Remains of the Day
by Brad
To celebrate my 1-year anniversary of leaving Epic (woo!), I've decided to start a tradition. It's actually partly due to my desire to bring beer to/from Buffalo/Madison on my trips home whenever possible. This most recent trip saw two growlers of the delicious Pearl Street Brewery beer coming to Madison. Of course, the 2nd thing I did with it was make pancakes, but I digress.
What that party took form of was the First Annual Growler Party. What's a growler party, you ask? Well, you get a bunch of people together and they all bring a growler of their favorite beer (or something new to try). Bonus points go out to those with rare/out-of-area brews. The party was a smashing success with over 15 growlers in attendance representing at least 10 breweries across 3 states (and two homebrews! Thanks Alex and Matt!). Everyone had a great time, and I can't wait to grow this event in the future.
But, of course as with any party, there were some leftovers and some casualties of war. Thus, I humbly present to you the Remains of the Day edition, featuring some leftover beer that didn't have a home by the end of the night. The beers in question are Karben4's Irish Red and Matt's brother-in-law's homebrewed Cherry Stout coming to us from Rochester, MN.
Both of these beers, when true to their form, were delightful. The Irish Red was probably the darkest and most full-bodied beer of its type I've ever had, solidifying Karben4 as a standard go-to beer in the area, and the Cherry Stout balanced the possibly-too-sweet cherry flavors (I'm guessing extract) with the rich dark tones and aromas of the stout (did somebody say chocolate malt?).
As one might imagine, though, the day after they were in rough shape. Both beers sat in open containers in the fridge from about midnight until Noon or so when I made these pancakes. That time in the air did a number on their carbonation, flavor, and freshness. Not that I'd expect much from day-old beer, but it was a little disappointing.
What that party took form of was the First Annual Growler Party. What's a growler party, you ask? Well, you get a bunch of people together and they all bring a growler of their favorite beer (or something new to try). Bonus points go out to those with rare/out-of-area brews. The party was a smashing success with over 15 growlers in attendance representing at least 10 breweries across 3 states (and two homebrews! Thanks Alex and Matt!). Everyone had a great time, and I can't wait to grow this event in the future.
But, of course as with any party, there were some leftovers and some casualties of war. Thus, I humbly present to you the Remains of the Day edition, featuring some leftover beer that didn't have a home by the end of the night. The beers in question are Karben4's Irish Red and Matt's brother-in-law's homebrewed Cherry Stout coming to us from Rochester, MN.
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| Yes, that's an open tallboy and a solo cup. Don't judge. |
As one might imagine, though, the day after they were in rough shape. Both beers sat in open containers in the fridge from about midnight until Noon or so when I made these pancakes. That time in the air did a number on their carbonation, flavor, and freshness. Not that I'd expect much from day-old beer, but it was a little disappointing.
Prep/Cooking:
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| The colors, Duke, the colors! |
The two batters both came out great colors. There's something about dark pancake batter that gets me all excited. The aroma of the Irish Red really came through in batter form which was slightly reassuring. The caramel tones really shone through and created a pleasant aroma. The cherry stout lost most of its cherry scent in batter form, but it did retain a bit of the stouty goodness.
Results:
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| I still love the colors, though! |
This one's a tough call to make because I'm not sure how much of the outcome was due to the beer and how much was due to it being a day old. I wasn't about to waste good beer, so it's better than nothing, but basically the pancakes came out bland. Not bad, but just unimpressive and flavorless.
Cherry Stout - 0. Don't bother. Drink it before it goes weird and enjoy the stouty cherry goodness
Irish Red - 0, but I'd be willing to give it a shot with fresh beer. Karben4 makes good stuff.
Syrup: 0 and 0. It really didn't help the flavor of the pancakes at all.
Have you ever made beer pancakes with last night's beer? Would you have the balls to pull it off, especially with a homebrew? Let's talk about it.