Candy Corn Vodka

Candy corn...a staple of Halloween that Lewis Black summed up perfectly:



Noone really loves the taste of candy corn, yet almost everyone buys it every year, puts it in a bowl and eats some of it. Well instead of throwing out your inevitably leftover candy corn, here's an idea for you. I made some candy corn vodka in the spirit of the upcoming holiday this weekend, but I should warn you...it's an extremely difficult process. What I did was throw a bunch of candy corn into a bottle of vodka and let it sit for a couple weeks. Yeah...just try to do that.

You don't need to let the vodka soak up the candy corn for that long though. In less than 24 hours, the vodka can completely absorb over a handful of candy corn, so there's still time to make some for a Halloween party. If you really want some candy corn flavor though, you need to use a lot of candy corn. I ended up throwing in 3 batches because my taste test after the first batch and second batch resulted in about 99.99% vodka taste, 0.01% candy corn taste.

The question for me was how to drink it: straight or mixed? My first inclination was mixed. I mixed it with some Cointreau (orange liqueur) and cream, kind of like an Orange Russian. I think the orange-cream flavor dominated the candy corn flavor though so I ended up with more of an orange creamsicle cocktail.

So after that first test, I'm thinking to either try it straight or with a little neutral mixer like some club soda. Anyone out there that's tried this before, has a suggestion or idea, let me know...Happy Halloween.

Pumpkin Beer

You know those Coke commercials when people make that "Ahhh" sound after taking a sip? That's what comes to my mind when I think of pumpkin beer. It's fall in a bottle. I'm always willing to try a new pumpkin ale, give ones that may fall short one year a second shot the year after and of course, seek out the ones that I love once they come out in the following year. In my mind, I've found the holy grail of pumpkin beers, but I'm willing to accept someone's argument against it. This cherished beer I'm talking about is Southern Tier's Pumking.

I had the patience (after buying an entire case of it last year) to save a bottle from 2008 to make a comparison to this year's batch and see how it aged. With 9% ABV (alcohol by volume), this could be done. Side note: you probably don't want to save a beer for over a year if it's under 7-8%. Anyway, I decided to make the comparison last week between the 2008 and 2009 batch of Pumking.

I thought of how to go about in doing this with a fair mindset, such as doing a blind tasting of the two, but I guess my impatience won that battle. So I just poured the two, starting with the '08, then the '09 in a tasting glass. It's easy to say the aged, 2008 batch tasted better than this year's, but in my mind/mouth, it really did. It just seemed as if all of the caramel, nutmeg, pumpkin flavor was much more enhanced in the '08. That's certainly not to say that the '09 was not good though...I would just say it was like eating a chocolate bar while drinking the '08 was like eating an oozing, freshly baked chocolate brownie.

Now...I'll precede this statement by saying I was not taking hallucinogens, but when I poured the '08 Pumking, I swear I could make out the visage of a pumpkin in the head of the beer...it was magical.

I've tried a good selection of other pumpkin ales this year and here's my rankings, with #1 being the best...

1. Southern Tier Pumking
2. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
3. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
4. Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin
5. Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale
6. Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale
7. Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale
8. Wolaver's Organic Will Stevens' Pumpkin Ale
9. Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale - This will be at the bottom no matter what; I didn't taste anything in it.

Anyone try any others? Have one that you think is better? Let me know.

Pumpkin Spice Cocktails

Fall is probably my favorite season for both cocktails and beer because they share a common denominator: pumpkin! In my humble opinion, no seasonal flavor is better than pumpkin. I'll get to the pumpkin beer in a later post, but I just poured myself a pumpkin spice cocktail, something you should try if you like pumpkin flavor and you have the resources...

The ultimate resource that you need for a pumpkin cocktail is pumpkin spice liquor. I've only seen two types: Hiram Walker and Bols, though I'm not quite sure that Bols still produces it. I managed to get some Hiram Walker this year, but not here in the Lehigh Valley. If you're looking to get your hands on some of this stuff but it's unavailable in your area, I imagine that a little experimentation with some pumpkin spice syrup could work just as well.

As you can imagine, there are all kinds of cocktails that you can make with pumpkin spice liquor (which averages around 30 proof), many of which have clever names such as pumpkin-tini, jack o'tini, etc. Personally, I like to keep my cocktails simple, preferably with 2 ingredients but probably no more than 4. With the Hiram Walker Pumpkin Spice liquor, I combine it with equal parts spiced rum (Sailor Jerry), rim it with some pumpkin pie spice and call it a day. I'll call it a Pumpkin Pirate. It's delicious.

So keep your eye out at your local store in the cordials/liqueurs section and if you like pumpkin flavor, make sure you pick up a bottle of this stuff if you see it. It's great for getting into the Halloween season.

Stay tuned in the next week for a couple more seasonal posts including the aforementioned pumpkin beer as well as a vodka I made with a Halloween candy staple...(any guesses??)

Pausa Cafe Beer Dinner

I recently wrote about an interesting project involving beer production in Italy with social initiatives toward prisoners and coffee/cacao producers: Pausa Cafe Beer. I had the pleasure of enjoying a beer dinner with three of these beers tonight and have nothing but good things to say about it. Hosted at my favorite new spot nearby, Tap and Table, here is the 3-course menu that was offered:

Course 1: Pecorino Marzalino Bruschetta
Beer 1: Taquamari (A German-style wheat beer made with Tapioca, Quinoa, Amaranth and Basmati Rice)

Course 2: Tosta Braised Rabbit Ravioli w/ Creamy Rabbit Glace
Beer 2: Tosta (Brewed with a sustainably produced cacao from Costa Rica)

Course 3: Vanilla Latte Panna Cotta
Beer 3: Chicca (Brewed with coffee from a region of Guatemala at the foot of one of the highest non-volcanic mountain ranges in Central America)

To show how much I enjoyed all three courses of this dinner, I'd have to say that my favorite beer of the 3 was the Taquamari, my favorite course of the 3 was the Rabbit Ravioli and my favorite pairing of the 3 was the Panna Cotta with the Chicca. Honestly, however, the three pairings were perfect. The beers complimented the food and the food complimented the beers. I really hope Tap and Table will host dinners like this in the future. The only complaint that I can come up with is just that I wish I could have larger portions of everything, but in retrospect, it was truly satisfying
overall.

I have to give it up to the prisoners/former prisoners of Italy; keep brewing up some good beer!