I Love Coffee, I Love Beer, The Only Thing Better is Coffee in my Beer

Do NOT Add Milk and Sugar, You Woose!

Holy Crap! So Nick and Meghan both just turned 21 and we decided to take a field trip to Total Wine. They have 1,000's of bottles of wines, spirits, rare drinks, accessories, and... BEER! Total Wine offers the greatest beer selection that I've seen in one store (warehouse, really). Not only do they offer myriad craft brews, imports, and limited editions, but most of their beers can be purchased one bottle at a time so you can make your own six pack. On top of that, they have the best prices in town for beer, wine, and liquors (Warning: do NOT take your father to the Scotch section). Anywho, we spent a good hour in the beer aisle talking with fellow enthusiasts. We conversed with one gentleman from Tennessee who comes to the ATL for business and always goes back home with cases of high-gravity brews (TN has crappy alcohol laws). While recommending our favorite beers/breweries to oneanother, we all agreed on how much coffee rocks. This man told Nick and I that if we ever found Kona Brewing Company's Pipeline Porter we should give it a try. Sure enough, this seasonal (winter) brew from Oahu, Hawaii was in Kroger the next week and I bought it without hesitation. This beer kicks ass. I've had so many chocolate or espresso flavored porters and stouts, but never have been thoroughly impressed. The Kona Pipeline Porter is something else. It's brewed with a batch of 100% Kona coffee from Hawaii (coffee lovers know that Kona coffee is one of the most flavorful, expensive, highly sought-after crops) whose flavor really pulls through the strength of a porter. There is a perfect balance of dark, roasted malts, light hop bitterness, and deliciously smooth coffee. It offers a hearty, toasted aroma. It's drinkable out of the bottle, but (obviously) releases it's full flavor in a glass. This is one of very few porters of which I could happily drink an entire six pack without interuption. Also, many dark beers I prefer to consume with a complementary meal or snack, but Nick and I were working on the BMW while sipping on these bad boys. Screw Bud Light, when I'm working on my car I want a REAL beer!

BTW, here's a picture of Nick and Meghan the night Nick made his awesome meatball subs (sorry, Nick, I meant heroes...).

And Mom Thought She Knew Shortbread....

Lime Shortbread w/ White Chocolate and Almonds

My mother is Scottish and she's been making shortbread for quite some time. But when it came my turn to make a mark, I took the old flour and butter recipe one step further (or maybe it was 3 steps). I was searching through Epicurious.com's archive of recipes from Bon Appetite magazine and found Lime Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Almonds. Easy as pie (OK, shortbread) and loaded with unusual ingredients that complement eachother suprisingly well, this dessert had everyone coming back for seconds. A basic shortbread recipe is spiked with fresh lime zest and cooked as usual. Once removed from the oven, the sheet of cookies is drizzled with molten white (premium) chocolate, topped with lightly toasted slivered almonds, and finally sprinkled with more fresh lime zest. The final product has several levels of flavors in your mouth. A bite starts off doughy and tangy until you taste the sweetness of the white chocolate. The lime flavor is prevalent throughout the entire experience, but I especially like the toasted nutty flavor that the almonds leave in your mouth. Shortbread is a rather dry treat, so I'd serve this dessert with white chocolate mochas or something like that. Think of all the pairings Starbucks offers between their pastries and their espresso drinks, then match your own pairings at home.