design into their craft beer dinners, and this Saint Arnold dinner proved to be no exception.  The course featured a very pedestrian menu item done up in a very nice way.  Wedged into one side of the four-pack container, the roasted pork poboy featured some nice mustard greens and smoked provolone as well as au jus.  The sandwich hit the spot.  Comfort food for sure, the poboy fit the vibe of the beer dinner and the atmosphere of the Stadium.  Served with seasoned potatoes that actually had hops in the seasoning, the course also paired extremely well with the latest in the Saint Arnold Icon Series, the Cascadian Dark Ale.

Dessert at L'Auberge with the Endeavor Double IPA

My first thought when I looked at this menu item was that it is quite the risk to use a double IPA to pair with dessert and end the meal.  I like risks though.  And the bright floral notes and bitterness in an IPA can certainly work with dessert.  To match the more assertive flavors of the Saint Arnold Endeavor, the chefs served Endeavor poached citrus peaches, vanilla bean candied orange swirled gelato, and orange essence sponge cake.  The fruity citrus flavors complimented the DIPA and the dish played on my palate with the different textures.

Keep an eye out for more craft beer dinners at Stadium as well as rum and wine dinners at 18 Steak.  L'Auberge is definitely a nice addition to the culinary scene of Baton Rouge in addition to the entertainment scene!  And look for Saint Arnold Beers all around Louisiana as well.  Our neighbors in Texas are brewing some great suds!

Pork Shoulder Barbeque at the House

While most of the culinary conquests that I write about on this blog consist of restaurant reviews and delightful dishes that other people create, every now and then I do a little cooking myself.  I recently spent an afternoon barbequing for some friends where I experimented with some pork shoulder recipes and also threw in a little bit of grilled chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and some homemade biscuits.  Brent, Eric, Justin, and James all came over to enjoy the afternoon of sports and smoked meats.  Add some beers and few things in life could be much better!

Two Pork Shoulders Ready to be Seasoned and Smoked

I decided to use two different injections for the pork shoulders so I could play around a little bit and see which one came out better.  Since my blog is title Bite and Booze, my first decision was that each recipe should contain some kind of booze in it.  The first injection contained blackberries, honey, and bourbon.  I tried to make this one sweet instead of salty to see how the meat would turn out.  After combining the blackberries, honey, and Maker's Mark bourbon, I injected the liquid mixture into the pork shoulder and then rubbed the rest onto the meat.  I let the shoulder marinate like that overnight and in the morning I rubbed it down with a blend of seasoning that mostly contained Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning and brown sugar.

Honey, Blackberries, and Maker's Mark Used to Marinate a Pork Shoulder

For the second shoulder I decided to use more of a salty and spicy mixture to contrast the sweetness of the fruit and honey in the first injection.  I blended together some Worcestershire Sauce, Creole mustard, German-style Kölsch beer, and Louisiana-style hot sauce to create a unique injection liquid for the pork.  Specifically, I used Lea & Perrins which truly is THE Worcestershire Sauce as far as I'm concerned.  For the Creole mustard I used some Zatarain's that I had in my fridge.  As far as Creole mustards go this is pretty much on the top.  My good friends at Slap Ya Mama supplied provided the hot sauce.  There a lot of options to choose from when it comes to Louisiana-style hot sauce, but you can never go wrong with Slap Ya Mama!  Finally, the beer I chose is actually from Texas, but it is damn good and I have no problem using it with Creole mustard and Louisiana hot sauce.  Saint Arnold's Lawnmower is crisp and refreshing with good malt and fruit flavors.  I thought it was a good beer to use in this injection because it is full bodied but light enough to not mask the other flavors.  Plus, I got to drink the half that did not get injected!  Like the first shoulder, I let this one marinate with the injections over night and then I rubbed it down with a generous portion of my blend in the morning.

The Second Batch of Injection Ingredients Lined Up, Two Pork Shoulders in the Smoker

The smoking of the pork shoulders took quite a few hours, so there was plenty of time to enjoy the company of my friends, watch sports on TV, and drink some beers.  I smoked the shoulders over pure mesquite charcoal.  I really like mesquite because it brings me back to my childhood days at South Texas deer camps where my father taught me how to grill on open mesquite fires.  Mesquite smoke leaves a unique flavor and spiciness in meats that I've never found from any other wood. 

Two Pork Shoulders in the Smoker, Blackberry/Honey/Bourbon in the Back,

Worcestershire/Mustard/Hot Sauce/Beer in Front

While the pork smoked over the indirect heat of blistering mesquite coals, I got to work back in the kitchen to make sure I had lunch ready at a decent hour.  I seasoned a batch of chicken thighs with my rub from the pork that mostly consisted of Slap Ya Mama and brown sugar.  While grilling the chicken thighs over the mesquite, I sautéed some haricot verts in olive oil and lemon juice with a touch of garlic, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper.  In addition, I made a smoked Gouda mac and cheese with some grated Gouda and boiled egg noodles.

Lemon and Garlic Haricot Verts and Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

I felt a bit adventurous so I took a stab at making some biscuits from scratch.  I tried to use a recipe that I had stumbled upon for Popeyes-style biscuits.  They ended up having a pretty good flavor but they didn't rise like I wanted and wound up dense rather than fluffy.  Oh well, it will give me something to work on for next time!

Biscuits in the Oven, Plate of Lunch Featuring Haricot Verts, Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese, Grilled Chicken Thighs, and a Biscuit

After lunch, football, and several rounds of beers the time had finally come to take the pork shoulders out of the smoker.  The anticipation in my mind ran wild with thoughts about how great this pork could be.  While there certainly are some tweaks to make to the recipes, overall my expectations were met with great satisfaction!  The "sweet" recipe could have been sweeter.  The honey and blackberry didn't shine through quite as much as I had hoped and I found that I could have used even more sweetness in the injection and rub.  Next time I think I will try it with pure maple syrup instead of honey.  I also might use some blackberry preserves rather than trying to put fresh blackberries through a food processor.  We'll see though.  In the end the pork certainly ended up being juicy and tender, I just think it could have used more flavor.

Blackberry, Honey, and Bourbon Pork Shoulder

I found the salty and spicy shoulder to be the better of the two.  The flavor of this shoulder really came through with the spiciness of the mesquite smoke complimenting the Creole mustard and hot sauce.  If I had one complaint about this one it would be that I applied too much rub to the outside and it became a little bit over salted if you got a big enough piece of the crust.  I'll certainly need to work on my rub, though I thought it was really pretty darn good considering how easy it was.  All in all I had some really good food with some great guests while I worked on some barbeque recipes.  It is hard to get much better than that!

Tray of Pulled Pork: Worcestershire/Mustard/Hot Sauce/Beer on the Left,

Blackberry/Honey/Bourbon on the Right

Beer Wars: Brewed In America

Drink craft beer!  Drinking Bud, Miller, and Coors products every time you drink beer is like eating at McDonalds and Burger King for every meal.  Support your local and craft breweries!  I do believe that macro-brewed beers have their place, just like fast food, but it is time for people to pay as much attention to what they are drinking as what they are eating!  When the occasion calls for it, go ahead.  Otherwise, help support your local economy and help fund the brewing of GOOD beer!



Local beer available in Louisiana is currently confined to Abita, Heiner Brau, and NOLA though two more are on the way in the form of Parish and Bayou Teche.  Lazy Magnolia comes from nearby Mississippi while Saint Arnold, Shiner, and serveral other are made in Texas.  Drink their beer!  You won't regret it!